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SACRED SONNETS.

No. XV.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

ther, it is a land where is a constitution truly noble, unrivalled, and the admiration of surrounding nations, and which has within itself a thunder of power to strike terror on those enemies who would dare to invade her altars, hearths, and high independence. Freedom never "shrieks," but the utmost individual liberty is displayed. Further, it is

"Are the consolations of God small with thee?"-JOB"goodly land," distinguished for its

IV. 11.

O, WAYWARD spirit, check the gloomy fears

Rending each thought of happiness in twain,
Bowing beneath their weight the fairy train
Of joyous hope, and steeping all in tears.
Too gloomily they haunt the stricken heart,
Shadowing the unknown future with the ray
Flung o'er the past, e'en longer to delay
The bitter anguish of grief's poisoned dart.
O, not with trembling meet life's ills, but raise
To God thy fainting soul in every hour:
Hope in his mercy, and with prayer and praise

Rest meekly glorying in his saving power :
Look up to Christ, nor heed this world's vain thrall-
God to the lonely heart is all in all*.

Llangynwyd Vicarage, Feb. 15.

Miscellaneous,

M. C. L.

THE HOLY LANDt.-This is a portion of the earth where not only shines the light of the glorious gospel, that triumphant book and golden treasure, more excellent than rubies, in which an endless glory blazes forth, but in our temples divine knowledge, doctrines, and mysteries of an eternal word are proclaimed by ministers, "ambassadors of Christ," striving to defeat and conquer infidelity by the power of heavenly truth, and persuading men to be reconciled to Christ. Britain is the very bulwark of religious liberty and toleration held out to all sects; an asylum also for the persecuted and oppressed, a refuge for the destitute, where political freedom is more perfectly developed than in any other part on the face of the globe, and the meanest slave in setting foot on the soil is perfectly free. It is also the abode of security, comfort, and happiness, where the dwelling of every man, however humble, is constituted his castle, which repels invaders; and the laws we rebrave fathers' legacy. Here judgest are considered as a peculiar class of men, totally independent of the crown, whose opinions are never for a moment shaken by the rich, powerful, or from any political bias, and over whose high dignity and character for incorruptible integrity and independence not a shadow of suspicion has been attempted to be thrown in doing justice; and judgment is weighed in scales equally poised, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left, and agreeable to the command of him who is the great Judge of all§. Fur

verence are

our

* Digon Duw da i unig" (God is enough to a lonely one).— WELSH PROverb.

+ From the conclusion of "Travels in Palestine," by Dr. Rae Wilson. Longman and Co.

+ Magistrates are called "gods," because they are in God's room, and executeth his special commands (Exod. xxi. 28).

Contrast this with the acts of some Russian judges, selling their honour, disgracing their benches, and setting

a

statesmen

and warriors, where commerce has brought into the walk the busy merchant: the "hand of the diligent maketh rich." It also contains a band of philanthropists and benevolent characters, who, by their godlike acts, even to those of other countries, excite the highest admiration and astonishment. Above all, the throne we honour is the people's choice, who are subjects of a sovereign knowing "whose minister she is," just, mild, distinguished for that mercy that blesses "giver and receiver," and becomes a throned monarch better than the crown. Happy indeed, it may be said, is the people in such a case!

BURIAL-PLACES IN EGYPT AND IN IRELAND. -Can we wonder that the inhabitants of Egypt resemble in appearance the carcasses with whom they dwell? Can we hesitate to account for the constant development of a pestilence, when we reflect that by day and by night, for twelve centuries, the soil on which Cairo stands, its crowded courts and narrow streets, have been inundated by the filthy excretions of animals and of man; that day and night, for centuries, the earth has been imbibing the putrid sanies from the bodies of thousands of animals, permitted to rot over its surface; that day and night, for centuries, it has been imbibing the fluid contents of imperfect cloaca, and the poisonous exhalations of its half-buried inhabitants, until the subsoil has become one vast hot-bed of pestilential infection? Now, the burial-places in this kingdom have little to boast of over those of Egypt. There is this distinction, however, to be drawn: In the latter country, the system employed is at once recognized and permitted: in England, men pay" funeral dues," under the impression that their dead fulfil their destiny-return "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." Whether they gain more by their purchase than a solemn plausibility, those who have heard these lectures, or perused what I have written, can determine for themselves. The condition of the burial-places in Ireland seems to be even worse than those in other portions of the United Kingdom, although they are almost universally in a most disgusting and dangerous condition. In the neighbourhood of Castle Island and Ballylongford, in the above country, from the imperfect covering thrown over the recent dead, troops of dogs prey from day to day on the bodies. Violent madness is the result, which has led these rabid animals not only to attack one another, but the cattle in the fields.-From Mr. G. A. Walker's fourth lecture on the Metropolitan Graveyards.

