THE HOLY LAND. oppression, as the pure descendants of the ancient penses of the war, proclaim that they are still dimi- THF country given to the Israelites by the ex- BEIROUT. I LANDED at this place after a rough_passage of three days from Alexandria, Mar. 25, and was received with great hospitality by the Rev. J. Bird, of the American Board of Missions. It is an ancient city, and though not included within the borders of the Holy Land, is supposed to be referred to in Scripture; but there is no other authority to identify it besides the similarity of sound in a name. The houses are better built than those of Egypt, in towns of the same importance. The streets of all the Syrian cities are narrow, as they are surrounded by walls, and the inhabitants have been obliged to make the most in their power with the narrow compass by which they are limited. The pavement is of large uno ven stones, and in the centre is a channel, which present engaged in a severe contest with the Rotakes away from the width of the streets, already man Catholics. The most hopeful of their contoo contracted, though it is conducive to cleanli- verts have been cut off by death, and one of them ness. The facing of the pier is almost entirely may be pronounced a martyr. They are obliged composed of ancient columns. The principal to proceed with great caution, from the extreme buildings are in ruins, but from the solidity of the jealousy of all the sects by whom they are surwalls, and the strength of the cement by which rounded. They have commenced a regular serthey are bound together, it may yet be many vice in Arabic, at which the attendance is enyears before they fall into complete decay. The couraging. The beggars, who come for alms on use of the arch is so common that there is not a one particular morning of the week, are publicly single house that does not contain one in some addressed on the great truths of Christianity.shape or other its intention is not, as with us, The mission-house seems to be considered almost the throwing of an extended span, but the saving as public property, as the people are permitted to of timber. Without the present walls, I traced enter it at their will, from the kind wish of its inthe foundations of an ancient street, with the chan- mates to conciliate them as far as possible, and nel in the centre, nearly perfect: there are also even the bed-rooms of the ladies are invaded withmany ancient cisterns, partly hewn out of the rock, out the least ceremony. with a small aperture at the top from whence to draw the water. There are several inscriptions in the Greek character, but too much defaced to be read. Berytus was celebrated under the Greek emperors for the study of the law. It is sometimes called "the happy colony of Augustus." Herod, at this place, accused his two sons before an assembly of 150 judges. It must at that time have been a city of great importance, as it gave 1500 auxiliaries to Varus when he passed through it on his way to Jerusalem. A theatre was erected here by Herod Agrippa, at the dedication of which 700 condemned malefactors were compelled to fight to the death with an equal number of their fellow prisoners. The usual mode of travelling is upon mules, which were then so much in request for the use of the army, that it was with difficulty they could be procured. My servant, after much trouble, heard that there were some at a distance of three hours, and having made a bargain with the muleteer, I obtained, through the consul, a note from the governor to free them from government duty; but when brought to the town they were instantly seized by the sentry at the gate, and we had great difficulty in obtaining their release. I was ready to commence my journey at sunrise, but in the night the animals had again been taken, and there was another delay of nearly three hours, when they were once more returned, after which I had no more annoyance. I travelled in company with The house of Mr. Bird commands an extensive the Rev. W. Thompson, of the American Board, view of the bay: the ships anchor in the winter who had recently arrived in the country, and the season at some distance, near the mouth of a Rev. J. Nicolaison, who has been stationed there small river. It is the principal port to Demascus; some years, and speaks fluently all the languages and if a passage to India could be accomplished required to be known. The mulberry trees exby the ancient route, it would soon rise to be a tend only a little way from the town, and we ther place of immense importance. There are a con- came to a desert of sand that is making encroachsiderable number of houses in the suburbs, that, ments upon the cultivation, and threatens in time appearing by themselves, each with its little gar- to overwhelm the city. On our left the ground den, present an idea of comfort and security that gradually declines for some distance, and on the is most rare in these unsettled lands. The prin- opposite side of the valley rises the first range of cipal occupation of the people appears to be the Lebanon. In the low ground olive trees are nuproduction of silk, as the whole country is covered merous, and on the mountain's side are two small with mulberry trees. The branches are cut down villages. The hills then approach nearer the sea, every year, leaving only the stem of the tree, and and are principally composed of bare rock, with the earth between them is dug in furrows, that patches of earth at intervals. We forded the the rain may be carried more equally to the roots. Radhir, or "the treacherous," the bridge over The mountains of Lebanon are seen towards the which is broken down. There are stones near north, rising from the coast with great majesty, the road, that in many places bear evidence of in bold and extended masses. Their summits arrangement, as if there had at some period been were then covered with snow, a sight that afford- a paved way along the shore. After six hours is ed me the greater pleasure, as I had not for nine the village of Naba Yoonas, said to be the place years seen this grand spectacle of nature. It was where Jonah was thrown up by the fish. At a by the narrow pass between these mountains and little less than an hour from Sidon, we crossed the the sea that the first army of the crusaders enter-Owlah, over which there is a bridge and a khan ed the Holy Land, under Godfrey of Bouillon.