Departure of the first party. Mohammed Ali’s firman, and alarm of the Governor. Sickness of Mr. M. and Mr. Nicholayson. Trials of Missionaries. Their general character and qualifications. Moonlight view of Jerusalem, and reflections. Arrival of the second party. Interview with the Governor. Visit to Bethany. Departure from Jerusalem.
Our party, with a good store of relics, olive canes from the Mount of Olives, and other memorials of their visit, left Jerusalem on the morning of the 20th; their early departure being occasioned by a desire to give the officers, who had remained in charge of the ships, also an opportunity of visiting the city.
While we were preparing to sail from Alexandria, the Egyptian monarch had ordered to be prepared for Commodore Patterson a letter of introduction to Ibrahim Pasha, and a firman for all Syria, worded in strong terms of kindness, commanding all persons, whether in authority or otherwise, to treat him, and those with him, with the same respect and attention that they would show personally to Mohammed Ali himself. The Commodore, during his stay in Jerusalem, had made an official call on the Governor, but not finding him at home, had made no use of the firman. Just, however, as the party were preparing to leave the city, the Governor heard of it, probably through the Pasha of Jaffa, where it had been used, and in great alarm sent immediately to apologize for not having shown the party greater attentions. When they reached the gate this morning, they found on the outside a double file of soldiers, who presented arms, and the Governor himself here joined the Commodore, and accompanied him some distance from the city. He regretted that he had not had official notice of our coming, so that he might have prepared accommodations for the party; and said that when the second company should arrive, they would find a commodious house ready for them. We certainly, however, had no cause of complaint; for we had every where been treated with respect and kindness; and the Governor’s offer of a large escort to the plain of Jordan I have already noticed. The anecdote will show the dread in which the Egyptian Pasha is held through all his dominions.
I did not accompany the party back, having received permission to remain till the second company should conclude their visit. Mr. M., our sailing-master, who was ill of a fever, and unable to ride, was also left behind; and as the fever began to increase rapidly upon him, we accepted Mr. Nicholayson’s invitation, and had him placed in more comfortable quarters at the Missionary house. But Mr. Nicholayson was now himself becoming seriously ill. His health had been for some time feeble; and recent exposure to the sun, and fatigue, had brought on sickness. It was now evident that a violent fever was burning in his veins. There was no nurse in the house, and I removed also from the convent to this hospital, for such Mr. N.’s dwelling had now literally become.
I shall not soon forget the night that followed these changes, a night of the deepest anxiety and distress. In the lower part of the house was a little girl, daughter of the Armenian patriarch of Beirout, put here to board, sick with the ophthalmia; two servants were also ill of fevers, and unable to help themselves; Mrs. N. was just recovering from a long sickness, and durst not expose herself to fatigue. In one corner of the room with me was Mr. M., restless, and in a burning heat, and on an adjoining bed was stretched Mr. N., now in a high fever, and quite delirious. For the others we could find some medicines tolerably appropriate, but the case of the last gentleman baffled our judgment, and there was not a physician to be had in the place. It was sad to be compelled to sit and listen to his ravings, and to see the disease hourly taking stronger hold upon him, and know not what to do. The ruling passion of his life was still prevailing, even in his wildest fancies; and his language was about the mission and its friends, or else he was disputing with the Jewish Rabbis, and quoting Hebrew from their voluminous authors. Thus wore the night away, a long and distressing night; and the day brought no relief, for we had the grief to see our friend sinking fast under his fiery disease. The fever left him towards evening, but as weak as an infant, and now particularly needing assistance which we knew not how to give; for the disease appeared to be of a complicated nature, and the little medicine which we ventured to administer, had done harm rather than good. If I could picture that missionary family as I saw it there, the scene would, I think, be a refutation of the charges of those who seem to think that missionaries go abroad for selfish and unworthy purposes. They had just passed through times of alarm and distress, such as persons seldom, and in our homes are never, called to witness; a city for days rocked and shattered by earthquakes, till the affrighted inhabitants knew not where to fly, and then plundered by fierce and lawless men. Their house had been pierced with cannon balls, and they were compelled to fly from one place to another for shelter; one of their company, whose health had been too feeble for these rude shocks, they had carried to the tomb, and had buried her beside another martyr in the same cause of missions.[72] In the house were now six invalids, some very ill, and one, the head of the family, apparently at the point of death; nor was there a physician to be any where found.