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by an eminent saint, whose name it bears. The number of monks and servants belonging to the establishment is about twenty five.

At St. Saba we were advised not to proceed without getting the Shekh of the Bedouins to accompany us. "Hire the Captain of the robbers to go with you," said one, "and the rest of the gang will not molest you." A messenger was therefore

Journey to the Dead Sea and the river despatched in the evening to find Shekh

Jordan.

Ahmed.

Jerusalem, Monday, June 2, 1823. Busy in preparing for a journey to the Dead Sea The Shekh arrived in the morning with and the Jordan. I am sometimes wearied twelve armed men. For five dollars he agreed with the perplexity of packing and unpack- || to furnish them with a sufficient escort. It ing books and clothes, procuring provis- was composed of the Shekh and four of his ions, engaging attendants, getting letters followers, armed with muskets, pistols and and passports, and encountering the fa- daggers. At 7 o'clock they left the hospitatigues and perils that always attend trav-ble monks, and pursued their way eastwardelling in this country. I am a pilgrim, a traveller, a stranger. I have no home on earth. I would seek one in a better country. If my pilgrimage is soon to terminate, may I be ready. If I am to live and labor long, may I have grace to do it faithfully.

ly among steep and rocky mountains. On the top of one of them they saw an edifice which the Turks visit and venerate as the tomb of Moses, but which the Greeks say was a convent, built by a saint named Moses, and called by his name, which the Turks, when they conquered the country, mistook for the name of the prophet.

tains, about an hour after we left the conAt the summit of one of these mounvent, we came in sight of the Dead Sea, but instead of pursuing our course directly towards it, we turned to the north east. I brought away a sample of the rock which composes these mountains, and which was strongly impregnated with sulphur.

It was now the Fast of Ramazan, when the Turks eat and drink all night and sleep all the day. Passports and a Guard, which had been promised by the Governor, could not be obtained till five o'clock P. M. of the following day. As often as they applied, they received answer, that the Governor was asleep. The company, consisting of the missionaries, Wolff, Fisk and King, two Turkish soldiers, two other armed Turks, three Germans and a Greek, reached the Convent of St. Saba after a ride of three experiment with a part of this stone, by After my return to Jerusalem, I made an hours and a half. The road lay along the placing it on hot coals. A strong stench side of a hill, with a valley several hundred of sulphur issued from it, and it soon befeet deep below; the sides of it steeper gan to blaze. The blaze rose four or five than the roof of almost any house. This is a inches high, and continued about two mincontinuation of the valley of Cedron and the utes. I kept the stone on the coals for valley of Jehoshaphat. The convent, accord- || diminished in size, but considerably in It was not apparently at all ng to the account of the Superior, was found-weight; and became soft and white liké ed in the time of Justinian, 1300 years ago, chalk, whereas it was at first hard and al

half an hour.

VOL. XX.

13.

most black. Josephus says that God kindled the fire which destroyed Sodom by a thunderbolt. Ant. B. I. Ch. xi. Sect. 4.

The Dead Sea.

A quarter before eleven we entered the extensive plains of the Jordan north of the Dead Sea. At half past 11 we arrived at the Sea. The water looks remarkably clear and pure, but, on taking it into my mouth, I found it nauseous and bitter, I think beyond any thing I ever tasted. It has been said that these "waters are so heavy, that the most impetuous winds can scarcely ruffle their surface." Nothing

could be more entirely without foundation. The wind was by no means impetuous when we were there, and yet the waves ran so high, that I found difficulty in filling some bottles with the water. My clothes were wet by the waves, and as they dried, I found them covered with salt. It has been said that birds cannot fly over this sea; but we saw a great number flying about its shores, and I once observed three at a time flying over the water. It is said no vessels ever sail on it. This is true, and the reason is obvious. There are no vessels here, nor is there any person either desirous or capable of constructing one.

The river Jordan.

We wished to see the mouth of the Jordan. Chateaubriand speaks of this as "an essential point which Hasselquist alone had hitherto explored." We informed the Arabs and Turks of our wishes. They objected, but, as we insisted on going, they yielded. We had already been riding an hour on the sea shore, and we were another hour before we came to the stream. Its banks, except near the mouth, are covered with bushes. It is a small river, and, as might be expected in such a plain, its course, near the sea, is very slow and quiet. The bushes and marshy ground did not permit us to follow up the bank of the river; we therefore turned back into the plain. After riding sometime we came to a mound, or little hill, with either a column or a pile of stones on its summit. I inquired what it was, and one of the Arabs said "Nabi Ibrahim;" but another of them told Mr. King, that it was called Galgala. Query. Is this the Gilgal, where Joshua placed the twelve stones which he took out of Jordan? See Joshua 4:19,20. At half past two we arrived at the Jordan, at the place where pilgrims usually visit it, and where the Israelites passed over on dry ground, "right against Jericho." From the Dead Sea to this place the ground is, most of the way, completely barren, and appears like a mix