aside justice and integrity, where many decisions are known to be pronounced in favour of those by whom douceurs are conveyed (of which see an account in the author's travels through Russia, vol. i. p. 374); Ezek. xlv. 9; Jerem. xxii. 3. "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and turn aside from judgment, and take away the right of my people" (Isa. x. 1).

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(Bethlehem.)

I have indeed been a great defaulter; but your last has recalled me from my forgetfulness; so I hope you will freely forgive, and receive my present communication with your acc ustomed kindness. I VOL. XXV.

had prepared the enclosed rough sketch of Bethlehem for you, taken from a position at which it is never seen except by persons, who, like myself, are sojourners here; a position selected because it combines with Bethlehem itself two other interesting objects. You will observe the towers of the convent, in which is the church of the Nativity nearly in the centre, and the mountains of Moab in the back ground, at the feet of which is the Dead sea. Of the village itself, just at the

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rising of the hill to the right of the convent, you | morning; but, alas! Arabs are never to be trusted, see but little just in the centre of the drawing where time is concerned ; and it was long past ten is the tomb of Rachel; one of, perhaps, the best o'clock before we got in motion. And really, authenticated memorials of the olden time to be when I got on the terrace to watch the preparafound in the country. The sketch shows it is tions, I was tempted to ask, is it only a quiet, "but a little way from Ephrath, which is Beth- poor man going out for a few days with his lehem" (Gen. xxxv. 16-20). A pillar was then family and one or two friends? or some king set upon it: the spot was evidently still known setting out on a royal progress? You know, like familiarly in our Lord's time, by the application the snails, people here must carry their houses, of an ancient prophecy, of her mourning for her aye, and all their furniture to boot, along with children, to the circumstances of the slaughter of them; and then, also, we must be guarded. The the Innocents; and, since then, so far as I can sheikh of Abu-dis was to go with us for our prodiscover, tradition has never wavered, and the tection, with fifteen of his people. My own spot been always marked by Jews, Christians, family, with servants, was in number ten; and and Moslems, as the last resting-place of the good three friends joined us, with their attendants, old Jacob's beloved wife. The present building making in all seventeen; and all had to be is evidently modern, part of it very lately erected; mounted: all needed mules to transport their but that it stands on the real spot where the re- tents, &c.; and all mules needed drivers; so that mains were deposited some 3,500 years ago, no on setting forth, and counting heads, I found we one seems to doubt. The conical hill on the left were-human beings 42, horses 16, asses 11, is now denominated the Frank mountain, or El- mules 10. However, the first starting is always Fureidis: it has all the appearance of having been the worst: once in motion, things went on very a sharp-pointed cone, the summit of which has tolerably; and, leaving the Jaffa-gate, we wound been cut off to afford room for a strong fortress, round the walls in a northerly direction, and then the massive ruins of which still remain: apparently descended into the valley of Jehoshaphat, crossed it was a quadrangle, with huge circular towers the Kedron, near the tomb of the virgin and at the corners, and of that admirable masonry ex- the garden of Gethsemane, and commenced the hibited in all the remains of Herod's numerous ascent of the mount of Olives. Our road (for in erections. Accordingly it has been supposed to these lands, where no MacAdams have ever be the site of Herodium, a city and castle which arisen, roads remain the same from generation to you will find mentioned in Josephus (Antiq. generation)-our road (and the recollection was Jew. xv. 9, 4). He seems there to intimate that interesting) was probably the same which David the hill was rather raised to, than cut down to, took as he fled from the capital, in Absalom's its present shape: he mentions the circular towers, rebellion: so we must, though unconscious of the foundations of which are very plainly to be seen. precise locality, have passed a spot, where took There are also many foundations, as of a city, at place what I consider one of the most remarkable the base, and much which bears the appear- transactions of his remarkable life-his refusal to ance of huge water-works. And Josephus es- permit the ark to be the companion of his wanderpecially mentions that these structures on the plain ings, and his ordering it to be carried again into were "well worth seeing, both on other ac- the city. "And the king said unto Zadok, Carry counts, and also on account of the water which back the ark of God into the city if I shall find is brought thither from a great way off;" and the favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me distance, "threescore furlongs from Jerusalem," again, and show me both it and his habitation; but, agrees well with the position. Not far beyond if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold, it (I may mention in passing, for it will give in- here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good to terest to the sketch) is a very remarkable natural him." We cannot doubt for a moment how he cave, of still-unexplored depth, which is pointed would have prized such a companion, as the seat out as David's cave of Adullam. Nor is there of the divine presence, in his flight and wanderany improbability in the idea: it is at no greatings, and may therefore estimate the extent of distance from Bethlehem, where his family dwelt; and it was there (1 Sam. xxii.) that they joined him, when Saul's insane persecutions forced him to take refuge in the wild and solitary scenes where so much of his time was for a season spent. So far for the view at present. I am about to carry you in another direction, because the scenes are fresh in my recollection; and I hope it will be amusing to you to have a description of a travelling expedition here, so different from anything you have experienced; as well as to hear something from a friend about scenes as interesting as any which can be viewed by a Christian. I am just returned to Jerusalem from an expedition to Jericho, Jordan, and the Dead sea; and thither desire you in imagination to accompany me.