—And the grave which we expected to dig for him was soon after this, dug for another of the mission family, Dr. Dodge, whom we met on the way as we were returning to Jaffa. Yet they keep their ground, undismayed by dangers and death; suffering discomforts with cheerfulness; patient amid rebuffs, and with a zeal that tries, even in subjects of disappointment, to find new sources of hope, and that “fainteth not, neither is weary.” Nine months after this, as our ship was lying in Gibraltar bay, I heard that Mrs. Nicholayson was on board an English brig that, after suffering severely in a storm, had just come in and anchored; and procuring a boat, I went within speaking distance, for the brig was in quarantine, and we were not permitted to go on board. She was then taking her little children to England for the purpose of putting them to school, and among society less hurtful to youthful minds than that of the east; and after thus leaving them, was to return to her far distant and now childless home. If in all this is not a picture of self-denial, and patient endurance, and Christian boldness, and painful sacrifice, I do not know what is; and yet it is only a plain statement of facts. In our ships we are apt to complain of discomforts; and yet we have plenty of medicines, and good surgical attendance, food such as we are accustomed to at home, and society and abundance of comforts of every kind; and yet it seems a hard case to be three years from home; and I now speak of ships in particular, because their inmates know what it is to be a long time from one’s native land. But suppose it were for life; and a life separated from the comforts to which we have been accustomed, shut out in a great measure from intelligent society; a life of drudgery too, offering knowledge to those who care not for it; simplifying its nature, and bringing it to the capacities of all, and yet exciting little interest, and perhaps a sneer? Is this a life to be sought for, for the sake of worldly considerations? I think not. There is only one way in which we can reconcile it even with common sense; and that is, by supposing that missionaries are sincere; that they love their work; that the promises of the gospel, and the cheering influences of heavenly grace, support them; and that they look to eternity for their exceeding great reward. And when we look at them in this point of view, how engaging is their work, and how Godlike the errand on which they are gone? And it was a truly noble act in that church which I now love doubly to call my own—the Episcopal church,—when, at the last General Convention, its clerical and lay deputies from all parts of the country unanimously resolved that the whole Episcopal church be hereafter a Missionary Society; and declared that the cause of missions is the cause of religion, and a love for missions an essential part of the Christian character.
As regards the missionaries themselves, I do not know any class of men that presents, as a body, a more respectable array of talent or intelligence than this; and if any one should be disposed to doubt the fact, the proof is very easily to be found. He has only to take their reports to their several societies, their letters and published addresses to the public, and when he has read them, I will challenge him to produce from any other class of men, productions so uniformly correct in style, so free from puerilities, and so abundant in useful facts and valuable sentiments. In geography and statistics, in mineralogy, in geology, and in various other matters of science, they have furnished us with a mass of most valuable information from all parts of the world; their observations are minute, and generally very correct; and if the world were to receive no other benefit than the knowledge which their papers have scattered among our community, it would be recompensed for the money bestowed upon them. I do not wish to write their panegyric, but to defend them from charges which I have often heard brought against them; and the defence is a simple statement of facts which are before the public, and to which any man who chooses may have access. As to the charge that the pictures they give of their successes are over-wrought, I believe it often to be just; and it is not strange that men who have given their lives to one great subject, and are filled with zeal and are in earnest about it, should sometimes over-rate their influence, or, in the excitement of supposed or real success, should draw a picture more highly colored than a cooler observation of facts would warrant. But this, I believe, is the extent of their offending; they themselves appear to have been taught by experience greater distrust and caution in these matters; and their recent accounts will be found to be more stamped with prudence, and more the result of cool and calm observation, than they formerly were; while they show no diminution of interest in their great work. I cannot help again earnestly recommending their letters and reports home, and repeating that these reports, coming from so large a number of men, and so variously situated, are remarkable for perspicuity of style, and for simplicity and yet force of expression.
The night of the 21st passed away like the preceding one, a long night, and one of great anxiety; life seemed to be hanging by so brittle a thread, that the least shock appeared capable of breaking it. I stole now and then from the sick man’s couch, and looked out upon the city, bathed in moonlight, and hushed in the deepest repose. How quiet! how tranquil! Could this be the Jerusalem where, in a short time, 1,100,000 had perished amid the horrors of war?
The view from my window took in the Mount of Olives, the dark wall-like range beyond overhanging the Dead Sea, the mosque of Omar, the church of Mount Calvary, and a large portion of the city; and offered subjects for solemn and useful contemplation.
Could we have the history of all nations written by men to whom God had condescended to unfold the reasons for his acts, would it—would it not—appear like those of the Jews? Should we not find what we call man’s doings very often the doings of God; and man only the agent, a free agent, and yet, by the mysterious combination of His Omnipotence with our freedom, man only an agent in working great events; and those events acts of reward or of retribution from Heaven on kingdoms for their observance or neglect of His commandments?
Over yon mountain David passed, dethroned, expelled, a fugitive from his own son; attended only by a small train of attached but desponding friends. If we knew not the cause of this, it might have been passed as thousands of such acts pass in history, leading us to as little useful reflection; but we are informed why it was; and these thousand other acts in history, are they not retributive too? And will not the same apply to nations? And, could we see into Heaven’s councils, should we not find what appears to be the entangled web of national events all plain and simple—a few simple and general rules, as in the works of nature, pervading and governing the whole? And would not the first of these be that the fear of God and respect for his commandments are the only source of national happiness and national stability?
