Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-11-07

plates found by belzoni IN the tomDS OF de-
parted nations We have been taught that
Harvey discovered the circulation OF the
blood so late as the seventeenth century.
On. mol Solomon announces it in Ecclesas-
ties. where first having shown that he un-
derstood the spinal cord, silver colored as 1t
is, and that it relaxes in old age-'the silver
cord be loosed," goes on 10 compare the
heart to a pitcher st well, for the three
canals of the heart do receive the blood like
a pitcher, '.or the pitcher be broken at the
fountain What is that but the circulation
of the blood found out twenty-six hundred
years before Harvey was borng After many
centuries Of exploration and calculation as
tronomy finds ont that the world was round.
Why, Isaiah knew it was round thousands OF
years before when in the Bible he said; "The
lord stitch upon the circle Of the earth
Scientists toiled on for centuries and found
out refraction or that the rays Of light when
touching the earth were not straight, but
bent or curved. Why, Job knew that when
ages before in the Bible he wrote of the light;
1T is turned as clay to the SEAL
In the old cathedrals of England modern
painters in the repair Of windows are trying
TO make something as good as the window
painting Of four hundred years ago, and
always failing by the unanimous verdict OF
all who examine and compare. The color of
modern painting fades in fifty years, while
the color Of the old masters is as well pre-
served after five hundred years as after one
year. saw last winter on the walls Of ex-
humed Pompeii paintings with color as fresh
as though made the day before, though they
were buried eighteen hundred years ago.
The making of Tyrian purple is an rmpossl-
biity now. In our modern potteries we are
irving hard to make cups and pitchers and
L. ftn,a awh al from
Herculaneum, and our artihcers are at
tempting to make jewelry for ear
md neck and finger equal to that
brought up from the mausoleums OF two
thousand years before Christ. We have in
our time glass in all shapes and all colors.
tut Pliny. more than eighteen hundred years
ago. described a malleable glass which, II
thrown upon the ground and dented, could
I've pounded straight again by the hammer or
could be twisted around the wrists, and that
confounds all the glass manufacturers OF
our own time. | tried in Damascus, Syria,
10 buy a Damascus blade, one Of those swords
that could be bent double or tied in a knot
without breaking. l could not get one.
Whys The Nineteenth century cannot make
a Damascus blade. II we go on enlarging
our cities we may after while get city as
large as Babylon, which was five times the
size Of London
These aaueducts of Solomon that visit to-
day, finding them in good condition three
thousand years after construction, 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; nor
art. for the ancients hal art more exquisite
and durable: nor architecture for Roman
Coliseum and Grecian Acropolis surpass all
modern architecture; nor cities, for some OF
the ancient cities were larger than ours in
the sweep OF their pom }. 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 achievement
and thank God for moral opportunity.
More good men and COOL women is 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 day on which we have
visited the pools Of Solomon and the gardens
OF the king.
We are on this December afternoon on tho
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 princess, but lowered
over by a peasant girl; yet cradle the
canony Of which is angelic wings and th9
lullaby of which is tue first Christmas carol
ever sung. and from which all the events OF
the mast and all the events OF the future have
and must take date as being b. G. OF \. D.
before Christ or after Christ All eternity
past occupied in getting ready for this cradle,
aud all eternity to come to be employed IN
celebrating its consequences.
| said 10 the tourist companies planning
our oriental journey, Put us IN Bethle-
hem in December. the place and the month
OF our Lords BIRTH" and we had our Wish !;
am the only man who has ever attempted
IN tell how Bethlehem looked at the sea-
son Jesus was born. Tourists and writers
are there in February, or March, or April,
when the valleys are an embroidered sheet
of wild flowers. and anemones ana ranun-
culus are flushed as though from attempt
10 climb the sleeps, and LARK and bui-
finch are flooding the air with bird orcnes-
ira. But was thsre in December, winter
month, the barren beach between the two
oceans of reiolencs I was told must
not 90 there at that season, told 50 before
/ started, told 50 in Egypt; the books told
me %; all travellers 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 kno"
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 birthnight all the fields OF Palestine
were silent. The glowing skies were an
swered by gray rocks. As Bethlehem stood
against a bleak wintry sky L climbed up to
it. as through a bleak wintry sky Jesus de-
scendei upon it. His way down was from
warmth to chill, from bloom to barrenness,
from everlasting June to sterile December
II were going to Palestine as botanist and
TO study the fora of the land l would go in
March: but went as a minister of Christ to
study Jesus and so l went in December. l
wanted to see how the worlds front door
looked when the heavenly Stranger entered
il.
The town of Bethlehem, TO my surprise, is
in the shape Of horseshoe, the houses ex-
tending clear onto the prongs Of the horse
shoe. the whole scene more rough and rude
than can be imagined. Verify, Christ did
not choose soft, genial place IN which to be
born. The gate through which our Lord en-
tered this world was gate OF rock, hard,
cold gate, ana the gate through which He de
parted was a swing gate of sharpened spears
We entera gloomy church built by Constan
tine over the place in which Jesus was born
Fifteen lamps burning day and night ant
from century to century light our way to tn
SPOT which all authorities. Christian and Jev
and Mohammedan. agree upon as being tn
place of our Sayiour's birth, and covered b.
a marble slab marked by silver star sen
from Vienna, and the words: Here Jesu
Christ was born OF the Virgin Mary"
But standing there thought, though thi
is the place Of the nativity, how different to-
surroundings of the wintry night in whici
Jesus came! At that time it was khan, Oh
a cattle pen. visited one of these khans
now standing and looking just as in Christi
time We rode in under the arched entranc'
and dismounted We found the building o.
stone. and around an open square, without
roof. The building is more than two thou
sand years old 1t is two stories high; in
the center are camels, horses and mules
Caravans halt here for the night or during
a long storm. The open square is large
enough to accommodate a whole herd of cat
tie, flock OF sheep or caravan of camels
The neighboring Bedou ms here find market
for their hay; straw and meats. OF from
this center there ara twelve rooms for hui
man habitation. The only light is from the
door. went into one of these rooms and
found woman cooking the evening meal
m = l..