The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-25


 It Is possible, Bible in hand, to @ through Palestine from Dan to Besrshe' ba and pick out this or that mount and sayi Here must have been such and such an ancient city or fortress." But fl Is impossible to be certain until excava- ton exposes the character of the buried monuments.
 Tradition has done much to preserve the historical associations of the various spots. A chapel is, erected in the caA pen ter shop at Nazareth and there Is anothe chapel in the home of Joseph and Mary
 Bethlehem Is llied with grottoes idenu. iied with the life of Jesus from the grot., of nativity with the stone manager l., which the infant was supposed to hay been laid. to the cave in the tie.d of boi.. where the shepherds were when the sLo appeared to them
 With infinite care the Church has pre served objects such as the stone whie. the ange.s are said to have rolled ava from the mouth of the tomb at the Resul rection. Tradition Is probably core when 1t selects . certain Srotto in t., Garden of Gethsemans as the grotto . the Agony.
 There is. too. the stone of the Anoin msnt on which the body of Jesus wa prepared for burial. but there are man. doubtful points connected with the var. GUS cities and dtes of Palestine.
 The Turks guard with jealous care an. attempt to examine the Church of tn. Holy Sepulchre and ascertain what toms. are there. They will not> permit the ex animation of the tomb of Rachel. Eeithe Jew or Christian is permitted to approac nearer than the grating. It would be great triumph for the Bible. if 1t wes possible to open this tomb and find the. the embalmed body of the wife of ,tle. patriarch. but MohaKmedan prejudice, oppose the suggestion unalterably.
 It has been estimated that there are a least three hundred Tells or mounds ol ruins scattered over Palestine awaItins examination. It Is known that the Arabs wherever they find an ancient tomt rife It for jewels and sell any ancient object found in 1t to the first Pilgrim that passes. In this way the historic value or the tomb is lost. because 1t is mosI necessary to know where these objects are found In order to date them ana place them historically.
 1t has been suggested that the grea mound covering what is supposed to b, the site of ancient samaria would be ( most fruitful field of investigation Her, once stood the ivory palace of Jezebei looking out over the sea, the discovery of which would so far toward establish ing the value of many statements in tn, Biblical Books of Kings
 The climate has prevented any attemp to examine the remains of Jericho, ye that interesting southern capital will som, day yield valuable finds to an excavato1 who will brave the periis not only O Arab chiefs, but of the levers of thiI low lying district.
 It is not enough for the investigator C receive permission from the Sultan tt work upon any of these buried cities, bu he must gain the good win of the Arab | around him. for the Turkish soldiers ar, so few and scattered that their control o conditions is limited; as c result, preserv ing the peace depends more on the tact O the excavator and the way in which h' distributes bribes to naighboring chief tains than upon the eood will oe the sul | tan.
 There are many scenes which O course. are open to no question, such al the Sea of Galilee, and Jerusalem itself but whether man are right in iocatinl the ancient Cana where water was turne, into wine. as being on the road to Fibe rias four mi,es east of Nazareth, or, a others would have it. at Kans-El-Jell near Sepphoris. nane miles north of NAza rsth. can be decided only by excavatina Catholic tradition has marked out | spot upon the Mount of Olives as tn place of the Ascension; but many Bib Heal scholars will not accept this, be cause 1t is said in the New Testamen that Jesus during his last meeting witt the Apostles Ted them out as far as C Bethany" e3 4 careful study of topography ct time leads to more or less exact Identification of certain spots. As was natural Nas areth Is niled with traditiopally hol, plarsa. such as the Virgins House: bu there is one special incident of Jesus's lif at Nazareth which points to a definite 10 caltty and that Is ''ths brow of the hin wherao nthe city was built" down whicl the einfuriated men of Nazareth sough to cast Him headlong.
 Ths Monks transferred this scene to th' so-calied Mount of Precipitation" hal an hour southeast of the town. but higl up in the older village there is a semi circle of steep cliffs now concealed par tIally by undsrgrowth which scholar now believe was the scene of this at tempt. In exeayating the upper platform there recently, many traces of ancien buildings have been found, and 1t is sup posed that they were erected while tn tradition Of this location was stiil fresh
 The value of a careful study not mere ly of the modern town bearing an anoisn name, but of the country somstiuaes [ mile or two away is necessary if 0ul geography is to be correct
 It is admitted that the Mosque of Omal is founded on the site of the ancient tenn pie of Solomon. and the sinking of shafts at the south wall of the platform hai shown that there was remarkable wal there nearly 1000 feet long and lso fee in height As it now stands this wall Il considered a marvel and only half of 1t Il exposed. What must 1t have been wheI the tall towers of the temple stood higi above 1t and thousands Hocked toward | from all parts of the land3
 It is thought that solonion's palace or iginally stood at the south end of th' platform, for it is there that the excava tors found great vaulted crypts. The tenn pie of Solomon, as far as men can tel from the buried walls, must have beer m oblong 900 by 600 feet. with his palace 600 by 300 feet to the south of 1t;
 Many years must pass before 1t can n' said that Palestine has been explored Better than agitation, for it's complete political possession will be. probably. or A nkA aV4A aNaF