ture of black earth and ashes. Not a green thing appears. I swam across the river, and took a walk in the plain of Moab, in the inheritance of Reuben, "on the other side Jordan, toward the rising of the sun." After this I sat on the bank, and read the third chapter of Joshua. I also read Matthew third, and offered a prayer in Greek with two Greeks, while Mr. Wolff read in German to the Germans I do not suppose a

who were with us. prayer is any more acceptable to God for being offered in a particular place; yet I shall never envy the man, who could read these two chapters and pray on the shores of the Jordan, without any peculiar emotions. After riding over the parched plain, we drank freely of the water of Jordan, though it was muddy. We found the current very rapid, but not deep. While we were on the shore two Bedouin horsemen forded the river. These were the first human beings we had seen, since we had left St. Saba. The whole country which we had passed through is a desert, with no inhabitant except Bedouins, who resort to it, especially in winter, when they find, in different places, pasturage for their flocks.

Jericho.

At six o'clock they reached Jericho, having turned out of the way to visit the ruins of the Greek convent of Jerasmius. They took up their lodgings for the night, men and horses all together, in an open yard of the castle. "The castle itself is little else than a pile of ruins." The walls of the dirty huts that compose the modern Jericho are of rough stone, like the stone fences of New England, the roofs are of bushes and mud. The whole number of inhabitants is about two or three hundred.

At a little distance from Jericho they visited a fountain of pure water issuing from the foot of the mountain Quarantania, on which mountain tradition says that Christ fasted forty days. The stream from this fountain supplies Jericho, and irrigates a considerable tract of land around it, which is consequently very fertile. "This is probably the fountain, whose deadly waters Elisha healed."

June 5. The company arrived safely at their lodgings in the Holy city-"extremely fatigued, but grateful that they had been enabled to perform this interesting journey in safety."

The Arabs call the Dead Sea, Bahar Loot, (the sea of Lot,)—and the River Jordan, Nahar el Chiria, or Shareeah,

Apple of Sodom.

We

We searched for the famous apple of Sodom, and found two kinds of fruit, either of which, with the help of a little poetic imagination, might pass for the fruit in question. One kind grows in abundance near the Jordan where we bathed. plucked a few of the apples, which were probably of last year's growth. They were black and dry, and did not in outward appearance correspond with what is said of the apple of Sodom. Perhaps, however, it is different when the fruit first ripens. On opening these apples, (if I may call them so,) we found the inside soft and dry like the pith of an elder, or of a cornstalk that is thoroughly dried. There is no pulp in the inside, and generally but one or two seeds. These resemble apple seeds. We cannot however, fairly judge of this fruit, without seeing it when it first comes to maturity.

The other fruit, which we observed, and which seems to me more like the apple in question, grows around Jericho. It looks very inviting, but its taste is extremely bitter and disagreeable. One of the Arabs told me it was poisonous. Chateaubriand, who thought this the apple of Sodom, says, "When dried it yields a blackish seed, which may be compared to ashes, and which in taste resembles bitter pepper." Whether either of these is the apple of Sodom, or whether there is any such apple, even after all that Josephus and Tacitus and others have said about it, I will not attempt to decide. The Bible says of the Israelites, when they sin, "Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps." Deut. 32:32,33. This is figurative language, and means that the Israelites should reap bitter fruits from their sinful practices, as the inhabitants of Sodom had done. May not all that is said of the apple of Sodom have originated from a similar metaphor?

One of our Arabs was named Nasar Allah, (the Help of God.) I asked him where he liked best to live, in the desert or in the city? He replied, "In the desert." I asked why? His answer was striking and characteristic, "I am a son of the desert, I am not a son of the city."

On the 8th day of June Mr. Fisk had a conversation with Abraham Shliffro, in which Shliffro assented to all the leading truths of Christianity, and said that he did not tell his countrymen his belief, but should do it if they asked him. In reply to the inquiry what he supposed the Jews would do to him if he

should do this, he said, "Reproach and persecution I think I could bear; but I fear they would secretly take my life."

Mr. F. was told by a Coptic priest that there are thirty or forty Copts, and among them four priests, in Jerusalem. He could not learn that there were any Syrians, except a bishop, one priest, one layman, and a few nuns. An Abyssinian priest representSyrians as all united and good friends. ed the Abyssiniaus, Copts, Armeniaus and

June 16. In the afternoon we made a visit to the Greek Metropolitans, and then went into the library of their convent. Among the manuscripts we found an ancient copy of the New Testament, which we spent some time in examining. The disputed passage, 1 John, 5:7, is entirely wanting. The 7th and 8th verses stand thus; "For there are three that bear record, the spirit, and the water, and the blood," &c. Acts 20:28, reads thus; "the Church of the Lord and God, (τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ θεοῦ,) which he hath purchased" &c. 1 Tim. 3:16, and Rom. 9:5, are as in the common copies now in use.

