| Show IN PALESTINE A traveler who has reached jerusalem will likely also visit jericho the dead sea jordan and bethlehem to each of these places history is indebted for some of the most remarkable and important events ever recorded in the destruction of jericho and rf df the other cities of the P plain lain we read of gods justice wh while ile jordan and bethlehem 8 shall ha 1 I 1 ever stand as ae monuments of gods unfathomable love the places mentioned are therefore surrounded by a nimbus second in glory only to that of jerusalem the holy city and are every year visited by thousands of pilgrims and tourists it was early in the morning of february when our little party having secured three donkeys and a guide aide left jerusalem for jericho we ve crossed the valley of rode past gethsemane following a road that winds a around ro u n d the slopes of mt olivet an and d p passed m sed through agh bethania Bet bania let us halt here a few minutes in this peaceful little village our savior often rested when he visited this part of the country here was the home of lazarus mary and martha of whom we read and jesus loved these three here J jesus ezitis was anointed before his death by mary matthew 6 joshua xii 3 here lazarus was raised from the dea dand here jesus stayed over night the last week before his crucifixion the hatred of the jews then compelled him to seek shelter outside the city of jerusalem and he came it appears every night out to this place about twenty win nain utes journey from the city after having poured out oat his soul iu ia fervent prayer under the heavy shadows of the olive trees by the woodside at present bethania is only a very small small place hidden behind numerous olive fig and almond trees the arabs call it el Asari asaree jell the place of lazarus having left bethania the road to jericho leads through the so called desert of judah there is nothing of particular interest in this wildly sublime region except perhaps the road itself it was in this region that christ was tempted after his baptism and somewhere here the good samaritan found the victim of the robbers bleeding by the roadside I 1 constantly admired the skill of our donkeys in preserving their and our equilibrium on this truly dangerous road they performed miracles in this respect they trudged faithfully along without hesitation 3 unconcerned whether the way lay uphill up hill or down whether the road had been cut right through a rock or laid on the edge of a precipice with an abyss of some meters deep beneath always forward that was the motto of those donkeys we consequently reached jericho after six hours ride and concluded to stay there over ni night lit RZ the ancient jericho was an important and well forti fortified fled city the residence of one of the kings when the israelites came from the wilderness it seems that the inhabitants made no effort to hinder their progress it was at a period od of the year when the jordan had ad become swollen and flooded the country wherefore the Canaan ites probably probably thought it impossible for oshua joshua to cross with his army but they counted without god the waters were divided israel crossed over without difficulty and jericho fell at the sound sou nd of the trumpets the city c 1 taw was as demolished and a curse was to be pronounced upon any one who undertook to rebuild it this curse fell upon hiel of bethel who would again fortify the place 1 kings 16 1634 34 in the days of the prophet ejijah elijah a prophet school flourished here some of the children of israel who returned from babylonia babelonia Baby lonia settled at this place and from that time it commenced to rise in importance in the ninth century after christ there was considerable farming in the whole region which was celebrated more particularly for its sugar cane but since the became masters everything has retrograded the present jericho is called er riah biah 11 and is situated about a mile ana and a half from the a spot t where ancient jericho stood rust near enough to kletthe let the people hear the howls of jackals jackala and hysenaj hy hye senas enas which make the night hideous on the once en sanguinet san guined battlefields jose josephus hus calls this region the fattest fattes of judea and there is no doubt that V a rational and efterp enterprising erter ing population would still be able amply to verify this three hours ride over the plain from jericho or rather I 1 ler er riah biah takes us to the barren shore of the dead sea on our road we see to the right a chapel I 1 built over the s spot ot where moses was buried although trough he was dead before the people entered canaan and notwithstanding the fact that nobody knew where he was buried but here in the holy land one must not be astonished toni shed at anything on the left we passed the place where john the baptist used to live As soon as we reached the sea we jumped off our donkeys and after the necessary pre preparations orations plunged into the water it t was a beautiful day the sun showered upon us his brightest smiles and the bath was truly refreshing from my early school days I 1 had got ot the impression that the dead 1 sea ea was a kind of ghostly sheet of water giving the impression of a corpse this idea is altogether wrong viewed on a clear sunny bunny day it presents to the eye a truly beautiful landscape the water has a deep blue color the surrounding mountains lift their heads majestically towards the sky and the contrast is very striking were the shores enlivened with human dwellings and the waves ploughed sloughed hed by neat crafts one could hardly desire a better motive for landscape painting As it is perfect stillness prevails one feels as though he were alone in a neglected corner of gods vast house but the magnificent scenery is there the dead sea is 75 kilometres kilo metres long and 15 wide covering an area of square kilometres kilo metres it lies metres under the surface of the mediterranean and its greatest depth is metres it has no outlet whatever the great volume of water with which it is constantly supplied through the river biver jordan must consequently evaporate this it does the hot dry air drinks it all even perceptibly diminishing as has been recently dW discovered the quantity of the water in the sea the water in this sea contains 25 per cent of mineral stuff gium chlor magnesium clum etc it to is clear that no n known species of animals can live in it but the shores are very verdal verdant wherever the water from the