Far Off | Page 2

Divine blessing can alone rear and cement the
edifice.
Parents, train up your children to serve God, and to enjoy his presence
forever; and if there be amongst them--an EXTRAORDINARY child,
train him up with extraordinary care, lest instead of doing extraordinary
good he should do extraordinary evil, and be plunged into extraordinary
misery.
Train up--the child of imagination--not to dazzle, like Byron, but to
enlighten, like Cowper: the child of wit--not to create profane mirth,
like Voltaire, but to promote holy joy, like Bunyan: the child of
reflection--not to weave dangerous sophistries, like Hume, but to wield
powerful arguments, like Chalmers: the child of sagacity--not to gain
advantages for himself, like Cromwell, but for his country, like
Washington: the child of eloquence--not to astonish the multitude, like
Sheridan, but to plead for the miserable, like Wilberforce: the child of
ardor--not to be the herald of delusions, like Swedenbourg, but to be
the champion of truth, like Luther: the child of enterprise--not to
devastate a Continent, like the conquering Napoleon, but to scatter
blessings over an Ocean, like the missionary Williams:--and, if the
child be a prince,--train him up--not to reign in pomp and pride like the

fourteenth Louis, but to rule in the fear of God, like our own great
ALFRED.

CONTENTS.
ASIA
THE HOLY LAND Bethlehem Jerusalem The Dead Sea Samaria
Galilee
SYRIA Damascus
ARABIA
TURKEY IN ASIA Armenia Kurdistan Mesopotamia
PERSIA Teheran
CHINA
COCHIN CHINA Tonquin Cambodia
HINDOSTAN The Ganges The Thugs The Hindoo Women The
English in India
CIRCASSIA
GEORGIA Tiflis
TARTARY Astracan Bokhara The Toorkman Tartars
CHINESE TARTARY
AFFGHANISTAN
BELOOCHISTAN
BURMAH The Karens Ava Maulmain The Missionary's babe

SIAM Bankok
MALACCA Singapore The Christian school-girls
SIBERIA The Samoyedes The Banished Russians The Ural Mountains
KAMKATKA
THIBET Lassa
CEYLON Kandy Colombo
BORNEO Bruni The Dyaks
JAPAN
AUSTRALIA The Colonists or Settlers Botany Bay Sydney Adelaide
VAN DIEMAN'S LAND The Young Savages Little Mickey

FAR OFF.
ASIA.
Of the four quarters of the world--Asia is the most glorious. There the
first man lived. There the Son of God lived. There the apostles lived.
There the Bible was written. Yet now there are very few Christians in
Asia: though there are more people there than in any other quarter of
the globe.

THE HOLY LAND.
Of all the countries in the world which would you rather see?
Would it not be the land where Jesus lived?

He was the Son of God: He loved us and died for us.
What is the land called where He lived? Canaan was once its name: but
now Palestine, or the Holy Land.
Who lives there now?
Alas! alas! The Jews who once lived there are cast out of it. There are
some Jews there; but the Turks are the lords over the land. You know
the Turks believe in Mahomet.
What place in the Holy Land do you wish most to visit?
Some children will reply, Bethlehem, because Jesus was born there;
another will answer, Nazareth, because Jesus was brought up there; and
another will say, "Jerusalem," because He died there.
I will take you first to
BETHLEHEM.
A good minister visited this place, accompanied by a train of servants,
and camels, and asses.
It is not easy to travel in Palestine, for wheels are never seen there,
because the paths are too steep, and rough, and narrow for carriages.
Bethlehem is on a steep hill, and a white road of chalk leads up to the
gate. The traveller found the streets narrow, dark, and dirty. He lodged
in a convent, kept by Spanish monks. He was shown into a large room
with carpets and cushions on the floor. There he was to sleep. He was
led up to the roof of the house to see the prospect. He looked, and
beheld the fields below where the shepherds once watched their flocks
by night: and far off he saw the rocky mountains where David once hid
himself from Saul.
But the monks soon showed him a more curious sight. They took him
into their church, and then down some narrow stone steps into a round
room beneath. "Here," said they, "Jesus was born." The floor was of

white marble, and silver lamps were burning in it. In one corner, close
to the wall, was a marble trough, lined with blue satin. "There," said the
monks, "is the manger where Jesus was laid." "Ah!" thought the
traveller, "it was not in such a manger that my Saviour rested his infant
head; but in a far meaner place."
These monks have an image of a baby, which they call Jesus. On
Christmas-day they dress it in swaddling-clothes and lay it in the
manger: and then fall down and worship it.
The next day, as the traveller was ready to mount his camel, the people