The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-10-17

castles Of chopped straw and mud, where
at night and partly through the day
armed men dwell and keep the bandits
of travellers In the caves OF these
mountains dwell men to whom massacre
would be high play, and purse with a
few pennies would be compensation
enough for the struggle that the savage
might have with the wayfarer. There
is only one other defense that amounts
to much in these lands, and that Is the
law Of hospitality. II you can get an
Arab to eat with you, il only one mouth
full, you are snre of his protection, and
that has been so from age to age. The
Lords Supper was built on that custom.
The only lands where It is safe to
travel unarmed are Christian lands.
Human life is more highly valued and
personal rights are better respected,
and l am glad to believe that in our
country. from the Atlantic ocean to the
Pacific ocean, there Is not place to-day
where man Is not safer without pis-
tol than with one. But all through our
Journeys to Palestine we required fire.
arms While the only weapon l had
on my person was New Testament we
went through the region where 1 said
to the dragoman: "David, are you
armed?" and he said: YES" and /
said: Are those fifteen or twenty
muleteers and baggagemen and attend
ants armed?" and he said: "Yes," and
felt safer.
On we roll through the plain Of
Sharon. Here grew the rose after
which Christ was named, Rose OF
Sharon, celebrated in all Christendom
and throughout all ages
Yonder, little to the north as we
move on is the plain OF Ono. The Bible
mentions it again and again. The viii
lage standing on this plain Of Ono Is a
mud village. Two great basins of rock
catch the rains for the people. OF more
Importance in olden time than in
modern time was this plain of Ono. But
as the dragoman announced it and in
the Bible read of 1t, 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 mega
tive. Will you help to build church?
o, no! Will you start out in some new
Christian enterprise? o, mol Do you
think the world is getting any better?
o, mo-! They lie down in the path Of
all good movements, sanitary. social,
political and religious They harness
their horses with no traces to pull ahead
but only breeding straps to hold back.
For all Christian work 1 would not give
a thousand Of them the price of a
clipped ten cent piece, These are in
the plain of O. no! May the Lord null
tiply the numbers Of those who, when
any thing good is undertaken. are found
to live in the plain Of o, Yes!
Here now we come where stood the
fields into which Samson fired the foxes
The foxes'are no rarity in this land
counted at one time twenty or thirty Of
them in one group and the cry all along
the line was "Foxesl Look at the
foxes% and at night they sometimes
bark until all attempts to sleep are an
absurdity. Those l saw and heard in
Palestine might have been descendants
of the very foxes that Samson en-
ployed for an appalling incendiarism.
The wealth of that land was in the har-
vests and it 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 can not divide, and firebrands
are fastened to those couples of foxes
and the frightened creatures are let
loose and run every whittier among the
harvests, and in the awful blaze GO
down the corn shocks, and the vine
yards, and the olives. and all through
the valleys and over the hills and
among the villagesiis heard the cry of
"Firer And in the burnt pathway walk
Hunger, and Want, and Desolat,on.
All this for spite. And some theolo-
gians learn one thing, and some another.
But learn from 1T that great man
may stoop to very mean piece Of bus
ness and that.if men would use as much
ingenuity in trying to bless as they do
to destroy, the world all the way down
would have been in better condition
Yet the fire of the foxes kindled that
has leaped the seas, and the sly foxes,
the human foxes, are now still running
every whittier kindling political fires,
fires of religious controversy, fires Of
hate, worldwide fires, and whole har-
vests of Righteousness perish.
Brace up your nerves now, that you
may look while point them out Yon-
der is Kirjath Jearim, where the ark Of
God stayed until David took 1t to Jeru-
salem. Yonder John the Baptist was
born. Yonder is Emmaus, where Christ
walked, with the disciples at eventide
Here are men blowing, only one ham
die to the pillow, showing the accuracy
Of Christ's allusion. When we pillow in
America or England there are two hands
on two handles, but, in Palestine only
one handle. And so Christ uses the
singular saying: mo man having put
his hand to the pillow and looking back
is fit FOR the Kingdom" szs
Here is the valley OF Ajalon, famous
for Joshua's pursuit of the five Kings
and the lunar arrest And in imagina-
ton see the moon in day time halt
Who has not sometimes seen the moon
divide the throne with the sun? But
when the king OF day and the queen of
| night who never before Joshua's time
nor since then stopped moment in
their march, halted at Joshua's COM
mand it was a scene enough to make
the universe SILVER. 'Moou, stand thou
still in the valley of Aialon!
And there is the cavern of Makkedah,
where they fed for safety and where
they were afterward locked in, and
from which they were taken out to be
slain, and in which they were afterward
buried; and you do we'll to examine that