This being their first visit to Jerusalem, it was full of interest. Here God had been pleased to dwell visibly in his temple. For many ages it was the earthly home of the Church. Here the chosen tribes came to worship. Here David tuned his harp to praise Jehovah, and Isaiah obtained enraptured visions of the future Church. Above all, here the Lord of the world became incarnate, and wrought out redemption for man. During the two months of their sojourn, they visited many places of interest to the Christian and to the Biblical student.1 For greater usefulness, they occupied separate rooms in the Greek Convent, where they received all who came unto them, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding them. Mr. Wolff had a room on the side of Mount Zion, near the residence of the Jews, with whom he labored almost incessantly. Impressions as to the unhealthiness of Jerusalem in summer were stronger, at that time, than subsequent experience justified, and the brethren decided, like Mr. Parsons, to pass the hot months on the heights of Lebanon. Accordingly they left the Holy City on the 27th of June, going by way of Jaffa and the coast to Beirût, where they arrived on the 10th of July. The southern portion of Lebanon, largely occupied by Druses, was then governed by the Emir Beshîr, who was called Prince of the Druses, though himself a Maronite. Not long before, having offended the Sultan, he had fled into Egypt, and there became acquainted with the missionaries. Having made his peace with the Sultan and returned to Deir el-Kamr, his capital, the brethren visited him there, and were hospitably entertained, and furnished with a firmân for travelling in all parts of his dominions.
1 See Missionary Herald, 1824, pp. 65-71, 97-101.
Mr. King took up his residence there in order to study the Arabic language. Mr. Fisk spent the summer with Mr. Way, of the London Jews' Society, in a building erected for a Jesuits' College at Aintûra, which that gentleman had hired for the use of missionaries in Palestine. In August, Mr. Wolff arrived from Jerusalem. Early in the autumn, Messrs. Fisk, Lewis of the Jews' Society, Wolff, Jowett and King, all met at Aintûra, for the friendly discussion of some practical questions relating to missions, which were soon arranged to mutual satisfaction. How many dark and troubled ages had passed, since there was such a company of Christian ministers assembled on that goodly mountain! The journals of Mr. King, here and elsewhere, have a singularly dramatic interest, and were eagerly read, as they appeared in the "Missionary Herald." Those of Mr. Fisk are also rich in the information they contain. He was able to preach in both the Italian and Modern Greek. Mr. King's labors were chiefly in the Arabic language, in which he preached the Gospel with the utmost plainness. Yet he appears to have secured in a remarkable degree the good-will of the people. He thus describes the scene connected with his departure from Deir el-Kamr, on the 22d of September:—
"A little before I left, the family appeared very sorrowful, and some of them wept. The mother wept much, and a priest with whom I had often conversed came in and wept like a child. I improved this occasion by telling him of his duty as a shepherd, and spoke to him of the great day of account, and the responsibility that rested upon him, and his duty to search the Scriptures. The family I exhorted to love the Lord Jesus Christ, to read the Word of God, and to be careful to keep all his commandments.
"It was truly an interesting scene; and I was surprised to see the feeling exhibited by the Arabs on my departure. As I left the house, they loaded me with blessings, and, as I passed through the street, many commended me to the care and protection of the Lord."1
1 Report for 1824, p. 121.
In October, Messrs. Fisk and King rode to Tripoli, supposed then to contain fifteen thousand inhabitants. From thence they proceeded to the Maronite Convent of Mâr Antonius Khoshiah, situated on the brow of an almost perpendicular mountain, where was a printing-press. Nearly all the inhabitants of that part of Lebanon are Maronites, acknowledging allegiance to the Pope. Thence they visited the Cedars of Lebanon; and then crossed the rich plain of Coelo-Syria to Baalbek, at the foot of Anti-Lebanon. Several of the places visited in this tour will come more properly into notice in the subsequent history.
Mr. Fisk returned to Jerusalem in the autumn with Mr. Jowett. Just before leaving Beirût, they had the joy of welcoming the Rev. Messrs. William Goodell and Isaac Bird, and their wives, who arrived on the 16th of October. In January, Messrs. King and Bird also went to Jerusalem.
The year 1824 was one of much activity. In February, Messrs. Fisk and Bird were the only missionaries at Jerusalem, Mr. King having gone to Jaffa. While successfully employed in selling the Scriptures to Armenian pilgrims in the city, they were apprehended, at the instigation of the Latins, and brought before Moslem judges on the strange charge of distributing books that were neither Mohammedan, Jewish, nor Christian. Holding up a copy of Genesis, the judge declared it to be among the unchristian books denounced by the Latins. Meanwhile their rooms were searched, and a crier was sent out into the city, forbidding all persons to receive their books, and ordering all that had been received to be delivered up. Their papers were examined, and some of them retained by the government. In a few days, however, through the prompt interference of the English Consul at Jaffa, their papers were all restored, and they were set at liberty. These proceedings becoming widely known, the result was, on the whole, favorable. Mr. Abbott, English Consul at Beirût, learning of the occurrence, wrote to the Pasha at Damascus, and the governor and judge at Jerusalem received an official order to restore to the missionaries whatever had been taken from them, and to secure for them protection and respectful treatment. The governor was shortly after superseded, for what cause was not certainly known; but many people, both Mussulmans and Christians, believed it was in consequence of his ill treatment of Messrs. Fisk and Bird.
Mr. Damiani, son of the English Consul at Jaffa, had come to Jerusalem on their behalf, with a letter from his father to the governor. In company with this young gentleman, the missionaries visited Hebron in February, going by way of Bethlehem. About three miles south of Bethlehem, they came to what are called the Cisterns of Solomon, three in number, of large dimensions, on the side of a hill. Mr. Fisk was informed, that Jerusalem was supplied in part by an aqueduct, which carried its waters from those fountains.1