Show LETTER FROM PALESTINE in taking a glance at the map of the holy land it is found that the road from jaffa to haifa passes for the freater greater part over ever the he celebrated plain lain of sharon this plain which extends from jaffa to and from the mountains of judea and samaria to the mediterranean was anciently famed for its fertility and sui suitability for pas paa burage here the rose of sharon which furnished solomon with one of his grandest poetical figures of spee h is supposed to have grown Q agee songs angs of solomon ii 1 1 over this flowery plain prophets and apostles have often trod myriads of crusaders have here felt their hearts swell with wild enthusiasm As the great plain is tod today avd it reminds one of the word of god the earth mour neth and languish eth lebanon is ashamed and hewn down sharon sharob is like a wilderness isaiah 83 33 9 but in seeing this how joyful it is to remember at the same time that there still is hope for the desolate places the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad the excellency of carmel and sharon they shall see the glory of the lord and the excellency of our god isaiah 12 I 1 was contemplating these truths as I 1 rode out from jaffa in company with brother smart one day at the beginning of this month in order to visit haifa on the route between these two cities but few objects of interest are found to common tourists except what remains of the once celebrated town of caesarea one drives through the thrifty little german colony of sarona and then after a little while crosses the largest river on the plain at this time of the year owing to an unusual sear scarcity of rain one could cross crom the river on foot jumping from rock to rock but in the late spring when river and brooks are full of water it is quite deep however the donkeys horses and camels usually wade it with riders in the saddles A great object of interest to me lue was the jewish colo colony ny a little farther on called the door of hope we halted at this place for an hour and a half and had a good opportunity to look round the be streets though a falling shower of rain did not contribute to the pleasure like the rest of the jewish colonies this door of hope presented an inviting appearance A great well or cistern in the entrance to the colony from the interior of which water was constantly drawn by a blindfolded mule working an ingenious but rudely constructed pump was a prominent feature of the establishment the water was good and even the surrounding bedouins Bedou ins whose tents were won seen in picturesque groups at a distance on the plains seemed to a appreciate r its qualities I 1 conclude this from the fact that dark bare armed damsels were coustant constantly ly seen coming to fill their big jars at the well and it was interesting to see representatives of the two brother nations the jews and the arabs in unity and peace enjoy the refreshing gift of nature water always was and pro probably batly always will be a precious thing in palestine lestine ja from Phet aoh we drove on over the plain passing the ruins of arsua an interesting edifice imposing even in its ite destroyed condition from the explanations given by the driver who by the way was a young ayoung jew from jaffa I 1 gathered that this is the place by josephus mentioned as apollonia the driver told me that here was fought the barst battle between the jews and the romans but he evidently mixed history up a little referring rat rather herto to the battle between the armies of saladin and coeur de lion in the year 1191 bound these ruins bedouins Bedou ins swarm ignorant probably of the fact that they are treading on the dust of immortal heroes buffaloes are seen feeding in the adjacent marshes now the road continues through a fertile land we amp several villages all quite quile diminutive the boys congregate as our vehicle approaches pro aches and a shower of rocks and pebbles are thrown at us some of these missiles hit the wagon and make our friend the jew feel like pronouncing a blessing upon the little sinners one of my fellow passengers an arab jumps out and offers to take up the battle against the whole mob he advances a few steps with rapid strides and sends a few rocks into the ranks of the attacking army A panic ensues the said army barefoot etc runs howling each man his disown own way to find shelter in the village our valiant defender the arab resumes his seat in the wagon and triumphantly we that is our horses trudged along never was a more mo re uneven battle fought except at thermopile Thermo pyle the battle of narva where each swede fought against ten russians was nothing compared to this the place of interest on this road is as already intimated caesarea now called its bast vast ruins now serve mainly as quarries building rocks are constantly carried away from here and used for building up other places thus many of the elegant new edifices of jaffa are made up of rocks from the fallen palaces of the city caesarea was built by herod the great who spared no pains nor expense in its erection this monarch is celebrated for his great architectural enterprises in jerusalem he built a theatre an amphitheatre a royal palace and commenced the restoration of the temple the old cal capital 01 kingdom or of ten tribes samaria he reconstructed and gave it a new name sebaste and tyre sidon beirouty Bei routh damascus antiochia and even athen were by him ornamented with monumental edifices caesarea was an important city on the road between egypt and phoenicia A herod with an eye open to the advantages of the situation did all he could to secure its prosperity and succeeded so well that some time after his death