TO horse for Jerusalem! At the trumpet of the dragoman we mount our horses as they stand on the salty and desolate shores of the Dead Sea and start across the plain toward the mountain wall, which seems to rise like an inaccessible rampart to defend the highlands of Judea. Yet there was more than one pass in the chain by which we might make the ascent: one by way of the gorge by which the Kedron cuts its way down from Jerusalem, and the other by the road from Jericho up through the Wady Kelt. We preferred the last, since it was the way that Christ had so often gone up to Jerusalem.

      As we rode back to Jericho we probably passed over the site of Gilgal. Here for seven years, close to Jericho, Joshua made the camp of Israel, while he was engaged in subduing the nations and taking the cities of Palestine, for it would not do to have the women and children marching around with the army in its campaigns. Here, too, during this period, stood the Tabernacle, and here was the center of worship for Israel until the Tabernacle [255] was moved to Shiloh. In order to renew out knowledge on this interesting subject, I asked Will, as we rode along, where the Tabernacle was first erected. He replied promptly that it was built at Mount Sinai, the first year after the Israelites had moved out of Egypt, and had been in use nearly forty years when Joshua marched across the Jordan.

      "David, what was the history of the Tabernacle after it was removed from Gilgal?"

      "It was set up at Shiloh, the old ruin where we were a few days ago. There it stood for about three hundred years, until the high priest Eli died. I do not now recollect what became of it after that."

      "That," said I, "is an interesting story. At that time the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines and carried away. Since it was the most sacred treasure of the House of God, the very seat upon which the Shekinah descended, the symbol of the presence of Jehovah, the Tabernacle had then lost its glory. The Ark was never placed in it again."

      "I can tell about the Ark," exclaimed Bayard. "The Philistine put it in one of their temples, but became frightened when the idols in the temple fell down, and they sent it back to Israel. It was first stopped at Bethshemesh, and then at Kirjath Jearim, where it remained many years, until the reign of David. It was then brought to Jerusalem, [256] and when the Temple was built it was placed in the Holy of Holies there."

      "The Tabernacle also was placed in the Temple at that time," said Will. "It had been placed at Gibeon, and Solomon sent and brought it from there, when the Temple was ready (2Chron. 1:3)."

      As we rode near Jericho I noticed a tree with low, spreading branches like those of the apple, or the pear. I asked Joseph what was its name. He replied that some called it the Indian fig, but that in the New Testament it is called the Sycamore tree. "It is," said he, "the kind of a tree that Zaccheus climbed into to see the Savior as he was passing by."

      This recalled vividly the scenes of the Lord's last journey to Jerusalem. He had crossed the Jordan from the country to the east of the river at the ford near where we had visited the Pilgrim's Bathing Place, then had come up to Jericho attended by a great crowd of people who were going to Jerusalem to attend the Passover. Here he had given sight to blind Bartimæus, and Zaccheus had climbed into the low branches of the tree to see him over the heads of the people as he passed by. You remember how he called the publican down, touched his heart, filled him with a desire for a better life, and made a Christian of him; then went up to Jerusalem to suffer at the hands of the elders and chief priests and to be crucified. He went up by way of the very road by which we [257] will ride up to the Holy City to-day. It is a sweet thought to know that we are, during this ride of eighteen miles, going in the very footsteps of our Master.

      Soon our road entered a deep, dark chasm in the mountain wall, which had been cleft for the passage of a stream that gathers in the hilly country, and runs down to the Jordan. The deep gorge is now called the Wady Kelt. The brook that runs through it is thought to be the one near which Elijah remained so long when he was hidden from the wicked Ahab. It is called the "brook Cherith" in the Bible history. As we rode along its shadows, we saw raven flying across it and disappearing among the rocks. How vividly this recalled the account that Elijah, when he lived his lonely life there, drank of the waters of the brook, and was supplied with food in some way by the ravens!

