LETTER TO REV. R. MACDONALD OF BLAIRGOWRIE - Robert Murray Mcchene

The Holy Land

MOUNT CARMEL, June 26, 1839.

MY DEAR FRIEND, —I wrote to you from the land of Egypt, and now from the Land of Promise. I would have written from Jerusalem; but our departure was so hurried, owing to an increase of the awful disease of plague, that I could not accomplish it. Indeed, I thought it would be more for the pleasure and advantage of all my friends if I spent my time in fully seeing the wonders of the city of the Great King. It is all deeply graven on my memory and my heart. The first sight of Jerusalem made my heart sink within me, it was so desolate; the walls appeared so low, so dark, so poor. But better acquaintance with its deep valleys and singular hills, its trees and fountains, has made it appear one of the loveliest spots Jesus visited. There is a holy beauty about Jerusalem; for you cannot walk a step without remembering the scenes that have passed there, and without looking forward to a time when it will again become the joy of the whole earth. You will be glad to know that I have stood all our great fatigues wonderfully, and even without being the worse of them, but rather the better. I may almost say I feel that God has been answering the continued prayer of those that love me; still I am not yet what I was, though I hope to be. All my companions had the privilege of preaching in Jerusalem. I felt that it was kept from me; but that it was overflowing goodness that gave us to receive the broken bread and poured out wine in an Upper Chamber, where Jesus first instituted it. I wish I could recount to you all that we have seen with our eyes, so as to make you almost see it all over again. Joy is increased by spreading it to others. Thus, Christ’s joy and glory are increased by making us partakers of it. Our life in the wilderness was a singular one. Since the day I wrote you we have never known the luxury of a bed. We spread our mats upon the sand, and God watches over us, when we are under the cover of our frail tent, as much as if we were within brazen gates and bars. We often hear the cry of the wolves at night, and there are many lynxes and hyenas in this very mountain; but God keeps us safely. The burning heat of the desert, the long fatiguing journeys, —sometimes twelve hours or fourteen in the day upon a camel, the insatiable thirst, and our weakness, were very trying to our faith and to our temper; it proved us and made us know what was in our heart. Ah! dear friend, wherever we journey, union to Jesus, and holiness from his Spirit flowing into us, is our chief and only happiness. Never cease to show your people that to be holy is to be happy; and that to bring us to perfect holiness and likeness to God, was the very end for which Christ died. We entered the land of the Philistines 1st of June. You know the prophets say that the seacoast there is to be “cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks,” Zeph. 2:6. It is really so. You cannot imagine a country more completely covered with flocks and herds, —camels and asses, and oxen and sheep and goats. The inhabitants are Arabs, —a poor and ignorant race of men. How often we have wished for the Arabian tongue, to preach to them the unsearchable riches of Christ! We passed like the spies through the valley of Eshcol. We came to a small Arab town, Bet-hanoon. For illustration I will draw it. This will give you an idea of all Arab towns. Every roof is flat; so that the people sit there, pray there, dry their corn and sift it there. There are no vines in Eshcol now, but immense bunches of grapes are still produced in some places of the Holy Land. The trees around the village are figs, —a beautiful dark-green tree. We are now tasting the first ripe figs, which are, like Jeremiah’s, very good. We crossed the brook Sorek—quite dry; indeed, I think we only met with one flowing stream between the desert and Jerusalem. The streams in the south are all dry in the summer (see Psalm 126). We slept that night beside a small town, which we take to be Eshtaol, near which Samson was born. We saw there the brown tents of some Bedouin Arabs, illustrating Song 1—the brown tents of Kedar. This was in the tribe of Dan. Next day we went due east, across the vast plain Sephela, where Asa fought his battle, 2 Chron. 14, till we entered among the lovely hills of Judah. A wonderful fulfilment of God’s word was pressed on our attention all that day. The quantities of weeds in the plains are quite remarkable, and all of them are of a briery, prickly nature. I counted eleven different kinds of thistle, some of them of gigantic size. In a field where barley had been sown, there were more of these thorns and briers than of the barley. Now turn to Isaiah 32:13: “Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers;” and see how long (ver. 15), “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high.” Indeed, every mountain and valley of this land is a witness for God, speaking silently but mightily, declaring that God’s word abideth forever.

