Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-11-17

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 Geriziln cried, blessed shalt
thou be in the city. and blessed shalt
thou be in the fields, blessed shalt be
thy basket and thy store!" and then
from Mount Ebal thousands of voices
responded, crying Cursed be he that
removeth his neighbours landmark
Cursed be he that maketh the blinl to
wander out of the way and then
there rolled up from all the space be-
tween the mountains that one word,
with which the devout of earth close
their prayers, and the glorified of
heaven finish their doxologies, s'Amenl
amen i''-that scene only to be sur
passed by the times which are coming,
when the churches, and the academies
of music, and the auditoriums of earth,
no longer large enough to hold the
worshipers of God; the parks, the
mountain sides, the great natural am
phitheatres of the valleys, shall be
filled with the outpouring populations
of the earth, and mountain shall reply
to mountain, as Mount GeriZim to
Mount Ebal, and all the people be-
tween shall ascribe riches and honor
and glory and dominion and victory to
God the Lamb, and there shall arise an
amen like the booming of the heavens
mingling with the thunder of the seas.
THE SAD DEATH OF ELL
On and on we ride until now we
have come to Shiloh, a dead city on a
hill surrounded 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 ex-
piring under such tidings, than those
parents who, their children recre-
ant and profigate, live on with
broken hearts 20 see them going
down into deeper and deeper plunge.
There are fathers and mothers here
today to whom death would be
happy release because of their recreant
sons. And if there be recreant sons
here present, and your parents be far
away, why not bow your head in re-
pentance, and at the close of this serv-
ice go to the telegraph office and put
it on the wing of the lightning that you
have turned from your evil ways? Be
fore another twenty-four hours have
passed take your feet off the sad hearts
at the old homestead Home TO thy
God, o prodigal!
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 a child of many prayers. But
how can l hunt him up unless he be in
this audience2 Where are you, my
boy? On the main floor, or on this
platform, or in these boxes, or in these
great galleries? Where are you2 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 life
less, and the heart against which you
lay in infancy ceases to beat? What a
story to tell in eternity that you killed
her? My God avert that catastrophe.
But turn from this Shiloh of Ellis
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 prosperity, on this MEAD
ow of the Feast" there was an annual |
ball, where the maidens of the city |
amid clapping cymbals and a blare of
trumpets danced in glee, upon which |
thousands of spectators gazed. But |
no dance since the world stood ever |
broke up in such a strange way as the |
one the Bible describes. One night |
while by the light of the lamps and |
torches these gayeties went on, 200 |
Benjamites, who had been hidden be |
hind the rocks and among the trees, |
dashed upon the scene. They came |
not to injure or destroy, but wishing to
set up households of their own, the |
women of their own land having been |
slain in battle, by preconcerted ar
each one of the 200 Ben
iamites seized the one whom he chose
for the queen of his home, and carried |
her away to large estate and beautiful |
for these 200 Benjamites had
inherited the wealth of a nation.
As today near Shiloh we look at the
Meadow of the Feast" where the
maidens danced that night and at the
mountain gorge up which the Ben
iaminites carried their brides, we be-
think ourselves of the better land and |
the better times in which we live, when
such scenes are an impossibility, and
amid orderly groups and with prayer
and benediction, and breath of orange
blossoms and the roll of the wedding
march, marriage is solemnized, and
with oath recorded in heaven two i'm
mortals start arm in arm on n journey
to last until death do them part. Upon
every such marriage altar may there
come the blessing of him s'who setteth
the solitary in fanilies!" Side by side
on the path of life! Side by side in
their gravesl Side by side in heavenl
But we must this afternoon, our last
day before reaching Nazareth, pitch our
tent on the most famous battlefield of
all time-the plain of Esdraelon. What
must have been the feelings of the
Prince of Peace as he crossed it on the
way from Jerusalem to Nazareth? Not
a flower blooms there but has in its
veins the inherited blood of flowers
that drank the blood of fallen armies.
Hardly foot of the ground that has
not at some time been quilted with war
chariots or trampled with the hoofs of
cavalry. It is a plain reaching from
the Mediterranean to the Jordan. Upon
it look down the mountains of Tabor
and Gilboa and Carmel Through it
RACES at certain seasons the river
Kishon, which swept down the armies
of Sisera, the battle occurring in No
vember when there is almost always a
shower of meteors so that s'the stars in
their courses were said to have fought
against Sisera.
L IL Tx ! |