Book: A Trip Abroad

D >> Don Carlos Janes >> A Trip Abroad




As I was going through the city, I saw a camel working an olive press.
The poor blindfolded animal was compelled to walk in a circle so
small that the outside trace was drawn tightly over its leg, causing
irritation; but seeing the loads that are put upon dumb brutes, and men
too, sometimes, one need not expect much attention to be given to the
comfort of these useful servants. Truly, there is great need for the
refining, civilizing, and uplifting influence of the gospel here in the
city where it had its earliest proclamation. I also visited two grist
mills operated by horses on a treadmill, which was a large wooden wheel
turned on its side, so the horses could stand on it. I was not pleased
with the nearness of the manure in one of these mills to the material
from which the "staff of life" is made.

The German Protestant Church of the Redeemer is a fine structure on the
Muristan, completed in 1898. The United States consulate is near the
Austrian postoffice inside of the Jaffa gate. I went there and rested
awhile, but saw the consul, Selah Merrill, at his hotel, where I also
met Mrs. Merrill, and formed a favorable opinion of both of them. Here I
left my belt, checks, and surplus money in the care of the consul.

Continuing my walk on Wednesday, I passed one of the numerous threshing
floors of the country. This one was the face of a smooth rock, but they
are often the ground on some elevated spot, where a good breeze can be
had to blow away the chaff, for the grain is now threshed and cleaned by
the primitive methods of long ago. After the grain has been tramped out
(1 Cor. 9:9), the straw, now worn to chaff, is piled up, and when a
favorable wind blows, a man tosses it in the air with a wooden fork. The
grain falls in a pile at his feet and the chaff is carried aside
some distance. When this operation has been carried on as long as is
profitable, the wheat and what chaff remains in it are thrown into the
air with a wooden shovel, called in our Bibles a "fan." (Matt. 3:12.)
The final cleaning is done by washing the grain, or with a sieve.

The Tombs of the Kings, which may never have contained a king, are
extensive and interesting. They are surrounded by a wall, and to reach
them the visitor must go down a very wide stairway. The steps probably
do not number more than twenty-five, but the distance from one side of
the stairs to the other is twenty-seven feet. There are channels cut in
the rock to carry the water that comes down these steps to the cisterns,
two in number, one of which is a good-sized room cut in the rock at the
side of the stairway. It contained about three feet of water when I saw
it, although there had been no rain in Jerusalem for half a year. The
other one, at the bottom of the stairs, is much larger, and was empty.
The vaulted roof is supported by a column, and there are steps leading
from one level of the floor to another.

Turning to the left at the foot of the big stairway, we passed through
an arch cut through the rock into a court made by excavating the earth
and stone to a depth of perhaps twenty feet. It is ninety feet long and
eighty-one feet wide. The entrance to the tombs is by a vestibule cut in
the rock at one side of the court, and it appears that this once had a
row of pillars along the front, like veranda posts. We went down a few
steps and stooped low enough to pass through an opening about a yard
high. Beyond this we found ourselves in a good-sized room, cut in the
solid rock. There are five of these rooms, and so far as the appearance
is concerned, one might suppose they had been made in modern times, but
they are ancient. The bodies were usually buried in "pigeon-holes" cut
back in the walls of the rooms, but there are some shelf tombs, which
are sufficiently described in their name. One room seems never to have
been completed, but there are burial places here for about forty people.

One of the interesting things about these tombs is the rolling stone by
which they were closed. It is a round rock, resembling a millstone. The
height is a little over three feet and a half, and the thickness sixteen
inches. It stands in a channel cut for the purpose, but was rolled
forward before the entrance when it was desirable to have the tombs
closed. When Jesus was buried, a "great stone" was rolled to the mouth
of the sepulcher, and the women thought of this as they went to the tomb
on the first day of the week, saying: "Who shall roll us away the stone
from the door of the tomb?" (Mark 16:3.) They went on and found the tomb
open; so, also, we may often find the stone rolled away if we will go
forward in the discharge of our duties, instead of sitting down to mourn
at the thought of something in the distance which seems too difficult.