On that mountain Titus also stood, and formed plans for the destruction of the ancient city. To himself and to his Roman army the son of Vespasian was there for his own purposes; but be this as it may, we know that there were also other purposes to be effected. In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy, though the application is complicated, yet a simple principle stands at the head of it all; “If thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, blessed shalt thou be;” “if thou wilt not hearken diligently to observe and to do, cursed shalt thou be; and the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar,” &c. The passage is too long for quotation, but I beg the reader to turn to it and read from the 49th to the 58th verses inclusive, and compare them with Josephus’ account of the siege of Jerusalem; and ask himself if the same rule does not probably apply to us, and if we have not reason to “fear this glorious and fearful name—THE LORD THY GOD.”
About five o’clock on the following afternoon a second party from our ship, consisting of about fifty persons, arrived; and were met at the gate by an officer from the Governor, who came to say that a house had been provided, and was ready to receive them. This was indeed doing things on a handsome scale; and the party gladly accepting his hospitality, were shown to a large edifice not far from the entrance of the city, which, after sundry ablutions, proved to be a very comfortable and convenient lodging place. In the party was Doctor B., who immediately came over to see Mr. Nicholayson, and on examining, spoke very doubtfully of his case. Tired, however as he was, he immediately offered his services for the night; and he afterwards persevered in a course of most assiduous attentions, which, doubtless, were the means of saving a valuable life. When we left the city on the 25th, Mr. N. was yet very weak, but convalescent; and, we were happy to hear, afterwards entirely recovered. We were glad, also, to be able to send the mission family, from the ship, some wine and other comforts, which their circumstances urgently required.
Captain Nicolson, who came with the second party, took an early opportunity of calling, with most of his officers, to pay his respects to the Governor of Jerusalem. He resides in a large, but by no means splendid house, near the centre of the city; and on our arrival we were detained a short time till the servants could get his women out of the way. We found him a tall and fine-looking man, with marks of old age creeping upon him; which, however, did not seem to affect his gallantry towards the ladies, as he told us that he had lately added another wife to his household. The usual compliment of pipes, sherbet, &c., was paid; and while the odoriferous fumes were ascending in graceful curves, a rambling conversation was carried on, sometimes about this country, and sometimes about our own. The frank address of Captain N. soon thawed the old gentleman’s gravity, and the interview was more lively and full of humor than is usual in a Turkish divan. The officers all took part in the conversation, each with proper respect; and the Governor seemed to be quite surprised at the accounts we gave him of the extent and resources of our country, the length of our rivers, and our rapid growth as a nation. If we did not convince him that America is the greatest country in the world, I think we must at least have satisfied him that we have a very high opinion of it ourselves. He seemed to be amused and gratified, and we parted right good friends.
During the stay of this party, I took Yaoub as guide one day, and went out to make a visit to Bethany. It lies on a pretty steep declivity on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives, and I believe I have already stated that there are two roads to it, one directly across the mountain, and another, much less difficult, winding around the southern extremity. By the latter it is about three miles distant. There are now only a few miserable houses remaining, together with the ruins of a large and massive building, which, they tell us, was the house of Lazarus. They take the visitor also to a cave, in which, they say, he was buried; but in all these assertions I have little confidence.
The 25th was fixed upon for our departure, and at two o’clock in the morning our cavalcade was formed without the gates, and we began to move forward towards the ship. As we passed on, I turned often to take another look at the city, whose white domes and minarets were still visible above the serrated walls, and were now shining with silvery lustre in the quiet moonlight.
Farewell then, Jerusalem, city of marvels; wonderful, awful, enthroned in the hearts of men, making a part of the very soul and life-blood of thy people. City of God! when shalt thou revive again? Terrible has been thy fall; wo upon wo was poured out upon thee; thou art stricken to the dust; and yet in thy humiliation, in the very depths of abasement, thou still art great! Thou drawest to thee pilgrims of three religions, whose empires stretch east and west till they meet again in the opposite confines of our globe; they come to thee to worship, they come to thee to die! In lands far distant and of recent birth, we are taught to lisp thy name in our childhood; thy scenes and thy history mingle in our earliest dreams; and in the moments when we most need comfort, our thoughts turn towards thee!
Mount Calvary! the atmosphere does not more closely invest our globe, and enter into and support our systems, than does the comfort that flows from thy bloody cross encircle, and penetrate, and support our souls. Without it we gasp and perish. Mysterious! that to such a bloody scene we should have to resort for consolation. Wonderful religion, that teaches us that by the deep and awful humiliation of God we are elevated to glory; and, after leading us amid creation, and showing us that He is wise and powerful, takes us here and at the foot of the cross shows that He is also of boundless goodness.
Saviour, who hast ransomed us, be thou enthroned in our hearts! We descend the winding pathway, and the city of our redemption is shut from our sight: help us to enter the New Jerusalem, and to come to that Zion where is everlasting gladness, and from which sorrow and sighing for ever flee away!
