CHAPTER IX. JERUSALEM, SYCHAR, NAZARETH, &c. MY LAST SABBATH IN JERUSALEM-PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE-DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM GIBEON BEERI (BEEROTH) BETHEL -SHILOH BIR EL LEBYAN MOUNTAINS OF EPHRAIM THE GROUND BOUGHT BY JACOB, OF THE SONS OF HAMOR JACOB'S WELL MOUNTS EBAL AND SEBASTE-ROAD TO NAZARETH EMBARRASSMENT - JENIN - PLAIN OF SCALE TYRIORUM EL JERUSALEM had become my home. It was with unspeakable delight that I again traversed the Mount of Olives, and beheld the Holy City lying before me, bathed in the rich tintings of the evening sun. When shall the Sun of Righteousness again rise upon her, with healing in His wings? We passed slowly down the descent-pausing a moment at Gethsemane, and marking the spot, not far distant, where they stoned the first Christian martyr-Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." The blood of the martyr still cries from the ground. Jerusalem cannot now hear the cry-her cars are closed. There is a day coming in which it will break forth upon her awakened sense with a voice of thunder. 330 MY LAST SABBATH IN JERUSALEM. It was a time of delightful repose which we passed, immediately after our return, within the cool walls of our convent-home, awaiting the dawn of the coming sabbath. My last Sabbath in Jerusalem! There was a melancholy feeling mingled in the joy with which I welcomed the light of that holy day. Earthly sabbaths must have an end, but I looked forward in humble and hopeful anticipation to the eternal "sabbath-keeping" of the people of God.' I was permitted once more to worship on Mount Zion. It was a season of serenity and peace. The evening was spent, as usual, with the good Bishop and his family, in religious exercises and profitable conversation. The Bishop solemnly laid it in charge upon us that we should "pray for the peace of Jerusalem," and reminded us. that they shall prosper who love her. Oh that the church. may be thoroughly awakened to the claims of Jerusalem, and that her heart may ere long yearn over the scattered thousands of Israel! I thank God that our own national church has made her stand. I look to Jerusalem now, with many a bright hope glowing in my heart. Does any man say"Where is the Diocese-where is the Church in Jerusalem ?" I turn to the word of prophecy: I hang upon the word of promise: I dwell on the immutable sanctity of the covenant; and there I find a fitting answer-the answer, not for the men of this world, but for the people of God. When James was consecrated first Bishop of the church in Jerusalem, doubtless there were men ready to say-"Where is the Diocesewhere is the Church?" The blindness of heart which then existed, has been perpetuated—is still manifest while we bid men regard the spiritual effort of our beloved church in Jerusalem, and say-"This hath God wrought.” As the day of our departure from the Holy City was drawing near, I availed myself of every opportunity for 1 Heb. iv. 9. There remaineth therefore a rest (außßatioμis —a sabbatkkeeping) to the people of God. 2 Psalm cxxii. 6. PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE. 331 visiting again and again the sacred localities of which I have already given a faint description; sometimes prolonging my stay among them till the setting sun gave notice of the closing of the city gates. Between five and six o'clock, in the morning of the fifth of July, I made my last visit to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a lovely, quiet scene and season. I seated myself under the shadow of one of the ancient olive trees, overlooking the spot of our Lord's betrayal-the terra damnata: there I read and meditated upon the narratives of the four evangelists, and gave myself up to the deep contemplation of them. Though it was a matter of unspeakable delight, thus, on the very spot, to dwell on the marvellous record, yet I think the recollection is still more delightful-more beneficial. As I have already taken occasion to observe it is the clinging to visible things-to memorials and to symbols, that has served to make the churches of the west and of the east so feeble in genuine faith, and so superstitious. Faith lives and expands while gazing on the invisible-on those things which the Spirit of God reveals, and which are only spiritually discerned. Yet it is a delightful exerciseto walk where the Saviour walked-to read and meditate and worship where he agonized and prayed; and it is not without its use. July 6th. This was the day of our departure from Jerusalem. It was a heavy day to me; for I felt as if about to quit one of the dearest spots of the earth. The three weeks of my sojourn had glided away all too rapidly. The morning was employed in packing and making ready our moveables, which had accompanied us in all the previous journeys. We had intended to start at two o'clock in the afternoon, in the hope of reaching Beyteen (Bethel) by sunset; but it was quite impossible to get the Muleteers to move with any thing like punctuality. No wheeled carriages of any kind are to be seen in Palestine; and if they were in existence, it would be utterly impossible to make way with them upon the stony and precipitous roads. All baggage is borne upon the backs of mules and asses, in the most primitive manner. 