Sharp County record., 1890-12-04

] the Bible describes. One nlRnI "H@le
by the light Of the lamps and torches
these gaieties went on, two hunareu
! Beniamites, who had been hidden be-
hind the rocks and among the trees,
dashed upon the scene. They came not
to injure or destroy, but, wishing to set
up households OF their own, the women
of their own land having been slain IN
battle, and by preconcerted arrange.
ment each one OF the two hundred
Benjamites seized the one whom he
chose for the queen of his home' and
carried her away to large estate and
beautiful residence, for these two hun"
dred Benjamites had inherited the
wealth OF nation.
But We must this afternoon, our last
day before reaching Nazareth, pitch our
tent on tho most famous battlefield OF
all time-the Plain of Esdraelon. What
must have been the feelings OF the
Prince of Peace as He crossed it on the
way from Jerusalem 10 Nazareth! Not
a flower blooms there but has in its
veins the Inherited blood of flowers that
drank the blood of fallen armies Hard
ly a foot of the ground that has
not at some time been quilted
with war-chariots or tramplod with
the hoofs of cavalry. 1t is a plain
reaching from the Mediterranean to
the Jordan. Upon it look down the
mountains of Tabor and Gilboa and
Carmel. Through it RACES at certain
seasons the River Kishon, which swept
down the armies of SiSera, the battle
occurring in November, when there is
almost always q shower OF meteors SO
that 'the stars in their courses" were
said to havo fought against Sisera.
Through this plain drove Jehu, and
the iron charioJs of the Canaanitcs,
scythed at the hubs of the wheels, hew-
ing down their awful swathes of death,
thousands in minute. The Syrian
armies, tho Turkish armies, the Egyp-
tian armies again and again trampled
it. There they career across it. David
and Joshua, and Godfrey, and Richard
Ceur de Lion, and Baldwin, and Sala-
dina plain not only famous for the
past, but famous because the Bible says
the great decisive battle of the world
will be fought there-the battle of Ar.
mageddon.
TO mo the plain was the more absorb
ing because of the desperate battles
| here and in regions round in which the
Holy Cross, the very two pieces of wood
on which Jesus was supposed 10 have
been crucified, was carried as stand
| ard at the head of the Christian host;
and that night, closing my eyes in my
tent on the Plain of Esdraelon-for
| there are some things we can see bet
ter with eyes shut than open-the
scenes of that ancient war came before
me. The twelfth century was clos
! ing, and Saladin at the head
of eighty thousand mounted troops
was crying "Ho for Jerusa-
lem! Ho for all Palestine.' and
before them every thing went down, but
not without unparalleled resistance. In
one place one hundred and thirty Chris.
tians were surrounded by many thou
sands of furious Mohammedans. For
one whole day the one hundred and
thirty held out against these thousands
Tennyson's "Six Hundred" when some
one had blundered" were eclipsed by
these ono hundred and thirty fighting
for the Holy Cross. They took hold the
lances which had pierced them with
death wounds. and pulling them out OF
their own breasts and sides hurled them
back again at the enemy. On went the
fight, until all but one Christian had
fallen, and he, mounted on the last
horse, welded his battle axe right and
left till his horse fell under the plunge
of the juvelins, and the rider, making
the sign OF the cross toward the sky,
gave up his life on the point of o score
Of spears. But soon after, the last ba G.
tie came. History portrays it, poetry
chants it, painting colors it, and all
ages admire that last struggle tc
keep in possession the wooden
cross on which Jesus was saie
to have expired. 1t was battle
in which mingled the fury of devils ane
the grandeur of angels. Thousands o.,
6ead Christians on this side. Thou,
sands of dead Mohammedans on the
other side. The battle was hotties,
close around the wooden cross uphold
by the Bishop Of Ptolemais, himsel,
wounded and dying. And when the
Bishop Of Ptolemais dropped dead, the
Bishop of Lydia seized the cross and
again lifted it carrying it onward into
wilder and flercor fight, and sword
against javelin, and battle-axo upon
helmet and piercing spear against
splintering shield Horses and men
tumbled into Heterogeneous death. Now
the wooden cross on which the armies
of Christians had kept theis eye bogins
to waver, begins to descend. It falls!
and the wailing Of tho Christian host at
It's disappearance browns the huzzah of
tho victorious Moslems.
But that standard Of the cross only
seemed to fall. 1t rides the sky to-day
in triumph. Five hundred million souls,
the mightiest army OF the ages, arc
following IT, and whore that goes thew
Will go, across tho earth and up ths