E-text prepared by Riikka Talonpoika, Keith Eckrich, and Project Gutenberg
Distributed Proofreaders



A TRIP ABROAD

An Account of a Journey to the Earthly Canaan and the Land of the
Ancient Pharaohs

To Which Are Appended

A Brief Consideration of the Geography and History of Palestine,
and a Chapter on Churches of Christ in Great Britain

BY

DON CARLOS JANES

1905







[Illustration: "Striving for the Faith of the Gospel."
Don Carlos Janes.]



  _"Go, little booke, God send thee good passage,
  And specially let this be thy prayere:
  Unto them all that will thee read or hear,
  Where thou art wrong, after their help to call,
  Thee to correct in any part or all."_

                                      CHAUCER.




PREFACE.


In this volume the author has made an effort to describe his journey to
Palestine and Egypt. It is his desire that the book may be interesting
and instructive to its readers. The chapter on the geography of
Palestine, if studied with a good map, will probably be helpful to many.
The historic sketch of the land may serve as an outline of the important
events in the history of that interesting country. It is desired that
the last chapter may give American readers a better understanding of the
work of churches of Christ in Great Britain.

This book is not a classic, but the author has tried to give a truthful
account of a trip, which, to him, was full of interest and not without
profit. No doubt some errors will be found, but even the critical reader
may make some allowance when it is known that the writing, with the
exception of a small part, was done in a period of eighty days. During
this time, the writer was also engaged in evangelistic work, speaking
every day without a single exception, and as often as four times on some
of the days. That the careful reading of the following pages may be
profitable, is the desire of THE AUTHOR.

BOWLING GREEN, KY., October 21, 1905.




ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.


Several books have been consulted in preparing this one. "Lands of the
Bible," by J.W. McGarvey, has been very helpful. The same is true of
Edmund Sherman Wallace's "Jerusalem the Holy." Much information has been
obtained from the "Historical Geography of Bible Lands," by John B.
Calkin. Other works consulted were: "Recent Discoveries on the Temple
Hill," by James King; the "Bible Atlas," by Jesse L. Hurlbut; "Galilee
in the Time of Christ," by Selah Merrill; "City of the Great King," by
J.T. Barclay; "Palestine," by C.R. Conder; Smith's "Bible Dictionary";
"Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia"; "Columbian Encyclopaedia," and
"Encyclopaedia Britannica."

The chapter on Churches of Christ in Great Britain and Ireland was read
before publication by Bro. Ivie Campbell, Jr., of Kirkcaldy, Scotland,
who made some suggestions for its improvement. Bro. J.W. McGarvey, of
Lexington, Ky., kindly read the chapters on the Geography and History of
Palestine, and made some corrections. Selah Merrill, United States
Consul at Jerusalem, has given some information embodied in the Historic
Sketch of Palestine. Acknowledgement of the helpful services of my wife,
and of Miss Delia Boyd, of Atpontley, Tenn., is hereby made.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.
    SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND

  CHAPTER II.
    CROSSING EUROPE

  CHAPTER III.
    ASIA MINOR AND SYRIA

  CHAPTER IV.
    A FEW DAYS IN GALILEE

  CHAPTER V.
    SIGHT-SEEING IN JERUSALEM

  CHAPTER VI.
    SIDE TRIPS FROM JERUSALEM

  CHAPTER VII.
    EGYPT, THE LAND OF TOMBS AND TEMPLES

  CHAPTER VIII.
    GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE

  CHAPTER IX.
    HISTORIC SKETCH OF PALESTINE

  CHAPTER X.
    CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN GREAT BRITAIN




CHAPTER I.

SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND.


When I was a "boy on a farm," one of my school teachers had a small
machine, which was sometimes used to print the names of students in
their books. Somehow I came to want a "printing press," and after a
while I purchased an outfit for fifteen cents, but it was a poor thing
and failed to satisfy me. Accordingly, I disposed of it and spent a
larger sum for a typewriter, which was little more than a toy. This,
too, was unsatisfactory, and I sold it. At a later date, I bought a
second-hand typewriter, which was turned in as part payment for the
machine I am now using to write this book, and now, after all these
successive steps, I find myself possessed of a real typewriter. I will
also mention my youthful desire for a watch. I wanted a timepiece and
thought I would like for it to be of small size. I thought of it when
awake, and, sometimes, when asleep, dreamed that I actually had the
little watch in my possession. Since those days of dreams and
disappointments, I have had three watches, and they have all been of
small size.

In the same way, several years ago, I became possessed of a desire to
see the Land of Promise, the earthly Canaan. I thought about it some,
and occasionally spoke of it. There were seasons when the desire left
me, but it would come back again. Some years ago, when I was doing
evangelistic work in Canada, the desire returned--this time to stay. It
grew stronger and stronger until I decided to make the trip, which was
begun on the eleventh of July, 1904. After traveling many thousands of
miles, seeing numerous new and interesting sights, making many pleasant
acquaintances, and having a variety of experiences, I returned to the
home of my father on the fourteenth day of December, having been absent
five months and three days, and having had a more extensive trip than I
had at first thought of taking. There is a lesson in the foregoing that
I do not want overlooked. It is this: Whatever we earnestly desire is
apt to be worked out in our lives. Deeds usually begin with thoughts. If
the thoughts are fostered and cultivated, the deeds will probably be
performed some time. It is, therefore, important that we exercise care
as to the kind of thoughts we allow to remain in our hearts. "Keep thy
heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov.
iv. 23).

On the way to New York, I stopped in Washington and saw some of the
interesting places of the National Capital. The Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, where about six hundred persons were engaged in printing paper
money and stamps, was visited. I also went out to the Washington
Monument and climbed to the top of the winding stairs, although I might
have gone up in the free elevator if I had preferred to ride. The
Medical Museum, National Museum, Treasury Building, the White House, the
Capitol, and other points of interest received attention, and my short
stay in this city was very enjoyable.

I spent a night in Philadelphia, after an absence of more than four
years, and enjoyed a meeting with the church worshiping on Forty-sixth
Street. It was very pleasant to meet those I had known when I was there
before, some of whom I had been instrumental in bringing to Christ. In
New York I made arrangements to sail for Glasgow on the S.S. Mongolian,
of the Allan Line, which was to sail at eleven o'clock on the fourteenth
of July, and the voyage was begun almost as promptly as a railway train
leaves the depot. We passed the Statue of Liberty a few minutes before
noon, and then I prepared some mail to be sent back by the pilot who
took us down to the sea. The water was smooth almost all the way across,
and we reached the desired haven on the eleventh day. I went back to my
room the first morning after breakfast and was lying in my berth when a
gentleman came along and told me I would have to get up, they were
going to have _inspection_. I arose and found part of the crew scrubbing
the floor and others washing down a wall. Everything was being put in
good condition for the examination to be given by some of the officers
who passed through each day at about ten o'clock. The seamen knew the
inspection was sure to come, and they knew the hour at which it would
take place, so they made ready for it. We know that there is a great
"inspection" day appointed when God will judge the world, but we do not
know the exact time. It is, therefore, important to be ready always,
that the day may not overtake us "as a thief in the night."

Religious services were held on the ship each Lord's day, but I missed
the last meeting. On the first Sunday morning I arose as usual and ate
breakfast. As there was no opportunity to meet with brethren and break
bread in memory of the Lord Jesus, I read the account of the giving of
the Lord's Supper as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and John; also Paul's
language concerning the institution in the eleventh chapter of the first
Corinthian letter, and was thankful that my life had been spared until
another beautiful resurrection morning. At half past ten o'clock I went
into one of the dining rooms where two ministers were conducting a
meeting. The order of the service, as nearly as I can give it, was as
follows: Responsive reading of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth
Psalms; prayer; the hymn, "Onward, Christian Soldiers"; reading of the
twenty-ninth Psalm; prayer; the hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light"; an address
on "Knowing God"; prayer; the collection, taken while singing; and the
benediction. The ship furnished Bibles and hymn-books. A large copy of
the Bible was placed upon a British flag at the head of one of the
tables where the speaker stood, but he read from the American Revised
Version of the Scriptures. The sermon was commenced by some remarks to
the effect that man is hard to please. Nothing earthly satisfies him,
but Thomas expressed the correct idea when he said: "Show us the Father
and it sufficeth us." The minister then went on to speak of God as "the
God of patience," "the God of comfort," "the God of hope," and "the God
of peace." It was, with some exceptions, a pleasing and uplifting
address. There were about thirty persons in attendance, and the
collection was for the Sailors' Orphans' Home in Scotland. The following
is one verse of the closing hymn:

  "A few more years shall roll,
    A few more seasons come,
  And we shall be with those that rest,
    Asleep within the tomb;
  Then, oh, my Lord, prepare
    My soul for that great day,
  Oh, wash me in thy precious blood
    And take my sins away."

Before the close of the day, I read the whole of Mark's record of the
life of our Savior and turned my Bible over to Gus, the steward. We had
food served four times, as usual. The sea was smooth and the day passed
quietly. A Catholic gentleman said something at breakfast about "saying
a few prayers" to himself, and I heard a woman, in speaking about going
to church, say she had beads and a prayer-book with her. Later in the
day I saw her out on the deck with a novel, and what I supposed to be
the prayer-book, but she was reading the novel.

Several of the passengers had reading matter with them. Some read
novels, but my Book was far better than any of these. It has a greater
Author, a wider range of history, more righteous laws, purer morals, and
more beautiful description than theirs. It contains a longer and better
love story than theirs, and reveals a much grander Hero. The Bible both
moralizes and Christianizes those who permit its holy influence to move
them to loving obedience of the Lord Jesus. It can fill its thoughtful
reader with holy hope and lead him into the realization of that hope. It
is a Book adapted to all men everywhere, and the more carefully it is
read the greater the interest in it and the profit from it become. It is
the volume that teaches us how to live here that we may live hereafter,
and in the dying hour no one will regret having been a diligent student
of its matchless pages of divine truth and wisdom.

The last Lord's day of the voyage the ship reached Moville, Ireland,
where a small vessel came out and took off the passengers for
Londonderry. The tilled land, visible from the ship, reminded me of a
large garden. Some time that night we anchored in the harbor at
Greenock, near the mouth of the River Clyde. About one o'clock the
second steward came in, calling out: "Janes!" I answered from my berth
and heard him call out: "Don Carlos Janes!" Again I answered and learned
that he had some mail for me. I told him to hand it in, not remembering
that the door was locked, but that made no difference, for he handed it
in anyhow, but the locking arrangement on that door needed repairing
after he went away. I arose and examined the two pieces of mail, which
were from friends, giving me directions as to where I should go when the
ship got up to Glasgow, twenty-two miles from the sea. There was but one
case of sea sickness reported on the whole voyage. There was one death,
but the corpse was carried into port instead of being buried at sea.

The home of Brother and Sister Henry Nelmes, which was my home while I
staid in Glasgow, is nicely located. Brother Nelmes and his wife are
excellent people, and treated me with much kindness. Glasgow is a large
and important city, with many interesting places in it. The Municipal
Building with its marble stairs, alabaster balustrade, onyx columns, and
other ornamentation, is attractive on the inside, but the exterior
impressed me more with the idea of stability than of beauty. The old
Cathedral, which I visited twice, is in an excellent state of
preservation, although founded in the eleventh century. There is an
extensive burial ground adjoining the Cathedral, and one of the
prominent monuments is at the grave of John Knox, the reformer. These
impressive words, written from memory, were spoken by the Regent at the
burial of Knox, and have been carved upon his monument: "Here lieth he
who never feared the face of man, who was often threatened with dag and
dagger, yet hath ended his days in peace and honor." Carlyle spoke of
him as a man "fearing God, without any other fear."

One day I visited the birth-place of Robert Burns, at Ayr, a point not
far from Glasgow. I not only saw the "lowly thatched cottage," but a
monument to the poet, "Auld Kirk Alloway," the "brig o' Doon," and many
interesting articles in the museum. When the street car came to a
standstill, I had the old church and cemetery on my right hand, and the
monument on my left hand, while a man was standing in the road, ahead of
us, blowing a cornet,--and just beyond was the new bridge over the Doon,
a short distance below the old one, which is well preserved and
profusely decorated with the initials of many visitors. Along the bank
of "bonny Doon" lies a little garden, on the corner of which is
situated a house where liquor is sold, if I mistake not. It was before
this house that I saw the musician already mentioned. As I came up from
the old "brig o' Doon," I saw and heard a man playing a violin near the
monument. When I went down the road toward the new bridge and looked
over into the garden, I saw a couple of persons executing a cake-walk,
and an old man with one leg off was in the cemetery that surrounds the
ruined church, reciting selections from Burns. Such is the picture I
beheld when I visited this Ayrshire monument, raised in memory of the
sympathetic but unfortunate Scottish poet, whose "spark o' nature's
fire" has touched so many hearts that his birth-place has more visitors
per annum than Shakespeare's has.

On the following day I had a pleasant boat-ride up Loch (Lake) Long,
followed by a merry coach-ride across to the "bonny, bonny banks of Loch
Lomond," which is celebrated in song and story. It is twenty-two miles
in length and from three-quarters of a mile to five miles wide, and is
called the "Queen of Scottish lakes." Ben Lomond, a mountain rising to a
height of more than three thousand feet, stands on the shore, and it is
said that Robert Bruce, the hero of Bannockburn, once hid himself in a
cave in this mountain. A pleasant boat-ride down the lake brought me
back to Glasgow in time to attend a meeting of the brethren in Coplaw
Street that night.

Leaving my true friends who had so kindly entertained me in Glasgow, I
proceeded to Edinburgh, the city where Robert Burns came into
prominence. In the large Waverley Station a stranger, who knew of my
coming through word from Brother Ivie Campbell, of Kirkcaldy, stopped me
and asked: "Is your name Don Carlos Janes?" It was another good friend,
Brother J.W. Murray. He said he told some one he was looking for me, and
was told, in return, that he would not be able to find me. His answer to
this was that he had picked out a man before, and he might pick out
another one; and so he did, without any difficulty. After a little time
spent in Waverley gardens, I ascended the Walter Scott Monument, which
is two hundred feet high. The winding stairway is rather narrow,
especially at the top, and it is not well lighted. As I was coming down
the stairs, I met a lady and gentleman. The little woman was not at all
enthusiastic over the experience she was having, and, without knowing of
my presence, she was wondering what they would do if they were to meet
any one. "Come on up and see," I said, and we passed without any special
difficulty, but she said she didn't believe "two stout ones could" pass.
As she went on up the winding way, she was heard expressing herself in
these words: "Oh, it is a place, isn't it? I don't like it." The
tourist finds many "places", and they are not all desirable. Princess
Street, on which the monument is located, is the prettiest street that I
have ever seen. One side is occupied by business houses and hotels, the
other is a beautiful garden, where one may walk or sit down, surrounded
by green grass and beautiful flowers.

Edinburgh Castle is an old fortification on the summit of a lofty hill
overlooking the city. It is now used as barracks for soldiers, and is
capable of accommodating twelve hundred men. Queen Mary's room is a
small chamber, where her son, James the First of Scotland and the Sixth
of England, was born. I was in the old castle in Glasgow where she spent
the night before the Battle of Langside, and later stood by her tomb in
Westminster Abbey. Her history, a brief sketch of which is given here,
is interesting and pathetic. "Mary Queen of Scots was born in Linlithgow
Palace, 1542; fatherless at seven days old; became Queen December 8th,
1542, and was crowned at Stirling, September 9th, 1543; carried to
France, 1548; married to the Dauphin, 1558; became Queen of France,
1559; a widow, 1560; returned to Scotland, 1561; married Lord Darnley,
1565; her son (and successor), James VI., born at Edinburgh Castle,
1566; Lord Darnley murdered, February, 1567; Mary married to the Earl of
Bothwell, May, 1567, and was compelled to abdicate in favor of her
infant son. She escaped from Lochleven Castle, lost the Battle of
Langside, and fled to England, 1568. She was beheaded February 8th,
1587, at Fotheringay Castle, in the forty-fifth year of her age, almost
nineteen years of which she passed in captivity.

  "Puir Mary was born and was cradled in tears,
  Grief cam' wi' her birth, and grief grew wi' her years."

In the crown-room are to be seen the regalia of Scotland, consisting of
the crown, scepter, sword of state, a silver rod of office, and other
jewels, all enclosed in a glass case surrounded by iron work. St.
Margaret's Chapel, seventeen feet long and eleven feet wide, stands
within the castle enclosure and is the oldest building in the city. A
very old cannon, called Mons Meg, was brought back to the castle through
the efforts of Walter Scott, and is now on exhibition. I visited the
Hall of Statuary in the National Gallery, the Royal Blind Asylum, passed
St. Giles Cathedral, where John Knox preached, dined with Brother
Murray, and boarded the train for Kirkcaldy, where I as easily found
Brother Campbell at the station as Brother Murray had found me in
Edinburgh.

I had been in correspondence with Brother Campbell for some years, and
our meeting was a pleasure, and my stay at Kirkcaldy was very enjoyable.
We went up to St. Andrews, and visited the ruins of the old Cathedral,
the University, a monument to certain martyrs, and the home of a sister
in Christ. But little of the Cathedral remains to be seen. It was
founded in 1159, and was the most magnificent of Scottish churches. St.
Rule's Tower, one hundred and ten feet high, still stands, and we had a
fine view from the top. The time to leave Kirkcaldy came too soon, but I
moved on toward Wigan, England, to attend the annual meeting of churches
of Christ. Brother Campbell accompanied me as far as Edinburgh, and I
then proceeded to Melrose, where I stopped off and visited Abbotsford,
the home of Sir Walter Scott. It is situated on the River Tweed, a short
distance from Melrose, and was founded in 1811. By the expenditure of a
considerable sum of money it was made to present such an appearance as
to be called "a romance in stone and lime." Part of this large house is
occupied as a dwelling, but some of the rooms are kept open for the
numerous visitors who call from time to time. The young lady who was
guide the day I was at Abbotsford, first showed us Sir Walter's study.
It is a small room, with book shelves from the floor to the ceiling, the
desk on which Scott wrote his novels sitting in the middle of the floor.
A writing-box, made of wood taken from one of the ships of the Spanish
Armada, sits on the desk, and the clothes worn by the great novelist a
short time before his death are kept under glass in a case by the
window, while a cast of his face is to be seen in a small room
adjoining the study. We next passed into the library, which, with the
books in the study, contains about twenty thousand volumes. In the
armory are numerous guns, pistols, swords, and other relics. There is
some fine furniture in one of the rooms, and the walls are covered with
paper printed by hand in China nearly ninety years ago. Perhaps some who
read these lines will recall the sad story of Genivra, who hid herself
in an oaken chest in an attic, and perished there, being imprisoned by
the spring lock. This oaken chest was received at Abbotsford a short
time before Scott's death, and is now on exhibition. Sir Walter, as the
guide repeatedly called him, spent the last years of his life under the
burden of a heavy debt, but instead of making use of the bankrupt law,
he set to work heroically with his pen to clear up the indebtedness. He
wrote rapidly, and his books sold well, but he was one day compelled to
lay down his pen before the task was done. The King of England gave him
a trip to the Mediterranean, for the benefit of his health, but it was
of no avail. Sir Walter returned to his home on the bank of the Tweed,
and died September twenty-first, 1832. In his last illness, this great
author, who had produced so many volumes that were being read then and
are still being read, asked his son-in-law to read to him. The
son-in-law asked what book he should read, to which Sir Walter replied:
"Book? There is but one Book! Read me the Bible." In Melrose I visited
the ruins of the Abbey, and then went on to Wigan.

After the annual meeting, I went to Birmingham and stayed a short while.
From here I made a little journey to the birth-place of Shakespeare, at
Stratford-on-Avon, a small, quiet town, where, to the best of my
recollection, I saw neither street cars nor omnibuses. After being in
several large cities, it was an agreeable change to spend a day in this
quiet place, where the greatest writer in the English tongue spent his
boyhood and the last days of his life on earth. The house where he was
born was first visited. A fee of sixpence (about twelve cents) secures
admission, but another sixpence is required if the library and museum
are visited. The house stands as it was in the poet's early days, with a
few exceptions. Since that time, however, part of it has been used as a
meat market and part as an inn. In 1847, the property was announced for
sale, and it fell into the hands of persons who restored it as nearly as
possible to its original condition.

It has two stories and an attic, with three gables in the roof facing
the street. At the left of the door by which the tourist is admitted, is
a portion of the house where the valuable documents of the corporation
are stored, while to the right are the rooms formerly used as the "Swan
and Maidenhead Inn," now converted into a library and museum. The
windows in the upstairs room where the poet was born are fully occupied
with the autographs of visitors who have scratched their names there. I
was told that the glass is now valuable simply as old glass, and of
course the autographs enhance the value. The names of Scott and Carlyle
are pointed out by the attendant in charge. From a back window one can
look down into the garden, where, as far as possible, all the trees and
flowers mentioned in Shakespeare's works have been planted. For some
years past the average number of visitors to this house has been seven
thousand a year. The poet's grave is in Trinity Church, at Stratford,
beneath a stone slab in the floor bearing these lines:

  "Good friend, for Jesus' sake, forbear
  To digg the dust enclosed here.
  Blest be ye man y spares these stones,
  And curst be he ty moves my bones."

On the wall, just at hand, is a bust made from a cast taken after his
death. Near by is a stained-glass window with the inscription,
"America's gift to Shakespeare's church," and not far away is a card
above a collection-box with an inscription which informs "visitors from
U.S.A." that there is yet due on the window more than three hundred
dollars. The original cost was about two thousand five hundred dollars.
The Shakespeare Memorial is a small theater by the side of the Avon,
with a library and picture gallery attached. The first stone was laid in
1877, and the building was opened in 1879 with a performance of "Much
Ado About Nothing." The old school once attended by the poet still
stands, and is in use, as is also the cottage of Anne Hathaway, situated
a short distance from Stratford. I returned to Birmingham, and soon went
on to Bristol and saw the orphans' homes founded by George Muller.

These homes, capable of accommodating two thousand and fifty orphans,
are beautifully situated on Ashley Downs. Brother William Kempster and I
visited them together, and were shown through a portion of one of the
five large buildings by an elderly gentleman, neat, clean, and humble,
who was sent down by the manager of the institution, a son-in-law of Mr.
Muller, who died in 1898, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. We
saw one of the dormitories, which was plainly furnished, but everything
was neat and clean. We were also shown two dining-rooms, and the
library-room in which Mr. Muller conducted a prayer-meeting only a night
or two before his death. In this room we saw a fine, large picture of
the deceased, and were told by the "helper" who was showing us around
that Mr. Muller was accustomed to saying: "Oh, I am such a happy man!"
The expression on his face in this picture is quite in harmony with his
words just quoted. One of his sayings was: "When anxiety begins, faith
ends; when faith begins, anxiety ends."

Mr. Muller spent seventy years of his life in England and became so
thoroughly Anglicized that he wished his name pronounced "Miller." He
was the founder of the "Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and
Abroad" and was a man of much more than ordinary faith. His work began
about 1834, with the distribution of literature, and the orphan work, if
I mistake not, was begun two years later. "As the result of prayer to
God" more than five millions of dollars have been applied for the
benefit of the orphans. He never asked help of man, but made his wants
known to God, and those who are now carrying on the work pursue the same
course, but the collection-boxes put up where visitors can see them
might be considered by some as an invitation to give. The following
quotation from the founder of the orphanages will give some idea of the
kind of man he was. "In carrying on this work simply through the
instrumentality of prayer and faith, without applying to any human being
for help, my great desire was, that it might be seen that, now, in the
nineteenth century, _God is still the Living God, and now, as well as
thousands of years ago, he listens to the prayers of his children and
helps those who trust in him._ In all the forty-two countries through
which I traveled during the twenty-one years of my missionary service,
numberless instances came before me of the benefit which this orphan
institution has been, in this respect, not only in making men of the
world see the reality of the things of God, and by converting them, but
especially by leading the children of God more abundantly to give
themselves to prayer, and by strengthening their faith. _Far beyond what
I at first expected to accomplish_, the Lord has been pleased to give
me. But what I have _seen_ as the fruit of my labor in this way may not
be the thousandth part of what I _shall_ see when the Lord Jesus comes
again; as day by day, for sixty-one years, I have earnestly labored, in
believing prayer, that God would be pleased, most abundantly, to bless
this service in the way I have stated."

The objects of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution are set forth as
follows: "To assist day schools and Sunday-schools in which instruction
is given upon scriptural principles," etc. By day schools conducted on
scriptural principles, they mean "those in which the teachers are
believers; where the way of salvation is pointed out, and in which no
instruction is given opposed to the principles of the Gospel." In these
schools the Scriptures are read daily by the children. In the
Sunday-schools the "teachers are believers, and the Holy Scriptures
alone are the foundation of instruction." The second object of the
Institution is "to circulate the Holy Scriptures." In one year four
thousand three hundred and fifty Bibles were sold, and five hundred and
twenty-five were given away; seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-one
New Testament were sold, and one thousand five hundred and seventy-four
were given away; fifty-five copies of the Psalms were sold, and
thirty-eight were given away; two thousand one hundred and sixty-three
portions of the Holy Scriptures were sold, and one hundred and sixty-two
were given away; and three thousand one hundred illustrated portions of
the Scriptures were given away. There have been circulated through this
medium, since March, 1834, three hundred and eleven thousand two hundred
and seventy-eight Bibles, and one million five hundred and seven
thousand eight hundred and one copies of the New Testament. They keep in
stock almost four hundred sorts of Bibles, ranging in price from twelve
cents each to more than six dollars a copy.

Another object of the Institution is to aid in missionary efforts.
"During the past year one hundred and eighty laborers in the Word and
doctrine in various parts of the world have been assisted." The fourth
object is to circulate such publications as may be of benefit both to
believers and unbelievers. In a single year one million six hundred and
eleven thousand two hundred and sixty-six books and tracts were
distributed gratuitously. The fifth object is to board, clothe, and
scientifically educate destitute orphans. Mr. Muller belonged to that
class of religious people who call themselves Brethren, and are called
by others "Plymouth Brethren."

After leaving Bristol, I went to London, the metropolis of the world.
The first important place visited was Westminster Abbey, an old church,
founded in the seventh century, rebuilt in 1049, and restored to its
present form in the thirteenth century. Many eminent men and women are
buried here. Chaucer, the first poet to find a resting place in the
Abbey, was interred in 1400. The place where Major Andre is buried is
marked by a small piece of the pavement bearing his name. On the wall
close by is a monument to him. Here are the graves of Isaac Newton,
Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Darwin, and many others,
including Kings and Queens of England for centuries. In the Poets'
Corner are monuments to Coleridge, Southey, Shakespeare, Burns,
Tennyson, Milton, Gray, Spencer, and others, and one bearing the
inscription "O Rare Ben Jonson." There is also a bust of Longfellow, the
only foreigner accorded a memorial in the Abbey. The grave of David
Livingstone, the African explorer and missionary, is covered with a
black stone of some kind, which forms a part of the floor or pavement,
and contains an inscription in brass letters, of which the following
quotation is a part: "All I can add in my solitude is, may heaven's
rich blessings come down on every one, American, English, or Turk, who
will help to heal this open sore of the world."

Concerning this interesting old place which is visited by more than
fifty thousand Americans annually, Jeremy Taylor wrote: "Where our Kings
are crowned, their ancestors lie interred, and they must walk over their
grandsires to take the crown. There is an acre sown with royal seed, the
copy of the greatest change, from rich to naked, from ceiled roofs to
arched coffins, from living like gods to die like men. There the warlike
and the peaceful, the fortunate and the miserable, the beloved and
despised princes mingle their dust and pay down their symbol of
mortality, and tell all the world that when we die our ashes shall be
equal to Kings, and our accounts easier, and our pains for our sins
shall be less." While walking about in the Abbey, I also found these
lines from Walter Scott:

  "Here, where the end of earthly things
  Lays heroes, patriots, bards and kings;
  Where stiff the hand and still the tongue
  Of those who fought, and spoke, and sung;
  Here, where the fretted aisles prolong
  The distant notes of holy song,
  As if some Angel spoke again
  'All peace on earth, good will to men';
  If ever from an English heart,
  Here let prejudice depart."

Bunhill Fields is an old cemetery where one hundred and twenty thousand
burials have taken place. Here lie the ashes of Isaac Watts, the hymn
writer; of Daniel De Foe, author of "Robinson Crusoe," and of John
Bunyan, who in Bedford jail wrote "Pilgrim's Progress." The monuments
are all plain. The one at the grave of De Foe was purchased with the
contributions of seventeen hundred people, who responded to a call made
by some paper. On the top of Bunyan's tomb rests the figure of a man,
perhaps a representation of him whose body was laid in the grave below.
On one of the monuments in this cemetery are the following words
concerning the deceased: "In sixty-seven months she was tapped sixty-six
times. Had taken away two hundred and forty gallons of water without
ever repining at her case or ever fearing the operation."

Just across the street from Bunhill Fields stands the house once
occupied by John Wesley (now containing a museum) and a meeting-house
which was built in Wesley's day. The old pulpit from which Mr. Wesley
preached is still in use, but it has been lowered somewhat. In front of
the chapel is a statue of Wesley, and at the rear is his grave, and
close by is the last resting place of the remains of Adam Clarke, the
commentator.

A trip to Greenwich was quite interesting. I visited the museum and saw
much of interest, including the painted hall, the coat worn by Nelson at
the Battle of the Nile, and the clothing he wore when he was mortally
wounded at Trafalgar. I went up the hill to the Observatory, and walked
through an open door to the grounds where a gentleman informed me that
visitors are not admitted without a pass; but he kindly gave me some
information and told me that I was standing on the prime meridian. On
the outside of the enclosure are scales of linear measure up to one
yard, and a large clock.

After the trip to Greenwich, I went over the London Bridge, passed the
fire monument, and came back across the Thames by the Tower Bridge, a
peculiar structure, having two levels in one span, so passengers can go
up the stairs in one of the towers, cross the upper level, and go down
the other stairs when the lower level is opened for boats to pass up and
down the river. While in Scotland, I twice crossed the great Forth
Bridge, which is more than a mile and a half long and was erected at a
cost of above fifteen millions of dollars. There are ten spans in the
south approach, eight in the north approach, and two central spans each
seventeen hundred feet long. The loftiest part of the structure is three
hundred and sixty-one feet above high-water mark.

The Albert Memorial is perhaps the finest monument seen on the whole
trip. The Victoria and Albert Museum contains the original Singer
sewing-machine, and a printing-press supposed to have been used by
Benjamin Franklin, and many other interesting things. The Natural
History Museum also contains much to attract the visitor's attention.
Here I saw the skeleton of a mastodon about ten feet tall and twenty
feet long; also the tusks of an extinct species of Indian elephant,
which were nine feet and nine inches long. There is also an elephant
tusk on exhibition ten feet long and weighing two hundred and eighty
pounds.