      After we had gone forward some distance, the dragoman proposed to lead us up by a side path, steep, but accessible, to a height from whence we could obtain a splendid view of the Jordan valley. We were anxious to make the ascent, and toiled to the top of a lofty precipice from whence we overlooked the whole of the lower Jordan valley and the Dead Sea. As we looked Joseph pointed out the various places of interest. "Let us look over the Jordan first," said he. "Do you see to the [258] north a place where there seems to be a cleft in the mountains? There is where the Jabbok runs down to the Jordan. The mountains to the north of it are those of Gilead. Those to the south of it are the mountains of Moab. That tall mountain to the east of the place, where you see the river empty into the sea, is Mount Nebo, where Moses went up and viewed the land, and then died, and was buried where no man knoweth to this day. That lower peak you see to the southeast of Nebo, east of the sea, is where the prison of Machærus stood in which John the Baptist was imprisoned and put to death. The country east of the Dead Sea is where the kingdom of Moab lay in the times of Israel and Judah. If you will look to the south of the sea you will see distant mountains. There is where Edom lay. These mountains on this side, without a spear of grass or a shrub, looking like they had been scorched with fire, are the wilderness of Judea."

      "Where," said Will, "were the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah?"

      "Perhaps yonder," answered Joseph, pointing to the lower part of the Dead Sea. "We do not know certainly. Perhaps when they were destroyed there was a great earthquake, and the land where they stood sank down enough for the water to overflow it. That part of the sea is not deep."

      We could have remained here for hours and talked about the history connected with the scenes [259] that spread out before us, but we had a long ride to reach Jerusalem, and soon we were clattering on behind Joseph, who was leading us again into the main road that led up from Jericho.

      All was desolation around us. Not a single town, house or inhabitant could be seen. I suppose that this has always been so. The parched hills are entirely barren; rain seldom falls here; fountains dry up. and so cheerless a country has nothing to invite population. Still, we know that robbers have lurked in all ages among the caves and rocks and shadows through which our road leads our way. It was on this road that the "man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among thieves, and was wounded, and left naked and half dead," of whom the Savior tells us in the beautiful parable of the Good Samaritan. There is still pointed out a place where the robbers are said to have fallen upon that lonely traveler. Though that was eighteen hundred years ago, it would still be a very dangerous thing to ride down from Jerusalem to Jericho alone.

      As I thought of this I looked around for the boys. David could not be seen. I rode back along the line to the rear, but he was missing. I remembered that he had said in the morning that he was not as well as usual, but he had not complained particularly. I now felt uneasy, and [260] galloped back over the road a half-mile, where I met him creeping along with his horse in a slow walk. When I asked why he was so tardy, he said that he was quite sick, too sick to urge his horse on at the speed we were traveling, and had fallen behind. As I knew that our safety demanded that

THE WAY TO JERICHO.

we should keep in the company, I rode behind him and lashed up his horse, as well as my own, until we had caught up. I then continued to ride with him until we had reached the suburbs of Jerusalem. He was then sent forward, with one or two others who were sick, to the hotel where we were to stop. There he went to bed, and was for several days under the care of an English physician whom we found at Jerusalem. [261]

      About ten miles from Jericho we came to the first building that we had found by the way. It is a substantial stone structure, with shelter for man and beast, called the Kahn of the Good Samaritan, because it is supposed to stand at the place of the inn where the Good Samaritan brought the wounded traveler. The buildings were erected by the Russians to accommodate pilgrims who go down to the Jordan, and in the spring, when most of the Russian pilgrims go down, are kept in good order; but we found no one to welcome us, and a dead horse was lying in the court. Hence, we sought a less offensive place to eat our noonday lunch, and chose the shade of a huge rock, where we got along very comfortably, except for the scarcity of water.

      Our road was a continual ascent. We had to climb about four thousand feet in going up from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem. About three o'clock we reached a copious spring of excellent water, and when we had alighted to drink, it took away nearly all our weariness to learn that we were only two miles from Bethany and four miles from Jerusalem. This welcome spring has been called the "Fountain of the Apostles," from a tradition that they often met here. There can be no doubt but they, as well as their Master, often visited at this spot and drank of its waters. It is called in the Old Testament En-Shemish (Joshua 15:7), and is said [262] to have been one of the landmarks on the boundary line between the territories of Judah and Benjamin.

      We next ascend a hill between cultivated fields fenced with stone walls, and after a short ride and a turn to the south among olive orchards and pastures, we enter a village of low stone houses, with narrow streets, which we all knew to be the Bethany so famous in our Savior's history. The village may have been a pleasant one at the time that Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived here, but it is not now. The population is all Mohammedans, and we had found that a town where the people were of this faith was always filthy, wretched and disagreeable. Yet the residents take great pride in the fact that their town was made famous by Christ, and now call it El Azariyeh, a corruption of the word "Lazarus," in honor of the fact that here Jesus raised him from the dead. They also showed us the "house of Mary and Martha," a tomb in a deep cellar-like place, which they assert was the scene of the wonderful miracle. We listened to them without contradiction, but thought that they knew no more about these localities than we ourselves. Yet we could be sure that in this little village the brother and sisters lived who were such friends of Jesus, that here our Lord was anointed for burial, and here at his words, Lazarus, come forth! the dead man walked from the tomb. The [263]

THE TOWN OF BETHANY. [264]

eleventh chapter of John, read here, seemed wonderfully impressive.

