The Brookhaven leader., 1890-10-16

|
Q marsh-mallow that thrives here, and
somo claim this honor for the narcissus,
and some for tho blue iris, and some for
the scarlet anemone, for you must know
that this Plain OF Sharon is a rolling
ocean OF color when the spring breezes
move across it. But leaving the bot
sEists in controversy as to what it Is,
/ would take the most aromatic and
beautiful Of them all and twist them
into garland for the Name which is
above every name"
Yonder, a little to the north as we
move on, in tho Plain Of Ono. The
Bible mentions it again and again. The
village standing on this Plain Of Ono is
mud village. Two great basins of
rock catch the rains for the people. Of
moro Importance in olden time than in
modern time was this Plain of Ono But
as the dragoman announced it and in
the Bible | read of 1t, / was reminded
of the vast multitude of people who now
dwell in the Plain of Ono. They are,
by their nervous constitution or by their
lack of faith in God always in the neg
ative. VIII you help to build church?
Oh, no! Will you start out in some new
Christian enterprise? Oh, no! Do you
think the world is getting any better?
Oh, no! They lie down in the path of all
good movements, sanitary, social, politi-
cal and religious. They harness their
| horses with no traces to pull ahead,
but only breeching straps to hold back.
For all Christian work l would not give
for thousand of them the price of
clipped ten-cent piece. They are in
the Plain of Oh, no! May the Lord
multiply the numbers of those who,
when any thing good is undertaken, are
found to live in the Plain of Oh, yes!
| Will you support this new charity? Oh,
| yes! Do you think that this victim of
evil habit can be reformed? Oh, yes!
Are you willing to do any thing, whether
obscure or resounding, for the welfare
of the Church and the salvation of a
ruined world? Oh, yes! But am sorry
to say that the most populous plain in
in all the earth to-day is the Plain of
Ono.
Here now we come where stood the
fields into which Samson fred the foxes.
The foxes were no rarity in this land.
l counted at one time twenty or thirty
of them in one group, and the cry all
along the line was Foxes! Look at the
foxes!" And at night they sometimes
bark until all attempts to sleep are an
absurdity. Those l saw and heard in
Palestine might have been descendants
Of the very foxes that Samson en-
ployed for an appalling incendiarism.
The wealth of that land was in the
harvests, and it was harvest time and
the straw was dry. Three hundred
foxes were caught and tied in couples
by some wire or incombustible cord,
which the flames can not divide, and
| fire brands are fastened tc those couples
of foxes, and the affrightened creatures
are let loose and run every whittier
among the harvests, and in the awful
blaze down go the corn shocks and the
vineyards, and the olives and all
| through the valleys and over the hills
and among the villages is heard the
cry of fire. And in the burnt pathway
walk hunger and want and desolation.
All this for spite. And some theolo-
gians learn one thing, and some another.
But learn from it that great man
may sometimes stoop to very mean
piece of business, and that If men
would use as much ingenuity in trying
to bless as they do in trying to de-
stroy, the world all the way down
would have been in better condition
Yet the fire of the foxes kindled that
night in Palestine has not gone out, but
has leaped the seas, and the sly foxes,
the human foxes, are now still running
every whittier, kindling political fires,
| fires of religious controversy, fires of
| hate, worldwide fires, and whole har-
vests of righteousness perish. 1t took
| the hard work of multitudes on all
these plains of Palestine for months
and months to rear the vine and raise
the corn, but it took only three hundred
worthless foxes one night to blaze all
into ashes.
Brace up your nerves now, that you
may look while l point them out
Yonder is Kirjath-Jearim, where the
Ark of God staye1 until David took it
to Jerusalem. Yonder John the Bap-
tist was born. Yonder is Emmaus,
where Christ walked with the disciples
at eventide. Here are men plowing,
only one handle to the pillow, showing
the accuracy of Christ's allusion. When
we plow in America or England there
are two hands on two handles, but in
Palestine only one handle. And so
Christ uses the singular saying: mo
man having put his hand to the plow,
and looking back is fit for the King
DOM" The OK is urged on by wooden
stick pointed with sharp irons, and the
OK knows enough not to kick, for he
would only hurt himself instead of
breaking the goad. And the Bible re-
fers to that when it says to Saul! 'It
| is hard for thee to kick against the
| goads."
Here is tine Valley of Ajalou, famous
| for Joshua's pursuit of the five Kings,
and the lunar arrest. And in imagina-
tion I see the moon in daytime halt
Who has not some time seen the moon
dispute tho throne with the sun? Bat
when the king of day and the queen of
night who never before Joshua's time,
nor since then; stopped a moment in
| their march, halted in Joshua's COM
| mand, it was scene, enough to make
the universe shiver. "Moon! stand
thou still in the valley of Ajalonr At
another time we we will see the sun
stop above Giheon, but now we have
only to do with the moon, and you must
remember that it was more of
| an orb than it is now. 1t is a