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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1902)
Present Day Scenes Where Christmas Had Its Origin " - I i vr i ? H si t:ii3i.tY s-t vA iii.ru;,,. , t i : -.: . . i . ir;'' i I..". ; i.-lJ"."--'" JL ' I HOME OP JOSEPH AND MARY. CARPENTER'S SHOP, NAZARETH. v fiii !jl ipttn r . --. ......... t I:-' I. ' i t 1 1 1 1 II 'il a H temple has been found; but the greatest work or tbe kind was done by Dr. Bliss at Lacbish, or, as It Is now called, Tell-el Ilesy. In this "mound of many cities," as Dr. 1311b calls it, were tbe strata of the clv- GROTTO OF THE AGONY. OLY OF HOLIES, sacred to three could not deliver the purchased property, done there In tbe Interest of science. great religions, the land of Pal- for In that tract of 6.000 square miles When it comes to excavation the sultan uullue is as that splendid star there dwell fierce Arab fighting men, some Is slow to grant Ormlns, and even when k.-'.'iSl tbat shone over It 1,100 years of whom barely acknowledge the rule of these permits are signed, sealed and de taammJ ftg0( when there begun the most the Turk, while others do not acknowledge llvered, if it happens that any spot appeal beautiful life of which song or story or It at all. To seize the land from them Ing to Mohammedan faith is to be dis creed has ever told. As mankind lurur to might well be a bloody performance as turbed, the work of the Investigators must the Star with every recurring Christmas bloody as the attempt of the twelfth cen- stop at the stone barrier of Turkish preju eve, o does Us longlug turn ever tury crusaders, and, perhaps, with as little dice. toward the Land of Galilee, the laud where success. It s due partly to this cause that so there lie Jerusalem the Queen and Bethle- The dream that was dreamed by hun- little really effective work In the line of hem and the Place of the Cross and the dreds of thousands, when the emperor of discovery has been done. Colonel Conder Resurrection. Germany went to Palestine, that he would haSl It Is true, followed a part of the wall "Jerusalem! Jerusalem!" sang the He- be the modern Godfrey to win the Holy of Jerusalem, and what is supposed to brews to their harps by the weeping wil- Land for Christianity (albeit by purchase Dave been a part of the wall of Solomon's lows of the Urook Kedrou. "If I ever for- or treaty and not by arras) Das raaea get thee, Jerusalem, may my tongue cleave away. And what may be expected In the to the roof of my mouth and my right form of a united Christian movement can hand wither." be estimated by viewing the strife and 'Star of Bethlehem," sings the Christian feud that exist all the time between the in .u th orld under man far stars. Christian sects that have a foothold In From the Northern Lights to the Southern the holy city now. The Turk maintains an iIlzaMoll through which the Holy Land had Cross he dreams of that one cold, pure armed guard at the Church of the Holy pa88ed age bjr age The ,pade cut 4own star, shining over the beloved city, as In- Sepulcher Itself to keep the peacs be- through the Turkish period, through the stlnct today with the Naiarene as when tween the adherents of the Greek and cruraders. ihrough the Roman, Persian, He trod Us narrow streets. lUn churches there. Greek, Hebrew down deep Into the Am- Yet that Holy of Holies Is th one spot The Idea of purchasing the Holy Land prite, or earliest historic age. From seven In the world that Is apparently forever out for the Christians Is orposed. also, by the to n)ne dtstinct layers were found by Dr. of his reach. Pn ' tne Zionists to purchase Palestine BHss, and It was proved that It was Indeed Almost year after year Is a renewed at- for the jews, tempt to form a coalition of religious In- The plans of both are opposed to the In terests to get possession of the sacred terests of Russia. That government today sites. Ia Us latest form tbe attempt comes has Us strongholds in most of the prin as a proposition that all the Christian clpal towns of Palestine. They are called merely cut out a slice from the great creeds combine in a great crusade to col- monasteries, but are actually forts, and the mound, the rest of which still awaits tbe lect enough millions of dollars to buy the czar would resent the control of the sacred hand of the excavator. Holy Land from tbe Turkish sultan. places by any power other than his own. The Palestine exploration rund was been But to those who know the motley poll- Bethlehem Is a Christian city and Naxa- doing some additional work lately In tics and enmities of Palestine's present reth contains a large number of Christians, Phoeaea but as yet the results are not owners the possibility of purchase can only but with these two exceptions, Christian great. Much Is expected from a German appear a faint one. For, In the first place, power is very small. Jewish control is al- and French expedition that is preparing to the land Is holy to the Mohammedan no together wanting, so that It is the Turk work there, and especially from the Amer less than It Is to the Chrlt.lan and the who stands guard over the holiest