St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-12-26
Observation-Disclosures.

Editor of the Caledonian
1t may seem IA strange thing to re-
ceive 'Bethehem letter. from Cali
fOrnia, but as the Christmas season ap-
prOaches and our thoughts turn towards
the holidays, find my memories of the
city of David reviving. Forgetting that
| am not less than ten thousand miles
away from the Holy Land while Il wide
continent separates me from the Gale
dOnidn and its local readers, feel like
saying to you all, ''Let us go even un-
to Bethlehem" that we may look upon
the througs that gather there on Christ
mas day.
The only attraction of the town at
the present time is the great convent,
within which is the church of the Ma
tivity. Winding staircases, cut in rock
and lighted feebly by lamp which
stands before an image of the Virgin
Mary, lead down into low subterra-
mean vault. Passing along dark and
crooked passages, we come to the holi-
est place in Bethlehem. 1t is vault
cut in the rock thirty-eight feet in
length and eleven feet in breadth. Cur
tains of richly embroidered silk hang
at the sides of the chamber. At the
east end, ill semi-circulaI niche, is a
marble slab set in the floor. A silver
star marks the center of the slab, and
around it are hung sixteen silver lamps,
which are always kept burning. Over
the star is an altar. On Christmas
morning the church above us is crowd
ed with devotees and pilgrims, and, at
this little altar in the siIken curtained
cave, priests intOne their service, while
pilgrims, coming and going, fall pros
trate before the marble slab, kiss the
silver star, and rub their rOsaries upon
the charmed spot, paying little heed to
the bad latin of the wretched priests.
But why does the place seem so sacred
to them =? A latin inscription upon the
slab tells us the story in a sentence.
By the "dim religious light" one may
trace these words in latin: "Here
Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin
Mary"
Among the thrOngs which come and
go, very few are able to read these
words, but they bow none the less de-
vOutly and kiss the star.
Since the second century this grotto
has been thus honored and all these
years men and women have come and
prayed and wept and kissed the stone
and thought it marked the birth place
of their Lord. Deluded, we say-and
without doubt they have been deceived,
for there is no evidence of a trust
worthy nature that this cave is the
birthplace of the Lord Jesus.
Yet in their coming, during these
seventeen centuries, to pay tribute to
the infant Savior, we have testimony,
supplementing history which is not
without value-testimOny not that Je-
sus was born in that cave, but that he
was born somewhere, a cloud of wit
nesses to fact, not to tradition.
We came out from the gloomy
church and yet gloomier cave and look
ed down upon the terraced hill-sides
below the town, and upon the fields
where once the shepherds watched
their 1ocks by night. We saw no an
gels. We heard no song of the heaven
ly host, but we thought of Boaz and
Ruth, of David and of David's "Great-
er Son." and blessed God for the Christ
mas joy that has gone from Bethlehem
into all the earth.
May much of this joy enter into the
hearts and homes of all your readers.
Permit one of them, whose love for
the Green Mountains can never be OBJ
scured by his admiration of the Sierra
Nevadas, to wish the Caledonian and
all its friends Merry Christmas.
I'll. E. j.
Oakland, Gala, Dec, 1879.