-near it; the water turns a mill. From this place They afterwards proceeded along the same route to the town the country is occupied by mulberry to Jerusalem that was pursued by myself and my companions. The mission established here has recently received a valuable reinforcement from America.The missionaries were for a time obliged to flee from the country, owing to its dangerous and unsettled state during the war with Egypt; they have now returned, with additional facilities for the promotion of the great cause. They are at trees. The season was much later here than at Beirout, as the soil is of a colder description.The gates of all the towns in these countries are shut immediately after sunset, and I have seldom watched its decline with greater anxiety than I did this day. We were just in time to secure an entrance, and had we been about a minute later, should have had to remain all night outside the walls. SIDON. THIS city, now called Saide, is supposed to have been founded soon after the flood, by Sidon, the son of Canaan. So early as the time of Joshua it is called "great Zidon." It flourished during many ages, and became one of the most extensive cities of ancient times. Its inhabitants are said to have been the inventors of crystal glass. "None were skilled to hew timber like the Sidonians," and they assisted Solomon in his preparations for the building of the temple. It is several times mentioned by Homer. The goddess of the Sidonians was Ashtoreth. There is some approach towards magnificence in the distant view of the present city. It has a castle upon a rock in the sea, connected with the main land by a bridge of several arches. There is another castle upon an eminence that commands the town. The harbor is now of little use, and had in it only one vessel. The streets are many of them more like courts, as the houses are built over them after the first story, and the wonder is, not that the plague sometimes effects an entrance, but that it is ever kept out. There is an aqueduct of ancient construction from the river, in most places covered; and near the town the water rises into pillars, from whence it is conveyed to the different streets. The house we occupied has a cistern in the centre of the interior court, into which a small stream is constantly running.There are also several public cisterns in the streets. Near the gate by which we entered, outside the city, we observed a pavement of rude mosaic, perhaps of some house or court; and columns and other remains of ancient buildings are common. The coasts of Tyre and Sidon, though they formed part of the inheritance of Ashur, never appear to have been peopled or governed by the Israelites. In the reign of Solomon, the most powerful of the monarchs of his race, Hiram, king of Tyre, was an independent prince. Our Lord visited these coasts, and here it was that he healed the daughter of the woman of Canaan; but we do not find that he ever entered into either of the cities. Sidon was visited by St. Paul, in one of his journeys towards Jerusalem. We remained here one day, as it was the Sabbath. The place is said to contain 2000 Mahomedans, as many Christians, and 200 Jews. The Christians are nearly all of the Greek Catholic church. We visited some families upon the hills at a little distance from the town. Mr. N. had commenced the building of a house in this direction, but was ordered to desist by the emir of the mountains, at the instigation of the priests, until permission was obtained from the pacha of Egypt, before whom the case was then pending. The site commands a view of the town, sea, and the valley on each side. Mr. N. had a long argument with an Armenian, in whose heart, we trust, is the beginning of good things. An old priest was present. The houses we entered were clean, with mats upon the floor, and of one story. The roof is hung with dried fruits and herbs, and in one room I observed a clock, a common mirror, and the shelves were ornamented with bottles, glasses, and coarse earthenware. The children appeared to be remarkably pretty, but it must be remem bered that I had been absent from Europe some years. They had on the forehead an ornament made of coins, something resembling the clasps by which the helmets of the military are fastened. The hair of some of the females is of a golden color, and appears as if it was dyed. There is a great profusion of compliments among the people, passed with a gravity that to a stranger is quite amusing. The servant, when he presented the coffee and sherbet, repeated a form, and there was an appropriate reply, and when we drank we had to look at our host and nod, and stroke our breasts, and give thanks. We visited the grave of Wirtibet, an Armenian, one of the converts of the American mission, who died of cholera in September, 1832, a man of great zeal, fervent piety, considerable talent, and valiant for the truth. The old priest we saw in the morning came to our house, and had some further conversation. He acknowledged that the priests of the country are like the Pharisees: they neither enter in themselves, nor allow others. We had a visit from another priest, a Maronite, who complained that we have no peculiar dress: he said that he did not kiss my hand when he entered, as is the custom, because he could not know that I was a minister. Several persons meet together in the evenings, to read the Scriptures, and the remarks they make give evidence that their eyes are opening to receive the light of heaven. The tracts that were distributed during our stay were received with great thankfulness. There were some Russians here, with a bishop, dissenters from the established church, who live by the labor of their own hands, but lay too much stress upon tradition. The eccentric