In connection with the Prussian consulate is Pastor Valentiner, chaplain to Dr. Rosen, one of the most learned men in Palestine. Under the auspices of the consulate is a school for children and a hospital for poor pilgrims. The building is pleasantly situated on Mount Zion, and contains forty-one girls and as many boys, who are taught five different languages, with other branches of knowledge. These children are required to remain, by contract, from five to eight years, and, if the contract is broken by their parents, they are to pay the amount of expense incurred. The pupils represent nearly every nation, whose pilgrim parents have either abandoned them in a strange land, or died far from home. The “House of Charity” is governed by six deaconesses, principally Prussians. They dress in a simple blue gown and a clean white cap. They are excellent women and efficient teachers. The rules of their order require them to remain single during a fixed term of years, at the expiration of which most of them marry. Their home is often the scene of the most thrilling events. Shortly prior to our arrival in Jerusalem, a Turk had reached the city, and having squandered his money in pleasure, was compelled to abandon his two slave girls—one a beautiful Circassian, the other a dark Abyssinian. Touched with their sad condition, the kind deaconesses received them to their “House of Charity.” The former, after a brief time, embraced religion,was baptized, and died happy. The latter appeared stupid, and, when addressed on the subject of religion, declared herself “a donkey.” She had attained her fourteenth year, and, after six months under the tuition of those Christian women, who watched her last moments with the fondness of sisters, she died of scrofula. Every effort to enlighten her mind had been unavailing, eliciting her only reply, “I am a donkey.” But, to the surprise of all, on the night of her death she requested baptism at the hands of Pastor Valentiner, to whose inquiry why she desired the holy rite administered to her, referred him to the death of the Circassian slave, whose experience she had watched, and whose last joyful accents she had carefully cherished. Expressing as her last wish on earth to go where slaves are free and where woman is loved, she passed from earth to heaven.
CHAPTER VII.
Road to Jericho.—Delay.—Caravan.—Robbers.—Ladies.—Scenery.—Waters of Enshemesh.—Wilderness of Judea.—Scene of Christ’s Temptation.—Thieves of Jericho.—Parable of the Good Samaritan.—Brook Cherith.—Wild Region.—Elijah fed by the Ravens.—First View of the Plain of the Jordan.—Evening at Jericho.—Ruins of the ancient City.—Historical Events.—Fountain of Elisha.—’Ain Dûk.—Castle of Doch.—Jericho of the New Testament.—Scene of Herod’s Death.—Town of Riha.—Site of Gilgal.—Great Events.—Sunrise on the Plain of Jericho.—Richness of the Plain.—Quarantania.—Description of Turkish Soldiers.—The Ride.—Banks of the Jordan.—Sources of the Sacred River.—The ten Fountains.—The three Lakes.—Descent and Sinuosities of the River.—Glen through which it flows.—Flowers and Trees on its Banks.—Birds in its Shrubbery and Beasts in its Thickets.—Its Color.—Depth.—Rapidity.—Twenty-seven Rapids.—Falls.—Islands in the River.—Roman Bridges.—Brook Jabbok.—Jacob and the Angel.—War Scenes.—Entrance of the Jordan into the Dead Sea.—Meaning of Jordan.—Pilgrim’s Ford.—Charming Scenery.—Mountains of Moab.—Vision of Balaam.—Vision of Moses.—His Death.—Crossing of the Jordan by the Israelites.—Probable Place.—Overflowing of the River.—Causes.—Translation of Elijah.—Cure of Naaman.—Baptismal Stations of John the Baptist.—Bethabara.—Ænon.—Scene of Christ’s Baptism here.—The Argument for it.—Journey to the Dead Sea.—Robbers.—Features of the Sea.—Delightful Bath.—Dimensions of the Sea.—Its Bed coeval with the Upper and Lower Valleys.—Sea larger than formerly.—No Outlet.—Its Waters evaporate.—Peninsula.—Island.—Surrounding Mountains.—Hot Springs of Callirrhoe.—Sublime Chasm.—Castle of Machaerus.—Wild Glen.—River Arnon.—Scenery.—City of Kerak.—Ruins of Zoar.—Location of Sodom.—Manner of its Destruction.—Mountain of Salt, cause of the saltness of the Sea.—Lot’s Wife.—Ruins of Masada.—Besieged by Flavius Silva.—Tragical Death of 600 Sicarii, their Wives and Children.—Fountain of the Kid.—David and Saul.—Maon.—The Home of Abigail.—Journey to Bethlehem.—Wilderness of Engedi.—A Night with the Monks of Mâr Sâba.—The Monastery.—Bethlehem.—Its Names.—Antiquity.—History.—Convent of the Franciscans.—The Stable of the Nativity.—Present Condition.—Pictures.—The Manger.—Tomb of St. Paula.—Cell of St. Jerome.—Basilica of St. Helena.—Evidence that this is the Birthplace of Christ.—Stable in a House.—Situation of Bethlehem.—Population.—Beautiful Women.—Herodium.—Tomb of Herod the Great.—Cave of Adullam.—Hiding-place of David.—Its Wonders.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho leads from St. Stephen’sGate down the steep sides of Moriah, across the Valley of the Kidron, over the southwestern shoulder of Olivet, near the village of Bethany, through the wilderness of Judea, and, descending the Mountain of Quarantania, terminates on the great Plain of Jordan. It is another illustration of the accuracy of the sacred writers in their topographical allusions, and another proof that only those who were familiar with the land—who had traversed its highways and noted its natural features, could have written descriptions so minute, and, withal, so incidental. In his parable of the “Good Samaritan,” the Savior casually states, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho;” which not only indicates the relative position of the latter place to the former, but also the descent of nearly 4000 feet from the Jewish capital to the city of Herod the Great. To the careful and candid observer, such internal evidence of the Bible is ever forcing itself upon his attention, and calling forth expressions of wonder and admiration for the truth-telling chroniclers of our Lord’s life and ministry.
The “latter rains” had delayed our departure for the Jordan, and a farther delay had been caused by the high March winds, which had so dried the surface of the earth, and had filled the air with dust to such an extent, that for the space of a whole day the Mount of Olives was invisible even to one standing upon the wall of the city. But the charms of a Syrian spring morning soon returned, and at an early hour we were in the saddle, waiting impatiently for the caravan to rendezvous at the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a day peculiar to the Promised Land, for the blandness of the sky and the softness of the air. The foliage on shrub and tree wore every shade of green, and the lovely flowers that covered vale and hill-side recalled the beautiful lines of Shelley:
“And the spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the spirit of love felt every where;
And each flower and herb on earth’s dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”