LETTERS FROM PALESTINE

Table of Contents

LETTER I.
LETTER II.
LETTER III.
LETTER IV.
LETTER V.
LETTER VI.
LETTER VII.
LETTER VIII.
LETTER IX.
LETTER X.
LETTER XI.
LETTER XII.
LETTER XIII.
LETTER XIV.
LETTER XV.
LETTER XVI.
LETTER XVII.
LETTER XVIII.
LETTER XIX.
LETTER XX.
LETTER XXI.
LETTER XXII.
LETTER XXIII.

LETTERS
FROM
PALESTINE:

WRITTEN
DURING A RESIDENCE THERE IN THE YEARS
1836, 7, AND 8.

By THE REV. J. D. PAXTON.

LONDON:
CHARLES TILT, 86, FLEET STREET.
MDCCCXXXIX.

LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS,
WHITEFRIARS.

LETTERS ON PALESTINE.

LETTER I.

Beyroot, June 18th, 1836.

After a stay of twenty-four hours at Cyprus, rendered pleasant by the several interviews which we had with the missionaries at that place, we sailed about three o'clock P. M. with a fine wind, and before night, the isle, and even the mountains of Cyprus, were sinking out of view in the north-western waters. In the night our winds became light. At a little past five in the morning I went on deck, hoping to see the top of Mount Lebanon, which, from our run, I thought must be within the reach of the eye; but a dull heavy fog lay on our eastern horizon, and limited our view. Just as I was finishing my breakfast, the captain put his head down the hatchway, and let me know that the mountains could be seen. I ran on deck, and could see the faint outline of the top of Mount Lebanon, peering above a long line of fog that spread like a wide circle round the horizon. The upper part of the fog was breaking into irregular masses and rolling off; at times the mountain could at some points be seen very clearly; then, again, the fog or clouds would close in upon it, and hide it from our view. The highest parts of it were partially covered with snow. It lay, however, in parts and parcels; and often in long irregular forms. This was owing, most probably, to the form of the ground on which it lay; being most abundant in hollows, and on the north sides of ridges.

Great is the power of association. From my childhood, I have been taught to read the book of God, and prize its precious truths; and I bless God, and thank my dear and beloved parents, more for this, the religious instruction they gave me, and their prayers, than for all other benefits received through them; and they have not been few. Mount Lebanon I found often, very often, referred to in that best of all books; and, from the various ways in which it is introduced, it associates itself in my mind with many parts of Scripture history; with some of its most touching incidents; with many of its most precious and consoling truths. How often in my boyhood, and even in more mature days, have I wished, like Moses, that I could see that "goodly mountain and Lebanon!" Now, indeed and in truth, I saw it rising into view, and hoped before long to land at its foot, and in due time to traverse its ridges, visit its cedars, and drink of its pure snow waters. I was born and grew to manhood among mountains, and it is natural for me to love mountain scenery. A landscape is to my eye,—I was going to say, defective,—that does not give, at least, a glimpse of a mountain.

I was often much struck with my feelings on this matter, during the ten or fifteen years I have spent in situations in which no mountains could be seen. When a journey of business or pleasure led me to the neighbourhood of mountains, they appeared to have a beauty and a charm in them, that rose paramount to all that the wide and extended plains could have.

But never did I feel such pulsations of delight from beholding a single mountain as now from looking at that "goodly mountain and Lebanon"—that Lebanon so associated with patriarchs and prophets, with the Land of Promise, with the Temple of the Lord, and with those thousand things which give such ever newness and freshness to the oracles of God.

As the day passed away, we