places lenn School for Bible Study, which has Jew. He would be both an Impious and a toward which tbe hearts of the true be- been founded In Jerusalem, daring Moslem ruler who would essay to llevers turn. This college Is supported by contribu ell tbe country tbat contains the tomb Even when It comes to studying the Holy lions from twenty or more of tbe leading of Rachel and the alte of the temple of Land the efforts of Europeans are ham- American universities, from among whose Solomon, held to be so sacred by the Turks pered on every side by the Turkish regula- students a fellow is selected each year by tbat they will not even permit excavation Hons. It Is true that the English Pales- competitive examination, one of the pro near them. tine Exploration fund has made an excellent feasors in Semitic being chosen as the pro Even should the Moslem dare It, he survey of Palestine, the only complete work feasor of the collego each year. While this THE ANGEL'S STONE. Institution has not begun the work of leatt 300 tells or mounds of ruins ecat- excavating, Its field director, Dr. James B. tered over Palestine awaiting examination.? Nies, is gathering a large fund to defray It Is known that the Arabs, wherever they expenses and In a few months will probably find an ancient tomb, rifle it for jewels andf begin operations on a large scale. It Is possible, Bible In hand, to go through Palestine from Dan to Beersheba nnd pick out this or that mound and say: "Here must have been such and such an ancient city or fortress." But It Is Im possible to be certain until excavation ex lnees the character of the buried monu ments. Tradition has done much to preserve the historical associations of the various spots. A chapel Is erected in the carpenter shop at Nazareth and there is another chapel In the home of Joseph and Mary. Bethlehem is filled with grottoes Identified with the life of Jesus from the grotto of nativity with tbe stone manger In which the infant was suppoied to have been laid, to the cave In the field of Boaz, where sell any ancient object found In It to thek ' first pilgrim that passes. In this way the f historic value of the tomb is lost, because ' It Is most necessary to know where these objects are found In order to date them I and place them historically. j It has been suggested that the great ! mound covering what U supposed to be t the site of ancient Samaria would be a I most fruitful field of invest lgation. Hero once stood the Ivory palace of Jezebel, v looking out over the sea, the discovery of which would go far toward establish ing the value of many statements in the , biblical Books of Kings. Tbe climate has prevented any attempt ; to examine the remains of Jericho, yet that Interesting southern capital will some i day yield valuable finds to an excavator who will brave the perils not only of Arab thA ahpnhprdl wprA tth,n tho star annpnroA . , ...... .... , . r enters, dui oi me levers or tnis iow-iyi" i to them. district. 1 With infinite care the church has pre- It Is not enough for the Investigator to i served objects such as the stone which receive permission from the sultan to the angels are said to have rolled away work upon any of these burled cities, but the ancient city of Lachleh, besieged In former times by Egyptian and Assyrian. Unfortunately the limit of the time and means were such that Dr. Bliss coul 1 from the mouth of the tomb at the resur- he must gain the good will of the Arabs; reciion. iraauion is nrnnaniv rnrrarr wnen around Him, for the Turkish soldiers are so it selects a certain grotto In the Garden of few and scattered that their control of Gethsemane as the grotto of the Agony. conditions Is limited; as a result preserving1 There Is, too, the stone of the Anoint- tne Peace depends more on the tact of ths Uient, on which the body of Jesus was wavator nd the way in which he dis prepared for burial, but there are many tributes bribes to neighboring chleftalnl doubtful points connected with the various than uPn tn ood iH of the sultan. I cities and sites of Palestine. There are many scenes which, of course. The Turks guard with zealous care any sre Pen t0 no Question, such as the sea OilemDt to examine the Churrh nf th Hnl of Galilee and Jerusalem Itself, but Sepulchre and ascertain what tombs are there. They will not permit the examina tion of the tomb of Rachel. Neither Jew nor Christian Is permitted to approach nearer than the grating. It would be a great triumph for the Bible It It were pos sible to open this tomb and find there the embalmed body of tbe wife of the pa triarch, but Mohammedan prejudices op pose the suggestion unalterably. It has been estimated that there are at whether men are right In locating the an cient Cana, where water was turned Into wine, as being on the road to Tiberias, four miles east of Nazareth, or, as others would have It, at Kana-el-Jelll, near Sep-, phorls, nine miles north of Nazareth, can be decided only by excavating. Catholic tradition has marked out a spot upon the Mount of Olives as the place ct the ascension, but many biblical scholars (Continued on Thirteenth Page ) 1 i