Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-06

| me think that the world may have for
| gotten more than it now knows. The
| great honor of our age is not machinery,
| for the ancients had some styles of it
more wonderful; nor art, for the an
clients had art more exquisite and dur
| able; nor architecture, for the Roman
| Coliseum aud Greciau Acropolis 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 push
| on. Let US brag less of worldly achieve
ments, and thank God for moral oppor-
| tunity. More good men and good women
| ia what the world wants. Toward moral
elevation and spiritual attainment, let
| the chief struggle be. The source of all
that, will show you before shutdown of
| this dgy, on which we have visited the
pools of Solomon and the gardens of :he
king.
We are on this December afternoon on
the way to the cradle of Him who called
Himself greater than Solomon. 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 a princess, but lowered over by
peasant girl; yet cradle the canopy of
! which is angelic wings, and the lullaby
| of which lie the first Christ mas carol ever
sung, and from which all the events OF
the past, and all the events of the future
have and must take date as being b. Z.
or A. D.-before Christ or after Christ.
ind in cot
ready for this cradle, and all eternity to
| come to be employed in celebrating its
consequences.
[ said to the tourist companies plan
ming our oriental journey, "Put us in
Bethlehem in December, the place and
the month of our Lord IS birth, - and We
had our wish. 1 am the only man who
| has ever attempted to tell how Bethle-
hem looked at the season Jesus was born.
| Tourists and writers are there In Febru-
airy 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 lark and bull
are flooding the air with bird-orohestra.
But was there in December, winter
month, the barren beach between the
two oceans of redolence. l was told L
must not go there at that season, told so
j before l started, told 80 in Egypt; the
books told me so; all travellers that L
consulted about it told me so. But L was
determined to see Bethlehem the same
month in which Jesus arrived, and moth
ing could dssuade me. Was l not right
in wanting to know how the Holy Land
looked when Jesus came to it? He did
not land amid flowers and song.
When the angels chanted on the famous
blrthnight, ell the fields of Palestine
were silent. The glowing skies were
answered by gray rocks. AS Bethlehem
stood against bleak wintry sky, l
climbed up to it, as through bleak
wintry sky, Jesus descended upon 1t.
His way down was from warmth to chill,
from bloom to barrenness, from ever
lasting June to q sterile December. II l
were going to Palestine as botanist,
and to study the flora of the land, l
would 20 in March, but went as a min
lister of Christ to study Jesus. and so
went in December. l wanted to see how
the worlds front door looked when the
heavenly stranger entered it.
The town of Bethlehem, to my sur
prise, is in the shape of horseshoe.
The houses extending clear onto the
DTO026 OIL Tie tOTee-sHOe no WhOiC
scene more rough and rude than can be
imagined. Verify, Christ did not choose
a soft, genial place in which to be born.
The gate through which our Lord entered
this world was a gate of rock,
HARD. COLD GATE,
and the gate through which he departed
was a swing-gate of sharpened spears.
We enter a gloomy church built by Con-
stantine over the place in which Jesus
was born. Fifteen lamps burning day
and night and from century to century
light our way to the spot which all au
thorities, Christian and Jew and Mohaul-
medan, agree upon as being the place of
our Saviour's birth, and covered by
marble slab, marked by silver star
sent from Vienna, and the words:
.Here Jesus Christ was born of the
Virgin Mary
But standing there l thought, though
this is the place OF the nativity, how
different the surroundings Of the wintry
night in which Jesus came. At that
time it was q khan or cattle pen. L
visited one of these khans now standing
and looking just as in Chrst's time.
We rode in under the arched
entrance and dismounted. We
found the building of stone and
|
The building is more than 200Gyears old.
1t is two stories high. In the center are
camsls, horses and mules. Caravans
halt here for the nightfor dining long
storaA The ogsa 81 ire is fge enough
4 flod Eof sheep M IRA Isaof camels.
: The eighbori B s&oAfhs ere finds;s
mar for the hay Nav aAd meats.
Off 54fom istenter There af twelve
roos5Rfor human habitation. THseenly
ligE{ss from thu door. went into one
of abese roo1 and found a woman
cooking the e8fing meal. There were
six coaszip. u Same room. On little
elevation fEs wns some straw where the
people sat an@ Slept when they wished to
rest 1t was pm similar to that
|uIs wA HE ABLE u KING,
al 8et WIN rsa ever held SO much3
dkRi&tisSs N1fbs 1Ea Redemption
k1sbSr p4aep1l and min5 Youf peace and
n mi6el Your heaven and mine! Cradle
ia universe! Cradle of Godl The gar
deus of Solomon We visited this morning
were only type of what all the world
will be when this illustrious Parsonage
| No. ho-n sbou have tnmn1eted his mis-