17. We went to the nunnery of St. Mary the Great. There are twenty eight or thirty nuns. Several of their rooms are well furnished, and they received us with much civility: We conversed with them a long time on religious subjects. They remembered the visit of our dear Brother Parsons, and spoke of it with pleasure.

The whole number of Greek convents in Jerusalem is fourteen. Most of them are designed principally for the accommodation of pilgrims. There are generally but very few monks or nuns in them, and in one instance the Superior occupies his convent alone.

Friday, June 20. A little past noon we walked down to the west wall of the temple on mount Moriah, where the Jews go on Friday to lament over the destruction of the Temple. The wall where we saw them appeared to be 50 or 60 feet high, in the lower part of it were nine rows of stones, each about three feet and a half thick; and then sixteen rows of smaller ones. These two parts of the wall appear to have been built at different times. Probably the lower stones were employed in the second temple; for, though its walls were thrown down, there is no reason to suppose that all the stones were removed. The Jews themselves say that no part of the wall of the second temple now exists. The Jews pay annually a certain sum to the Turks for the privilege of visiting this

place. We found about thirty of them sitting on the ground near the wall, and reading from their Hebrew books. It was deeply affecting to see these lineal descendants of Abraham, most of them poor and ragged, sitting in the dust, and paying for the privilege of weeping, where their fathers sung and rejoiced and triumphed; miserable slaves on the very spot where their fathers were mighty kings! A Jew accompanied us. In the market a Turk, too lazy to light his own pipe, called on the Jew to do it for him. The Jew refused, and the Turk was rising in a rage to pursue him, when, perceiving that the Jew was accompanying us, he desisted. 'Soon after this a Turkish peasant, who was carrying a sack of water, called to the Jew, in a very domineering manner, to assist in emptying the water into a vessel. We interfered, and nothing more was said. Poor Jews! when will they learn the true cause of their oppression, and repent, and turn to God?

We

Lord's day, June 22. This is the Pentecost of the Oriental Christians. arose soon after day break, and went out to mount Zion. Without the city, on the summit of the mount, is the burying place of the Christians. The Greeks hold one part, the Armenians another, and the Catholics a third, all in the same plat of ground. The Greeks resort this morning to that place to pray for the dead. One of the bishops and a great number of priests were present. The multitude stood up while prayers were read, and sat on the ground to hear lessons from the scriptures. During this service three priests, with censers in their hands, walked about among the tombs, and said short prayers whenever requested to do so by surviving friends, from whom they received fees on the occasion. The Greeks do not believe in purgatory, yet they pray for the dead, and have a confused idea that the dead may, in some way or other, be benefited by their prayers.

South-east of this burying ground is a small Turkish village which the Jews call "the city of Zion." It is surrounded by a wall, and contains several houses and a mosque. Here according to tradition are the tombs of David and his successors. See 1 Kings 2:10, and. 11:43, and 14:31. Christians also believe that in this place Christ instituted the Holy Supper; but neither are the Jews now permitted to enter the tombs of their kings, nor the Christians the room where they believe their Lord instituted the holy sacrament. Just before the Greeks concluded their service, the Armenian Patriarch, with a considerable number of priests and people, came out of a convent and went in procession, preceded by a Janizary, as is common on such occasions, to their burying ground,

to pray for their deceased friends. We went into the Armenian convent. Its chapel is small but very richly ornamented.

From the burying place the Greeks returned to the city and went to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The archbishop of Lydda presided. The priests who were to assist him in the service came out from behind the altar, and bowed before it with their faces to the floor, and then in the same manner before the Archbishop, kissed his hands, bowed again, and then prepared to commence their unintelligible repetition of prayers. But I am tired of describing, and even of witnessing this endless round of ceremonies.

26. Busy in preparing to leave Jerusalem. During two months that we have been

of the Sce, we have sold eighty-four copies Scriptures and given away fifty-two, and 770 tracts. Brother Wolff remains to labor a little longer among the Jews, and after that he proposes to rejoin us on mount Lebanon.

On the 27th they left Jerusalem, spent the following night at Ramle, the ancient Arimathea, passed through Lyd, the Lydda of the scriptures, in the morning, and arrived at Jaffa in the course of the second day. From Jaffa they set sail on the 2d of July, in an open boat, for Acre, where they arrived the next morning. They had to wait an hour in their boat, till permission was obtained from the Pacha for them to land. "This is the law concerning all foreigners who visit Acre." On the 4th they arrived at Tyre.

