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conqueror, and do not forget the inconsider
ation (not to say lack of courtesy) witli which
Elisha treated him. It was humiliation well
rubbed in, and it was calculated to irritate the
proud Syrian to the point of desperation.
The Fords of Jordan, a few miles from the
Dead Sea and a few miles from Jericho, the
great crossing from east to wast, from desert
to mountain, from Moab and Arabia to Jeru
salem and the Mediterranean, is one of the
historic and strategic sites of the East.
The moKt casual traveler is struck by the
barenncss of this accursed land. Evidenly
there are seasons when the Jordan swells and
inundates the plain, leaving bars of sand and
rock and) brush .piled indiscriminately here
ami there. In August the Jordan is a peace
ful, yellow stream; about 100 feet wide. Its
banks are thickly wooded with a rank growth
of willows, birches, sycamores and other trees
and bushes. In a leaking little boat we pad
dled to and fro, and around a graceful bend.
At the Fords of Jordan Israel entered upon
the conquest of the land, coming 3,000,00(1
strong from. the fastnesses of the desert. Here
the waters parted and the host marched over
dry-shod.
To the Fords of Jordan Elijah came on his
way to Ileaven. He smote the waters with his
mantle and they parted. Elijah and Elisha
went over dry-shod. To the Fords Elisha
came, again, alone. He folded the mantle,
which had dropped from his master's shoul
der and cried in genuine grief, *' Where is the
(iod of Elijah?" The waters parted at this
unique ejaculation and Elisha passed over,
alone, dry-shod.
The Fords of Jordan witnessed one of the
saddest scenes in David's life. Here he rested
for the first night in his flight, before rebel
lious, victorious Absalom. Faithful Joab
watehed over him. And here a few months
later Absalom came marching, as he thought,
to a splendid victory, as it proved to a swift
and well deserved doom.
The Fords of Jordan witnessed many a cross
ing by Jesus. How often, no one knows, as
His blessed feet traveled baek and forth. Sure
ly Ibis is a place of matchless memories;
Joshua, David, Elijah, Elisha, Naaman, John
the Baptist, Jesus.
Descending from Jerusalem, the mountain
passes opened as the throbing of the cheap au
tomobiles clicked oil' the miles. The excellent
military road and the downward grade invite
speeding. The waters of the Dead Sea are
beautiful and tranquil as death is often beau
tiful and tranquil. The intensely dry air
makes distance deceptive. Mile after mile and
the waters appeared no nearer. But all roads
have an end, and we stood at last upon the
coarse, pebbly beach by the waters' edge.
A few miserable shacks, inhabited by a few
miserable Arabs whom government service
keeps in this oven, a few boats that seemed
placed upon the water for they stood up as a
boat stands forth in a dry dock.
To the right, the west, the naked hills and
barren ravines of the Wilderness of Judea
climb to the vieinity of Jerusalem, Bethlehem
and Hebron.
To the left, the east, the mountains of Moab
rise like a solid wall of masonry. We are now
at the lowest depression of earth, 1,300 feet
below sea-level. The mountains of Moab rise
2,500 feet above sea level. As I ga/.ed at their
lofty heights I thought again of noble, dis
couraged John the Baptist. On one of these
lofty crags Herod and Ilerodias had their pal
ace. There for eleven months the brave Fore
runner pined in his lofty, lonely prison, from
which, no doubt, his eye swept daily these
lands and the beach on which we stood. There
his head rolled from his body and there his
devoted disciples gathered up the mutilated
corpse, buried it and went and told Jesus.
1 thought, too, of Moses. "When his work
was done God led him to one of these lofty
peaks and showed him the Land of Canaan.
Then God touched him as a mother caresses
her child, and Moses slept.
"By Nebo's lonely mountain
On this side Jordan's wave
In a vale in the land of Moab,
There lies a lonely grave,
And no man dug that sepulchre,
And 110 man saw it e'er.
The angels of God upturned the sod
And laid the prophet there.
"This was the grandest funeral
That ever passed on earth,
But 110 man heard the trampling
Or saw the train go forth.
Without the sound of music
Or voice of those who wept
Silently down from the mountain crown
The great procession swept."
From such ecstatic memories we descended
to the prosaic pleasure of a bath in the Dead
Sea.
The water is crystal. The wavelets have n
slight amber tint, not so decided as the amber
color of Lake Drummond and the juniper
water of the swamps of the South. To the
taste it is as bitter as Epsom salts. And it
as saline as bitter, and as oily as saline. Your
hand feels like you had touched kerosene.