332 DEPARTURE FROM JERUSALEM. By about five o'clock we were loaded and ready to start. We left a suitable gratuity for our friends of the Latin convent, and found our horses awaiting us at the convent gates. We quitted the city by the Bethlehem gate, and took a last view of the heights of Mount Zion and the valley of Hinnom, as we awaited the arrival of our cavalcade, without the city walls. As we passed out of the city, we saw several lepers sitting by themselves, not far from the gate, soliciting charity from those who passed in and out. They presented a sad picture of suffering, wretchedness, and destitution. Our party was soon assembled. The cavalcade consisted of four mules and two asses, with the tents and baggage; each animal attended by a driver, one of whom was a Nubian slave—tall, slim, and as black as polished ebony. Then came the servants, who like ourselves were very fairly mounted on compact little palfreys supplied to us at Jerusalem. We took a north-westerly direction; and for rather more than half an hour, Jerusalem and its surrounding heights were still in sight. Again and again I paused and looked back as for a last glance. At length, between us and the city there lay a wide spreading track covered with vineyards and olive plantations, which gave an air of freshness and fertility to the otherwise bare and parched appearance of the soil. Another step-and I felt that Jerusalem would be no longer visible. I gazed then-for the last time indeed, upon the scene of my Saviour's humiliation and triumph. The last object I saw, was the Mount of Olives, and the scene of the ascension. Henceforth, Jerusalem will be to me a lovely a stately vision, ever present to my mind and to my heart. Mountains and valleys and oceans are now between us; but the mental portraiture can never be obliterated. Our route was dull, rugged, and dreary. Several points of great interest, however, presented themselves as we proceeded: such as Naby-Samuel-about two hours distant from Jerusalem, occupying the summit of a terraced hill. For many centuries this spot has been deemed the ancient Ramah, the GIBEON—BEERI (BEEROTI). 333 birth and burial place of the prophet Samuel-the spot from which he often surveyed and deplored the coming desolations of Judah, and contemplated the humbling apostacy of her king. Not far distant and upon an elevation of nearly equal height, was Bet-hanina (probably the abode of Hannah the mother of Samuel), and upon another, was Gibeah of Saul and Micmash. In front of us, and somewhat to the right, was El Geeb-the ancient Gibeon, which "was a great city, and one of the royal cities......greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty." The hill on which these remains now stand is remarkably round, and terraced in such a manner, that from a distance it has the appearance of being ascendible by a regularly formed flight of stairs on all sides. -“Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon." It was the scene of a marvellous transaction, and the place of a terrible slaughter, when the kings of the Amorites had gathered together against it, and when Joshua in the strength of the Lord, "discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah and unto Makkedah." Many and interesting are the scripture incidents of which Gibeon was the scene.' We did not ascend its heights, being desirous of reaching Beeri as early as possible after sunset. It was somewhat to have fixed our eyes upon so celebrated a locality. A continued ride of about four hours brought us to Beeri, the ancient Beeroth, where we resolved on pitching our tents for the night. Close by the spot selected was a delicious spring, the sound of which fell pleasantly on our ears after the heat and wearisomeness of our journey, as it gushed forth and deposited its streams in a rude stone trough, from whence it was turned into a small rill which wound among the gardens of the village. The village itself is poor and insignificant ; although when we arrived in the darkness of the evening, the sounds of dogs, loud and numerous, gave the idea of 1 Joshua x. 10, &c. 2 See 2 Sam. ii. 12; xx. 8; 1 Kings ii. 5; iii. 5. |