The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-21
THE CRY OF THE GREAT KING.
A Picture Of Modern Jerusalem from the
PEN OF q Chicago Capitalist.

Cfs
| A Picture Of Modern Jerusalem from the
Pen Of q Chicago Capitalist
f. A. c.. in Chicago Times.
Chicago gentleman, now on a visit to Jeru-
salem sends an entertaining description of the
condition of affairs in that city, from which
personal and family affairs being expunged
the subjoined will be of general interest:
JERUSALEM, Palestine, Jan. Is.
My Dear Mrs. B.: We are in the City of the
Great King. To-day the Jews wailng at
the ancient outer wall of Solomons temple
They cry out in the language of the psalmist:
~ God, the heather come into thine
inheritance: thy. holy temple have they
defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on
heaps" These mourning Hebrews believe the
time will come when this city will be restored to
them. and until then their lamentations will be
heard In the public places. The Turks are the
heather, and the very rock on which Solomon
built the house of the Lord is fenced in and
become the grand central venerated object of the
magnificent Moslem mosque of Omar. From
this rock Mohammed assembled to heaven, &C.
cording to Mohammedan tradition. Twenty
seven times has Jerusalem been destroyed, and
so immense had become the heaps of rubbish
that only few years since a church built in
the time of the crusaders was by ac-
cldent discovered and excavated entire
"a handsome stone structure, larger than
your own Swedenborgian temple! The Jewish
people are here increasing in numbers, improve
ments are being made. and land rising in value
some indications that physical new Jerusa-
lem is dawning. Compared, however. with
Chicago activity, the progress is slow, and it
might take at the present rate thousand years
to do away with the old and substitute the ideal.
This Is essentially pilgrimage city; it thrives
under the competition of Greeks, Latins, Ar
menians, Copts, Maronites, and Syriacs for holy
places attracting thousands of pilgrims and
tourists. The manufacture and sale of holy
relics is grsat-crosses of mother f-pearl, olive
wood, pressed flowers of the Holy Land, crowns of
thorns. stone vases from the Dead sea and shells
from the Jordan. Even Mohammedans enterinto
the competition They are in exclusive posses
sion of the temple ste the tombs of David and
Solomon, and the chamber of the last supper.
They control the Turkish soldiers who stand
guard at the holy sepulchre and at Bethlehem to
prevent rival Christian sects fighting each other!
In 1874 lives were lost at these unseemly quar-
rels. The Jews have the two great synagogues
on Mount Zion. the pillar of Absalom, and the
tombs of James and Zachariah. but they wall
and lament that the tomb of Rachel is not re-
church and convent on the Mount of
Olives to display tablets of the
Lords prayer in thirty three languages, to
give herself final burial-place, and TO keep ten
nuns of the black veil in perpetual seclusion!
The Sisters of Zion have the Judgment Hall of
Pontius PLATE for convent school And the
wild Bedouins of the desert have the Jordan,
and the Dead sea. Joshuas ancient Jericho, and
the fountaia of Elisha, and rob and strip pill
grims who fail to pay them tribute and accept
their services as guardsl Honest robbers The
hermits take to the caves in the wilderness of
Judea, and feed the few remaining ravens that
have survived the times of Elijah.
There is one sect, however, that has its home
in the loftiest dwelling of Jerusalem, and has
won the praises of all, whether Moslem, jew,
gentle, Bedouin. The house of the good
Samaritan. who cared for the man who went
down to Jericho and fell among the thieves,
could not have stood higher 1t has no name,
no written creed, but it's foundation was lain in
Chicago, and its leading spirit is Horatio G.
Spafford. He was eminent lawyer in your
midst good orthodox Presby terian, an indie
fatigable Bible-reader, Jealous Sunday -school
teacher, and active member of the Young
Mems Christian Association. At the same
time he amassed worldly riches. stocks bonds
and Landslide worked for mammon AS well as for
God. He felt he was serving two masters which
was far from satisfactory. He prayed earnestly
for the grand solution of life, and his prayer was
answered. Court decisions went against him:
the storms of Lake Michigan washed away his
valuable shore lots, and the panic of 1873 swept
the remainder of his property irrevocably away;
his four children went down in the Inflated
Vile de Havre. His wife was providentially
saved, and they both determined TO cOnsecrate
themselves entirely to the Lord and do His bid
ding and seek. by reading tho Scriptures and by
earnest prayer, what the will of God is This they
have done, and others have joined their house
children, numbers twenty-three. Two
deaths have occurred-Mrs. Merriam and Robert
Spafford. nephew and adopted son of the founder.
The other Chicago members are Mrs. Lee.
sister of Mr. Spafford, Mrs. Gould. Mr.. and
Mrs. Page, Mr.. and Mrs Whiting, Miss Annie
Aiken, and Mr.. Rudy. Mr. Fuller is of Boston.
Captain and Mrs. Sylvester and Mr.. Drake of
England. Elias, an Arab and Maroof an Arab,
and Jacob, a Jew proselyte, are accessions from
Jerusalem. They do not try to make proselytes
nv mir yin
subordinated their will to that of God.
it made clear to them that they should go
to Jerusalem, whittier they came four years ago.
How long to remain they do not know. bat they
believe the new dispensation is nigh at hand"
as taught by the Bible, and that the second
coming of Christ will not be in person, but rep.
resented by those who are truly righteous, and
that this number is made up of those in every
age and race who have wholly yielded their will
to God, and when complete will constitute the
bride of Christ: "And l, John, saw the holy
city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared bride adorned for
her husband. "-Revelations, XXI, 2. Read. also,
the fourth and fifth chapters of | John, as
illustrating much of their belief The
efficacy of prayer is cardinal principle of
their faith. They are strong believers in the
prayer cure, but deem it of much less Importance
to cure disease than to make ones self cleansed
and righteous In practice they are endeavorlng
to live the purest of Christian lives after the
best teachings of Christ entirely for Gods work,
and not for themselves. AS they are for God
He will provide for them. They are ex-
tremely kind to the poor and oppressed,
and never turn a person away from
shelter or from food if they have any.
This kindness has made them many friends
among all sects and classes. They have public
religious services every Sabbath afternoon, and
on Saturday their house is thrown open to the
Jews. Members of all creeds come to listen,
especially to their sweet congregational sing
ing, which is quite unknown here among Mos
lens, Jews and Catholics. They once befriended
a large body of refugee Temenite Jews who
are accustomed to offer up in their synagogue
this prayer
"He who blessed our father Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, bless and guard, keep and help Hora-
ito Spafford and his household and all that are
Joined with him. because he.has shown mercy to
US and our children. Therefore may the Lord