The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-10-20

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rather have picked ont the eyes Of Elijah,
Z whom they found at the mouth of his cave
I on the side OF Cherith, waiting for bis
/ breakfast, having drunk his morniug bev-
erage from the rushing stream beneath,
than have been his buffers and pur-
veyors. But God compelled them. as
he always has compelled and always
will compel black and cruel and over
shadowing provideaces to carry help TO his
childreI II they only have faith enough TO
catch the blessing as 1t drops from the
seeming adversely; the greatest blessing
always coming not with white wings but
black wings. Black wings OF conviction
bringing pardon 10 the sinner Black wings
Of. crucifxion over Calvary bringing re-
demptiOn for the world. Black wings Of
American revolution, bringing free 1nstltu-
lions to a continent. Black wings OF Ameri-
! can civil war, bringing unincatlon and
solidarity TO the republic Black wings OF
the Judgment day, bringing resurrection
to an entomoed human race. And In the
last day. when all your life and mine Will
be summed up, we will find that the great
est blessing we ever received came on TIE
wings of the black ravens Of disaster. Bless
God for trouble! Bless God for sickness!
Bless God for persecutionl Bless God for
uovertyl You never heard of any man or
woman of great use to the world who had
not had lots of trouble. the diamond must
be cut. The wheat must be tareshed- The
black ravens must fy. Who are these near
est the thronel These are they who come
out of great tribulation and had their robes
washed and made white in the blood of the
Lamb"
But look Look what at o'clock in the
afternoon bursts upon our vision-the plain
Of Jericho and the valley of Jordan and the
Dead Sea- We have come to place where
the horses not SO much walk as slide up
on their launches, aud we all dismount, for
the steep descent is simply terrific,
though princess II Wallachia, vino fel
here and was dangerously injured, after re-
covery, spent laOge nmount of mouey in
trying to make the road passable. Down
and down. till we saw the white tents
pitched for US by our muleteers amid the
ruins of ancient Jericho, which fell
at the sound of poor music played
on "ram's horn" that ancient instrument
which, taken from the head of the leader
of the flock Of sheep. is perforated and
prepared to be fingered by the musical per-
former and blown upon when pressed TO the
lips. As in another sermon l have fully
described that scene, l will only say that
every day for seven days the ministers of
religion went round the city of Jericho
blowing upon those rams horns, aud on the
seventh day, without the roll of a war
chariot, or the stroke of a catapult, or the
swing Of ballista, crash crash crash
went the walls of that magnificent capital.
On the evening of Dec. 6, we walked
amid the brick aud 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 clapping cymbal,
or an organ played, at the SOUND of which
the city surrendered to destruction, but a
rude instrument making rude music blest Of
God, to the demolition Of that wicked place
which had for centuries de6ed the AL
mighty. And l 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,
skilIfui music, gospel music. II
all the good that has already
been done by music were subtracted from
the world, believe three-fourths Of its re-
ligion would be gone. The lullabys of
mothers which keep sounding on, though
the lips that sang them forty years ago be-
came ashes, the old hymns in log cabin
churches and country meeting houses, and
psalms in Rouse's version in Scotch kinks,
of organs that will never let Handel, or
Haydn, or Beethoven die. the thrum of
harps the sweep of the bow across viols,
the song of Sabbath schools storming the
heavens, the doxology of great assem-
blages-why. thousand Jerichos of sin
have. by them all, been brought down.
Seated by the warmth of our camp-fires
that evening Of Dec. 6, amid the bricks and
debris Of Jericho. aud thinking what poor
music has done and what mightier things
could be accomplished by the blessings Of
God on good music. | said to myself Milo
listers have been doing grand work and
sermons have been blessed, but would it not
be well for us to put more emphasis on mu-
sici Oh, for q campaign of Old Hundred
Oh, for brigade of Mount Pisgahsl On,
for a cavalry charge of coronationsl Oh,
for an army of Antiochs and St Martins
and Ariels Oh, for enough orches-
trail batons lifted, to marshal all
nationsl AS Jericho was surrounded
by poor music for seven days
and was conquered, so let our earth be sur
rounded seven days by good gospel music,
and the round planet will all be taken for
God. Not wall of opposition, not throne
of tyranny, not palace of sin, not an enter
prise of unrighteousness could stand the
mighty throb OF such atmospheric pulsation.
Musici 1t sounded at the laying of crea-
tion's cornerstone when the morning stars
sang together. Musicl 1t will be the last
reverber alton when the archangel's trumpet
shall wake the dead. Musicl Let its full
power be now tested to comfort and bless
and arouse and save.
While our evening meal is being pre-
pared in the tents we walk out for a mo-
ment to the Fountain of Elisha" the one
into which the prophet threw the salt, be-
cause the waters were poisonous and bitter,
and lol they became sweet and healthy
and ever since, 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
setting, making the mountains look like
balustrades and battlements of amber and
maroon and gold; and the moon, just abov q
the crests, seems to be a window of
heaven through which im.nortals might
he looking down upon the scene. Three
Arabs as watchmen sit beside the campfire
at the door of my tent, their low converse
ton in a strange language all night long a
soothing rather than an interruption.
had dream that night never to be for
gotten, that dream amid the complete RUNS
Of Jericho. Its past grandeur returned, aud
/ saw the city as it was when Mark Antony
gave it to Cleopatra and Herod bought il
from her. And | heard the hoofs of its
swift steeds, aud the rumbling of its chariots
and the shouts Of excited spectators in its
amphitheater.
And there was white marble amid green
groves of palm and balsam: cold stone
warmed with sculptured foliage; hard pill.
lars cut into soft lace; Iliads and Odysseys
in granite; basalt, jet as the night. mounted
by csrbunce flaming as the morning; up
holstery dyed as though dipped in the blood
of battlef1elds; robes incrusted with dia-
f.~.x H. !