Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-10-27
THE FIFTH SERMON
OF REV. TALMAGE on HIS TRAVELS IN THE
HOLY LAND.
The Dead Sea and It's EnyirOns Describsd-The
Buried Cities Of the Pathological
Evidences Against the Doubts Of
RsvslatiOn-On "JOrdan's Stormy
Banks" He Stood

Special telegram 10 he Register.
BROOKLYN, October 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. This evening, at The Chris
tiGR Herald service in the Academy OF
Music. New York, the sermon was re-
peated before an audience which filled
the vast building in every part. Dr..
Talmage announced as his text, Psalm
lO4:32: He toucheth the hills and they
smoke lie said:
David, the poet, here pictures a vol
canO. and what Church'S COtopaNi does
on painters canvas, this author does in
words. You see hill, calm and still,
and for ages immovable, but the Lord
out of the heavens puts His finger on
the top of it and from it rise thick va
pors, interShOt with fire. He touch
eth the hills and they smoke"
God is the only being who can man
age vOlcano-and again and again has
he employed volcanic action. The pic
lures on the walls of Pompeii, the eX-
humed Italian city, as we saw them last
November, demonstrate that the city
was not tit 10 live. In the first century,
that city, engirdled with palaces, en-
paradiSed with gardens, pillared into
architectural eXQuiSiteneSS, was at the
foot of a mountain up the sides OF which
il ran with vineyards and villas of mer-
chant princes. and all that marble, and
bronze, and imperial baths, and arbOri-
culture. and rainbOwed fountains, and
coliseum at the dedication of which nine
thousand beasts had been slain and a
Supernal landscape in which the shore
gave roses 10 the sea and the sea gave
CRYSTALS to the shore; yea, all that beau
ty. and pOmp, and wealth could give
was there 10 be seen or heard. But the
bad morals OF the city had shocked the
world. In the year 20, on the 4th OF
August. "a black column rose above the
adjoining mountain aud spread out,
Pliuv saws, as hc saw il, like great
pine tree. wider and wider, until il be
gan To rain upon the city, first thin
ashes and then pumice stone, and sui
phurOuS fumes ScOOped, and streams ol
mud poured through the streets till few
people escaped and the city was buried,
aud some of the inhabitants eighteen
hundred years after were found embalm-
ed in the scorie of that awful doom.
The Lord called upon volcanic forces to
obliterate that profigate city. lie
touched the hills and they smoked.
THE DEAD SEA.
Nothing but volcanic action can ex-
plain what / shall show you at the
Dead Sea upon which | looked last De-
cember, and OF whose waters | took
bitter aud Stinging taste. Concerning
all that region there has been contro-
versy enough 70 fill libraries, science
saving one thing, revelation saying an
other thing. But admit volcanic action
divinely employed and both testimonies
are one and the same. Geology, chem
iStry. geography, astronomy ichthy-
ology, ornithology and zoology are com
ing one by one to confirm the Scrip
lures. The leaves of one book are Rev
elation and Creation and the penman-
sbip is by the same divine hand. Our
horseback ride will not be 50 steep to-
dav and YOU can stay on without cling
| ing 10 the pommcl of the saddle, but
/ the scenes amid which We ride shall, II
possible. be more thrilling and by the
time the horses snuff the SulphurouS
atmosphere Of Lake ASphaltiteS, 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 detour and pass along the
rocky fortress of MaSada, where oc-
curred something more wonderful in the
way Of desperation than you have ever
heard Of, unless You have heard of that.
| Herod built palace amid these heaps
Of black and awful rocks which look
| like tumbled midnight. y great band
robbers. about one thousand, including
\ their families, afterward held the fort
reSS. When the Roman army StOrmed
\ that steep and the bandits could no
| longer hold the place, their chieftain,
/ Eleazar, made a powerful speech which
persuaded them TO die before they were
caDtured. First the men kissed their
families loving and fearful goodbye
and then put a dagger into their hearts,
and the women and the children were
slain. Then ten men were chosen by lot
/ 10 slay all the other men, and each man
lay down DN lhe ucdu WIZ an" '"'i"i -
and waited for these eXecutionerS to do
their work. This done, one man OF the
ten killed the other nine. Then the sur
vivor committed suicide. Two women
and five children had hid themselves ana
after all was over came forth to to tell
of the nine hundred and sixty Slaugh-
tered. Great and rugged natural scenery
makes the most tremendous natures FOR
good or evil Great statesmen and great
robbers. great orators and great butch
ers. were nearly all born or reared
among mountain precipiceS. Strong
natures are hardly ever born upon the
plain. When men have anything great
iv good or greatly evil to do, they come
down of the rocks.
DEAD CITIES OF TIE PLAIN.
ut