Morning journal and courier., 1884-08-02

our horses not little, so a temporary
 relief we urged the faithful animals into
 the lake until we had to draw our legs uI
 over the saddles in order to keep from
 soaking our pedal extremities. The horses
 were somewhat timorous about going in SC
 far, and reared in 6n interesting way that
 did not render it any easier for us to re
 tain our positions on their backs. After
 this novel episode we cantered on to the
 Fountain of the Fig at the northern end of
 the plain.
 And now find myself face to face with
 that perplexing question, Where were Ca
 pernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazinz So re
 lentless were the anathemas of the Re
 deemer against these three cities that Bib
 hcal aeegraphers are at war as to their
 location to-day. 1 have wrestled with Jo-
 sephus, Jerome, Eusebius, Dr. Robinson,
 pr. Thompson, Murray and many other
 authors, without arriving at any certainty
 of opinion. Indeed, when such learned
 scholars differ so radically, how can we of
 the common herd hope to settle matters!
 Finally I have thrown all the authorities
 to the winds and tried to read the Bible
 discerningly I shall only speak of two
 general theories: One that locates Caper-
 naum at the modern village of Tel Hum,
 Chorazin two miles north, and Bethsaida
 on both sides of the Jordan above the lake
 near "a desert place." and the other that
 Dl1IS all three bOWnB on IDe S6ASlue, Dub aCuO-
 razin where the first theory puts Capernaum,
 Bethsaida four miles further south, and Ca
 pernaum one mile south of Bethsaida. The second theory of course involves the suppo- sition that there were two Bethsaidas, and is accordingly in harmony with the first so far to agree that there was Bethsaidn east of
 the Jordan. Were there two Bethsaidasi
 Dr. Thompson says that the second is pure invention All four of the gospels give an account of the feeding of the five thousand l have just looked them up and find that Matthew says this miracle occurred in "a desert place." to which Jesus had departed by ship; Mark adds that he sought to depart thither in Il ship privately, but was discov- cred by the people, who followed, running along the shore and heading off the boat; Luke says that the desert place 'belonged to the city called Beshsaida;" John adds noth- ing of importance so far as l can see. These and other passages seem to prove that there was a "Bethsaida of the Desert" at least, and that it might be reached best from Capernaum by boat. If Capemaum was at Tell Hum the distance would be two or three miles, and Christ with his penchant for walk ing would naturally, I think, have gone on foot If further down, at Khan Minyeh, it would certainly have been natural for him to have gone by sea.
 You will observe that I am inclining to the second theory. Not that am at all certain III the InaGLef, put IldU dl"ayS llho IO Chtil- pion one side of question, however great my doubt, and then defend it until l run against conclusive snag. There are serious snags encountered in the defense of this theo- ", and powerful arguments, etymological and otherwise, in favor of the other one
 But was there another Bethsaida! When 'tBethsaida of Galilee'' is spoken of, does the expression refer to the Bethsaida of the des- ert? Mark says that after this miraculous feast Jesus constrained his disciples to get into ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida," or as the margin has it, lover against Bethsaida." Here we have men setting sail from Bethsaida tor near it) to Bethsaida,-if I have read the narrative aright. But John says they went toward Capernaum Fitting these two statements together, we may infer that Capernaum and Bethsaida were close together. Then arose the storm, Christ came walking on the waters, and little later we read according to the first three gospels, that the ship came to land at Gennesaret; while John was par ticular enough to add: And i'm mediately the ship was at the land whither they went" And yet in the face of this plicit statement, rather than admit that Ca pernaum Bethsaida were near the Plain of Gennesaret, Bible scholars have held that the ship was driven out of it's course!
 Theory No. 2 puts Capernaum at Khan Uh1uJ IOChy IIldG Jus out into the sea just beyond the Fountain of the Fig. Capernaum must have had lofty site if this is the case. I took out my Bible and read on the spot: And thou Caperna aum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell" 1 was delighted. I had always taken those words fgurative1y, but now they seem to me to have at least been based upon physical fact; and that is one small point in my mind which acts against Tell Hum as possibl Capenaum. This promontory looks like gigantic haystack fromthe distance. Around its very brow passes an old RomanD aqueduct, which evidently water hither from those Roman mills mile or further to the north, which mark the site of Bethsaida according to theory No. 9 We saw people taking meal on don key-back laboriously around the lake to Iii berias instead of transporting it by boat. Lack of enterprise explains this, of course; though I suppose the natives would say that they preferred to have their money invested in donkeys rather than in boats since the usefulness af the former is more comprehen- sive.
 We bent over the beautiful Fig Fountain, plucked some leaves from the luxuriant trees that grew out of it, and then walked our horses along through the conduit chiseled in the rocks. to the mills in question.
 We did not proceed on to Tell Hum, as we had something of a journey before us, and the weeds and missiles were so tall that we could only force our horses through them with great difficulty. The ruins there are said to be quite interesting, but l am not an expert in the study of ruins, and could not hope to make any discoveries in a brief half hour The place covered by ruins, which l could view as Moses did the promised land, is said to be nearly half mile square. If Tell Hum was Chorazin, it may be asked, then what are the ruins called Khorazy some two miles to the northa It is believed that they are a later product The remains ap- pear to be more modern, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that after the predicted destruction of the seaside Chorazin some of the survivors retired inland 8 little to estab fish their new home There are parallels in history for such a supposition.
 It is satisfying to think of these villages as i l a line on the lake shore. Jerome, Eusebins and other writers explicitly state that this was the case, and such a view is consistent with scripture If Capernaum and the desert place were close together, why did the people go by ship so often? If Caper- naum and Bethsaida of Galilee were conti- guous, why did ships go in the same direc- ton, whether bound for one or the other?
 The bay where my Bethsaida of Galilee is located is admirably adapted for fishing village. Dr. Thompson( whom Venerate as 3 prodigy of learning and phenomenon of goodness) losses off these ruins, located four miles from Tell Hum, with the careless re- mark that they constitute "Capernaums grand manufacturing suburb" but the ruins 1f Khorazy, not half as far to the north, he of necessity 8 distinct village. The presence of a village like Khorazy would not disturb my faith nor do think it would his if t were anywhere else; otherwise, why is he not exercised to explain more positively the races of debris and rubbish that mark the 5ite of my Capernaum?
 But enough of this These are not the deas of philosopher; only modest eonelu- 'ions of one who has studied the Bible a short time with the country as map spread put before him. The labyrinth of arguments growing out of the existence of the aqueduct and various fountains I shall not enter at all. Enough to know that hereabouts were those three mercenary, perverse cities which had more light than even Sodom and Gomorrah or Tyre and Sidon, and yet believed not Capernaum was ''his own city," although so spostate There he healed the demonlac III he Synagogue, raised Jairus' daughter from he dead, cured Peter's wife's mother, restor- | d the paralytic, cured the centurion's servant,