PART

I.

Illustration of

power of

faith.

Wood of

tornado may tear it to fragments, but nothing short of miraculous power can fairly pluck it up by the roots.

I have but faint ideas of a faith that could pluck up and plant in the sea such a tree as that; and these facts certainly add great emphasis to the "parable." You are doubtless aware, however, that other critics besides our orator of the back-woods maintain that the sycamore of the New Testament is actually the mulberry-tree, and others that the sycamine of this passage and the sycamore are different trees; and there is a slight difference in the Greek. I know it; but the word sycamine seems to be derived from the Hebrew name for sycamore, and I know no reason why their identity should be questioned. As to the mulberry, it is yet to be shown that it was then known in Palestine, although our translators have mentioned it in one or two places; and, further, the mulberry is more easily plucked up by the roots than any other tree of the same size in the country, and the thing is oftener done. Hundreds of them are plucked up every year in this vicinity, and brought to the city for firewood. It is not to be supposed that He who spake as man never spoke would select this tree, with its short, feeble roots, to illustrate the irresistible power of faith.

The wood of the sycamore is soft and of very little value. This is implied sycamore. in various places in the Bible. Thus in Isaiah, "The people say in pride and stoutness of heart, . . . . the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them to cedars." 1 And so, in the days of Solomon, when even silver was nothing accounted of," he made cedars to be in Jerusalem as the sycamore-trees that are in the vale, for abundance." 2 It is a tender tree, flourishes immensely in sandy plains and warm vales, but cannot bear the hard, cold mountain. A sharp frost will kill them; and this agrees with the fact that they were killed by it in Egypt. Among the wonders wrought in the field of Zoan, David says, "He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost." 3 Certainly, a frost keen enough to kill the sycamore would be one of the greatest "wonders" that could happen at the present day in this same field of Zoan. We shall not reach the city to-day if we stop at every tree and shrub that is strange, Oriental, or Biblical.

Moslem prayers.

Very likely. Here, for example, are the almond, the olive, the fig, and the pomegranate, all together; but we shall meet them everywhere in our pilgrimage, and can afford to pass them by at present. And, besides, we have before us a more interesting study—a scene not witnessed in all places in such perfection. See those men on that elevated terrace. One has spread his cloak others their Persian rugs toward the south. They are Moslems preparing to say prayers-perform them rather, in this most public place, and in the midst of all this noise and confusion.

Let us stop and watch the ceremony as it goes on. That man next us raises his open hands till the thumbs touch the ears, exclaiming aloud, Allah-hû

1 Isaiah ix. 10.

21 Kings x. 27.

Psalm ixxviii. 43, 47.

I.

akbar “God is great." After uttering mentally a few short petitions, the CHAPTER hands are brought down, and folded together near the girdle, while he recites the first chapter of the Koran, and two or three other brief passages from the same book. And now he bends forward, rests his hands upon his knees, and repeats three times a formula of praise to "God most great." Then, standing erect, he cries Allah-hû-akbar, as at the beginning. Then see him drop upon his knees, and bend forward until his nose and forehead touch the ground, directly between his expanded hands. This he repeats three times, muttering Repetiall the while the same short formulas of prayer and praise. The next move tions in will bring him to his knees, and then, settling back upon his heels, he will prayer. mumble over various small petitions, with sundry grunts and exclamations, according to taste and habit. He has now gone through one regular Rek'āh; and, standing up as at the first, and on exactly the same spot, he will perform a second, and even a third, if specially devout, with precisely the same genuflections.

They seem to be wholly absorbed in their devotions, and manifest a power of isolation and abstraction quite surprising.

That is the result of habit and education; small children imitate it to perfection. There is certainly an air of great solemnity in their mode of worship, Air of and, when performed by a large assembly in the mosques, or by a detachment solemnity of soldiers in concert, guided in their genuflections by an imaum or dervish, who sings the service, it is quite impressive. I have seen it admirably enacted by moonlight on the wild banks of the Orontes; in the plain of Hamath, and the scene was something more than romantic. But, alas! it was by as villanous a set of robbers as could be found even in that lawless region.

You think, then, that this solemn ceremony is mere hollow-hearted hypocrisy ?

Not exactly that; at least not necessarily so, nor in all cases. I would be A man of glad to believe there was ordinarily any corresponding moral and religious feel- prayers suspected ing connected with this exterior manifestation of devotion. The Moslems themselves, however, have no such idea. They are rather afraid of any one who is especially given to prayer—their prayers, I mean. They have a proverb to this effect: "If your neighbour has made the pilgrimage to Mecca once, watch him; if twice, avoid his society; if three times, move into another street." And, certainly, no one acquainted with the people will feel his confidence in an individual increased by the fact that he is particularly devout.

