Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-10-11
constitution Or BY their lack Of faith in God.

! traces 10 pun anead. Dub only DF6Senlu5
| 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 not May the Lord multi
/ ply the numbers Of those who when anything
| good is undertaken ara found to live in the
| plain of Oh, yesi Win you support this new
| charitys Oh, yesi Do you think that this
victim of evil habit can be reformed2 Oh,
yesi Are you willing TO do anything
whether obscure or resembling, for the wei
| fare of the church AMI the salvation OF a
world? Oh. yesl But, | 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 Tho
| foxes are no rarity in this land. I 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.9 and at night
they sometimes bark until all attempts to
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 incendiaTisrn. The wealth
| Of that land was in the harvests and it was
harvest time and the straw was dry. Thres
| hundred foxes are caught and tied in couples
| by some wire or incombustible cord which
the flames cannot divide, AMI firebranis are
| fastened to those couples of foxes, and the
aRrighted creatures are let loose and run
every whittier among the harvests, aud in
the awful blaze down go the corn shocks, and
the vineyards. and the olives and all through
the valleys and over the hills aud among the
villages is heard the cry of ''Firem Ani 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 it that great man may some
times stoop toa very mean piece OF business,
and that if men would use as much ingenu-
lily in trying to bless as they do In trying to
destroy, the world all the va. down would
be in better condition. Yet tbe fire of the
foxes kindled that night in Palestine has not
gone out, but has leaped tine seas, and the sly
foxes, the human foxes, are now still rum
ming every whittier, kindling political fires,
fires OF religious controversy, fires Of hate,
world wide fires and the whole harvest of
| Righteousness perish. 1t took the hard WORK
| of multitudes on these plains of Palestine for
| months and months to rear the vine and raise
| the corn, but it took only three hundred
| worthless foxes one night to blaze all into
| ashes.
| Brace up your nerves now that you may
| look while point them out. Yonder is Air-
| jath-J earlm where the ark OF God staid un-
! til David took it to Jerusalem. Yonder John
| the Baptist was born. Yonder is Emmaus,
| where Christ walked with his disciples at
| eventide. Here are men blowing, only one
| handle to the pillow, showing the accuracy OF
Christ's alluson. When we plow in America
or England there are two hands on two
handles, but in Palestine only enc handle.
| And SO Christ used the singular saying, mo
man having put his hand to the piow and
looking back is fit for the kingdom" The OK
is urged on by wooden stick pointed with
sharp iron, and the OK knows enough not to
| kick, for he would only hurt himself instead
of breaking the goad. And the Bible refers
| to that when it says to Saul, at is hard for
thee to kick against the goads."
Here is the valley of Ajalon, famous for
! Joshua's pursuit of the five kings and the
lunar arrest. And in imagination | see the
moon in daytime halt. Who has not some
times seen the moon dispute 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 a moment in
their march, halted at Joshua's command it
was a scene, enough to make the universe
SILVER: "Moon, stand thou still in the valley
of Ajalonp At another time we will see the
sun stop above Gibeon but now we have only
to do with the moon, and you must remem-
Der it was more of an orb than it is now. 1t
is 1 burnt orb world now, dead world now.
an extinct world now, a corpse laid out in
state in the heavens waiting for the judg-
ment day to bury it. But on the day of
which speak the moon was probably liv-
ing world, yet it halted at the wave of Josh
ua's finger, 'Stand thou stilT Do mot bulge
an inch until Joshua finishes those five kings
WAC are there tumoliny over the rocks, sword
OF man slashing them, hailstones out of the
SKY pelting them.
And there is the cavern OF Makkedah,
| ware 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 afterwarl buried, and you do
| well to examine that cavern. for within
few hours it became three things which no
oJner cave ever was-fortress, prison,
ssDuicher.
Now we pass the place where oncs lived
| one OF the greatest robbers of the country,
Abou Gosh by name. From this point you
see hs could look over the surrounding coun-
| try, AMI long before the travellers cams up to
him the plan for taking of their money or
tlelr life, or both, was consumated. He one
| DAY found company of monks who would
| not pay, and he smothered them to death in
hot oven. In his last days he lived here
ike an oriental prince, and had attendants
! aud admirers to whom he told his stories of
| br1gandage and assassination. So late as
| when our eminent and beloved American
William G. Prime passed through, Abou
Gosh, the scoundrelly Bedouin, sat at his
! doorway smoking his pipe. His descendants
| hvel1 tnis village, an probably are no moc
honest than their distinguished ancestor but
marauding and murder are not as safe a
! business now as when all this route to
Jerusalem was subjected to outrages pam
| demoniac.
Here we pass the village of Latrun, home.
OF the penltent thief the village, few stra.,-
| gilng houses on steep hills, rising from the
valley of Ajalon. Up thsse steep hills in his
| earlier days the thief had carried the spoils
OF arson and burglary and down them he
| mad born the heavier burden of a guilty
| heart But higher than these hills he
mounted after he had repented, from the
transixed posture on the cross to the bosom
of forgiying God.
Nnrp DO.
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 drop of water
| In the brook. We went down into the rayins
and walked amid the pebbles that had been
washed smooth, very smooth by the rush of
the waters through all the ages. There is
where David armed himself. He walked
around and picked - five of these polished
pebbles. He got them Of just the right size.
He prepared himself for Ave vollays, so that
| If the giant escaped the first he will not es-
cape the whole five. The topography of the
place 50 corresponds with the Bible story
| that could see the memorable fight go on.
1t is the only fl ght l ever did watch
Pugilism abhor; but here We're two cham
| plons-the one Col Apo .nted, the other
| Satan appointed, and deciding the destiny of
nation, the destiny of a world. 1t was a
Marathon, an Arbela, a Waterloo. Blea-
helm, Sedan, concentrated into two right
arms. Here are two ridges of mountains so
feet high, the Philistines on one ridge. the Is
raelites on the other ridge Tho fight is in
| the valley between, at that season shaded
and sweet with terebinth and acacia, David
the champion for the IsraeliteS, Goliath tho
champion for the Philistines, David under
| sized and almost effaminate only a mouth
full for Goliath, who was nearly ten feet high
| They advance to meet each other, but the
! Bible says that David made thu first step
| forward. Nearer and nearer they come,
| but DO not think David will wait until he
comes within reach OF Goliath's sword, for
| that would be fatal, and David has weapon
| with which he can fight at long range
| Closer aud closer they come. but David adj
4 vances the more rapidly. 'Come to me-"
said the giant, ''and / will give thy flesh
| unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts
| OF the field" You see Goliath going to
give David for a banquet to tho vulture
and cial. He, tia mountain of flesh will
| fall over on that little hilloc6. / hear him
| laugh through the mouthDiece of his he'll
met. He win toast the little whif7et on the
top Of his long sword. He will call all the
| crows for a breakfast. Come to me- YOU
quick york with you. The iiea that We
footar should dare to come out against
teu-footari Let the two armies looking down
from the ridges watch mew David respond
ed, II come to thea in the name OF the
kind of battle shout. In the name of the
Lord of Hostsm
How that cry rings through the Wadyes-
Sumpt! He WAC fights in that spirit wins
the day. The almost Israelitish dwarf en-
I iargeS into OnaiD0tent DroDortinps Tho