The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-11-06

among other things, for the simple
reason that water cannot run up hill.
1t swallows up the river Jordon and
mlkeS no response Of thanks, and never
reports whit it does with the twenty
million cubic feet Of water annually
received from that sacred river. 1t
takes the three branches and logs float
ed into it by the Jordan and pitches
them on the banks Of bitumen to decay
there.
The hot springs near it's banks by the
name OF Callirhoe, where King Herod
came to hathe off his illnesses, no sooner
ed. Not fish scale SwimS it. Not an in
sect walks 1T. 1t hates life, and if you at
tempt to swim there it lifts you by an
unnatural buoyancy to the surface,
as much us to say, I'VE want no life
here, but death is our preference:
death" Those who attempt to wade
into this lake, and submerge them
selves, come out almost maddened,
as with the sting of hundred wasps
and hornets, and with lips and eye
lids swollen with the strange ablution.
The sparkle Of its waters is not like
the sparkle of beauty on other lakes
buta metallic luster like unto the flash
of sword that would thrust you. The
gaZelleS and the ibeXeS that live on the
hills beside it, and cranes and wild
ducks that fly acrOSS-for, contrary to
the old belief, birds do safely wing their
way over it-and the Arab horses you
have been riding, though thirsty
enough, will not drink out Of this
dreadful mixture. \ mist hoverS over
parts Of it almost continually, which
though natural evaporation, seems like
Il wing Of doom spread over liquid des-
olation: 1t is the rinsings of abomina-
tlon. 1t is an aqueous monster coiled
among the hills, or creeping with rip
| pies, and Stenchful with nauseating
malOdOrS.
TIE CITIES OF THE PLAIN.
In these regions once stood four
great cities of Assyria: Sodum, Gomor-
rah, Adma and Zebom. The Bible
| says they were destroyed by tempteSt
of fire and birthstone after these cities
had filled up of wickedneSs. mo; that
is absurd" cries some one; "it is evil
dent that this was region Of salt and
birthstone and pitch long before that"
And SO it was. The Bible says it was
a region Of sulphur long before the
some one, wanting to raise a quarrel
between science and Revelation, "you
have no right to say the cities of the
plain were destroyed by a temptest of
| lire and sulphur and birthstone, be-
| cause this region had these characteris-
tics long before these cities were des-
| troyed.' Volcanic action, is my reply.
| These cities had been built out of very
combustible materials. The mortar
was OF bitumen easily ignited, and the
walls drippcd with pitch most iniama-
ble. They sat, think, on a ridge of
hills. They stood high up and conspic-
uouS. radiant in their sins, OStentatious
in their deDaucheries, four hells on
earth.
One day there was Il rumblng in the
earth. a Ia quaking. "What's that ?''
cry the atfrighted inhabitants. "Whats
that?' The foundations of the earth
were giving way. y volcano, whose
fires had been burning for ages, at
Gods command bursts forth, easily
setting everything aname, and first
ll1ting these cities high in air and then
| flashing them down in chasmS fathom-
less. The fires Of that eruption inter-
shot the dense smoke and iOlled unto
the heavens, only to descend again.
And all the conliguration of that coun-
Try was changed, and where there was
NIL there came valley, and where
there had been the pomp OF unclean-
ness came widespread deSolation. The
red hot spade of volcanic action had
ShOvelcd under the cities Of the plain.
| Bclore the catastrophe the cities stood
ON the top of the salt and sulphur.
Alter the catastrophe they were under
the salt and sulphur. Science right;
Revelation right. "IIe toucheth the
| hills and they smoke"
NO science ever frightened believers
in Revelation so much as geology
| They feared that the strata of the
earth would contradict the Scriptures
ana then Moses must go under. But
as in the Dead sea instance so i'm all
cases Gods writing on the earth and
Gods writing III the Bible are harmo-
NOUS. The shelves of rock correspond
with the shelves Of the American Bible
society. Science digs into the earth
and finds deep down the remains Of
plants and so the Bible announces
plants first. Science digs down and
says; "Marine animals next" and the
Bible says, "NIariue animals next"
Science digs down and says. Land ami
mails next" and the Bible responds,
Land ANIMALS next" "Thcn comes
man. says science. "Thpn comes
man.! responds the Bible. Science digs
into the regions about the Dead sea,
and inds result Of lire and masses of
DrlmStOne, and announces q wonderful
geol0g'cal formation. "Oh, yes" says
Ine blDle, Moses wrote thousands of
years ago, 9Th" Lord rained uD0n Sod
ON and upon Gomorrah birthstone and
IRE from the Lord out Of heaven and
David wrote. lie toucheth the hills and
they smoke" SO ! guess we will hold
on to our Bibles Il little longer. A gen
tlcman in the ante-room of tho White
House at Washington. having an an
pointment with Mr.. Lincoln at $
o'clock III the morning. got there ff-
teen minutes early, and asked the ser
want, "Who is talking in the next
room?" at is the president. sir" Is
anybody with him." "No. sir; he is
reading the Bible. lie spends every
morning from 4 to S O'clock reading the
Scriptures"
PRorLIGATE CITIES OVERWHELMED.
My text implies that God controls
volcanoes, not with the full force OF
his hand, but with the tip of his finger.
Etna, StrOmboli and Vesuvius fawn
at his feet like h0nDIS hpfOrp the hun-