Madam Tussaud's exhibition of wax figures and relics is both interesting
and instructive, and well repays one for the time and expense of a
visit. Several American Presidents are represented in life-size figures,
along with Kings and others who have been prominent in the affairs of
men. In the Napoleon room are three of the great warrior's carriages,
the one used at Waterloo being in the number. London Tower is a series
of strong buildings, which have in turn served as a fortress, a palace,
and a prison. I saw the site of Anne Boleyn's execution, but that which
had the most interest for me was the room containing the crown jewels.
They are kept in a glass case ten or twelve feet in diameter, in a
small, circular room. Outside of the case there is an iron cage
surrounded by a network of wire. The King's crown is at the top of the
collection, which contains other crowns, scepters, swords, and different
costly articles. This crown, which was first made in 1838 for Queen
Victoria, was enlarged for Edward, the present King. It contains two
thousand eight hundred and eighteen diamonds, two hundred and
ninety-seven pearls, and many other jewels. One of the scepters is
supposed to contain a part of the cross of Christ, but the supposition
had no weight with me. One of the attendants told me the value of the
whole collection was estimated at four million pounds, and that it would
probably bring five times that much if sold at auction. As the English
pound is worth about four dollars and eighty-seven cents, this little
room contains a vast treasure--worth upwards of a hundred million
dollars.

I will only mention Nelson's monument in Trafalgar Square, the
Parliament Buildings, St. Paul's Cathedral, Kew Gardens, Hampton Court
Palace, and the Zoological Gardens. I also visited the Bank of England,
which "stands on ground valued at two hundred and fifty dollars per
square foot. If the bank should ever find itself pressed for money, it
could sell its site for thirty-two million seven hundred and seventy
thousand dollars." It is a low building that is not noted for its
beauty. If it were located in New York, probably one of the tall
buildings characteristic of that city would be erected on the site.

The British Museum occupied my time for hours, and I shall not undertake
to give a catalogue of the things I saw there, but will mention a few of
them. There are manuscripts of early writers in the English tongue,
including a copy of Beowulf, the oldest poem in the language; autograph
works of Daniel De Foe, Ben Jonson, and others; the original articles of
agreement between John Milton and Samuel Symmons relating to the sale of
the copyright of "a poem entitled 'Paradise Lost.'" There was a small
stone inscribed in Phoenician, with the name of Nehemiah, the son of
Macaiah, and pieces of rock that were brought from the great temple of
Diana at Ephesus; a fragment of the Koran; objects illustrating Buddhism
in India; books printed by William Caxton, who printed the first book in
English; and Greek vases dating back to 600 B.C. In the first verse of
the twentieth chapter of Isaiah we have mention of "Sargon, the king of
Assyria." For centuries this was all the history the world had of this
king, who reigned more than seven hundred years before Christ. Within
recent times his history has been dug up in making excavations in the
east, and I saw one of his inscribed bricks and two very large,
human-headed, winged bulls from a doorway of his palace.

The carvings from the palace of Sennacherib, tablets from the library of
Asur-Banipal, and brick of Ur-Gur, king of Ur about twenty-five
centuries before Christ, attracted my attention, as did also the
colossal left arm of a statue of Thotmes III., which measures about nine
feet. The Rosetta stone, by which the Egyptian hieroglyphics were
translated, and hundreds of other objects were seen. In the mummy-room
are embalmed bodies, skeletons, and coffins that were many centuries
old when Jesus came to earth, some of them bearing dates as early as
2600 B.C., and in the case of a part of a body found in the third
pyramid the date attached is 3633 B.C. Being weary, I sat down, and my
note book contains this entry: "1:45 P.M., August 20. Resting here in
the midst of mummies and sarcophagi thousands of years old."

From the top of the Monument I took a bird's-eye view of the largest of
all earthly cities, or at least I looked as far as the smoky atmosphere
would permit, and then returned to my stopping place at Twynholm. As I
rode back on the top of an omnibus, the houses of one of the Rothschild
family and the Duke of Wellington were pointed out. My sight-seeing in
Scotland and England was now at an end, and the journey so far had been
very enjoyable and highly profitable. I packed up and went down to
Harwich, on the English Channel, where I embarked on the Cambridge for
Antwerp, in Belgium. In this chapter I have purposely omitted reference
to my association with the churches, as that will come up for
consideration in another chapter.




CHAPTER II.

CROSSING EUROPE.


Immediately after my arrival in Antwerp I left for a short trip over the
border to Rosendaal, Holland, where I saw but little more than
brick-houses, tile roofs, and wooden shoes. I then returned to Antwerp,
and went on to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. The battlefield of
Waterloo is about nine and a half miles from Brussels, and I had an
enjoyable trip to this notable place. The field is farming land, and now
under cultivation. The chief object of interest is the Lion Mound, an
artificial hill surmounted by the figure of a large lion. The mound is
ascended by about two hundred and twenty-three steps, and from its
summit one has a good view of the place where the great Napoleon met his
defeat on the fifteenth of June, 1815. There is another monument on the
field, which, though quite small and not at all beautiful, contains an
impressive inscription. It was raised in memory of Alexander Gordon, an
aide to the Duke of Wellington, and has the following words carved on
one side: "A disconsolate sister and five surviving brothers have
erected this simple memorial to the object of their tenderest
affection."

From Brussels I went over to Aix-la-Chapelle, on the frontier of
Germany, where I spent but little time and saw nothing of any great
interest to me. There was a fine statue of Wilhelm I., a crucifixion
monument, and, as I walked along the street, I saw an advertisement for
"Henry Clay Habanna Cigarren," but not being a smoker, I can not say
whether they were good or not. In this city I had an amusing experience
buying a German flag. I couldn't speak "Deutsch," and she couldn't speak
English, but we made the trade all right.

My next point was Paris, the capital of the French Republic, and here I
saw many interesting objects. I first visited the church called the
Madeleine. I also walked along the famous street _Champs Elysees,_
visited the magnificent Arch of Triumph, erected to commemorate the
victories of Napoleon, and viewed the Eiffel Tower, which was completed
in 1889 at a cost of a million dollars. It contains about seven thousand
tons of metal, and the platform at the top is nine hundred and
eighty-five feet high. The Tomb of Napoleon is in the Church of the
Invalides, one of the finest places I had visited up to that time. The
spot where the Bastile stood is now marked by a lofty monument. The
garden of the Tuileries, Napoleon's palace, is one of the pretty places
in Paris. Leaving this city in the morning, I journeyed all day through
a beautiful farming country, and reached Pontarlier, in southern France,
for the night.

My travel in Switzerland, the oldest free state in the world, was very
enjoyable. As we were entering the little republic, in which I spent two
days, the train was running through a section of country that is not
very rough, when, all in a moment, it passed through a tunnel
overlooking a beautiful valley, bounded by mountains on the opposite
side and presenting a very pleasing view. There were many other
beautiful scenes as I journeyed along, sometimes climbing the rugged
mountain by a cog railway, and sometimes riding quietly over one of the
beautiful Swiss lakes. I spent a night at lovely Lucerne, on the Lake of
the Four Cantons, the body of water on which William Tell figured long
ago. Lucerne is kept very clean, and presents a pleasing appearance to
the tourist.

I could have gone to Fluelin by rail, but preferred to take a boat ride
down the lake, and it proved to be a pleasant and enjoyable trip. The
snow could be seen lying on the tops of the mountains while the flowers
were blooming in the valleys below. Soon after leaving Fluelin, the
train entered the St. Gothard Tunnel and did not reach daylight again
for seventeen minutes. This tunnel, at that time the longest in the
world, is a little more than nine miles in length. It is twenty-eight
feet wide, twenty-one feet high, lined throughout with masonry, and cost
eleven million four hundred thousand dollars. Since I was in Switzerland
the Simplon Tunnel has been opened. It was begun more than six years
ago by the Swiss and Italian Governments, an immense force of hands
being worked on each end of it. After laboring day and night for years,
the two parties met on the twenty-fourth of February. This tunnel, which
is double, is more than twelve miles long and cost sixteen millions of
dollars.

At Chiasso we did what is required at the boundary line of all the
countries visited; that is, stop and let the custom-house officials
inspect the baggage. I had nothing dutiable and was soon traveling on
through Italy, toward Venice, where I spent some time riding on one of
the little omnibus steamers that ply on its streets of water. But not
all the Venetian streets are like this, for I walked on some that are
paved with good, hard sandstone. I was not moved by the beauty of the
place, and soon left for Pisa, passing a night in Florence on the way.
The chief point of interest was the Leaning Tower, which has eight
stories and is one hundred and eighty feet high. This structure,
completed in the fourteenth century, seems to have commenced to lean
when the third story was built. The top, which is reached by nearly
three hundred steps, is fourteen feet out of perpendicular. Five large
bells are suspended in the tower, from the top of which one can have a
fine view of the walled city, with its Cathedral and Baptistery, the
beautiful surrounding country, and the mountains in the distance.

The next point visited was Rome, old "Rome that sat on her seven hills
and from her throne of beauty ruled the world." One of the first things
I saw when I came out of the depot was a monument bearing the letters
"S.P.Q.R." (the Senate and the people of Rome) which are sometimes seen
in pictures concerning the crucifixion of Christ. In London there are
numerous public water-closets; in France also there are public urinals,
which are almost too public in some cases, but here in Rome the climax
is reached, for the urinals furnish only the least bit of privacy. One
of them, near the railway station, is merely an indentation of perhaps
six or eight inches in a straight wall right against the sidewalk, where
men, women, and children are passing.

By the aid of a guide-book and pictorial plan, I crossed the city from
the gateway called "Porto del Popolo" to the "Porto S. Paolo," seeing
the street called the "Corso," or race course, Piazza Colonna, Fountain
of Treves, Trajan's Forum, Roman Forum, Arch of Constantine, Pantheon,
Colosseum, and the small Pyramid of Caius Cestus.

The Porto del Popolo is the old gateway by which travelers entered the
city before the railroad was built. It is on the Flammian Way and is
said to have been built first in A.D. 402. Just inside the gate is a
space occupied by an Egyptian obelisk surrounded by four Egyptian lions.
The Corso is almost a mile in length and extends from the gate just
mentioned to the edge of the Capitoline Hill, where a great monument to
Victor Emmanuel was being built. The Fountain of Treves is said to be
the most magnificent in Rome, and needs to be seen to be appreciated. It
has three large figures, the one in the middle representing the Ocean,
the one on the left, Fertility, and the one on the right, Health. Women
who are disposed to dress fashionably at the expense of a deformed body
might be profited by a study of this figure of Health. Trajan's Forum is
an interesting little place, but it is a small show compared with the
Roman Forum, which is much more extensive, and whose ruins are more
varied. The latter contains the temples of Vespasian, of Concordia, of
Castor and Pollux, and others. It also contains the famous Arch of
Titus, the Basilica of Constantine, the remains of great palaces, and
other ruins. "Originally the Forum was a low valley among the hills, a
convenient place for the people to meet and barter." The Palatine Hill
was fortified by the first Romans, and the Sabines lived on other hills.
These two races finally united, and the valley between the hills became
the site of numerous temples and government buildings. Kings erected
their palaces in the Forum, and it became the center of Roman life. But
when Constantine built his capital at Constantinople, the greatness of
the city declined, and it was sacked and plundered by enemies from the
north. The Forum became a dumping ground for all kinds of rubbish until
it was almost hidden from view, and it was called by a name signifying
cow pasture. It has been partly excavated within the last century, and
the ruined temples and palaces have been brought to light, making it
once more a place of absorbing interest. I wandered around and over and
under and through these ruins for a considerable length of time, and
wrote in my note book: "There is more here than I can comprehend."

I was in a garden on top of one part of the ruins where flowers and
trees were growing, and then I went down through the mass of ruins by a
flight of seventy-five stairs, which, the attendant said, was built by
Caligula. I was then probably not more than half way to the bottom of
this hill of ruins, which is honeycombed with corridors, stairways, and
rooms of various sizes. The following scrap of history concerning
Caligula will probably be interesting: "At first he was lavishly
generous and merciful, but he soon became mad, and his cruelty knew no
bounds. He banished or murdered his relatives and many of his subjects.
Victims were tortured and slain in his presence while dining, and he
uttered the wish that all the Roman people had but one neck, that he
might strike it off at one blow. He built a bridge across the Bay of
Baiae, and planted trees upon it and built houses upon it that he might
say he had crossed the sea on dry land. In the middle of the bridge he
gave a banquet, and at the close had a great number of the guests thrown
into the sea. He made his favorite horse a priest, then a consul, and
also declared himself a god, and had temples built in his honor." It is
said that Tiberius left the equivalent of one hundred and eighteen
millions of dollars, and that Caligula spent it in less than a year. The
attendant pointed out the corridor in which he said this wicked man was
assassinated.

Near one of the entrances to the Forum stands the Arch of Titus, erected
to commemorate the victory of the Romans over the Jews at Jerusalem in
A.D. 70. It is built of Parian marble and still contains a
well-preserved figure of the golden candlestick of the Tabernacle carved
on one of its walls. There is a representation of the table of showbread
near by, and some other carvings yet remain, indicating something of the
manner in which the monument was originally ornamented.

The Colosseum, commenced by Vespasian in A.D. 72 and finished by Titus
eight years later, is a grand old ruin. It is an open theater six
hundred and twelve feet long, five hundred and fifteen feet wide, and
one hundred and sixty-five feet high. This structure, capable of seating
eighty-seven thousand people, stands near the bounds of the Forum. It is
the largest of its kind, and is one of the best preserved and most
interesting ruins in the world. When it was dedicated, the games lasted
one hundred days, and five thousand wild beasts were slain. During the
persecution of the Christians it is said to have been the scene of
fearful barbarities.

On the second day I entered the Pantheon, "the best preserved monument
of ancient Rome," built by Marcus Agrippa, and consecrated to Mars,
Venus, and others. It was burned in the reign of Titus and rebuilt by
Hadrian, and in A.D. 608 Pope Boniface consecrated it as a church. The
interior is shaped like a vast dome, and the only opening for light is a
round hole in the top. Raphael, "reckoned by almost universal opinion as
the greatest of painters," lies buried in the Pantheon behind one of the
altars. I went to Hadrian's Tomb, now the Castle of St. Angelo, and on
to St. Peter's. Before this great church-building there is a large open
space containing an obelisk and two fountains, said to be the finest in
the city, with a semi-circular colonnade on two sides containing two
hundred and eighty-four columns in four rows, and on the top of the
entablature there are ninety-six large statues. There are large figures
on the top of the church, representing Christ and the apostles. The
interior is magnificent. There are three aisles five hundred and
seventy-five feet long, and the middle one is eighty-two feet wide. The
beautifully ornamented ceiling is one hundred and forty-two feet high.
In this building, which was completed three hundred and fifty years
after it was begun, is the reputed tomb of the Apostle Peter, and many
large marble statues. There are figures representing boy angels that
are as large as a full-grown man. The Vatican is not far from St.
Peter's, and I went up to see the Museum, but got there just as it was
being closed for the day. I had a glimpse of the garden, and saw some of
the Pope's carriages, which were fine indeed.

One of the most interesting places that I visited about Rome was the old
underground cemetery called the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. The visitors
go down a stairway with a guide, who leads them about the chambers,
which are but dimly lighted by the small candles they carry. The
passages, cut in the earth or soft rock, vary both in width and height,
and have been explored in modern times to the aggregate length of six
miles. Some of the bodies were placed in small recesses in the walls,
but I saw none there as I went through, but there were two in marble
coffins under glass. In one of the small chambers the party sang in some
foreign language, probably Italian, and while I could not understand
them, I thought the music sounded well. The Circus of Maxentius, fifteen
hundred feet long and two hundred and sixty feet wide, is near the
Catacombs, as is also the tomb of Caecilla Metella, which is said to
have been erected more than nineteen hundred years ago. It is probably
as much as two miles from the city walls, and I walked on a little way
and could see other ruins still farther in the distance, but I turned
back toward the hotel, and some time after sundown found myself walking
along the banks of the yellow Tiber in the old city. Two days of
sight-seeing had been well spent in and around the former capital of the
world, and I was ready to go on to Naples the next day.

There is a saying, "See Naples and die," but I did not feel like
expiring when I beheld it, although it is very beautifully located. The
ruins of Pompeii, a few miles distant, had more interest for me than
Naples. I went out there on the tenth of September, which I recollect as
a very hot day. Pompeii, a kind of a summer resort for the Roman
aristocracy, was founded 600 B.C. and destroyed by an eruption of Mt.
Vesuvius in A.D. 79. It was covered with ashes from the volcano, and
part of the population perished. The site of the city was lost, but was
found after the lapse of centuries and the Italian Government began the
excavations in 1860. Some of the old stone-paved streets, showing the
ruts made by chariot wheels that ceased to roll centuries ago, have been
laid bare. Portions of the houses are still standing, and the stone
drinking fountains along the streets are yet to be seen, as are also the
stepping stones at the crossings, which are higher than the blocks used
in paving. Some of the walls still contain very clear paintings, some of
which are not at all commendable, and others are positively lewd. One
picture represented a wild boar, a deer, a lion, a rabbit, some birds,
and a female (almost nude) playing a harp. There was also a very clear
picture of a bird and some cherries. At one place in the ruins I saw a
well-executed picture of a chained dog in mosaic work. It is remarkable
how well preserved some things are here. In the Museum are petrified
bodies in the positions they occupied when sudden and unexpected
destruction was poured upon them, well nigh two thousand years ago. Some
appear to have died in great agony, but one has a peaceful position.
Perhaps this victim was asleep when the death angel came. I saw the
petrified remains of a dog wearing a collar and lying on his back, and a
child on its face. One of the men, who may have been a military officer,
seemed to have a rusty sword at his side. There were skeletons, both of
human beings and of brutes, bronze vessels, and such articles as cakes
and eggs from the kitchens of the old city.

Mt. Vesuvius is a very famous volcano, standing four thousand feet high,
and has wrought a great deal of destruction. In the eruption of 472, it
is related that its ashes were carried to Constantinople; in 1066, the
lava flowed down to the sea; in 1631, eighteen thousand lives were lost;
and in 1794 a stream of lava more than a thousand feet wide and fifteen
feet high destroyed a town. From my hotel in Naples I had a fine view of
the red light rising from the volcano the evening after I visited
Pompeii.

Leaving Naples, I went to Brindisi, where I took ship for Patras in
Greece. A day was spent in crossing Italy, two nights and a day were
taken up with the voyage to Patras, and a good part of a day was
occupied with the railroad trip from there to Athens, where the hotel
men made more ado over me than I was accustomed to, but I got through
all right and secured comfortable quarters at the New York Hotel, just
across the street from the Parliament Building. From the little balcony
at my window I could look out at the Acropolis. The principal places
visited the first day were the Stadium, Mars' Hill, and the Acropolis.

Leaving the hotel and going through Constitution Square, up Philhellene
Street, past the Russian and English churches, I came to the Zappeion, a
modern building put up for Olympic exhibitions. The Arch of Hadrian, a
peculiar old structure, twenty-three feet wide and about fifty-six feet
high, stands near the Zappeion, and formerly marked the boundary between
ancient Athens and the more modern part of the city. Passing through
this arch, I soon came to what remains of the temple of the Olympian
Jupiter, which was commenced long before the birth of Christ and
finished by Hadrian about A.D. 140. Originally this temple, after that
of Ephesus said to be the largest in the world, had three rows of eight
columns each, on the eastern and western fronts, and a double row of one
hundred columns on the northern and southern sides, and contained a
statue of Jupiter, overlaid with gold and ivory. Its glory has long
since departed, and only fifteen of the columns are now standing. A
little farther on is the Stadium, with an arena over five hundred and
eighty feet long, and one hundred and nine feet wide. It was originally
constructed by the orator Lycurgus, about three hundred and fifty years
before Christ, but was being rebuilt when I was there. The seats are on
both sides and around the circular end of the arena, being made on the
slope of the hill and covered with clean, white, Pentelic marble, making
a beautiful sight.

On the way to Mars' Hill and the Acropolis I passed the monument of
Lysicrates, the theater of Bacchus, and the Odeon. This first-mentioned
theater is said to have been "the cradle of dramatic art," the
masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and others having been rendered
there. The Odeon of Herod Atticus differed from other ancient theaters
in that it was covered.

Mars' Hill is a great, oval-shaped mass of rock which probably would not
be called a hill in America. The small end, which is the highest part of
it, lies next to the Acropolis, and its summit is reached by going up a
short flight of steps cut in the limestone, and well preserved,
considering their age. The bluff on the opposite side from these steps
is perhaps thirty or forty feet high and very rugged. The rock slopes
toward the wide end, which is only a few feet above the ground. I
estimate the greatest length of it to be about two hundred yards, and
the greatest width one hundred and fifty yards, but accurate
measurements might show these figures to be considerably at fault. I
have spoken of the hill as a rock, and such it is--a great mass of hard
limestone, whose irregular surface, almost devoid of soil, still shows
where patches of it were dressed down, perhaps for ancient altars or
idols. The Areopagus was a court, which in Paul's time had jurisdiction
in cases pertaining to religion.

A vision called Paul into Macedonia, where Lydia was converted and Paul
and Silas were imprisoned. In connection with their imprisonment, the
conversion of the jailer of Philippi was brought about, after which the
preachers went to Thessalonica, from whence Paul and Silas were sent to
Berea. Jews from Thessalonica came down to Berea and stirred up the
people, and the brethren sent Paul away, but Silas and Timothy were left
behind. "They that conducted Paul, brought him as far as Athens," and
then went back to Berea with a message to Silas and Timothy to come to
him "with all speed." "Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his
spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols."
Being thus vexed, and having the gospel of Christ to preach, he reasoned
with the Jews and devout people in the synagogue and every day in the
marketplace with those he met there. He came in contact with
philosophers of both the Epicurean and Stoic schools, and it was these
philosophers who took him to the Areopagus, saying: "May we know what
this new teaching is which is spoken by thee?"

The Athenians of those days were a pleasure-loving set of idolaters who
gave themselves up to telling and hearing new things. Besides the many
idols in the city, there were numerous temples and places of amusement.
Within a few minutes' walk was the Stadium, capable of holding fifty
thousand persons, and still nearer were the theater of Bacchus and the
Odeon, capable of accommodating about thirty and six thousand people
respectively. On the Acropolis, probably within shouting distance, stood
some heathen temples, one of them anciently containing a colossal statue
of Athene Parthenos, said to have been not less than thirty-nine feet
high and covered with ivory and gold. In another direction and in plain
sight stood, and still stands, the Theseum, a heathen temple at that
time. Take all this into consideration, with the fact that Paul had
already been talking with the people on religious subjects, and his
great speech on Mars' Hill may be more impressive than ever before.

"Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are very religious.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found
also an altar with this inscription, To an unknown God. What therefore
ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you. The God that made
the world and all things therein, he being Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is he served by men's
hands as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all
life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men
to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed
seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God,
if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far
from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being;
as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his
offspring. Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think the
Godhead is like unto gold, or silver or stone, graven by art and device
of man. The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked, but now he
commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he
hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given
assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead."

The Acropolis is a great mass of stone near Mars' Hill, but rising much
higher and having a wall around its crest. At one time, it is said, the
population of the city lived here, but later the city extended into the
valley below and the Acropolis became a fortress. About 400 B.C. the
buildings were destroyed by the Persians, and those now standing there
in ruins were erected by Pericles. The entrance, which is difficult to
describe, is through a gateway and up marble stairs to the top, where
there are large quantities of marble in columns, walls, and fragments.
The two chief structures are the Parthenon and the Erectheum. The
Parthenon is two hundred and eight feet long and one hundred and one
feet wide, having a height of sixty-six feet. It is so large and
situated in such a prominent place that it can be seen from all sides of
the hill. In 1687 the Venetians while besieging Athens, threw a shell
into it and wrecked a portion of it, but part of the walls and some of
the fluted columns, which are more than six feet in diameter, are yet
standing. This building is regarded as the most perfect model of Doric
architecture in the world, and must have been very beautiful before its
clear white marble was discolored by the hand of time and broken to
pieces in cruel war. The Erectheum is a smaller temple, having a little
porch with a flat roof supported by six columns in the form of female
figures.

The Theseum, an old temple erected probably four hundred years before
Christ, is the best preserved ruin of ancient Athens. It is a little
over a hundred feet long, forty-five feet wide, and is surrounded by
columns nearly nineteen feet high. The Hill of the Pynx lies across the
road a short distance from the Theseum. At the lower side there is a
wall of large stone blocks and above this a little distance is another
wall cut in the solid rock, in the middle of which is a cube cut in the
natural rock. This is probably the platform from which the speaker
addressed the multitude that could assemble on the shelf or bench
between the two walls.

Some of the principal modern buildings are the Hellenic Academy, the
University, Library, Royal Palace, Parliament Building, various church
buildings, hotels, and business houses. The University, founded in 1837,
is rather plain in style, but is ornamented on the front after the
manner of the ancients, with a number of paintings, representing
Oratory, Mathematics, Geology, History, Philosophy, and other lines of
study. At one end is a picture of Paul, at the other end, a
representation of Prometheus. The museum is small and by no means as
good as those to be seen in larger and wealthier countries. The Academy,
finished in 1885, is near the University, and, although smaller than its
neighbor, is more beautiful. On the opposite side of the University a
fine new Library was being finished, and in the same street there is a
new Roman Catholic church. I also saw two Greek Catholic church houses,
but they did not seem to be so lavishly decorated within as the Roman
church, but their high ceilings were both beautifully ornamented with
small stars on a blue background. I entered a cemetery near one of these
churches and enjoyed looking at the beautiful monuments and vaults. It
is a common thing to find a representation of the deceased on the
monument. Some of these are full-length statues, others are carvings
representing only the head. Lanterns, some of them lighted, are to be
seen on many of the tombs. There are some fine specimens of the
sculptor's art to be seen here, and the place will soon be even more
beautiful, for a great deal of work was being done. In fact, the whole
city of Athens seemed to be prosperous, from the amount of building that
was being done.

The Parliament Building is not at all grand. The Royal Palace is larger
and considerably finer. At the head of a stairway is a good picture of
Prometheus tortured by an eagle. The visitor is shown the war room, a
large hall with war scenes painted on the walls and old flags standing
in the corners. The throne room and reception room are both open to
visitors, as is also the ball room, which seemed to be more elaborately
ornamented than the throne room. There is a little park of orange and
other trees before the palace, also a small fountain with a marble
basin. The highest point about the city is the Lycabettus, a steep rock
rising nine hundred and nineteen feet above the level of the sea, and
crowned with a church building. From its summit a splendid view of the
city, the mountains, and the ocean may be obtained.

I spent five days in this city, the date of whose founding does not seem
to be known. Pericles was one of the great men in the earlier history of
the old city. He made a sacred enclosure of the Acropolis and placed
there the masterpieces of Greece and other countries. The city is said
to have had a population of three hundred thousand in his day,
two-thirds of them being slaves. The names of Socrates, Demosthenes, and
Lycurgus also belong to the list of great Athenians. In 1040 the Normans
captured Piraeus, the seaport of Athens, and in 1455 the Turks,
commanded by Omar, captured the city. The Acropolis was occupied by the
Turks in 1826, but they surrendered the next year, and in 1839 Athens
became the seat of government of the kingdom of Greece. With Athens, my
sight-seeing on the continent ended. Other interesting and curious
sights were seen besides those mentioned here. For instance, I had
noticed a variety of fences. There were hedges, wire fences, fences of
stone slabs set side by side, frail fences made of the stalks of some
plant, and embryo fences of cactus growing along the railroad. In Italy,
I saw many white oxen, a red ox being an exception that seems seldom to
occur. I saw men hauling logs with oxen and a cart, the long timber
being fastened beneath the axle of the cart and to the beam of the yoke.
In Belgium, one may see horses worked three abreast and four tandem, and
in Southern France they were shifting cars in one of the depots with a
horse, and in France I also saw a man plowing with an ox and a horse
hitched together. Now the time had come to enter the Turkish Empire, and
owing to what I had previously heard of the Turk, I did not look forward
to it with pleasure.




CHAPTER III.

ASIA MINOR AND SYRIA.


The Greek ship _Alexandros_ left the harbor of Piraeus in the forenoon
of Lord's day, September eighteenth, and anchored outside the breakwater
at Smyrna, in Asia Minor, the next morning. The landing in Turkish
territory was easily accomplished, and I was soon beyond the custom
house, where my baggage and passport were examined, and settled down at
the "Hotel d'Egypte," on the water front. This was the first time the
passport had been called for on the journey. The population of Smyrna is
a mixture of Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Italians, Americans, and
Negroes. The English Government probably has a good sized
representation, as it maintains its own postoffice. The city itself is
the main sight. The only ruins I saw were those of an old castle on the
hill back of the city. The reputed tomb of Polycarp is over this hill
from Smyrna, between two cypress trees, but I do not know that I found
the correct location. Near the place that I supposed to be the tomb is
an aqueduct, a portion of it built of stone and a portion of metal. As I
went on out in the country I entered a vineyard to get some grapes, not
knowing how I would be received by the woman I saw there; but she was
very kind-hearted, and when I made signs for some of the grapes, she at
once pulled off some clusters and gave them to me. She also gave me a
chair and brought some fresh water. More grapes were gathered and put in
this cold water, so I had a fine time eating the fruit as I sat there in
the shade watching a little boy playing about; but I could not converse
with either of them on account of not knowing their language. On the way
back to the city I stopped at the railway station to make inquiries
about a trip to Ephesus.

Most of the streets in Smyrna are narrow and crooked, but there is one
running along the water front that is rather attractive. On one side is
the water, with the numerous vessels that are to be seen in this
splendid harbor, and on the other side is a row of residences, hotels,
and other buildings. The people turn out in great numbers at night and
walk along this street, sometimes sitting down at the little tables that
are set in the open air before places where different kinds of drinks
are dispensed. Here they consume their drinks and watch the free
performances that are given on an open stage adjoining the street and
the grounds where they are seated. Perhaps the most peculiar thing about
it all is the quiet and orderly behavior of this great crowd of people.
While in this city I had occasion to go to the "Banque Imperiale
Ottoman," and learned that it was open in the forenoon and afternoon,
but closed awhile in the middle of the day. I saw a street barber plying
his trade here one day. A vessel of water was put up under the
customer's chin, and held there by keeping the chin down. The barber
had his strop fastened to himself, and not to the chair or a wall, as we
see it at home. Great quantities of oats were being brought down from
the interior on camels. The sacks were let down on the pavement, and
laborers were busy carrying them away. A poor carrier would walk up to a
sack of grain and drop forward on his hands, with his head between them,
and reaching down almost or altogether to the pavement. The sack of
grain was then pulled over on his back, and he arose and carried it
away. Some poor natives were busy sweeping the street and gathering up
the grain that lost out of the sacks. There seems to be a large amount
of trade carried on at this port. Several ships were in the harbor, and
hundreds of camels were bringing in the grain. There are now many
mosques and minarets in Smyrna, where there was once a church of God.
(Revelation 2:8-11.)

