Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-10-25
maritan-.Who i rou neirhbory 4 hrinrinr


miles of, though it covered nineteen acres y
saw in London the vast procession which
one day last January moved to St. P1uPs
Cathedral at the burial of that Christian
hero Lord Napier The day after at Hawar-
den, in conversation on various themes, L
asked Mr.. Gladstone il he did not think that
many who were under the shadow OF false
religions might not nevertheless be at heart
really Christian Mr.. Gladstone replied:
Eyes; my old friend Lord Napier, who was
yesterday buried, after he returned from his
Abyssinlan campaign, visited us here at
Hawarden, and walking in this park where
we are now walking he told me very beau
tiful incident. He said: After the war in
Africa was over we were on the march, and
we had a soldier with a broken leg
who was not strong enough to go along
with US, and we did not dare to leave
him te be taken care of by savages, but we
found we were compelled to leave him. and
we went into the house of a woman who was
said TO be a very kind woman, though of the
race of savages, and we said, Here is
a sick man, and if you will take care
of him till he gets well we will pay
you very largely" end then we offered
her five times thaG which would ordi-
narily be offered, hoping by the excess of
pay to secure for him great kindness The
woman replied: 81 will not take care of him
for the money you offer. l do not want your
money But leave him here, and I will take
care of him for the sake of the love of
God. ~" Mr.. Gladstone turned to me and
said. 'Dr. Talmage, don't you think that
though she belonged to race of savages that
was pure reiigionp And | answered, lido;
l do" MAJ God multiply all the world over
the number of good Samaritansl
In Philadelphia young woman was diving.
She was wreck. Sunken into the depths
of depravity, there was no lower depth for
her to reach. Word came to the midnight
mission that she was dying in haunt OF
ir;quity near by. Who would go to tell her
of the Christ of Mary Magdalen? This one
refused and that one refused, saying, u
dare not go there" A Christian woman,
har white locks typical of her purity of soul.
said, II will go, and I will go now" She
went aLS at down by the dying girl and told
of Christ VINO came to seek and save that
which was lost. First to the forlorn one
came the tears of repentance, and
then the smile, as though she had
begun to hooe for the pardon of Him
who came to save to the uttermost. Then
just before she breathed her last she said to
the angel of mercy bending over her pillow,
Would you kiss me?" Il WILL" said the
Christian woman. as she put upon her cheek
the last salutation before, in the heavenly
world, | think. God gave her the welcoming
kiss. That was religion! Yes, that was re-
hglon. Good SamaTitans along every street
and along every road as well as this one on
the road to Jericho
But our procession of sightseers is again
In line, and here we pass through deep
rayine, AMI cry to the dragoman: David,
what place do you call thisp and he re-
piled: This is the Brook Cherith, where
Elllah was fed by the ravens" And in
that answer ne overthrow my life long
notions of the place where Elijah was waited
on by the black servants of the sky. A
brook to me had meant slight depression
OF ground and stream forbade, and per-
haps fifteen feet wide. But here was chasm
that an earthquake must have scooped out
with its biggest shovel or split with its
mightiest battle AK Six hundred feet
deep is it, and the brook Cherith is river
which, when in full force, is silver wedge
splitting the mountains into precipices The
feathered descendants of Elijahs ravens still
wing their way across this ravine, but are
not like the crows we supposed them to be.
They areas large as eagles, and one of them
could carry in its beak and clinched claw at
once enough food for half dozen Elijahs.
No thanks to the ravens; they are carniv-
erous, and would rather have picke out the
eyes of Elijah, whom they found at the
mouth of the cave on the side of Cherith
waiting for his breakfast having drunk his
morning beverage from the rushing stream
beneath, than have been his buffers and
purveyors.
