The Opelousas courier., 1891-01-03

solitary in familiesm Side by side on the
path of lifei Side by side in their graves!
Side by side in heayenI
But we must this afternoon, our last day
before reaching Nazareth, pitch our tent on
the most famous battlefield Of all time-the
plain OF Esdraelon. What must have been the
feelings of the Prince of Peace as He crossed
it on the way from Jerusalem to Nazareth?
NOT a hover blooms there but has in its veins
the inherited blood of flowers that drank the
blood OF fallen armies. Hardly a foot of
ground that has not at some time been gul-
lied with wal chariots or trampled with the
hoofs of cavalry.
1t is a plain reaching from the Mediter-
ranean to the Jordan. Upon it look down
the mountains of Tabor and Gilboa and Car
mel. Through its RACES at certain seasons
The river klshon, which swept down the
armies of Sisera, the battle occurring in No
vember when there's almost always a shower
OF meteors, so that the stars in their courses
were said to lave fought against Sisera.
Through this plain drove Jehu, and the iron
chariots of the Canaanites, scythed at the
hubs Of the wheels, hewing down their awful
swathes Of death, thousands in q minute.
The Syrian armies, the Turkish armies, the
Egyptian armies again and again trampled
It. There they career across it. David and
Joshua n Godfrey and Richard Ceur de
Lion and Baldwin and Saladin-a plain not
only famous for the past, but famous because
the Bible says the greatdecisive battle Of the
world will be fought there--the battle of Ar
mageddon.
To me the plain was the more absorbing
because of the desperate battles here and in
regions round in which the holy cross-the
very two pieces of wood on which Jesus was
supposed to hav been crucified-was carried
as a standard at the head of the Christian
host, and that night closing my eyes in my
tent on the plain of Esdraelon-for there
are some things we can see better with eyes
shut than open-the scenes of that ancient
war come before me. The twelfth century
was closing and Saladin at the head of eighty
thousand Mount troops was crying: "Hol
for jerusalem 'Ho! for all Palestiner r and
before them everything went down, but not
without unparalleled resistance. In one
place one hundred and thirty Christians
were surrounded by many thousands of furi.
GUS Mohammedans. For one whole day the
n hundred and thirty held out against
these thousands. Tennyson's six hundred"
when some one had blundered," were
eclipsed by these one hundred and thirty
fighting for the holy cross They took hold
of the lances which had pierced them with
death wounds, and pulling them out of their
own breasts and sides hurled them back again
at the enemy.
oH "SuG UIS lHHt uut4I oil Dub Ul0 CIlIS~
tian had fallen and he, mounted OF the last
horse, welded his battle ak right and left till
his horse fell under the plunge of the jave-
Inns. and the rider, making the sign of the
cross toward the sky, a up his life on the
point Of a score of spears. But soon after the
last battle came. History portrays it, poetry
chants it, painting colors ii, and all ages adj
mire that last struggle to keep in possession
the wooden cross on which Jesus was said to
have expired. 1t was a battle in which MINI
gled the fury of devils and the grandeur of
angels. Thousands of dead Christians on
this side. Thousands of dead MohanImedans
on the other side. The battle was hot
test close around tie wooden cross upheld by
the bishop of Ptolemais, himself wounded
and dying. And when the bishop of Ptol-
emais dropped dead, the bishop of LYDIA
seized the cross and again lifted it, carrying
it onward into y wilder and fiercer fight, and
sword against t~avelin, and battle AK upon
helmet, and pie cling spear against splinter
ing shield. Hoses and men tumbled into
heterogeneous death. Now the wooded
cross on which the armies of Christians had
kept their eye begins to Waver, begins to
descend. 1t falIsi and the wailing of the
Christian host at its disappearance browns
the huzza of the victorious Moslems.
But that standard of the cross only seemed
to fall. It rides the sky to-day in triumph.
five hundred million souls, the mightiest
army of the ages, are following it, and where
that goes they will go, across the earth II
up the mighty sleeps of the heavens. In the
twelfth century it seemed to go down, but in
the nineteenth century it is the mightiest
symbol of glory and triumph, and means
more than any other standard, whether in-
scribed with eagle, or lion, or bear, or star,
or crescent. That which Saladin trampled
on the plain of Esdraelon / lift to day for
your marshaling. The crossl The crossi
The foot OF it planted In the earth it saves,
the top of it pointing to the heavens to which
it will take you, and the outspread beams OF
it like outstretched arms of invitation to all
nations. Kneel at its foot. Lift your eye
to its victim. Swear eternal allegiance to
its power. And as that mighty symbol of
pain and triumph is kept before us, we will
realize hoK Insignificant are the little crosses
we are called to bear, and will more chesrs
fully carry them.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And the world go free2
No. there's a cross for every one
And there's a cross for me.
AS | fall asleep tonight on my pillow in the
tent on the plain Of Esdraelon reaching from
the mediterranean to the Jordan, the waters
of the river Kishon soothing me as by a lul-
laby, I hear the gathering Of the hosts for the
last battle of all the earth. And by their
representatives America Is here u Europe
is here and Asia is here and Africa is here,
and all heaven is here and all hell is here,
and Apollyon on the black horse leads the
armies of darkness, and Jesus on the white
horse leads tie armies of light, and I hear
the roll of t. drums and the clear call of the
c~larions and the thunder Of the cannopades.
And then I hear the wild rush as Of million
of troops in retreat, and then the shout Of
victory as from fourteen hundred million
threats, and then a song as though all the
armies of earth and heaven were Joining it,
clapping cymbals, beating the time-sThe
kingdoms of this world are become the king
doms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He
shall reign for ever and ever"
Using Cats as Clocks.
Every one knows that cats can see in