Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-07-27
MORNING LEADER.
Interesting Sketches Of tho Holy Land.
Jerusnlem-Its sishrs aud Iuhabitauis

James Brooks, Esq, sonioroditor of the New
York Express, has been travelling in Palestine,
aud contributes to his paper very interesting
sketches ofthat which is to be seen there. Ills
long experience as an editor ofa daily paper
giving pith and force to his sentences, and the
hard practical way in which he writes give his
sketches especial interest. We quote from
long epistle dated "Palestine, March 1859"
-Lol here is Jerusalem, the long-looked for, |
long.sought for ideal Of my brain. | have wo
ven IL up for years and years, into thousand |
warps Of my fancy but, 10, here is the EN-
bodiment, the reality. windmill, in the com
log moonlight, first strikes my eye,-a most |
unschptural idea.
JERUSALEM.
l rose early in the morning TO have my first
real view Of Jerusalem, for IN the absence Of
all timber, houses here are built with stones
aud arches, arch upon arch, or dome upon
dome, and we run from one roof on to another,
as you run from gallery to gallery or balcony
to balcony. Now, for the first time then, in my
life | understand the gardens Of Babylon
for, upon these roofs, there can be good gar
dens; and Just before me is a large green area,
running for an acre perhaps, over arches, inbab
tied beneath them. Mt Ulivet, the Mount of
olives, is before me- and the sun is rising upon
It, among its olive trees now just as in the
days OF our Saviour, when He and His
apostles so often walked upon it. The Holy
Sepulchre and its lofty ragged dome through
the broken, unplastered laths of which the rain
at times patters and the wind cre'ps, is near
/ by, but a lOfter minaret of the Moslem, who
here reaches the highest towards heaven over.
tops it. Aud there is the dome of the famous
! - q - rir,
where once was the Temple Of the Almighty,
that in aforetimcs He filled with His Spirit ur
His Presence. If, on the Captoline Hill Of
Rome, or on the 'cropolis of Athens, amid the
ruins OF the Parthenon, there had been for me
inspiration only from the Heather "genius OF
! the place" fancy, II you can, what thrill runs
through the veins when first tho eye lights on
the Holy Sepulchre, or upon the Mount where
Abraham built the altar and laid the wood to
sacrifice Isaac; and where afterwards, were
Seraphin and Cherubim; aud where the fire
came down from Heaven and the glory of the
Lord filled the Temple of Solomon. Now the
spirituality of the Holy Scpulchrc, the loating
IDEAL of the brain, is with me, for the first timc
something moie than abstraction IA reality
la maierialitV,-sO, Ieyerently, to speak. The
! Bible bccOm s History as well as q Religion,
IA Holy Classic as well as a Faith. ooali2e
| embody. l geographically trace the Hebrew
and the Christian religions out. God is not
only written upon the heart in faith and IN
hope, but upon every mountain and every val
ley about me, aud all are everlasting mOnu-
ments oi Ills Divine Majesty and Real Presence
on earth Moriah and the Temple proclaim the
Father; and Bethlehem, and Bsthcny aud OH
vet, and Calvary, the Son. If lnGdeIity ever
turks in the brain, the holy IN ,untains, the deep
valleys of Jehosaphat and Hmnom, and the
Brook Kedron, will drive it all out. ! see |
have travelled now, just as n student should
travel, to lcdrn--hrst, from the home and the
and of the Roman, who stretched out his long
arms once away over Jerusalem to the Euphra'
tcs; next to the Acropolis and the Arcopagus
of Athens, whence came our Literature, ouI
Bellies Lettres, and our arts; thence to the house
l of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the father o
. Gods chosen race of men. l have walked up
as it were, the ladder from the fresh, new green
, world of America TO Roman, Greek and He
drew, and TO- l am now here, where God him
self laid the foundations for man, from Earth tC
Heaven Alas--wha contrasting spectacle
is all this here, with my own thoughts of dear
} distant home Tho Minarct OF the half barbar.
Gus Turk ovcrlOoks Calvary, and the Holy Sep
uIchre The Mosem Muezzin calls to prayer
morn, noon, and night, in lungs stentorIan that
drown all humble prayer The Mosque OF Omar
takes the place of Gods consccrated Temple OF
Solomon. The Turk soldier alone keeps Greek
Latin, and Armenian Christians (such are their
animosities,) from tearing to pieces each other
even on the spot where Christ was cruciied
: and buried. Here are ruins, wrecks, wrnngles
lno safety for life or property, but for the
/ Turk) )-desoution and harrenness, in places
where distant Sheba's Queen once came with
spices, aud precious stones, as Tribute, anC
!, where once were so abundant the gold of Ophr
and thrones of ivory, and harps and psaltenel
for singers DC, &c, The gates of the city o
q that strong King whose sceptre reached tC
t Tadmor in the wilderness, and whose ship,
- went to Tarshish, "bringing gold and silver
=, voy and apes, and peacoks," are now closed a
dark, becaus' Of fear from the outside Arab
The walls OF Jerusalem alone guard it from Aral
foray aud SheilS insult and degradation! VIVA
a contrast all this, is this home Of our race, T.,
the peace, order, quiet, safety and security, +,
A say nothing of the commerce and arts, OF m,
e own now distant, and but Of late and, as /
were, Just discovered home! The East ha
4 sunk, i sec, and feel more, and is yet sinking
and Westward, in verify, "the star Of Emplr
takes It way"