Tyre is a walled village, and stands on a peninsula, which was formerly an island. See Isaiah 23d, and Ezekiel 26th, and 27th and 28th. Maundrel describes Tyre in 1697 as being completely in ruins, "there not being so much as one entire house left." "Its present inhabitants, (he observes,) are only a few poor wretches, harboring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing."

In 1820 the Greek Catholic Archbishop estimated the whole population at 3500. Mr. Fisk inquired of two men, one of whom said 500 Mussulmans and as many Christians, the other said 500 Mussulmans and 300 Christians. The accuracy of such estimates is of course uncertain.

July 5. About six o'clock we left Tyre for Sidon. At half past 11 we saw a village on the mountains on our right, which the Arabs call Sarphant, supposed to be the ancient Sarepta, Luke 4:26, and Zareph ath, 1 Kings 17:9,10, and Obad.

20th. At 3 we arrived at Saide, (Zidon,) || and took up our lodgings in the house of the English Agent. We soon after had the happiness to meet with the Rev. Mr. Lewis, a missionary from the London Jews Society, who came out with Mr. Way.

By Mr. Lewis they received letters, and Bibles and tracts for distribution, from the missionaries at Malta. Much of the next day, which was the Sabbath, they spent with much satisfaction in his society. "We rejoice, say they, to see the number of missionaries increasing in this country."

The population of Sidon was estimated by one man at 100 or 150 Jews, 300 or 400 Christians, Maronites and Catholics, and 5,000 or 6,000 Mussulmans. By another, 4,000 Christians, and 6,000 Mussulmans.

On the 10th they went from Sidon to Beyrout. On their way they passed two small rivers, of which Mr. Fisk says, "Though these streams are mere rivulets, yet except the Nile and the Jordan, they are the largest I have seen in the East."

13. We called to pay our respects to the Reverendissimo, or superior of all the Latin convents in the Holy Land. We knew him at Jerusalem, and he is now making a tour to visit the convents in these parts. We conversed with him about the Millennium. He does not believe there will be a Millennium. Satan is already bound by the efficacy of Christian Catholic Baptism, as much as he ever will be. The Jews are at last to be converted, and their conversion is to be a sign that the end of the world is at hand. But whether there will be a Millennium or not, he says, is not an article of faith, for the Church has never given her decision on the subject.

Beyrout as a missionary station.

14. One consul estimated the population of Beyrout at 14,000 or 15,000; another at only 3,000 or 4,000. Mr. Fisk judges the least number to be nearest the truth. Of this place as a missionary station he writes thus.

Beyrout seems to me to possess many important advantages as a missionary station. It is situated at the foot of mount Lebanon, and a missionary might very profitably spend the hot months of the summer among the convents and villages of the mountains, many of which are within a few hours ride of the town. Occasional visits might be made to Damascus, which is only three days off. On the other hand, it is only one or two days sail to

Cyprus. On the coast south of Beyrout you reach Sidon in one day, and Tyre in two, and to the west, in two or three days, you arrive at Tripoli, where I understand there are many Greeks. It would be easy to maintain correspondence with all these places, and to supply them with books. In Beyrout itself a missionary who could preach in Italian might, I think, collect a small congregation immediately; and if he were disposed to open a school, there are probably few places in Syria that would be so promising. Another circumstance which, though not perhaps very important in itself, will yet weigh something in the mind of a missionary, is, that here he will find, oftener than any where else in Syria, opportunities to receive and forward communications. Here, too, he will enjoy the protection of an English Consul, and the society and friendship of several other consuls and their families. I think a missionary family would be more comfortably situated at Beyrout, than at any other place which I have seen in Syria.

LETTER FROM MALTA.

It was mentioned at p. 31 of the Herald for January, that Messrs. Goodell and Bird were, at the date of their latest communications, expecting soon to leave Malta for Palestine. We have received a letter from Mr. Bird, dated Oct. 20th, a few days later than the preceding intelligence. After mentioning the receipt of communications from the missionsries in Syria, he says;―

In this intelligence we found our design of going to Syria this winter entirely confirmed. Although we have every inducement to stay longer in Malta, which can be suggested by considerations of worldly comfort, and although we must spend a considerable time longer somewhere in mere study, before we can preach in a foreign language to any effect, yet we are anxious to be at home, and not so much like pilgrims, stopping on our way. We hope to find those in Syria who can give instruction in Italian; if not, we can do tolerably well now with books only. As for Arabic and Armenian, the opportunity for instruction is even better, I apprehend, at Jerusalem, than here; particularly because we shall have daily occasion to speak these languages. We are at present hoping to get a passage within the present week direct to Beyrout, and thence to Jaffa, where we shall expect to see brother Fisk, and leave our femalé helpers, till we can obtain (if not previously obtained by brother Fisk,) a comfortable lodging at the Holy City.

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