The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-08-19

brightly clad throng of orientals, gath
cred about the feet of q new Teacher,
who. in this temple Of the open air,
eXpounded a new philosophy which
has been making over the whole
earth; and never more than at the
present time. In human history this
is the highest of peaks-except one
other.
That other hill, which marks the
cross roads of time, the apex of the
life of the race, is a small, Scared,
brown hill, above the GrottO of Jere-
miah, and across the road from Solo
mons Quarries and the present wall
of Jerusalem, just around the corner
from the Damascus Gate. The hill is
called Calvary. It is the dearest spot
on earth to hundreds of millions of
the human race, and the scene of the
universe's supreme tragedy. To all
mankind it's meaning is writ clear
salvation, sacrifice, service.
Poorest in outlook is the person
whose horizon holds no Calvary.
Remembering that the scenery of
Palestine is dominated by sentinel
hill tops, we read, LAS the mountains
are round about Jerusalem, so the
Lord is round about his people. from
henceforth, even forever"
perience, even though it be no moro
than the childs precious recollection
of q visit to the circus. Memory
harks back to that great event, be it
an experience in the Civil war, trip
to Europe, a serious accident, a reveal
ing address, a transferring love. There
is a sense in which every heart is
dominated by its TRANSPORTING expert
ence, even as the landscape of Pales-
tine is dominated by Mt. HermOn, with
of CT oil
every part of the Holy Land. Her
mon stands for TRANSPORTATION. 1t
was there that heaven and earth, the
old dispensation and the new, the
prophets past, and the Greater Proph-
ct whom they had fOretold, met in
holy converse. Into every life dedi-
Gated to Him, God is willing to send
revolutionizing vision. which will be
strength through all the hard expert
ences which are mc<e normal lot Of
his friends that the Mount of Trans
dguration.
Far down in the desert, amid the
desOlate grandeur of hills and ruins
uncaring Arabs, stands Mt. Hor, with
the lonely grave of Aaron 1t is a
Moslem shrine today, forbidden to
the Christian. and it looks down upon
the ruins of Petra, and the high
places of ancient heather sacrifice.
the truth that the day is coming
when man must lay down his work,
that a successor may take it up. To
be ready for Mt. Hor is to be ready
for anything.
At dusk of one winter day I stood
where Moses stood, on the highest
peak of Mt. Nebo, looking, as he had
looked so long ago, at the wonderful
and far spread panorama of Canaan.
There was the fiat plain of Jericho
below, threaded by the Jordan, with
the Dead sea shimmering in the
western sun, and giving no hint Of
the lifelessness of it's waters Beyond
stretched Palestine, all its peaks Wis
IDLE, and the Mount of Olives, now
cross crowned, in clear view. Very
fair to the eye is the sight from this
stony height, and ones heart goes
out in sympathy to the lonely and dis
appointed leader whose mummy per
haps still reposes in one of the hid
den limestone caves with which the
mountain aboundS Only the royal
cyclamen and the shining lily leaves
decorate this unknown grave. The
Spring of Noses" as it is still called,
gushes from the face of the noun
tain's largest cliff; and even so the
life and work of Moses continue to
bless the world, though he himself
missed the goal he sought. The peo-
pie reached the Promised Land; that
was success greater than any person
al honor or qualification that could
have come to the leader who never
approached nearer to Canaan than
| Mt. Nebo.
over against each other, in stony
grayness, stand Mt EbaI and Mt
Gerazin, where the people shouted to
each other, and to God, their cove
nants 1t is the place for the pledge
maker and pledge-keeper to muse.
For God is a covenant-keeping God;
and his purposes persist more truly
than the remnant of the Samaritans
who still abide under the shadow of
these mountains.
Ride over to the Mediterranean
| from Galilee, and you will come 10
Mt. Carmel. the mountain of a thou
sand valleys" which stands guard be-
tween the great plain of Esdraelon
and the sea- It was a thrilling day
and night that spent on Mt. Carmel.