Excerpt from Cathedral Stones: A Discourse Delivered by Rev. Spencer S. Roche, D.D. In St. Mark's Church, Brooklyn, Sunday, December 11, 1910 The erection of monuments to commemorate notable achieve ments is as old as the history of the race. The divine sanction is here given to the custom. Israel entering the promised land by walking on the bed of the River Jordan, was to place a heap of stones that would perpetuate the teachings of the event. The River Jordan by the command of Jehovah, was dried up to assure the people once more, as at the Red Sea where the waters had been parted and Pharoah overthrown, that the divine favor was with them. Picture the scene: Descending from the uplands which lay to the east of Jordan, and leaving the groves of acacia, they reached the river's brink. It was the spring of the year and the river was at its flood, the waters reaching to the tangled thicket growth on either bank. As the priests advanced with the ark, the swelling tide was stayed. In the striking words of Dean Stanley: High up the river as far as the parts of Kirjathjearim, thirty miles above the place of the encampment, the waters stood, and rose up as if in a barrier or heap, as if congealed, and the waters that descended towards the sea of the desert, the salt sea, failed and were cut off. Almost from the Sea of Tiberias to the Dead Sea, Jordan's channel lay Open. By the banks the sedge and pebbles appeared, while in the muddy bottom amid stream, ancient boulders were uncovered. Where the deepest tides had rushed, now stood the priests uplifting the Ark of the Tabernacle, their feet in the ooze or sand. To their right as they looked westward to' their new home, Jordan's billows were restrained; to their left rushed the people tumultuous, fearful lest the strange control of the river should suddenly cease. As their eyes lighted on the priests and the Ark, and they thought these must be carried down first, they regained confidence. Thearmy, the women, the children, the sick and lame, with their herds and flocks, all crossed safely. Once more Jehovah had fulfilled His promise, and the tribes had conquered fear. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.