The Forrest City times., 1890-10-04
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jaws of repeated destruction.
 As we descended the narrow steps at the side of the ship, we heard tho clAmor. ana quarrel and swearing of fifteen or sixteen different races os men of all features, aud all colors and all vernaculars; all different in appearance. but all alike In desire to got baggage and ourselves at oxhorbitant prices. Twenty boats and only ten pas sengers to go ashore. The man having charge of us pushes aside some, and strikes with heavy stick others. and by vioiences that would not be tolerated In our country, but which seem te be the only manner or making any impression there, clears our way Into one of the boats which heads Tor the shore. We are within fifteen minutes or the Christ-land. Now we hear shouting from the beach and In five minutes we VIII be landed. The prov of the boat Is caught by mep who wade out to help us tn. We are tremulous with suppressed excitement. our breath Is quick, and from tho side or the boat we spring to the shore, and sunday morning, December |, 1889, about eight o'clock, our feet touch Palestine. Forever to me and mine will that day and hour be Let it be mentioned in prayer by my chli- dren and children's children after we are gone, that morning we were permitted 10 enter that land. and gaze upon those holy hills. and feel tho emotions that rise. and fall. and weep. and laugh, and sing, and triumph at such disembarkation.
 
 feet high Joppa is lifted toward the skies. It is as picturesque us it Is quaint. and as much unlike any city we have ever seen, as though 1t were built in that star Mars. where n few nights ago this very september, astronomers through unparalleled tclescop- es saw n snow storm raging. How glad we were to be In Joppa, Why, this Is the city whcrs Dorcas that queen of tho needle, lived and died and was resurrectcd You remember that the poor people came around the dead body of this benefactress and brought specimens of her kind needle-work and said ''Dorcas made thls;" porcas sewed that;" "Dorcas cut and fitted this:" Dorcas hemmed that" According to Lightfoot. the commentators, they laid her out in state in public room and the poor wrung their hands and cried, and sent for Peter who performed miracle by which the good woman came back to life and resumed her benefactions. An especial resurrection day for one woman! She was the model by which many women of our day have fashioned their lives, and at tho first blast of the horn of the wlntry tempest, there ap- pear ten thousand Decreases = Dorcas of Brooklyn, Decreases of New York, Dorcases of London, Dorcascs of all tho neighbor- hoods and towns and cites of Christendom, just as good as the Dorcas of the Joppa which visited. Thank God for the ever increasing skill and sharpness and speed and generosity of Dorcas's needle.
 commemorated. for that prc-eminent mercy.
 'sWhat is that man doing? 1 said to the dragonlan in the streets of Joppa. '.Oh, he is carrying his bod" Multitudes of the peo- pie sleep out of doors, and that Is the way so many in those lands become blind. It is from the dew of the night falling on the eye lids. As result of this. in Egypt, every twentieth person is totally blind. In Oriental lands the bed is made of thin small mattress. q blanket and a pillow, and when the man rises in the morning he sim ply ties the three up into bundle. and shoulders 1t and takes 1t away. It was to that the Savior referred when he said to the sick man, ''Take up thy bed and walk" An American couch or an English couch would require at least four men to carry 1t, but one Oriental can easily manage his slumber equipment
 But inhale some of the odors of the large tanneries around Joppa. It is there to this day. prosperous business, this tanning of hides And that reminds me Of simon, the tanner, who lived at Joppa, and was the host Of Peter tho Apostle. I suppose the olfactories of Peter were us easily insulted by the odors of n tannery as others. But tho bible says, .He lodged with one Simon. the tanner" People who go out to do re- formatory and missionary and christian work must not bc too sensitive. Simon no doubt brought to his homestead every night the malodors of the calf-skins and ox-hides in his tannery. but Peter lodged in that home, not only because he may not have been invited to the houses of merchant princes surrounded by redolent gardens. but to teach all men and women trying 10 make the world better, they mus; not be squean- ish and fastidious and hnical and oycr-par ticular in doing the work of the world. The church of God is dying of fastidiousness. We cry over the suffcrings of the world in hundred dollar pocket handkerchiefs, and then put cent into the poor box. There arc many willing to do christian work among the cleanly and the refined and the elegant and the educated: but excuse them from taking loaf of bread down a dirty alley, excuse them from teaching "A mission school among the uncombed and the un- washed, excuse them from touching the hand of one whose hnger-nails are in mourning for departed soap. Such religious precisionists can toll in atmospheres laden with houeysuckle and rosemary. but not In air floating up from malodorous sats. No, no, no. excuse them from lodging with one simon, the tanner.
 Daring the last war, there were In Ntr- glnia some Go or 70 wounded soldiers In barn on the second hoor so near the roof that the heat of the August sun was almost
 nsupportable. The men were dying from sheer exhaustion and suffocation. dis tinguished member of tho christian conmls- sion said to the nurse who stood there. Wash the faces and the fect of these men and 1t will revive them" '.No," said the nurse. ''I didn't come into tho army to wash ybodys feet" One was the spirit of the levil. the other the spiri; of Christ.
 But reference to Peter reminds me that we must 20 to the bouse-top In Joppa where he was taught the democracy of religion. That was about the Queerest thing that ever happened. un our way up 10 that house-top, we passed an old well where the stones were worn deep with the roAes of "A Inn aud is hs, turiss old. and, think. Peter drank out of it. Four or five goat or caif-skins filled with water lay about the yard. We soon got up the steps and on the house-top. Listen while read about what happened here And, opening the bible, we had the whole story. It seems that Peter on the house-top dreamed that great blanket was let down out of heaven, and ia 1t were sheep and goats and cattle and mules and Pigeons and buxzards and snakes and Ill manner of creature that fly the air, or walk the fields. br crawl the earth and in the dream voice told him as he was hungry.t eat and he said, Fl cannot cat things un- clean" Three times he dreamed 1t. There Was then heard knocking It the gate oi the house on the top of which Peter lay In trance and three men asked. ..is Peter heres' Peter, while yet wondering what his dream meant, descends the stairs and meets these strangers al the gate and they
 
 Cornelius, in the city of Cesarea. has also had dream and has sent them for Peter and to ask him to come and preach. Al that call Peter left Joppa for Cgsarea The dream that hc had just had prepared him to preach, for Peter learned by it to re- iect no people as unciean and whereas he previously thought he must preach only to the Jews. now he goes to preach to the Gen. tiles who were considered unclean.
 Notice how the two dreams neet--peter's dream on the house top. Cornelius dream at Cesarea- So l have noticed providences meet. distant events meet, dreams meet Every dream is hunting up some oshcr dream and every event is searching for some other event In the 18th century tisasl the great event was the discovery of America. The art of D inting. born in tho same century, goes out to meet that discov- cry and make the new work an Intelligent world. The declaration of independence announcing equal rights meets Robert Burns.