| Show I THE HOLY LANDBy LAND LANDI 0 L By Frederic J 3 Haskin k A ND suddenly there wu was with the AND angel a multitude of th heavenly host hoat praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace pace good will toward men This the first t Christmas greeting finds echo this week in the hearts of of Christians in all parts of the world who celebrate the birthday of ot Jesus Christ the Savior To each one of ot these Palestine that portion of Syria in which I is situated Bethlehem where Jesus was born Nazareth where He grew to man manhood manhood manhood hood and Jerusalem where He met His death is the Holy Land It is also the Holy Land to the millions of ot Jews who do not accept the faith of the followers of the greatest of the Jews for Jerusalem is now as 8 it has hall been since the day of David the capital and the Holy City of ot Israel Palestine is also the Holy Land to the followers of Mohammed for Islam as all well as Christianity and Jewry is upon the faith of Abra Abraham Abraham Abraham ham who offered up as a sacrifice his hla son Isaac upon the Mount the hill hUl where stood the Temple of Solo Solomon Solomon Solomen mon men where Jesus taught from whence Mohammed ascended into Heaven and where today stands the noble dome of ot the Mosque of Omar In the world work today there are Christians 19 and iIO Jews making makl g together of the total population of the world and more mel than a third of the civilised world who look upon Palestine as Holy HoI Land It is a tiny bit of country perhaps a hundred and fifty tifty miles long and fifty or sixty miles wide Within this narrow compass com la Is I contained a startling variety I of ot topographical wonders From the mountains of Lebanon at the north stretching to the desert which girts gUts Mount Sinai Sinal at the south the country is divided into four tour narrow strips stripe Along the coast a ribbon of green beauty then thena a rugged range of ot brown hills whose who e verdure has long since been stripped away then the depressed river valley leading down into the horrors honora of ot the Dead Sea and beyond that the purple peaks of those mountains whereon stood Moses Mo el when he was vouchsafed that one glimpse of the Promised Land which was to him forbidden 0 It is difficult for the twentieth century man be he Jew or Gentile to realise realize how bow small was the stage upon which was enacted those tho e great events which have shaped religious belief and which have molded political action in all Il the ocel dental world for nearly two thousand years It Ita Is a even more difficult to real realIze tee ice that Palestine today is the home of I Ithe the miserable ml descendants of ot those same people who were there when it became by successive alve dramas the Holy Hob Land Landof of Israel Christendom and Islam and that those tho e people now are engaged in a struggle for political freedom which has for the first time Ume united many men of many maDy faiths m ln n this country countr of ot religious strife It is difficult for Christians In America hearing hearl at this glad holiday season BeaSOn the ever new message announcing the th birth of the Prince of Peace to realise realf that in la the Holy Land It is necessary every hour of ot every day for Mohammedan sol soldiers diem diers to stand on guard guaM in Christian churches to prevent the rival sects of the followers of the lowly Jesus from cut cutting cutting cutting ting each others throats and from slay ing the Jews Jew in their own city It is difficult in this modern day da to realise why the physical misery and deg degradation degradation degradation of the Holy Land should not be overcome and alleviated by the hosts of ot Christian pilgrims who annually make the journey to the Ute scenes of the everyday life ute of ot their Savior Salor it is difficult to realise reali that in this country count where was revealed the religion of cleanliness that mortal men should be more dirty than thanin in any other place on earth It Is difficult ft cult to realize that in this land where the Great Physician healed the lepers and restored sight to the blind that there should be more lepers and more blind men than in any other country It Is difficult to realize that in Palestine from whence came the inspiration for tor the three religions which have h v made possible every progressive step in the western world that tt men mn live and have their being amid conditions practically unchanged ed from those thos which obtained two thousand years ago tO It is I difficult to realize that among at an the tb pope people of f all a II the world the peo people pie l of Palestine P should shoud be leaSt east responsive 4 0 0 c c 5 Oo I to the civilizing influence of at the railroad and the refining inspiration of the tale tele telegraph graph 0 But at this particular Christmas season In the year of Our Lord nineteen en hundred and nine the Christian world the rem remnant remnant nant of Israel and the household of the Prophet of Allah may rejoice together for the first time in the fulfillment for all