New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-11-09
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was once the citadel; there many ponderous old
arches that are so smothered with debris that they
barely project above the grounds there arc heavy.
walled sewers through which the beautiful brook or
which Jordan is born still runs in the hillside
the substruetiOns of a costly marble temple that
Herod the Great built herepatches of It's handsome
mosaic floors still remain there is quaint old stone
bridge that was here before Hcrods timc may be;
scattered everywhere in the paths and in tho woods
are Cornthian capitals, broken porpbyry pillars.
and little fragments OF sculpture; and up
yOnder in the precipice where the fountain
Cushes out. are well-wOrn Greek inscriptions over
inches in the rock where IN ancient times the Greeks
and after them the Romans, worshiped the Sylvan
God Pan. But trees and bushes grow above many
of these ruins now; the miserable huts OF little
gang of filthy Arabs perched upon the broken
masonry of antiquity, the whole place has sleepy,
stupid rural look about It, and one can hardly DIlng
himself TO believe that busy, suDstantiaIy-DmiC
city existed here even two thousand years ago.
The place was nevertheless the scene OF an event
whose effects have added page after page ana volume
after volume to the worlds history. FOR III thlS
place Christ stood when he said TO Peter:
Thou art Peter and upon this rock VIII 1 Dnid ny
church. and the gates Of hell shall not prevail agastN
Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt blna on enfth saa
be bound IN heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
On those little sentences have been built up tho
mighty edifice of the Church of Rome; in them Ito
the authority for the imperial power, OF the Popes
over temporal affairs, and their god-lke power 10
curse a soul or wash il white from sim. To sustain
the position of the only true church, which Rome
claims was thus conferred upon her. she has fought
and labOred and struggled for many century, and
will continue TO keen herself busy in the same limo
to the end of time. The memorable words / have
quoted give to this ruined city about all the interest
il possesses to people Of the present day.
IL seems curious enough to us to be standing on
ground that was once actually pressed by the feet OF
the Savior The situation Is suggestive of reality
and q tangibity that seem at variance with the
vagueness, and mystery, and ghoStllness that ono
naturally attaches to the character OF Cod can
not comprehend yet that l am sitting where God
has stood and looking upon the brook and the noun
tains that that God looked upon, and am surrounded
by dusky men and women whose ancestors saw him,
and even talked with HIM, face to face, ana care
lessy lust as they would have done with any other
stranger. / cannot comprehend this; the gods OF
my understanding have been always hidden III CLOUDS
and very far away.
THE PEOPLE THE DISCIPLES KNEW.
This morning, during breakfast, the usual assem-
blage Of squalid humanity sat patiently without tls
charmed circle of the camp and waited Tor such
crumbs as pity might bestOw upon their misery
There were old and young, broWn-sklnned ana yer
low. Some of the men were tail and stdlWart lIor
one sees nowhere such splendid looking men rs here
in the East but all the women and children looked
worn and sad, and distressed with hunger. They
reminded me much of Indians, did these people
They had but little clothing, but such as they
had WINS fancful character and ian
fantastic in its arrangement. Any little absurd gew-
gaw or limerick they had they disposed IN such
way as to make it attract attention most readily.
They sat in silence, and with tlrelesS patience
watched our every motion with that vie, uncon,
planning impoiteness which Is so truly Ihqall, ana
which makes a white man so nervous ana uhcOn-
Portable and savage that be wants TO eXterminate
the whole tribe
These people about us had other peculiarites,
which have noticed in the noble red man, too: they
carried passengers in their hair they were infested
with feas and the dirt had caked ON them I'LL 1t
amounted TO bark. 49,.
The little children were in pitiable condition
they all had sore eyes, and were otherwise afflicted
in various ways. They say that hardly a native
child in all the East is free from sore eyes ana tnaJ
Thousands of them 90 blind of eye or both every
year. j think this must be So Tor see plenty Oh
blind people every day, and don't remember seeing
sll,- &l,,fh 1t.ffc
suppose that an American mother could slt LOT an
hour with her child in her arms, and let thousand
flies roost upon its eyes all that time uiais urDedl
| see that every day. IL makes my hesh creep
Yesterday we met n woman ndlng on q ltue
iackass and she had child III her arms honestly,
thought the child had goggles on we approached,
and wondered how its mother could AFFORD SO much
style. But when we drew near, we saw that the
goggles were nothing but eamp-meetlng OF ies as
sembed around each OF the chllds eyes, ana at tho
same time there was a detachment prospecting us
nose The flies were happy, the child was con-
tented, and so the mother dld not interfere.
AS soon as the tribe found out that we mad DOE
for in our crowd they began 10 flock in from all
quarters. Dr. B., in the charity OF ms nature, mad
taken a child from woman that sat near by, and
put some sort of wash upon its diseased eyes mat
woman went off and started the whole nation and
YOU ought to have seen them swarm The lame. the
halt the blind the leprous-all the distempeTs that
are bred of dirt and nIqulty, were represented III t
Congress in ten minutes and stll they came!
Every woman that had sick baby brought 1t along,
and every woman that hadn't borrowed one.
w
they bent upon that dread, mysterious Power,
the Doctor They watched him take his phials out;
they watched him measure the particles Oh Whlte
powder; they watched him add drops OF one precious
LIQUID and drops of another they lost not the slight
est movement: their eyes were uVeted upon MN
with fascination that nothing could nistraSt,L L
each individual got his portion OF incidence ms eyes
were radiant with joy-notwlthstandlng by nature
they are a thankess and lnp2sSlye race-an1 upon
his face was written the unqueshoalng faith thaD
nothing earth could prevent the patient from get
ting well now. 80,
Christ knew how to preach to these simple child
ish ignorant supeTstitiOus. dseaSe-tortured vaga-
bonds: he healed the SICK. They Hooked 10 our poor
human doctor this morning when the fame oil what
he had done to the sick child Went abroad IN ,b nc
they did not know as yet whether there was virtue
i'm his simpes or not The ancestors OF theSe-peopie
precisely like them in color dress manners eSt0s
after Christ. and when they saw him make tho
afflicted whole with word, 1t IS no wonder
they worshiped him. No wonder MS deeNs
were the talk of the nation: no wonder the multi
tudes that followed Him We're so great that AZ one
time-S0 miles from here-they had To let SICK man
down through the roof because no approach could DO
made TO the door no wonder his audiences were so
great at Galilee that He had 10 preach from snip
removed a little distance from the shore; no wonder
that even in the desert places about Bethsalda DUO
invaded His solitude and He had TO feed them by
miracle or else see them suffer for their conhding
faith and devotion; no wonder wheh there was %
great commotion III city IN those days, one neigh
Dor explained t to another IN words To this eject:
They say that Jesus of Nazareth is come"
He healed the sick. If n man would have crowds
to attend him all the day long let him come 10 Pes
tine and do likewise
Well, as was saying the doctor distributed medi-
cine as long as he had any TO distribute. and his
reputation is mighty in Galiiee this day. Among his
patients was the child of the Shiek's daughter
for even this poor, ragged handful of sores and
sin has its royal Shiek-a poor old devil that
looked rs if he would be more at home in poor
house than in the Chief Magistracy of this tribe Of
hopeless. shirtless savages. The princeSs-l mean
the Shel's daughter-was only 10 or II years old.
and had a very sweet face and pretty one. She
was the only Syrian female we have seen yet who