Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-01-15
IN THE HOLY LAND.

Jerusalem. the Mecca of Numerous Relig.
ious Cranks.
Jerusalem Cor. New Orleans Times Democrat
One would naturally expect to find
plenty of religious riff-raff in Jerusalem
today, for, while the city is the object
of reyerential regard on the part of
Christians generally, it is at the same
time an all-potent magnet to attract
hither the worlds religious extremists.
All the infallible cranks on the subject
of biblical Interpretation are here, and
not few of them have brought their
sisters and their cousins and their aunts.
1t is an appalling fact that nine-tenths
of these peculiar people" hail from the
good land where Uncle Sam and the
bald headed bird of liberty are said to
preside. America enjoys the reputation
of raising about as many religions to the
square inch as any country on the face
of the earth, and think Jerusalem may
be regarded to-day as the index rerum
of these diverse theologies. Usually be-
levers come here in cliques. Often
there will be an organization left behind
with whom these enthusiasts communi
cate regularly, in the vague hope that
some day the whole lump o
believers at home may be leavenet
with the grotesque religious view,
cherished by the little band over
here. Each clique considers that it has
arrived at the marrow of religious truth,
and finds it impossible to compromise
even in non n-essential matters with any
other CLIQUE. By thus living in theil
own strange rut the members succeed iu
harmonizing everything in the Bible.
Indeed, when you approach them in ar
gument they will protest:
''Ahl but why not look at things il
our way2 Take any other view, and the
Bible is great battle-ground of contra
dictory and meaningless statements.
Just adopt our view, and everything be-
comes consistent. 1t is then so simple
that wayfaring man, though he be
fool, need not err.
And you don't want to enter the lists
for verbal discussion until you have
fully counted your host. Even the most
visionary of these theorists has the
Bible at his tongues end, can quote pas
sages in substantiation of his strange
ideas until your brain reels, and will dis
pose of every objection that you can put
forward as glibly as though he were re-
citing the rule of three.
1t is singular how these people can
warp and twist the sacred word. AL
claim the Bible as their authority, and
yet the views cherished are radically
hostile to each other in many instances.
Take, for instance, the question of the
immortality of the soul There are all
shades of diverse belief here in this i'm
portant fundamental matter. Some are
such extreme immortalists that as they
scan your face for the first time they are
liable to say:
'Ah, haven't we met some place be-
fore, when we were with God in the
ages prior to the creation? Your fea-
lures are strikingly familiar to me-
While others, not to be distanced in
originality, will go to the opposite ex-
treme, and maintain that there is nc
Immortality, past, present, or future
for anybody, good, bad, or Indifferent.
Every intermediate ground has its CO.
terie of champions also. In the midst of
this dreary waste of sickening religious
mania there is one tolerably bright spot.
There is colony of fourteen Ameri
cans, two English persons, and three OF
four natives, all living in large, COM
Portable mansion in the Mohammedan
quarter of the city, just inside of the
Damascus gate. These people are wait
ing for a second coming, but they are
cultivated, refined people-people whom
it is an intellectual pleasure to meet.
In living they come as near to the per-
feet life as it is possible for mortalS to
come. They are not obtrusive with their
views; they are highly educated; they
are nearly all of them accomplished
musicians; they are constantly doing
good works