Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1847-11-02

| NAuuOW vi my lOIly convent cnam De- and
TO think that on this hill took place the
greatest event in the history ofthe world;
and that in the fields near, the gentle Ruth
went about after her cleaning, little
dreaming, in those days of her poverty,
and from meeting with Boaz among the
reapers of his harvest, would arioe such
events to the human race that thu shep-
herds granochild. whose divine songs
were to sooth his old age. should be the
mighty king he was, and the father of a
mightier, who should build the great tenn.
pie of the Lord and that more distant
descendant should make these glories APP.
pear as childish toys in the presence of
His great sovereignty over the universal
human soul, A wise man of the last cen.
tnry has nobly said that "prosperity is the
promise of the Old Testament, and adver.
sity that of the New" On this hill was
born the prosperity of the Old Dispense.
ton; and on this hill was born the Man
OF Sorrows who knew the secret of true
peace, and taught it in the saying that il
profits not man to gain the whole world
if he lose his own soul,
In the morning we went into the church
OF the convent. cared little for the upper
part, with its chapels for Greek, Latin,
and Armenian worship: and not much
more for the caverns underground, where
the friars believe that Joseph and Mary
remained while there was no room for
them in the inn. If the town was too full
to receive them while the people were
collected for the census, it is hardly prob.
able that they would repair to an under
ground cave but in this cave mass was
going on this morning and striking was
the effect, after coming down from the
sunshine, OF the crowded cavern, with its
yellow lights and their smoke, and the
echoes of the chanting. We returned
when the service was over, and saw the
star in the marble floor which marks, as
the trars believe, the precise spot where
Jesus was born, and the marble slab
which is laid in the place of the Manager.
When saw, through the country, how the
Arabs now use the caves of the hills to
bed their goats and cattle, this belief of
the friars appeared less absurd than it
would with US but still, it is improbable
that the precise spot of these transactions
(whose Importance was not known till af.
terward) should have been marked and
remembered, that felt little interested in
them in comparison with the landscape
outside. about whose leading features there
could be no mistake.
From the bottom of the garden we over
looked the great valley which expanded
to the north east; and one enclosure there
"a green spot now occupied by olive
trees-was pointed out to US as the field
where the shepherds were abiding on the
night when Christ was born. Behind it
to the east, lay range behind range of
hills, stretching off to the north and a
mong these, we knew, lay the Dead Sea,
and the Jordan, where it pours its waters
into that liieless and melancholy lake. As
we left the convent and village and de.
scended the rocky road, with terraced
vii eyards and olive groves on either hand
we knew that Joseph and Mary must
have come this way from Jerusalem when
summoned to the census ard this was
more to US than all the sights the friars
had shown us in their zeal and kindness.
We looked in at the Tomb of Rachel, and
at the Convent of Elias; but our eyes and
thoughts were bent towards Jerusalem.
remember, however, that here first saw
the waters of the Dead Sea, lying blue in
little gap between the hills.
AS soon as | had mounted my ass be.
fore the Convent of Elias, saw from Our
ridge some buildings on the rising ground
which now showed itself before. US. L
was not Immediately certain what they
were but the news soon spread among
Us, that rising ground was Zion, and those
buildings belonged to Jerusalem, though
they stood outside the walls. Immediate
ly after, the walled city itself came into
view, lying about the hills. Most of the
party were disappointed. | was not
partly because knew that we were ap.
preaching it from the least favorable side,
and partly because my expectations had
much moderated the size and grandeur of
the city. What we now saw was a line
Of white walls on hill side, with some
square buildings and small white domes
rising within.
walked the rest of the way. On our
right were hills, the summit of one of
which vas Aceldema, bought by the
priests with the money which the wretch,
ed Judas returned to them, when he found
too late what he had done in his attempt
20 force his Lord to assert His claim to a
temporal sovereignty. On our left was
the plain of Rephraim. When we arriv.
ed at the brow Of the high ground we
were on. we were taken by surprise by
the grandeur of the scene. Zion now
appeared worthy Of her name, and of her
place in the hymns OF David, and in his
history We were now overlooking the
valley of Gihon, more commonly known