What opposite conclusions different persons can and do draw from the same premises! One who looks merely at the surface, or who is very charitable, or very indifferent, may connect this out-of-door formal praying toward Mecca with the venerable custon of the pious Israelite turning toward the temple in Jerusalem, when, like Daniel in Babylon, he made his supplications unto his God. I think it probable that Mohammed, or the Arabs before him, borrowed

1 Dan. vi. 10, 11.

PART

I.

this custom from the Jews; and, to this extent, there is a relation between them. But the enlightened Christian, who has learned that neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall men worship the Father, who is a spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth1-such a one, I say, will be reminded rather of those who loved to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they might be seen of men. And they will Our Lord's remember with solemnity the admonition of our Lord, "When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are"2-either as to place, attitude, motive, or form --in public to be seen of men, using vain repetitions as these men before us do. They are obliged to repeat some expressions thirty times; others many hundred times. Would that these remarks did not apply to nominal Christians in this land as well as to Moslems! But here we are at the gate of the city.

cautions.

City gates.

Refer

ences in

Scripture.

Stop a moment. A city gate is a novelty to me, and I must examine in detail an apparatus so often mentioned in the Bible.

Well, what is there in a mere gate to attract attention?

Very little, perhaps, to one who has passed in and out daily for twenty years; but a hundred Biblical incidents connect themselves in my mind with gates. Almost every city and town of ancient celebrity had them, and they were places of very great importance.

They were, indeed; and, although customs have changed in this respect, there is still enough remaining in this country to remind one of those olden times when nearly every public transaction took place at or near the city gates. Beirût has burst her shell by the force of sudden expansion, and will soon have neither wall nor gates; but nearly every other city in Syria and Palestine is still protected by these venerable safeguards.

And thus it was in ancient days. I remember that righteous Lot, intent on deeds of hospitality, sat in the gate of Sodom toward the close of day, somewhat as these Arabs are now seated, I suppose, and thereby he obtained the privilege of entertaining unawares those angels who saved him from the destruction of that wicked city. It was at the gate of Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) that Abraham completed the contract for the cave of Machpelah, "in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of the city." It was at the same place that Hamor and Shechem negotiated that fatal treaty with all that went in at the gate of the city, which gave opportunity to those fierce and treacherous brethren, Simeon and Levi, with instruments of cruelty to work out their revenge. "Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel."7

6

"5

Since this very unpretending entrance to Beirût is leading into a long discussion, let us prepare ourselves a seat, as Job did when he went out to the gate, and then we can talk at our leisure, and our ease as well. You observe

8

that the gateway is vaulted, shady, and cool. This is one reason why people CHAPTER delight to assemble about it. Again, the curious and vain resort thither

I.

to see and he seen. Some go to meet their associates; others, to watch for returning friends, or to accompany those about to depart; while many gather there to hear the news, and to engage in trade and traffic. I have seen in certain places-Joppa, for example-the kâdy and his court sitting at the Holding entrance of the gate, hearing and adjudicating all sorts of causes in the courts. audience of all that went in and out thereat. Throughout sacred history, prophecy, and poetry, the gate is celebrated by numberless interesting incidents and allusions. It would require a little volume to notice and explain them all; but here we have the thing itself, with the void place about it,1 like that where Boaz made the elders of Bethlehem sit while he contracted for Ruth, the fair

PART

I.

Public

tions.

Moabitess; where Eli sat trembling for the ark of God, and fell back and broke his neck when tidings of its capture came.2 And here are the two leaves of the gate, and the bars, and the bolts, like those of Gaza, which Samson tore from their sockets, and on his shoulders carried up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.3 And over this gate is a chamber, like that to which David went and wept; "and, as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would to God I had died for thee, O Absalom! my son, my

Son!"4

It is not difficult to comprehend why public proclamations were made in the proclama- gates, and why prophets so often pronounced their messages there. We read of the "gates of righteousness," because justice and judgment were there decreed and executed; and so, likewise, the prophets denounced the oppression of the poor in the gate, where corrupt judges sell justice to the highest bidder: "They afflict the just, they take a bribe, they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right;" and to this refers the exhortation to "hate the evil, love the good, and establish judgment in the gate.'

Fortifica

tious.

Names of gates.

"6

Again, gates were fortified in the strongest possible manner. In them the people trusted for safety, and they naturally became the synonymn for strength and power. "Thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise."7 Hence the prophets delighted to personify them. In times of calamity they languish and lament, mourn and howl; they sing, shout, and rejoice in prosperity. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion; and David exclaims, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in." And remembering that all, both great and small, must enter by them, it is not far-fetched or unnatural to speak of the gates of death. And who has not felt the solemn admonition, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” and shuddered lest he should be swept along by the thoughtless crowd through the wide gate that leadeth to destruction? I have seen these strait gates and narrow ways, "with here and there a traveller." They are in retired corners, and must be sought for, and are opened only to those who knock; and when the sun goes down, and the night comes on, they are shut and locked. It is then too late.9

I see we shall never get into the city, if we sit here conversing about gates until the subject is exhausted.

Move on, then; but allow me to remark, as we enter, that gates have the same kind of names now as in ancient times, generally derived from some accidental circumstance connected with them. One is Bab el Bahar, because it leads to the sea. That near which the tanners carry on their business is This one is Bab es Shurraiyeh, because the governor's palace is near it. And thus, too, the streets and different quarters of the city derive their names. Those who follow the same trade congregate in the same

Bab el Dubbagû.