Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1900-01-18
Written for the Beacoa.l
Palestine ; or The Holy Land.

Beyond doubt there is no spot
of land on the face of the globe
clothed with more interesting
history than the Holy Land. Be
fore the Christian era it was the
home Of the Jew.
In this land lived Abraham, their
progenitor it was the land Of
promise, in which they lived and
prospered after the exodus, aud lib
erstion from four hundreds years
of Egypti4n bondage. But as We
are more interested in what con.
Germs the Christian, we will leave
the Hebrew for a while, to think
out those matters that concern him,
to himself.
1t has never been, dear reader,
my happy lot to view the Holy
Lands, though much have desired
to do so, but from hard and patient
study | claim to have acquired a
fair knowledge Of the most import
ant places in that far away coun-
try. Now as the Christmas holi-
days are near at hand, suppose in
Imagination we take q trip to Holy
Palestine. We will be back for
business by New Years Day, and
| trust during our imaginative so
jouru abroad we shall be we'll paid
for the little time we devote to the
journey. We shslI land a. Faifa,
which in the time OF our Saviour 8
stay on earth WAS called Joppa.
While We will not be very much
impressed with the appearances Of
this very old city, vet an interest
ing tradition has il that Il was here
that Noah built the Ark. On the
outskirts OF this city VIC will visit a
dllapidated old house in which. the
natives will tell us, once lived ST.
mon, the Tanner. We must rot
fail to visit jerusalem, so we must
push onward, and ne we proceed on
orr journey we can but notice with
feelings Of most exquisite pleasure
the beautiful roses, lilies and tulips
growing wild BY the wayside, more
perfect than any our eyes have ever
hitherto seen; FOR although we left
every tree and flower stripped ~ ia
yerdant foliage at home this season
Of the year, here we end tho heat
almost unbearable, vegetation Of
all kinds ia its'yigor, as ia mid.sum-
mer with us.
We shall nov cross the desolat,
plains Of Sharon, once fertile, but
now barren, like many Of our own,
for want Of labor and industry.
After a few hours travel We come
to Remlah. or ancient Aramsthea,
nov consisting Of but the ruins o.
by-gone splendor. On leaving Rem
lah, We shall soon reach Lydda, or,
as ii was once known, Judd. II
was here that st. Peter performed
one of his miracles, the healing ol
the paralytic Aneas. Il was from
here. also, chat he was sent for Il
90 to Joppa to restore the life Of
the maiden Tabitha. Tabitha be
longed to band OF praying mai
dens, and having died suddenly
was restored 70 life by the Primes
Of Apostles, st. Peter. We shall
see here the Church OF st. George
evidently named in honor Of ST.
George who killed the Dragon which
terrorized Asia Minor at that time
This same monster is supposed e
have been the one seen by St John
aud spoken OF by him in his Reye
lations.
Now as our visit here is not fol
the purpose Of writing history
We will not stop to inquire into the
annals, traditions, &C., OF the coun
try through which we pass, but
proceed right on to Jerusalem. W.
shall pass through a barren conn
try of very little interest until W.
come upon the road leading to thu
hills of Judea.
When we reach the top of one o.
these hills the scene will suddenl,
change from one of desolatlon and
solitude to one Of deepest interes
the City of Jerusalem bursts int
full view. TO the South Of us car
be seen the white hills Of Bethle