The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-11-19


ized that Jacob was wise in having
his own well. My hearer, it is your
part to dig your own we'll, and it is
Gods part to fill it. You do your part
and He will do His part.
Much is said about good luck but
people who are Industrious and self
denying almost always have good luck.
Yol can afford to be laughed at because
of your application and economy, for
when you get your we'll dug and filed,
it will be your turn to laugh.
But look up from this famous we'll
and see two mountains and the plain be-
tween them on which was gathered the
largest religious audience that ever as
sembled on earth, five hundred thou
sand people. Mount Gerizim, about
eight hundred feet high on one side,
and on the other, Mount Ebal. the
former called the Mount Of Blessing
and the latter called the Mount OF
Cursing. At Joshua's command six
tribes stood on Mount Gerizim ard
read the blessings for keeping the law.
and six tribes stood on Mount Ebal
reading the curses for breaking the
law, while the five hundred thousand
people on the plain cried Amen with an
emphasis that must have made the
earth tremble. II do not believe that"
says some one, "for those mountain tops
are two miles apart, and could voice
be heard from top to top?" My answer
is that while the tops are two miles
apart the basis Of the mountains are
only half mile apart, and the tribes
stood on the sides Of the mountains,
and the air is 80 clear and the acoustic
qualities Of this great natural amphi-
theater 80 perfect that voices can be
distinctly heard from mountain to noun
tain as has been demonstrated by trav-
elers fifty times in the last fifty years.
Can you imagine any thing more
thrilling and sublime, and overwhelm-
ing than what transpired on those two
mountain sides, and in the plain be-
tween, when the responsive service went
on, and thousands Of voices on Mount
Gerizim cried, blessed shalt thou be in
the city, and blessed shalt thou be in
the fields blessed shall be thy basket
and thy storeI" and then from Mount
Ebsl thousands OF voices responded,
crying: Cursed be he that removeth his
neighbor's landmark! Cursed be he
that maketh the blind to wander
out of the way" and then there
rolled up from all the spaces between
the mountains that one word, with
which the devout Of earth closed their
prayers, and the glorified Of Heaven fin
ish their doxologies: amen! Amenl"
that scene only to be surpassed by
the times which are coming, when the
churches and the academic OF music,
and the auditoriums OF earth, no longer
large enough to hold the worshipers OF
God, the parks, the mo untain sides, the
great natural amphitheaters OF the val
leys, shall be filled with the outpouring
populations Of the earth, and mountain
shall reply to mountain, as Mount Geri-
zim to Mount Ebal, and all the people
between shall ascribe riches and honor,
and glory, and dominion, and victory TO
God and the Lamb, and there shall arise
an amen like the booming of the heav-
ems mingling with the thunder OF the
seas
On and on we ride until now, we have
come to Shiloh, dead city on hill sur
rounded by rocks, sheep, goats, olive
gardens and vineyards. Here good Eli
fell backward and broke his neck. and
lay dead at the news from his bad boys
Phineas and Hophni; and life is not
worth living after ones children have
turned out badly, and more fortunate
was Eli, instantly expiri ng under such
tidings, than those par ents who, their
children recreant and profligate, live on
with broken hearts to see them going
down into deeper and deeper plunge.
There are fathers and mothers here to-
day to whom death would be happy
release because OF their recreant sons.
And IL there be recreant sons here
present, and your parents be far away,
why not bow your head in repentance,
and at the close Of this service go to the
telegraph Office and put 1t on the wing
OF the lightning that you have turned
from yopr evil ways? Before another
twenty-four hours have passed, take
your feet of the sad hearts at the old
homestead. Home to thy God, prod
igal!
Many, many letters do get In pur-
port saying: My son is in your cities:
we have not heard from him for some
time; we fear something is wrong; hunt
him up and say good word to him; his
mother is almost crazy about him; he is
child Of many prayers. But how can
i hunt him up unless he is in the audi
enceP Who're are you, my boy? On tho
main floor, or on this platform, or in
these boxes, or infthese great galleries?
Where are you9 Lift your right hand.
] have a message from home Your
father is anxious about you, your mother
is praying for you. Your God is calling
for you. Or will you wait until Eli
falls back lifeless, and the heart against
which you lay in infancy ceases to beatp
What a story TO tell in eternity that
you killed her? My Godl Avert that
catastrophel
But turn from this Shiloh Of ELS
sudden decease under bad news from his
boys, and find close by what is called
the Meadow Of the Feast" While this |
ancient city was in the height Of its pros
perity, on this Meadow Of the Feast"
there was an annual ball where the
maidens Of the city amid clapping GYM
balls and blare Of trumpets danced in
o glee, upon which thousands Of spec |
tators gazed. But no dance since the
world stood ever broke up in such .
strange way as the one the Bible de-
oortbaa Ono uiarht uthila hv tha 1ioht |