News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-10-23
HORSEBACK TO JERICHO.
DR.. TALMAGE CONTINUES HIS HOLY
LAND ITINERARY.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan and
Scenery of the LncaIity-December in
Syria-Anecdotes of Gladstone and Lord
Napier.
BROOKLYN, Oct 19-The wide
spread and absorbing interest in DR..
Tallnage's course of sermons on the
Holy Land and adjoining countries Is
demonstrated by the thousands who
are turned away from the doors of the
Brooklyn Academy of Music on Sun
day mornings and from The Christian
Herald services in the New York Acad-
envy of Music on Sunday evenings, I'M
able to gain even standing room In
those immense auditoriums. Today
the fourth sermon of the series was
preached as before-in this city in the
morning and in New York at night
Having announced as his text Luke Y,
80. "A certain man went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho" DR. Talmage
said
1t is the morning of Dec. in Je-
rusalem. and we take stirrups for the
road along which the wayfarer of old
fell among thieves. who left him
wounded and half dead. Jobs picture
of the horse in the orient as having
neck "clethed with thunder" is not
true of most horses now in Palestine.
There is no thunder on their necks,
though there is some lightning in
their heels. Poorly fed and unmerci-
fully whacked. they sometimes retort.
To Americans and English, who are
accustomed to guide horses by the bri-
die. these horses of the orient, guided
only by foot and voice. make equestrian
ism an uncertainty. and the pull on the
bride that you intend for slowing up
of the pace may be mistaken for hint
that you want to outgallop the wind
or wheel in swift circles like the hawk.
But they can climb sleeps and de-
scend precipices with skilled foot, and
the one | chose for our journey in Pal
estine shall have the praise of going for
weeks without one stumbling step,
amid rocky sleeps where an ordinary
horse would not for an hour maintain
sure footedness. There were eighteen
of our party, and twenty-five beasts OF
burden carried our camp equipment
We are led by an Arab sheik. with his
black Nubian servant carrying load
ed gun in full sight, but it is the fact
that this sheik represents the Turkish
government, which assures the safety
of the caravan.
THR VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.
We cross the Jehoshaphat valley,
which. if it had not been memorable
in history and were only now discov-
cred. would excite the admiration of
all who look upon it. 1t is like the
gorges of the Yosemite or the chasms
OF the Yellowstone park The sides
of this JehoshaEhat valley are tunnel
ed with graves and overlooked by
Jerusalem walls-an eternity of depths
oveTshadowed by an eternity of archi
lecture Within sight of Mount Olivet
and Gethsernane. and with the heavens
and the earth full of sunshine. we start
out on the very road mentioned in the
text when it says. "A certain man went
down from Jerusalem to Jericho and
fell among thieves" No road that |
ever saw was so well constructed for
brigandage-deep gulleys, sharp turns.
caves on either side
There are fifty places on this road
where a highwayman might surprise
and overpower an unarmed pilgrim.
His cry for help, his shrek of pain, his
death groan would be answered only by
tile echoes On this road today we
met groups of men who. judging from
their countenances, have in their veins
the blood of many generations of Rob
Roys. Josephus says that Herod at
one time discharged from the service of
the temple forty thousand men, and
that the greater part of them became
robbers. So late as 1920 Sir Frederick
Henniker. an English tourist. was at
tackled on this very road from Jeru-
salem to Jericho. ami sIfOt and almost
slain There has never been any scar
city of bandits along the road we travel
today
With the fresh memory of some re-
cent violence in their minds Christ tells
the people of the good Samaritan who
came along that way and took care of
a poor fellow that had been set upon
by villainous Arabs and robbed and
pounded and cut We encamped for
lunch that noon close by an old stone
building. said to be the tavern where
the scene spoken of in the Bible cul-
minated Tumbled in the dust and
CHASTITY with wounds the victim of this
highway robbery lay in the middle of
the road-a fact of which | am certain,
because the Bible says the people
passed by on either side. There were
twelve thousand priests living at Jeri-
cho. and they had to go to Jerusalem
TO officiate at the temple And one of
these ministers of religion. | suppose.
was on his way to the temple service,
and he is startled as he sees this bleed
ing victim in the middle of the road
oh. he says, there is a man that
has been attacked of thieves. Why
don't you 90 homer" says the minister
The man in cOmatose state makes no
answer. or. with half dazed look, puts
his wounded hand to his gashed fore
head and drawls out WHAT" well, :"
4
my duties at Jerusalem. have to kill
a lamb and two pigeons in sacrifice to-
day | cannot spend any more time
with this unfortunate. | guess some
body else will take care of him. But
this is one of the things that cannot be
helped. anyhow. Besides that. my
business is with souls and not with
bodies Good morning. When you
get well enough to sit up l will be glad
to see you at the temple"
And the minister curves his way out
toward the cverhanging sides of the
road and passes You hypocritei One
of the chief offices of religion is to heal
wounds. You might have done here a
kindness that would have been more
acceptable to God than all the incense
that will smoke up from your censor
for the next three weeks, and you miss
ed the chance. Go on your wayl Ex-
ecrated by the centuries.
THE SELF SUFFICIENT LEvITE.
Soon afterward a Levite came upon
the scene. The Levites looked after
the music of the temple, and waited
upon the priests, and provided the sup
plies of the temple This Levite pass
ing along this road where we are today
took a look at the mass of bruises and
laceration in the middle of the road.
MY myF' says the Levite, this man
is awfuIly hurt. and he ought to be
helped. But my business is to sing in
the choir at the temple. If ! am not