The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-11-20

mortals start arm in arm on q journey
TO last until death do them part, Upon
every such marriage altar may there
come the blessing of him who setteth
the solitary in familiesr Side by side
on the path of lifcl Side by side in
their graves Side by side in heaven!
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 a foot of the ground that has
not at some time been quilted with wal
chariots or trampled with the hoofs OF
cavalry. II is plain reaching from
the Mediterranean to the Jordan. Upon
it look down the mountains of Tabor
and Gilboa and Carmel Through il
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 neteors so that "the stars in
their courses" were said to have fought
against Sisera.
Through this plain drove Jehu, and
the iron chariots of the Canaanites,
scythed at the hubs of the wheels, hew,
ing down their awful swaths of death,
thousands in a minute. The Syrian
armies, the Turkish armies, the Egyp-
tian armies again and again trampled
it. There they career across it, David
and Joshua and Godfrey and Richard
Cpur de Lion and Baldwin and Sala.
dina plain not only famous for the
past, but famous because the Bible
says the great decisive battle of the
world will be fought there--the battle
of Armageddon.
A VALLEY OF SLAUGHTER.
To me the plain was the more alb
sorbing because of the desperate bat,
ties here and in regions round in which
the holy cross, the very two pieces of
wood on which Jesus was supposed to
have been crucified, was carried rs a
standard at the head of the Christian
host; and that night, closing my eyes
in my tent on the plain of Esdraelon-
for there are some things we can see
better with eyes shut than open-the
scenes of that ancient war came before
me. The Twelfth century was closing,
and Saladin, at the head of eighty
thousand mounted troops, was crying
"Ho for Jerusaleml Ho for all Pales-
tinel" and before them everything
went down, but not without unparal-
leled resistance. In one place one
hundred and thirty Christians were
surrounded by many thousands of furi-
Gus Mohammedans. For one whole
day the one hundred and thirty held
out against these thousands.
Tennyson's ''six hundred" when
''some one had blundered" were
eclipsed by these one hundred and
thirty fighting for the holy cross They
took hold of the lances which had pierced
them with death wounds, and pulling
them out of their own breasts and sides
hurled them back again at the enemy.
On went the fight until all but one
Christian had fallen, and he, mounted
on the last horse, welded his battle ak
right and left till his horse fell under
the plunge of the javelin, and the rider,
making the sign of the cross toward
the sky, gave up his life on the point
of score of spears. But soon after
the last battle came. History portrays
it, poetry chants it, painting colors it,
and all ages admire that last struggle
to keep in possession the wooden cross
on which Jesus was said to have ex-
PRED. It was battle in which min
gled the fury of devils and the grand
eur of angels. Thousands of dead Chris
tians on this side Thousands of dead
Mohammedans on the other side.
The battle was hottest close around
the wooden cross upheld by the bishop
of Ptolemais, himself wounded and dy
ing. And when the bishop of Ptolemais
dropped dead the bishop of Lydia
seized the cross and again lifted it, car
rying it onward into wilder and fiercel
fight, and sword against javelin, and
battle ak upon helmet, and piercing
spear against splintering shield. Horses
and men tumbled into Heterogeneous
death. Now the wooden cross on which
the armies of Christians had kept theil
eye begins to wayer, begins to descend
1t falls! and the wailing of the Chris
tan host at its disappearance drown!
the huzza of the victorious Moslems.
hlls THE ARMIES OF GOD.
But that standard of the cross only
seemed to fall. 1t rides the sky today
in triumph. Five hundred million souls
the mightiest army of the ages, are fol
lowing it, and where that goes they
will go, across the earth and up thu
mighty sleeps Of the heavens. In the
Twelfth century it seemed to 60 down
but in the Nineteenth century it is the
-lnightiest symbol of glory and triumph
and means more than any other stand
ard, whether inscribed with eagle, o.
lion, or bear, or star, or crescent. Tha
which Saladin tranpled on the plair
of Esdraelon | lift today for you
marshaling The cross! The cross
The foot of it planted in the earth i,
saves, the top of it pointing to thu
heavens to which it will take you, ant
the outspread beam of it like out
stretched arms OF invitation to all ma
lions. Kneel at its foot. Lift you
eye to its victim Swear eternal allie
glance to its power. And as that might!
symbol of pain and triumph is kept be
fore us we will realize how insignificant
are the little crosses we are called t.
bear, and will more cheerfully carr,
them. r.eTa H EfH
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go freef
No, there's a cross for every one
And there's q cross for me