lady Hester Stanhope resides in this neighborhood. TYRE. THE road from Sidon to Tyre passes through a rich valley, in many places more than a mile wide, which requires only a little industry to render it extremely fertile: and the glimpses with which we were favored into the interior, through the breaks in the chain of mountains, convinced us that this valley is not alone in its fertility. Not far from Sidon we saw a prostrate column, with a Latin inscription: my eye caught the names of Septimus and Verus, as we passed, but I had not time to copy it. There are many towers along the coast, said to have been erected by the empress Helena, from Jerusalem to Constantinople, that the finding of the true cross might be communicated by telegraph, with the least possible delay. We passed over a bridge, the arch of which is composed of only one layer of stones. The site of SAREPTA is near, where Elijah dwelt with the widow woman, blessing her barrel of meal that it did not waste, and her cruse of oil that it did not fail, until the Lord restored plenty to the land. It was the son of the same woman who was raised from the dead by the instrumentality of the prophet. We examined a number of cavities in the sides of the hills, cut out of the rock with much care: they have each two or three little cells, scarcely so long as a man's body, with an arch rising about three feet. We could not find any inscriptions. The rock is in some places embed-phers of Greece derived their most correct notions ded with small pieces of bone. Near them are evidently the remains of a considerable town, as we saw columns, cisterns, and pieces of marble and glass. Eleven upright stones near the sea, are said by a foolish tradition to have been as many laborers, who blasphemed the Saviour when he passed the field in which they were at work, for which they were immediately converted into stone, as a monument of the divine anger against them. In the valley we observed several animals, rather larger than a gazelle: the dogs of the shepherds drove the pretty creatures into the mountains, but they were unable to come near them. This animal is probably the tzebi of Scripture, translated in our version, the roe. Some of the inspired allusions to it, among which those in the Canticles may be particularly noticed, are invested with a great beauty to those who have seen it in its native freedom. The Kasmiye river, over which is a bridge, comes from near Baalbec, from whence it pursues its course between the two Lebanons. The khan near it is ancient, and is well situated. Some fine horses were grazing below, full of mettle and mischief. of the attributes of God. The history of Tyre is more especially interesting to the Christian, from its connection with prophecy, and from the striking eloquence with which inspiration has described the majesty of its brighter days, and the impressive circumstances of its destruction. It was also referred to by our Saviour, when he pronounced wo upon the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida, because they had seen his mighty works and repented not. Her merchants were princes, her trafficers the honorable of the earth. She heaped up silver as dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. The boards of her ships were of the firtrees of Senir, her masts of the cedars of Lebanon, her oars of the oaks of Bashan, her benches of the ivory of Chittim, her sails of fine linen, broidered work from Egypt, and her awnings were of purple. Her heart was lifted up, and she said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas.Such is the description given in sacred writ of the pride and magnificence of ancient Tyre. Now, in the language of the same authority, the noise of her songs is ceased, and the voice of her harps is no more heard: her walls are broken down, her pleasant houses are no more, she is made like the top of a rock, a place to spread nets upon: she is built no more. The city consisted of two separate places, one upon the continent, and the other upon an island; and the circumference of the whole is said by Pliny to have extended 19 miles. Tyre upon the continent was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar 573 B. c., after a siege of 13 years, one of the longest recorded in history. The inhabitants then fled to the island, about half a mile distant, and soon regained their former wealth and prosperity. The insular town was besieged by Alexander the Great, 332 B. C. To accomplish his designs he had to make a mole from the continent to the island, the career of his conquest was stayed, for the space of seven months his war-steed could only paw the ground in madness without power to pass onward, and it was not before his army had had to suffer almost incredible toils that he effected an entrance into the place. It once more rose from the dust under the Grecian kings of Egypt, and was afterwards invested by the Romans with the privileges of a city. It was more than once visited by Paul on his way to Jerusalem, and on one occasion "he tarried there seven days." The shores had witnessed many splendid spectacles, but none so beautiful as that which they presented upon his departure. "When we had accomplished those days, we departed, and went our way; and the disciples all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed. And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship, and they returned home again."-Acts xxi. 5, 6. It was a metropolitan see at an early period, and possessed We arrived at Tyre early, April 1, and took up our abode at a Greek convent, but were miserably accommodated. The history of the city is most affecting, and it has been said with much force, that "the noble dust of Alexander, traced by the imagination till found stopping a beer-barrel, would scarcely afford a stronger contrast of grandeur and abasement than Tyre, at the period of being besieged by that conqueror, and the modern town of Tsour erected on its ashes." It was probably a colony of the Sidonians, as it is called "the daughter of Sidon." From its present name appears to have been taken the general name of Syria. Its first mention is in Joshua, where it is called "the strong city Tyre." At an early period it became the mistress of the seas; traded even to Britain, and planted colonies in different parts of the Mediterranean, among which Carthage became the most celebrated. The costliness of the Tyrian purple is well known. We have little insight into is private history, but in the prophecies that are uttered against it a few things are said in its favor that deserve our notice.