Our bath would have been pleasant had not
the sun l>oon so fierce. One feels as he floats
on the water that he is made of cork. It is
impossible to sink. It sounds unreasonable,
but one lies upon the surface as one lies on a
feather mattress, and sinks into it but little, if
any more. The water is 26 per cent solid mat
ter; one-fourth the constituency of a rock!
Some one has estimated that the Jordan de
livers six and one-half million tons of
water daily to the sea. It is all carried off by
evaporation. Nor is that strange. This vast,
sultry, desert, caldron, under a cloudless sky,
heated like a furnace, is fifty miles long and
ten miles wide.
Some antiquarians believe that the Dead Sea
covers the site of the ancient, wealthy cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah ; and that the lire of
God rained from heaven after the departure of
Lot was a terrific volcanic explosion. I rather
incline to this explanation for all details of
geography, chronology, geology and theology
are satisfied and articulate well.
Over this, the most wicked spot on earth, the
fearful, ominous pall of an age-long curse
hangs still. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death.
It is only a few miles to Jericho, land that
was described by Roman travelers as the fair
est spot on earth. It lies now in the widowed
desolation and empty barrenness of centuries.
Hills, once green with terraced vineyards and
gray with the rustling leaves of the olive, are
painfully bare, seamed, bald and scorched. The
rich city, a jewel tossed about by the princes
of the earth, has lost its lustre. It is a flower
withered and decayed. The few inhabitants
ar.T beggars smitten as with a plague.
And yet the muse of history held the seep
tre here. This was the city around which
Joshua marched thirteen times in solemn pro
cession before the crumbling walls fell flat.
JosIiua laid a prophet curse upon it. If any
man rebuilt Jericho the Lord would smite his
eldest child when the restoration was begun
and his youngest child when the work was
finished.
Centuries later, while Aliab was king, a man
named, Hiel moved down from the mountain
town of Bethel and rebuilt Jericho. God had
not forgotten. Iliel laid the foundation of tho
city in the death of his eldest son, and when
he set up the gates his youngest son died.
Anthony presented this city and plain to
Cleopatra. The Enchantress of the Nile had
ever an eye to business. (She was a Greek,
you know.) She sold Jcricho to Herod, her
inveterate enemy. He greatly cmbelished and
beautified it, lived, ruled and finally died here.
It was here that the human devil dying had
seventy of the wealthiest and most influential
men of the nation imprisoned and beheaded,
that there might be mourning throughout the
land at his death.
In the days of our Lord Jericho was at the
zenith of its splendor. lie often passed this
way. Here lie railed little Zaccliacus down
from the sycamore tree, here lie spoke the
parable of the pounds, the setting of which
story probably had an historic reference to
Herod the Great, and here lie healed Blind
Bartimaeus and the other beggar by the side
of the Jerusalem road.
NOW!
I went out from Dayton, Ohio, sonic time ago,
to preach in a little country church. When 1
gave the invitation I was almost surprised to
find thirty-five people eome to the front. 1 was
just about to leave the meeting to hurry into
the city for another service, when I said, "Is
there is not another?" and away hack against
the wall an old man rose, about eighty-five
years old. His hair was gray and thin, his
back was bent, his step was tottering, as he
leaned upon his stick. "When he reached the
front, he dropped his stick and took my hand
in his, saying, "I thought it might be my last
chance," and he dropped upon his knees. But
do not imagine for a moment that the last
chance conies only at eighty-five. It may come
now ? Now ! ? Selected.
When Mr. Moody was conducting a mission
like this in England, night after night a man
came into the audience. lie was a Cornish
miner. One night as Mr. Moody and Mr. San
key were leaving the platform, they noticed
him sitting under the gallery with a friend.
Mr. Moody made his way over to him, and said
to him, "Why are you here every night and
why are you waifingV" He replied, "Sir, I
said to my companion, 'I will never leave this
building until I am saved.' " Mr. Moody that
night led him to Christ. The next day there
was an explosion in one of the mines, and
many men were taken out, bruised, and bleed
ing and dying. This man was among the
wounded, and when they bent down he was
fast passing away. When they took water to
wash away the dirt from his face, he opened
his eye?. His friend of the previous night was
kneeling at his side, and the Cornish miner
who was saved the night before was saying,
"Jem, it is a good thing I settled it last night."
And he was gone. Oh, it would be a great
thing for you to settle it now, while yet there is
hope. The door of mercy is open. I bid you
enter in. ? Chapman.
A HARD WORD.
PERSEVBRANCE! Can you spell it?
And its meaning, can you tell it?
If you stick to what you're doing.
Study, work, or play pursuing,
Every failure bravely meeting,
Bravely each attempt repeating,
Trying twice and thrice and four times,
Yes, a hundred, even more times,
You can spell it! You can cpell it!
And its meaning, you can tell It!