Henry Van Dyke

Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land Henry Van Dyke

WHO would not go to Palestine?To look upon that little stage where the drama ofhumanity has centred in such unforgetable scenes; to trace the rugged paths and ancienthighways along which so many heroic and pathetic figures have travelled; above all, to seewith the eyes as well as with the heart"Those holy fieldsOver whose acres walked those blessed feetWhich, nineteen hundred years ago, were nail'dFor our advantage on the bitter cross"-for the sake of these things who would not travel far and endure many hardships?It is easy to find Palestine. It lies in the south-east corner of the Mediterranean coast, where the "sea in the midst of the nations," makes a great elbow between Asia Minor andEgypt. A tiny land, about a hundred and fifty miles long and sixty miles wide, stretching ina fourfold band from the foot of snowy Hermon and the Lebanons to the fulvous crags ofSinai: a green strip of fertile plain beside the sea, a blue strip of lofty and broken highlands, a gray-and-yellow strip of sunken river-valley, a purple strip of high mountains rollingaway to the Arabian desert. There are a dozen lines of steamships to carry you thither; ascore of well-equipped agencies to conduct you on what they call "a de luxe religiousexpedition to Palestine."But how to find the Holy Land-ah, that is another question. Fierce and mighty nations, hundreds of human tribes, have trampled through thatcoveted corner of the earth, contending for its possession: and the fury of their fighting hasswept the fields as with fire. Temples and palaces have vanished like tents from the hillside. The ploughshare of havoc has been driven through the gardens of luxury. Cities have risenand crumbled upon the ruins of older cities. Crust after crust of pious legend has formedover the deep valleys; and tradition has set up its altars "upon every high hill and underevery green tree." The rival claims of sacred places are fiercely disputed by churchmen andscholars. It is a poor prophet that has but one birthplace and one tom