The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-11-27

Soiiu rock. Dig 1t with your pen, or
uIg 1t with your yard-stick, or dig it
WIN your shovel, or zig it with your
In my small way | never accom-
pliShcd anything for God or the church.
or the world, or my family. or mvsclf
eHceLI in contradiction to human ad-
wee and in obedience to divine counsel.
God knows everything and what is the
use OF going for advice to human be-
lngs who know SO little that no one
put the all-sceing God can realize how
little 1T is. ] suppose that when Jacob
began to dig this well on which we are
sitting This nOOntide, people gathered
around and said: What Il useless ex-
pcnSc you are going to, when rolling
down from yOndcr Mount GeriZem and
down from yonder Mount IIbal, and
out yonder in the valley is plenty of
water" "Oh," replied Jacob, that is
an true but suppose my neighbors
should get angered against me and cut
OIL my supply OF mountain beverage
what would l do, and what would nv
family do, and what would my docks
and herds do? Forward; ye brigade
or plck-aXcS and crOwbarS and 60 down
into the depths OF these rocks and
make me independent of all eXcept
Him who fills the bottles of the clouds!
L must have my own Wellu'
suppose when Jacob began to dig
This well on whose curb we are now
seated this December noon, it was a
dry season then as now and some one
comes up and says: Now, Jacob, sup
pose you get the well fifty feet deep or
TWO hundred feet deep and there should
bc no water to fill it, would YOU not
feel silly?" People passing along the
road and looking down from Mount
GeriZim OF Mount Ebal near by would
laugh and say: THAT is Jacobs we'll
great hole in the rock, illustrating the
mans folly" Jacob replied, "There
never has been u well in Palestine or
any other country, that once thorough
~ dug was not sooner or later filled
from the clouds, and this will be no ex-
ceptlon.' For months alter Jacob had
competed the well people went by and
ouI pl respect for the delldeu old man
put inelr hand over their mouth to hide
smoker and the Well remained as dry
as the bottom OF Il kettle that has been
hanging over the fire for three hours
But one day the sun was drawing WA
Ter ana the wind got around to the east
ana IL began to driZzlc ana then great
drops Splashed all over the well-curb
ana the heavens opened their reser yoir
ana The rainy season poured it's floods
1or SIX weeks and there came maidens
TO the well with empty pals and car
rled them away full and the camels
thrust their mouths into the trouphs
anu were satisfied and the water vas
! III The we'll three feet deep, and fifty
lecI uecp, ana two hundred feet deep
ana all the Bedouins Of the neiahbor-
hood and all tho passers-by realiyra
that Jacob was wise in having his own
well. My nearer, it is your part to dig
your own well and it is Gods part to
lill IL: You do your part and lie will
do Ills part. ~
On and on we ride until now. we
have come to Shiloh, dead city on \
hill surrounded by rocks, sheep goats
Ollve gardens and VINEYARDS. Here
good Eli fell backward and broke his
neck, and lay dead at the news from
ms BAD boys Phineas and Hophni: and
ne IS not worth living after ones
clilufch nave turned out badly, and
more fortunate was Eli, Instantly ex-
plrlng under such tidings. than those
parents who, their children recrnant
ana prolligate, live on with broken
hearts to see them going down into
deeper and deeper plunge. There are
laIlerS aud mothers here to-day to
whom death would be IL happy release
because OF their recreant sons, And If
lhere be recreant sons here present. and
your parents be far away, why not bow
your head in repentance, and at the
close OF this service go to the telegraph
once and put it on the wing of the
nghtnlng that you have turned from
your evil ways? Before another twen-
ty-iour hours have passed, take your
leeC OH Ine SAD hearts at the Old home
stead: llome to thy God, o prodigal!
| ny N;
den decease under bad news from his
boys, and find close by what is called
the "Meadow Of the Feast" While
this ancient city was in the height of
It's prosperity, on this "Mradow of the
EcaSt there was an annual ball where
the maldenS Of the city amid clappinp
cSlnha!S and Il blare trumprts danced
III glee, upon which thousands of
spectators gaZcd. But no dance since
the world stood ever broke up i'm such
a strange way as the one the Bible de-
Scrlbcs. One night while by the light
OF the lamps and torches these gaietes
went ON. two hundred Bcnjamites. who
had been hidden behind the rocks and
the trees, dashed upon the scene. They
came not TO lnJure or destroy, but
WlSled 10 set up households of their
own, the woman of their own land hay-
concerted arrangements each one of
me IWo hundred B"njamites seized the
one "hom he chose for the queen of his
home' ana carried her away to large
estate ana b|autiful,rcsidrnce, for these
tWo hundred B"njamites had inheritej
the wealth Of a patron. '0' ''0'
but we must this afternoon. Our l,st
Gay before reaching Nazareth, pitch
o''r tehL Oh the most famous battlefield
oi all tlmcs--thc plain Of Esdrael0n
" hat must have been the feelings of
the Prince Of pcaCras he Gro o5Sed it on the
way from Jerusalem to Nazareth, Not
Il Hover blooms there but has in its
veins the inherited blood of flowers
That drank the blood Of fallen armies.
Hardly loot Of ground that has not
at some time been guiled with war
! charlotS or Lramplcd with the hoofs
nI cavalry. 1t is plain rea ching from
! NE Mediterranean to the Jordan.
= pom 1T look down the mountains of
Labor and Gilboa and Carmel.
Ihrough 1T ranges ut certain seasons
Inc river klShOn which Swpnt 6owp