On our way to the tombs just mentioned, we passed the American Colony,
a small band of people living together in a rather peculiar manner,
but they are not all Americans. I understood that there had been no
marriages among them for a long time until a short while before I was
in Jerusalem. Some of them conduct a good store near the Jaffa gate. We
passed an English church and college and St. Stephen's Church on the way
to Gordon's Calvary. This new location of the world's greatest tragedy
is a small hill outside the walls on the northern side of the city. The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands on ground which for fifteen hundred
years has been regarded as the true site of our Lord's death and burial,
but since Korte, a German bookseller, visited the city in 1738, doubts
have been expressed as to the correctness of the tradition. Jesus
"suffered without the gate" (Heb. 13:12), and "in the place where he was
crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb wherein was
man never yet laid" (John 19:41), and it appears to have been near a
public road. (Mark 15:29.) In 1856 Edward Robinson, an American, offered
proof that the site sustained by the old tradition was inside the city
walls at the time of the crucifixion, and more recent discoveries, made
in excavating, confirm his proof. The new Calvary meets the requirements
of the above mentioned scriptures, and gets its name "Gordon's Calvary,"
from the fact that General Gordon wrote and spoke in favor of this being
the correct location, and a photographer attached his name to a view of
the place. In the garden adjoining the new Calvary I visited a tomb,
which some suppose to be the place of our Lord's burial.

On the way back to my lodging place we passed the Damascus gate, the
most attractive of all the old city gates, and one often represented
in books. It was built or repaired in 1537, and stands near an older
gateway that is almost entirely hidden by the accumulated rubbish of
centuries, only the crown of the arch now showing. As we went on we
passed the French Hospice, a fine modern building, having two large
statues on it. The higher one represents the Virgin and her child, the
other is a figure of the Savior. The Catholic church already mentioned,
where two sisters are to be seen in prayer at all times, is near the
Hospice. It is a rather impressive sight to stand in this beautiful but
silent place, and see those women in white robes kneeling there almost
as motionless as statues.

Thursday and a part of Friday was taken up with a trip to Jericho, but
we got back in time to spend the afternoon in looking around Jerusalem,
and we had an interesting visit to the home of Mrs. Schoenecke, a German
lady, whose father, named Schick, spent fifty-six years of his life in
Jerusalem. From what information Mr. Schick could gather from the Bible,
Josephus, the Talmud, and his personal observations during the time the
Palestine Exploration Fund was at work, he constructed large models of
the ancient temples that stood on Mount Moriah from the days of Solomon
to the time of Herod and Christ. I was told that the original models
were sold to an American college for five thousand dollars. Mr.
Schick then constructed the models shown to us, and explained by Mrs.
Schoenecke. We were also shown a model of the tabernacle used while
Israel was marching to the promised land.

The Wailing Place is a rectangle one hundred feet long by fifteen feet
wide on the outside of the Temple Area, on the western side, where the
wall is about sixty feet high. Some of the stones in this section are of
large size, and authorities admit that they are of Solomon's time, but
the wall in which they now stand may be a reconstruction. The Jews come
here on the Sabbath, beginning at sundown on Saturday, for a service
which one author describes as follows: "Nearest to him stood a row of
women clad in robes of spotless white. Their eyes were bedimmed with
weeping, and tears streamed down their cheeks as they sobbed aloud
with irrepressible emotion. Next to the women stood a group of
Pharisees--Jews from Poland and Germany. * * * The old hoary-headed men
generally wore velvet caps edged with fur, long love-locks or ringlets
dangling on their thin cheeks, and their outer robes presented a
striking contrast of gaudy colors. Beyond stood a group of Spanish Jews.
* * * Besides these there are Jews from every quarter of the world, who
had wandered back to Jerusalem that they might die in the city of their
fathers, and be buried in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, under the shadow of
the Temple Hill. The worshipers gradually increased in number until the
crowd thronging the pavement could not be fewer than two hundred. It was
an affecting scene to notice their earnestness; some thrust their hands
between the joints of the stones, and pushed into the crevices, as far
as possible, little slips of paper, on which were written, in the Hebrew
tongue, short petitions addressed to Jehovah. Some even prayed with
their mouths thrust into the gaps, where the weather-beaten stones were
worn away at the joints. * * * The congregation at the Wailing Place is
one of the most solemn gatherings left to the Jewish Church, and, as the
writer gazed at the motley concourse, he experienced a feeling of sorrow
that the remnants of the chosen race should be heartlessly thrust
outside the sacred inclosure of their fathers' holy temple by men of an
alien race and an alien creed." So far as I know, all writers give these
worshipers credit for being sincere, but on the two occasions when I
visited the place, I saw no such emotion as described in the foregoing
quotation. The following lines are often rehearsed, the leader reading
one at a time, after which the people respond with the words: "We sit in
solitude and mourn."

