Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-07-07
THE HOLY LAND.
REcOLLECTlONS or A JOURNEY
THROUGH SAMARlA AND GALlLEE.
shcchem n spot of Great Bcauty-The
Fountain of the Virgin at
Nazareth.
Pittsburgh Dlspsich.l

| NAkafeIhs
Pittsburgh Dspstchl
Tho vale of Shechem. for intrinsic beau
| tv and hallowed associations, is the most
interesting spot Of Samaria and Central
Palestine. The late Dean Stanley, who
accompanied the Prince Of Wales, when a
boy. through the Holy Land, thus describes
this vale: A valley green with grass, gray
with olives. gardens sloping down on each
side, fresh springs rushing down in all di-
roctions; at the end a white town en-
bosomed in all this verdure, the most beau
tiful. PERHAPS il might be said the only
beautiful spot in Central Palestine"
The tourist travelling northward from
Jerusalem follows the same thOroughtare,
| now only q path, that the Prophet OF NaZa-
reth and his disciples often traversed in
their journeys 20 and from Galilee. On the
eastern boundary Of the vale Of Shechem,
/ where il opens upon one of the most fertile
I Mains in all that land. is Jacobs well. at
the present day partially filed with rub
bish, but without doubt the very well dug
by the Israelite whose name II bears, and the
very same where the Nazarene rested upon
His journey from Jerusalem to Galilee and
talked with the Samaritan women who had
come for water, while the disciples had
zone down the valley TO the town of
| Shechem to procure food. Like two senti-
nels. Mt Gorizim and Mt Ebal rise
up on the south and north sides of this
narrow valley, which at this point cannot
be more than $50 yards in width. On the
| slope of Mt. Gerizlm Is Jacobs we'll,
and on Ebal, across the valley, the tomb of
Joseph. who. when dying in Egypt, gave
commandment concerning his bones"
Those bones were sacredly carried TO this
home of his boyhood IN the Land Of Pro-
mise.
N THE VALE OF sHECHEM.
From this valley the favorite son of
! Israel had been sold 10 the Dhdlaulte cara
van on their way to Egypt, and here his
bones we're permitted 10 rest after ne nad
finished that wonderful career as Primo
! Minister of Pharaoh. There is no sacred
| spot in the land of Palestine better idcntl-
fed than this well of Jacob, who " drank
thereof himself. and ms children and his
| cattlen Il is also perfectly certain that
! here our Lord convCrsed with the Sama-
rian woman concerning the water OF lie
and true worship. Here, resting by ia
/ cOh's well. lie said: Neither IN this
mountain (roferring 10 Gerizim. where
the Samaritan temple stood, nor yet at
Jerusalem Is the place where men ought 10
| worship, but they that worship the Father
must worship HIM in spirit and truth.
/ Ihemodcrn name of Shechem Is Nablous,
! q corruption of Neapolls. Here Is the only
! Samaritan synagogue now existing, and
/ here Worship iha oldest and the smallest
/ religious sect in the world, their number
being les, than two hundred. Following
! this vale ol Shpchem a. it winds westward
/ and uOrthwarl six miles We come 10
/ basin. from which rises an OblOng mil
| overlooking the Mediterranean sea, on
the crown of which are the ruins
/ of the city Of Sdmaria. On the sum-
init and along the hillsides are scat
tered COrintuian columns and capitals. Of
which more than hundred are counted,
which are all that remain of Herod's great
/ collnuade. Samaria was once the Yer
Z .aillc- az Windsor of Shechem. the metro
polls of the northern kingdom OF L,racl.
| as Jcrusal m WAS Of the southern. Inc
ruins 0f HeI0d's summer palace and tenn
/ PIE. and the ruins OF the church OF john
| the Baptist are all that remain Of the
ancient city of Samara. monuments OF the
murdorous king and his great victim.
THE NAZARETH OF TO-DAY.