river or the springs can exercise their influence fl bence at the time ot of abraham and lot the whole region was as a garden as the land of egypt and with the blessings of god it is still capable of great things from the shore of so remarkable a sea we hasten to view the swelling waves of jordan we camp a moment at Jor danford alel el helu 11 here so says tradition is the place where john the baptist baptized the thousands who confessed their sins here jesus was baptized here st christopher carried carrie jesus across the water if roman tradition knows anything about it here the thousands of pilgrims who come to jerusalem to worship generally flush bush their pilgrimage with a bath and they usually take some water home with them in which to baptize infants or for fer other religious purposes the shores here are high and muddy the current is rapid and nothing looked as if a bath here would be a pleasant thing the water itself was of a muddy yellow color from jerusalem to bethlehem there is a very good road and a traveler can therefore in a wagon make a trip to that city and return the same day bethlehem was for a long time a small place the least the princes of judah micah v 1 but it soon became renowned on account of the great men who here first saw the light of day david was from bethlehem and in the mountain hills bills surrounding it he as a shepherd performed his first act of heroism from bethlehem were also joab abisai and ashael the great generals of davids army and here our blessed lord was born bom while the heavenly hosts announced the fact with songs of praise whose echoes reached even mortal ears in the stillness of night Reli B boam fortified the city but it was taken by the armies of and with the rest of the cities of judah demolished after the destruction of jerusalem by titus several jews still lived in this city but the emperor adrian drove them away many battles have after this time been fought here and the history of the last one belongs probably yet to the future the city is situated metres above the sea on two hills it is surrounded by verdant fields and gardens and has increased in size considerably of late years ILs Es inhabitants are now estimated at in number most of whom are catholics only a few are mabom madans and still fewer protestants their theft chief sources of living are agriculture horticulture and manufacture of e crucifixes cruci fixes lockets dockets lock ets rosaries and other trinkets necessary to the happi happiness nesa of ladies of the catholic persuasion peddlers from bethlehem now travel all over the world with these tri trifles fies and seem to do a profitable business the most remarkable building in bethlehem is the church of mary st marla maria a the church is built over a cave which according to tradition is the one in which jesus was born the entrance is an old plain portal filled up with rocks and mortar so that a very narrow opening bening only is left this has been done in order to prevent the from using the building as a stable the inside of the church is well worth seeing it still shows remnants of past lory glory and one must regret a vandalism that has spoiled the beautiful works of art that once ornamented this edifice having viewed the various altars pictures and statues of the church we take a candle and follow our guide ide down into the cave where th christ rist was born bom the walls are here covered with marble and fifteen silver lamps throw a m magical agi light in the little ch chapel apel A star of silver surrounded by the following inscription indicates the spot hie de argeiw maria afatia je jesus 8 christus nata est 1 9 here jesus christ was born bom of the tb virgin mary in another place w we are shown a marble crib and in yet another we see the very spot where the astronomers of the orient wor shipped the newborn new born king of the jews we are also shown a hlein the ground a well being the one in which fell the star which guided the three astronomers to bethlehem whether the star is still in the well or whether it proceeded further down is not known we likewise kewis li visit the grave of saint hieronim hie Hier who spent twenty years in palestine and who is the author of the latin bible translation known under the name of vulgate this bible is remarkable in several respects it is the first book ever printed and notwithstanding its errors it has gradually gained the reputation of an inspired work that is in the catholic church its ite text is made up partly from the so called old italic but is mostly a direct translation from the hebrew it gener generally aliv follows the septuagint even where this differs from the hebrew the psalms were made u up from Ori origen genS and is 8 called the Galli canum this patchwork revised by later scholars among whom are alcuin and lang franc is the inspired bible of the great reat infallible church of the world weaven heaven preserve us from such infallibility such were my thoughts when 1 stood on the spot where I 1 was told the venerable man rested who bad conceived the idea of translating the scriptures into the latin ton but we have one more place to see before leaving bethlehem vve W are taken to a cave called the cave of our dear lady this Is one in the rock mined cavity here the virgin once nursed her child A few drops of her sacred 1 wilk fell on the ground hence if the tb ladies take some of the limestone on the ground and dissolve it in water and drink the water they are are for ever free from the necessity of using nursing bottles for their little ones that a blessing whether the stone is calabre of producing beneficial results among the cows also als did not appear from the statement of 01 our innocent guide but as I 1 bought bough a few specimens of the stone I 1 may for the further enlightenment of the world experiment with it in tl the 10 corral as soon as I 1 return home to utah until then the many readers of this sketch who are now anxious ly waiting to see my specimen I 1 will have to control themselves can do no better having seen these wonders wonder we w naturally enter the shops where curiosities are sold sola we here afo ar surrounded by all sorts of objects paper r nives knives penholders pen holders bro brooches brioche beads s lockets dockets lock ets rosaries crucifix candlesticks tu gumbl in alel of etc some are of wood some 01 bone some of rock some of oyster shell and all are sacred from tn the fact that they have been made III sacred spot J M PALES PALESTINE TniE apri 16 15 |
