Page:The Archko Volume (1896).djvu/181

Rh bow down to anything to serve them.' There it remains from age to age as the memorial of the purpose of our national existence; and how mightily has it worked in the earth!

"There is an incident related by the sacred historian which may seem symbolical of the mission of the whole dispensation which that sacred inclosure contained. It is the fifth section of Samuel: 'And the Philistines took the ark and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon; and when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord, and they took Dagon and set him in his place again; and when they rose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen to his face to the ground again before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold: only the stump of Dagon was left unto him.'

"So is all idolatry destined to fall before the word of the Almighty. So has our Dagon fallen — and oh! what a dreadful fall it is to us Israelites. Let me tell you what was achieved in the Temple of Azotus was gradually accomplished throughout the land of Israel. Many times has Dagon been set up in his place again; many times has idolatry been revived; the ark of God has been in the hands of the enemy (it is there now at this time), and the true religion about to be extinguished, when the Almighty