But God compelled them, as He always has
compelled and always will compel black and
cruel and overshadowing proyidences to
carry help to His children il they only have
faith enough to catch the blessing as it drops
from the seeming adversely, the greatest
blessing always coming not with white wings
but black wings Black wings of convic-
tiOO hlsiD 1qrdnD to the SiDOar Rlapx
wings of crucifixion over Calvary, bringing
redemption for the world Black wings of
American revolution, bringing free institu
tons to a continent. Black wings of
American civil war, bringing unifca-
ton and solidarity to the republic.
Black wings of the Judgment day
bringing resurrection to an entombed
human race. Aud in the last day, when all
your life and mine W Il be summed up, we
will find that the greatest blessing we ever
received came on the wings of the black
ravens Of disaster. Bless God for trouble!
Bless God for sicknessi Bless God for perse-
cutioni Bless God for poverty You never
heard of any man or woman of great use to
the world who had not had lots of trouble.
The diamond must be cut; the wheat must
be threshed; the black ravens must fly. Who
are these nearest the throne? ''These are
They who come out OF great tribulation and
had their robes washed and made white in
the blood of the Lamb"
But look! Look what at4 o'clock in the
afternoon bursts upon our vision-the pain
of Jericho, and the valley of Jordan, and the
Dead Sea. We have come to place where
the horses not so much walk as slide up on
their launches, and we all diSmount, for the
steep descent is simply terrific. though q
Princess OF Wahachia who fell here and was
dangerously injured, after recovery spent a
%n nal-a fla
road passable. Down AMI down! till we saw
the white tents pitched for US by our mule
teers amid the ruins of ancient Jericho, which
fell at the sound of poor music played on
''ram's horn" that ancient instrument
which, taken from the head of the leader of
the flock OF sheep, IS perforated and pre-
pared to be fingered by the musical per-
former, and blown upon when pressed to the
lips. As in another sermon | have fully de-
scribed that scene | W II only say that every
day for seven days the ministers of religion
went round the city of Jericho blowing upon
those rams horns, and on the seventh day,
without the roll of war chariot, or the
stroke of a cstapult, or the swing of bal
lsta craS Al crash crash went the walls OF
that magnificent capital!
On the evening of December we walked
amid the brick and mortar of that shat
tered city, and I said to myself: All
this done by poor music blest of God, for
1t was not a harp, or a flute, or clapping
cymbal, or an organ played, at the sound
of which the city surrendered to destruc-
ton, but rude instrument making rude
music best of God, to the demolition OF
that wicked place which, had for centuries
defed the Almighty. And | said, il all
this was by the blessing of God on poor
music, what mightier things could be zone
by the blessing of God on good music, skill
full music gospel music. If all the good
that has already been done by music were
subtracted from the world / believe three
fOurths of its religion would be gone. The
lullabys of mothers which keep sounding on,
though the lips that sang them forty years
ago became ashes; the Old hymns in log cabin
churches and country meeting houses, and
psalms in Rouse's version in Scotch kinks;
the anthem in English cathedrals; the roll of
organs that will never let Handel or Haydn
OF Beethoven die; the thump Of harps, the
sweep of the bow across bass viols the song
of Sabbath schools storming the heavens the
1oxology of great assemblage thou
sand Jerichos of sin have by them all been
brought down
Seated by the warmth of our campiires
that evening of December g. amid the bricks
and debris OF Jericho, and thinking what poor
music has done and what mightier things
could be accomplished by the blessings Of
God on good music, l said to myself: Min
lsters have been doing a grand work, and
sermons have been blessed, but would it
not be well for us to put more emphasis on
musicS Oh, for campaign Of odd Hun
dred" Oh, for a brigade OF Mount Pts
gahs Oh. for a cavalry charge of Corona
tionsp Oh, for an army of Antiochs aud
st. Martins and Ariels! Oh, for enough
orchestral batons lifted to marshal all ma
tionsl As Jericho was surrounded by poor
music for seven days, and was conquered,
so let our earth be surrounded seven Gay~
by good gospel music, and the round planet
will he tat an for God Not A wall of oppu-