From Samaria our course is northward
across the plain of E9draclon. where so
often the lsraclite and Philistine met IN
deadly battle, and where, IN the twelfth
century, the Crusaders, under Saladln.
staked their all against the Saracen and
! lost. An hours ride up the Callcan hills
/ brings us 10 the vale and town of Nazareth.
"Can any good thing come out OF NaZa-
reth?" expressed the popular est unatc OF the
/ village when the carpenters son entered
uDon His wonderful career. Then II was a
mere hamlet. Now it j. the prettiest tOwnot
! Galiee with upward of 1900 inhabitants.
! Our faith is too weak to take in the sacred
objects Of modern Nazareth, such a. the
! carpenter-shop of Joseph, the vessels or
water-pots used at the marriage OF Cana,
which contained the water converted INTO
| wine 10y Jesus. But down the noun
/ q. 81 lfItrp 81
town is one object which cannot have
! changed materially since the days when
| the Son of Mary wandered and meditated
on these Galilean hills This Is the FOunt-
ain Of the VIRGIN. as II is now called, which
is the one sprngOf water from which NaZa-
reth is supplied
Our tent was pitched close by this spring
/ ON a lovely Saturday evening of May Very
/ carly In the morning we were awakened by
the chattering and laughing voices OF the
girls who came tripping to the Fountain OF
! the Virgin with earthen jars upon their
heads with which to bear water to the
homes of Nazareth. Imagine town of
5000 inhabitants supplied with water car
ried in earthen jars upon the heads OF the
Oriental maidens and you have the every
morning scene at Nazareth.
BY TIRE SEA OF GALILEE.
It requires no great stretch Of the imagi-
!
girls. the Rachels and Rebekahs of the
olden time and the virgin espOused 10 the
Young carpenter of Nazareth, who must
have often tripped down this mountain
slope with her earthen jar upon her head.
/ There is "a tradition that Mary was az the
spring when the angel announced TO her
that She was 10 be the mother OF the
! worlds Rcdeemcr. The Church and Con-
! vent of the Annunciation is the one public
| building of Nazareth of importance This
has for generations furnished refuge for
| travellers who there sought retreat from
| the Bedoun of Esdraelon. Among my
pleasantest memories Is the Sabbath ser
vice | enjoyed IN company with the late
| Bishop Stevens, of Philadelphia, IN the
Church of the AnnunciatiOn at Nazareth.
From Nazareth our course Is northeast
! TO the little inland Sea of Galilee. half
DAYS Journey. The sea 40 the beginning
of the Christian era was lined with impor-
tant commercial cities-Capernaum, Beth
saida. ChoraZin-hut now has upon its
shores the one unimportaut town of Llbe-
rias. The Sea of Galil'e a gem in the
Lebanon range of mountains. thirteen by
six miles, into which the Jordan empties
and from which it flows on its way to the
Dead Sea. certainly transtends IN interest
and hallOwed association any spot on the
globe. From our tent we could look down
upon the shore where the Greatest OF
| Teachers began HIS ministry. There lie
called the fishermen of Bethsaida TO be
fishers Of men. On the northwestern cor
ner OF the lake is
THE PLAIN OF GENNEsAREr,
reaching some five miles into the foothills
Of Lebanon and six miles along the shore,
rich and fertile, where grew the lilies of
the field. of which the Prophet of Naza-
reth declared that Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Stand
ing in "a fishermans boat somewhere
on the shore Of Gennesaret, the null
titude lining the shore, the parable Of
the sower was spoken. And there be-
fore our eyes are the different kinds Of
soil into which the seed falls-the thin
earth on the mountain side, the stony
places, the wayslde, or path across the
plain trodden down, where some seed
would fall to be taken up by the birds of
the air, and the thorns so prolific on the
plain, which choked the good seed after it
had rooted itself into the rich soil. There,
100. are the tares 50 like the wheat which
IN enemy might SOW and destroy the