200 MOUNT OF TEMPTATION. and spreads fertility and verdure over the plain, well nigh as far as the eye can reach. Indeed as the waters were bubbling forth, the birds singing in the trees, and many wild flowers were in bloom around, it seemed quite like an earthly paradise. We were then viewing the scene of a perpetual miracle, reaching from the days of Elisha to the present, and yielding to these deadly waters a life-giving power to make the barren land bloom with beauty and rejoice as the garden of the Lord. I could not but feel that it was greatly fitted to confirm and strengthen our faith in the miracles of Scripture history. "Then we rode along the base of Mount Quarantana, a bold and precipitous peak that rises twelve or fifteen hundred feet above the plain. This is described as the point where 'Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil,' and when he had successfully resisted the assaults of the Evil One, 'behold angels came and ministered unto him.' The mountain side is filled with grottoes and caves cut in the rock, the dwelling-places of pious monks who formerly fled here from the temptations of the world. They found, however, that the old tempter was in this wilderness, still seeking whom he might destroy, and that we must escape the world before we can escape the wiles of the adversary. BROOK CHERITH. 201 "Next we came to a wild rocky ravine that opens through the mountain. Down this the brook Cherith winds its way to the valley, and here the prophet Elijah 'hid himself at the command of the Lord by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.' 'And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.' We were thus viewing the scene of another miracle of Bible history, and felt the presence of the God of Elijah beside the waters of the brook Cherith. An old monk has cut his cell high up in the rock, and dwelt there in imitation of the prophet. Ascending thence by an ancient paved road, we reach the mountain summit and take our last view of the valley of the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the mountains round about. On the way the place is pointed out where 'a certain man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell among thieves, and the good Samaritan had compassion on him, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn.' The road here certainly appears as though it had always been infested with thieves and robbers, and on this account was doubtless selected as the scene of the parable. Four armed Bedouins now came suddenly upon us in the pass, and we at first feared the fate of the former traveller. We, however, made the salutation of friendship to them, and 202 BROOK CHERITH. they immediately returned it and acted as our guard by the way. Thence we came to Bethany, and crossing the Mount of Olives, entered once more within the Holy City." CHAPTER XVIII. FROM JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS. MR. RIGHTER left Jerusalem March 10th, having on the same morning met a number of Christian friends at Bishop Gobat's study, and having persuaded them to form a Committee of the Evangelical Alliance with Bishop Gobat as Chairman He gives the following account of his journey to Damascus : "BEYROOT, April 8, 1856. "From Jerusalem we journeyed northward, and came to Bethel, or, House of God, where Jacob saw in his dream a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold the angels of God ascended and descended upon it, and behold the Lord stood above it, and said: 'I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the 204 GERIZIM AND EBAL. gate of heaven... And he called the name of that place Bethel.' "Passing by way of Shiloh, where the ark and tabernacle long continued, we next arrived at Nablous, the ancient Shechem. Near by is Jacob's well, where our Saviour sat wearied with his journey, and as the woman of Samaria came to draw water, he discoursed to her of the water of everlasting life. On the right rises Ebal, the Mount of Cursing, and on the left Gerizim, the Mount of Blessing, whereon the Samaritans built a temple and worshipped God, in opposition to the Jews at Jerusalem. And here the small remnant that is left still go up four times a year to offer sacrifice and worship. They live entirely distinct; and as of old, 'the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.' "In the morning we ascended an eminence, and, looking to the east, saw Ramothgilead beyond Jordan, where Moses set before the Israelites 'a blessing and a curse,' and charged them to place the blessing upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal. 'Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites?' This Joshua afterward did, when they entered in to possess the land, placing 'half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal,' as Moses, the servant of the |