The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-10-31

LDink can uarulY Just u8ppcn 80 ESE-
haps it is because God loves she church
SO well, He builds in the so1itudss of
Yellowstone Park, and Yosemite, and
Switzerland. and Palestine these eccle-
siastical piles And who knows but
that unseen spirits may sometimes wor-
ship there? .Dregoman, when shall We
see the Jordan?" l ask ALI the time
We were on the alert, and looking
through tamarisk and willows for the
greatest river of all the earth. The
Mississippi IL wider. the Ohio is deeper,
the Amazon is longer. the Hudson rolls
amid regions more picturesque. the
Thames has more splendor on its banks.
the TIber suggests moro imperial pro-
cession, the nyssus has more classic
memories. and the Nile feeds grester
populations by its irrigations but the
Jordan is the queen of rivers and runs
through all the b BILE. silver thread
strung like beads with heroics. and be-
fore night we shall meet on its banks
Elijah, and Elisha, and David, and ia
cob, and Joshua, and John, and Jesus.
At last, between two trees got q
glimpse of a river. and said: What is
that?" THE Jordan" was the quick
reply. And all along the line. which
had been heightened by other pilgrims.
some from America, some from Europe
and some from Asia, the cry was sound
ed: THE Jordan. The JordanP Hun
dreds of thousands of pilgrims have
chanted on its banks and bathed in its
waters Many of them dip gown in
the wave, and wiring 1t ont and carry it
home for their own shroud. 1t is an inn
petaous stream and rUshes on as though
it were Fastening to tell its story to the
ages Many an explorer has it whelmed,
and many boat has it wrecked Lieu
tenant Molineux had copper-bottomed
crafts split upon its shelvings. Only
one boat, that of Lieutenant Lynch,
ever lived to sail the whole length of it
At the season when the SHOWS on Leb-
anon melt the rage OF this stream is
like the Conemaugh when Johnstown
perished, and the wild beasts that may
be near run for the hills, explaining
what Jeremiah says: BE hold, he shan
go up like lion from the swelling OF
Jordan" No river so otter changes its
mind, for it turns and twists, travelling
200 miles to do that which in a straight
line might be done in sixty miles
Among banks now low, now high, now
of rocks. now of mud and now of sand,
LAYING tho feet of the tereblnths and
oleanders, and acacias, and reeds, and
pistachios, and silver poplars- This
river marries the Dead Sea to Lake GAL
lilee, and did ever SO rough a groom
take the hand of SO fair a bride?
This is the river which parted to let
an army of 2, 900, 600 Israelites across
Here the skilled Major General of the
Syrian hosts at the seventh plung drop
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
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
a child of God lear any thing; for if the
most destructive of all elements was
that day fashioned into vehicle for a
departing saint, nothing can ever hurt
you who trust in the Lord. 1 am SO
glad that that chariot of Elijah was
not made out of wood, or crystal, or
any thing ordinarily pleasant but out of
fire, and yet he went up without having
so much as to fan himself When,
stepping from amid the foliage of these
oleanders and tamerisks on the banks
of the Jordan, he put his foot on the
red step of the red equipage, and took
the red reins of vapor in his hands and
spurred the gailoping steeds toward the
wide open gate of Heaven, it was q
scene forever memorable. So the hot
test Affections of your life may roll you
heavenward. So the most burning per-
solutions. the most fiery trouble may be-
come uplifting. Only be sure that
when you pull on the bits of fire you
arrive up toward 1ou, anu not uoWu
toward the Dead sea. When Latimer
and Ridley died at the stake they went
up in a chariot of fire When my
friend, P. p Bliss, the Gospel singer,
was consumed with the rail train that
broke through Astabula bridge and then
took flame, I said: Another Elijah
gone up in a chariot of fireH'
But this river of baptismS. Christ
was here baptized and John baptized
many thousands Whether on these
occasions the candidate for baptism and
the officer of religion went into this
river, and then while both were stand
ing the water was dipped in the hand of
one and sprink1ed upon the forehead of
the other. or whether the entire form
of the one baptized disappeared for q
moment beneath the surface of the
food, I do not now declare. While I
can not think without deep emotion of
the fact that my parents held me in in
fancy to the baptismal fount in the old
meeting house at Somerville, and as
sumed VOWS on my behalf, must tell
you now of another mode of baptism,
afternoon in last December, the partic-
ulars of whicl 1 now for the first time
relate.
1t was a scene of unimaginable sol
enanity. A comrade in our Holy Land
journey rode up by my side that day,
and told me that young man, who is
now studying for the Gospel ministry,
would like to be baptized by me- in the
river Jordan L got all the facts could
concerning his earnestness and faith,
and through personal examination made
myself confident he was worthy candi-
date. There were among our Arab at
| tendants two robes not unlike those
used for American baptisteries. and
these we obtained. AS we were to have
large group of different nationalities
present dictated to my daughter a few
verses. and had copies enough made
to allow all to sing. Our dragoman
had a man familiar with the river
wade through and across to show
the depth and the swiftness of
the stream, and the most appro-
pirate place for the ceremony. Then /
read from the Bible the accounts of
baptisms in that sacred stream. and i'm
plored the presence of the Christ on
whose head the dove descended at the
Jordan Then, as the candidate and
myself stepped into the waters, the peO-
pie on the banks sang in full and re-
sounding voice:
On JoFdan's stormy banks stand,
And east "A WfahfuI eve