The Opelousas courier., 1891-02-14

- 80 UUdB OOF6IlluGuU
wants no better harbor at Joppa. May God
remove that curse of nations, that old bag of
the centuries, the Turkish Government For
ITS everlasting insult to God and woman let
it perish! And so those rocks at the harbor
remain the jaws of repeated destruction.
AS we descended the narrow steps at the
side Of the ship we heard the cIamor and
quarrel and swearing of fifteen or sixteen
different races of men of ali features, and
all colors and all vernaculars; all differentin
appearance, but all alike In desire to get otr
baggage and ourselves at sxorbitant prices.
twenty boats and only ten passengers to go
ashore. The man having charge of us pushes
aside some, and strikes with a heavy stick
others, and by violences that would not be
tolerated In our country, but which seem to
be the only manner of making any impress
sion there. clears our way into oneof the
boats, which heads for the shore. We are
within fifteen minutes of the Christ land.
Now we hear shouting from the beach, and
in five minutes we will be landed. The PROV
OF the boat is caught by men who wade out
to help us in.
We are tremulous with suppressed excite
ment, our breath Is quick, and from the side
of the boat we spring to the shore, and Sun
day morning, December ], 1883, about eight
O'Clock, our feet touch Palestine. Forever
tome and mine will that day and hour be
co-mmemorated for that pre-emiuent mercy.
Let it be mentioned In prayer by my chill
dren and children's children after we are
gone, that morning We were permitted to
enter that land n gaze upon those holy
hills and feel the emotions that rise al fall
and weep and laugh and sing and triumph at
such a Decentralization.
On the back of the hills one hundred and
fifty feet high Joppa is lifted toward the
skies. 1t lis as picturesque as 1t is quaint and
as much unlike any city We have ever seen,
as though it were built In that star Mars,
where a few nights ago this very September
astronomers, through unparalleled telescopes,
saw a snow storm raging. How glad we were
to be In Joppai Why, this is the city where
Dorcas, that queen of the needle, lived and
died and was resurrected. You remember
that the poor people came around che dead
body Of this benefactress, and brought spect-
mems OF her kind needlework and said.
"Dorcas made this" "Dorcas sewed that,n
"Dorcas cut and fitted this" 'Dorcas
hemmed that"
According to Lightfoot, the commentator.
they laid her out in state In a public room,
and the poor wrung their hands and cried
Bye BY W aaNa l the god god woman came BACK e Ire Z
and resumed her benefactions. An especial
resurrection day for one womanl She was
the model by which many women of our day
have fashioned their lives, and at the first
blast of the horn Of wintry tempest there ap-
4 pCd1 uCh VAtOu60LA ONoSo Va
| Brooklyn, Decreases of New York, Decreases
of London, Decreases of all the neighborhoods
and towns and cities of Christendom-just as
good as the Dorcas Of Joppa which | : visited.
Thank God for the ever increasing skill and
sharpness and speed and generosity OF Dor
cas's needle.
"What is that mar doing1 I said to the
dragoman in the streets of Joppa. "Oh, he
| is CARRYING his bed.' Multitudes of people
sleep out Of doors, and that is the way so
many in those lands become blind. 1t is from
the dew of the night falling on the eyelids. AS
a result of this, In Egypt every twentieth
person is totally blind. In Oriental lands
the beds made of a thin, small mattress, a
blanket nd a pillow, and when the man rises
in the nj Srning he just ties up the three into
a bundle and shoulders it and takes it away.
It was to that the Saviour referred when He
said to the sick man: ssTake up thy bed and
walk An American couch or an English
couch would require at least four men to
carry it, but one Oriental can easily manage
his slumber equipment.
But I inhale some of the odors of the large
tanneries around Joppa. 1t is there to this
day, a prosperous business, this tanning OF
hides. And that reminds me Of Simon, the
tanner, who lived at Joppa n was the host
of Peter, the apostle. / suppose the oIfac-
tories of Peter were as easily insulted BY the
odors OF a tanuery as others. But the Bible
SAYS, II lOuRSu WILL O4S OAA1kOEif okC uSsl
ner.'' People who go out to do reformatory
and missionary and Christian work must not
be too sensitive. Simon no doubb brought
to his homestead every night the malodors
of the calfskins and OK hides in his Sannery,
but Peter lodged in that home, noS only be
cause he may not have been invited 20 tne
houses of merchant princes, surrounded by
redolent gardens, but to teach all men and
women engaged in trying to make the world
better that they must not be squeamish and
fastidious and finical and over particular In
doing the work of the world.
The church Of God is dying of fastidious-
rEIJlyt We cry over the suferings OF the
world In hundred dollar pocket handker-
chiefs, and then put a cent in the poor box.
There are many willing to do Christian work
among the cleanly, and the refined. and the
elegant, and the educated, but excuse them
from taking a loaf of bread down a dirty al
lev. excuse them from teaching a mission
school among the uucombed md the unWash-
ed, excuse them from touching the hand of
one whose finger nails are in mourning for
departed soap. Such religious precisiontsts
can toll in atmospheres laden with honey
suckIe and rosemary, but not in air floating
up from the malodorous watts. No, no, mol
Excuse them from living with one Simon, the
tanner.
During the last war there were In VII dnia
some { Ety or seventy wounded soldiers in o
barn, Oh the second floor, SO near the roof
that the heat of the August sun avas almost
insupportable. The men were dying from
sheer exhaustion and suffocatfon. A distln!
guished member of the Christian commission
said to the nurse who stood there, Wash the
faces and feet If thesa nor, and it will revive
them.' NO. said the nurse, II didn'tc como
into the army to wash a~nybody's feet
SWELL said the distinguished membero of the
commission, ssbring me water and d lowell
will be very glad to wash their feet One
was the spirit of the devil. the other the
spirit Of Christ.
But reference to Peter reminds me that we
must go to the housetop in Joppa where he
was taught the democracy of religion. That
was about the queerest thing chat ever hap
pened. On our way up to that h~ousetop we
passed an old well where the great stones
were worn deep with the ropes of the buck
cts, and lit must be q well many centuries
old. and I think Peter drank out of 1T. -Four
or five goat or calfskins filed with water lay
about the yard. We soon got up the steps
and on the houlrebp. It was in such a place
In Joppa that Peter one noon while he was
waiting for dinner had o hungry fit and
tainted away, and had q vision or dream or
trance. I said to my family and friends on
that housetop. sListen while I read about
what happened here And opening the
Bible we had the whole story.
It seems that Peter on the housetop
dreamed that a great blanket was let down
out of heaven, and In it were sheep end goats
and cattle and mules and pigeons and buzz
yards and snakes and all manner of creatures
that fly the air, or walk the field, or crawl
the earth. andin the dream q voice told him
as be was hungry to eat, and he said, 81 lean
not eat things unclean.n Three times ne
dreamed it. There was then heard a knock
ing at the gate OF the house on the top of
which Peter lay In q trance, and three mel
asked, is Peter here90 Peter, while yet
wondering what his dream meant, descends