On Wednesday, September twenty-first, I boarded a train on the Ottoman
Railway for Ayassalouk, the nearest station to the ruins of Ephesus, a
once magnificent city, "now an utter desolation, haunted by wild
beasts." We left Smyrna at seven o'clock, and reached Ayassalouk, fifty
miles distant, at half-past nine. The cars on this railway were entered
from to side, as on European railroads, but this time the doors were
locked after the passengers were in their compartments. Ayassalouk is a
poor little village, with only a few good houses and a small population.
At the back of the station are some old stone piers, that seem to have
supported arches at an earlier date. On the top of the hill, as on many
hilltops in this country, are the remains of an old castle. Below the
castle are the ruins of what I supposed to be St. John's Church, built
largely of marble, and once used as a mosque, but now inhabited by a
large flock of martins.

I visited the site of Ephesus without the services of a guide, walking
along the road which passes at some distance on the right. I continued
my walk beyond the ruins, seeing some men plowing, and others caring for
flocks of goats, which are very numerous in the East. When I turned back
from the road, I passed a well, obtaining a drink by means of the rope
and bucket that were there, and then I climbed a hill to the remains of
a strong stone building of four rooms. The thick walls are several feet
high, but all the upper part of the structure has been thrown down, and,
strange to say, a good portion of the fallen rocks are in three of the
rooms, which are almost filled. It is supposed that Paul made a journey
after the close of his history in the book of Acts; that he passed
through Troas, where he left a cloak and some books (2 Tim. 4:13); was
arrested there, and probably sent to Ephesus for trial before the
proconsul. Tradition has it that this ruined stone building is the place
where he was lodged, and it is called St. Paul's Prison. From the top of
its walls I could look away to the ruins of the city proper, about a
mile distant, the theater being the most conspicuous object.

There are several attractions in Ephesus, where there was once a church
of God--one of the "seven churches in Asia"--but the theater was the
chief point of interest to me. It was cut out of the side of the hill,
and its marble seats rested on the sloping sides of the excavation,
while a building of some kind, a portion of which yet remains, was built
across the open side at the front. I entered the inclosure, the outlines
of which are still plainly discernible, and sat down on one of the old
seats and ate my noonday meal. As I sat there, I thought of the scene
that would greet my eyes if the centuries that have intervened since
Paul was in Ephesus could be turned back. I thought I might see the
seats filled with people looking down upon the apostle as he fought for
his life; and while there I read his question: "If after the manner of
men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me" if the dead
are not raised up? (I Cor. 15:32). I also read the letter which Jesus
caused the aged Apostle John to write to the church at this place (Rev.
2:1-7), and Paul's epistle to the congregation that once existed in
this idolatrous city of wealth and splendor. As I was leaving this spot,
where I was so deeply impressed with thoughts of the great apostle to
the Gentiles, I stopped and turned back to take a final look, when I
thought of his language to Timothy, recorded in the first eight verses
of the second epistle, and then I turned and read it. Perhaps I was not
so deeply impressed at any other point on the whole journey as I was
here. The grand old hero, who dared to enter the city which was
"temple-keeper of the great Diana," this temple being one of the "Seven
Wonders of the World," and boldly preach the gospel of Christ,
realizing that the time of his departure was at hand, wrote: "I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the
faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and
not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing."
Meditating on the noble and lofty sentiment the apostle here expresses
in connection with his solemn charge to the young evangelist, I have
found my sentiments well expressed in Balaam's parable, where he says:
"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his"
(Num. 23:10).

Near the front of the theater, on the left as one comes out, is quite a
space, which seems to have been excavated recently, and farther to the
left excavations were being made when I was there. An ancient lamp, a
fluted column, and a headless statue were among the articles taken out.
The workmen were resting when I viewed this part of the ruins, and an
old colored man gave me a drink of water. Beginning a little to the
right of the theater, and extending for perhaps fifteen hundred or two
thousand feet, is a marble-paved street, along which are strewn numerous
bases, columns, and capitals, which once ornamented this portion of the
great city; and to the right of this are the remains of some mighty
structure of stone and brick. In some places, where the paving blocks
have been taken up, a water course beneath is disclosed. While walking
around in the ruins, I saw a fine marble sarcophagus, or coffin,
ornamented with carvings of bulls' heads and heavy festoons of oak
leaves.

J.S. Wood, an Englishman, worked parts of eleven years, from 1863 to
1874, in making excavations at Ephesus. Upwards of eighty thousand
dollars were spent, about fifty-five thousand being used in a successful
effort to find the remains of the Temple of Diana. I followed the
directions of my guide-book, but may not have found the exact spot, as
Brother McGarvey, who visited the place in 1879, speaks of the
excavations being twenty feet deep. "Down in this pit," he says, "lie
the broken columns of white marble and the foundation walls of the
grandest temple ever erected on earth"; but I saw nothing like this.

When Paul had passed through Galatia and Phrygia, "establishing all the
disciples," "having passed through the upper country," he came to
Ephesus, and found "about twelve men" who had been baptized "into John's
baptism," whom Paul baptized "into the name of the Lord Jesus." He then
entered into the Jewish meeting place and reasoned boldly "concerning
the kingdom of God." Some of the hardened and disobedient spoke "evil of
the Way," so Paul withdrew from them and reasoned "daily in the school
of Tyrannus. And this continued for the space of two years; so that all
they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and
Greeks." The Lord wrought special miracles by Paul, so that the sick
were healed when handkerchiefs or aprons were borne from him to them.
Here some of the strolling Jews "took upon them to name over them that
had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by
Jesus, whom Paul preacheth." When two of the sons of Sceva undertook to
do this, the man possessed of the evil spirit "leaped on them and
mastered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out
of the house naked and wounded." There were stirring times in Ephesus in
those days. Fear fell upon the people, "and the name of the Lord Jesus
was magnified." Many of the believers "came confessing, and declaring
their deeds. And not a few of them that practiced magical arts brought
their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they
counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of
silver." "So mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed."

"And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. For a
certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of
Diana, brought no little business unto the craftsmen; whom he gathered
together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know
that by this business we have our wealth. And ye see and hear that not
alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath
persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they are no gods that
are made with hands: and not only is there danger that our trade come
into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana be
made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her
magnificence, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. And when they
heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is
Diana of the Ephesians. And the city was filled with the confusion: and
they rushed with one accord into the theater, having seized Gaius and
Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel. And when
Paul was minded to enter in unto the people, the disciples suffered him
not. And certain also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent unto him
and besought him not to adventure himself into the theater. Some
therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was in
confusion; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
And they brought Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him
forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand and would have made a
defense unto the people. But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all
with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of
the Ephesians. And when the town clerk had quieted the multitude, he
saith, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there who knoweth not that the
city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Diana, and of the
image which fell down from Jupiter? Seeing then that these things can
not be gainsaid, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rash. For ye
have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor
blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius, and the craftsmen
that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts are open,
and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another. But if ye seek
anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular
assembly. For indeed we are in danger to be accused concerning this
day's riot, there being no cause for it: and as touching it we shall not
be able to give an account of this concourse. And when he had thus
spoken, he dismissed the assembly" (Acts 19:23-41).

As I was leaving the ruins, I stopped, sat down in sight of the spot
where I supposed the temple stood, and read the speech of Demetrius, and
thought his fears were well founded. Their trade has come into
disrepute, "the temple of the great goddess" has been "made of no
account," and "she whom Asia and all the world" worshiped has been
"deposed from her magnificence." Portions of the temple are now on
exhibition in the British Museum, in London, and portions have been
carried to different other cities to adorn buildings inferior to the one
in which they were originally used. "From the temple to the more
southern of the two eastern gates of the city," says McGarvey, "are
traces of a paved street nearly a mile in length, along the side of
which was a continuous colonnade, with the marble coffins of the city's
illustrious dead occupying the spaces between the columns. The
processions of worshipers, as they marched out of the city to the
temple, passed by this row of coffins, the inscriptions on which were
constantly proclaiming the noble deeds of the mighty dead." The canal
and artificial harbor, which enabled the ships of the world to reach the
gates of the city, have disappeared under the weight of the hand of
time. In some places the ground is literally covered with small stones,
and even in the theater, weeds, grass and bushes grow undisturbed. How
complete the desolation!

Before leaving Ayassalouk on the afternoon train, I bought some grapes
of a man who weighed them to me with a pair of balances, putting the
fruit on one pan and a stone on the other; but I didn't object to his
scales, for he gave me a good supply, and I went back and got some more.
I also bought some bread to eat with the grapes, and one of the numerous
priests of these Eastern countries gave me some other fruit on the
train. I was abroad in the fruit season, and I enjoyed it very much. I
had several kinds, including the orange, lemon, grapes, pomegranates,
figs, olives, and dates. Perhaps I had nothing finer than the large,
sweet grapes of Greece. The next day after the trip to Ephesus, I
boarded the _Princess Eugenia_, a Russian ship, for Beyrout, in Syria.
Soon after leaving Smyrna the ship stopped at a port of disinfection.
The small boats were lowered, and the third-class passengers were
carried to the disinfecting establishment, where their clothes were
heated in a steam oven, while they received a warm shower bath without
expense to themselves. A nicely dressed young German shook his head
afterwards, as though he did not like such treatment; but it was not
specially disagreeable, and there was no use to complain.

That evening, the twenty-second of September, we sailed into a harbor on
the island of Chios, the birth-place of the philosopher Pythagoras. It
is an island twenty-seven miles long, lying near the mainland. The next
morning we passed Cos and Rhodes. On this last mentioned island once
stood the famous Colossus, which was thrown down by an earthquake in 224
B.C. The island of Patmos, to which John was banished, and upon which he
wrote the Revelation, was passed in the night before we reached Cos. It
is a rocky, barren patch of land, about twenty miles in circumference,
lying twenty-four miles from the coast of Asia Minor. On the
twenty-fourth the _Princess Eugenia_ passed the southwestern end of the
island of Cyprus. In response to a question, one of the seamen answered
me: "Yes, that's Kiprus." I was sailing over the same waters Paul
crossed on his third missionary tour on the way from Assos to Tyre. He
"came over against Chios," "came with a straight course unto Cos, and
the next day unto Rhodes," and when he "had come in sight of Cyprus,
leaving it on the left hand (he) sailed unto Syria and landed at Tyre"
(Acts 20:15 and 21:1-3).

On the evening of Lord's day, September twenty-fifth, the ship passed
Tripoli, on the Syrian coast, and dropped down to Beyrout, where I
stopped at the "Hotel Mont Sion," with the waves of the Mediterranean
washing against the foundation walls. At seven o'clock the next morning
I boarded the train for Damascus, ninety-one miles distant, and we were
soon climbing the western slope of the Lebanon Mountains by a cog
railway. When we were part way up, the engine was taken back and hitched
to the rear end of the train. After we were hauled along that way
awhile, it was changed back to the front end again. In these mountains
are vineyards and groves of figs, olives, and mulberry trees, but most
of the ground was dry and brown, as I had seen it in Southern Italy,
Greece, and Asia Minor. Beyond the mountains is a beautiful plain, which
we entered about noon, and when it was crossed, we came to the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains, and reached the old city in the evening.
Damascus, with its mixed population of Moslems, Greeks, Syrians,
Armenians, Jews, and others, is the largest city in Syria, and it has
probably been continuously inhabited longer than any other city on
earth. Away back in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis we read of
Abraham's victory over the enemies who had taken Lot away, whom Abraham
pursued "unto Hobah, which is on the left of Damascus," and in the next
chapter we read of "Eliezer of Damascus," who Abraham thought would be
the possessor of his house. Rezon "reigned in Damascus, and he was an
adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:23-25). Elisha
went to Damascus when Ben-Hadad was sick (2 Kings 8:7-15); Jeroboam
recovered the city, which had belonged to Judah (2 Kings 14:28); and
Jeremiah prophesied of the city (Jeremiah 49:23-27). It was probably the
home of Naaman, the Syrian leper, and here Paul was baptized into
Christ.

For a long time the Arabs have considered Damascus as "an earthly
reflection of Paradise," but an American or European would consider a
place no better than it is as being far from the Paradise of Divine
making. But it is not entirely without reason that these people have
such a lofty conception of the old city. The Koran describes Paradise as
a place of trees and streams of water, and Damascus is briefly described
in those words. There are many public drinking fountains in the city,
and owing to the abundance of water, there are many trees. The river
Abana, one of the "rivers of Damascus" (2 Kings 5:12), flows through the
city, but the most of its water is diverted by artificial channels. I
had some difficulty in finding the American Consular Agent, and it is no
wonder, for the place is not the most prominent in Damascus by a good
deal, and the escutcheon marking it as the place where the American
Government is represented is not on the street, but over a door in a
kind of porch. The Agent was not in, so I retraced my steps to the
French consulate, which is near by. I was kindly received by a gentleman
who could speak English, and after we had had a good, cool drink of
lemonade, he went with me to the "Hotel d'Astre d'Orient," in the
"street which is called Straight." The next morning I found the American
Agent in his office. Then I went to the postoffice, and after being
taken upstairs and brought back downstairs, I was led up to a little
case on the wall, which was unlocked in order that I might look through
the bunch of letters it contained addressed in English, and I was made
glad by receiving an epistle from the little woman who has since taken
my name upon her for life. After reading my letter, I went out and
walked up the mountain side far enough to get a bird's-eye view of the
city, and it was a fine sight the rich growth of green trees presented
in contrast with the brown earth all around. Returning to the city, I
walked about the streets, devoting some of my time to the bazaars, or
little stores, in which a great variety of goods are offered for sale. I
also saw several kinds of work, such as weaving, wood-turning and
blacksmithing, being carried on. The lathes used for turning wood are
very simple, and are operated by a bow held in the workman's right hand,
while the chisel is held in his left hand and steadied by the toes on
one or the other of his feet. It is a rather slow process, but they can
turn out good work. One gentleman, who was running a lathe of this kind,
motioned for me to come up and sit by his side on a low stool. I
accepted his invitation, and he at once offered me a cigarette, which I
could not accept. A little later he called for a small cup of coffee,
which I also declined, but he took no offense. "The street which is
called Straight" is not as straight as might be supposed from its name,
but there is probably enough difference between its course and that of
others to justify the name.

When Paul was stricken with blindness on his way here (Acts 9:1-30), he
was directed to enter the city, where he would be told all things that
were appointed for him to do. He obeyed the voice from heaven, and
reached the house of Judas in Straight Street. When I reached the
traditional site of the house of Ananias, in the eastern part of the
city, near the gate at the end of Straight Street, I found a
good-natured woman sitting on the pavement just inside the door opening
from the street to what would be called a yard in America. The "house"
has been converted into a small church, belonging to the Catholics, and
it is entirely below the surface. I went down the stairs, and found a
small chamber with an arched ceiling and two altars. I also went out and
visited the old gateway at the end of the street. The masonry is about
thirteen feet thick, and it may be that here Paul, deprived of his
sight, and earnestly desiring to do the will of the Lord, entered the
city so long ago. I then viewed a section of the wall from the outside.
The lower part is ancient, but the upper part is modern, and the portion
that I saw was in a dilapidated condition. "In Damascus," Paul wrote to
the Corinthians, "the governor, under Aretas the king, guarded the city
of the Damascenes in order to take me: and through a window was I let
down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands" (2 Cor. 11:32,33).
In some places there are houses so built in connection with the wall
that it would not be a very difficult thing to lower a man from one of
the windows to the ground outside the city.

Mention has already been made of the Arab's opinion of Damascus, and now
I wish to tell how it appeared through my spectacles. The view from the
distance is very pleasing, but when one comes inside the wall and begins
to walk about the streets, the scene changes. The outside of the
buildings is not beautiful. The streets are narrow, crooked, and usually
very dirty; in some cases they are filthy. It seems that all kinds of
rubbish are thrown into the streets, and the dogs are scavengers.
Perhaps no other city has so many dogs. At one place up along the Abana,
now called the Barada, I counted twenty-three of these animals, and a
few steps brought me in sight of five more; but there is some filth that
even Damascus dogs will not clean up. Some of the streets are roughly
paved with stone, but in the best business portion of the city that I
saw there was no pavement and no sidewalk--it was all street from one
wall to the other. I saw a man sprinkling one of the streets with water
carried in the skin of some animal, perhaps a goat. When I came out of
the postoffice, a camel was lying on the pavement, and in another part
of the city I saw a soldier riding his horse on the sidewalk. Down in
"the street which is called Straight" a full-grown man was going along
as naked as when he was born. Perhaps he was insane, but we do not even
allow insane men to walk the streets that way in this country. Carriages
are used for conveying passengers, but freight is usually moved on the
backs of horses, camels, donkeys, or men. Some wagons and carts are to
be seen, but they are not numerous. It is remarkable what loads are
piled upon the donkeys, probably the commonest beasts of burden in
Damascus. Sometimes the poor little creatures are almost hidden from
view by the heavy burdens they are required to bear, which may consist
of grapes to be sold, or rubbish to be carried out of the city.
Sometimes they are ridden by as many as three people at once. If the
gospel were to get a firm hold on these people, the donkeys would fare
better.

About 333 B.C., Damascus came under the control of Alexander the Great.
Antiochus Dionysius reigned there three years, but was succeeded by
Aretas of Arabia in 85 B.C. Under Trajan it became a Roman provincial
city. The Mongols took it in 1260, and the Tartars plundered it in 1300.
An enemy marched against it in 1399, but the citizens purchased immunity
from plunder by paying a "sum of a million pieces of gold." In 1516,
when Selim, the Turkish Sultan, marched in, it became one of the
provincial capitals of the Turkish Empire, and so continues. There was a
very serious massacre here in 1860. All the consulates, except the
British and Prussian, were burned, and the entire Christian quarter was
turned into ruins. In the two consulates that were spared many lives
were preserved, but it is said that "no fewer than six thousand
unoffending Christians ... were thus murdered in Damascus alone," and
"the whole number of the Christians who perished in these days of terror
is estimated at fourteen thousand." A number of the leaders were
afterward beheaded, and a French force, numbering ten thousand, was sent
into the country. The Mohammedans have about two hundred mosques and
colleges in this city, which was once far advanced in civilization.

I left Damascus and returned toward the coast to Rayak, where I took the
train on a branch line for Baalbec, the Syrian city of the sun, a place
having no Biblical history, but being of interest on account of the
great stones to be seen there. No record has been preserved as to the
origin of the city, but coins of the first century of the Christian era
show that it was then a Roman colony. It is situated in the valley of
the Litany, at an elevation of two thousand eight hundred and forty feet
above the sea. The chief ruins are in a low part of the valley by the
side of the present town, and are surrounded by gardens. Within the
inclosing wall are the remains of the temple of Jupiter and the temple
of the sun. The hand of time and the hand of man have each had a share
in despoiling these ruins, but they still speak with eloquence of their
grandeur at an earlier date. The wall is so low on the north that it is
supposed to have been left unfinished. Here are nine stones, each said
to be thirty feet long, ten feet thick and thirteen feet high, and they
are closely joined together without the use of mortar. Just around the
corner are three others still larger, and built in the wall about twenty
feet above the foundation. Their lengths are given as follows:
sixty-three feet; sixty-three feet and eight inches; and sixty-four
feet. They are thirteen feet high and about ten feet thick. Some may be
interested in knowing how such large building blocks were moved.
McGarvey says: "It is explained by the carved slabs found in the temple
of Nineveh, on which are sculptured representations of the entire
process. The great rock was placed on trucks by means of levers, a large
number of strong ropes were tied to the truck, a smooth track of heavy
timbers was laid, and men in sufficient number to move the mass were
hitched to the ropes." Some of the smaller stones have holes cut in
them, as if for bars, levers, or something of that kind, but the faces
of these big blocks are smooth. "A man must visit the spot, ride round
the exterior, walk among the ruins, sit down here and there to gaze upon
its more impressive features, see the whole by sunlight, by twilight,
and by moonlight, and allow his mind leisurely to rebuild it and
re-people it, ere he can comprehend it."--_McGarvey_.

There were some of the native girls out by the ruins who tried to sell
me some of their needle work, but I was not disposed to buy. One of them
attempted to make a sale by saying something like this: "You're very
nice, Mister; please buy one." I told her there was a little girl in
America who thought that, too, and went on. There is a rock in the
quarry at Baalbec that is larger than any of those in the ruins,
although it was never entirely cut out, the length of which is
sixty-eight feet, and the width varies from about thirteen feet at one
end to seventeen feet at the other. It is about fourteen feet thick, and
the estimated weight is fifteen hundred tons. Some of the stones in a
ruined building, once a tomb, standing on the hill above the town, give
forth a metallic ring when struck. Farther on is a small cemetery, in
which some of the headstones and footstones are as much as nine feet
apart. If the people buried there were that long, surely "there were
giants in the land in those days." I went down on the opposite side of
the hill from the tomb and entered a vineyard, where an old man treated
me with kindness and respect. The modern town is poorly built of small
stones and mud, but there are some good buildings of dressed stone,
among which I may mention the British Syrian School and the Grand New
Hotel. I staid at another hotel, where I found one of those pre-occupied
beds which travelers in the East so often find. About midnight, after I
had killed several of the little pests, I got up and shaved by
candle-light, for I wasn't sleepy, and there was no use to waste the
time.

Leaving Baalbec, I went down to Rayak and on to Beyrout again. This old
city is said to have been entirely destroyed in the second century
before Christ. It was once a Roman possession, and gladiatorial combats
were held there by Titus after the destruction of Jerusalem. An
earthquake destroyed it in 529, and the British bombarded it in 1840.
The population is a great mixture of Turks, Orthodox Greeks, United
Greeks, Jews, Latins, Maronites, Protestants, Syrians, Armenians,
Druses, and others. A great many ships call here, as this is the most
important commercial city in Syria. The numerous exports consist of
silk, olive oil, cotton, raisins, licorice, figs, soap, sponges, cattle,
and goats. Timber, coffee, rice, and manufactured goods are imported. At
one time Arabic was the commonest language, and Italian came next, but
now, while Arabic holds first place, French comes second. The British,
Austrians, Russians, and perhaps the French, maintain their own
postoffices. Considerable efforts are being made by American, British,
and other missionary institutions to better the condition of the
natives. The American Mission, conducted by the Presbyterians, has been
in operation more than seventy years. A few years ago they had one
hundred and forty-three schools and more than seven thousand pupils. The
Church of Scotland has a mission for the Jews. The British Syrian
Mission was established in 1864.

Beyrout has comparatively little of interest for the traveler. I walked
out to the public garden one morning and found it closed, but I do not
think I missed much. As I went along from place to place, I had
opportunity to see the weavers, wood-turners, and marble-cutters at
their work. I stopped at a small candy factory, equipped with what
seemed to be good machinery for that kind of work. One day I watched
some camels get up after their burdens of lumber had been tied on. They
kept up a peculiar distressing noise while they were being loaded, but
got up promptly when the time came. When a camel lies down, his legs
fold up something like a carpenter's rule, and when he gets up, he first
straightens out one joint of the fore legs, then all of the hind legs,
and finally, when the fore legs come straight, he is standing away up in
the air. The extensive buildings of the American College were visited,
also the American Press, the missionary headquarters of Presbyterians in
America. On the third of October the Khedivial steamer _Assouan_ came
along, and I embarked for Haifa, in Galilee.




CHAPTER IV.

A FEW DAYS IN GALILEE.


Years ago, when I first began to think of making the trip I am now
describing, I had no thought of the many interesting places that I could
easily and cheaply visit on my way to Palestine. I did not then think of
what has been described on the foregoing pages. Now I have come to the
place where I am to tell my readers the story of my travels in the Land
of Promise, and I want to make it as interesting and instructive as
possible. It is important to have a knowledge of the geography of all
the lands mentioned, but it is especially important to know the location
of the various places referred to in Palestine. These pages will be more
profitable if the reader will make frequent reference to maps of the
land, that he may understand the location of the different places
visited. I shall first describe my trip across the province of Galilee,
and take up my sight-seeing in Judaea in other chapters.

The ancient Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon were on the coast
between Beyrout and Haifa, where I entered Galilee on the fourth of
October, but we passed these places in the night. Haifa, situated at the
base of Mount Carmel, has no Biblical history, but is one of the two
places along the coast of Palestine where ships stop, Jaffa being the
other. Mount Carmel is fourteen miles long, and varies in height from
five hundred and fifty-six feet at the end next to the sea to eighteen
hundred and ten feet at a point twelve miles inland. There is a
monastery on the end next to the Mediterranean, which I reached after a
dusty walk along the excellent carriage road leading up from Haifa.
After I rested awhile, reading my Bible and guide-book, I walked out to
the point where the sea on three sides, the beautiful little plain at
the base of the mountain, Haifa, and Acre across the bay, all made up
one of the prettiest views of the whole trip. Owing to its proximity to
the sea and the heavy dews, Carmel was not so dry and brown as much of
the country I had seen before.

By the direction of Elijah, Ahab gathered the prophets of Baal,
numbering four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah, four
hundred more, at some point on this mountain, probably at the eastern
end, passed on my way over to Nazareth later in the day. "And Elijah
came near unto all the people, and said, How long go ye limping between
the two sides? If Jehovah be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow
him" (1 Kings 18:21). He then proposed that two sacrifices be laid on
the wood, with no fire under them; that the false prophets should call
on their god, and he would call on Jehovah. The God that answered by
fire was to be God. "All the people answered and said, It is well
spoken." The prophets of Baal called upon him from morning till noon,
saying, "O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered.
And they leaped about the altar that was made. And it came to pass at
noon that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god:
either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or
peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, and
cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the
blood gushed out upon them. And it was so, when midday was past, that
they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening oblation;
but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded."
The sincerity, earnestness, and perseverance of these people are
commendable, but they were _wrong_. Sincerity, although a most desirable
trait, can not change a wrong act into acceptable service to God, nor
can earnestness and perseverance make such a change. It is necessary
both to be honest and to do the will of our heavenly Father. After water
had been poured over the other sacrifice till it ran down and filled the
trench around the altar, Elijah called on Jehovah, and in response to
his petition "the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt offering,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that
was in the trench." Elijah then took the false prophets down to the
brook Kishon, at the base of the mountain, and killed them. Acre is the
Acco of the Old Testament, and lies around the bay, twelve mile from
Haifa. It is said that the Phoenicians obtained the dye called Tyrian
purple there, and that shells of the fish that yielded it are yet to be
found along the beach. Napoleon besieged the place in 1799, and used a
monastery, since destroyed, on Mount Carmel for a hospital. After his
retreat, Mohammedans killed the sick and wounded soldiers who had been
left behind, and they were buried near the monastery. Acre was called
Ptolemais in apostolic times, and Paul spent a day with the brethren
there as he was on his way down the coast from Tyre to Jerusalem. (Acts
21:7.)

About noon I entered a carriage for Nazareth, in which there were four
other passengers: a lady connected with the English Orphanage in
Nazareth, and three boys going there to attend the Russian school. About
two miles from Haifa we crossed the dry bed of the Kishon, as this
stream, like many others in Palestine, only flows in the wet season. Our
course led along the base of Carmel to the southeast, and the supposed
place of Elijah's sacrifice was pointed out. Afterwards Mount Gilboa,
where Saul and Jonathan were slain, came in sight, and later we saw
Little Hermon with Nain upon it, Endor below it on one side, and Jezreel
not far away in another direction. We saw a good portion of the Plain of
Esdraelon, and Mount Tabor was in sight before we entered Nazareth,
which lies on the slope of a hill and comes suddenly into view.

Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and the references to it
in the New Testament are not numerous. When Joseph returned from Egypt
in the reign of Archelaus, the son of Herod, he was afraid to go into
Judaea, "and being warned of God in a dream, he withdrew into the parts
of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, that he should be called a
Nazarene" (Matt. 2:19-23). I do not know the age of Jesus when Joseph
and Mary came with him to Nazareth, but "his parents went every year to
Jerusalem at the feast of the passover"; and we are told that the child
was twelve years old at the time his parents missed him as they were
returning from the feast, and later found him in the temple hearing the
teachers and asking them questions. In this connection we are told that
"he went down with them and came to Nazareth; and he was subject unto
them" (Luke 2:51). Luke also informs us that Jesus, "when he began to
teach, was about thirty years of age" (Luke 3:23). Thus we have a
period of eighteen years between the incident in the temple and the
beginning of his public ministry, in which Jesus resided in Nazareth.
The greater part of his earth life was spent in this Galilean city,
where he was subject unto his parents. It is a blessed thing that so
much can be said of our Savior in so few words. It is highly commendable
that children be subject unto their parents, who love them dearly, and
who know best what is for their health, happiness, and future good.

After his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, "Jesus returned in
the power of the spirit into Galilee, ... and he came to Nazareth, where
he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read." When the roll of the
Scriptures was handed to him, he read from the opening verses of the
sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, then "he closed the book, and gave it
back to the attendant, and sat down: and the eyes of all in the
synagogue were fastened on him" as he told them: "To-day hath this
scripture been fulfilled in your ears," and although they "wondered at
the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth," they were not
willing to accept his teaching, and as he continued to speak, "they were
all filled with wrath, ... and they rose up, and cast him forth out of
the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was
built, that they might throw him down headlong. But he, passing through
the midst of them, went his way. And he came down to Capernaum, a city
of Galilee" (Luke 4:14-31).

Having made arrangements for a carriage the evening I arrived in
Nazareth, before daylight the next morning I started to drive to
Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee. When I went down stairs, at about
half-past three o'clock, I found a covered rig with two seats, and three
horses hitched to it side by side. I filed no objection to the size of
the carriage, nor to the manner in which the horses were hitched. As the
driver could not speak English and the passenger could not speak Arabic,
there was no conversation on the way. As we drove out of Nazareth, I
observed a large number of women at the Virgin's Fountain, filling their
jars with water. At a distance of a little more than three miles we
passed through Kefr Kenna, the "Cana of Galilee," where Jesus performed
his first miracle. (John 2:1-11.) The road to Tiberias is not all
smooth, but is better than might be supposed. With three horses and a
light load, we were able to move along in the cool of the morning at a
lively gait, passing a camel train, an occasional village, olive
orchard, or mulberry grove. After a while the light of the moon grew
pale, and about six o'clock the great round sun came above the horizon
in front of us, and it was not long until a beautiful sheet of water six
miles long--the Sea of Galilee--came suddenly into view. We rolled along
the winding curves of the carriage road, down the slope of the hill, and
through a gateway in the old wall, to Tiberias, on the west shore of
"Blue Galilee."

