Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-10-31

Lord rainet upon SOdOm ana upon TO
morrah birthstone aud fire from the Lord
out of heaven AMI David wrote, He touch
eth the hills AMI they smoke" SO | guess
we will hold on to our Bibles little longer
A gentleman in the ante-room OF the White
House, at Washington, having an appoint
ment with Mr.. Lincoln at o'clock in the
morning, got there fifteen minutes early, aud
asked the servant "Who is talking in the
next roomY sit is the President. sir as
ANYBODY with himy "No, sir; he is reading
the Bible He spends every morning from
to 5ocock reading the Scriptures"
NY text implies that God controls vo'-
canoes. not with the full force of his hand,
but with the tip of his finger. Etna, Stron-
boil and Vesuvius fawn at his feet like
hounds before the hunter. These eruptions
of the hills do not belong to Pluto's realm,as
the ancents thought. but 10 the divine do.
minions. Humboldt counted two hundred
Of them, but since then the Indian archipel-
ago has been found to have nine hundred of
these great mouthpieces They are on every
continent and in all ATTITUDES That earth
quake which shook all America about six or
seven summers ago was only the raying
around OF volcanoes rushing against the
sides of their rocky cavernS trying to break
out They must come 70 the surface, but II
will be at the divine call. They seem re-
served for the punishment of one kind of sin.
The seven cities they have obliterated were
celebrated for one kind of transgression.
Profigacy was the chief characteristic OF the
seven cities over which they put their smoth-
ering wing: Pompeii, Herculaneum, Stabie
Adma, Zeboim, Sodom and Gomorrah.
If our American cities do not quit their
prohigacy, if in high life and low life disco
iuteness does not cease TO be r joke and be-
come a crime, if wealthy llbertinism con-
tinues to find so many doors of domestic life
open to its faintest tOucl, If Russian and
French and American literature stepped IN
pruriency does not get banished from the
news stands AMI ladies' parlors, God will let
loose some Of these suppressed monsters OF
the earth. AMI tell these American cities
that it will be more tolerable for Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment,
whether that day Of judgment be in this
present century or in the closing century
Of the eartn's continuance. Inc volcanic
forces are already in existence. but IN the
mercy OF God they are chained in the ken
nes OF subterraneous fire. Yet let profit
gglcy, whether it stagger into lazaretto OF
SIT on a commercial throne, whether 1t laugh
In a faded shawl under the street gas light or
be wrapped in the finest array that foreign
loom ever wrought or lapidary ever I'M
pearled. know right wei that there is vol
cano waiting for it. whether in domestic life
Or social life or political life orin the founfa-
tons of the earth from which sprang out the
gevastations that swallowed the cities OF the
n ain. .sHe toucheth the hills AMI they
smoke
But the dragOman was rejOice1 when we
had seen enough of this volcanic region OF
Palestine. and he gladly tghtens the girtns
for another march around tns horses
which are pranciny aud neiGhing for de-
narture. We are Off for the JOrion, only
Two hours away. We pass Bedouns whose
stern features melt into a smile as we give
them the situation Salaam Aleikoum.
peace be with YOU their smile sometimes
Leaving us in doubt as to whether It -
caused by their gladness 70 see us or ~ orr
Moor pronunciation of the Arabic. "a.
they are a strange race, those BeIoulns;
Sush a commingiing OF ru!fanism AMI
honor of cowardice and courage, OF cruelty
and Kindness When band OF them came
down upon a party in which Miss hateIy
was tlaveing. AMI We're about 70 take
pocsetb0oks and perhaps LIE, TINS la0y, siI-
ti,r moon her horse took out her notebook
oni mcneil and began to sketch these brig
ands and seeing this cJmposure the Oanilts
Thought it something supernatural and hed:
Christian wOmqu.lness or manilness IS an
conouerinc. When Martin Luther was told
that Duke George would kill him II he went
to Ieipsic. Luther replied: Il wou1 go -
Laipsc if it ransd Duke Georges nine days
Now we come through regions where there
are hills cut into the shape OF cathedralS,
with altar and column and arch aud cnhncel
and puipit ami dome and architecture OF Ihe
rocks that l think can hardly Just happen 50.
Perhaps II is because God loves the chlrSl ~
yvsu he builds in the sOltuies OF Yellow
to mn
and Palestine these ecclesiastical piles. AND
Who knows but tnat unseen spirits may
something's worship therey "Dragoman, when
shall we see the Jordan | ask All tn
fine We we're on tho alert, and looking
ROUGH tamarisk and willows Tor tht
greatest river of all the earth. The Mis'ls
sippi is wider. the Ohio is deeper, the ANA
ION is longer. the Hudson rolls amid regions
more picturesque, the Thames has mora
splendor on its banks, the Iiber sugge,t
more imperial procession. the lyssus has
more classic memories and the Nile feedi
greater populations by its irrigation, but the
Jordan is the queen OF rivers and runs
through all the Bible. a silver thread strung
ike beads with heroes. and before night We
shall meet on its banks Elijah and Elisha
and David ami Jacob and Joshua and John
and Jesus.
At last between two treesI got a glimpse
of q river and said, What is thatf The
Jordan, was the quick reply. And all along
the line which had been lengthened0Y other
pilcrims some from America ami some from
Europe. and some from Asia, the cry was
sounie The Jordan? The Jordan. Hun.
dreds of thousands Of pilgrims have chanted
onits banks and bathed inits waters. Many
of them dip a wet gown in the waves and
wiring it out and carry it home for their own
shroud. 1t is an impetuOus stream and
rushes on as though it were fastening to tell
its story to the &C. ses. Many an explorer has
il whelmed and many a boat has it wrecked
Lieut.. Moloueaux had copper bottomed
crafts split upon its shelvings. Only one
boat. that of Lieut.. Lynch, ever lived &c
sail the whole length of it. At the season
when the SHOWS on Lebanon melt the rage
of this stream is like Conemaugh whei
JohnstOwn persisted, and the wild beasts
that may be near run for the hills, explaining
what jeremiah says, Behold, he shall go u!
like a lion from the swelling Of Jordan.
No river 50 often changes its mind, for i
turns and twists, travelling two hundre'
miles to do flat which in a straight lint
might he dcne in sixty miles. Among bank,
now low. now high, now on rocks now oil
sand, having the feet of the terebinths and
oleanders and acacias and reeds and pis-
tachios and silver poplars This river mar
ries the Dead Sea to Lake Gallilee. and did
ever so rough a groom take the hand Of SC
fair a bridey
This is the river which parted to let al
/ army of two million Israelites across Here
the skilled major general Of the Assyrar
host at the seventh plunge dropped his lep
rosy not only by miraculous cure, but suy
costing to all ages that water, and plenty
/ of it. has much 10 do with the sanitary i'm
provement Of the world. Here is where
some theological students OF Elisha's time
we're cutting trees with which to build q
theological seminary, and an axe head, moi
sufficiently wedged to the handle, flew Of
into the river and sank, and the young
man deplored not so much the loss OF t-'
axe head as the fact that it was not his own
and cried, "Alasl it was borrowed anC
! the prophet threw q stick into the river, anC
in defiance OF the law of gravitation the iroi
| axe head came to the surface and fioateS
| like a cork upon the water, and kept float
ing until the young man caught it. A mir
ace performed 70 give one an opportunity
10 return that which was borrowed and {
rebuke in all ages for those who borrow anC
never return, their bad habit in this respec
81 established that it would be miracle /
they did return it, Yea, from the bank OF
this river Elijah took a team OF fire, showinl
that the most raging element is servant OF tn
good, and that there is no need that a child