The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-29


Bot. standing on this Joppa house-top,
look of on the Mediterranean, and what Is
that strange sight ! sses The waters are
black, seemingly. for miles. There seems
TO be a great multitude OF logs fastened
together. Oh, YES, 1t Is a great raft OF
timbers They are cedars of Lebanon,
which King Hiram is furnishing King
Solomon in exchange for ZOO measures OF
wheat, 20, 900 baths OF oil, and 1000 baths
of wine. These ceiars have been cut down
and trimmed in the mountains of Lebanon
by the 1000 axmen engaged there, and
with great withes and iron bolts are fas-
tened together, and they are floating down
to Joppa to be taken across the land for Solo
mons temple now building at Jerusalem.
for we have lost our hold of the nineteenth
century and are clear back IN the ages. The
RATS of cedar are guided into what is called
the Noon Pool, an old hlrbor south of
Joppa, now filed with sand aud useless.
With long pixies the timber is pushed this
way and that in the water, then with levers,
and many loud, long 80. heaven as the
carriers get their shoulders under the great
weight, the timber is fastened TO the wagons
and the lowing oxen are yoked to the load,
and the procession Of teams moves on with
crack Of whip, and drawled-out words,
which translated, | suppose. would oorre-
spond with the whoa, haw, geep of mod
ern teamsters, toward Jerusalem, which is
forty-one miles away, over mountainous
distances, which for hundreds of years
deted all engineering. And these rough
cedars shall become carved pillars, and
beautiful affairs, aud rounded Danisters, and
traceried panels, and sublime ceiling, aud
exquisite harps, and kingly chsriots. As the
wagon train moves out from Joppa over the
plain OF Sharon toward Jerusalem, | say to
myself, what vast numbers of people helped
build that temple Of solomon. aud what
vast numbers of people are now engaged in
building the wider, higher. grander temple
OF righteousness rising in the earth. Our
christian ancestry toiled at it. amid sweat
and tears, and hundreds Of the generations
of the good, aud the long train of chris
tian workers still moves on, and as in the
construction of Solomon's temple some
hewed with the ex in the far-away
Lebanon, and some drove a wedge and
some twisted a withe, and some trod the
wet and slippery RATS on the sea, and some
yoked the OK, and some pulled at the load.
and some showed the plane, and some fitted
the points, and some heaved up the rafters,
but all helped build the temple, though
some Of these never saw it, so now let us all
put our hands and our shoulders and our
hearts TO the work Of building the temple of
righteousness, which is to fill the earth: and
one will bind wound, and another will wipe
away tear, and another will teach class.
and another will speak the encouraging
word, and all of us will be ready to pull and
lift, and in some way bel p on the work until
the millenial morn shall glld the pinnacles
of that finished temple, and at its shining
gates the world shall put down its last
burden, and in its LAYERS wash off its last
stain, and at it's affairs the last wanderer
shall kneel. At the dedication of that tenn
pie all the armies of earth and heaven will
shoulder arms" and ''present arms" and
ground arms" for behold greater than
Solomon is here"
But first day in the holy Land is
ended. The sun is already closing his eye
for the night. l stand on the balcony of a
hotel which was brought to Joppa in pieces
from the state of Maine by some fanatics
who came here expecting to see Christ re-
appear in Palestine. My room here was
once occupied by that christian hero of the
centuries - English, Chinese, Egyptian,
worldwide Gen. Gordon, a man mighty for
God as well as for the worlds pacification.
Although the lst Of December and winter.
the air is full of fragrance from gardens ali
a.bloom, and under my window are acacia
and tamarisk and mulberry and CEN
fury plants and orange groves and clean
der. From the drowsiness of the air and
the fatigues of the day feel sleepy. Good
night. Tomorrow morning we start for
Jerusalem.