According to Josephus, Herod Antipas began to build a new capital city
about sixteen years before the birth of Jesus, and completed it in A.D.
22. He named this new city Tiberias, in honor of the emperor, but it
does not appear to have been a popular place with the Jews, and but
little is said of it in the New Testament (John 21:1), yet it was not an
insignificant place. The Sanhedrin was transferred from Sepphoris, the
old capital, to the new city, and here the school of the Talmud was
developed against the gospel system. The ancient traditional law, called
the "Mishna," is said to have been published here in A.D. 200, and the
Palestinian Gemara (the so-called Jerusalem Talmud) came into existence
at this place more than a century later. The Tiberian pointing of the
Hebrew Bible began here. The present population is largely composed of
Jews, about two-thirds of the inhabitants being descendants of Abraham.
They wear large black hats or fur caps, and leave a long lock of hair
hanging down in front of each ear. There is little in Tiberias to
interest the traveler who has seen the ruins of Rome, Athens and
Ephesus. The seashore bounds it on one side and an old stone wall runs
along at the other side. I walked past some of the bazaars, and saw the
mosque and ruined castle. About a mile down the shore are the hot
springs, which, for many centuries, have been thought to possess
medicinal properties. I tried the temperature of one of the springs, and
found it too hot to be comfortable to my hand. As I returned to
Tiberias, I had a good, cool bath in the sea, which is called by a
variety of names, as "the sea of Tiberias," "sea of Galilee," "sea of
Genessaret," and "sea of Chinnereth." It is a small lake, thirteen miles
long, lying six hundred and eighty-two feet below the level of the
Mediterranean. The depth is given as varying from one hundred and thirty
to one hundred and sixty-five feet. It is really "Blue Galilee," and the
sight of it is an agreeable change to the eye after one has been
traveling the dry, dusty roads leading through a country almost
destitute of green vegetation. In the spring, when the grass is growing
and the flowers are in bloom, the highlands rising around the sea must
be very beautiful.

Several places mentioned in the New Testament were situated along the
Sea of Galilee, but they have fallen into ruin--in some cases into utter
ruin. One of these was Bethsaida, where Jesus gave sight to a blind man
(Mark 8:22-26), and fed a multitude of about five thousand. (Luke
9:10-17.) It was also the home of Philip, Andrew, and Peter. (John
1:44.) It is thought by some that James and John also came from this
place. On the northwestern shore was Chorazin, situated in the
neighborhood of Bethsaida; also Capernaum, once the home of Jesus; and
Magdala, the name of which "has been immortalized in every language of
Christendom as denoting the birth-place of Mary Magdalene, or better,
Mary of Magdala." Safed is a large place on a mountain above the sea in
sight of the Nazareth road, and was occupied by the French in 1799. It
is said that the Jews have a tradition that the Messiah will come from
this place. On the way back to Nazareth the driver stopped at the spring
of Kefr Kenna and watered his horses and rested them awhile. Hundreds of
goats, calves, and other stock were being watered, and I saw an old
stone coffin being used for a watering trough.

After another night in Nazareth, I was ready to go out to Mount Tabor.
For this trip I had engaged a horse to ride and a man to go along and
show me where to ride it, for we did not follow a regular road, if,
indeed, there is any such a thing leading to this historic place, which
is about six miles from Nazareth. It was only a little past four
o'clock in the morning when we started, and the flat top of the
mountain, two thousand and eighteen feet above sea level, was reached at
an early hour. Mount Tabor is a well-shaped cone, with a good road for
horseback riding leading up its side. There is some evidence that there
was a city here more than two hundred years before Christ. Josephus
fortified it in his day, and part of the old wall still remains.
According to a tradition, contradicted by the conclusion of modern
scholars, this is the mount of transfiguration. By the end of the sixth
century three churches had been erected on the summit to commemorate the
three tabernacles which Peter proposed to build (Matt. 17:1-8), and now
the Greek and Roman Catholics have each a monastery only a short
distance apart, separated by a stone wall or fence. The extensive view
from the top is very fine, including a section of Galilee from the
Mediterranean to the sea of Tiberias.

In the Book of Judges we read that Israel was delivered into the hands
of the Canaanites, and was sorely oppressed for twenty years. The
prophetess Deborah sent for Barak, and instructed him with a message
from God to the end that he should take "ten thousand men of the
children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun" unto Mount Tabor.
This he did, and Sisera assembled his nine hundred chariots "from
Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river Kishon. So Barak went down from
Mount Tabor and ten thousand men after him. ... Howbeit, Sisera fled
away on his feet to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite,"
and she drove a tent-pin through his temples while he was lying asleep,
(Judges 4:1-23.) The song of Deborah and Barak, beginning with the
words, "For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the
people offered themselves willingly, bless ye Jehovah," is recorded in
the fifth chapter of Judges.

I was back in Nazareth by ten o'clock, and spent some hours looking
around the city where the angel Gabriel announced to Mary the words:
"Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee" (Luke 1:28).
These hours, with what time I had already spent here, enabled me to see
several places of interest. Tradition points out many places connected
with the lives of Joseph and Mary, but tradition is not always reliable,
for it sometimes happens that the Greeks and the Romans each have a
different location for the same event. This is true with regard to the
point where the angry people were about to throw Jesus over "the brow of
the hill" (Luke 4:29). I saw no place that struck me as being the one
referred to in the Scriptures, and in reply to an inquiry, a lady at the
English Orphanage, who has spent twenty years in Nazareth, said she
thought it was some place on that side of the town, but the contour of
the hill had probably changed. She also mentioned that the relics taken
out in excavations were all found on that side, indicating that the old
city had been built there. When Brother McGarvey visited Palestine, he
found two places that corresponded somewhat with Luke's reference to the
place. Concerning one of them he wrote: "I am entirely satisfied that
here is where the awful attempt was made." I was shown the "place of
annunciation" in the Latin monastery. On the top of a column stands the
figure of a female, probably representing the Virgin, and a bit of ruin
that is said to date back to the time of Constantine is pointed out.
Here, I was told, stood the first church building erected in Nazareth.
One of the "brothers" took the key and went around to a building
supposed to stand on the site of Joseph's carpenter shop. It is a small
chapel, built about 1858 over the ruins of some older structure. In the
floor of marble or stone there are two wooden trapdoors, which are
raised to show the ruins below. Over the altar in the end opposite the
door is a picture to represent the holy family, and there are some other
pictures in different parts of the little chapel. From here I went to
the Virgin's Fountain. If it be true that this is the only spring in
Nazareth, then I have no doubt that I was near the spot frequently
visited by the Nazarene maid who became the mother of our Lord. I say
near the spot, for the masonry where the spring discharges is about a
hundred yards from the fountain, which is now beneath the floor of a
convent. The water flows out through the wall by two stone spouts, and
here the women were crowded around, filling their vessels or waiting for
their turn. The flow was not very strong, and this helps to explain why
so many women were there before daylight the morning I went to Tiberias.
I saw one woman, who was unable to get her vessel under the stream of
one of the spouts, drawing down a part of the water by sticking a leaf
against the end of the spout. I also visited some of the bazaars and
went to the Orphanage. This missionary institution is nicely situated in
a prominent place well up on the hill, and is managed entirely by women,
but a servant is kept to do outside work. They treated me very kindly,
showing me about the building, and when the girls came in to supper they
sang "the Nazareth Hymn" for me.

One of the occupations of the people here is manufacturing a knife with
goat horn handles that is commonly seen in Palestine. Many of the women
go about the streets with their dresses open like a man's shirt when
unbuttoned, exposing their breasts in an unbecoming manner. The same is
true of many women in Jerusalem. About one-third of the mixed population
are Jews; the other two-thirds are Mohammedans and professing
Christians, made up of Orthodox Greeks, United Greeks, Roman Catholics,
Maronites (a branch of the Greek Church), and Protestants. I went back
to Haifa and spent a night. The next morning I boarded the Austrian ship
_Juno_ for Jaffa. When I first landed here I had trouble with the
boatman, because he wanted me to pay him more than I had agreed to pay,
and on this occasion I again had the same difficulty, twice as much
being demanded at the ship as was agreed upon at the dock; but I was
firm and won my point both times. While in Galilee I had crossed the
province from sea to sea; I had visited the city in which Jesus spent
the greater part of his earth life, and the sea closely connected with
several important things in his career. I had ascended Carmel, and from
the top of Tabor I had taken an extensive view of the land, and now I
was satisfied to drop down the coast and enter Judaea.




CHAPTER V.

SIGHT-SEEING IN JERUSALEM.


Before leaving the ship at Jaffa I was talking with Mr. Ahmed, a
gentleman from India, who had spent some time in Egypt, and had traveled
extensively. He claimed to be a British subject, and was able to speak
several languages. While we were arranging to go ashore together, one
of the many boatmen who had come out to the ship picked up my suit-case
while my back was turned, and the next thing I saw of it he was taking
it down the stairs to one of the small boats. By some loud and emphatic
talk I succeeded in getting him to put it out of one boat into another,
but he would not bring it back. Mr. Ahmed and I went ashore with another
man, whom we paid for carrying us and our baggage. I found the suit-case
on the dock, and we were soon in the custom house, where my baggage and
passport were both examined, but Mr. Ahmed escaped having his baggage
opened by paying the boatman an additional fee. As we arrived in Jaffa
too late to take the train for Jerusalem that day, we waited over night
in the city from whence Jonah went to sea so long ago. We lodged at the
same hotel and were quartered in the same room. This was the first and
only traveling companion I had on the whole journey, and I was a little
shy. I felt like I wanted some pledge of honorable dealing from my newly
formed acquaintance, and when he expressed himself as being a British
subject, I mentioned that I was an American and extended my hand,
saying: "Let us treat each other right." He gave me his hand with the
words: "Species man, species man!" He meant that we both belonged to the
same class of beings, and should, therefore, treat each other right, a
very good reason indeed. A long time before, in this same land, Abraham
had expressed himself to Lot on a similar line in these words: "Let
there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my
herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren" (Gen. 13:8). On Saturday
we moved our baggage over to the depot and boarded the train for
Jerusalem. On the way to the depot an old gentleman, whom I would have
guessed to be a German, passed me. When I entered the car it was my lot
to ride by him. He learned that I had been to Bristol, England, and had
visited the orphan homes founded by George Muller, and he remarked: "You
are a Christian, then." He probably said this because he thought no
other would be interested in such work. It developed that he was a
converted Jew, and was conducting a mission for his people in the Holy
City. Without telling him my position religiously, I inquired concerning
different points, and found his faith and mine almost alike. This new
acquaintance was D.C. Joseph, whose association I also enjoyed after
reaching Jerusalem.

It was late in the afternoon of October ninth when we got off the train
at the Jerusalem station, which is so situated that the city can not
be seen from that point. By the time we had our baggage put away in a
native hotel outside the city walls it was dark. We then started out
to see if there was any mail awaiting me. First we went to the Turkish
office, which was reached by a flight of dark stairs. Mr. Ahmed went
up rather slowly. Perhaps he felt the need of caution more than I did.
According to my recollection, they handed us a candle, and allowed us to
inspect the contents of a small case for the mail. We found nothing, so
we made our way down the dark stairway to the German office, situated
on the ground floor, nicely furnished and properly lighted, but there
was no mail there for me, as mail from America goes to the Austrian
office, inside the Jaffa gate.

The next day was Lord's day, and for the time being I ceased to be
a tourist and gave myself up mainly to religious services. I first
attended the meeting conducted by Bro. Joseph at the mission to Israel.
It was the first service I had attended, and the first opportunity that
had come to me for breaking bread since I left London, the last of
August. After this assembly of four persons was dismissed, I went to the
services of the Church of England and observed their order of worship.
The minister was in a robe, and delivered a really good sermon of about
fifteen minutes' duration, preceded by reading prayers and singing
praise for about an hour. By invitation, I took dinner with Miss Dunn,
an American lady, at whose house Bro. Joseph was lodging. As she had
been in Jerusalem fifteen years and was interested in missionary work,
I enjoyed her company as well as her cooking. After dinner I went to a
little iron-covered meeting-house called the "tabernacle," where a Mr.
Thompson, missionary of the Christian Alliance, of Nyack, New York, was
the minister. At the close of the Sunday-school a gentleman asked some
questions in English, and the native evangelist, Melki, translated them
into Arabic. By request of Mr. Thompson, I read the opening lesson and
offered prayer, after which he delivered a good address on the great,
coming day, and at the close the Lord's Supper was observed. I
understood that they did this once a month, but it is attended to weekly
at the mission where I was in the morning. At the tabernacle I made the
acquaintance of Mr. Stanton, a Methodist minister from the States; Mr.
Jennings, a colored minister from Missouri, and Mr. Smith, an American
gentleman residing in Jerusalem. There was another meeting in the
tabernacle at night, but I staid at the hotel and finished some writing
to be sent off to the home land.

Monday was a big day for me. Mr. Ahmed and I went down inside the Jaffa
gate and waited for Mr. Smith, who was our guide, Mr. Jennings, and a
Mr. Michelson, from California. Mr. Smith had been a farmer in America,
but had spent three years at Jerusalem and Jericho. He was well
acquainted with the country, and we could depend upon what he told us.
Add to all this the fact that he went around with us without charge, and
it will be seen that we were well favored. On this Monday morning we
started out to take a walk to Bethany, the old home of that blessed
family composed of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. We passed the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher, walked along the street called the Via Dolorosa, and
saw several of the "stations" Jesus is supposed to have passed on the
way to the execution on Calvary. We passed the traditional site of the
"house of the rich man," the "house of the poor man," and the Temple
Area. After passing the Church of St. Anne, we went out of the city
through St. Stephen's gate, and saw the Birket Sitti Mariam, or Pool
of Lady Mary, one hundred feet long, eighty-five feet wide, and once
twenty-seven and a half feet deep. It is supposed that Stephen was led
through the gate now bearing his name and stoned at a point not far
distant. Going down the hill a few rods, we came to the Church of St.
Mary, a building for the most part underground. It is entered by a
stairway nineteen feet wide at the top, and having forty-seven steps
leading to the floor thirty-five feet below. We went down, and in
the poorly lighted place we found some priests and others singing or
chanting, crossing themselves, kissing a rock, and so on. This church
probably gets its name from the tradition that the mother of Jesus was
buried here. Just outside the church is a cavern that is claimed by some
to be the place of Christ's agony, and by others, who may have given the
matter more thought, it is supposed to be an old cistern, or place for
storing olive oil or grain. Perhaps I would do well to mention here that
tradition has been in operation a long time, and the stories she has
woven are numerous indeed, but often no confidence can be placed in
them. I desire to speak of things of this kind in such a way as not to
mislead my readers. It was near this church that I saw lepers for the
first time. The valley of the Kidron is the low ground lying between
Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. The water flows here only in the wet
part of the year. Crossing this valley and starting up the slope of the
Mount of Olives, we soon come to a plot of ground inclosed by a high
stone wall, with a low, narrow gateway on the upper side. This place is
of great interest, as it bears the name "Garden of Gethsemane," and is
probably the spot to which the lowly Jesus repaired and prayed earnestly
the night before his execution, when his soul was "exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death." It is really a garden, filled with flowers, and olive
trees whose trunks, gnarled and split, represent them as being very old,
but it is not to be supposed that they are the same trees beneath which
Jesus prayed just before Judas and "the band of soldiers and officers"
came out to arrest him. There is a fence inside the wall, leaving a
passageway around the garden between the wall and the fence. Where the
trees reach over the fence a woven-wire netting has been fixed up, to
keep the olives from dropping on the walk, where tourists could pick
them up for souvenirs. The fruit of these old trees is turned into olive
oil and sold, and the seeds are used in making rosaries. At intervals
on the wall there are pictures representing the fourteen stations Jesus
passed as he was being taken to the place of crucifixion. This garden
is the property of the Roman Catholics, and the Greeks have selected
another spot, which they regard as the true Gethsemane, just as each
church holds a different place at Nazareth to be the spot where the
angry Nazarenes intended to destroy the Savior.

Leaving the garden, we started on up the slope of Olivet, and passed the
fine Russian church, with its seven tapering domes, that shine like the
gold by which they are said to be covered. It appears to be one of the
finest buildings of Jerusalem. As we went on, we looked back and had a
good view of the Kidron valley and the Jews' burial place, along
the slope of the mountain, where uncounted thousands of Abraham's
descendants lie interred. Further up toward the summit is the Church of
the Lord's Prayer, a building erected by a French princess, whose body
is now buried within its walls. This place is peculiar on account of at
least two things. That portion of Scripture commonly called "the Lord's
prayer" is here inscribed on large marble slabs in thirty-two different
languages, and prayer is said to be offered here continually. There is
another church near the Damascus gate, where two "sisters" are said to
be kneeling in prayer at all hours. I entered the beautiful place at
different times, and always found it as represented, but it should not
be supposed that the same women do all the praying, as they doubtless
have enough to change at regular intervals. The Church of the Creed is,
according to a worthless tradition, the place where the apostles drew up
"the creed." It is under the ground, and we passed over it on the way
to the Church of the Lord's Prayer. The Mount of Olives is two thousand
seven hundred and twenty-three feet above sea level, and is about two
hundred feet higher than Mount Moriah. From the summit a fine view of
Jerusalem and the surrounding country may be obtained. The Russians have
erected a lofty stone tower here. After climbing the spiral stairway
leading to the top of it, one is well rewarded by the extensive view.
Looking out from the east side, we could gaze upon the Dead Sea, some
twenty miles away, and more than four thousand feet below us. We visited
the chambers called the "Tombs of the Prophets," but the name is not a
sufficient guarantee to warrant us in believing them to be the burial
places of the men by whom God formerly spoke to the people. On the way
to Bethany we passed the reputed site of Beth-page (Mark 11:1), and soon
came to the town where Jesus performed the great miracle of raising
Lazarus after he had been dead four days. (John 11:1-46.) The place
pointed out as the tomb corresponds to the Scripture which says "It was
a cave" where they laid him. Twenty-six steps lead down to the chamber
where his body is said to have lain when the "blessed Redeemer" cried
with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." Whether this is the exact spot
or not, it is probably a very ancient cave. One writer claims that it
is as old as the incident itself, and says these rock-cut tombs are the
oldest landmarks of Palestine. Tradition points out the home of Lazarus,
and there is a portion of an old structure called the Castle of Lazarus,
which Lazarus may never have seen. Bethany is a small village, occupied
by a few Mohammedan families, who dislike the "Christians." On the
rising ground above the village stands a good modern stone house,
owned by an English lady, who formerly lived in it, but her servant, a
Mohammedan, made an effort to cut her throat, and almost succeeded in
the attempt. Naturally enough, the owner does not wish to live there
now, so we found the building in the care of a professing Christian,
who treated us with courtesy, giving us a good, refreshing drink, and
permitting us to go out on the roof to look around.

From this point we turned our footsteps toward Jerusalem, "about fifteen
furlongs off"--that is, about two miles distant. (John 11:18.) When
we reached the lower part of the slope of Olivet, where the tombs of
departed Jews are so numerous, Mr. Michelson and Mr. Jennings went on
across the Kidron valley and back to their lodging places, while Mr.
Ahmed, Mr. Smith and I went down to Job's well, in the low ground below
the city. The Tower of Absalom, the Tomb of James, and the Pyramid
of Zachariah were among the first things we saw. They are all burial
places, but we can not depend upon them being the actual tombs of those
whose names they bear. The first is a peculiar monument nineteen and
one-half feet square and twenty-one feet high, cut out of the solid
rock, and containing a chamber, which may be entered by crawling through
a hole in the side. On the top of the natural rock portion a structure
of dressed stone, terminating in one tapering piece, has been erected,
making the whole height of the monument forty-eight feet. The Jews have
a custom of pelting it with stones on account of Absalom's misconduct,
and the front side shows the effect of their stone-throwing. The Grotto
of St. James is the traditional place of his concealment from the time
Jesus was arrested till his resurrection. The Pyramid of Zachariah is
a cube about thirty feet square and sixteen feet high, cut out of the
solid rock, and surmounted by a small pyramid. It has many names cut
upon it in Hebrew letters, and there are some graves near by, as this is
a favorite burial place. Some of the bodies have been buried between the
monument and the wall around it in the passage made in cutting it out of
the rock. Going on down the valley, we have the village of Siloam on the
hill at our left, and on the other side of the Kidron, the southeastern
part of the Holy City. St. Mary's Well is soon reached. This spring,
which may be the Gihon of 1 Kings 1:33, is much lower than the surface
of the ground, the water being reached by two flights of stairs,
one containing sixteen steps, the other fourteen. The spring is
intermittent, and flows from three to five times daily in winter. It
flows twice a day in summer, but in the autumn it only flows once in the
day. When I was there, the spring was low, and two Turkish soldiers were
on duty to preserve order among those who came to get water.

The Pool of Siloam, fifty-two feet long and eighteen feet wide, is
farther down the valley. The spring and the pool are about a thousand
feet apart, and are connected by an aqueduct through the hill, which,
owing to imperfect engineering, is seventeen hundred feet long. From
a Hebrew inscription found in the lower end of this passageway it was
learned that the excavation was carried on from both ends. A little
below the Pool of Siloam the valley of the Kidron joins the valley of
Hinnom, where, in ancient times, children were made "to pass through the
fire to Moloch" (2 Kings 23:10). Job's Well, perhaps the En Rogel, on
the northern border of Judah (Joshua 15:7), is rectangular in shape and
one hundred and twenty-three feet deep. Sometimes it overflows, but it
seldom goes dry. When I saw it, no less than six persons were drawing
water with ropes and leather buckets. The location of Aceldama, the
field of blood, has been disputed, but some consider that it was on the
hill above the valley of Hinnom. There are several rock-cut tombs along
the slope of the hill facing the valley of Hinnom, and some of them are
being used as dwelling places. The Moslems have charge of a building
outside the city walls, called David's Tomb, which they guard very
carefully, and only a portion of it is accessible to visitors. Near this
place a new German Catholic church was being erected at a cost of four
hundred thousand dollars. We entered the city by the Zion gate, and
passed the Tower of David, a fortification on Mount Zion, near the Jaffa
gate.

On the ship coming down from Beyrout I had a conversation with a man who
claimed to have been naturalized in the United States, and to have
gone to Syria to visit his mother, but, according to his story, he was
arrested and imprisoned by the Turks. After being mistreated in the
filthy prison for some time, he secured his release by bribing a soldier
to post a letter to one of the American authorities. He expressed a
desire to visit Jerusalem, but seemed afraid to get back into Turkish
territory. Learning that I was going there, he wrote a letter to the
Armenian Patriarch, and I presented it one day. In a few minutes Mr.
Ahmed and I were led into the large room where the Patriarch was seated
in his robe and peculiar cap. Meeting a dignitary of the Armenian Church
was a new experience to me. I shook hands with him; Mr. Ahmed made some
signs and sat down. In the course of our limited conversation he said
rather slowly: "I am very old." Replying to a question, he informed me
that his age was eighty years. I was on the point of leaving, but he
hindered me, and an attendant soon came in with some small glasses of
wine and a little dish of candy. The Patriarch drank a glass of wine,
and I took a piece of the candy, as also did Mr. Ahmed, and then we took
our leave.

The eleventh day of October, which was Tuesday, was occupied with a trip
to Hebron, described in another chapter devoted to the side trips I made
from Jerusalem, but the next day was spent in looking around the Holy
City. Early in the morning the Mamilla Pool, probably the "upper pool"
of 2 Kings 18:17, was seen. One author gives the dimensions of this
pool as follows: Length, two hundred and ninety-one feet; breadth, one
hundred and ninety-two feet; depth, nineteen feet. It is filled with
water in the rainy season, but was empty when I saw it. Entering the
city by the Jaffa gate, I walked along David and Christian Streets, and
was shown the Pool of Hezekiah, which is surrounded by houses, and was
supplied from the Mamilla Pool.

The next place visited was that interesting old building, the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher, where our Lord is supposed to have been buried in
Joseph's new tomb. Jerusalem has many things of great interest, but some
few things are of special interest. The Temple Area and Calvary are of
this class. I am sure my readers will want to know something of each,
and I shall here write of the latter. No doubt the spot where Jesus was
crucified and the grave in which he was buried were both well known to
the brethren up to the destruction of the city in the year seventy.
Before this awful calamity the Christians made their escape, and when
they returned they "would hardly recognize the fallen city as the one
they had left; the heel of the destroyer had stamped out all semblance
of its former glory. For sixty years it lay in ruins so complete that
it is doubtful if there was a single house that could be used as a
residence; during these years its history is a blank." There is no
mention of the returned Christians seeking out the site of either
the crucifixion or burial, and between A.D. 120 and A.D. 136 Hadrian
reconstructed the city, changing it to a considerable extent, and naming
it Aelia Capitolina. This would tend to make the location of Calvary
more difficult. Hadrian built a temple to Venus, probably on the spot
now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Eusebius, writing
about A.D. 325, speaks of Constantine's church built on the site of
this temple. It is claimed that Hadrian's heathen temple was erected
to desecrate the place of Christ's entombment, and that Constantine's
church, being erected on the site of the temple, and regarded as the
place called Calvary, fixes this as the true site; but whether the
church and temple were on the same site or not, the present church
stands where the one built by Constantine stood, and is regarded by the
mass of believers as the true location.

Constantine's church stood two hundred and eighty years, being destroyed
by Chosroes II., of Persia, in A.D. 614, but was soon succeeded by
another structure not so grand as its predecessor. In 1010, in the
"reign of the mad caliph Hakem," the group of churches was entirely
destroyed, and the spot lay desolate for thirty years, after which
another church was erected, being completed in eight years. This
building was standing in 1099, the time of the Crusaders, but was
destroyed by fire in 1808. This fire "consumed many of the most sacred
relics in the church. Marble columns of great age and beauty crumbled in
the flames. The rich hangings and pictures were burned, along with lamps
and chandeliers and other ornaments in silver and gold. The lead with
which the great dome was lined melted, and poured down in streams." The
building now standing there was finished in 1810 at a cost of nearly
three millions of dollars, one-third of this, it is said, being expended
in lawsuits and Mohammedan bribes. It is the property of several
denominations, who adorn their separate chapels to suit themselves.

The church is entered from a court having two doors or gates. Worshipers
pass through the court, and stop at the left-hand side of the door and
kiss the marble column, which clearly shows the effect of this practice.
Just inside of the building there is a guard, composed of members of the
oldest Mohammedan family in the city. The reader may wonder why an armed
guard should be kept in a church house, but such a reader has not seen
or read of all the wickedness that is carried on in the support of
sectarianism. Concerning this guard, which, at the time of the holy fire
demonstration, is increased by several hundred soldiers, Edmund Sherman
Wallace, a former United States Consul in this city, says in his
"Jerusalem the Holy": "This Christian church has a Moslem guard, whose
duty it is to keep peace among the various sects who profess belief in
the Prince of Peace. * * * It is a sickening fact that Moslem brute
force must compel Christians to exercise, not charity toward each other,
but common decency and decorum. But it is a fact nevertheless, and will
remain apparent to all so long as priestcraft takes the place of New
Testament Christianity and superstition supplants religion."

A little beyond this guard is the "Stone of Unction," upon which many
believe Jesus was prepared for burial, but the original stone for which
this claim was made is not now visible, being covered with the present
slab to keep it from being worn out by the kissing of pious pilgrims.
It is eight and a half feet long and four feet wide. Pilgrims sometimes
bring the goods for their burial robes here and measure them by this
stone. Some large candles stand by it, and above it are eight fine
lamps, belonging to the Greek and Roman Catholics, the Copts, and
Armenians. Not far away is a small stone, which I understood was called
the place where the women watched the preparation by Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus. (John 19:38-42.)

In the center of the rotunda, with its entrance facing the east, is the
Chapel of the Sepulcher, the holiest place in all this holy building.
Passing through the small door, the visitor finds himself in the Chapel
of the Angels, a very small room, where a piece of stone, said to have
been rolled away from the grave by the angels, is to be seen. Stooping
down, the visitor passes through a low opening and enters the Chapel of
the Sepulcher proper, a room only six and a half feet long and six feet
wide. The "tomb" is at the right hand of the entrance, occupying about
half of the floor, above which it rises two feet. It is covered with
marble, so that even if this were the very spot where the Lord and
Savior was laid by the hands of kind friends, the modern visitor would
not know what it looked like when that event took place. The little
chapel, capable of accommodating about six people at a time, contains
some pictures and forty-three silver lamps, the property of the Copts,
Armenians, Greek and Roman Catholics. A priest stands on guard, so that
no damage may be done to any part of the place.

The Greek chapel, the largest, and to my notion the finest that I saw,
is just in front of the sepulcher. From its having two sections and a
partition, I was reminded of the tabernacle of the wilderness journey.
Services were being conducted once while I was there, and I saw the
Patriarch and others, gorgeously robed, going through with a service
that was at least spectacular, if not spiritual. At one point in the
exercises those participating came down close to where I was standing,
passed around the spot designated "the center of the world," and went
back again to the farther end of the richly ornamented room. One of the
priests, with hair reaching down on his shoulders, bore a silver vessel,
which I suppose contained burning incense. The long hair, beautiful
robes, the singing, praying, and such things, made up a service that
reminded me of the days of Solomon and the old priesthood.

The demonstration of the "holy fire" takes place in this church once a
year, and there are thousands who believe that the fire passed out from
the Chapel of the Angels really comes from heaven. This occurs on the
Saturday afternoon preceding Easter, and the eager, waiting throng, a
part of which has been in the building since the day before, soon has
its hundreds of little candles lighted. As the time for the appearance
of the fire approaches the confusion becomes greater. Near the entrance
to the sepulcher a group of men is repeating the words: "This is the
tomb of Jesus Christ;" not far from them others are saying: "This is
the day the Jew mourns and the Christian rejoices;" others express
themselves in the language: "Jesus Christ has redeemed us;" and
occasionally "God save the Sultan" can be heard.

Mr. Wallace, from whose book the foregoing items are gleaned, in telling
of a fight which took place at one stage of the service, describes it as
"a mass of wriggling, struggling, shrieking priests and soldiers, each
apparently endeavoring to do all the possible injury to whomever he
could reach. * * * But the fight went on. Greek trampled on Armenian,
and Armenian on Greek, and Turk on both. Though doing his very best, the
commanding officer seemed unable to separate the combatants. The bugle
rang out time after time, and detachment after detachment of soldiers
plunged into the mêlee. * * * This went on for fifteen minutes. Just
how much damage was done nobody will ever know. There were a number
of bruised faces and broken heads, and a report was current that two
pilgrims had died from injuries received." This disgraceful and wicked
disturbance is said to have been brought about by the Armenians wanting
two of their priests to go with the Greek Patriarch as far as the
Chapel of the Angels. And it is furthermore said that the defeat of the
Armenians was brought about, to some extent at least, by the muscular
strength of an American professional boxer and wrestler, whom the
Greeks had taken along in priestly garb as a member of the Patriarch's
bodyguard. It is not surprising that Mr. Wallace has written: "The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher gives the non-Christian world the worst
possible illustration of the religion of Him in whose name it stands."

As I was going through the city, I saw a camel working an olive press.
The poor blindfolded animal was compelled to walk in a circle so
small that the outside trace was drawn tightly over its leg, causing
irritation; but seeing the loads that are put upon dumb brutes, and men
too, sometimes, one need not expect much attention to be given to the
comfort of these useful servants. Truly, there is great need for the
refining, civilizing, and uplifting influence of the gospel here in the
city where it had its earliest proclamation. I also visited two grist
mills operated by horses on a treadmill, which was a large wooden wheel
turned on its side, so the horses could stand on it. I was not pleased
with the nearness of the manure in one of these mills to the material
from which the "staff of life" is made.