"For the place that lies desolate;
For the place that is destroyed;
For the walls that are overthrown;
For our majesty that is departed;
For our great men who lie dead;
For the precious stones that are buried;
For the priests who have stumbled;
For our kings who have despised Him."

This solemn practice has been observed for about twelve hundred years,
but the same place may not have been used all the time. "She is become a
widow, that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among
the provinces is become tributary! Jerusalem hath grievously sinned;
therefore she is become as an unclean thing" (Lam. 1: 1, 8).

On Friday evening we entered some of the many synagogues yet to be found
in Jerusalem and observed the worshipers. On Saturday we went to the
House of Industry of the English church, where boys are taught to work.
Olive wood products are made for the tourist trade. We passed a place
where some men were making a peculiar noise as they were pounding wheat
and singing at their work. This pounding was a part of the process of
making it ready for food. An old lady was standing in an open door
spinning yarn in a very simple manner. We watched her a few minutes, and
I wanted to buy the little arrangement with which she was spinning, but
she didn't care to part with it. She brought out another one, and let me
have it after spinning a few yards upon it. I gave her a Turkish coin
worth a few cents, for which she seemed very thankful, and said, as Mr.
Ahmed explained: "God bless you and give you long life. I am old, and
may die to-day." She told us that she came from Mosul, away beyond the
Syrian desert, to die in Jerusalem. We visited the synagogue of the
Caraite Jews, a small polygamous sect, numbering in this assembly
about thirty persons. They also differ from the majority of Hebrews in
rejecting the Talmud, but I believe they have a Talmud of their own.
Their place of worship is a small room almost under the ground, where we
were permitted to see a very fine old copy of the Hebrew Scriptures, our
Old Testament. The work was done by hand, and I was told the man who
did it was sixteen years of age when he began it, and was sixty when he
finished the work, and that the British Museum had offered five thousand
dollars for the book. Some of these people speak English, and we
conversed with one woman who was quite intelligent. They kindly
permitted us to go up and view the city from the housetop.

In the afternoon we visited the Temple Area, an inclosure of about
thirty-five acres, in the southeastern part of the city, including the
Mosque of Omar (more appropriately called the Dome of the Rock), the
Mosque El Aksa, and Solomon's Stables. For Christians to enter this
inclosure, it is necessary to notify their consul and secure the service
of his _cavasse_, an armed guard, and a Turkish soldier, both of
whom must be paid for their services. Thus equipped, we entered the
inclosure, and came up on the east front of the Dome of the Rock,
probably so named from the fact that the dome of this structure stands
over an exposed portion of the natural rock, fifty-seven feet long,
forty-three feet wide, and rising a few feet above the floor. After
putting some big slippers on over our shoes, we entered the building
and saw this great rock, which tradition says is the threshing floor
of Araunah, and the spot where Melchizedek sacrificed. It is also the
traditional place where Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and it is believed
that David built an altar here after the angel of destruction had put
up his sword. It is furthermore supposed that the great altar of burnt
offerings stood on this rock in the days of Solomon's Temple, which
is thought to have been located just west of it. This is the probable
location of Zerubbabel's Temple, and the one enlarged and beautified
by Herod, which was standing when Jesus was on earth, and continued to
stand until the awful destruction of the city by the Roman army in A.D.
70.

