Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-12-10

tone of the Latins, compared with th'
Greeks and CopR. l do not mention thi
because l am partial, but from reason
which are the result of observation.
The priest at this spot makes the
"drudgery divine" as we'll as intelligent
We are welcomed to the convent by him
Like mcst of the Catholic priests in the
East, he speaks French. Our guide seems
to be favorite with him. He invites Us
to glass of native wine or tea, and under
his direction and with lighted taper We
take our devious way below. Many tombs
line this dark path, and among them is the
tomb Of St. Jerome. 1t is to his patience.
goodness and scholarship the world owes
the Vulgate, or Latin edition of the Bible.
1t was here that this early and great father
gave his forty years Of seclusion for the
glory of God ard the benefit of mankind.
Approach the chapel of the Nativity. You
will know it by the Latin inscription and
the silver star in the centre. We are led
into the vault by the priest. He shows us
the manger. He explains to us that in
"those days" stables were not usually
found i'll the caves SO common in the hiily
places of Palestine. This cave is many
feet below the floor Of the church. 1t is
33 by II feet, and decorated with marble.
Precious lamps burn before figures of
saints, chief among them st. Jerome. Six
teen silver lamps burn over the spot where
the star Indicates the place of birth. An
other recess shows the spot where the
wooden manger, now in Rome, was found.
Other spots are shown, as the chapel of
st. Jerome, and the chapel Of Joseph, where
the angel appeared to tell him to fly to
Egypt. If these are apocryphal traditions
they do not dctract from the fact estab-
lished by scholars and aniiquarians, and
confirmed as we'll by what st. Jerome
wrote rs by his selection of this spot for
his duties and fasts. He believed it to be
the place, as his life and death bore wit
ness. Never did art cOnsummate SO spien-
did a representation of self-abnegatiOn as
that wherein DOmcnichinO portrayed the
last scene in tho life of this Dalmatian
saint and hero, who verified as we'll in his
life as by his death his faith in tho good
ness and glory of the gospel whose tidings
were chanted first in the starry vault of
Doubt as we may as to the Mill, GrottO,
the Shepherds GrOtto, the Masi's Well,
David's Well, and the burial Of the co.
600 innocents murdered by IIerod here
doubt rs to the shepherds fold, the altar
of the "wise men, dOubt-iouht that
Christ was born immaculate and miracu-
lousy but one thing is indubitablc--that
Christ was here born, and that from this
Nativity arose i light (which before was
never on sea or land, and for the faith in
whose beneticent and heavenly guidance
thousands have perished rs martyrs and
millions have risked their souls salvation!
What place can be moro holy, unless it be
that cOnsecrated by His death?
There arc said to be only two places in
this Holy Land superior in sacred associa-
lions to this place: Jerusalem and Naza-
rcth. TO my mind, Bethlehem has no su-
periOr, unless it he Jerusalem. "Why?"
will occur to the learned Bible student
and to the veriest child who has read the
Gospels. Bethlehem is not one of the
which compass Jerusalem, but
it has its lofty thought. 1t is 4 beautiful
pear! in the tl!aacm round about the !royal
city. 1t is not the scene of sacrifice and
scpuichrc but 1t is the scene of the nativi
Iy an,! Of the magi, and Of tho angelic
Song which ushered in the ts,rest and
greatest life ever clad in flesh Among
tho hundreds of books Of travel and de-
'cription Of this country, the Bible is the
best guide book after all, and in many
ways. In no one way is it more SO than
in its references to this spot, over which
thc star shonc, and the angels cfanted of
peace. No amount Of dcgcneracy, super
'titian, cxasgeration, tradition. or pol!i.
ion, no surrounding, however diSencilant- |
ng, detracts one beam from the radiance |
,f that star, Or gives one dissonant note in |
.ic scraphic hymning which hero filled |
,hc heavens with q newborn joy The |
genius oC painter and sculptor has illus
rated the story OF the manager and their |
lifts and worship. the choir OF angels, the |
.we-struck shepherds. the flight into
Egypt, the beautiful face Of tho Madonna,
with its golden aureolc, and the majestic, |
nastcrful and melancholy features Of Him |
Who became here the genius OF love unto |
What place, therefore, in all |
his "alclncd country, now SO many ceitu- |
les made dcsolatc, is SO al|uring for it,, |
fruitful themes, whether for studio or Ii |
,rary, for the orator or artist, for :hc dis |
:ipe or crusader?
Although Bethlehem was called Little |
among the thousands of Judah" a,rl at q |
limo when Judah fed her thousands of |
from her well titled terraces and |
alleys, she is great among men, and will |
DC great SO long as her story remains. |
low often has the story been told to |
owing hearers From the little Catholic |
hurch at the North Cape, but . year Old,
which VIC visited under the midnight sun
md amid the summer SHOWS, to the Splen-
lid church of St. Sophia, which dates
900 years ago across; wastes OF time
md oceans of space, over dark continents
nd isles "Gilded by .ternal SUMMER
his story Of tho mangcr is q theme as sa-
red to kings as TO peasants :sS dear to
he leper of ltamlch as to the cmp:rors of |
arth.
The l0cus IN Guo of suci, story. even
hough it were almost lost in tradition,
must be Il part, tho a3aisc ensceae OF that
von,!ruus drama. Even s!cp,ics cannot
gnorc the fact that the event has, as the
pos:!c phrased it, ''turrcd the wcrl,i up
;de down." Well might GamaIiel say
hat this work, proceeding ,out OF this
title village, if it were of men, would
omc to Eaught; but il it were Of God,
Ould not he Overthrown. Tho evidence is
hat to day its results appear in civiliza-
ions What a moral and religious work
las bccn accomplished by its energy! Be-
inning at this small fountain, what 4
ruitful spreading stream of light for the
radiation o! tho dark problems of our
ife!
AS came from the church I did not |
lear the angels above chanting the miilen-
lial dawn but, nevertheless, did not
ease to believe that in "this city OF
David had been born Saviour, which is
;hrist the Lord" Nor will | un.o my |
asst moment believe otherwise than that |
or this adveEt-thc greatest upon our star
-" glory should be given to God in the