We arrived at Jerusalem on 7th June, and lighted off our camels within the Jaffa gate. The first thing that struck me was the quantity of various heaps. (See Micah 3:12.) It was two or three days before we recovered our fatigues. The first time we went out was to the two pools of Gihon; the upper pool still contains water. Again, we went to Mount Olivet. Winding round the noble walls at Jerusalem, Mount Olivet appears with its softly rounded triple point. It is a beautiful hill of very great extent. It is composed of a pure white limestone, which appears in many places, and gives the whole a whitish appearance. Fine old olives adorn it on every side; fig-trees here and there, and pomegranates, with their beautiful deep-red flowers. A monastery and a mosque are on the top, and three or four small towers on different points of it. Crops of barley may be discerned here and there. It is altogether a pleasant hill. Between you and it lies the deep valley of Jehoshaphat. The bed of the Kedron, quite dry, forms the lowest part. Going along by the east wall of Jerusalem till you are nearly opposite the place where the temple stood (now the Mosque of Omar), you then descend the steep bank of Moriah to the Kedron. A small bridge now helps you to cross. Here

David went flying from Absalom barefooted. Here Jesus used to cross going to Gethsemane or to Bethany. The path before you lead right up the steepest part of Mount Olivet. It is a pleasant path. Turning every now and then, you see Jerusalem in all its faded glory, —minarets and cupolas lying beneath you. Another path winds upwards round the hill to Bethany—the weet village of Martha and Mary—two miles off. The little nook between these two paths’ forms all that remains of Gethsemane. It is a pleasant spot. No one that knows the Saviour can visit it and look upon its eight old olive-trees without feeling drawn to it. We tried to pray there, where Jesus sweated blood for us. It was sweet to intercede for you and all we love in that sacred spot. Another favorite spot was the fountain of Siloam, farther down the valley of Jehoshaphat. It flows so softly from under the temple, that you cannot hear the ripple of its waters. You descend a great many steps in the rock and drink its delightful waters. I send you a small hymn on the other side, which will imprint it on your memory. The valley of Hinnom is a deep gorge or vale to the south of Jerusalem. Mount Zion is actually ploughed like a field. It descends steeply into Hinnom, which again has a rocky barrier on the opposite side. Aceldama is a fearful spot above.

We left Jerusalem on 18th June and arrived here on the 21st. Many a pleasant scene we saw between. It is a delightsome land. One only I can mention—Sychar. It was a sweet evening when we entered the valley made by Ebal, a gloomy barren hill, and Gerizzim, a rocky hill, but garnished with gardens. The town lies beautiful between, keeping nearer to Gerizzim. The next morning, we visited the synagogue. A. B. was in time for the service at six o’clock. He had very interesting discussions with several of the Jews, all carried on in Hebrew. You may believe we are not very fluent in the holy tongue, and yet it is wonderful how we get on. We visited the Samaritans also, and, after taking off our shoes, we were admitted into their synagogue to see the MS of the Pentateuch, 3600 years old. Andrew alone found out the well where Jesus sat and dropped his Bible in by accident. The Jews here are far kinder and pleasanter than in Europe. They wear a beautiful dress. They are much fairer in color than the Arabs, and every way a more noble people; and then, when you look your Bible, and see the promises that are waiting to be fulfilled to them, how does the heart fill towards them! God will yet gather them one by one. Pray still for their in-bringing. It is not easy to pray really for Israel; it needs you to have much of the peculiar mind of God. The same evening, we visited Samaria, about six or eight miles north of Sychar. It is now a poor Arab village, but the finger of God is there. It is a hill surrounded by hills on all sides. Micah 1:6 is the clearest description of it. It is like a heap of the field. Just as you have seen the stones gathered out of a field into heaps, such is Samaria. The vast ruins are all thrown down, and form just heaps in the field. It is as the plantings of a vineyard. There is but one vine on the whole hill, but it is all terraced and cleared, just as if it were to be planted with vines. “And I will pour,” etc. This is wonderfully fulfilled. It filled me with holy awe to look at the heaps of stones—fragments of pillars all rolling down into the valley. The foundations are actually discovered. What a monument of the truth of God! I have only time to commend you to God, and to say, Brother, pray for us. Yours ever, etc.

P.S.—Commend me to your true yokefellow, Mr. Smith, and to Mr. Gillies, and to Mr. Baxter. I cease not to mention all in my prayers, and hope that they do not forget me. “We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.”