Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-10-31
ncess of walIachia who fell here and wa,

Princess of Wallachia who fell here and was
dangerously injured, after recovery spent a
large amount money in trying 10 make tho
road passable. Down and 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 a
rams 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 tho
lips As in another sermon have fully de-
scIibed that scene, ] VII 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 catapult, or the swing Of bal
lista, crasi! 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 / said to myself: All
this done by poor music blest Of God, for
it was not harp, or flute, or a clapping
cymbal, or an organ played, at the sound
of which the city surrendered to deStruc-
ton, but rude instrument making rude
music blest OF God, 10 the demolition OF
defied the Almighty. And | said il all
this was by the blessing of God on poor
music, what mightier things could be done
by the blessing of God on good music, skill
full music, gospel music. II 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
IL, lya a@ly
the anthem in English cathedrals; the roll OF
organs that will never let Handel or Haydn
on Beethoven die; the thump Of harps, the
sweep of the bow across bass viols, the song
Of Sabbath schools storming the heavens, the
doxology Of great assemblages-why, thou
sand JeIichos Of sin have by them all been
brought down.
Seated by the warmth Of our campfres
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 ny the blessings of
God on good music, I said TO myself: Min
isters 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 a campaign OF "Old Hun
dred"' Oh. for brigade OF Mount Pts
gahs! Oh. for a cavalry charge Of Corona
tions' Oh for an army of Antiochs and
ST. Martins and ArieIs! Oh, for enough
orchestral batons lifted TO marshal all ma
tions! As Jericho was surrounded by poor
music for seven days, and was conquered,
SO let our earth be surrounded seven days
by good gospel music, and the round planet
will be- taken for God. Not wall Of oppo-
sition, not throne OF tyranny. not pal
ace Of sin, not an enterprise OF unrighteous-
ness, could stand the mighty throb OF such
atmospheric pulsation. Music! 1t sounded
at the laying OF creations corner stone
when the morning stars sang together.
Music! 1t will be the last reverberation,
when the archangefs trumpet shall wake
the dead. Music! Let It's full power be
nov tested to comfort and bless aud arouse
and save.
While our evening meal il being prepared
in the tents we walk out for q moment TO
the Fountain of Elisha" the one into which
the prophet threw the salt because the
waters were poisonous and bitter, and 10!
they became sweet and healthy; and ever
sincs with gurgle and laughter, they have
rushed down the hill and leaped from the
rocks, the only cheerful object in all that
region being these waters.
Now on this plain OF Jericho the sun is set
ting, making the mountains look like balus-
trades and hattlements OF amber and maroon
and gold; and the moon, just above the crests,
seems to be a window OF heaven through
which immortals might be looking down up
OH the scene Three Arabs as watchmen sit
beside the camp fre at the door OF
my tent, their low conversation in
a strange language all night long a
soothing rather than an interruption.
had u dream that night never to be for
gotten, that dream amid the complete ruins
of Jericho. Its past grandeur returned, and
saw the city as it was when Mark Antony
10 tf-a nd Harp1 hnnOht IL
from her. Aud heard the hoofs Of its swift
steeds and the rumbling of its chariots and
the shouts OF excited spectators in its amphi-
theatre.
4 And there was white marble amid green
groves OF palm and balsam; cold stone
warmed with sculptured foliage; hard pillars
cut into soft lace; lliads and Odysseys In
! granite; basalt jet as the night mounted by
! carbunce flaming as the morning; upholstery
dyed as though dipped in the blood of battle
/ fields; robes encrusted with diamond; mo-
saics white as sea foam flashed on by auroras;
/ gayeties which the sun saw by day rivaled by
revels the moon saw by night; blashphemy
built against the sky; ceilings stellar as the
midnight heavens; grandeurs turreted,
! archivolted and intercolumnar; wickedness
so appalling that established vocabulary fails,
and we must make an adjective and call 1t
Herodic
The region round about the city walls
seemed to me white with cotton such as
| Thsnius describes as once growing there,
and sweet with sugar cane, and luscious with
orange and figs and ponlegranates, and redo
lent with such flora as can only grow where
a tropical sun kisses the earth. And the hour
came back to me when in the midst OF all
that srlaNdor Herol died, commanding his
sister Salome Immediately after his death to
secure the assassination Of all the chief Jews
whom he had brought to the city and shut
up in a circus for that purpose, and the news
came to the audience in the theatre as some
one took the stage and announced to the ex.
cited multitude: "Herod is deadl Herod il
deadm
Then IN my dream all the pomp OF
Jericho vauishel, and gloom was added to
gloom, and desolatlon to desolation, and woe
to woe, until perhaps the rippling waters
Of tho fountain Of Elisha suggesting it-as
sounds will sometimes give direction to a
dream-I thought that the waters OF Christ''
salvation and the fountair5 "open for sir
and uncleanness" were rolling through that
plain and across the continent, and rolling
round the earth, until on either side OF theil
banks all the thorns became flowers, and
all the deserts gardens, and all thu
nerals bridal process ons and all the blood OF
war was turned into dahlias, and all tn,
groans became anthems, aud Dantes "In'
ferno" beclme Dante's "Divina Commedia,
and "Paradise LOST gas submerged BY
Paradise Regained," and tears became
crystals, cruel swords came out Of foundrie'
glistening plowshares, and in my dream a
the blast of a trumpet the prostrated wall
Of Jericho rose again.
And some one told me- that as these wall
in Joshua's time at the sounding trumpet
80 ls.z -