      It was to this place Jesus came on his last journey up from Jericho. He seems to have rested here on the Sabbath day, probably at the home of his beloved friends, and on the evening of the Sabbath attended a feast at the house of Simon the leper, where the precious ointment in the alabaster-box was poured upon him by the loving Mary. Even now, if it had a clean and thrifty population, with its fine water, its fine views to the east, revealing the Jordan valley, the sea, and a vista of distant mountains, and its shade trees, it might be made a very attractive suburb of the Holy City.

      Sacred as are the memories of Bethany, how could we tarry there long when Jerusalem was awaiting us only two miles away! As we ride higher and higher up the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, we do not forget that it was from some point on this slope, near to Bethany, that our Lord, after he had finished his work on the earth, ascended up to heaven. "And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them; and it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven." (Luke 24:50, 51.) When I thought of this we rode from Bethany, I forgot the poverty, dirt and desolation around, and remembered only [265]

THE CITY OF JERUSALEM AND ITS SUBURBS FROM THE NORTHEAST. [266]

that this soil had been rendered sacred by the pressure of the feet of the Son of God. Here he seemed to love to linger, here a part of the last week before the crucifixion was passed, here he

SITE OF THE ASCENSION.

came to take his leave of earth and to ascend to heaven. The last sight that the earthly eyes of his apostles ever had of their Beloved was from this holy spot.

      We climb higher and higher, between stone walls, among olive and fig trees, with houses scattered on either side, until we near the crest. Here [267] we reach a small stone church called the Church of the Ascension, said to mark the spot of that wonderful event. I give a picture of it, not because I suppose that it is located correctly, but as an illustration of the scenes somewhere near the spot. We know from Luke's words, which I have quoted above, that if the true location was known it would be found near to Bethany.

      The road that we have ascended is probably the one followed by the Savior when, on the Sunday before the crucifixion, he rode over the Mount of Olives on a colt, "even the foal of an ass," with the multitudes gathered around him shouting "Hosannah to the Son of David!" It is probably the road on which he walked into Jerusalem when he went in to eat the last passover the evening that he was betrayed. It was with the solemn thoughts stirred by these memories that we ascended to the crest of the mountain, and suddenly the whole city of Jerusalem was spread out before us, as if in a panorama.

      We were elevated more than a hundred feet above the highest point of the city, so that we could look over its walls into the streets, could "tell its bulwarks" and count its buildings. The deep valley of the Kedron stretched between us and the walls, and just on the heights above the Kedron was the Haram Esh Sheriff, "the Noble [268] Sanctuary," as the Mohammedans call the enclosure where the temple and the great courts of the temple stood in the times of Christ. In its center arises the Mosque of Omar, probably on the very spot where the temple of Solomon had stood. The four hills of Jerusalem: Mount Moriah, the site of the temple, and probably the place where Abraham's altar stood on which Isaac was bound; Mount Zion, the "city of David;" the Akra, the northwest and highest quarter of the city; the Bezetha, the Mohammedan quarter in the northeast, are all plainly outlined before us. Around them all extend the walls, from thirty to sixty feet high, with towers here and there, and gates on each of the four sides. Besides the walls, we can see the natural fortifications which made David long to possess the city for his capital. It is a kind of peninsula, surrounded on three sides by deep gorges, with steep precipices on the sides next to the city. On the east the Kedron, on the south the gorge or valley of Hinnom, and on the west the Gihon, while the level lands reach away on the north. On the northern side only could it be approached by an ancient army; here the walls have always been strongest, and still almost all traffic enters through the Jaffa and Damascus gates on the north and northwest, because it is difficult to enter elsewhere.

      We long stood in silence, gazing on the impressive scene before us. The evening was [269] drawing on; the sun was just above the western horizon, and the bright, slant beams threw a splendor over the mass of walls, houses, mosques, synagogues, domes and minarets before us. While we remained at Jerusalem we viewed the city from the north, the south, the east and the west, and I can assure my readers that the sight from the top of the Mount of Olives, lifted from one to two hundred feet above it, is far the most satisfactory and impressive of all.

