The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-12-03


people gathered around and said, "What a
useless expense you are going to, when roll
ing down from yonder Mount Gerizim and
down from yonder Mount Ebal and out
| yonder in the valley is plenty Of watern'
"Oh,' replied Jacob, that is all true, but
suppose my neighbors should get angered
against me and cut off my supply of mount
ain beverage, what would do, and what
would my family do. and n hat would my
focks and herds do? Forward, ye brigade Of
picka1es and crowbars, and 60 down into the
depths Of these rocks and make me independ-
ent of all except Him who fills the bottles of
the clouds! l must have my own well"
Young man, drop cigars and cigarettes
and wine cups and the Sunday excursions,
and build your own house, and have your
"Wny;, nave only I'VE hundred dollars in.
come yearr' says some one. Then spend
four hundred dollars Of 1t in living, and ten
per cent. of it, or fifty dollars, in benevo-
lence, and the other fifty in beginning to
dig your own well. Or if you have thou
sand dollars a year spend eight hundred
| dollars of it in living, ten per cent, or one
hundred dollars, in benevolence, and the re-
naming one hundred in beginning to dig your
own well. The largest bird that ever flew
through the air was Matched out OF one egg.
and the greatest estate was brooded out Of
one dollar.
suppose when Jacob began to dig this
well, on whose curb we are now seated this
December noon,it was dry season then as
| now, and some one comes up and says:
'Now Jacob, suppose you get the we'll fifty
feet deep or two hundred feet deep and there
should be no water to fill it, would you not
feel sillyT' People passing along the road
and looking down from Mount Gerlzim or
Mount Ebal near by would laugh and say,
"That is Jacobs well, great hole in the
rock, illustrating the mans folly" Jacob
Palestine or any other country that once
| thoroughly dug was not sooner or later filed
from the clouds, and this will be no excep-
tion"
For months after Jacob had completed the
well people went BY and out Of respect for
the deluded old man put their hand over
their mouth to hide sucker, and the well
remained as dry as the bottom Of kettle
| that had been hanging over the fire for three
water, and the wind got round to the east
and it began to drizzle, and then great drops
| splashed all over the we'll curb, and the
heavens opened their reservoir and the rainy
season poured its floods for six weeks, and
there came maidens to the we'll with empty
pals and carried them away full, and the
camels thrust their mouths into the troughs
and were satisfied, and the water was in the
well three feet deep, and fifty feet deep, and
two hundred feet deep, and all the Bedouins
Of the neighborhood and all the passersby
realized that Jacob was wise in having his
own well. My hearer, it is your part to dig
your own well, and it is Gods part to fill it.
You do your part and He will do His part.
Much is said about ''good luck" but peo-
pie who are industrious and self denying al
most always have good luck. You can af-
ford to be laughed at because Of your sppi-
cation and economy. for when you get your
well dug and filed it will be your turn to
laugh.
But look up from this famous well and
see two mountains and the plain between
them, on which was gathered the largest
religious audience that ever assembled on
earth, about five hundred thousand people.
Mount Gerizin about eight hundred feot
high, on one side, and on the other Mount
Ebal, the former called the Mount Of Bless
ing and the latter called the Mount of
Cursing. At Joshuas command six tribes
stood on Mount Gerizim and read the
blessings for keeping the law, and six
tribes stood on Mount Ebal reading the
curses for breaking the law, while the i've
hundred thousand people on the plain cried
Amen with an emphasis that must have
made the earth t-emble. 81 do not believe
that" says some one, 'sfor those mountain
tops are two miles apart, and how could a
voice be heard from top to topH My answer
is that while the tops are two miles apart,
the bases Of the mountains are only half q
mile apart, and the tribes stood on the sides
of the mountains, and the air is so clear and
the acoustic qualities of this great natural
| amphitheatre so perfect that voices can be
distinctly heard from mountain to mount
ain, as has been demonstrated by travellers
fifty timesin the last fifty years.
Can you imagine anything more thrilling
and sublime and overwhelming than what
transpired on those two mountain sizes, and
In the plain between, when the responsive
service went on and thousands Of voices on
| Mount Gerizim cried, BLESSED shalt thou be
| in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the
fields. blessed shall be thy basket and thy
store" and then from Mount Ebal thousands
of voices responded, crying: "Cursed be he
that removeth his neighbours landmark!
Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wan.
der out Of the way" and then there rolled up
| from all the spaces between the mountains
that one word with which the devout Of earth
close their prayers and the glorified Of heaven
finish their do1ologies, "Amenl AmenW-
that scene only to be surpassed by the
| times which are coming, when the churches
and the academies Of music and the audi
| toriums Of earth, no longer large enough to
| hold the worshipers Of God; the parks the
mountain sides, the great natural amphithe-
atres Of the valleys shall be filled with the
outpouring populations Of the earth and
mountain Shall reply to mountain. as Mount
Gerizim to Mount Ebal. and all the people
between shall ascribe riches and honor and
glory and dominion and victory to God the
Lamb, and there shall arise an amen like the
booming Of the heavens mingling with the
thunder Of the seas.
On and on we ride, until now we have
come to Shiloh, a dead city on hill sur.
rounded by rocks, sheep, goats, olive gardens
and vineyards. Here good Eli fell backward
and broke his neck, and lay dead at the news
from his bad boys, Phineas and Hophni; and
life is not worth living after ones children
have turned out badly, and more fortunate
was Ell, instantly expiring under such It'd.
recreant and prohigate, live on with broken
hearts to see them going down into deeper
and deeper plunge. There are fathers and
mothers here to-day to whom death would be
happy release because Of their recreant sons.
And IL there be recreant SONS here present,
and your parents be for away, why not bow
your head in repentance, and at the close OF
this service 60 to the telegraph office and put
it on the wing Of the lightning that you have
turned from your evil ways9 Before another
twentty-four hours have pass ed take your feet
off the sad hearts of the old homestead
Home to thy God, prodigal!
Many, many letters do get in purport say.
ing: My son Is in your cities; we have not
heard from him for some time; we fear some.
thing Is wrong; hunt him up and say good
word to him ibis mother is almost crazy about
him; he is child of many prayers. But how
can hunt him up unless he be in this audi.
ence9 Where are you, my boy? On the maiu
floor, or on this platform, or in these boxes:
or in these great galleries? Where are you'll
Lift your right hand. I have message from
home Your father is anxious about you;
your mother is prayiug for you. Your GOD