Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-10-10

winch Is ABOVE every name.
Yonder little TO the north as we move
on, is the plain of Ono The Bible mentions
II again aud again The village standing OIL
this plain Of Ono is a mud village. Two
great basins Of rock catch the rains for the
people. OF moro Importance in olden tins
than in modern time was this plain of Ono.
But as the dragoman announced itand in the
Bible read OF it was reminded of the vast
multitude of people who now dwell in the
plain Of Ono. They are, by their nervous
constitution or by their lack Of faith in God,
always in the negative. viii you help to
build q church? Oh, mol Will you start out
in some new Christian enterprise Oh, mol
Do you think the world is getting any bet
teri Oh, mol They lie down in the path OF
all good movements, sanitary, political and
religious. They harness their horses with no
traces TO pull ahead, but only breeding
straps to hold back. For all Christian work
would not give for thousand Of them the
price Of clipped ten cent piece; They are
In the plain of Oh, mol May the Lord multi
ply the numbers Of those VINO when anything
good is undertaken are found TO live in the
plain of Oh, yesl win you support this new
charity Oh, yesl Do you think that this
victim of evil habit can be reformed? Oh,
yesl Are you willing to do anything,
whether obscure or resounding, for the well
fare of the church and the salvation of a
worldP Oh. yes! But, l am sorry to say
that the most populous plain in all the earth
to-day is the plain of Ono.
Here now we come where stood the fields
into which Samson fired the foxes. The
foxes are no rarity in this land l counted
at one time twenty or thirty Of them In one
group, and the cry all along the line was
Foxes! Look at the foxesM and at night
horb until oil afrnmnfQ IN
sleep are an absurdity. Those | saw and
heard in Palestine might have been descend
ants of the very foxes that Samson employed
for an appalling incendiarism. The wealth
of that land was in the haryests, and 1t was
harvest time and the straw was dry. Three
hundred foxes are caught and tied in couples
by some wire or incombustible cord which
the flames cannot divide, and tirebrands are
fastened TO those couples of foxes and the
affrghted creatures are let loose and run
every whittier among the harveSts, and in
the awful blaze down 60 the corn shocks, and
the vineyards, and the olives, and all through
the valleys and over the hills and among the
villages is heard the cry OF Fire" And in
the burnt pathway walk hunger and want
and desolation.
All this for spite. And some theologians
learn one thing and some another. But
learn from 1t that great man may some
times stoop to a very mean piece OF business,
and that If men would use as much ingenu-
ity in trying to bless as they do in trying to
destroy, the world all the way down would
be in better condition. Yet the fire OF the
foxes kindled that night in Palestine has not
gone out, but has leaped the seas, and the sly
foxes, the human foxes, are now stu run
ming every whittier, kindling political fires,
fires of religious controversy, fires OF hate,
u 4 IL ha rhAl
righteousness perish. 1t TOOK the hard WORK
of multltudes on these plains of Palestine Tor
months and months 10 rear the vine AMI RAISE
the corn. but it took only three hundred
worthless foxes one night TO blaze all into
ashes.
Brace I'D your nerves now, that you may
look while | point them out. YOnder is klr-
iath-Jearim. where the ARK of God staid I'M
til David took it to Jerusalem. Yonder John
the Baptist was born. Yonder Is EmmauS,
where C. arist walked with his disciples az
eventide. Here are men plowing, only ons
handle TO the plOw, showing the accuracy Oh
Christ's allusiOn. When we plow III America
or England there are two hands on two
handles. but in Palestine only one handle.
And so Christ used the singular saying, NO
man having put mis- hand TO the pow ami
looking back IS fit for the kingdom" Ihe OK
is urge,i on by a wooden stick pointei VITA
sharp iron, and the OK knows enough not u
kick for he would only hurt himself instead
of breaking the gOad. And the Bible refers
to that when it SAYS to Saul, 1t IS nara IOr
thee 10 kick against the goads.'
Here is the valley OF Aialon, famous for
Joshuas pursuit Of the five kings ana the
lunar arrest And in Imagination L see tn'
moon in daytime halt. Who has not some
times seen the moon Dispute the throne with
IL. hi ~rraa~ ftH la
oueen of night. vino never before joshua ;
time nor since then stopped a moment IN
their march. halted at JOshua's comm1nl II
was a scene enough TO make the universe
shiver: Moon. stand thou still IN the valley
of Aialonm At another time we will see the
sun stop above Gideon. but now we nave Only
to do with the moon and you must reineHl-
her it was more Of an orb than 1t IS now. III
A 4 burnt OF world now, a dead wori- ..ow.
an extinct world now, a corpse laid out in
state in the heavens, waiting for tne Jr.C-
ment day TO bury il. But on toe day OF
which ! speak the moon was probably liv-
ing world, yet it halted at the wave Of JOS
uas finger, "Stand thou Stilli DonOt bud %
an inch until Joshua finishes those five king.
who are there tumolins over the rocss. swor
OF man slashing them, hailstones out Of IL,
SKY peting them
And there is the cavern OF Makkslla,
where they fled for safety, aud where rley
were afterward iOclei in and from wlicl
they wero taken Out u be slain, an il VIII. /
they were afterwarl buried, All yoG Do
well TO examine that cavern. fO- witnin n
few hours il beams three things whicn no
other cave ever was-fortrcss, prison.
sepulcher
Now we pass the place where onco lived
one OF the greatest robbers OF the country.
Abou Gosh by name. From this poinI yCu
see he could lOol; over tle surrounding coun-
try, and long before the traveller, cams u u
him the plan for taking Of their money or
their life, or both, was consumated. He one
day found a company Of monks VINO would
not pay, and he smothered them 70 death in
a hot oven. In his last days he livei here
like an oriental prince, AMI had attendants
and admirers 10 whom he told his stO.iss Oh
brigandage and assassination. So late as
when our eminent and beloved American.
William c. Prime, passed through, A5ou
Gosh, the scouldrelly Bedouin, sat at his
doorway smoking his pipe. His Descendants
livein tnis village al pr01lbly ars N NJ.
honest than their distinguished ancestor. bit
marauding and murder are not as safe a
business now as when all this route 70
Jerusalem was subjected to outrages pau
demoniac.
Here we pass the village Of Latrun, home
OF tne penlIenb InleI, Ine NlllaRe, q rev stTaS-
Cling houses ON steep hills, rising from the
valley Of Ajalon. Up these steep hills in his
earlier days the thief had carried the spoils
Of arson and burglary, and down them he
had born tho heavier burden Of a guilty
heart But higher than these hills he
mounted after he had repentel, from the
transfxed posture on the cross to the bosom
Of forgiving God
Now we come to the brook Elah from
which little David took the smooth stones
with which he Frustrated Goliath. There is
a bridge spanning the ravine, but at the sea-
son we crossed there is not a drop OF water
in the brook. We went down into the ravins
and walked amid the pebbles that had been
washed smooth, very smooth, by the rusl OF
the waters through all the ages There is
where David armed himself He walkel
around and picked up five OF these polished
pebbles. He got them Of just the right size.
He prepared himself for five vollsys, 50 that
IL the giant escaped the first he will not e.
cape the whole five. The topography Of the
place so corresponds with the Bible story
that could see the memorable fight go on.
1t is the only fight ever did watch.
Pugilism abhor; but here were two cham
pions-the one God apo .nte1, the other
Satan appointed, and deciding the destiny Of
nation, the destiny Of a world. 1t was a
Marathon, an Arbela, a Waterloo, Biel-
helm, Sedan, concentrated into two right
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