The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-09-20
The Holy Land.
Journey Through Palestine as De-
scribed by the Late DR.. Talmage.

s~Ass4ss0~s
Some years before his death the late
DR.. Talmage visited Palestine, and
upon his return in an interview with |
q New York Herald reporter he gave
a long and interesting account OF his
journey in the Holy Land. Mr.. Benz. |
Smith of Henderson read and clipped
the article at the time and now after
the lapse of all these years he has res
urrected it and requests the GOLD
LEAF to publish the following por-
tion of it:
'"The three months | have spent in
the Holy Land have been three
months of tremulous excitement
Again and again | have been over
come with emotion as / visited and
saw with my own eyes-yes, touched
with my hands-the things Christ
had touched.
Leaving aside all questions of sa-
cred associations and historical sug-
gestiveness of Palestine, the natural
scenery itself, is majestic beyond de-
scription. l took my dragoman one
afternoon Just as the sun was setting,
and pointing to the landscape before
me said: L have stood on the sum-
mits OF the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
| have climbed to the highest Alps, l
have gone through the Yosemite Val
ley, but never before in my life have
L looked on such Il sight as this
A BOLD PREDICTION.
"The Holy Land is a vast wilder
ness OF mighty rocks, ranging in size
from mountains down to the sands
OF the ocean. These rocks are becom-
ing skeletonized. A process of dis
integration is going on, and the lime
is melting into the soil and enriching
it. The day is coming when the Sea
of Galilee, instead of beieg & u desolate
sheet of water with a handful of peo-
pie on its shores supporting a meagre
existence, will become the source of
wealth and great commercial activ-
ity. Its bosom will be covered with
fleets OF merchantmen, and throngel
beside it will be cities with popula-
tions reaching into five hundred
thousand.
every nerve in my body has
thrilled as l have reached Que place
after another, and read the gospels
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
on the very spots where Christ stood.
| not only recognized the localities
by their descriptions, I,ut recognized
every object referred 20 in the sacred
passages. Had | gone there an inf
del ! would have been converted to
Christianity. Ishould have said, 1T
is impossible that the Scriptures are
a connection or the invention of i'm
posters
THE BAPTISM In THE JORDAN.
"Think of how l felt when l reached
the Jordan after sleeping the preyi-
GUS night in the ruins of Joshua's
Jericho! Think of how felt when a
man in our party came and asked
me to baptize him! He wished to be
immersed-in the very waters where
our Saviour was baptized. l found
the ca 9didate protesting Christian
and an earnest man, and consented.
There was a sheik who preceded our
caravan, and his robe was just like a
baptismal robe, and | put it on, and
we found another white robe for the
candidate. Then, standing on the
shore of the Jordan, l read from my
Bible the story of the baptism of
Christ, when the Spirit God de-
scended like dove from heaven, and
a voice was heard saying, This is
my beloved son, in whom | am we'll
| pleased"
"My daughter wrote out some
copies OF a favorite hymn which we
sing at home, and all present
friends, pilgrims and strangers
joined in singingit there On Jordan's
banks. Then we went down into the
water, and under the willows, still
green in midwinter. l baptised the
Christian.
THAT was the most overwhelming
moment OF my life.
eve ira yeled all over that region.
l have eaten fish caught in the Sea of
Galilee, have bathed in it and sailed
on its waters. | wanted to ralize
how the apostles felt in the storm.
To give you an idea of how quickly
storms arise on that inland sea will
say that within five minutes after we
had glided out on a surface as
smooth as glass tempest arose and
swept down SO fiercely and the waves
ran so high that We could only es-
cape by landing at Capernaum.
THE SCENE AT CALVARY.
II have ascended Mount Calvary,
and now l known why it is called the
Place of the Skull. To me it is a
won Ter that there was ever a dispute
as to the identity of the place. Look
ing at the peak from a distance, it
exactly resembles the human Uranium
with the two sightless sockets under
its brow. l went up 20 the place
where the three crosses stood. have
no doubt OF their precise location.
There is just room enough for three
men to die | stood on the site of
the center cross, where it certainly
must have stood, and taking out my
Bible 1 read to the friends around me
the story of the Crucifixion. | could
not finish it; my feelings overcame
me and broke down.
"As stood looking down the slope
4 of Calvary l saw a reddish rock be-
low me, l rolled it down the hill with