The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-11-19


before Christ.
We have in our time glass in all
shapes and all colors, but Pliny, more
than 1880 years ago, described a mallea-
BILE glass. which, If thrown upon the
ground and dented, could be pounded
straight again by the hammer or could
be twisted around the wrists. and that
confounds all the glass manufactures Of
our own time. tried in Damascus, Syria,
to buy a Damascus blade, one Of those
swords that could be bent double or tied
into knot without breaking. ! could
not get one. Why? The nineteenth
century can not rake Damascus blade.
II we 60 on enlarging our cities we may
after while get city as large as Baby
lon, which was Ave times the size Of
London.
These aqueducts Of Solomon that /
visit to-day, finding them in good con-
dition three thousand years after con-
struction, make me think that the world
may have forgotten more than it now
knows. The great honor Of our age is
not machinery, for the ancients had
some styles Of it more wonderful; no
art, for the ancients had art more ex
quisite and durable; nor architecture,
for Roman Coliseum and Grecian Aero
polls surpass all modern architecture;
nor cities, for some of the ancient cities
were larger than ours in the sweep OF
their pomp.
But our attempts must be in moral
achievement and gospel victory. In that
we have already surpassed them, and in
that direction let the ages pass on Let
us brag less of worldly achievement,
and thank God for moral opportunity.
More good men and good women is what
the world wants. Toward moral eleva-
ton and spiritual attainment let the
chief struggle be. The source of all that,
will show you before shutdown of this
day, on which we have visited the pools
of Solomon and the gardens of the King.
We are on this December afternoon on
the way to the cradle of Him who
called Himself greater than Solo.
mon. We are coming upon the chief
cradle of all the world. Not lined
with satin but strewn with straw,
not sheltered by palace but covered by
barn, not presided over by princess
but lowered over by peasant girl; yet
acradle the canopy of which is angelic
wings and the lullaby of which is the
first Christmas carol ever sung, and from
all the events of the past
and all the events of the
future have and must take date as being
b. c. or A. D.-before Christ or after
Christ. All eternity past occupied in
getting ready for this cradle, and all
eternity to come to be employed in
celebrating its consequence.
said to the tourist companies plan
ming our Oriental journey: "Put US in
Bethlehem in December, the place and
the month of our Lords BIRTH" and we
had our wish. am the only man who
has ever attempted to tell how Bethle-
hem looked at the season Jesus was
born. Tourists and writer's are there in
February or March or April, when the
valleys are an embroidered sheet of wild
flowers. and anemones and ranunculus
are flushed as though from attempting
to climb the Sleeps and the lark and
bullfnch are flooding the air with bird
orchestra. But was there in Decem-
Der, a winter month, the barren beach
between the two oceans Of redolence.
was told must not 60 there at that sea.
son, told so before started, told so in
Egypt; the books told me so; all travel
ers that consulted about it told me so.
But was determined to see Bethlehem,
the same month in which Jesus arrived,
and nothing could dissuade me. Was
; not right in wanting to know how the
Holy Land looked when Jesus came
to it?
He did not land amid flowers and
songs. When the angels chanted on the
; famous birthnight all the fields of Pal
estine we're silent The glowing skies
were answered by gray rocks. As Bethle
hem stood against bleak, wintry Sky
climbed up to it, as through bleak win
try sky Jesus descended upon it. Hi
way down was from warmth to chill
from bloom to barrenness, from ever
lasting June to a sterile December. i
were going to Palestine as botanist
would 90 in March; but went as {
minister Of Christ, to study Jesus, ant
so went in December. wanted to SCI
how the worlds front door looked whel
the heavenly stranger entered it.
The town of Bethlehem, to my sur
prise. is in the shape Of horseshoe, thu
houses extending clear onto the prong
Of the horseshoe, the whole scene NOR
. rough and rude than can be imagined
: Verify, Christ did not choose soft, &c
: NAL place in which to be born. The gat,
! through which our Lord entered thi
l world was gate Of rock-a hard, coli
t gate-and the gate through which h
departed was swing-gate of sharpene
spears We enter gloomy church bull
by Constantine over the place in whic1
Jesus was born. Fifteen lamps burn
ing day and night and from centur
: to century light our way to the spo
i which all authorities, Christian an
Jew and Mohammedan. agree upon a
: being the place Of our Saviour's birth
y and covered by a marble slab, marke
:, by silver star sent from Vienna, an
u the words: Here Jesus Christ wa
!: born Of the Virgin Mary"
Q But standing there thought, thong
}. this is the place of the nativity, how di
u ferent the surroundings Of the wintr
9 night in which Jesus came! At ths
y time it was kahn or cattle pen.
. visited one Of these kahns now standing
:: and looking just as in Christ's time.
We rode in under the arched entranc