caesarea was the chief town in palestine it was the residence of festus and felix and other roman governors but since alie time of the crusades the place has gradually sunk into insignificance and ruin its inhabitants at present consist chiefly of a small number of bosnians Bosn ians who have made their residence here and built a few small houses what a subject for reflection is hovel A traveler may conjure up before his mina the pomp and splendor of the roman city in its days of glory when port and streets were alive with commerce and its temples and palaces gay with fest ivirty its ite citadel filled with invincible legions of the proud roman army and now see ruins upon ruins ste sic transit gloria mundi irk in the new testament caesarea Cee sarea is often referred to paul once in order to escape the persecutions of the jews in damascus was let iown down by the ethern bretherd br from a wall and hurried off to caesarea where he found a vessel to take him to his native town tarsus acts 9 30 here dwelt cornelius the roman centurion who together with his family was the first heathen convert to Christl christianity aulty and who would not have been baptized at all unless god had taught peter iu in a vision not to count any man unclean on account of his birth acts 10 11 here dwelt philip the Evar evangelist gelist who was the father of four daughters all virgins who had the gift of prophesying acts 21 8 16 again we find paul here guarded by two hundred soldiers and horsemen threescore three score and ten and spear nien men two hundred come here in order to be tried before felix the governor on a charge no doubt of being a conspirator spi against the state acts 23 and here on this occasion the great apostle preached hi his 8 memorable sermon to felix on righteousness temperance ana judgment at which the governor trembled in his very soul a fact easily understood if we remember that according to josephus Joa ephus this same governor who was to try a righteous servant of was himself living in adultery with drusilla Drus llla the wife of the late king of edessa edema but is not the world always like itself but I 1 must come back again to our journey we bad left jaffa at 7 am we arrived in at 10 p m our resting place for the night is another jewish colony founded by the baron as child is here generally called by the jews I 1 was told that this colony now has about five hundred inhabitants and although it is only six year eold old the progress is every where visible and its future prosperity seems secured it is true the colony has still to be supported from the outside aud and the baron Is ia sending every month the wherewithal to cultivate soil build houses and make general improvements the people have been employed in agriculture to a great extent but as this is deemed less profitable than the culture of the vine this will now be the chief employment of the colonists one feature is 18 well worth mentioning the baron has erected agricultural schools where young men receive scientific instruction pertaining to agriculture particularly recently the best instructed young men seven in number were selected in one of these schools and assisted to found a colony of their own a couple of hours from I 1 had bad the pleasure of conversing with one of these young men and it was gratifying to note the expressions of patriotism and confidence in the work he expressed as he be pointed to a little group of neat houses between some hillis hilla saying that is ow our own colony it has been very pleasing to me to y note en an my trips through the holy land nd the progress everywhere going on land is being cultivated old oia vineyards are being cleared and planted canted water cisterna cic cle terna terns and roads M built it no wonder that the present preel nt movement in palestine is causing universal attention the world falls to comprehend the movement that is going on they gee that this is a strange one an event unlooked unlocked for the believer has been looking out for it and knows what it signifies one thought has struck me forcibly during my stay among the jews in jerusalem hebron and in other places the jews themselves need to be enlightened upon the subject of gathering they come from almost all quarters of the globe they are attracted to this land as to the land of the cradle of their nation and mandof many of them feel happy if they can drag their old tabernacles over continents aud and oceans and come and die here but in general there seems to be no particular reticular enlightenment on the subject aubye ct of gathering A mission to the jews therefore 6 the object of which would be to enlighten the scattered nation upon the subject of gathering as foretold by their ancient prophets would be a work of vast importance just at this time but no christian denomination need spend money on it the quibbles of the christians and their silk lined priest are too thin their day is past with the superstitious ages that originated them the jews need messengers sent from the jorj and they will have them for the time is at hand while at t this his having a line fine time in utah with snow ice fee and winds the farmers here have just commenced to plough cugh and to put in their grain for the t e year the grass is coming up nicely to the finy great t flowers joy oy of cows sheep and goats tiny flowers are peeping timidly up from their hiding places in the ground just to see what is going on and the bright colored b birds I 1 rd sing sweet melodies to cheer nature once again to renewed efforts after the long hot season thus things are reversed but the same divine wisdom superintends super intends the work here and there J M 8 HAIFA december 1889 |