      If my readers should ever visit Jerusalem, they should try to obtain the first view, when the sun is in the west, from the Mount of Olives.

      After we had stood for many minutes, Will broke the silence by reading from the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew:

      "And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him to show the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not one stone be left here standing upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"

      "Perhaps," said I, "the Savior was sitting on this very crest where we stand. It must certainly have been near here. It was in the evening, and the sun was throwing its rays over temple and city [270] and mountain, as we now behold it. Then it was that the disciples asked him to explain more fully the fate that he had declared to threaten the city on account of its sins. As we read the wonderful prophecy in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew, we should keep in mind that the Lord spake it, looking down from where we are standing, upon a scene in many respects like what we now see before us."

      "What is the height of the Mount of Olives, Yusef?" asked Bayard.

      "It is about 2,665 feet above the ocean level," said Joseph, "two hundred feet above the temple platform that we see across the Kedron, and over a hundred feet higher than the highest point of Jerusalem."

      "Now I see," said David, "as I never did before, the meaning of the Psalmist when he says, 'As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever.'"

      "Joseph," said I, speaking to the dragoman, "please point out the sights around Jerusalem."

      "That mountain on the north is Mount Scopus. It was near it the Romans encamped when they began the siege of Jerusalem. That tall mountain you see in the northwest is called Neby Samwil. The prophet Samuel is said to have been buried there. It was called Mizpah when he lived. That mountain south of the city across the valley of [271] Hinnom is the Hill of Evil Counsel, so called because it is said that over there the Jewish priests and rulers took counsel against Christ. That tall peak which runs up like a cone that you see a number of miles to the south, is the Frank Mountain. King Herod the Great was buried there. And of course you all know the name of this mountain east of the city on which we stand."

      While we awaited we heard a bugler on the top of a tall building north of the temple area begin to play a military air. Joseph, in answer to our inquiries, said the building was a castle and barracks for Turkish soldiers, and that it stood where the "Castle" in Acts 21:34 stood in the times of Paul.

      Then he told us that we must hurry on, for he wished us to ride around the city before we left our horses. We were led slowly down the western slope of the mountain, through olive trees, passing churches, convents and mosques, which are fast crowding the mountain side, and then paused on the eastern side of a walled enclosure, which seemed to be shaded with ancient olives and cypresses. "Gethsemane!" said Joseph, and we dismounted to enter the gate in the wall, and pass within, under the guidance of the Franciscan monks who have possession of this sacred spot. Seven great olive trees shade the grounds. They, they [272]

GETHSEMANE. [273]

claim were standing, when Jesus prayed in the darkness of the garden. This not likely, for we learn that the Romans cut down all the trees around Jerusalem for their own use at the time of the siege. Yet these must be very old, and if they do not stand on the exact spot of the garden where Jesus prayed and was betrayed, they must be very near the spot. The ground within is laid off in walks and beds of flowers, and is kept in very nice condition by the monks.

      From this place we turned south to ride down the valley of the brook Kedron. Do you, my young reader, fancy that this is a running brook of bright, sparkling, murmuring waters? No water is seen running here now. Nearly a hundred feet of rubbish, the ruins of a city that has been many times destroyed, and the accumulations of three or four thousand years, have been hurled from the steep bluff on the west, where the city stands, into the valley, and if any water runs now it must be found beneath all these deposits. The fact is that only in the rainy season is it a running brook at all, and probably never was at any other time. "The sweet, gliding Kedron" only exists in songs. On our right was the steep hill, surmounted by frowning walls and battlements; on the left the Mount of Olives, growing more and more craggy and precipitous as we moved down the valley.

      An incident occurred here that illustrates the manners of this country. A large number of [274] natives were working upon the road along which we rode. As we came near we could tell by the angry shouts that they were quarreling and full of rage. Then they began to hurl stones at each other, firing their volleys right over the highway

BR>VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.

along which we must ride. Joseph dashed forward, assumed a menacing air, and shouted something in Arabic to them in a very peremptory tone. They stopped and stood still until we had passed through them, but as we looked back we saw that the battle was resumed as soon as we passed. The truce only lasted while we were in their midst.

