she loved Jesus, as those children did who sang his praises
in the temple so many years ago.
But there is another place--very sad, but very sweet--where you must
come. Go down that valley--cross that small stream--(there is a narrow
bridge)--see those low stone walls--enter: it is the Garden of
Gethsemane. Eight aged olive-trees are still standing there; but Jesus
comes there no more with his beloved disciples. What a night was that
when He wept and prayed--when the angel comforted Him--and Judas
betrayed Him.
The mountain just above Gethsemane is the Mount of Olives. Beautiful
olive-trees are growing there still. There is a winding path leading to
the top. The Saviour trod upon that Mount just before he was caught up
into heaven. His feet shall stand there again, and every eye shall see the
Saviour in his glory. But will every eye be glad to see Him?
O no; there will be bitter tears then flowing from many eyes.
And what kind of a city is Jerusalem?
It is a sad and silent city. The houses are dark and dirty, the streets are
narrow, and the pavement rough. There are a great many very old Jews
there. Jews come from all countries when they are old to Jerusalem,
that they may die and be buried there. Their reason is that they think
that all Jews who are buried in their burial-ground at Jerusalem will be
raised first at the last day, and will be happy forever. Most of the old
Jews are very poor: though money is sent to them every year from the
Jews in Europe.
There are also a great many sick Jews in Jerusalem, because it is such
an unhealthy place. The water in the wells and pools gets very bad in
summer, and gives the ague and even the plague. Good English
Christians have sent a doctor to Jerusalem to cure the poor sick people.
One little girl of eleven years old came among the rest--all in rags and
with bare feet: she was an orphan, and she lived with a Jewish
washerwoman. The doctor went to see the child in her home. Where
was it? It was near the mosque, and the way to it was down a narrow,
dark passage, leading to a small close yard. The old woman lived in
one room with her grandchildren and the orphan: there was a divan at
each end, that is, the floor was raised for people to sleep on. The orphan
was not allowed to sleep on the divans, but she had a heap of rags for
her bed in another part. The child's eyes glistened with delight at the
sight of her kind friend the doctor, he asked her whether she went to
school. This question made the whole family laugh: for no one in
Jerusalem teaches girls to read except the kind Christian lady I told you
of.
THE DEAD SEA.
The most gloomy and horrible place in the Holy Land is the Dead Sea.
In that place there once stood four wicked cities, and God destroyed
them with fire and brimstone.
You have heard of Sodom and Gomorrah.
A clergyman who went to visit the Dead Sea rode on horseback, and
was accompanied by men to guard him on the way, as there are robbers
hid among the rocks. He took some of the water of the Dead Sea in his
mouth, that he might taste it, and he found it salt and bitter; but he
would not swallow it, nor would he bathe in it.
He went next to look at the River Jordan. How different a place from
the dreary, desolate Dead Sea! Beautiful trees grow on the banks, and
the ends of the branches dip into the stream. The minister chose a part
quite covered with branches and bathed there, and as the waters went
over his head, he thought, "My Saviour was baptized in this river." But
he did not think, as many pilgrims do who come here every year, that
his sins were washed away by the water: no, he well knew that Christ's
blood alone cleanses from sin. There is a place where the Roman
Catholics bathe, and another where the Greeks bathe every year; they
would not on any account bathe in the same part, because they disagree
so much.
After drinking some of the sweet soft water of Jordan, the minister
travelled from Jericho to Jerusalem. He went the very same way that
the good Samaritan travelled who once found a poor Jew lying
half-killed by thieves. Even to this day thieves often attack travellers in
these parts: because the way is so lonely, and so rugged, and so full of
places where thieves can hide themselves.
A horse must be a very good climber
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