The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-10-16
CAMP LIFE In PALESTINE.
THE HOLY CITY OF NAZARETH.
The Home OF Jesus-workshop of the Car
penter's Son-fountain of the Virgin
Mount Carmel-A Terrific Storm
by Land and Sea, Etc.

BEYRoUT, Syria.-[Special. Nazareth
or ''En NasireP like Tiberias is nowhere
mentioned in the scriptural writings pre-
vious to the important part which it
played in the life of Christ, and its early
reputation does not seem to have been of
the best, as the word "Nazarene" appears
to have been used as a term of reproach
long before it began to be applied to the
despised followers of the lowly Jesus.
"Nozrani" (Nazarine) is still the name by
which the Mohammedan contemptuously
refers to the hated Christian infdel.
Nazareth is beautifully situated on the
picturesque sides OF the surrounding hills
and is a city of some five thousand inhab-
itants, nearly all OF whom are Christians
of the orthodox Greek faith, there being
no Jews among them and only few Mo-
hammedans. Here, as at Bethlehem, the
tourist observes the beneficial effects of
Christianity in producing a handsomer
and apparently more prosperous people
than is generally found in Palestine, the
women amongthem being especially noted
for their good looks, although to my mind
they hardly equal their Christian sisters
of Bethlehem in that regard. However,
with their pretty white gowns, jaunty
head dresses and neatly sandaled feet, they
make up a pretty picture when grouped
about their favorite resort the Fountain
of the Virgin" which takes its name from
the Virgin Mary who no doubt came here
many times in the same way that these
gossiping maidens do now, drinking from
| its cooling waters or carrying away the
well-filled earthen jar upon her head. The
| Greeks have a "church of the annuncia-
| ton" built here, as they claim that it was
while drawing water at this fountain that
the heavenly message was delivered to the
holy mother, although this is not the gen.
orally venerated scene of the divine event,
being rather a latter-dav outgrowth of the
! jealousy existing between the two great
catholic churches-the Greeks, not being
able to get control OF the recognized Latin
possession, having finally set up an oppo-
| sition site of their own. The holy
| church of the annunciation" belonging to
! the Latin monastery covers the commonly
accepted location where the angel Gabriel
! appeared before the virgin whose name
/ was Mary" saving: BLESSED art thou
among women" for thou hast found favor
| with God and behold thou shalt divinely
| "bring forth a son and shalt call his name
| Jesus" luke j, 3D. In a chapel or grotto
! below the church altar two granite col
! umns are pointed out as standing on the
exact spots occupied by the angel and the
| virgin at the time of the annunciation.
! One of these columns IL broken off in the
middle and the monks in charge say it
was done by the Mohammedan soldiery in
a vain attempt to destroy the structure
/ but the column remained miraculously
/ suspended in air, Notwithstanding their
sacrilegious,action and has since continued
/ to sustain the roof although itself unsup-
ported from below. On the front of the
| small marble altar here appears the Latin
! inscription "I1ic verbum caro- factum est"
or "Here the word was made flesh" From
this chapel an entrance leads into another
grotto. where the kitchen and dwelling
rooms of the virgin are likewise pointed
out, but as we are told elsewhere that the
celebrated "holv house" was miraculously
whisked away from here in the night by
the angels and carried to far-away Loreto
in Italy, il is hard to explain how these
apartments are still to be seen here also.
However, whatever doubts we may have
as to the precise correctness of the various
sacred places shown us here, we can at
! least be certain that Nazareth was the
home of Joseph and Mary; that here they
were married and had their home, and
here the Child Jesus spent His youth and
grew up to manhood, and as we walk rev.
erently along the narrow streets of the old
city we know that there is not spot over
which we pass that His boyish feet have
not trod before us hundreds and hundreds
of times in the days long ago. In the
small Mohammedan quarter OF the city
there stands a Latin chapel built over
what is believed to be the workshop of
Joseph" in which the young Jesus labored
for many years as an humble carpenter,
and a little further on a newer chapel COW
ers an immense stone twelve feet long and
four thick, known as the Table of Christ"
upon which. the priestly attendants say he
dined with His disciples both before and
after the resurrection. The Greeks, not to
be ousdone by their rivals, have a chapel
which they claim was originally the an
Gent place Of worship where He began