The German Protestant Church of the Redeemer is a fine structure on the
Muristan, completed in 1898. The United States consulate is near the
Austrian postoffice inside of the Jaffa gate. I went there and rested
awhile, but saw the consul, Selah Merrill, at his hotel, where I also
met Mrs. Merrill, and formed a favorable opinion of both of them. Here I
left my belt, checks, and surplus money in the care of the consul.

Continuing my walk on Wednesday, I passed one of the numerous threshing
floors of the country. This one was the face of a smooth rock, but they
are often the ground on some elevated spot, where a good breeze can be
had to blow away the chaff, for the grain is now threshed and cleaned by
the primitive methods of long ago. After the grain has been tramped out
(1 Cor. 9:9), the straw, now worn to chaff, is piled up, and when a
favorable wind blows, a man tosses it in the air with a wooden fork. The
grain falls in a pile at his feet and the chaff is carried aside
some distance. When this operation has been carried on as long as is
profitable, the wheat and what chaff remains in it are thrown into the
air with a wooden shovel, called in our Bibles a "fan." (Matt. 3:12.)
The final cleaning is done by washing the grain, or with a sieve.

The Tombs of the Kings, which may never have contained a king, are
extensive and interesting. They are surrounded by a wall, and to reach
them the visitor must go down a very wide stairway. The steps probably
do not number more than twenty-five, but the distance from one side of
the stairs to the other is twenty-seven feet. There are channels cut in
the rock to carry the water that comes down these steps to the cisterns,
two in number, one of which is a good-sized room cut in the rock at the
side of the stairway. It contained about three feet of water when I saw
it, although there had been no rain in Jerusalem for half a year. The
other one, at the bottom of the stairs, is much larger, and was empty.
The vaulted roof is supported by a column, and there are steps leading
from one level of the floor to another.

Turning to the left at the foot of the big stairway, we passed through
an arch cut through the rock into a court made by excavating the earth
and stone to a depth of perhaps twenty feet. It is ninety feet long and
eighty-one feet wide. The entrance to the tombs is by a vestibule cut in
the rock at one side of the court, and it appears that this once had a
row of pillars along the front, like veranda posts. We went down a few
steps and stooped low enough to pass through an opening about a yard
high. Beyond this we found ourselves in a good-sized room, cut in the
solid rock. There are five of these rooms, and so far as the appearance
is concerned, one might suppose they had been made in modern times, but
they are ancient. The bodies were usually buried in "pigeon-holes" cut
back in the walls of the rooms, but there are some shelf tombs, which
are sufficiently described in their name. One room seems never to have
been completed, but there are burial places here for about forty people.

One of the interesting things about these tombs is the rolling stone by
which they were closed. It is a round rock, resembling a millstone. The
height is a little over three feet and a half, and the thickness sixteen
inches. It stands in a channel cut for the purpose, but was rolled
forward before the entrance when it was desirable to have the tombs
closed. When Jesus was buried, a "great stone" was rolled to the mouth
of the sepulcher, and the women thought of this as they went to the tomb
on the first day of the week, saying: "Who shall roll us away the stone
from the door of the tomb?" (Mark 16:3.) They went on and found the tomb
open; so, also, we may often find the stone rolled away if we will go
forward in the discharge of our duties, instead of sitting down to mourn
at the thought of something in the distance which seems too difficult.

On our way to the tombs just mentioned, we passed the American Colony,
a small band of people living together in a rather peculiar manner,
but they are not all Americans. I understood that there had been no
marriages among them for a long time until a short while before I was
in Jerusalem. Some of them conduct a good store near the Jaffa gate. We
passed an English church and college and St. Stephen's Church on the way
to Gordon's Calvary. This new location of the world's greatest tragedy
is a small hill outside the walls on the northern side of the city. The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands on ground which for fifteen hundred
years has been regarded as the true site of our Lord's death and burial,
but since Korte, a German bookseller, visited the city in 1738, doubts
have been expressed as to the correctness of the tradition. Jesus
"suffered without the gate" (Heb. 13:12), and "in the place where he was
crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was
man never yet laid" (John 19:41), and it appears to have been near a
public road. (Mark 15:29.) In 1856 Edward Robinson, an American, offered
proof that the site sustained by the old tradition was inside the city
walls at the time of the crucifixion, and more recent discoveries, made
in excavating, confirm his proof. The new Calvary meets the requirements
of the above mentioned scriptures, and gets its name "Gordon's Calvary,"
from the fact that General Gordon wrote and spoke in favor of this being
the correct location, and a photographer attached his name to a view of
the place. In the garden adjoining the new Calvary I visited a tomb,
which some suppose to be the place of our Lord's burial.

On the way back to my lodging place we passed the Damascus gate, the
most attractive of all the old city gates, and one often represented
in books. It was built or repaired in 1537, and stands near an older
gateway that is almost entirely hidden by the accumulated rubbish of
centuries, only the crown of the arch now showing. As we went on we
passed the French Hospice, a fine modern building, having two large
statues on it. The higher one represents the Virgin and her child, the
other is a figure of the Savior. The Catholic church already mentioned,
where two sisters are to be seen in prayer at all times, is near the
Hospice. It is a rather impressive sight to stand in this beautiful but
silent place, and see those women in white robes kneeling there almost
as motionless as statues.

Thursday and a part of Friday was taken up with a trip to Jericho, but
we got back in time to spend the afternoon in looking around Jerusalem,
and we had an interesting visit to the home of Mrs. Schoenecke, a German
lady, whose father, named Schick, spent fifty-six years of his life in
Jerusalem. From what information Mr. Schick could gather from the Bible,
Josephus, the Talmud, and his personal observations during the time the
Palestine Exploration Fund was at work, he constructed large models of
the ancient temples that stood on Mount Moriah from the days of Solomon
to the time of Herod and Christ. I was told that the original models
were sold to an American college for five thousand dollars. Mr.
Schick then constructed the models shown to us, and explained by Mrs.
Schoenecke. We were also shown a model of the tabernacle used while
Israel was marching to the promised land.

The Wailing Place is a rectangle one hundred feet long by fifteen feet
wide on the outside of the Temple Area, on the western side, where the
wall is about sixty feet high. Some of the stones in this section are of
large size, and authorities admit that they are of Solomon's time, but
the wall in which they now stand may be a reconstruction. The Jews come
here on the Sabbath, beginning at sundown on Saturday, for a service
which one author describes as follows: "Nearest to him stood a row of
women clad in robes of spotless white. Their eyes were bedimmed with
weeping, and tears streamed down their cheeks as they sobbed aloud
with irrepressible emotion. Next to the women stood a group of
Pharisees--Jews from Poland and Germany. * * * The old hoary-headed men
generally wore velvet caps edged with fur, long love-locks or ringlets
dangling on their thin cheeks, and their outer robes presented a
striking contrast of gaudy colors. Beyond stood a group of Spanish Jews.
* * * Besides these there are Jews from every quarter of the world, who
had wandered back to Jerusalem that they might die in the city of their
fathers, and be buried in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, under the shadow of
the Temple Hill. The worshipers gradually increased in number until the
crowd thronging the pavement could not be fewer than two hundred. It was
an affecting scene to notice their earnestness; some thrust their hands
between the joints of the stones, and pushed into the crevices, as far
as possible, little slips of paper, on which were written, in the Hebrew
tongue, short petitions addressed to Jehovah. Some even prayed with
their mouths thrust into the gaps, where the weather-beaten stones were
worn away at the joints. * * * The congregation at the Wailing Place is
one of the most solemn gatherings left to the Jewish Church, and, as the
writer gazed at the motley concourse, he experienced a feeling of sorrow
that the remnants of the chosen race should be heartlessly thrust
outside the sacred inclosure of their fathers' holy temple by men of an
alien race and an alien creed." So far as I know, all writers give these
worshipers credit for being sincere, but on the two occasions when I
visited the place, I saw no such emotion as described in the foregoing
quotation. The following lines are often rehearsed, the leader reading
one at a time, after which the people respond with the words: "We sit in
solitude and mourn."

  "For the place that lies desolate;
   For the place that is destroyed;
   For the walls that are overthrown;
   For our majesty that is departed;
   For our great men who lie dead;
   For the precious stones that are buried;
   For the priests who have stumbled;
   For our kings who have despised Him."

This solemn practice has been observed for about twelve hundred years,
but the same place may not have been used all the time. "She is become a
widow, that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among
the provinces is become tributary! Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;
therefore she is become as an unclean thing" (Lam. 1: 1, 8).

On Friday evening we entered some of the many synagogues yet to be found
in Jerusalem and observed the worshipers. On Saturday we went to the
House of Industry of the English church, where boys are taught to work.
Olive wood products are made for the tourist trade. We passed a place
where some men were making a peculiar noise as they were pounding wheat
and singing at their work. This pounding was a part of the process of
making it ready for food. An old lady was standing in an open door
spinning yarn in a very simple manner. We watched her a few minutes, and
I wanted to buy the little arrangement with which she was spinning, but
she didn't care to part with it. She brought out another one, and let me
have it after spinning a few yards upon it. I gave her a Turkish coin
worth a few cents, for which she seemed very thankful, and said, as Mr.
Ahmed explained: "God bless you and give you long life. I am old, and
may die to-day." She told us that she came from Mosul, away beyond the
Syrian desert, to die in Jerusalem. We visited the synagogue of the
Caraite Jews, a small polygamous sect, numbering in this assembly
about thirty persons. They also differ from the majority of Hebrews in
rejecting the Talmud, but I believe they have a Talmud of their own.
Their place of worship is a small room almost under the ground, where we
were permitted to see a very fine old copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, our
Old Testament. The work was done by hand, and I was told the man who
did it was sixteen years of age when he began it, and was sixty when he
finished the work, and that the British Museum had offered five thousand
dollars for the book. Some of these people speak English, and we
conversed with one woman who was quite intelligent. They kindly
permitted us to go up and view the city from the housetop.

In the afternoon we visited the Temple Area, an inclosure of about
thirty-five acres, in the southeastern part of the city, including the
Mosque of Omar (more appropriately called the Dome of the Rock), the
Mosque El Aksa, and Solomon's Stables. For Christians to enter this
inclosure, it is necessary to notify their consul and secure the service
of his _cavasse_, an armed guard, and a Turkish soldier, both of
whom must be paid for their services. Thus equipped, we entered the
inclosure, and came up on the east front of the Dome of the Rock,
probably so named from the fact that the dome of this structure stands
over an exposed portion of the natural rock, fifty-seven feet long,
forty-three feet wide, and rising a few feet above the floor. After
putting some big slippers on over our shoes, we entered the building
and saw this great rock, which tradition says is the threshing floor
of Araunah, and the spot where Melchizedek sacrificed. It is also the
traditional place where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and it is believed
that David built an altar here after the angel of destruction had put
up his sword. It is furthermore supposed that the great altar of burnt
offerings stood on this rock in the days of Solomon's Temple, which
is thought to have been located just west of it. This is the probable
location of Zerubbabel's Temple, and the one enlarged and beautified
by Herod, which was standing when Jesus was on earth, and continued to
stand until the awful destruction of the city by the Roman army in A.D.
70.

The modern visitor to this fine structure would have no thought of the
ancient temple of God if he depended upon what he sees here to suggest
it. All trace of that house has disappeared. The Dome of the Rock, said
to be "the most beautiful piece of architecture in Jerusalem," belongs
to the Turks. It has eight sides, each about sixty-six and a half feet
long, and is partly covered with marble, but it is, to some extent, in a
state of decay. Between the destruction of the temple and the erection
of this building a heathen temple and a church had been built on the
spot.

The Mosque El Aksa was also visited, but it is noted more for its size
than the beauty of its architecture. The Turkish Governor of Palestine
comes here every Friday to worship at the time the Sultan is engaged
in like manner in Constantinople. Solomon's Stables next engaged our
attention. We crossed the Temple Area to the wall on the southeastern
border, and went down a stairway to these underground chambers, which
were made by building about a hundred columns and arching them over and
laying a pavement on the top, thereby bringing it up on a level with
the rest of the hill. The vaults are two hundred and seventy-three feet
long, one hundred and ninety-eight feet wide, and about thirty feet
high. They were not made for stables, but were used for that purpose in
the middle ages, and the holes through the corners of the square stone
columns show where the horses were tied. A large portion of these
chambers has been made into a cistern or reservoir.

After a visit to what is called the Pool of Bethesda and the Church of
St. Anne, we went outside the city wall on the north side and entered
what looks like a cave, but upon investigation proves to be an extensive
underground quarry. These excavations, called Solomon's Quarries,
extend, according to one authority, seven hundred feet under the hill
Bezetha, which is north of Mt. Moriah. The rock is very white, and will
take some polish. Loose portions of it are lying around on the floor
of the cavern, and there are distinct marks along the sides where the
ancient stone-cutters were at work. In one part of the quarries we were
shown the place where visiting Masons are said to hold lodge meetings
sometimes. Vast quantities of the rock have been taken out, and this is
probably the source from whence much of the building material of the old
city was derived.

The trip to the quarries ended my sight-seeing for the week. The next
morning I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and witnessed a part
of the service of the Greek Catholics. At a later hour I went around to
the mission conducted by Bro. Joseph, and, with the little congregation
there assembled, broke bread in memory of Him who in this city, almost
two thousand years ago, gave his life for the sins of the world, after
having instituted this supper, a monumental institution, representing
to our minds the cost of the world's redemption. In the afternoon I
attended the preaching service in Mr. Thompson's tabernacle, and visited
the Abyssinian church, near Mr. Smith's house. This Abyssinian house is
circular, and has a small, round room in the center, around which the
congregation stands and worships, leaning on their staves, for the place
is void of seats. At night I preached in the tabernacle on the question:
"What must I do to be saved?" Melki, the native evangelist, translated
for me as I went along, and the congregation paid good attention and
seemed pleased to have heard me. I know I am pleased to have had
opportunity to "preach the word" in the city from whence it was first
published to the world.

One of the first sights beheld when I started out on Monday morning was
a foundation, laid at the expense of a woman who intended to build a
house for the "hundred and forty-four thousand." It represents one of
the many peculiar religious ideas that find expression in and around
Jerusalem. We went on to the railway station, where I saw a young man, a
Jew, leave for that far-off land called America. Next the Leper Hospital
was visited. This well-kept institution is in the German colony, and had
several patients of both sexes. A lady, who spoke some English, kindly
showed me through the hospital, and explained that the disease is not
contagious, but hereditary, and that some lepers refuse to enter the
hospital because they are forbidden to marry. The patients were of
various ages, and showed the effects of the disease in different stages.
In some cases it makes the victim a sad sight to look upon. I remember
one of these poor, afflicted creatures, whose face was almost covered
with swollen and inflamed spots. Some were blind, and some had lost
part or all of their fingers by the disease. One man's nose was partly
consumed.

At Bishop Gobat's school we were kindly received, and given a good,
refreshing drink. The founder of this school, a member of the English
church, was one of the pioneers in Jerusalem mission work, and stood
very high in the estimation of the people. His grave is to be seen in
the cemetery near the school, where one may also see the supposed site
of the ancient city wall. Besides the Leper Hospital, we visited another
hospital under German control, where patients may have medical attention
and hospital service for the small sum of one _mejidi_, about eighty
cents, for a period, of fifteen days, but higher fees are charged in
other departments. We soon reached the English hospital, maintained by
the Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews. It is
built on a semi-circular plan in such a way that the wards, extending
back from the front, admit light from both sides. This institution is
free to the Jews, but I understand Mohammedans were not admitted without
a fee.

The Syrian Orphanage had about three hundred children in it, who were
being instructed in books and in manual labor. Those who can see are
taught to work in wood, to make a kind of tile used in constructing
partitions, and other lines of useful employment. They had some blind
children, who were being taught to make baskets and brushes. On the way
back to Mr. Smith's I stopped at the Jewish Library, a small two-story
building, having the books and papers upstairs. They have a raised map
of Palestine, which was interesting to me, after having twice crossed
the country from sea to sea.

The last Thursday I was in the city I went with some friends to the
Israelite Alliance School, an institution with about a thousand pupils,
who receive both an industrial and a literary education. We were
conducted through the school by a Syrian gentleman named Solomon Elia,
who explained that, while the institution is under French control,
English is taught to some extent, as some of the pupils would go
to Egypt, where they would need to use this language. The boys are
instructed in wood-working, carpentry, copper-working, and other lines
of employment. We saw some of the girls making hair nets, and others
were engaged in making lace. Both of these products are sent out of
Palestine for sale. The institution has received help from some of the
Rothschild family, and I have no doubt that it is a great factor for the
improvement of those who are reached by it. Jerusalem is well supplied
with hospitals and schools. The Greek and Roman Catholic churches, the
Church of England, and numerous other religious bodies have a footing
here, and are striving to make it stronger. Their schools and hospitals
are made use of as missionary agencies, and besides these there is a
Turkish hospital and numerous Mohammedan schools.

On Friday I had an opportunity to see a man measuring grain, as is
indicated by the Savior's words: "Give, and it shall be given unto you;
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they
give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again" (Luke 6:38). He filled his measure about full,
and then shook it down thoroughly. He next filled it up and shook it
down until he evidently thought he had all he could get that way, so he
commenced to pile it up on top. When he had about as much heaped up as
would stay on, he put his hands on the side of the cone opposite himself
and gently pulled it toward him. He then piled some more on the far
side, and when he had reached the limit in this way, he carefully
leveled the top of the cone down a little, and when he could no longer
put on more grain, he gently lifted the measure and moved it around to
the proper place, where it was quickly dumped. In the evening Mr. Smith
and I walked out on Mount Scopus, where Titus had his camp at the time
of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, as foretold by our Lord and
Master in the twenty-fourth of Matthew.

As we went along, Mr. Smith pointed out the watershed between the
Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. The view from Scopus is very extensive.
We could look away to the north to Nebi Samwil, where the Prophet Samuel
is supposed by some to have been buried. Ramallah, the seat of a school
maintained by the Society of Friends, is pointed out, along with Bireh,
Bethel, and Geba. Nob, the home of the priests slain by command of Saul
(1 Samuel 22:16), and Anathoth, one of the cities of refuge (Joshua
21:18), are in sight. Swinging on around the circle to the east, the
northern end of the Dead Sea is visible, while the Mount of Olives is
only a little distance below us. Across the valley of the Kidron lies
the Holy City, with her walls constructed at various periods and under
various circumstances, her dome-shaped stone roofs, synagogues, mosques,
and minarets, being "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of
the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). Here, with this panorama spread
out in the evening light, I may say my sight-seeing in the City of the
Great King came to an end.

I lacked but a few hours of having been in the city two weeks, when I
boarded the train for Jaffa on my way to Egypt. The most of the time I
had lodged in the hospitable home of Mr. Smith, where I had a clean
and comfortable place to rest my tired body when the shadows of night
covered the land. I had received kind treatment, and had seen many
things of much interest. I am truly thankful that I have been permitted
to make this trip to Jerusalem. Let me so live that when the few
fleeting days of this life are over, I may rest with the redeemed. When
days and years are no more, let me enjoy, in the NEW JERUSALEM, the
blessedness that remains for those that have loved the Lord.

"And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and
God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and he shall wipe away
every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall
there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things have
passed away" (Revelation 21:2-4).




CHAPTER VI.

SIDE TRIPS FROM JERUSALEM.


Early on Tuesday morning, the eleventh of October, I set out by
carriage, with some other tourists, for a trip to Bethlehem, Solomon's
Pools, and Hebron. Bethlehem is about five miles south of Jerusalem, and
Hebron is a little southwest of the Holy City and twenty miles distant.
We started from the Jaffa gate and passed the Sultan's Pool, otherwise
known as Lower Gihon, which may be the "lower pool" of Isaiah 22:9. "The
entire area of this pool," says one writer, "is about three and a half
acres, with an average depth, when clear of deposit, of forty-two and
a half feet in the middle from end to end." We drove for two miles, or
perhaps more, across the Plain of Rephaim, one of David's battlefields
soon after he established himself in Jerusalem. Here he was twice
victorious over the Philistines. In the first instance he asked Jehovah:
"Shall I go up against the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into
my hand?" The answer was: "Go up; for I will certainly deliver the
Philistines into thy hand." In this battle the invaders were routed and
driven from the field. "And they left their images there; and David and
his men took them away." But "the Philistines came up yet again, and
spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of
Jehovah, he said, Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and
come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when
thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees,
that then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then is Jehovah gone out before
thee to smite the hosts of the Philistines." David obeyed the voice of
the Lord, and smote his enemies from Geba to Gezer. (2 Samuel 5:17-25.)

On the southern border of the plain stands the Greek convent called Mar
Elyas. This is about half way to Bethlehem, and the city of the nativity
soon comes into view. Before going much farther the traveler sees a
well-built village, named Bet Jala, lying on his right. It is supposed
to be the ancient Giloh, mentioned in 2 Samuel 15:12 as the home of
Ahithophel, David's counselor, for whom Absalom sent when he conspired
against his father. Here the road forks, one branch of it passing Bet
Jala and going on to Hebron; the other, bearing off to the left, leads
directly to Bethlehem, which we passed, intending to stop there as we
returned in the evening. At this place we saw the monument erected to
mark the location of Rachel's tomb, a location, like many others, in
dispute. When Jacob "journeyed from Bethel and there was still some
distance to come to Ephrath," Rachel died at the birth of Benjamin, "and
was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). * * * And
Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave" (Gen. 35:16-20). The spot, which
for many centuries was marked by a pyramid of stones, is now occupied
by a small stone building with a dome-shaped roof, at the east side of
which is a room, open on the north, with a flat roof. For hundreds of
years tradition has located the grave at this place, which is indeed
near Bethlehem, but in 1 Samuel 10:2 it is mentioned as being "in the
border of Benjamin," which has occasioned the belief that the true
location is some miles farther north.

Before long we came to Solomon's Pools. We first stopped at a doorway,
which looks like it might lead down to a cellar, but in reality the door
is at the head of a flight of stairs leading down to what is known as
the "sealed fountain" (Song of Solomon 4:12). The door was fastened,
and we were not able to descend to the underground chamber, which is
forty-one feet long, eleven and a half feet wide, with an arched stone
roof, all of which, except the entrance, is below the surface. A large
basin cut in the floor collects the water from two springs. After rising
a foot in the basin, the water flows out into a channel more than six
hundred feet long leading down to the two upper pools. These great
reservoirs, bearing the name of Israel's wisest monarch, are still in a
good state of preservation, having been repaired in modern times.
The first one is three hundred and eighty feet long, two hundred and
twenty-nine feet wide at one end, two hundred and thirty feet wide at
the other, and twenty-five feet deep. The second pool is four hundred
and twenty-three feet long, one hundred and sixty feet wide at the upper
end, two hundred and fifty feet wide at the lower end, and thirty-nine
feet deep at that end. The third pool is the largest of all, having a
length of five hundred and eighty-two feet. The upper end is one hundred
and forty-eight feet wide, the lower end two hundred and seven feet,
and the depth at the lower end is fifty feet. The pools are about one
hundred and fifty feet apart, and have an aggregate area of six and a
quarter acres, with an average depth approaching thirty-eight feet. The
upper two received water from the sealed fountain, but the lower one was
supplied from an aqueduct leading up from a point more than three miles
to the south. The aqueduct from the sealed fountain leads past the
pools, and winds around the hills to Bethlehem and on to the Temple
Area, in Jerusalem. It is still in use as far as Bethlehem, and could be
put in repair and made serviceable for the whole distance. An offer
to do this was foolishly rejected by the Moslems in 1870. The only
habitation near the pools is an old khan, "intended as a stopping place
for caravans and as a station for soldiers to guard the road and the
pools." The two upper pools were empty when I saw them, but the third
one contained some water and a great number of frogs. As we went on to
Hebron we got a drink at "Philip's Well," the place where "the eunuch
was baptized," according to a tradition which lacks support by the
present appearance of the place.

Towards noon we entered the "valley of Eschol," from whence the spies
sent out by Moses carried the great cluster of grapes. (Num. 13:23.)
Before entering Hebron we turned aside and went up to Abraham's Oak, a
very old tree, but not old enough for Abraham to have enjoyed its
shade almost four thousand years ago. The trunk is thirty-two feet in
circumference, but the tree is not tall like the American oaks. It is
now in a dying condition, and some of the branches are supported by
props, while the lower part of the trunk is surrounded by a stone wall,
and the space inside is filled with earth. The plot of ground on which
the tree stands is surrounded by a high iron fence. A little farther up
the hill the Russians have a tower, from which we viewed the country,
and then went down in the shade near Abraham's Oak and enjoyed our
dinner.

Hebron is a very ancient city, having been built seven and a half years
before Zoar in Egypt. (Num. 13:22.) Since 1187 it has been under the
control of the Mohammedans, who raise large quantities of grapes, many
of which are made into raisins. Articles of glass are made in Hebron,
but I saw nothing especially beautiful in this line. The manufacture of
goat-skin water-bottles is also carried on. Another line of work which I
saw being done is the manufacture of a kind of tile, which looks like a
fruit jug without a bottom, and is used in building. Hebron was one of
the six cities of refuge (Joshua 20:7), and for seven years and a half
it was David's capital of Judah. It is very historic. "Abraham moved his
tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and
built there an altar unto Jehovah." (Gen. 13:18.) When "Sarah died in
Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan, * * * Abraham
came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." At this time the worthy
progenitor of the Hebrew race "rose up from before his dead, and spoke
unto the children of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with
you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury
my dead out of my sight." The burial place was purchased for "four
hundred shekels of silver, current money of the land. * * * And after
this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave in the field of Machpelah
before Mamre (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan" (Gen.
23:1-20). Years after this, when both Abraham and his son Isaac had
passed the way of all the earth and had been laid to rest in this cave,
the patriarch Jacob in Egypt gave directions for the entombment of his
body in this family burial place. "There they buried Abraham and Sarah
his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I
buried Leah" (Gen. 49:31), and here, by his own request, Jacob was
buried. (Gen. 50:13.) Joshua, the successor of Moses, "utterly
destroyed" Hebron (Joshua 10:37), and afterwards gave it to Caleb, to
whom it had been promised by Moses forty-five years before. (Joshua
14:6-15.) Here Abner was slain (2 Samuel 3:27), and the murderers of
Ishbosheth were put to death. (2 Samuel 4:12.)

The most interesting thing about the town is the "cave of Machpelah,"
but it is inaccessible to Christians. Between 1167 and 1187 a church was
built on the site, now marked by a carefully guarded Mohammedan mosque.
It is inclosed by a wall which may have been built by Solomon. We were
allowed to go in at the foot of a stairway as far as the seventh step,
but might as well have been in the National Capitol at Washington so far
as seeing the burial place was concerned. In 1862 the Prince of Wales,
now King of England, was admitted. He was accompanied by Dean Stanley,
who has described what he saw, but he was permitted neither to examine
the monuments nor to descend to the cave below, the real burial chamber.
As the body of Jacob was carefully embalmed by the Egyptian method, it
is possible that his remains may yet be seen in their long resting place
in this Hebron cave. (Gen. 50:1,2.)

Turning back toward Jerusalem, we came to Bethlehem late in the
afternoon, and the "field of the shepherds" (Luke 2:8) and the "fields
of Boaz" (Ruth 2:4-23) were pointed out. The place of greatest interest
is the group of buildings, composed of two churches, Greek and Latin,
and an Armenian convent, all built together on the traditional site
of the birth of the Lord Jesus. Tradition is here contradicted by
authorities partly on the ground that a cave to which entrance is made
by a flight of stairs would probably not be used as a stable. This
cave is in the Church of St. Mary, said to have been erected in 330 by
Constantine. Descending the stairs, we came into the small cavern, which
is continually lighted by fifteen silver lamps, the property of the
Greeks, Latins, and Armenians, who each have an interest in the place.
Beneath an altar, in a semi-circular recess, a silver star has been set
in the floor with the Latin inscription: "_Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus
Christus Natus est._" An armed Turkish soldier was doing duty near this
"star of Bethlehem" the evening I was there. The well, from which it is
said the "three mighty men" drew water for David, was visited. (2 Samuel
23:15.) But the shades of night had settled down upon the little town
where our Savior was born, and we again entered our carriages and drove
back to Jerusalem, having had a fine day of interesting sight-seeing. On
the Wednesday before I left Jerusalem, in the company of Mrs. Bates, I
again visited Bethlehem.

Thursday, October thirteenth, was the day we went down to Jericho, the
Dead Sea, and the Jordan. The party was made up of the writer, Mr.
Ahmed, Mr. Jennings, Mrs. Bates, four school teachers (three ladies and
a gentleman) returning from the Philippines, and the guides, Mr. Smith
and Ephraim Aboosh. We went in two carriages driven by natives. "A
certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho; and he fell among
robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half
dead" (Luke 10:30). This lonely road is still the scene of occasional
robberies, and the Turkish Government permits one of its soldiers to
accompany the tourist for a fee, but we did not want to take this
escort, as neither of the guides feared any danger. Accordingly we took
an early start without notifying the soldiers, and reached Jericho,
about twenty miles away, in time to visit Elisha's Fountain before
dinner. The road leads out past Bethany, down by the Apostles' Fountain,
on past the Khan of the Good Samaritan, and down the mountain to the
plain of the Jordan, this section of which is ten miles long and seven
miles wide. Before the road reaches the plain, it runs along a deep
gorge bearing the name Wady Kelt, the Brook Cherith, where the prophet
Elisha was fed by the ravens night and morning till the brook dried up.
(1 Kings 17:1-7.) We also saw the remains of an old aqueduct, and of a
reservoir which was originally over five hundred feet long and more than
four hundred feet wide. Elisha's Fountain is a beautiful spring some
distance from the present Jericho. Doubtless it is the very spring whose
waters Elisha healed with salt. (2 Kings 2:19-22.) The ground about
the Fountain has been altered some in modern times, and there is now a
beautiful pool of good, clear water, a delight both to the eye and to
the throat of the dusty traveler who has come down from Jerusalem seeing
only the brown earth and white, chalky rock, upon which the unveiled sun
has been pouring down his heat for hours. The water from the spring now
runs a little grist mill a short distance below it.