his self-denial and submission to the work of God, when he refused what the friendly zeal of Zadok had provided. I have ever thought this one of the most touching scenes in the bible; and it was presented to my mind with a very lively interest on the morning I passed the spot. I could not forget, too, how often the Son of David must have passed over the very ground we then trod, in his frequent visits to a spot which soon came in sight-Bethany. We passed it on our left, lying on the eastern slope of the mount of Olives, beautifully situated amid gardens and olives and fruit-trees begiuning to display their blossoms. Except the beauty of the situation and its recolIlections, the place has nothing to boast; it is a filthy Arab village. And Lazarus's house, the ruins of which are pointed out, is evidently a modern structure, built for defence; and his tomb (for the good people have got it too), unless my eyes deceive me much, is nothing more nor less than an old water-tank: still this folly of always

Little, however, can you picture our setting out; such a rout, confusion, and swearing of Arabs (for truly they are a race whose mouth is "full of cursing and bitterness"), snorting and neighing of horses, &c., &c. We were ready by six in the

fixing a spot does no harm here, except exciting a good deal of kissing dirty stones, and scratching crosses, and putting a few stray piastres into the pockets of the villagers. We were sure it was Bethany: we knew that there dwelt the family whom Jesus loved," and often visited, and that there he raised Lazarus from the dead. We knew too that the ascent behind it was the mount of Olives; that as far as to Bethany the Son of man had led his disciples, after he was risen from the dead; and that it was somewhere very near the spot we were slowly passing that he blessed them for the last time on earth, and in the very act of blessing ascended, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

ing that awful change which man's sin has entailed on a land once as the garden of the Lord in beauty and fertility. Turning northwards as soon as we got upon the plain, we soon reached the Ain-es-Sultân, or fountain of Elisha, where we pitched our tents, which formed a very respectable-looking encampment, being seven in number, close to the stream which issues from the fountain, and directly in front of rocks at the south-east end of the mountains of Quarantania, the supposed scene of our Lord's temptation. It was on the evening of the 7th of March we arrived: the 8th therefore was Ash-Wednesday. You may fancy then how very appropriate the lessons for the day appeared. We close, as we always have done in all our encampments, a particular spot under good shade, which retained among us the name of the church tree." And you may fancy the interest with which I read, and my congregation listened to, a portion of Moses's last address to the people, delivered on the opposite side of the river, over against Jericho (Deut. xxx.), and to St. Luke xix.: "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho." The whole course of the appointed Old Testament lessons was precisely what one would have selected for such a place- the passage of the Jordan," "the visit of the spies," "the destruction of Jericho." Nor indeed were the morning ones from the New Testament less so. Our Lord's road was probably the very one we had pursued; and with all the localities of the awful scene which succeeded that journey we were all intimately acquainted.