      Our course down the Kedron brought us into the great cemetery which lies southeast of the city, in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, as a portion of the [275] Kedron Valley is called. Some of the tombs here, hewn out of the solid rock of the cliff, are very ancient, and perhaps were occupied long before the time of Christ. Some of these are quite curious.

THE TOMB OF JAMES.

One, rather an ornamental structure, shaped like an Indian pagoda and cut out of the rock, is called the Tomb of Absalom. Some have supposed that it is the pillar which Absalom built in the King's Dale to keep his name in remembrance because he had no son. It is half buried in the stones which pious Jews have flung at it to show their detestation of so undutiful a son. Another fine tomb, cut in the side of the cliff, is called the Tomb of Zacharias. Another still is called the Tomb of James. [276] The James, "brother of our Lord," who is so prominent in Acts, chapter 15, it is supposed, was buried here after he died a martyr's death. These tombs are in plain view from the hill on which the temple stands, and it is supposed that our Lord pointed to this, when he spoke of the Jews killing the prophets and then building their sepulchers, and especially when he told them that there would come upon that generation all the blood of the martyrs from that of Able to that of Zacharias, son of Barachias, who was slain between the temple and the altar (Matt. 23:29-31).

      Thousands of graves, much more modern, crowd the valley. There is quite a large Jewish population in Jerusalem, and many Jews come to Jerusalem to die in order that their bodies may be buried here. A devout Jew would rather have his body rest here than any other place in the world, because it is right in the shadow of the sacred temple hill, and here they believe the Judgment will be held, when all men are raised from the dead. Many, too, think that here, and here alone, the resurrection will take place. Those whose bodies lie here will be raised first, and the bodies of all others will be drawn through the earth to this spot, before they come to the light!

      Here at the southeast of the city, the valley becomes a ravine, with steep hills on each side. The one on the west is the "Hill Ophel," the southern extremity of the hill on which the temple stood. [277]

THE POOL OF SILOAM. [278]

We turn around the hill to the right, leaving the Kedron, and pass into the Valley of Hinnom, which enters in at right angels from the west. First, however, we pause at the Pool of Siloam, on our right hand, the pool to which the Savior sent the man who had been born blind. It is now in a ruinous condition, but its bottom is covered with water furnished by a conduit which is cut through the hill and connected with some subterranean source.

      This valley, narrow, with rugged heights on each side, has a gloomy history as well as appearance. The hill on the south is called the Hill of Evil Counsel; that on the north is Mount Zion. Tradition says that Judas hanged himself on a tree overhanging one of its steep precipices, and that he fell from thence on the sharp rocks below, dashing out his bowels. Near here is shown Aceldama, the Potter's Field, bought with the thirty pieces of silver. It is now cultivated as a vegetable garden. We are now south of the city, near its walls, but the ragged precipice shuts it out of view as completely as though we were miles away.

      This gorge had an evil name long before the infamy and death of Judas. In the old times, when idolatrous kings sat on the throne of David, the horrible worship of Moloch was conducted here. and even King Ahaz "passed his children through [279] fire;" that is, offered them as burnt sacrifices to the cruel god. When better times came, and pious kings reigned, they defiled this valley which had been used for such hateful purposes in such a way as to destroy all sacred associations. It was made the dumping place for the garbage of the city, and dead carcasses with all kinds of filth were deposited here. In order to remove these deposits of refuse fires were kept burning continually to destroy it. Here was the place where it seemed to the Jew that "the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Hence, this place became the symbol of that gloomy prison in the eternal world where the wicked go "to their own place." It not only was a symbol of it, but gave to it another name. The name of this place in the Greek language was Gehenna, which mean "The Place of Hinnom," and this is the term used in the New Testament for the future prison-house of the wicked.

      But as we ride west in this gorge, it widens into the Valley of Gihon and turns to the north. We turn around Mount Zion and enter a macadamized road, which runs from Jerusalem south towards Hebron. On the left are great olive orchards and the fine buildings of an agricultural school for Jews founded by Sir Moses Montefiore. On the right, as we ascend the side of Zion, are the city walls. Passing the Lower Pool of Gihon, of which I will speak more fully in the next chapter, we come to a large stone hotel near the Jaffa Gate, [280] over which the stars and stripes, our country's flag, is floating, and dismount from our horses to find a home under a roof. That night we part with the tent and are sheltered by house walls, for the first time since we rode out of Beyrout, near three weeks before. [281]

[YFBL 255-281]