The old world and its ways

by William Jennings Bryan

SALIM MOUSSA, WITH PARTY OF TOURISTS.

In the time of Christ the sea of Galilee was the scene of busy life. The population of the country described as Galilee has been estimated to have been at that time about two and a half millions. The sea was covered with boats, built for fishing, for traffic, for war or for pleasure. Josephus collected two hundred and thirty ships for one of his expeditions upon the sea, and in a sea fight that took place there the number killed on one side alone was given at from four to six thousand.

The sea was full of fish, and the Gospels furnish abundant proof of the importance of fishing as an industry, a fact also established by outside evidence. Dr. Merrill, in the book above referred to, says that fish taken were not only sufficient to satisfy the local demands but were packed and shipped to Jerusalem and even to cities along the Mediterranean. The supply of fish has not yet been exhausted. Salim Moussa, of Jaffa, the very efficient Arab dragoman furnished us by Cook, supplied us with a net when we visited the sites of Capernaum and Bethsaida and our son caught enough fish for our lunch. It was a delightful outing that we had that day, gathering water-worn pebbles from the beach, picking up shells, of which there are many varieties, and feasting on fish fresh from the sea and on a lamb bought from a Bedouin who was tending his flock near by.

MARY'S WELL AT NAZARETH.

The visit to the Horns of Hattin was reserved for the return trip, the road from Nazareth to Tiberias passing near the hill which bears this name. It was in 1157 the scene of a celebrated battle in which Saladin won a victory over the Crusaders. This hill, by a tradition which has come down from the time of the Crusaders, is styled the Mount of Beatitudes. There is nothing to determine just where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered, but because the Horns of Hattin have been associated with that wonderful discourse, I was anxious to visit the place. There is no road leading to this eminence and the bridle paths can scarcely be followed. The ground is covered by boulders and broken stones, half concealed by grass and thistles and flowers. The guide stepped over a large snake before we had gone far, and as it was of a very poisonous variety, he felt that he had had a narrow escape. From a distance the top of the hill is saddle-shaped, and the two horns have given it its name, but on the top there is a large circular basin, probably two hundred yards in diameter, and the rim of this basin was once walled and a citadel built there.

The view from this mount is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. To the north, Hermon rises in grandeur, his summit covered with snow; the intervening space is filled with hills except in the immediate foreground where the sea of Galilee sparkles in the sun. At the foot of the mount stretches a verdant valley, and from the valley a defile runs down to the sea. This opening gives a view of the shore where Capernaum and Bethsaida are supposed to have stood, and one of the roads from the sea to Nazareth follows the stream which flows through this defile. On the opposite side of the Mount, Tabor can be seen, and beyond, the hills of Samaria. There is inspiration in this commingling of hill and vale and sea and sky.[6]

Whether, as a matter of fact, Christ, "seeing the multitude," ascended to this place I know not, but it furnishes an environment fit for the sublime code of morality presented in the Sermon on the Mount. No other philosophy has ever touched so high a point or presented so noble a conception of human life. In it purity of heart is made the test, mercy is enjoined, humility emphasized, forgiveness commanded and love made the law of action. In that Sermon He pointed out the beginnings of evil, rebuked those who allow themselves to be engrossed by the care of the body and gave to the world a brief, simple and incomparable prayer which the Christian world repeats in unison.

If in other places He relieved those whose sufferings came through the infirmities of the flesh, He here offered a balm for the healing of the nations.