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Proceeding onwards to the east the road winds down a steep declivity, at the bottom of which is a slender fountain, now covered over with a rude building, probably of the time of the Saracens, near which are the ruins of a khan. The spring is called "The well of the apostles"; and, doubtless, they and their blessed Master have drunk of its waters in their travels to and from Jericho. After this, the road is for this country excellent, but the scenery far from interesting; lame, round, verdant little hills on either side, and the dry bed of a torrent in the bottom. But, if uninteresting in point of scenery, it is inter sting in the highest degree, as having been passed over by our Lord, and being in truth the very last road he trod in his journey from Jericho to Jerusalem, immediately previous to his passion. Here, too, must have been the scene of the narrative in Luke x. 30-35; a circumstance which would lead us to ima- As formerly, so now, I still intend to refrain gine that the regions were inhabited at that distant from all thorny questions of places and positions. period by a race as wild and rude as at present. Where Jericho stood must ever remain a matter of Somewhere about ten or twelve miles from Jeru- doubt. There is a miserable collection of Arab salem there is a khan, now in ruins, which is said huts, in the centre of which rises a square tower, to be the zavdoyɛcov of St. Luke. Nor is there in a very ruinous condition, which still bears the any improbability in supposing it stands on the name of Erîha, sufficiently resembling the scripsame site: it is just at a narrow pass, in an ascent tural name, where till very lately one solitary between two valleys; and above it are the remains palm tree remained alone to recall the ancient of a castle of considerable strength, commanding "city of palms." Last year its stump was seen the pass, styled by the ominous name of the Castle by some of our friends. I looked for it in vain. of Blood. I could obtain no intelligence of its As far, however, as I could venture to form any history: a deep ditch, forming a quadrangle of opinion, this is not the site of the ancient Jericho, about 200 feet each way, is cut down into the which I should expect to find, from the bible narsoli i rock, all round the fortress, isolating it com-rative, close to the fountain. Now, there are pletely on every side. Here we spread our carpets, and reposed for an hour or two, and then proceeded towards the plain of the Jordan. The first view of it is very striking: emerging from the mountains, all at once an almost interminable plain bursts upon the sight, clothed with the richest verture, and, at least in all the places where the numerous streamlets cross the plain, well wooded. At a distance across it rise the mountains of Moab; and on the right, as you descend, are the dark waters of the Dead sea. The circle of barrenness and desolation which everywhere environs it is here out of sight; and it presents only the aspect of a lovely lake or inland sea, in a rich and productive country. A more minute inspection, however, dispels the charm it is soon discovered that the verdure of the plain is only the rank weeds which spring spontaneously from the soil. Man's neglect bas rendered useless perhaps one of the most productive spots on the earth; and for several miles round the lake there is nothing but sand, and salt, and desolation; attest

immense mounds of rubbish in its immediate vicinity, denoting the former existence of a very considerable town. The whole plain, as far as we visited it, has evidently been very thickly inhabited; for in every direction, as one rides about, foundations are visible, and sometimes of considerable extent: this will ever make certainty about a site very difficult; and the Arabs give no help: saving Eriha, they seem to have preserved no names of particular spots, but class them all under the name, "old ruins." And these are evidently of various dates, from the very earliest periods down to at least the time of the crusades. Near the entrance of the plain there are some which have a very Roman appearence; the walls being partly of the reticulated work mentioned by Vitruvius. And there are many remains of mills, probably the sugar manufactories supposed to have been erected by the Saracens. Aqueducts-some in a very perfect state, others in ruins—are to be found in every direction, fed from channels which are formed in the mountains above, and convey

ing the waters from very great distances. The commencement of one of these I have seen in the Wady-Farah, not far from Jerusalem, which must be some ten miles in a direct line from the plain.

We paid, of course, a visit to the Jordan. The spot we were conducted to was that which the Greek church has fixed on as the scene of our Lord's baptism: the Latins have selected another for themselves. I suppose, as they differ about the celebration of Easter, it is needful to differ about this too. And hither multitudes of pilgrims come every year, with equal faith, to bathe for the washing away their sins. I fear, the efficacy of the ablution will not be in proportion to their belief. The stream is so very rapid that lives are lost every year. But the lost ones are unlamented. A death in the Jordan is considered a passage to Paradise:

"O nimium faciles, qui tristia crimina―
Fluminea tolli posse putetis aquâ."

