The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-25

NS>N>s~N't~
 Holy of holies, sacred to three great re- ligions, the Land of Palestine ts as that spiendid star that shone over 1t nineteen hundred years ago, when there began the most beautiful life of which song or story or creed has ever told. AS mankind turns to the Star with every recurring Christ mas evening. 90 does Its longing turn ever toward the Lana of 9an,ee. the Land where there he jerusalem the Queen ana Bethlehem and the Place of the Gross and the Resurrection.
 "Jerusalemi Jerusaiemi' sang the He- brews to their harps by the weeping will lows of the Brook kedron. If 1 ever forget thee, Jerusalem. may my tongue cieave to the roof of my mouth and my riknt nand wither."
 Star of Betalshem." sings the Chris tan m ali the world under many far stars. From the Northern Ltghts to the 5outhsrn Cross ho dreams of that one cold. pure star. shining over the be- loved siSy, as instinct toaay with the Naz- arens as when he uod Its narrow streets.
 Yet that Holy of Holes is the. one spot In the world that is apparently forever out af his reach.
 Alsnost gear after year is renewed at temp, to totm a coantion of religious in- terssts to get possession of the sacred s4tes. In It's latest form the attempt comes as proposition that all the Chris tan creeds combine In great crusade to collect enough millions Of dollars to buy the Holy Land from the Turkish Sultan.
 But to those who know the motley pol tiles and snmitiea ot Palestine's present owners. the possibility of purchase can
 only appear e faint one. For In tho d. st
 place, the land Is holy to the Mohanins-
 l.. | aasa NhH. Han a s
 the Jew. He would be both an impious
 and a daring Mosiem ruler who would
 essay to sell the country that. contains
 the tomb of Rachel and the site of the
 Templs of Solomon. held to be So sacred
 by the Turks that they will not even per
 n.it excavation near them.
 Even should the Moslef dare 1t, he could
 not deliver the purchased property; for in that tract of S.000 square miles there dwell fierce Arab fighting men. some oi whom barely acknowledge the rule of the Turk while others do not acknowledge Il at all. To selxe the land from them
 night well be bloody performances bloody as the attempt of the Twelfth Cen tury crusaders and, perhaps. with an lit tle succa&s.
 The dream that was dreamed by hun dreds of thousands, when the Emperor o | Garmanv went to Palestine. that h' would be the modern Godfrey to win th' Holy Land for Christianity (albeit bI purchase or treaty and not by arms) na' | faded away. And what may be expected | In the form of . united Christian move ment can be estimated by viewing th' I strife and feud that exist all the time te i tween the Christian sects that have l toorhold in the Holy City now. The Turl ma ntains an armed guard at the Churc' .hH~ l peace betwesn the adherents or the 'sFee' | and Latin churches there.
 The idea of purchasing the Holy LAnf | for the Christians is opposed, also, ey tn' 1 plan of the Zionists to purchase Peaes 1 the for the Jews.
 Ths plans of both are opposed to tn | intsrests of Russia. That government to | dav has it's strongholds in most of m nrineinai towns of Palestine. They ar l called monasteries, but are actually torts | and the Czar would resent the control Q
 the sacred places by any power otne | than his own, Bethlehem Is a Cnrisuan casy @n | Naxareth contains a large number Christians but with these two exceptions Chrtstian power is very small Jewisl control Is altogether wanting. so that | Ia the Turk who stands guard over m l hoIiaat ulaces toward which the heart of the true believers turn.
 l Even whan 1t comes to studying m Holy Land the efforts of Europeans ar hanpered on every side by the Turkisl 1 rexuiations. It Is true that the Englisl l Palestine Exploration Fund has mace al excellent survey of Palestine. ths oni! complete work done there In the intsres of science. l When it comes to excavation. the Sul ! ArNnfna and AXS1 | when these permits are signed, sealed ant delivered, if 1t happens that any epo appealing to MohammedAn faith is to b disturbed. the work of the investigator
 n ust stop at the atone barrier of Turkisl prejudice. T, t.. ..1 It is due partly to this cause that q little really effective work in the line O discovery has been done. Colonel Con der has, 1t is true. followed a part O | the wall of Jerusalem, and what Is sup posed to have been a part of the wall O soiomon's ten pie has been found. bu the greatest work of the kind was don | by Dr. Bliss at Lachish, or. as It Is nov | called, Tsll-el Hesy,
 In this mound of many citiss," as DF l Bliss calls 1t, were the strata of the civ
 iIization through which the Holy Lant ! had passed, age by age. The spade GU down through the Turkish period. througl
 the Crusaders. through the Roman. Per sian, Greek, Hebrew-down deep into tn Amorire, or earliest historic age. Fron seven to nine distinct layers were fount ! by Dr. Bliss, and 1t was proved that 1
 was indeed the ancient city of Lachist
 besieged in former times by Egyptian and Assyrian.
 Unfortunately the limit of the time ant
 means were such that pr. Bliss coult ! merely cut out a slice from the grea mound, the rest of which still awaits tn | hand of the ecavator.
 The Palestine Exploration Fund hal l been doing some additional work lately II Phoenicla. but as yet the results are no
 g eat. Much Is expected from German
 and French expedition that is preparing to work there, and especially from tn,
 American School for Bible Study, whicl
 has been founded in Jerusalem.
 This college Is supported by contribu tions from twenty or more of the leading
 American universities, from among
 whose students a Fellow is selected eaci year by competitive examination. one oi
 the professors in Semitic being chosen a.
 the professor of the college each year
 While this institution has not begun tht
 work of excavating its field director. Dr
 James B. Mes. is gathering a large fund to defray expenses and in a few month,
 will probably begin operations on large 1 scale.