Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-10-30

waiting for It, whether In domestic life
or social life, or political life, or in tine
foundations of the earth from which
| sprang out the devastations that swal-
lowed the cities of the plain. s'He
toucheth the hills and they smoke
BUT THE DRAGoMAN WAS REJoIcED
| when We had seen enough of this volcanic
| region of Palestine, and he gladly
tightens the girths for another march
around the horses, which are prancing
! and neighiug for departure. We are of
for the Jordan, only two hours away =.
| We pass Bedouins, whose stern features
! melt into u smile as we give them the
! salutation, Salaam AleikOum, "Peace
| be with you,' their smile sometimes
leaving US in doubt as to whether it is
caused by their gladness 10 see us or by
| our poor pronunciation of the Arabic.
Oh, they are q strange race, those
Bedouins. Such a commingling Of ruff
| fianism and honor, of cowardice and
courage, of cruelty and kindnessI When
| band of them came down upon party
in which Miss Whately was travelling and
were about to take pocketbooks and
perhaps life. this lady, sitting upon her
horse, took out her notebook aud pencil
and began to sketch these brigauds,
and seeing this composure, the bandits
thought it something supernatural and
fled. Christian womanliness or manli-
ness is all-conquering. When Martin
Luther was told that Duke George would
kill him if he went to Leipsic, Luther re-
piled, ~ would 20 to Leipsic If 1t rained
Duke Georges nine days.
Now we come through regions where
there are hills cut into the shape of Ca
thedrals, with altar, aad column, and
arch, and chancel, and pulpit and dome,
and architecture of the rocks that ] think
can hardly just happen SO. Perhaps it
is because God loves the church so well,
He builds IN the soltudes of Yellowstone
Park, and Yosemite, and Switzerland,
and Palestine, these ecclesiastical piles.
And who knows, but that unseen spirits
may sometimes worship there? "Drago-
man, when shull we see the Jordan?' l
ask. All the time we were on the alert,
and looking through tamarIsk and will
lows for the
GREATEST RIVER OF ALL THE EARTH.
The Mississippi is wider, the Ohio is
deeper, the Amazon is longer, the Hud-
son rolls amid regions more picturesque,
the Thames has more splendor on its
banks, the Tiber suggests more imperial
procession, the nyssus has more classic
memories, and the Nile feeds greater
populations by its irrigation; but the
Jordan ia the queen of rivers and runs
through all the Bible, silver thread
strung like beads with heroics, and be-
fore night we shall meet on its banks
Elijah and Elisha, and David, and
jacob, and Joshua. and John, and
Jesus.
At last between two trees I got
glimpse of a river and said, 'sWhat is
that2' "The jordan was the quick
reply. And all along the line which had
been heightened bY other pilgrims, some
FROM America, and some from Europe,
and some from Asia, the cry was sounded
''The Jordan! The Jordan.'' Hundreds
of thousands of pilgrims have chanted on
its banks and bathed in its waters. Many
of them dip wet gown in the wave and
wiring 1t out and carry it home for their
own shroud. 1t is an impetuous stream
and PUSHES on as though it were fastening
to tell Its story to the ages. Many an
explorer has it whelmed, and many q
boat has it wrecked. Lieut.. MOlneux
had copper-bottomed crafts split upon its
shelvings. Only one boat, that of Lieut..
Lynch, ever lived to sail the whole
length of it. At the season when
the SHOWS on Lebanon melt the rage
of this stream is like the Consmaugh
when Jobnstown persisted, and the wild
beasts that may be near run for the hills,
explaining what Jeremiah says: "Be- |
hold he shall go up like a lion from the
swelling OF Jordan. No river SO often |
changes its MUD, for 1t turns and twists,
travelling 200 miles to do that which in |
straight line might be done in sixty |
miles. Among banks now low, now high,
now of rocks, now of mud, and now of |
sand, having the feet of the terebinths |
and oleanders, and acacias, and reeds, |
and pistchios, and silver poplars. This |
river merries the Dead Sea to Lake Cali |
lee, and did ever SO rough groom take |
THE HAND OF so FAIR BRIDE?
This is the river which parted to let an |
army of 1000, 900 1sraelites across. Here
the skilled major-general of the Syrian
host at the seventh plunge dropped his
leprosy, not only by miraculous cure,
but suggesting to all ages that water,
and plenty of it, has much to do with the
sanitary improvement of the world
Here is where some theological students
of Elisha's time were cutting trees with
which to build theological seminary
and an ak head not sufficiently wedged |
to the handle flew off into the river and
sank, and the young man deplored not
so much the loss of the ak head as the
fact that it was not his own, and cried,
''AIas! it was borrowed and the
prophet threw q stick into the river and,
in defiance OF the law of gravitation, the
iron ak head came to the surface and
floa,ed like a cork upon the water, and
kept floating until the young man
caught it. A miracle performed
to give one an opportunity
to return that which was borrowed,
aud rebuke in all ages for those who
borrow aud never return, their bad
habit in this respect so established that
it would be miracle if they did re urn
1t. Yea; from the bank of this river
Elijah took team of FIRE, showing that
the most raging element is servant of
the good, and that there is no need that
3 ct lid of God fear anything; for, IL the
most destructive of all elements, was
that day fashioned into vehicle for
departing saint. nothing can ever hurt
you who love and trust the Lord. lam
so glad that that chariot of Elijah was
not made out of wood, or crystal, or
anything ordinarily pleasant
BUT OUT OF FIRE,
and yet he went up without having so
much as to fan himself. When, STEP