Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1890-05-08
THE HOLY CITY.
Interesting Letter from Rev. ]. R. Mills.

JERUSALEM. PALESTINE, Mar 81, 1890.
To Rev J. H. Hollingshead. Pastor, Hon. A T.
McKelyey, Superintendent, and the Teachers
and Scholars of the Methodist Episcopal Sab
bath School, in st. Clairsyille, Ohio
Many times since entered the "Holy
Land have 1 thought of the Sunday
schools within Barnesville District, and
have wished you might be permitted to
share with me the very great joy and de-
light of gazing upon these scenes, and
treading over these hills and valleys for
ever rendered sacred by the presence, Ia
bors, miracles, and teachings of our bless
ed Lord 1t is indeed a privilege to read,
as you do in your Bibles, and to study, as
you do in your Sunday school lessons,
these wonderful words of life" about
which have heard you sing so sweetly;
but it is much greater privilege, and
one for which l am thankful to God, to
come here where these words were spoken,
and almost literally to tread in the foot
steps of Him who gave his life to re-
deem us. You have often heard about
going up to Jerusalem, and you will see
how appropriate this term is when tell
you that it is 23OO feet above Jaffa, 40
miles away on the west; and $500 feet
above Jericho and the Dead Sea, 20 miles
away on the east. 1t is surrounded by
hills on almost all sides, from which it is
separated by valleys, formerly much deep
er than they now are, and which bear the
names of Tyropean Valley, Valley of
Gihon, Valley of Kedron, Valley of Hin
nom and Valley of Jehosaphat. The
hills on which Jerusalem is built are call
ed Zion, (where David lived); MOriah,
where the Temple stood, and AGRA. l
am quite sure that formerly the city was
much vaSter in extent and very, CeTy,
VERY much more beautiful and attract
i've than now. AT present it is, in fulfill
ment of prophecy, trodden down by the
GentileS. The land is, as God threatened
it should be, "desolate," and there is left
in Jerusalem scarcely one stone upon an
other of the city, as it was in the time of
Christ.
There is not a graveyard in all Bel
mont county nor barren, unSlghtly deS-
ert, which looks half so CHASTITY and ut
terly desolate as the country between
here and Jericho, or the plain of the JOr-
dan toward the Dead Sea, where it is sup
posed Sodom and GOmOrrah once stood.
The most of the people here are Arabs,
descendants of Ishmael. They seem to
be very poor and to have very little joy
in their lives. They are poorly and thin
ly clad-most of the women wearing but
one garment, a blue cotton gown; and
often carrying on their heads load heavy
enough for donkey. The men are very
indolent, and are to be seen sitting in
crowds at the gates, or against the sides of
houses, smoking their pipes, and waiting
for something to turn up" About one
third of the population are Jews, mostly
of the poorer classes, who are maintained
here by the contributions of rich Jews
elsewhere. 1t was very strange to me to
see nearly all the stores closed on our
Saturday, and open on Sunday.
The city inside the walls is irregular,
and in some parts very filthy. The streets
are very narrow-nOt wider than one of
the alleys in st. Clairsville, and crowded
with people, heavily laden camels, and
funny little donkeys, carrying men and
women as big as they are. The stores
are little more than holes in the wall, in
front of which man sits croSS-legged,
waiting for customers.
Outside of the walls the city is growing
very fast, and is very pretty. There are,
in the suburbs, some large industrial
schools; and in the surrounding country
there are nine agricultural colonies,
where these Jewish boys are being train
ed and educated.
The Christian religion has not very
great many adherents in this country,
and those who are here are not very
Christlike; for it is necessary to have
from quarrelling about who will have the
best chance to make money out of what
is called the "Holy Sepulchre." The
Creek k(Christian)C Church seems to havethe
strongest hold here. and the influence of
the Russion government, which is mani
fest in almost everything, is increasing
this advantage.
Itseems strange that almost no effort
is being made by the Christian Churches
of America to ChristianiZe this land |
very much wish we had a Methodist
mission in Jerusalem, as we have in
Rome, and possibly God will raise up
some st. Clairsville boy or girl to start
such a mission. Do you know that Bel
mont county has furnished great many
missionaries to heather lands, and that
some of them have become very diStin-
guished? Bishop Thoburn, of India, used
to attend the Methodist Sunday school in
ST. ClairSville. When l was in Cairo in
Egypt, l attended meeting of the mis-
sionaries there, and among them found
several Belmont county people 1t was
very pleasant to greet them. and although
they are "United Presbyterians" and [,
as you know, am a Methodist" we had
delightful time worshipping together
l cannot, in this letter, describe to you
the many wonderful places 1 have visited
here, such as Hebron (see Genesis kills;
Eshcol, (Numbers xiii :23); jericho, Josh
ua vi:1-16); the Dead Sea, Emmaus, Beth
any, Bethlehem, Olivet, Gethsemane, &C.,
&c, but any of you who desire to read
about my visit to these places can find
the information in my letters to the
Pittsburgh Christian Adoocote, which 1
hope your fathers subscribe for.
On Thursday, April, 3, we are to start
for Bethel. Shechem, Carmel, Nazareth,
Damascus and Beyront. We will ride on
horseback, taking our tents with us, and
tenting out every night wherever night
overtakes us. hope to reach home about
June 1, and at our fourth quarterly meet
ing, at ST. Clairsville, may have an Op-
portunity to tell you more.
God Almighty bless you all, pastor and
people, old and young, and help you all
to trust in, cleave to, and live for, the
blessed Jesus. l enclose for you to look
at, aleaf from the garden of Gethsemane,
where our blessed Lord underwent his
terrible agony.
SIN His name " / greet you.
Your servant for His sake.
JAMES r. MILLS.