Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-11-26
PALES TIN T..
A Lecture by Rev. F. z. ssurgis.


well filled on Sunday night to listen
to an address on Ancient Palestine,
notice of which had been given in the
morning papers.
We present only a part of the ad-
dress, regretting that want of space
prevents its publication entire. The
speaker said:
"I propose giving, in very ofhand
and familiar way, series of six or
eight lectures on Palestine, giving a
birds-bye view of the past, present
and future of the Holy Land; it's
geography, climate, people; its history,
traditions, manners, customs; its MOI
ern appearance, and its inustrial So
clal, domestic, political and religious
condition. Il was my rare privilege,
on account of ill heath five or six
years ago, to visit that land, and with
what 1 saw then, and the aid of in
formation obtained otherwise, l shall
endeavor to make that land seem
nearer home and more real.
It may be asked why give holy time
and the services of the sanctuary to
the description of land ten thousand
miles away from US, and 90 small in
its territorial dimensions? Because
it is the land of the Bible;
the land where our scriptures had
their birth-place. The Bible is filled
through and through il ie satural ed,
coIored and perfumed with the Holy
Land. There the patriarchs, prOph-
cts, martyrs and apostles lived,
suffered, toiled and triumphed. It is
the land of our blessed Lord and Re
deemer. He looked upon that land,
and there he was buried. Up anu
down those valleys and hills he
walked and taught and wrought his
miracles, and spoke as never man
spoke; so that every hill and every
valley and mountain and stream, every
river and lake, every rock and cave
and shrub and flower of that land are
sacred to ten thousand associations aud
imperishable memories. There are
grander mountains, of course, but the
wide world over there is but one Zion
and one O!iVet and Tabor, aud one
Nebo. There are longer and grander
rivers, but the world over, there is but
one Jordan. There are beautiful lakes
in Switzerland, 10 Ireland, in Eng
land, and in the United States, but
there is only one lake Oh the face of
the globe Wnere our Savior trod and
hushed to silence the wild waves as on
the Sea of Galilee. There are many
b, autIfUl and attractive meadows
and valleys, but there is but
one plain of Bethlehem and
Jordan. Old E0gland is filed
from end TO end with beautiful and
fertile gardens, but the wide world
over theIe is but one Garden of Geth-
semane. AS the Bible rises above all
other looks, SO the Holy Land rises
in attractiveness and interest over
every other land. There are many
matters in the Bible that can not be
understood without sufficient knoWI-
edge of the peculiarities OF this coun-
try, its geography, climate, scenery,
etc. But outside the Scriptures, and
It's connection with the Bible, the
Holy Land is an interesting country
Independently and in addition to ali
this. 1t is classic and historic land.
The oldest cities in the world are there.
It was the residence of Abraham.
Hhe oldest literature in the world orig
mated in that land. Hundreds Of
years before Greece or Rome was, the
Pheniclans were a great commercial
peope; their ships went out all over
the Mediterranean and up and down
the Black and IL gean Seas, and along
the coast OF Africa, and dealt in the
products of all those lands. Besides
that, it Is land distinguished in pos
litical and military history. IL has
been fought over from end to end, and
from side to side 1t has been the scene
OF military cOnquests of many success
sive nations, so that its soil has held
the blood of almost all the great repre-
sentative nations of the oriental
world. It is an interesting
country geologically. A river
that empties thirteen hundred hun
dred feet below the level OF the sea, is
considered one of the great wonders
of the globe. More than hat, it is an
intrinsically interesting country, be.
cause it is representative, although it
is so small, of all the nations of the
earth. in its climate, scenery and pro-
ductions. The climate varies from
the tropic to almost polar on the tops
of its snow covered mountains. It is
an epltome of the whole earth in its
scenery, climate, productions and ami
NAL life.
One reason why God chose that
land to be the home of his chosen peo-
pie is on account of it's isolation. God
wanted his people pure, and he sur
rounded them as shown on the mapl
with mountains, and deserts and har-
borless seas, and thus kept them from
contamination and utter extinction.
The country was selected also on ac-
count of its central situation. AS the
sun is the centre OF the solar system,
just so God put his people in the cen>
ter of the then known world. Then,
again, Oa account Of its being uni.
versally representative of all the earth.
The Scripture was to be for all time
and for every condition of people,
for all Industries and professions, and
it was necessary that the Scripture
should be put in the form of
universal adaptability by its refer.
ence to natural features of land and
sea, so that we in East Tennessee
find the Bible for US as we'll as those
in the wilderness and the desert find
it for them.
First, the Holy Land was called the
land of Canaan because Canaan, the
son of Ham, first went into it. At
terwards, the Land of Promise because
it was given to the Hebrews. It was
called the Holy Land because there
the Lord chose to ab de with his peo~
pie. And lastly, it was called PaIes-
tine.
The question is often asked, what is
the country like? Many travellers
think it resembles their respective
countries. A Scotsman thought Pal,
estine appeared like Northern Scot
land; one who had been familisr with
Switzerland thought it looked like that
oOuDtrv