Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-11-06
DEAD SEA AND JORDAN.
M. TALMAGE's FIFTH SERMON ON
HIS TOUR IN THE HOLY LAND.

Pompeii and the yoIcano-The Lowest
Lake in the world-Evidences of Gods
Wrath.
Oct. 26-Dr. Talmage
preached the fifth sermon OF the series on
his tour in the Holy Land in the Academy
of Music in this city this morning. ms
evening at The Christian Herald service in
the Academy of Music, New York, the ser
mon was repeated before an audience
which filled the vast building in every part
DIR. Talmage announced rs his text, rs.
civ. 32. "He toucheth the hills and they
smoke" He said;
David the poet here pictures a volcano,
and what Church's C%otogaNi does on
PAINTERS canvas this author does in words.
You see Il hill, calm and still and for ages
immovahle, but the Lord out o. the heaV-
ems puts his finger on the top OF 1t, n
from it rise thick vapors lntershot with
fire. "Ilp toucheth the hills and they
smoke.
God is the only being who can manage a
volcano, and again and again las he EN-
ployed volcanic action The pictures on
the walls of Pompeii, The eXhumed Italian
city. as we saw them last November, De
monstratp that the city was not lit TO i've.
In the first century that cry, englrdlea
with palaces. eialu9adised Uth gardens
pillared int architecture eEquislteness
was at the foot of a mountain up the sides
of which it ran VITA viney, n villas
of merchant princes, ass. ~ tat marble
and bronze and iinnrrial beths and arborl'
culture and r%aiubowed fenririrs, and a
coliseum AT tle dedication OF which nine
thousand b48s.> Aani Dccn sia.lh, ana a SUI
pernal landscape in which the shore gave
roses to the gen end the sea gave crytals to
the shore, yea. al tllt beauty and pomp
and wealth Goals give WAS there TO be seen
or heard But the lll EIorals of the city
had shocked the world. In the year q, on
the 9Th Of August, a black column rose
above the adjoining nlaitits.a and spread
out, piny sHf5. IS ie say =, a great
pine tree, wiGer lier. until 1t began
to rain Gpon thr &. lir-t tin ashes and
then p.r!icr stone l.l f, laurous fumes
scoopsd. and vfe4lr CT l.rd poured
through tLe sup.tu- titffrtv "aoole escaped,
and the easy s..- hf.eiH. ..4a. sJuie OF the
inhabitants ~. teen hn"3@ feArs after
were found r,a'tlnlct "a the acorie OF
that awful doom The Lord "allad upon
volcanic lorces ~ ar.isafcse mat proti
gate cts L.e t0ueiIel Tie Al.is and they
smoked
sCfENCE y SCRIPTURE AGREE.
Nothing but volcanic action can explain
what shall show You at the Dead sea
upon which | looked last December, and
of whose waters / took a bitter and sting
ing taste. Concerning all that region there
has been controversy enough TO oil Il
braries, science saying II thing, reveal
ton saving another thing. Blu admit vol
canic action divinely employed and both
testimonies are one and the same. Geology,
chemistry, geography, astronomy, ichthy
ology, o~rnithology and zoology are coming
one bv one to confirm the Scriptures. Two
leaves of one book are Revelation and Crea-
ton. and the penmanship is by the same
divine hand. Our horseback ride will not
be so steep today, and you can stay on
Nithout cliuging 10 the pommel of the sad.
die. but the scenes amid which we ride
shall. if possible, he more thrilling, and by
h time the horses snuff the %sulphurous
atmosphere Of Lake Ashaltites, or the
Dead sea, we will be ready TO dismount
and read from our Bibles about what was
done that day by the Lord when he touched
the hills and they smoked
Take a detour and pass along by the
rocky fortress of Masada, where occurred
something more wonderful in the way Of
desperation than you have ever heard Of,
unless You have heard of that. lierod
built a palace amid these heaps Of black
and awful rocks which look like a tumbled
midnight. y :reat band Of robbers, about
one thousand including their families, af-
terward held the fortress When the Ro-
man army stormed that steep and the ban
dts could no longer hold the place, their
chieftain, Eleazar, made a powerful speech
which persuaded them TO die before they
were captured. First the men kissed their
families a loving and fearful good by and
then put a dagger into their hearts, and
the women and children were slain. Then
ten men were chosen by lot to slay all the
other men, aud each man lay down by the
dead wife and children and waited fol
these executioners to do their work. This
done, one man Of the ten killed the Other
nine Then the survivor committed sui
eide. Two women and five children had
hid themselves, and after all was over
came forth TO tell Of the nine hundred and
sixty slaughtered. Great and rugged nat
ural scenery makes the most tremendous
natures for good or evil. Great statesmen
and great robbers, great orators and great
butchers. were nearly all born or reared
among mountain preeipices. Strong nat
ures are hardly ever born upon the plain
When men have anything greatly good OF
greatly evil to do they come down of til,
rocks.
THE A. OF DEsOLATtoN.
Pass on from under the shadow Of Alasa
da, the scene OF concentrated diabolism
and come along where the salt crystal.
crackle under the horses hoofs lou arr
near the most God forsaken region ct al
the earth. You to whom the word lak'
has heretofore suggested those bewitch
ments OF beauty, Luzerne OF Cayuea, som'
great pearl set by a loving God in the bosom
of the iuxuriant valley, change all YOU
ideas about a lake. and see this sheet O
water which the Bible calls the salt sea, Of
Sea of the Plain. and JosephC Ais LAX
Asphaltites. The muleteers viii take car
of the horses while we 20 Town TO thI
brink and dip up the liquid mixture in thl
palm Of the hand. The waters are a com
mingliug OF birthstone ana pitch, and hav.
six times larger percentage Of salt THAI
those Of the Atlantic ocean, the ocean hav
ing 4 per cent. OF salt and this lake 254 PEI
cent. Lake Siri-kol, Of India, is the high
est lake In the world This lake, on tn
- Ia .-fs~N .-a f~aa4 H. tina Faw-a1