of the words word of ot Simeon on of Jerusalem Lord Lordi now nw thou thy servant de do depart depart dopart part in peace according to thy word For mine eyes hav ha seen jeen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of ot all people A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel Within the year since last Christmas the light of ot freedom has broken upon this distressed ed Holy Land and for the first time in hi all the centuries its people have known the spirit of ot the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man For eighteen centuries it has been death for fora a Jew to tD enter the court yard of the Church the Holy Sepulchre For twelve hundred years no Jew has stood upon I Ithe the site of the Temple of Solomon Blood Bloodthirsty thirst thirsty Christians forgetting the words I of ot the Master upon the cross have mur murdered murdered I dered Jews who so much as dared to approach the grave of Jesus Cruel be believers Hovers lievers upon Mohammed have bave cut the throats of pious Jews who sought to lift Ift up their voices in prayer upon the hill I where Mel and Abraham Isaac IS ac and Jacob David and Solomon hose klah kiah and the Invoked the sue suc succor cor of at Jehovah Treacherous and an vindictive the tive Jews suffering under the persecutions Ions of ot centuries have dealt death to their enemies of other creeds Ever Lver since Jesus died on the cross of ot Calvary has hall Jerusalem and all this Holy Land been drenched with blood shed by murderers who slew their victims vl in the name of ot religion 0 0 Then came this year 1909 1900 of the Chris Christian Christian Christian tian era I of the Jewish era and 1827 1121 of the Mohammedan era and the light of liberty for the first time broke through the clouds of ot religious intolerance and Illumined the churches and synagogues I and mosques of ot the city of Jerusalem It I was the Young Turks revolution The despotic de Sultan Abdul Hamid was I overthrown and the constitution became a realty In benighted Turkey of which Palestine Is a part What a great cele celebration celebration bration It was in Jerusalem Young men I of every creed united In the demonstration I tion of joy jo Christians arm in arm arm with Jews and went boldly into the holiest of all holy boly Christian churches the th Church of the Holy Sepulchre and gave thanks for tor their new nw found foun l liberty took with them Jews and Christians Christiana to the platform of ot the tem temple temple tempie pie surrounding the Mosque of Omar I and gave gaye vent to tir h Joyous feelings Jews took Christians and Turkish political cal eal allies into the sacred precincts of their synagogues Every difference of ot faith was forgotten in the common joy Of course this religious union lasted only for fora a day and now the old linos lino are drawn again but they are not as taut as they used to be and never again will they mean death to the trespasser Turkey is 18 free and the Holy Land is delivered red from the curse of ot despotism 0 Not free tree in the sense ll nse that we Americans know f freedom edom for the habits of centuries centuries ries rles may not be overthrown entirely in ina ina ina a moment but free tree in the sense that for forthe forthe forthe the first time the spirit Of ot liberty and of ot universal brotherhood Is permitted to In Influence fluence the minds of the people The railroad the telegraph the newspaper and the schools now have their opportunity to remake and remold the Holy Land In Inthe inthe Inthe the light of true holiness At this Christmas son every even Ameri Amerl American can n ft Christian Protestant and Catholic and every American Jew should rejoice that it was the American Influence more than titan all else Besides that made possible these good tidings of great joy The American Missionary C Ci liege of Syria furnished the th basis of education which made the Young Turk movement pos poe possible possible sible The American Catholics In Jeru Jerusalem Jerusal Jerusalem salem sal m did their part in bringing to the people the knowledge knowl dge of ot free Institutions And more Indirectly Uy but none Ute the less Jese it was the American n influence OS OSIn in opening the empire of ot o to o west western w t tern ern em civilization that gave gae the Asiatic peo peoples pies ples s a new se sens s of o power p which h impelled the Turks In the near east to hi hiP i P c Z emulate late the example ef f the u I Japanese hi in the far east Not since the wise wille men of the east saw the Star of not since sine the an angelic host charmed the shepherds with their heavenly chorus not since I nce Jesus was laid in the manger has Ita there been such sucha a happy Christmas In Palestine as will be celebrated this month All AU Christendom will join with the Christians of the Holy HolyLand HolyLand HolyLand Land in the repetition of the good tidings ting Glory Olry to God G in the highest g and on onearth onearth earth erth peace good go will wi toward men mn Tomorrow The Holy Hoy Land II IL I The he Jerusalem Jele of Today Toy |