The modern visitor to this fine structure would have no thought of the
ancient temple of God if he depended upon what he sees here to suggest
it. All trace of that house has disappeared. The Dome of the Rock, said
to be "the most beautiful piece of architecture in Jerusalem," belongs
to the Turks. It has eight sides, each about sixty-six and a half feet
long, and is partly covered with marble, but it is, to some extent, in a
state of decay. Between the destruction of the temple and the erection
of this building a heathen temple and a church had been built on the
spot.

The Mosque El Aksa was also visited, but it is noted more for its size
than the beauty of its architecture. The Turkish Governor of Palestine
comes here every Friday to worship at the time the Sultan is engaged
in like manner in Constantinople. Solomon's Stables next engaged our
attention. We crossed the Temple Area to the wall on the southeastern
border, and went down a stairway to these underground chambers, which
were made by building about a hundred columns and arching them over and
laying a pavement on the top, thereby bringing it up on a level with
the rest of the hill. The vaults are two hundred and seventy-three feet
long, one hundred and ninety-eight feet wide, and about thirty feet
high. They were not made for stables, but were used for that purpose in
the middle ages, and the holes through the corners of the square stone
columns show where the horses were tied. A large portion of these
chambers has been made into a cistern or reservoir.

After a visit to what is called the Pool of Bethesda and the Church of
St. Anne, we went outside the city wall on the north side and entered
what looks like a cave, but upon investigation proves to be an extensive
underground quarry. These excavations, called Solomon's Quarries,
extend, according to one authority, seven hundred feet under the hill
Bezetha, which is north of Mt. Moriah. The rock is very white, and will
take some polish. Loose portions of it are lying around on the floor
of the cavern, and there are distinct marks along the sides where the
ancient stone-cutters were at work. In one part of the quarries we were
shown the place where visiting Masons are said to hold lodge meetings
sometimes. Vast quantities of the rock have been taken out, and this is
probably the source from whence much of the building material of the old
city was derived.

The trip to the quarries ended my sight-seeing for the week. The next
morning I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and witnessed a part
of the service of the Greek Catholics. At a later hour I went around to
the mission conducted by Bro. Joseph, and, with the little congregation
there assembled, broke bread in memory of Him who in this city, almost
two thousand years ago, gave his life for the sins of the world, after
having instituted this supper, a monumental institution, representing
to our minds the cost of the world's redemption. In the afternoon I
attended the preaching service in Mr. Thompson's tabernacle, and visited
the Abyssinian church, near Mr. Smith's house. This Abyssinian house is
circular, and has a small, round room in the center, around which the
congregation stands and worships, leaning on their staves, for the place
is void of seats. At night I preached in the tabernacle on the question:
"What must I do to be saved?" Melki, the native evangelist, translated
for me as I went along, and the congregation paid good attention and
seemed pleased to have heard me. I know I am pleased to have had
opportunity to "preach the word" in the city from whence it was first
published to the world.

One of the first sights beheld when I started out on Monday morning was
a foundation, laid at the expense of a woman who intended to build a
house for the "hundred and forty-four thousand." It represents one of
the many peculiar religious ideas that find expression in and around
Jerusalem. We went on to the railway station, where I saw a young man, a
Jew, leave for that far-off land called America. Next the Leper Hospital
was visited. This well-kept institution is in the German colony, and had
several patients of both sexes. A lady, who spoke some English, kindly
showed me through the hospital, and explained that the disease is not
contagious, but hereditary, and that some lepers refuse to enter the
hospital because they are forbidden to marry. The patients were of
various ages, and showed the effects of the disease in different stages.
In some cases it makes the victim a sad sight to look upon. I remember
one of these poor, afflicted creatures, whose face was almost covered
with swollen and inflamed spots. Some were blind, and some had lost
part or all of their fingers by the disease. One man's nose was partly
consumed.

At Bishop Gobat's school we were kindly received, and given a good,
refreshing drink. The founder of this school, a member of the English
church, was one of the pioneers in Jerusalem mission work, and stood
very high in the estimation of the people. His grave is to be seen in
the cemetery near the school, where one may also see the supposed site
of the ancient city wall. Besides the Leper Hospital, we visited another
hospital under German control, where patients may have medical attention
and hospital service for the small sum of one _mejidi_, about eighty
cents, for a period, of fifteen days, but higher fees are charged in
other departments. We soon reached the English hospital, maintained by
the Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews. It is
built on a semi-circular plan in such a way that the wards, extending
back from the front, admit light from both sides. This institution is
free to the Jews, but I understand Mohammedans were not admitted without
a fee.