After dinner, eaten in front of the hotel in Jericho, we drove over to
the Dead Sea, a distance of several miles, and soon we were all enjoying
a fine bath in the salt water, the women bathing at one place, the men
at another. The water contains so much solid matter, nearly three and a
third pounds to the gallon, that it is easy to float on the surface with
hands, feet and head above the water. One who can swim but little in
fresh water will find the buoyancy of the water here so great as to make
swimming easy. When one stands erect in it, the body sinks down about
as far as the top of the shoulders. Care needs to be taken to keep the
water out of the mouth, nose and eyes, as it is so salty that it is very
disagreeable to these tender surfaces. Dead Sea water is two and a half
pounds heavier than fresh water, and among other things, it contains
nearly two pounds of chloride of magnesium, and almost a pound of
chloride of sodium, or common salt, to the gallon. Nothing but some very
low forms of animal life, unobserved by the ordinary traveler, can live
in this sea. The fish that get into it from the Jordan soon die. Those
who bathe here usually drive over to the Jordan and bathe again, to
remove the salt and other substances that remain on the body after the
first bath. The greatest depth of the Dead Sea is a little over thirteen
hundred feet. The wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah stood here some
place, but authorities disagree as to whether they were at the northern
or southern end of the sea. In either case every trace of them has been
wiped out by the awful destruction poured on them by the Almighty. (Gen.
18:16 to 19:29)

The Jordan where we saw it, near the mouth, and at the time we saw it,
the thirteenth of October, was a quiet and peaceful stream, but the
water was somewhat muddy. We entered two little boats and had a short
ride on the river whose waters "stood, and rose up in one heap, a great
way off," that the children of Israel might cross (Joshua 3:14-17), and
beneath whose wave the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was baptized by the
great prophet of the Judaean wilderness. (Matt. 3:13-17.) We also got
out a little while on the east bank of the stream, the only time I was
"beyond Jordan" while in Palestine. After supper, eaten in Jericho, we
went around to a Bedouin encampment, where a dance was being executed--a
dance different from any that I had ever seen before. One of the
dancers, with a sword in hand, stood in the center of the ground they
were using, while the others stood in two rows, forming a right angle.
They went through with various motions and hand-clapping, accompanied
by an indescribable noise at times. Some of the Bedouins were sitting
around a small fire at one side, and some of the children were having a
little entertainment of their own on another side of the dancing party.
We were soon satisfied, and made our way back to the hotel and laid down
to rest.

The first Jericho was a walled city about two miles from the present
village, perhaps at the spring already mentioned, and was the first city
taken in the conquest of the land under Joshua. The Jordan was crossed
at Gilgal (Joshua 4:19), where the people were circumcised with knives
of flint, and where the Jews made their first encampment west of the
river. (Joshua 5:2-10.) "Jericho was straitly shut up because of the
children of Israel," but by faithful compliance with the word of the
Lord the walls fell down. (Joshua 6:1-27.) "And Joshua charged them with
an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah,
that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: with the loss of his
first-born shall he lay the foundation thereof, and with the loss of his
youngest son shall he set up the gates of it." Regardless of this curse,
we read that in the days of Ahab, who "did more to provoke Jehovah, the
God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before
him, * * * did Hiel the Beth-elite build Jericho: he laid the foundation
thereof with the loss of Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates
thereof with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word
of Jehovah, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun" (1 Kings 16:33,34).
"The Jericho * * * which was visited by Jesus occupied a still different
site," says Bro. McGarvey. The present Jericho is a small Arab village,
poorly built, with a few exceptions, and having nothing beautiful in or
around it but the large oleanders that grow in the ground made moist by
water from Elisha's Fountain. We had satisfactory accommodations at the
hotel, which is one of the few good houses there. Jericho in the time of
our Lord was the home of a rich publican named Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10),
and was an important and wealthy city, that had been fortified by Herod
the Great, who constructed splendid palaces here, and it was here that
"this infamous tyrant died." The original Jericho, the home of Rahab the
harlot, was called the "city of palm trees" (Deut. 34:3), but if the
modern representative of that ancient city has any of these trees, they
are few in number. Across the Jordan eastward are the mountains of Moab,
in one of which Moses died after having delivered his valedictory, as
recorded in Deuteronomy. (Deut. 34:1-12.) From a lofty peak the Lord
showed this great leader and law-giver a panorama of "all the land of
Gilead unto Dan. * * * And Jehovah said unto him, This is the land which
I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it
unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou
shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in
the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. And he buried him
in the valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man
knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."

Early Wednesday morning we began our toilsome journey back to Jerusalem,
having nearly four thousand feet to climb in the twenty miles
intervening. We stopped awhile at the Khan of the Good Samaritan, which
stands near some old ruins, and may not be far from the place to which
the Good Samaritan carried his poor, wounded fellow-man so long ago.
Here I bought some lamps that look old enough, but may be quite modern
imitations of the kind that were carried in the days of the wise and
foolish virgins. A stop was also made at the Apostles' Fountain, near
Bethany, where I saw an Arab working bread on his coat, which was spread
on the ground. Over by the Damascus gate I one day saw a man feeding his
camel on his coat, so these coarse cloth garments are very serviceable
indeed. We got back to Jerusalem in time to do a good deal of
sight-seeing in the afternoon.

The following Tuesday was occupied with a trip on "donkey-back" to Nebi
Samwil, Emmaus, Abu Ghosh, and Ain Kairim. Our party was small this
time, being composed of Mr. Jennings, Mr. Smith, the writer, and a
"donkey-boy" to care for the three animals we rode, when we dismounted
to make observations. He was liberal, and sometimes tried to tell us
which way to go. We went out on the north side of the city and came to
the extensive burial places called the "Tombs of the Judges." Near by is
an ancient wine press cut in the rock near a rock-hewn cistern, which
may have been used for storing the wine. En Nebi Samwil is on an
elevation a little more than three thousand feet above the sea and about
four hundred feet higher than Jerusalem, five miles distant. From the
top of the minaret we had a fine view through a field glass, seeing the
country for many miles around. This is thought by some to be the Mizpah
of the Bible (1 Kings 15:22), and tradition has it that the prophet
Samuel was buried here. A little north of Nebi Samwil is the site of
ancient Gibeon, where "Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before
the servants of David" (2 Samuel 2:12-17).

We next rode over to El Kubebeh, supposed by some to be the Emmaus of
New Testament times, where Jesus went after his resurrection and sat at
meat with his disciples without being recognized. (Luke 24:13-25.) The
place has little to attract one. A modern building, which I took to be
the residence of some wealthy person, occupies a prominent position, and
is surrounded by well-kept grounds, inclosed with a wall. The Franciscan
monastery is a good sized institution, having on its grounds the remains
of a church of the Crusaders' period, over which a new and attractive
building has been erected. One section of it has the most beautiful
floor of polished marble, laid in patterns, that I have ever seen. It
also contains a painting of the Savior and the two disciples.

We went outside of the monastery to eat our noon-day lunch, but before
we finished, one of the monks came and called us in to a meal at
their table. It was a good meal, for which no charge was made, and I
understand it is their custom to give free meals to visitors, for they
believe that Jesus here sat at meat with his two disciples. We enjoyed
their hospitality, but drank none of the wine that was placed before us.

Our next point was Abu Ghosh, named for an old village sheik who, "with
his six brothers and eighty-five descendants, was the terror of the
whole country" about a century ago. Our object in visiting the spot was
to see the old Crusaders' church, the best preserved one in Palestine.
The stone walls are perhaps seven or eight feet thick. The roof is still
preserved, and traces of the painting that originally adorned the walls
are yet to be seen. A new addition has been erected at one end, and the
old church may soon be put in repair.

The last place we visited before returning to Jerusalem was Ain Kairim,
a town occupied mainly by the Mohammedans, and said to have been the
home of that worthy couple of whom it was written: "They were both
righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
the Lord blameless" (Luke 1:6). The portion occupied by the Latins and
Greeks is very beautifully situated on the side of the mountain. The
stone houses, "whited walls," and green cypresses make quite a pretty
picture. The Church of St. John, according to tradition, stands on the
spot where once dwelt Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John, the
great forerunner of Jesus. Night came upon us before we got back to our
starting place, and as this was my first day of donkey riding, I was
very much fatigued when I finally dismounted in Jerusalem; yet I arose
the next morning feeling reasonably well, but not craving another donkey
ride over a rough country beneath the hot sun.

On Saturday, the twenty-second of October, I turned away from Jerusalem,
having been in and around the place almost two weeks, and went back to
Jaffa by rail. After a few miles the railway leads past Bittir, supposed
to be the Beth-arabah of Joshua 15:61. It is also of interest from the
fact that it played a part in the famous insurrection of Bar Cochba
against the Romans. In A.D. 135 it was captured by a Roman force after
a siege of three and a half years. Ramleh, a point twelve miles from
Jaffa, was once occupied by Napoleon. Lydda, supposed to be the Lod of
Ezra 2:33, was passed. Here Peter healed Aeneas, who had been palsied
eight years. (Acts 9:32-35.)

Jaffa is the Joppa of the Bible, and has a good deal of interesting
history. When "Jonah rose to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of
Jehovah," he "went down to Joppa and found a ship going unto Tarshish:
so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to
Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah." (Jonah 1:3.) His unpleasant
experience with the great fish is well known. When Solomon was about to
build the first temple, Hiram sent a communication to him, saying: "We
will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need; and will bring
it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa; and thou shalt carry it up to
Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 2:16). In the days of Ezra, when Zerubbabel
repaired the temple, we read that "they gave money also unto the masons,
and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, unto them of Sidon,
and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, unto
Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia"
(Ezra 3:7). It was the home of "a certain disciple named Tabitha," whom
Peter was called from Lydda to raise from the dead. (Acts 9:36-43.)
Simon the tanner also lived in Joppa, and it was at his house that Peter
had his impressive vision of the sheet let down from heaven prior to his
going to Caesarea to speak the word of salvation to Cornelius and his
friends. (Acts 10:1-6.)

The city is built on a rocky elevation rising one hundred feet above
the sea, which has no harbor here, so that vessels do not stop when the
water is too rough for passengers to be carried safely in small boats.
Extensive orange groves are cultivated around Jaffa, and lemons are also
grown, and I purchased six for a little more than a cent in American
money. Sesame, wine, wool, and soap are exported, and the imports are
considerable. The train reached the station about the middle of the day,
and the ship did not leave till night, so I had ample time to visit the
"house of Simon the tanner." It is "by the sea side" all right, but
looks too modern to be impressive to the traveler who does not accept
all that tradition says. I paid Cook's tourist agency the equivalent of
a dollar to take me through the custom house and out to the ship, and I
do not regret spending the money, although it was five times as much as
I had paid the native boatman for taking me ashore when I first came to
Jaffa. The sea was rough--very rough for me--and a little woman at my
side was shaking with nervousness, although she tried to be brave, and
her little boy took a firm hold on my clothing. I don't think that I was
scared, but I confess that I did not enjoy the motion of the boat as it
went sliding down from the crest of the waves, which were higher than
any I had previously ridden upon in a rowboat. As darkness had come, it
would have been a poor time to be upset, but we reached the vessel in
safety. When we came alongside the ship, a boatman on each side of the
passenger simply pitched or threw him up on the stairs when the rising
wave lifted the little boat to the highest point. It was easily done,
but it is an experience one need not care to repeat unnecessarily.

I was now through with my sight-seeing in the Holy Land and aboard the
Austrian ship _Maria Teresa_, which was to carry me to the land of the
ancient Pharaohs. Like Jonah, I had paid my fare, so I laid down to
sleep. There was a rain in the night, but no one proposed to throw me
overboard, and we reached Port Said, at the mouth of the Suez Canal, the
next day.




CHAPTER VII.

EGYPT, THE LAND OF TOMBS AND TEMPLES.


The _Maria Teresa_ landed me in Port Said, Egypt, Lord's day, October
twenty-third, and at seven o'clock that evening I took the train for
Cairo, arriving there about four hours later. I had no difficulty in
finding a hotel, where I took some rest, but was out very early the next
morning to see something of the largest city in Africa. The population
is a great mixture of French, Greeks, English, Austrians, Germans,
Egyptians, Arabians, Copts, Berbers, Turks, Jews, Negroes, Syrians,
Persians, and others. In Smyrna, Damascus, and Jerusalem, cities of the
Turkish empire, the streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty, but here
are many fine buildings, electric lights, electric cars, and good, wide
streets, over which vehicles with rubber tires roll noiselessly.

I first went out to the Mokattam Heights, lying back of the city, at an
elevation of six hundred and fifty feet. From the summit an extensive
view can be obtained, embracing not only the city of Cairo, with its
many mosques and minarets, but the river beyond, and still farther
beyond the Gizeh (Gezer) group of the pyramids. The side of the Heights
toward the city is a vast quarry, from which large quantities of rock
have been taken. An old fort and a mosque stand in solitude on the top.
I went out by the citadel and passed the mosque tombs of the Mamelukes,
who were originally brought into the country from the Caucasus as
slaves, but they became sufficiently powerful to make one of their
number Sultan in 1254. The tombs of the Caliphs, successors of Mohammed
in temporal and spiritual power, are not far from the Heights.

As I was returning to the city, a laborer followed me a little distance,
and indicated that he wanted my name written on a piece of paper he was
carrying. I accommodated him, but do not know for what purpose he wanted
it. I stopped at the Alabaster Mosque, built after the fashion of one of
the mosques of Constantinople, and decorated with alabaster. The outside
is full of little depressions, and has no special beauty, but the inside
is more attractive. The entrance is through a large court, paved with
squares of white marble. The floor of the mosque was nicely covered with
carpet, and the walls are coated for a few feet with alabaster, and
above that they are painted in imitation of the same material. The
numerous lamps do much towards making the place attractive. The
attendant said the central chandelier, fitted for three hundred and
sixty-six candles, was a present from Louis Philippe, of France. A clock
is also shown that came from the same source. The pulpit is a platform
at the head of a stairway, and the place for reading the Koran is a
small platform three or four feet high, also ascended by steps. Within
an inclosure in one corner of the building is the tomb of Mohammed Ali,
which, I was told, was visited by the Khedive the day before I was
there.

The most interesting part of the day was the afternoon trip to the nine
pyramids of the Gizeh group. They may be reached by a drive over the
excellent carriage road that leads out to them, or by taking one of the
electric cars that run along by this road. Three of the pyramids are
large and the others are small, but one, the pyramid of Cheops, is built
on such magnificent proportions that it is called "the great pyramid."
According to Baedeker, "the length of each side is now seven hundred and
fifty feet, but was formerly about seven hundred and sixty-eight feet;
the present perpendicular height is four hundred and fifty-one feet,
while originally, including the nucleus of the rock at the bottom and
the apex, which has now disappeared, it is said to have been four
hundred and eighty-two feet. * * * In round numbers, the stupendous
structure covers an area of nearly thirteen acres."

It is estimated that two million three hundred thousand blocks of stone,
each containing forty cubic feet, were required for building this
ancient and wonderful monument, upon which a hundred thousand men are
said to have been employed for twenty years. Nearly all of the material
was brought across from the east side of the Nile, but the granite that
entered into its construction was brought down from Syene, near Assouan,
five hundred miles distant. Two chambers are shown to visitors, one of
them containing an empty stone coffin. The passageway leading to these
chambers is not easily traversed, as it runs at an angle like a stairway
with no steps, for the old footholds have become so nearly worn out that
the tourist might slip and slide to the bottom were it not for his
Arab helpers. A fee of one dollar secures the right to walk about the
grounds, ascend the pyramid, and go down inside of it. Three Arabs go
with the ticket, and two of them are really needed. Those who went
with me performed their work in a satisfactory manner, and while not
permitted to ask for "backshish," they let me know that they would
accept anything I might have for them. The ascent was rather difficult,
as some of the stones are more than a yard high. It is estimated that
this mighty monument, which Abraham may have looked upon, contains
enough stone to build a wall around the frontier of France. Of the Seven
Wonders of the World, the Pyramid of Cheops alone remains. The other
attractions here are the Granite Temple, and some tombs, from one of
which a jackal ran away as we were approaching. I got back to Cairo
after dark, and took the eight o'clock train for Assouan.

This place is about seven hundred miles from Port Said by rail, and is
a good sized town. The main street, fronting the river, presents
a pleasing appearance with its hotels, Cook's tourist office, the
postoffice, and other buildings. Gas and electricity are used for
lighting, and the dust in the streets is laid by a real street
sprinkler, and not by throwing the water on from a leathern bag, as I
saw it in Damascus. The Cataract Hotel is a large place for tourists,
with a capacity of three hundred and fifty people. The Savoy Hotel is
beautifully located on Elephantine Island, in front of the town. To
the south of the town lie the ancient granite quarries of Syene, which
furnished the Egyptian workmen building material so long ago, and still
lack a great deal of being exhausted. I saw an obelisk lying here which
is said to be ninety-two feet long and ten and a half feet wide in the
broadest part, but both ends of it were covered. In this section there
is an English cemetery inclosed by a wall, and several tombs of the
natives, those of the sheiks being prominent.

Farther to the south is a great modern work, the Nile dam, a mile and a
quarter long, and built of solid masonry. In the deepest place it is one
hundred feet high, and the thickness at the bottom is eighty-eight feet.
It was begun in 1899, and at one time upwards of ten thousand men were
employed on the works. It seemed to be finished when I was there, but a
few workmen were still engaged about the place. The total cost has been
estimated at a sum probably exceeding ten millions of dollars. There are
one hundred and eighty sluices to regulate the out-flow of the water,
which is collected to a height of sixty-five feet during the inundation
of the Nile. The dam would have been made higher, but by so doing Philae
Island, a short distance up the river, would have been submerged.

The remains on this island are so well preserved that it is almost a
misnomer to call them ruins. The little island is only five hundred
yards long and sixty yards wide, and contains the Temple of Isis, Temple
of Hathor, a kiosk or pavilion, two colonnades, and a small Nilometer.
In the gateway to one of the temples is a French inscription concerning
Napoleon's campaign in Egypt in 1799. All the buildings are of stone,
and the outside walls are covered with figures and inscriptions. Some of
the figures are just cut in the rough, never having been finished. Here,
as elsewhere in Egypt, very delicate carvings are preserved almost as
distinct as though done but recently. The guard on the island was not
going to let me see the ruins because I held no ticket. After a little
delay, a small boat, carrying some diplomatic officers, came up. These
gentlemen, one of whom was a Russian, I think, tried to get the guard to
let me see the place with them, but he hesitated, and required them to
give him a paper stating that I was there with them. Later, when I got
to the place where the tickets were sold, I learned that Philae Island
was open for visitors without a ticket. Perhaps the guard thought he
would get some "backshish" from me.

I made an interesting visit to the Bisharin village, just outside of
Assouan, and near the railroad. The inhabitants are very dark-skinned,
and live in booths or tents, covered with something like straw matting.
I stopped at one of the lodges, which was probably six feet wide and
eight feet long, and high enough to enable the occupants to sit erect on
the floor. An old man, naked from the waist up, was sitting outside. A
young woman was operating a small hand mill, and one or two other women
were sitting there on the ground. They showed me some long strings of
beads, and I made a purchase at a low price. While at this lodge, for I
can not call it a house, and it is not altogether like a tent, about
a dozen of the native children gathered around me, and one, who could
speak some English, endeavored to draw out part of my cash by repeating
this speech: "Half a piaster, Mister; thank you very much." The girls
had their hair in small plaits, which seemed to be well waxed together.
One of the boys, about ten years of age, clothed in a peculiar manner,
was finely formed, and made a favorable impression on my mind. I would
like to see what could be made of him if he were taken entirely away
from his unfavorable surroundings and brought up with the care and
attention that many American boys receive. He and another lad went with
me to see the obelisk in the granite quarry, and I tried to teach them
to say: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." As I
was repeating the first word of the sentence and trying to induce one of
them to follow me, he said, "No blessed," and I failed to get either of
them to say these beautiful words. In Egypt and other countries there
are millions of persons just as ignorant of the gospel and just as much
in need of it as the curly-headed Bisharin lad who conducted me to the
granite quarry.

I took a pleasant boat ride across the river, past the beautiful grounds
of the Savoy Hotel, to the rock tombs of the great persons of ancient
Elephantine. I tarried a little too long at the tombs, or else did not
start soon enough, for darkness came upon us soon after leaving them.
For some distance the boatman walked on the shore and towed the boat
with a long rope, while I tried to keep it off of the rocks with the
rudder. There was not enough wind to make the sail useful, and as we
were passing around the end of Elephantine Island we drifted against
the rocks, but with no other loss than the loss of some time. It was my
desire to see the Nilometer on the island, and I did see it, but not
until after I had sent the boatman to buy a candle. This ancient
water-gauge was repaired in 1870, after a thousand years of neglect.
The following description by Strabo is taken from Baedeker's _Guide to
Egypt_: "The Nilometer is a well, built of regular hewn stones, on the
bank of the Nile, in which is recorded the rise of the stream--not only
the maximum, but also the minimum, and average rise, for the water in
the well rises and falls with the stream. On the side of the well are
marks measuring the height for the irrigation and other water levels.
These are published for general information. * * * This is of importance
to the peasants for the management of the water, the embankments, the
canals, etc., and to the officials on account of the taxes, for the
higher the rise of the water, the higher the taxes." It needs to be
said, however, that this "well" is not circular, but rectangular, and
has a flight of steps leading down to the water.

On the way back to Cairo I stopped at Luxor, on the site of the ancient
city of Thebes. The chief attraction here is the Temple of Luxor, six
hundred and twenty-one feet long and one hundred and eighty feet wide.
In recent times this temple was entirely buried, and a man told me he
owned a house on the spot which he sold to the government for about four
hundred and fifty dollars, not knowing of the existence of a temple
buried beneath his dwelling. Some of the original statues of Rameses II.
remain in front of the ruins. I measured the right arm of one of these
figures, from the pit where it touches the side to the same point in
front, a distance of about six feet, and that does not represent the
entire circumference, for the granite between the arm and the body was
never entirely cut away. Near by stands a large red granite obelisk,
with carvings from top to bottom. A companion to this one, for they were
always erected in pairs, has been removed. In ancient times a paved
street led from this temple to Karnak, which is reached by a short walk.
This ancient street was adorned by a row of ram-headed sphinxes on each
side. Toward Karnak many of them are yet to be seen in a badly mutilated
condition, but there is another avenue containing forty of these figures
in a good state of preservation.

The first of the Karnak temples reached is one dedicated to the Theban
moon god, Khons, reared by Rameses III. The Temple of Ammon, called "the
throne of the world," lies a little beyond. I spent half a day on the
west side of the river in what was the burial ground of ancient Thebes,
where also numerous temples were erected. My first stop was before the
ruins of Kurna. The Temple of Sethos I. originally had ten columns
before it, but one is now out of place. The Temple Der el Bahri bore an
English name, signifying "most splendid of all," and it may not have
been misnamed. It is situated at the base of a lofty barren cliff of a
yellowish cast, and has been partially restored.

In 1881 a French explorer discovered the mummies of several Egyptian
rulers in an inner chamber of this temple, that had probably been
removed to this place for security from robbers. In the number were the
remains of Rameses II., who was probably reigning in the boyhood days of
Moses, and the mummy of Set II., perhaps the Pharaoh of the Oppression,
and I saw both of them in the museum in Cairo.

The Ramasseum is another large temple, built by Rameses II., who is
said to have had sixty-nine sons and seventy daughters. There are also
extensive remains of another temple called Medinet Habu. About a half a
mile away from this ruin are the two colossal statues of Memnon,
which were surrounded by water, so I could not get close to them. The
following dimensions of one of them are given: "Height of the figure,
fifty-two feet; height of the pedestal on which the feet rest, thirteen
feet; height of the entire monument, sixty-five feet. But when the
figure was adorned with the long-since vanished crown, the original
height may have reached sixty-nine feet. * * * Each foot is ten and
one-half feet long. * * * The middle finger on one hand is four and a
half feet long, and the arm from the tip of the finger to the elbow
measures fifteen and one-half feet."

All about these temples are indications of ancient graves, from which
the Arabs have dug the mummies. As I rode out, a boy wanted to sell me a
mummy hand, and another had the mummy of a bird. They may both have been
counterfeits made especially for unsuspecting tourists. There are also
extensive rock-cut tombs of the ancient kings and queens, which are
lighted by electricity in the tourist season. I did not visit them on
account of the high price of admission. The government has very properly
taken charge of the antiquities, and a ticket is issued for six dollars
that admits to all these ruins in Upper Egypt. Tickets for any one
particular place were not sold last season, but tourists were allowed to
visit all places not inclosed without a ticket.

While in Luxor I visited the American Mission Boarding School for Girls,
conducted by Miss Buchanan, who was assisted by a Miss Gibson and five
native teachers. A new building, with a capacity for four hundred
boarders, was being erected at a cost of about thirty-five thousand
dollars. This would be the finest building for girls in Egypt when
finished, I was told, and most of the money for it had been given by
tourists. I spent a night in Luxor, staying in the home of Youssef Saïd,
a native connected with the mission work. His uncle, who could not speak
English, expressed himself as being glad to have "a preacher of Jesus
Christ" to stay in his house.

Leaving Luxor, I returned to Cairo for some more sight-seeing, and I had
a very interesting time of it. In Gen. 41:45 we read: "Pharaoh called
Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah; and gave him to wife Asenath, the
daughter of Potipherah, priest of On." Heliopolis, meaning city of the
sun, is another name for this place, from whence the wife of Joseph
came. It is only a few miles from Cairo, and easily reached by railway.
All that I saw of the old city was a lonely obelisk, "probably the
oldest one in the world," standing in a cultivated field and surrounded
by the growing crop. It is sixty-six feet high, six feet square at the
base, and is well preserved.

The Ezbekiah Gardens are situated in the best portion of Cairo. This
beautiful park contains quite a variety of trees, including the banyan,
and is a resort of many of the people. Band concerts are held, and a
small entrance fee is taken at the gate.

On the thirtieth of the month I visited the Museum, which has been
moved to the city and installed in its own commodious and substantial
building. This vast collection of relics of this wonderful old country
affords great opportunities for study. I spent a good deal of time there
seeing the coffins of wood, white limestone, red granite, and alabaster;
sacrificial tables, mummies, ancient paintings, weights and measures,
bronze lamps, necklaces, stone and alabaster jars, bronze hinges,
articles of pottery, and many other things. It is remarkable how some
of the embalmed bodies, thousands of years old, are preserved. I looked
down upon the Pharaoh who is supposed to have oppressed Israel. The body
is well preserved, but it brought thoughts to me of the smallness of the
fleshly side of man. He who once ruled in royal splendor now lies there
in very humble silence. In some cases the cloths wrapped around these
mummies are preserved almost perfectly, and I remember a gilt mask that
was so bright that one might have taken it for a modern product. After
the body was securely wrapped, a picture was sometimes painted over the
face, and now, after the lapse of centuries, some of these are very
clear and distinct. I saw a collection of scarabaei, or beetles, which
were anciently worshiped in this country. Dealers offer figures of this
kind for sale, but the most of them are probably manufactured for the
tourist trade.

On Lord's day, October thirtieth, I attended the evening services at the
American Mission, and went to Bedrashen the following day. This is the
nearest railway station to Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt, now an
irregular pile of ruined mud bricks. I secured a donkey, and a boy to
care for it and tell me where to go. We soon passed the dilapidated
ruins of the old capital. Two prostrate statues of great size were seen
on the way to the Step Pyramid of Sakkara, which is peculiar in that it
is built with great offsets or steps, still plainly visible, although
large quantities of the rock have crumbled and fallen down. The
Department of Antiquities has posted a notice in French, Arabic and
English, to the effect that it is dangerous to make the ascent, and that
the government will not be responsible for accidents to tourists who
undertake it. I soon reached the top without any special difficulty,
and with no more danger, so far as I could see, than one experiences
in climbing a steep hill strewn with rocks. I entered another pyramid,
which has a stone in one side of it twenty-five feet long and about five
and a half feet high. Some more tombs were visited, and the delicate
carving on the inner walls was observed. In one instance a harvest scene
was represented, in another the fish in a net could be discerned. The
Serapeum is an underground burial place for the sacred bull, discovered
by Mariette in 1850, after having been buried since about 1400 B.C. In
those times the bull was an object of worship in Egypt, and when one
died, he was carefully embalmed and put in a stone coffin in one of the
chambers of the Serapeum. Some of these coffins are twelve feet high and
fifteen feet long.

Before leaving Cairo, I went into the famous Shepheard's Hotel, where I
received some information about the place from the manager, who looked
like a well-salaried city pastor. The Grand Continental presents a
better appearance on the outside, but I do not believe it equals
Shepheard's on the inside. I was now ready to turn towards home, so I
dropped down to Port Said again, where there is little of interest to
the tourist except the ever-changing panorama of ships in the mouth of
the Suez Canal, and the study of the social condition of the people. My
delay in the city while waiting for a ship gave me a good deal of
time for writing and visiting the missionaries. The Seamen's Rest is
conducted by Mr. Locke, who goes out in the harbor and gathers up
sailors in his steam launch, and carries them back to their vessels
after the service. One night, after speaking in one of these meetings, I
rode out with him. The American Mission conducts a school for boys, and
Feltus Hanna, the native superintendent, kindly showed me around. The
Peniel Mission is conducted by two American ladies. The British and
Foreign Bible Society has a depot here, and keeps three men at work
visiting ships in the harbor all the time. I attended the services
in the chapel of the Church of England one morning. With all these
religious forces the city is very wicked. The street in which my hotel
was located was largely given up to drinking and harlotry.

On the ninth of November the French ship _Congo_ stopped in the harbor,
and I went down late in the evening to embark, but the authorities would
not permit me to go aboard, because I had not been examined by the
medical officer, who felt my pulse and signed a paper that was never
called for, and I went aboard all right. The ship stopped at Alexandria,
and I went around in the city, seeing nothing of equal interest to
Pompey's Pillar, a monument standing ninety-eight feet and nine inches
high. The main shaft is seventy-three feet high and nearly thirty feet
in circumference. We reached Marseilles in the evening of November
sixteenth, after experiencing some weather rough enough to make me
uncomfortable, and several of the others were really seasick. I had
several hours in Paris, which was reached early the next day, and the
United States consulate and the Louvre, the national museum of France,
were visited. From Paris I went to London by way of Dieppe and New
Haven. I left summer weather in Egypt, and found that winter was on hand
in France and England. London was shrouded in a fog. I went back to my
friends at Twynholm, and made three addresses on Lord's day, and spoke
again on Monday night. I sailed from Liverpool for New York on the _SS.
Cedric_ November twenty-third. We were in the harbor at Queenstown,
Ireland, the next day, and came ashore at the New York custom house on
the second of December. The _Cedric_ was then the second largest ship in
the world, being seven hundred feet long and seventy-five feet broad.
She carries a crew of three hundred and forty, and has a capacity for
over three thousand passengers. On this trip she carried one thousand
three hundred and thirty-six, and the following twenty classes of people
were represented: Americans, English, French, German, Danes, Norwegians,
Roumanians, Spanish, Arabs, Japanese, Negroes, Greeks, Russian Jews,
Fins, Swedes, Austrians, Armenians, Poles, Irish, and Scotch. A great
stream of immigrants is continually pouring into the country at this
point. Twelve thousand were reported as arriving in one day, and a
recent paper contains a note to the effect that the number arriving in
June will exceed eighty thousand, as against fifty thousand in June
of last year. "The character of the immigrants seems to grow steadily
worse."

