Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-12-12

blasted: the one lowered over by the mercy of
Christ the other blasted by the wrath OF
God: the one full of finny tribes sporting In
the clear depths, the other forever hfeless;
the waters Ct the one sweet and pleasant to
the taste. the other bitter and sharp and
disgusting Awful Dead Sea! Glorious
Gennesaret-
We will not attempt to cross the eastern
side of this lake, as had thought to do, for
those regions are inhabited bya thieving and
murderous race and one must go thorough
" armed, and as l never shot any one and
have no ambition to be shot, said: Let Us
stay by the western shore" But we look
over to the hills OF Gadara, on the other side,
down which two thousand swine after being
possessed by the devil ran into the lake, aad
bringing down on Christ for permitting it
the wrath of all the stock raisers OF that
country because of this running Of the pork
business. You see that Satan is a spirit nj
bad taste. Why did henot say: LET me go
into those birds, whole focks of which AZ
over Galilee?" No: that would have been
TOO high. why not let me go into the sheen
which wander over these hillsg' No; that
would have been too gentle sRather lei
me go into these swine. want to be with
the dealzens of the mire. want to associat.
with the inhabitants OF the filth. Great is
mud! prefer bristles to wings. | would
rather root than fly. like snout better than
wing"
Int1dei1ty SCOTS at the idea that those swine
should have run into the lake But it was
quite natural that under the heat and burn
ing OF that demOnlac possession they would
start for the water to get cooled off. Would
that all the swine thus possessed had plunged
to the same drowning, for this dav the
descendants of some of those porcine
creatures retain the demons and as the
deVHs were cast out of man into them they
now atf1lct the human race with the devils
OF scrofula, that comes from eating the nm
clean meat! The healthiest people on earth
are the lsraelites, because they follow the
bill of fare which God in the book of
Levltlcus gave to the human race and our
splendid French DR.. Pasteur and our
glorious German DR.. Koch may go on with
their good work of killing parasites in the
human system; but until the world corrects
It's diet. and goes bac-t to the divine regula-
ton at the beginp .ng, the human race will
continne to be Possessed of the devils of
microbe and --arasite. But l did not mean
to cross over to the eastern side of Lake
Galilee even in discussion.
Pull away, ye Arab oarsmen! And we
come along the shore near by which stand
great precipices of brown and red and gray
limestone crowned by basalt, in the sides OF
which are vast cavernS sometimes the hiding
place of bandits, and sometimes the home of
honest shepherds, and sometimes the dwell
During one of Herod's wars his enemies hid
in these mountain caverns and the sides were
too steep for HerOdS army to descend, and
the attempt to climb in the face of armed
men would have called down extermin alton.
So Herod had great cages of wood, iron
bound, made and filled them with soldiers and
let them down from the top of the precipices
until they gave signal that they were level
with the caverns and then from these cages
they stepped out to the mouth of the caverns,
and having set enough grass and wood on
fire to fill the caverns with smoke and stran-
gulation the hidden people would come
forth to die; and If not coming forth volun-
tarily HerOd's men would pull them out with
long iron hooks, and Josephus says that one
father. rather than submit to the attacking
army flung his wife and seven children down
the precipice and then leaped after them to
his own death.
Now, We Arab Oarsmen, row on with swift
er stroke, for we want before noon to land
at Capernaum, the three years home of
Jesus. But before arrival there we are to
have a new experience. The lake that had
been a smooth surface begins to break up in
to roughness. The air, which all the morn
ing made our sail almost useless, suddenly
takes hold of our boat with a grip astonish-
ing. and our poor craft begins to roll and
pitch and tumble, and in five minutes we
pass from a calm to violence. The contour
of this lake among the hills is an invitation to
hurricanes. [ used to wonder why it was
that on so limited sheet of water a be-
stormed boat in Christ's time did not put
BACK TO snore when hurricane was coming.
wonder no more.
On that lake an atmospheric fury gives no
warning, and the change we saw in five
minutes made me feel that the boat in which
Christ sailed may have been skilfully man
aged when the tempest struck it and the wild,
importunate cry went up, Lord save us or
we perish!" I had all along that morning
been reading from the New Testament the
story of occurrences on and around that lake
But our Bible was closed now, and it was as
much as we could do to hold fast and wish
for the land. If the wind and the waves had
continued to increase in violence the follow
ing fifteen minutes in the same ratio as in the
first five and we had been still at their mercy
our bones would have been bleaching in the
bottom of Lake Gennesaret instead Of our
being here to tell the story.
But the same power that rescued the fish
ermen of old to-day safely landed our party.
What Christ for rough weather! All the
sailor boys ought to fly to Him as did those
Galilean mariners Ali you in the forecastle
and all you who run up and down the siD
perry ratlines, take to sea with you Him VINO
with quiet word sent the winds back
through the mountain gorges. Some of you
Jack Tars to whom these words will come
need to tack Ship and change your course
if you going to get across this sea Of life
safely and gain the heavenly harbor. Delay
there! Ready about! Helms alec! Main
sail haul
Star of peace! beam DER the billow
Bless the soul that signs for thee;
RlosSt ha Gojl Org lone y mill