The river lies deep in its bed high cliffs approach
it very nearly on the opposite banks, where we
visited on both sides are almost impenetrable
thickets. The water struck me as a good deal re-
sembling that of the Nile-unpleasant to the eye,
but agreeable to the palate; still you must recol-
lect the day was hot, and the ride fatiguing, and
therefore the taster not disposed to judge cri-
tically. While here I examined some Bedouin
most diligently about the names of all places
around the object was to discover whether any
existed still which could represent Nebo or
Gilgal; but none occurred; nor did he know of
any large stones set up any where, which might be
the memorial of the miraculous division of the
waters. More direct questions dare not be put, or
any intimation of the desired name; for the gen-
tlemen are very acute, and have in some in-
stances, guided by the inquiry, found without
difficulty the place wanted.

a lovely spot. Just where we visited it, a narrow peninsula juts out a considerable way, terminating in a circular mass of ruins. When built, or for what purpose, I could learn nothing. It is evidently very old, and has been a place of great strength. The ruin is one mass of large wellsquared stone, which has for ages been exposed to the united influence of the weather and the waves.

Many religious houses are mentioned as having existed along the Jordan: the ruins of one stand at no great distance from the north end of the Dead sea. I do not venture to assign it any name, for I cannot satisfy myself; perhaps it may be that of St. John. The remaining fragments show it to have been an important spot; and in the east end of what remains of the church, and in what still exists of what must have been a shrine of peculiar sanctity adjoining, portions of fresco painting still remain. The Moslem, in their holy horror of any representation of any thing having life, have busily obliterated all the saints' faces save one: this I determined to save, and therefore detached it from the wall. The effort, however, was useless: the plaster was ill compounded, and would not bear transporting. There was also a winged figure, "tumbling in most impious perspective" out of brick-coloured cloud, which I also desired to preserve; but he was too frail, and I thus only hastened the dissolution of what I desired to save.

The mountains of Quarantania are among the most striking features of the neighbourhood. How far they ought still to bear that name, to the south of Elisha's fountain, I am not certain. The hill just above it rises, I should think, 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the plain; and then the chain stretches away to the north west: all along, it is full of caves and excavations; once the retreat of numerous anchorites, who were attracted to these solitudes by the supposition that it had been the scene of the mysterious conflict of the Saviour with the prince of darkness; many of which are The Dead sea was also included in our excur- on such positions that it is very difficult to consions. I need not give you any description; they ceive how they could be approached. The most abound; and everybody knows them. The buoy- remarkable part of all, however, is that close to the ancy of the water I can testify to; for, although fountain: the hill is conical, and surmounted by a pretty expert and practised swimmer, I found the ruins of a small church, to which a few it Ho easy matter to resume a standing position, Abyssinian pilgrims resort every year for a forty after a horizontal one: the feet would hardly be days' fast; for a little space below it the hill persuaded to descend; and, in water scarce above slopes, and then becomes a perpendicular precimy middle, I found no difficulty in floating on pice. About half way down is a church, excamy back, with both feet and hands high and dry. vated in the rock: about two-thirds up, and just But about the smarting, and irritation, and ting- above it, is a second, of masonry, on a little narrow ling, as far as my experience goes, and that of two ledge; the rock rising above, and descending from companions, it is all travellers' tales." I can it, quite perpendicular, bare, and inaccessible. It only say, never in the Mediterranean do I rewould be possible to get at them I believe, member a more refreshing bathe. We saw nume- but not without more personal peril than I rous water-fowl hovering over it, and occasionally chose to encounter: the sightest stumble would settling; an ocular disproof of the ancient tales be certain death. Close to the arched entrance of that no bird can pass, that the vapour suffocates the lower church, a waterfall during the rains Nor can I assent to the general account of the comes down with no stinted flow; and we had the gloomy horrid features. The mountains are opportunity of seeing it in great beauty. After doubtless wild and romantic; but the waters of many hours of heavy rain, it burst forth with a the lake beautifully reflected back, as from a deep roaring noise, and continued for a considerable blue mirror, their rugged rocks. And I could not time thundering down the cliff, a sheet only broken help frequently saying, were it not for the recollec-by a very narrow ledge mid-way, I should guess tions of sin and vengeance which infuse awe, almost terror into the mind, on finding oneself in such a place, I should have been inclined to pronounce it

some 400 or 500 feet in height.

Besides the fountain of Elisha, there is another very abundant one, Ain-Dûk, which contributes much

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