My traveling companion from Port Said to Marseilles and from Liverpool
to New York was Solomon Elia, who had kindly shown me through the
Israelite Alliance School in Jerusalem. I reached Philadelphia the same
day the ship landed in New York, but was detained there with brethren
on account of a case of quinsy. I reached home on the fourteenth of
December, after an absence of five months and three days, in which
time I had seen something of fourteen foreign countries, having a very
enjoyable and profitable trip.




CHAPTER VIII.

GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.


This section of country has been known by several names. It has been
called the "Land of Canaan," the "Land of Israel," the "Land of
Promise," the "Land of the Hebrews," and the "Holy Land." Canaan was
simply the country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, extending
from Mt. Lebanon on the north to the Desert of Arabia on the south. Dan
was in the extreme northern part, and Beer-sheba lay in the southern end
of the country, one hundred and thirty-nine miles distant. The average
width of the land is about forty miles, and the total area is in the
neighborhood of six thousand miles. "It is not in size or physical
characteristics proportioned to its moral and historical position as the
theater of the most momentous events in the world's history." Palestine,
the land occupied by the twelve tribes, included the Land of Canaan and
a section of country east of the Jordan one hundred miles long and about
twenty-five miles wide, occupied by Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of
Manasseh. The Land of Promise was still more extensive, reaching
from "the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates,"
embracing about sixty thousand square miles, or a little less than
the five New England States. The country is easily divided into four
parallel strips. Beginning at the Mediterranean, we have the Maritime
Plain, the Mountain Region, the Jordan Valley, and the Eastern
Table-Land.

The long stretch of lowland known as the Maritime Plain is divided
into three sections. The portion lying north of Mt. Carmel was called
Phoenicia. It varies in width from half a mile in the north to eight
miles in the south. The ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon belonged to
this section. Directly east of Mt. Carmel is the Plain of Esdraelon,
physically a part of the Maritime Plain. It is an irregular triangle,
whose sides are fourteen, sixteen, and twenty-five miles respectively,
the longest side being next to Mt. Carmel. Here Barak defeated the army
of Sisera under Jabin, and here Josiah, king of Judah, was killed in a
battle with the Egyptians under Pharaoh-necoh.

The Plains of Sharon and Philistia, lying south of Carmel, are usually
regarded as the true Maritime Plain. Sharon extends southward from
Carmel about fifty miles, reaching a little below Jaffa, and has an
average width of eight miles. The Zerka, or Crocodile river, which
traverses this plain, is the largest stream of Palestine west of the
Jordan. There are several other streams crossing the plain from the
mountains to the sea, but they usually cease to flow in the summer
season. Joppa, Lydda, Ramleh, and Caesarea belong to this plain. Herod
the Great built Caesarea, and spent large sums of money on its palace,
temple, theater, and breakwater.

The Plain of Philistia extends thirty or forty miles from the southern
limits of Sharon to Gaza, varying in width from twelve to twenty-five
miles. It is well watered by several streams, some of which flow all the
year. Part of the water from the mountains flows under the ground and
rises in shallow lakes near the coast. Water can easily be found here,
as also in Sharon, by digging wells, and the soil is suitable for the
culture of small grains and for pasture. During a part of the year the
plain is beautifully ornamented with a rich growth of brightly colored
flowers, a characteristic of Palestine in the wet season.

Gaza figures in the history of Samson, who "laid hold of the doors of
the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and
all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the
mountain that is before Hebron." Ashkelon, on the coast, is connected
with the history of the Crusades. Ashdod, or Azotus, is where Philip was
found after the baptism of the eunuch. It is said that Psammetichus,
an ancient Egyptian king, captured this place after a siege of
twenty-seven years. Ekron and Gath also belonged to this plain.

The ridge of mountains lying between the coast plain and the Jordan
valley form the backbone of the country. Here, more than elsewhere,
the Israelites made their homes, on account of the hostility of the
inhabitants in the lowlands. This ridge is a continuation of the Lebanon
range, and extends as far south as the desert. In Upper Galilee the
mountains reach an average height of two thousand eight hundred feet
above sea level, but in Lower Galilee they are a thousand feet lower. In
Samaria and Judaea they reach an altitude of two or three thousand feet.
The foot-hills, called the Shefelah, and the Negeb, or "South Country,"
complete the ridge. The highest peak is Jebel Mukhmeel, in Northern
Palestine, rising ten thousand two hundred feet above the sea. Mt.
Tabor, in Galilee, is one thousand eight hundred and forty-three feet
high, while Gerizim and Ebal, down in Samaria, are two thousand eight
hundred and fifty feet and three thousand and seventy-five feet
respectively. The principal mountains in Judaea are Mt. Zion, two
thousand five hundred and fifty feet; Mt. Moriah, about one hundred feet
lower; Mount of Olives, two thousand six hundred and sixty-five feet,
and Mt. Hebron, three thousand and thirty feet. Nazareth, Shechem,
Jerusalem, and Hebron belong to the Mountain Region.

The Jordan Valley is the lowest portion of the earth's surface. No other
depressions are more than three hundred feet below sea level, but the
Jordan is six hundred and eighty-two feet lower than the ocean at the
Sea of Galilee, and nearly thirteen hundred feet lower where it enters
the Dead Sea. This wonderful depression, which includes the Dead Sea,
forty-five miles long, and the valley south of it, one hundred miles in
length, is two hundred and fifty miles long and from four to fourteen
miles in width, and is called the Arabah. The sources of the Jordan
are one hundred and thirty-four miles from the mouth, but the numerous
windings of the stream make it two hundred miles long. The Jordan
is formed by the union of three streams issuing from springs at an
elevation of seventeen hundred feet above the sea. The principal source
is the spring at Dan, one of the largest in the world, as it sends forth
a stream twenty feet wide and from twenty to thirty inches deep. The
spring at Banias, the Caesarea Philippi of the Scriptures, is the
eastern source. The Hashbany flows from a spring forming the western
source. A few miles south of the union of the streams above mentioned
the river widens into the waters of Merom, a small lake nearly on a
level with the Mediterranean. In the next few miles it descends rapidly,
and empties into the Sea of Galilee, called also the Sea of Chinnereth,
Sea of Tiberias, and Lake of Gennesaret. In the sixty-five miles from
the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea the fall is about six hundred feet.
The rate of descent is not uniform throughout the whole course of the
river. In one section it drops sixty feet to the mile, while there is
one stretch of thirteen miles with a descent of only four and a half
feet to the mile. The average is twenty-two feet to the mile. The width
varies from eighty to one hundred and eighty feet, and the depth from
five to twelve feet. Caesarea Philippi, at the head of the valley,
Capernaum, Magdala, Tiberias, and Tarrichaea were cities on the Sea of
Galilee. Jericho and Gilgal were in the plain at the southern extremity,
and Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, upon which the wrath of God was
poured, were somewhere in the region of the Dead Sea.

The Eastern Table-Land has a mountain wall four thousand feet high
facing the river. This table-land, which is mostly fertile, extends
eastward about twenty miles, and terminates in the Arabian Desert, which
is still higher. Here the mountains are higher and steeper than those
west of the Jordan. Mt. Hermon, in the north, is nine thousand two
hundred feet high. South of the Jarmuk River is Mt. Gilead, three
thousand feet high, and Mt. Nebo, lying east of the northern end of the
Dead Sea, reaches an elevation of two thousand six hundred and seventy
feet. Besides the Jarmuk, another stream, the Jabbok, flows into the
Jordan from this side. The Arnon empties into the Dead Sea. The northern
section was called Bashan, the middle, Gilead, and the southern part,
Moab. Bashan anciently had many cities, and numerous ruins yet remain.
In the campaign of Israel against Og, king of Bashan, sixty cities
were captured. Many events occurred in Gilead, where were situated
Jabesh-Gilead, Ramoth-Gilead, and the ten cities of the Decapolis, with
the exception of Beth-shean, which was west of the Jordan. From the
summit of Mt. Pisgah, a peak of Mt. Nebo, Moses viewed the Land
of Promise, and from these same heights Balaam looked down on the
Israelites and undertook to curse them, Moab lies south of the Arnon
and east of the Dead Sea. In the time of a famine, an Israelite, named
Elimelech, with his wife and sons, sojourned in this land. After the
death of Elimelech and both of his sons, who had married in the land,
Naomi returned to Bethlehem, accompanied by her daughter-in-law, Ruth,
the Moabitess, who came into the line of ancestry of David and of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Once, when the kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom
invaded the land, the king of Moab (when they came to Kir-hareseth,
the capital) took his oldest son, who would have succeeded him on the
throne, "and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall." At this
the invaders "departed from him and returned to their own land."

The political geography of Palestine is so complicated that it can not
be handled in the space here available. Only a few words, applicable
to the country in New Testament times, can be said. The provinces of
Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea were on the west side of the Jordan, while
the Decapolis and Perea lay east of that river. The northern province
of Galilee, which saw most of the ministry of Jesus, extended from the
Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee, and a much greater distance from
the north to the south. It was peopled with Jews, and was probably a
much better country than is generally supposed, as it contained a large
number of cities and villages, and produced fish, oil, wheat, wine,
figs, and flax. "It was in Christ's time one of the gardens of the
world--well watered, exceedingly fertile, thoroughly cultivated, and
covered with a dense population."--_Merrill_.

Samaria, lying south of Galilee, extended from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan, and was occupied by a mixed race, formed by the mingling of Jews
with the foreigners who had been sent into the land. When they were
disfellowshiped by the Jews, about 460 B.C., they built a temple on Mt.
Gerizim.

The province of Judaea was the largest in Palestine, and extended from
the Mediterranean on the west to the Dead Sea and the Jordan on the
east. It was bounded on the north by Samaria, and on the south by the
desert. Although but fifty-five miles long and about thirty miles wide,
it held out against Egypt, Babylonia, and Rome.

The Decapolis, or region of ten Gentile cities, was the northeastern
part of Palestine, extending eastward from the Jordan to the desert.
Perea lay south of the Decapolis, and east of the Jordan and Dead Sea.
The kingdom of Herod the Great, whose reign ended B.C. 4, included
all of this territory. After his death the country was divided into
tetrarchies. Archelaus ruled over Judaea and Samaria; Antipas ("Herod
the tetrarch") had control of Galilee and Perea; Philip had a section of
country east of the Sea of Galilee, and Lysanius ruled over Abilene, a
small section of country between Mt. Hermon and Damascus, not included
in the domain of Herod the Great. Herod Agrippa was made king by
Caligula, and his territory embraced all that his grandfather, Herod the
Great, had ruled over, with Abilene added, making his territory more
extensive than that of any Jewish king after Solomon. He is the "Herod
the king" who killed the Apostle James and imprisoned Peter. After
delivering an oration at Caesarea, he died a horrible death, "because
he gave not God the glory." At his death, in A.D. 44, the country was
divided into two provinces. The northern section was ruled by Herod
Agrippa II. till the Jewish State was dissolved, in A.D. 70. He was the
"King Agrippa" before whom Paul spoke. The southern part of the country,
called the province of Judaea, was ruled by procurators having their
seat at Caesarea. When Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the country
was annexed to Syria.

The climate depends more upon local conditions than on the latitude,
which is the same as Southern Georgia and Alabama, Jerusalem being on
the parallel of Savannah. In point of temperature it is about the same
as these localities, but in other respects it differs much. The year has
two seasons--the dry, lasting from the first of April to the first of
November, and the rainy season, lasting the other five months, during
which time there are copious rains. One authority says: "Were the old
cisterns cleaned and mended, and the beautiful tanks and aqueducts
repaired, the ordinary fall of rain would be quite sufficient for the
wants of the inhabitants and for irrigation." The summers are hot, the
winters mild. Snow sometimes falls, but does not last long, and ice is
seldom formed.

Palestine is not a timbered country. The commonest oak is a low, scrubby
bush. The "cedars of Lebanon" have almost disappeared. The carob
tree, white poplar, a thorn bush, and the oleander are found in some
localities. The principal fruit-bearing trees are the fig, olive, date
palm, pomegranate, orange, and lemon. Grapes, apples, apricots, quinces,
and other fruits also grow here. Wheat, barley, and a kind of corn are
raised, also tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons, and tobacco. The ground
is poorly cultivated with inferior tools, and the grain is tramped out
with cattle, as in the long ago.

Sheep and goats are the most numerous domestic animals, a peculiarity of
the sheep being the extra large "fat tail" (Lev. 3:9), a lump of pure
fat from ten to fifteen inches long and from three to five inches thick.
Cattle, camels, horses, mules, asses, dogs and chickens are kept.




CHAPTER IX.

HISTORIC SKETCH OF PALESTINE.


In the ancient Babylonian city called Ur of the Chaldees lived the
patriarch Terah, who was the father of three sons, Abram, Nahor, and
Haran. Lot was the son of Haran, who died in Ur. Terah, accompanied by
Abram, Sarai, and Lot, started for "the land of Canaan," but they "came
unto Haran and dwelt there," "and Terah died in Haran." "Now Jehovah
said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and
from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will
make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name
great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee,
and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the
families of the earth be blessed." So Abram, Sarai, and Lot came into
the land of Canaan about 2300 B.C., and dwelt first at Shechem, but "he
removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west and Ai on the east." Abram did not
remain here, but journeyed to the south, and when a famine came, he
entered Egypt. Afterwards he returned to the southern part of Canaan,
and still later he returned "unto the place where his tent had been at
the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. * * * And Lot also, who went with
Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents." On account of some discord
between the herdsmen of the two parties, "Abram said unto Lot, Let there
be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my
herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren." Accepting his uncle's
proposition, Lot chose the well watered Plain of the Jordan, "journeyed
east," "and moved his tent as far as Sodom," but "Abram moved his tent,
and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron."

Some time after this Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, entered the region
occupied by Lot, and overcame the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah,
Zeboiim, and Bela, carrying away the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah,
"and they took Lot * * * and his goods." "And there came one that had
escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew," who "led forth his trained men,
born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as
Dan." As a result of this hasty pursuit, Abram "brought back all the
goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the
women also, and the people." "The king of Sodom went out to meet" Abram
after his great victory, and offered him the goods for his services,
but the offer was refused. Abram was also met by "Melchizedek, king of
Salem," who "brought forth bread and wine," and "blessed him." Before
his death, the first Hebrew saw the smoke from Sodom and Gomorrah going
up "as the smoke of a furnace," and he also passed through the severe
trial of sacrificing his son Isaac. At the age of one hundred and
seventy-five "the father of the faithful" "gave up the ghost, and died
in a good old age, an old man and full of years, * * * and Isaac and
Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah," at Hebron, where
Sarah had been laid to rest when the toils and cares of life were over.

From Abraham, through Ishmael, descended the Ishmaelites; through
Midian, the Midianites; and through Isaac, the chosen people, called
Israelites, from Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. The
interesting story of Joseph tells how his father and brothers, with
their families, were brought into Egypt at the time of a famine, where
they grew from a few families to a great nation, capable of maintaining
an army of more than six hundred thousand men. A new king, "who knew
not Joseph," came on the throne, and after a period of oppression, the
exodus took place, about 1490 B.C., the leader being Moses, a man eighty
years of age. At his death, after forty years of wandering in the
wilderness, Joshua became the leader of Israel, and they crossed the
Jordan at Gilgal, a few miles north of the Dead Sea, capturing Jericho
in a peculiar manner. Two other incidents in the life of Joshua may
be mentioned here. One was his victory over the Amorites in the
neighborhood of Gibeon and Beth-horon, where more were slain by the
hailstones which Jehovah cast down upon them than were killed by Israel
with the sword. It was on this occasion that Joshua said: "Sun, stand
thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon. And
the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged
themselves of their enemies. * * * And there was no day like that before
or after it." The other event is the complete victory of Israel over the
immense army of Jabin, king of Hazor, fought at the Waters of Merom, in
Galilee. The combined forces of Jabin and several confederate kings,
"even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses
and chariots very many," were utterly destroyed. Then came the allotment
of the territory west of the Jordan to the nine and a half tribes, as
Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh had been assigned land east
of the river. The allotment was made by Joshua, Eleazer, the priest,
"and the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of
Israel."

The period of the Judges, extending from Joshua to Saul, over three
hundred years, was a time in which Israel was troubled by several
heathen tribes, including the Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites,
Amalekites, and Canaanites. The most troublesome of all were the
Philistines, who "were repulsed by Shamgar and harassed by Samson," but
they continued their hostility, capturing the Ark of the Covenant in the
days of Eli, and finally bringing Israel so completely under their power
that they had to go to the Philistines to sharpen their tools.

The cry was raised: "Make us a king to judge us, like all the nations."
Although this was contrary to the will of God, and amounted to rejecting
the Lord, the Almighty gave directions for making Saul king, when the
rebellious Israelites "refused to hearken to the voice of Samuel," and
said: "Nay, but we will have a king over us." Two important events in
Saul's reign are the battle of Michmash and the war with Amalek. In the
first instance a great host of Philistines were encamped at Michmash,
and Saul, with his army, was at Gilgal. Samuel was to come and offer a
sacrifice, but did not arrive at the appointed time, and the soldiers
deserted, till Saul's force numbered only about six hundred. In his
strait, the king offered the burnt offering himself, and immediately
Samuel appeared, heard his explanation, and declared: "Thou hast done
foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of Jehovah thy God. * *
* Now thy kingdom shall not continue." Saul's loyalty to God was again
tested in the affair with Amalek, and his disobedience in sparing Agag
and the best of the cattle and sheep should be better known and more
heeded than it is. Concerning this, the prophet of God chastised him,
saying: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and
stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou hast rejected the
word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king." The dark
picture of Saul's doings is here and there relieved by the unadulterated
love of Jonathan and David, "which, like the glintings of the diamond in
the night," takes away some of the deepest shadows.

The next king, Jesse's ruddy-faced shepherd boy, was anointed by Samuel
at Bethlehem, and for seven and a half years he reigned over Judah from
his capital at Hebron. Abner made Ish-bosheth, the only surviving son
of Saul, king over Israel, "and he reigned two years. But the house of
Judah followed David." Abner, who had commanded Saul's army, became
offended at the king he had made, and went to Hebron to arrange with
David to turn Israel over to him, but Joab treacherously slew him in
revenge for the blood of Asahel. It was on this occasion that David
uttered the notable words: "Know ye not that there is a prince and a
great man fallen this day in Israel?" Afterwards Rechab and Baanah slew
Ish-bosheth in his bedchamber and carried his head to David, who was so
displeased that he caused them to be killed, and their hands and feet
were cut off and hanged up by the pool in Hebron. Then the tribes of
Israel came voluntarily and made themselves the subjects of King David,
who captured Jebus, better known as Jerusalem, and moved his capital to
that city. During his reign the Philistines were again troublesome, and
a prolonged war was waged against the Ammonites. During this war David
had his record stained by his sinful conduct in the matter of Uriah's
wife.

David was a fighting king, and his "reign was a series of trials and
triumphs." He not only subdued the Philistines, but conquered Damascus,
Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and so extended his territory from the
Mediterranean to the Euphrates that it embraced ten times as much as
Saul ruled over. But his heart was made sad by the shameful misconduct
of Amnon, followed by his death, and by the conspiracy of Absalom, the
rebellion following, and the death of this beautiful son. "The story of
David's hasty flight from Jerusalem over Olivet and across the Jordan to
escape from Absalom is touchingly sad. 'And David went up by the ascent
of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up, and he had his head
covered, and went barefoot.' Then what a picture of paternal love,
which the basest filial ingratitude could not quench, is that of David
mourning the death of Absalom, 'The king was much moved, and went up to
the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O,
my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would I had died for thee, O
Absalom, my son, my son!'" After finishing out a reign of forty years,
"the sweet singer of Israel" "slept with his fathers, and was buried in
the city of David."

His son Solomon succeeded him on the throne, and had a peaceful reign of
forty years, during which time the Temple on Mount Moriah was erected,
being the greatest work of his reign. David had accumulated much
material for this house; Hiram, king of Tyre, furnished cedar timber
from the Lebanon mountains, and skilled workmen put up the building,
into which the Ark of the Covenant was borne. This famous structure was
not remarkable for its great size, but for the splendid manner in which
it was adorned with gold and other expensive materials. Israel's wisest
monarch was a man of letters, being the author of three thousand
proverbs and a thousand and five songs. His wisdom exceeded that of all
his contemporaries, "and all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to
hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart." A case in point is the
visit of the Queen of Sheba, who said: "The half was not told me; thy
wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard." But the glory of
his kingdom did not last long. "It dazzled for a brief space, like the
blaze of a meteor, and then vanished away." Nehemiah says there was no
king like him, "nevertheless even him did foreign women cause to sin."

Solomon's reign ended about 975 B C., and his son, Rehoboam, was
coronated at Shechem. Jereboam, the son of Nebat, whose name is
proverbial for wickedness, returned from Egypt, whence he had fled from
Solomon, and asked the new king to make the grievous service of his
father lighter, promising to support him on that condition. Rehoboam
counseled "with the old men, that had stood before Solomon," and refused
their words, accepting the counsel of the young men that had grown up
with him. When he announced that he would make the yoke of his father
heavier, the ten northern tribes revolted, and Jereboam became king of
what is afterwards known as the house of Israel. The kingdom lasted
about two hundred and fifty years, being ruled over by nineteen kings,
but the government did not run smoothly. "Plot after plot was formed,
and first one adventurer and then another seized the throne." Besides
the internal troubles, there were numerous wars. Benhadad, of Damascus,
besieged Samaria; Hazael, king of Syria, overran the land east of the
Jordan; Moab rebelled; Pul (Tiglath-pileser), king of Assyria, invaded
the country, and carried off a large amount of tribute, probably
amounting to two millions of dollars; and thirty years later he entered
the land and carried away many captives. At a later date the people
became idolatrous, and Shalmaneser, an Assyrian king, reduced them to
subjection, and carried numbers of them into Assyria, and replaced them
with men from Babylon and other places. By the intermarriage of Jews
remaining in the country with these foreigners a mixed race, called
Samaritans, sprang up.

The southern section of the country, known as the kingdom of Judah, was
ruled over by nineteen kings and one queen for a period of about three
hundred and seventy-five years. Asa, one of the good kings, was a
religious reformer--even "his mother he removed from being queen,
because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah; and Asa cut
down her image and burnt it at the brook Kidron." But he, like many
other reformers, failed to make his work thorough, for "the high places
were not taken away: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with
Jehovah all his days." Joash caused a chest to be placed "at the gate of
the house of Jehovah," into which the people put "the tax that Moses,
the servant of God, laid upon Israel in the wilderness," until they
had gathered an abundance of money, with which the house of God was
repaired, for the wicked sons of Athaliah had broken it up and bestowed
the dedicated things upon the Baalim. But after the death of Jehoida,
the priest, Joash was himself led into idolatry, and when Zechariah, the
son of Jehoida, rebuked the people for turning from God, they stoned him
to death by the order of King Joash. The last words of the dying
martyr were: "The Lord look upon it and require it." This is strangely
different from the last expression of Stephen, who "kneeled down, and
cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
Amaziah returned "from the slaughter of the Edomites," and set up the
gods of the idolatrous enemies he had whipped, "to be his gods." Ahaz
was a wicked idolater, worshiping Baal and sacrificing his own sons.

In strong contrast with such men as these we have the name of
Hezekiah, whose prosperous reign was a grand period of reformation and
improvement. He was twenty-five years old when he came on the throne,
and in the twenty-nine years he ruled, "he removed the high places, and
brake the pillars, and cut down the Asherah." The brazen serpent,
made by Moses in the wilderness, had become an object of worship, but
Hezekiah called it "a piece of brass," and broke it in pieces. The
passover had not been kept "in great numbers in such sort as it is
written," so Hezekiah sent messengers from city to city to call the
people to observe the passover. Some "laughed them to scorn, and mocked
them," but others "humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem," and in
the second month the "very great assembly * * * killed the passover. * *
* So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon the
son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem."

Manasseh, the next king, reëstablished idolatry, and his son Amon,
who ruled but two years, followed in his footsteps. Josiah, who next
occupied the throne, was a different kind of a man. "He did that which
was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in all the way of David his
father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." In his
reign, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law in the temple, and
delivered it to Shaphan the scribe, who read it, and took it to the king
and read it to him. "And it came to pass when the king heard the words
of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes," and commanded that
inquiry be made of the Lord concerning the contents of the book. As a
result, the temple was cleansed of the vessels that had been used in
Baal worship, the idolatrous priests were put down, the "houses of the
sodomites," that were in the house of Jehovah, were broken down, the
high places erected by Solomon were defiled, and a great reformation was
worked.

Zedekiah was the last king in the line. In his day, Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, invaded the land, and besieged Jerusalem for sixteen months,
reducing the people to such straits that women ate the flesh of their
own children. When the city fell, a portion of the inhabitants were
carried to Babylon, and the furnishings of the temple were taken away
as plunder. Zedekiah, with his family, sought to escape, going out
over Olivet as David in his distress had done, but he was captured and
carried to Riblah, thirty-five miles north of Baalbec, where his sons
were slain in his presence. Then his eyes were put out, and he was
carried to Babylon. In this way were fulfilled the two prophecies, that
he should be taken to Babylon, and that he should not see it.

Thus, with Jerusalem a mass of desolate, forsaken ruins, the Babylonian
period was ushered in. Some of the captives rose to positions of trust
in the Babylonian government. Daniel and his three associates are
examples. During this period Ezekiel was a prophet. No doubt the frame
of mind of most of them is well expressed by the Psalmist: "By the
rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea we wept when we remembered
Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hanged up our harps."

The Medo-Persian period began with the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, who
brought the Jews under his rule. The captives were permitted to return
to Palestine, and Zerubbabel soon had the foundations of the temple
laid; but here the work came to a standstill, and so remained for
seventeen years. About 520 B.C., when Darius was king of Persia, the
work was resumed, and carried on to completion. For some years the
service of God seems to have been conducted in an unbecoming manner.
Nehemiah came upon the stage of action, rebuilt the city walls, required
the observance of the Sabbath, and served as governor twelve years
without pay. Ezra brought back a large number of the people, repaired
the temple, and worked a great reformation. Under his influence, those
who had married foreign wives put them away, and "some had wives by whom
they had children." As the Samaritans were not allowed to help build the
temple, they erected one of their own on Mt Gerizim. A few Samaritans
still exist in Nablus, and hold services on Gerizim. "After Nehemiah,
the office of civil ruler seems to have become extinct."

The Greek period begins with the operations of Alexander the Great in
Asia, 333 B.C., and extends to the time of the Maccabees, 168 B.C. After
Alexander's death, his empire fell into the two great divisions of Egypt
and Syria. The Egyptian rulers were called Ptolemies, and those of
Syria were called the Selucidae. For one hundred and twenty-five years
Palestine was held by Egypt, during which time Ptolemy Philadelphus had
the Septuagint version of the Old Testament made at Alexandria.
Syria next secured control of Palestine. The walls of Jerusalem were
destroyed, and the altar of Jehovah was polluted with swine's flesh. We
now hear of an aged priest named Mattathias, who at Modin, a few miles
from Jerusalem, had the courage to kill a Jew who was about to sacrifice
on a heathen altar. He escaped to the mountains, where he was joined by
a number of others of the same mind. His death soon came, but he left
five stalwart sons like himself. Judas, called Maccabeus, became the
leader, and from him the whole family was named the Maccabees. He began
war against the Syrians and apostate Jews. The Syrians, numbering fifty
thousand, took up a position at Emmaus, while the Maccabees encamped at
Mizpah. Although greatly outnumbered, they were victorious, as they
were in another engagement with sixty thousand Syrians at Hebron. Judas
entered Jerusalem, and repaired and cleansed the temple. Thus the
Maccabean period was ushered in. After some further fighting, Judas
was slain, and Simon, the only surviving brother, succeeded him, and
Jerusalem was practically independent. His son, John Hyrcanus, was the
next ruler. The Pharisees and Sadducees now come prominently into Jewish
affairs. The Essenes also existed at this time, and dressed in white.
After some time (between 65-62 B.C.), Pompey, the Roman general, entered
the open gates of the city, but did not capture the citadel for three
weeks, finally taking advantage of the day of Pentecost, when the Jews
would not fight. The Roman period began with the slaughter of twelve
thousand citizens. Priests were slain at the altar, and the temple was
profaned. Judaea became a Roman province, and was compelled to pay
tribute.

Herod the Great became governor of Galilee, and later the Roman senate
made him king of Judaea. He besieged Jerusalem, and took it in 37 B.C.
"A singular compound of good and bad--mostly bad--was this King Herod."
He hired men to drown a supposed rival, as if in sport, at Jericho
on the occasion of a feast, and in the beginning of his reign he
slaughtered more than half of the members of the Sanhedrin. The aged
high priest Hyrcanus was put to death, as was also Mariamne, the wife
of this monster, who was ruling when the Messiah was born at Bethlehem.
Herod was a great builder, and it was he who reconstructed the temple on
magnificent lines. He also built Caesarea, and rebuilt Samaria. After
his death, the country was divided and ruled by his three sons. Achelaus
reigned ingloriously in Jerusalem for ten years, and was banished.
Judaea was then ruled by procurators, Pilate being the fifth one of
them, ruling from A.D. 26-36. In the year A.D. 65 the Jews rebelled
against the Romans, after being their subjects for one hundred and
twenty-two years. They were not subdued until the terrible destruction
of the Holy City in A.D. 70, when, according to Josephus, one million
one hundred thousand Jews perished in the siege, two hundred and
fifty-six thousand four hundred and fifty were slain elsewhere, and one
hundred and one thousand seven hundred prisoners were sold into bondage.
The Temple was completely destroyed along with the city, which for sixty
years "lay in ruins so complete that it is doubtful whether there was a
single house that could be used as a residence." The land was annexed to
Syria, and ceased to be a Jewish country. Hadrian became emperor in A.D.
117, and issued an edict forbidding the Jews to practice circumcision,
read the law, or to observe the Sabbath. These things greatly distressed
the Jews, and in A.D. 132 they rallied to the standard of Bar Cochba,
who has been styled "the last and greatest of the false Messiahs." The
Romans were overthrown, Bar Cochba proclaimed himself king in Jerusalem,
and carried on the war for two years. At one time he held fifty towns,
but they were all taken from him, and he was finally killed at Bether,
or Bittir. This was the last effort of the Jews to recover the land by
force of arms. Hadrian caused the site of the temple to be plowed over,
and the city was reconstructed being made thoroughly pagan. For two
hundred years the Jews were forbidden to enter it. In A.D. 326 the
Empress Helena visited Jerusalem, and built a church on the Mount of
Olives. Julian the Apostate undertook to rebuild the Jewish temple in
A.D. 362, but was frustrated by "balls of fire" issuing from under
the ruins and frightening the workmen. In A.D. 529 the Greek emperor
Justinian built a church in the city in honor of the Virgin. The
Persians under Chosroes II. invaded Palestine in A.D. 614 and destroyed
part of Jerusalem. After fourteen years they were defeated and Jerusalem
was restored, but the Mohammedans under Omar captured it in A.D. 637.
The structure called the Dome of the Rock, on Mt. Moriah, was built by
them in A.D. 688.

