The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-12-11

| some claim this honor for the narcissus,
| and some for the blue iris, and some for
the scarlet anemone, for you must know
that this Plain of Sharon Is a rolling
ocean of coloY when the spring breezes
move across it. But leaving the bot
anists 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 the 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
more Importance in olden time than in
modern time was this Plain of Ono. But
as the dragOman announced it and in
the Bible l read of it, l 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
alive. Will you help to build achurch?
oh, no! Will you start out in some new
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 breeding straps to hold back.
For all Christian work l would not give
for a thousand of them the price of a
~,
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!
viii y on 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
| 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 | saw and heard in
Palestine might have been DIES cendants
of the very foxes that Sam son 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 ncombustible cord,
| which the flames can not divide, and
firebrands are fastened to 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 a 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 kindIed 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. It 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 stayed until David took it
| to Jerusalem. Yonder John the Bap-
tist was born. Yonder is Emmaus,
where Christ walked with the disciples
| dG oNoutluo' mere are men plOW1ng,
only one handle to the pillow, showing
the accuracy of Christ's allusion. When
we pillow 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 pillow.
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
i would only hurt himself instead of
breaking the goad. And the Bible re-
fers to that when it says to SAUL. at
is hard for thee to kick against the
goads."
Here is the Valley of Aialon, famous
for Joshua's pursuit of the five Kings,
and the lunar arrest. And in magma
ton see the moon in daytime halt.
Who has not some time seen. the moon
dispute the 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
Il