Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-11-07

No science ever frightened believers in Re
violation 50 mnch as geology. They feared
tnAt tus strata OF the earIn would contradict
the Scriptures, and then Moses must 20 I'M
der. But as in the Dead Sea instance so in
all cases Gods writing on the earth and Gods
writing in the Bible are harmonious. The
shelves Of rock correspond with the shelves
Of the American Bible Society. Science
digs into the earth and finds deep down the
remains OF plants. and 50 the Bible announces
plants first Science digs down and says
Marine animals next and the Bihia ava
and says Land animals next" "Then
comes manP' says science. Then comes
man. responds the Bible. Science digs into
the regions about the Dead Sea, and finds
result OF fire and masses Of brin-
stone, and announces a wonderful geologi-
cal formation. "Oh, yes, says the Bible,
Moses wrote thousands Of years ago, The
Lord rained upon Sodom and Upon Go
morrah birthstone aud fire from the Lord
out Of heaven and David wrote, He touch
eth the hills and they smoke" So l guess
we will hold on 10 our Bibles little longer.
A gentleman in the ante-room OF the White
House, at Washington, having an appoint
ment with Mr.. Lincoln at 5 o'clock In the
morning, got there fifteen minutes early, and
asked the servant, "Who Is talking in the
next roomY' 1t is the President. sirn us
anybody with him. mo, sir; he is reading
tho Bible He spends every morning from
4 TO o'clock reading the Scriptures"
My text implies that God controls vol
canoes, not with the full forcs of his hand,
but with the tip OF his finger. Etna, Strom-
boil and Vesuvius fawn at his feet like
hounds before the hunter These eruptions
of the hills do not belong to Puto's realm, as
the ancients thought, but to the divine do
minions. Humboldt counted two hundred
Of them, but sincs then the Indian archipel-
ago has been found TO have nine hundred OF
these great mouthpieces. They are on every
continent and in all ATTITUDES. That earth
quake which shook oil Americ, about six or
seven summers ago was only the raving
around of volcanoes rushing against the
sides of their rocky caverns trying to break
out. They must come to the surface, but it
will be at the divine call. They seem re-
| served for the punishment OF one kind OF sin.
| The seven cities they have obliterated were
! celebrated for one kind OF transgression.
| Profigacy was the chief characteristic OF the
seven cities over which they put their smoth-
| ering wing: Pompeii Herculaneum, Stable,
Adma, Zehoim, Sodom and Gomorrah
| If our American cities do not quit their
| prohigacy, IL in high life and low life disso-
| luteness does not cease to be a joke and be-
come crime, il wealthy libertinism con-
| tinues to find so many doors of domestic life
4
| French and American literature stepped In
| pruriency does not get banished from the
news stands AMI ladies' parlors God will let
| loose some of these suppressed monsters or
the earth. And tell these American cities
| that it will be more tolerable for Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day Of Judgment,
whether that day OF Judgment be In this
present century or in the closing century
| OF the earth's continuance. The volcanic
forces ara already in existence, but in the
mercy OF God they are chained in the ken
nels OF subterraneous fire. Yet let profit
gacy, whether it stagger into laLaretto or
sit on commercial throne, whether IL laugh
In faded shawl under the street gas light or
be wrapped in the finest array that foreign
| loom ever wrought or lapidary ever i'm.
| pearled, know right we'll that there is n vol.
cano waiting for it. whether in domestic life
or social life or political life or in the founda-
| devastations that swallowed the cities OF the
plain. He toucheth the hills and they
| smoke"
But tho dragoman was rejolced when we
had seen enough Of this volcanic region Of
Palestine, and he gladly tightens the grths
for another march around the horses
which are prancing and ncighing for de-
parture. We are of for the Jordon, only
two hours away. We pass Bsdouins whose
1 II
them the salutation Salaam Aleikoum
! Peace be with YOU" their smile sometimes
| leaving us in doubt as to whether 1t is
caused by their gladness to see us or by orr
poor pronunciation Of the Arabic. Oh,
they are a strange race those Bedouins.
Such a commingling Of ruifanism and
honor, of cowardice aud courage, of cruelty
and kindnessl When band OF them came
down upon party in which Miss Whately
waa trayaiiuU and wara ahout N takn
pocketbooks and perhaps life, this lady, sit
ting upon her horse, took out her note book
and pencil and began to sketch these brig
ands, and seeing this composure the bandits
thought IL something supernatural and fed.
Christian womanliness or marlinsss 10 all
conquering. When Martin Luther was told
that Duke George would kill him IL he went
to Lepsic, Luther replied: Il would go to
Leipsic il il rained Duke Georges nine days"
Now we come through regions where there
are hills cut into the shape Of cathedrals,
with altar and column and arch and chancel
and pulpit and dome and architecture OF the
rocks that think can hardly just happen SO.
Perhaps it is because God loves the church 50
well he builds In tho solitudes OF Yellow
stone park and Yosemite and Switzerland
and Palestine these ecclesiastical piles. And
who knows but that unseen spirits may
sometimes worship theres "Dragomnn, when
shall we sec the Jordany' I ask. All the
time we were on the alert and looking
Through tamarisk and willows for the
greatest river Of all the earth. The Missis
sippi Is wider, the Ohio is deeper, the Anna
zon is longer, thu Hudson rolls amid regions
more picturesque, the Thames has more
splendor ON Its banks, tho Tiber suggest:
more imperial procession. the Ilyssus has
more classic memories, and tho Nile feed
greater populations by its irrigation, but the
Jordan Is tho queen OF rivers, and run,
through all the Bible, silver thread strung
like beads with heroics, and before night We
shall meet on Its banks Elijah and Elishi
and David and Jacob and Joshua and JOIN
and Jesus.
At last between two trees got glimpst
of river and said, What Is thatp 9Th
Jordan" was the quick reply. And all alonl
the line which had been heightened by othel
pilgrims, some from America, ami some from
Europe, and some from Asia, the cry wa
sounded The Jordan? The Jordanr Hun
dreds of thousands Of pilgrims have chanteC
on its banks and bathed in its waters. Man,
Of them dip wet gown In the waves ant
wiring it out and carry 1t home for their owl
shroud. IL Is an impetuoHs stream anC
rushes on as though 1t were fastening TO tel
its story to the ages. Many an explorer ha
it whelmed and many boat has it wrecked
Lieut.. Moloneaux had copper bottomst
crafts split upon its shelvings. Only on
boat, that Of Lieut.. Lynch, over lived u
sail tho whole length of it. At the seaso
when the SHOWS on Lebanon melt the rag
of this stream is like Conemaugh whe
Johnstown persisted, and the wild beast
that may be near run for the hills, explainin
what Jeremiah says, Behold. he shall 60 u
like lion from the swelling of Jordan.
No river so oftsn changes its mind for
! turns and twists, travelling two hundre
| mics 20 40 Jnat wnicn IN q straight Ill
might BIO done in sixty miles. Among banl
} now low, now high. now on rocks, now
. sand, laving the feet OF the terebinths an
: oleanders and acacias and reeds and pi
tachios and silver poplars This river maj
ries the Dead Sea TO Lake Gallilee, and di
| ever SO ronoh q arnnm taka tho hand Of 9