The Crusades next engage our attention. The first of these military
expeditions was made to secure the right to visit the Holy Sepulcher. It
was commenced at the call of the Pope in 1096. A force of two hundred
and seventy-five thousand men began the march, but never entered
Palestine. Another effort was made by six hundred thousand men, who
captured Antioch in 1098. A little later the survivors defeated the
Mohammedan army of two hundred thousand. Still later they entered
Jerusalem, and Godfrey of Bouillon was made king of the city in 1099. By
conquest he came to rule the whole of Palestine. The orders of Knights
Hospitallers and Knights Templars were formed, and Godfrey continued in
power about fifty years. In 1144 two European armies, aggregating one
million two hundred thousand men, started on the second crusade, which
was a total failure. Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt, conquered Jerusalem
in 1187, and the third crusade was inaugurated, which resulted in
securing the right to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem free from taxes. The
power of the Crusaders was now broken. Another band assembled at
Venice in 1203 to undertake the fourth crusade, but they never entered
Palestine. The fifth effort was made, and Frederick, Emperor of Germany,
crowned himself king of Jerusalem in 1229, and returned to his native
land the next year. The Turks conquered Palestine in 1244 and burned
Jerusalem. Louis IX. of France led the seventh crusade, another failure,
in 1248. He undertook it again in 1270, but went to Africa, and Prince
Edward of England entered Palestine in 1271 and accepted a truce for ten
years, which was offered by the Sultan of Egypt. This, the eighth and
last crusade, ended in 1272 by the return of Edward to England. In 1280
Palestine was invaded by the Mamelukes, and in 1291 the war of the
Crusaders ended with the fall of Acre, "the last Christian possession in
Palestine." Besides these efforts there were children's crusades for the
conversion or conquest of the Moslems. The first, in 1212, was composed
of thirty thousand boys. Two ship loads were drowned and the third was
sold as slaves to the Mohammedans.

In 1517 the country passed to the control of the Ottoman Empire, and so
remained until 1832, when it fell back to Egypt for eight years. The
present walls around Jerusalem, which inclose two hundred and ten acres
of ground, were built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1542. In 1840
Palestine again became Turkish territory, and so continues to this day.
The really scientific exploration of the land began with the journey
of Edward Robinson, an American, in 1838. In 1856 the United States
Consulate was established in Jerusalem, and twelve governments are now
represented by consulates. Sir Charles Wilson created an interest in the
geography of Palestine by his survey of Jerusalem and his travels in
the Holy Land from 1864 to 1868. Palestine was surveyed from Dan to
Beer-sheba and from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the years from 1872
to 1877. The Siloam inscription, the "only known relic of the writing *
* * of Hezekiah's days," was discovered in 1880. The railroad from Jaffa
to Jerusalem was opened in 1892. Within the last ten years several
carriage roads have been built. Protestant schools and missions have
been established at many important places. The population of the city is
now about fifty-five thousand souls, but they do not all live inside of
the walls. What the future of Palestine may be is an interesting subject
for thought.




CHAPTER X.

CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN GREAT BRITAIN.


No doubt many of my readers will be specially interested in knowing
something of my experience and association with the brethren across the
sea, and it is my desire to give them as fair an understanding of the
situation as I can. There are five congregations in Glasgow, having a
membership of six hundred and seventy-eight persons. The oldest one of
these, which formerly met in Brown Street and now meets in Shawlands
Hall, was formed in 1839, and has one hundred and sixty-one members. The
Coplaw Street congregation, which branched from Brown Street, and is now
the largest of the five, dates back to 1878, and numbers two hundred and
nineteen. It was my privilege to attend one of the mid-week services of
this congregation and speak to those present on that occasion. I also
met some of the brethren in Edinburgh, where two congregations have a
membership of two hundred and fifty-three. At Kirkcaldy, the home of my
worthy friend and brother, Ivie Campbell, Jr., there is a congregation
of one hundred and seventy disciples, which I addressed one Lord's day
morning. In the evening I went out with Brother and Sister Campbell and
another brother to Coaltown of Balgonie, and addressed the little band
worshiping at that place.

My next association with the brethren was at the annual meeting of
"Churches of Christ in Great Britain and Ireland," convened at Wigan,
England, August second, third, and fourth. While at Wigan I went out to
Platt Bridge and spoke to the brethren. There are ninety members in this
congregation. One night in Birmingham I met with the brethren in Charles
Henry Street, where the congregation, formed in 1857, numbers two
hundred and seventy-four, and the next night I was with the Geach Street
congregation, which has been in existence since 1865, and numbers
two hundred and twenty-nine members. Bro. Samuel Joynes, now of
Philadelphia, was formerly connected with this congregation. While I was
in Bristol it was my pleasure to meet with the Thrissell Street church,
composed of one hundred and thirty-one members. I spoke once in their
place of worship and once in a meeting on the street. The last band of
brethren I was with while in England was the church at Twynholm, London.
This is the largest congregation of all, and will receive consideration
later in the chapter. The next place that I broke bread was in a little
mission to the Jews in the Holy City. To complete a report of my public
speaking while away, I will add that I preached in Mr. Thompson's
tabernacle in Jerusalem, and spoke a few words on one or both of the
Lord's days at the mission to which reference has already been made. I
also spoke in a mission meeting conducted by Mr. Locke at Port Said,
Egypt, preached once on the ship as I was coming back across the
Atlantic, and took part in a little debate on shipboard as I went out on
the journey, and in an entertainment the night before I got back to New
York.

In this chapter I am taking my statistics mainly from the Year Book
containing the fifty-ninth annual report of the churches in Great
Britain and Ireland co-operating for evangelistic purposes, embracing
almost all of the congregations of disciples in the country. According
to this report, there were one hundred and eighty-three congregations on
the list, with a total membership of thirteen thousand and sixty-three,
at the time of the annual meeting last year.

(Since writing this chapter, the sixtieth annual report of these
brethren across the sea has come into my hands, and the items in this
paragraph are taken mainly from the address of Bro. John Wyckliffe
Black, as chairman of the annual meeting which assembled in August of
this year at Leeds. The membership is now reported at thirteen thousand
eight hundred and forty-four, an increase of about eight hundred members
since the meeting held at Wigan in 1904. In 1842 the British brotherhood
numbered thirteen hundred, and in 1862 it had more than doubled. After
the lapse of another period of twenty years, the number had more than
doubled again, standing at six thousand six hundred and thirty-two.
In 1902, when twenty years more had passed, the membership had almost
doubled again, having grown to twelve thousand five hundred and
thirty-seven. In 1842 the average number of members in each congregation
was thirty-one; in 1862 it was forty; in 1882 it had reached sixty-one;
and in 1902 it was seventy-two. The average number in each congregation
is now somewhat higher than it was in 1902.)

Soon after the meeting was convened on Tuesday, "the Conference
recognised the presence of Mrs. Hall and Miss Jean Hall, of Sydney,
N.S.W., and Brother Don Carlos Janes, from Ohio, U.S.A., and cordially
gave them a Christian welcome." The address of welcome and the address
of the chairman, Brother James Anderson, of Fauldhouse, Scotland, came
early in the day. The meeting on Wednesday opened with worship and a
short address, followed by reports from the General Sunday-school,
Reference, General Training, and Magazine Committees. One interesting
feature of the proceedings of this day was the conference paper by Bro.
T.J. Ainsworth on the subject of "The Relation of Christianity to the
Social Questions of the Day." Besides a discussion of this paper, there
was a preaching service at night. Thursday, the last day of the meeting,
was occupied, after the morning worship and short address, with the
reports of committees and the appointment of committees. At the social
meeting at night several brethren, who had been previously selected,
spoke on such subjects as seemed good to them. Bro. W.A. Kemp, of
Melbourne, Australia, and the writer were the only speakers not
residents of the British Isles. At the close of the meeting the
following beautiful hymn was sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne":

  Hail, sweetest, dearest tie, that binds
    Our glowing hearts in one;
  Hail, sacred hope, that tunes our minds
    To harmony divine.
  It is the hope, the blissful hope
    Which Jesus' words afford--
  The hope, when days and years are past,
    Of life with Christ the Lord.

  What though the northern wintry blast
    Shall howl around our cot?
  What though beneath an eastern sun
    Be cast our distant lot?
  Yet still we share the blissful hope
    His cheering words afford--
  The hope, when days and years are past,
    Of glory with the Lord.

  From Burmah's shores, from Afric's strand,
    From India's burning plain,
  From Europe, from Columbia's land,
    We hope to meet again.
  Oh, sweetest hope, oh, blissful hope,
    Which His own truth affords--
  The hope, when days and years are past,
    We still shall be the Lord's.

  No lingering look, no parting sigh,
    Our future meeting knows;
  There friendship beams from every eye,
    And love immortal glows.
  Oh, sacred hope, the blissful hope,
    His love and truth afford--
  The hope, when days and years are past,
    Of reigning with the Lord.

I am not willing to accept everything done in the annual meeting, but
the hearty good will manifested and the pleasant and happy associations
enjoyed make it in those respects very commendable. These brethren
are very systematic and orderly in their work. Some one, who has been
designated beforehand, takes charge of the meeting, and everything moves
along nicely. When a visiting brother comes in, he is recognized and
made use of, but they do not turn the meeting over to him and
depend upon him to conduct it. The president of the Lord's day morning
meeting and part or all of the officers sit together on the platform.
The following is the order of procedure in one of the meetings which
I attended: After singing a hymn and offering prayer, the brother
presiding announced the reading lessons from both Testaments, at the
same time naming two brethren who would read these scriptures. After
they had come forward and read the lessons before the church, another
hymn was sung, and certain definite objects of prayer were mentioned
before the congregation again engaged in that part of the worship. Two
prayers were offered, followed by the announcements, after which a
brother delivered an address. Then the president made mention of the
visitors present, and an old gentleman from the platform extended "the
right hand of fellowship" to some new members before the contribution
was taken and the Lord's supper observed, a hymn being sung between
these two items. A concluding hymn and prayer closed the service, which
had been well conducted, without discord or confusion.

A brother in Wigan gave me a statement of the work of one of the
congregations there in the winter season. On the Lord's day they have
school at 9:20 A.M. and at 2 P.M.; breaking the bread at 10:30 A.M., and
preaching the gospel at 6:30 P.M. At this evening meeting the Lord's
table is again spread for the benefit of servants and others who were
not able to be at the morning service. This is a common practice. The
young people's social and improvement class meets on Monday evening, a
meeting for prayer and a short address is held on Tuesday evening, and
the Band of Hope, a temperance organization for young people, meets
on Wednesday evening. The singing class uses Thursday night, and the
officers of the church sometimes have a meeting on Friday night.

During the life of Bro. Timothy Coop much money was spent in an effort
to build up along the lines adopted by the innovators here in America.
Bro. Coop visited this country, and was well pleased with the operations
of the congregations that had adopted the modern methods, and he was
instrumental in having some American evangelists to go to England, and
a few churches were started. I was told that there are about a dozen
congregations of these disciples, called "American brethren" by the
other English disciples, with a membership of about two thousand, and
that it is a waning cause.

The rank and file of these British brethren are more conservative than
the innovators here at home, but they have moved forward somewhat in
advance of the churches here contending for apostolic simplicity in
certain particulars. A few of the congregations use a musical
instrument in gospel meetings and Sunday-school services, and some have
organizations such as the Band of Hope and the Dorcas Society. The
organization of the annual meeting is said to be only advisory. The
following lines, a portion of a resolution of the annual meeting of 1861
will help the reader to form an idea of the purpose and nature of the
organization: "That this Coöperation shall embrace such of the Churches
contending for the primitive faith and order as shall willingly be
placed upon the list of Churches printed in its Annual Report. That the
Churches thus coöperating disavow any intention or desire to recognize
themselves as a denomination, or to limit their fellowship to the
Churches thus coöperating; but, on the contrary, they avow it both a
duty and a pleasure to visit, receive, and coöperate with Christian
Churches, without reference to their taking part in the meetings and
efforts of this Coöperation. Also, that this Coöperation has for its
object evangelization only, and disclaims all power to settle matters of
discipline, or differences between brethren or Churches; that if in any
instance it should see fit to refuse to insert in or to remove from the
List any Church or company of persons claiming to be a Church, it shall
do so only in reference to this Coöperation, leaving each and every
Church to judge for itself, and to recognize and fellowship as it may
understand the law of the Lord to require."

The question of delegate voting with a view to making the action of the
annual meeting more weighty with the congregations was discussed at the
Wigan meeting, but was voted down, although it had numerous advocates.
One of the brethren, in speaking of the use of instrumental music in the
singing, said they try not to use it when they worship the Lord, but I
consider the use they make of it is unscriptural, and it puts the church
in great danger of having the innovation thrust into all the services at
some future time. All of these churches could learn a valuable lesson
from some of our home congregations that have been rent asunder by the
unholy advocacy of innovations.

But there are some very commendable things about these brethren. I
noticed careful attention being given to the public reading of the
Scriptures, and the congregation joins heartily in the singing. I am
informed that every member takes part in the contribution without
exception. They do not take contributions from visitors and children who
are not disciples. The talent in the congregation is well developed. In
this they are far ahead of us. While there are not many giving their
whole time to evangelistic work, there are many who are acceptable
speakers. One brother said they probably have a preacher for each
twenty-five members. Men heavily involved in business take time to
attend the meetings. For instance, one brother, who is at the head of a
factory employing about a thousand people, and is interested in mining
and in the manufacture of brick besides, is an active member of the
congregation with which he worships. The brethren in general are
faithful in the matter of being present at the breaking of bread. When
visiting brethren come in, they are given a public welcome, and are
sometimes pointed out to the congregation. Also, when brethren return
from a vacation or other prolonged absence, they are given a welcome.

They pray much. The week-night meeting for prayer and study of the Bible
is largely taken up with prayer. I like the way they point out definite
objects of prayer. For instance, two sisters are leaving for Canada;
some one is out of employment, and some have lost friends by death.
These matters are mentioned, and some one is called on to lead the
prayer, and these points are included in his petition to the Lord.
Sometimes but one brother is asked to lead in prayer; sometimes more
than one are designated, and at other times they leave it open for some
one to volunteer. The following hymn was sung in one of these meetings
which I attended:

  LET US PRAY.

  Come, let us pray; 'tis sweet to feel
    That God himself is near;
  That, while we at his footstool kneel,
    His mercy deigns to hear;
  Though sorrows crowd life's dreary way,
  This is our solace--let us pray.

  Come, let us pray; the burning brow,
    The heart oppressed with care,
  And all the woes that throng us now,
    May be relieved by prayer;
  Jesus can smile our griefs away;
  Oh, glorious thought! come, let us pray.

  Come, let us pray; the mercy-seat
    Invites the fervent prayer,
  And Jesus ready stands to greet
    The contrite spirit there;
  Oh, loiter not, nor longer stay
  From him who loves us; let us pray.

They do not publish as many papers as we do, but have one weekly
journal, the _Bible Advocate_, edited by Bro. L. Oliver, of Birmingham,
which has a general circulation, reaching almost four thousand copies.
One feature of the paper last summer was the publication of the Life of
Elder John Smith as a serial. The colored covers of the _Bible Advocate_
contain a long list of the hours and places of worship of congregations
in different parts of the country, and even outside of the British Isles
in some cases. In some instances the local congregation publishes a
paper of its own, affording a good medium through which to advertise the
meetings and to keep distant brethren informed of the work that is being
done, as well as to teach the truth of God.

A book room is maintained in Birmingham, where the British and American
publications may be purchased. They were using a hymn-book (words only)
of their own and a tune-book published by others, but a new hymnbook was
under consideration when I was among them last year. A list of isolated
members is kept, and persons elected by the annual meeting conduct a
correspondence with these brethren. The following are extracts from some
of the letters received in reply to those that had been sent out: "I am
hoping that the day will come when I can leave this district and get to
one where I can have the fellowship of my brethren; but meanwhile I am
glad and thankful to be held in remembrance of my brethren and to be on
your list, and I pray God to help your work, for I have still hope in
Him, and know He has not given me up." Another brother says: "Though I
can not say that I have anything important or cheering to write, yet I
can say that I am rejoicing in the salvation of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. My isolation from regular church fellowship has been
so long that I have almost given up the hope of enjoying it again in
Arbroath; but still my prayer is that the Lord would raise up some here
or send some here who know the truth, and who love the Lord with their
whole heart, and would be able and willing to declare unto the people
the whole counsel of God concerning the way of salvation." A Sisters'
Conference was held in connection with the annual meeting, and a
Temperance Conference and Meeting was held on Monday before the annual
meeting opened.

Missionary work is being carried on in Burmah, Siam, and South Africa.
In Burmah some attention has been given to translating and publishing a
part of the Psalms in one of the languages of that country. "Much
time has been spent in the villages by systematic visitation, by
the distribution of literature, and by seizing upon any and every
opportunity of speaking to the people. Street meetings have been
constantly held, visitors received on the boat, the gospel preached from
the Mission-boat to the people sitting on the banks of the river, and
also proclaimed to the people in their homes, in the villages, and in
the fields, and on the fishing stations. Although there were but two
baptisms during the year the congregation numbers fifty-one." The
brethren in Siam were working where the rivers, numerous canals, and
creeks form the chief roadways. The Year Book contains the following
concerning the medical missionary in this field: "His chief work during
the year has been rendering such help as his short medical training has
fitted him to give. For a time twelve to twenty patients a day came
to him for treatment. After a while the numbers fell off, he thought
because all the sick in the neighborhood had been cured." "The little
church in Nakon Choom * * * now consists of two Karens, one Burman,
one Mon, two Chinamen, and two Englishmen. As several of these do not
understand the others' language, the gift of tongues would seem not
undesirable." In South Africa there are congregations at Johannesburg,
Pretoria, Bulawayo, Cape Town, and Carolina. The church in Bulawayo
numbers about fifty members, nearly all of whom are natives "who are
eager learners."

I saw more of the workings of the church at Twynholm than any other
congregation visited, as I stayed at Twynholm House while in London both
on the outward trip and as I returned home. Of the seven congregations
in this city, Twynholm is the largest, and is the largest in the British
brotherhood, having a membership of above five hundred. This church was
established in 1894 with twenty-five members, and has had a good growth.
They open the baptistery every Lord's day night, and very frequently
have occasion to use it. There were fifty-three baptisms last year, and
twenty-one others were added to the membership of the church. At the
close of a recent church year the Band of Hope numbered five hundred and
fifteen, and the Lord's day school had twelve hundred and fifty pupils
and one hundred and two teachers. I think it was one hundred and sixty
little tots I saw in one room, and down in this basement there were
about fifty more. I was told that there were more children attending
than they had accommodation for, but they disliked to turn any of them
away. The Woman's Meeting had one hundred and sixteen members; the Total
Abstinence Society, one hundred and fifty; and the membership of the
Youths' Institute and Bible Students' Class were not given. Five
thousand copies of _Joyful Tidings_, an eight-page paper, are given away
each month. The following announcement from the first page of this paper
will indicate something of the activities of this congregation:

  CHURCH OF CHRIST,

  Twynholm Assembly Hall,
  Fulham Cross, S.W.

  REGULAR SERVICES AND GATHERINGS.



  _LORD'S DAY._
  9:45 A.M.--Bible Students' Class.
  11:00 A.M.--Divine Worship and "The Breaking of Bread".
               (Acts 2:42, etc.)
  2:45 P.M.--Lord's Day Schools.
  3:00 P.M.--Young Men's Institute.
  4:00 P.M.--Teachers' Prayer Meeting (first Lord's day in the
               month).
  6:30 P.M.--_Evangelistic Service_.
  7:45 P.M.--Believers' Immersion (usually).
  8:10 P.M.--"The Breaking of Bread" (Continued).

  _MONDAY._
  2:30 P.M.--Woman's Own Meeting.
  7:00 P.M.--Band of Hope.
  8:30 P.M.--Social Gathering for Young People (over fourteen).
  8:30 P.M.--Total Abstinence Society (last Monday night in the
               month).

  _THURSDAY._
  8:00 P.M.--Mid-week Service for Prayer, Praise, and Public
               Exposition of the Word.
  9:00 P.M.--Singing Practice.

  _FRIDAY._
  8:00 P.M.--Teachers' Preparation Class and Devotional Meeting.
              (Open to all).



  Seat all Free and Unappropriated.
  No Public Collections.
  Hymn-books provided for Visitors.

This Church of Christ earnestly pleads for the complete restoration of
the primitive Christianity of the New Testament, for the cultivation of
personal piety, and benevolence, and for loving service for Jesus the
Christ.

Twynholm is the name given to a piece of property, originally intended
for a hotel, situated in the western part of London, at the intersection
of four streets in Fulham Cross. These streets make it a place easily
reached, and the numerous saloons make the necessity for such an
influence as emanates from a church of God very great. There is a good,
commodious audience-room at the rear, and several smaller rooms about
the premises. The front part is owned and controlled by a brother who
has a family of Christians to live there and run the restaurant on the
first floor and the lodging rooms on the two upper floors, where there
are accommodations for a few young men. Here I had a desirable room, and
was well cared for by the brother and sister who manage the house. The
restaurant is not run for profit, but to afford the people a place to
eat cheaply and to spend time without going where intoxicants are sold.
The patrons are allowed to sit at the tables and play such games as
dominoes, the aim being to counteract the evil influences of that part
of the city as far as possible. One night I attended a meeting of the
Band of Hope in a big basement room at Twynholm, where a large number
of small children were being taught to pray, and were receiving good
instruction along the line of temperance. Several older persons were on
duty to preserve order among these children, many of whom had doubtless
come from homes where little about order and good behavior is ever
taught. Soon after this meeting I went up on the street, and there, near
a saloon with six visible entrances, a street musician was playing his
organ, while small girls, perhaps not yet in their teens, were being
encouraged to dance.

At Twynholm I also attended the Social Hour meeting, which was an
enjoyable affair. A program of recitations, songs, etc., was rendered.
This also, I suppose, is to offset some of the evil agencies of the
great city and keep the young people under good influences. The Woman's
Meeting convenes on Monday afternoon. The leaders of the meeting are
ladies of the church, who are laboring for the betterment of an inferior
class of London women. I spoke before this meeting, by request, and
was, so far as I now recollect, the only male person present. It is the
custom to use the instrument in connection with the singing in this
meeting, but I asked them to refrain on this occasion. An orphans' home
is also conducted, having members of this congregation as its managers.
It is a very busy church, and for being busy and diligent it is to be
commended, but I believe there is too much organization. But here, as
elsewhere in Britain, there are many very commendable things about the
brethren. I have already spoken of system in their proceedings. They
outline their work for a given period of time, specifying the Scriptures
to be read, the leaders of the meetings, and who is to preach on each
Lord's day night. Then, for the sake of convenience, these schedules
are printed, and they are carefully followed. This is far ahead of the
haphazard method, or lack of method, at home, where brethren sometimes
come together neither knowing what the lesson will be nor who will
conduct the meeting.

Whatever may be the faults of these disciples in the old country, it
must be said to their credit that they are kind and hospitable to
strangers, and make a visiting brother welcome. The talent in their
congregations is better developed than it is here, and their meetings
are conducted in a more orderly and systematic manner. They are more
faithful in the observance of the Lord's supper than many in this land.
The percentage of preachers giving their whole time to the work is less
than it is here, but the number who can and do take part in the public
work of the church is proportionately larger than it is here.

I will now close this chapter and this volume with the address of
Brother Anderson, chairman of the annual meeting held last year at
Wigan:

DEAR BRETHREN:--In accepting the responsible and honorable position in
which you have placed me, I do so conscious of a defect that I hope you
will do your best to help and bear with. Please speak as distinctly as
possible, so that I may hear what is said. There may be other defects
that I might have helped, but please do your best to help me in this
respect.

I heartily thank you for the honor conferred upon me. Whether I deserve
it or not, I know that it is well meant on your part. We prefer honor
to dishonor; but what one may count a great honor, another may lightly
esteem. The point of view is almost everything in these matters; but if
positions of honor in the kingdoms of the earth are lightly esteemed,
positions of honor in the kingdom of God have a right to be esteemed
more highly.

We are met in conference as subjects of the kingdom of God, as heirs of
everlasting glory, having a hope greater than the world can give, and
a peace that the world can neither give nor take away. To preside over
such a gathering, met to consider the best means of spreading the Gospel
of Christ among men, is a token of respect upon which I place a very
high value. The fact that it came unexpectedly does not lessen the
pleasure.

I know that you have not placed me here on account of my tact and
business ability to manage this conference well. Had I possessed these
qualities in a marked degree, you would no doubt have taken notice of
them before this time. I know that you only wish to pay a token of
respect to a plain old soldier before he lays aside his harness, and,
brethren, I thank you for that.

For forty-four years I have enjoyed sweet and uninterrupted fellowship
in this brotherhood. For over forty years my voice has been heard in the
preaching of the Gospel of the Grace of God. For close on thirty years
all my time has been given to the proclamation and defense of New
Testament truth as held by us as a people. Every year has added strength
to the conviction that God has led me to take my stand among the
people who of all the people on the earth are making the best and most
consistent effort to get back to the religion established by Christ and
his apostles. I therefore bless the day that I became one of you.

Had our position been wrong, I have given myself every opportunity of
knowing it. Circumstances have compelled me to examine our foundations
again and again. I have been called upon to defend our faith, when
attacked, times not a few. Whatever may be the effect that I have had
upon others, my own confidence has been increased at every turn. To-day
I am certain that if the New Testament is right, we can not be far
wrong; and if the New Testament can not be trusted, there is an end to
the whole matter. But the claims of Christ and the truth of the New
Testament are matters upon which a doubt never rises. As years roll on,
it becomes more easy to believe and harder to doubt. Knowledge, reason,
and experience now supply such varied yet harmonious and converging
lines of evidence that a doubt seems impossible. Difficulties we may
have, and perhaps must have, as long as we live, but we can certainly
rise above the fog land of doubt. Considering all this, it gives me more
pleasure to preside over this gathering than over any other voluntary
gathering on earth. It is a voluntary gathering. We do not profess to
be here by Divine appointment. It is a meeting of heaven's freemen to
consider the best means of advancing the will of God among men. While
met, may we all act in a manner worthy of the great object which brings
us together.

Faith, forbearance and watchfulness will be required as long as we live,
if we wish to keep the unity of the faith in the bond of peace. All
those who set out for a complete return to Jerusalem have not held on
their way; some have gone a long way back and others are going. What
has happened in other lands may happen here, unless we watch and are
faithful. The more carefully we look into matters, we shall be the
less inclined to move. Putting all God's arrangements faithfully and
earnestly to the test, and comparing them with others, increases our
faith in them. Faithfulness increases faith. This keeps growing upon
you till you become certain that only God's means will accomplish God's
ends. Sectarianism, tested by experience, is a failure.

The time was when our danger in departing from our simple plea of
returning to the Bible alone lay in our being moved by clerical and
sectarian influences. To the young in particular in the present day that
can hardly be called our greatest danger. The influences at work to
produce doubt in regard to the truth of the Bible were never so great as
they are now. This used to be the particular work of professed infidels;
now it is more largely the work of professed Christian scholars. If you
wish to pass for a "scholar," you must not profess to believe the Old
Testament. You must not say too much against the truth of that book, or
you may be called in question, but you can go a good long way before
there is much danger.

Jesus believed that old book to be the word of God. But he was not a
"scholar." He was the son of a country joiner, and you must not expect
him to rise too far above his environment. It surprises me that the
"scholars" have not called more attention to the ignorance of Jesus in
this respect. They will no doubt pay more attention to this later on;
for as _Christian_ "scholars" it becomes them to be consistent, and I
have no doubt that they will shortly, in this respect, make up for lost
time.

To expect that none of our young people will be influenced by this
parade of scholarship is to expect too much. But faith in Christ should
keep them from rushing rashly out against a book that Christ professed
to live up to and came to fulfill. This battle of the scholars over the
truth of the Bible is only being fought. We have no wish that it should
not be fought. Everything has a right to be tested with caution and
fairness, and when the battle is lost, it will be time enough for us to
pass over to the side of the enemy. This question as to the truth of the
Old Testament will be settled, and as sure as Christ is the Son of God,
and has all power in heaven and on earth, it will be settled upon the
lines of the attitude which he took up towards that book, and it will be
settled to the disgrace of those who professed to believe in Jesus,
but deserted his position before full examination was made. That no
transcriber ever made a slip, or that no translator ever made a mistake,
is not held by any one. But the day that it is proved that the Old
Testament is not substantially true, faith in Christ and Christianity
will get a shake from which it will never recover.

We have not lost faith in the Bible. There is no need for doing so. The
word of the Lord will endure forever. But meantime, brethren, let us be
faithful, prayerful, and cautious, and be not easily moved from the rock
of God's word by the pretensions of "scholars" or of science, falsely so
called.

I do not know that there is any necessary connection between the two,
but a belief in evolution and scholarly doubts about large portions of
the Old Testament, as a rule, go together. You must not profess to know
anything of science in many quarters if you doubt evolution. In the bulk
of even religious books it is referred to as a matter that science has
settled beyond dispute. To expect that many of our young people will not
be so far carried along by this current is to expect too much. Many of
them will be carried so far; it is a question of how many and how far.

There perhaps never was a theory before believed by as many educated
people without proof as the theory of evolution. It is an unproved
theory; there is not a fact beneath it. That you have low forms of life,
and forms rising higher and higher till you get to man, is fact. But
that a higher species ever came from a lower is without proof. Let those
who doubt this say when and where such a thing took place, and name the
witnesses. Not only are there no facts in proof of it, but it flies in
the face of facts without number. If like from like is not established,
then nothing can be established by observation and experience. What
other theory do we believe which contradicts all that we know to be true
in regard to the subject to which it refers?

Not only does it contradict fact and experience, it contradicts reason.
If you listen to the voice of reason, you can no more believe that the
greater came from the less than you can believe that something came from
nothing. We are intuitively bound to believe that an effect can not be
greater than its cause. But the theory of evolution contradicts this at
every step along the whole line.

I am anxious to find the truth in regard to anything that has a bearing
upon my belief in God or religion. But in trying to find the truth, I
have never regretted being true to myself. To slavishly follow others
is, to say the least of it, unmanly. I do not believe in evolution
because God has so made me that I can not. Wherever man came from, he
sprang not from anything beneath him. When a man asks me to believe a
thing that has not facts, but only theory to support it,--said theory
contradicting fact, experience and reason,--he asks me more than I can
grant. The thing is absurd, and must one day die.

I am agreeably surprised that we, as a people, have suffered so little
as yet from the sources of error referred to. Still they are all living
dangers, and if we would hold fast the faith once for all delivered to
the saints, we must see to our own standing, and as God has given us
opportunity let us be helpful to others. Our ground is God-given and
well tested. The fellowship with God and with each other that it has
brought to us has given us much happiness here. Let us be faithful and
earnest the few years that we have to remain here, and our happiness
will be increased when the Lord comes to reward us all according to our
works.