The Syrian Orphanage had about three hundred children in it, who were
being instructed in books and in manual labor. Those who can see are
taught to work in wood, to make a kind of tile used in constructing
partitions, and other lines of useful employment. They had some blind
children, who were being taught to make baskets and brushes. On the way
back to Mr. Smith's I stopped at the Jewish Library, a small two-story
building, having the books and papers upstairs. They have a raised map
of Palestine, which was interesting to me, after having twice crossed
the country from sea to sea.

The last Thursday I was in the city I went with some friends to the
Israelite Alliance School, an institution with about a thousand pupils,
who receive both an industrial and a literary education. We were
conducted through the school by a Syrian gentleman named Solomon Elia,
who explained that, while the institution is under French control,
English is taught to some extent, as some of the pupils would go
to Egypt, where they would need to use this language. The boys are
instructed in wood-working, carpentry, copper-working, and other lines
of employment. We saw some of the girls making hair nets, and others
were engaged in making lace. Both of these products are sent out of
Palestine for sale. The institution has received help from some of the
Rothschild family, and I have no doubt that it is a great factor for the
improvement of those who are reached by it. Jerusalem is well supplied
with hospitals and schools. The Greek and Roman Catholic churches, the
Church of England, and numerous other religious bodies have a footing
here, and are striving to make it stronger. Their schools and hospitals
are made use of as missionary agencies, and besides these there is a
Turkish hospital and numerous Mohammedan schools.

On Friday I had an opportunity to see a man measuring grain, as is
indicated by the Savior's words: "Give, and it shall be given unto you;
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they
give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again" (Luke 6:38). He filled his measure about full,
and then shook it down thoroughly. He next filled it up and shook it
down until he evidently thought he had all he could get that way, so he
commenced to pile it up on top. When he had about as much heaped up as
would stay on, he put his hands on the side of the cone opposite himself
and gently pulled it toward him. He then piled some more on the far
side, and when he had reached the limit in this way, he carefully
leveled the top of the cone down a little, and when he could no longer
put on more grain, he gently lifted the measure and moved it around to
the proper place, where it was quickly dumped. In the evening Mr. Smith
and I walked out on Mount Scopus, where Titus had his camp at the time
of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, as foretold by our Lord and
Master in the twenty-fourth of Matthew.

As we went along, Mr. Smith pointed out the watershed between the
Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. The view from Scopus is very extensive.
We could look away to the north to Nebi Samwil, where the Prophet Samuel
is supposed by some to have been buried. Ramallah, the seat of a school
maintained by the Society of Friends, is pointed out, along with Bireh,
Bethel, and Geba. Nob, the home of the priests slain by command of Saul
(1 Samuel 22:16), and Anathoth, one of the cities of refuge (Joshua
21:18), are in sight. Swinging on around the circle to the east, the
northern end of the Dead Sea is visible, while the Mount of Olives is
only a little distance below us. Across the valley of the Kidron lies
the Holy City, with her walls constructed at various periods and under
various circumstances, her dome-shaped stone roofs, synagogues, mosques,
and minarets, being "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of
the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24). Here, with this panorama spread
out in the evening light, I may say my sight-seeing in the City of the
Great King came to an end.

I lacked but a few hours of having been in the city two weeks, when I
boarded the train for Jaffa on my way to Egypt. The most of the time I
had lodged in the hospitable home of Mr. Smith, where I had a clean
and comfortable place to rest my tired body when the shadows of night
covered the land. I had received kind treatment, and had seen many
things of much interest. I am truly thankful that I have been permitted
to make this trip to Jerusalem. Let me so live that when the few
fleeting days of this life are over, I may rest with the redeemed. When
days and years are no more, let me enjoy, in the NEW JERUSALEM, the
blessedness that remains for those that have loved the Lord.

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