-"Thou wert upon the holy mountain of God: thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wert perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." From their proximity to the Israelites, the Tyrians must of necessity have had some knowledge of the one true God; and it would appear from this declaration of the prophet, that for a time they reverenced his laws, and walked according to the way of his commandments. The mercy of God may thus be seen in the state of commercial eminence to which this city and Sidon were raised. Their mariners traded to all parts of the known world, their colonies were extensively founded, and it is not impro-"a famous temple, builded with most gorgeous bable that by this means a knowledge of God was furniture," erected by Paulinus. In praise of the often imparted to the heathen nations, and that by munificence of this prelate, Eusebius wrote “a the beams thus carried from the fountain of divine solemn sermon," which is yet extant. It was perlight, some semblance of the truth was preserved in haps at this period that the brighter predictions of lands that would otherwise have been for ages in the prophets received their accomplishment :the grossest darkness. It has been reasonably "The daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift." supposed, that it was from this source the philoso--Psal.n xlv. 12. "He that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God."-Zech. ix. 7. "Her merchandize and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord."-Isa. xxiii. 18. The historian of Cæsarea gives this delightful character of the church then in existence: "Comely rites and ceremonies of the church were celebrated; here, with psalmodies and other songs of praise delivered us from above; there, with divine and mystical ministry the secret pledges of the Lord's passion were solemnized; and withal, men and women of every age, with all the might that in them lay, with cheerful mind and will, in prayer and thanksgiving, honored God, the author of all goodness." In the persecutions, many spirits fled triumphantly from Tyre to join "the noble army of martyrs.' Under the crusaders, the first archbishop was an Englishman, William of Tyre. residence is the only respectable building. There are many columns near the small harbor, and others on the opposite side of the peninsula, but there is no ruin of ancient date, the plan of which can be traced. We saw in a garden a granite column of one block, that measured 30 feet in length, and the diameter was in proportion. The eastern end of the cathedral is still standing. We ascended to the top of the ruin by a spiral staircase, and from thence had a view of the town. The burial-ground is near. From this situation the houses had a singular appearance, as the roofs are all flat, and were then verdant with a rich covering of grass. Upon the plain there are the remains of an extensive aqueduct. The mole appears like a mere collection of sand, but beneath there may be some construction of more enduring materials. The prophecies of Ezekiel are particularly de- "Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of finite:Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am ancient days? Who hath taken this counsel against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many na- against Tyre? The Lord of Hosts hath purposed tions to come up against thee, as the sea causeth it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into his waves to come up and they shall destroy the contempt all the honorable of the earth."-Isa. walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I xxiii. 7-9. The stirring scenes of a sea-port exhibit will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a picture of more constant excitement than can like the top of a rock: it shall be a place for the ever be presented by any other place. The arri spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have val and discharge of ships; the cries of the capspoken it, saith the Lord God.......I will make thee tains as they direct their ready mariners; the songs like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to of the boatmen, the dash of the oars, and the roll spread nets upon: thou shalt be built no more, of the sea; the solitary female, whose eye catches for I the Lord hath spoken it, saith the Lord God every speck that appears white in the horizon, and ........I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be never leaves it till one after another of its inmates no more; though thou be sought for, yet shalt have been carefully numbered, that perchance she thou never be found again, saith the Lord God." may discover among them the father of her disEzekiel xxvi. 3, 4, 5, 14, 21. The Saracens and consolate children; the faltering step of the aged Turks were the unconscious instruments who car- sailor, whose battles have been fought, and whose ried these prophecies into their fulfilment: they victories have been won; the tears of those who utterly destroyed Sidon and Tyre, that they might are bidding farewell, and the rapture of those not afford further refuge to the crusaders. There greeting the arrival of a long-absent friend; the were two harbors, formed by the island; one to- anxious assemblies of the merchants, either speakwards the north, and the other towards the south; ing of traffic, or proclaiming their good fortune, or and there was a passage between the island and lamenting the loss of some fair ship in a destructhe shore from the one to the other. The island tive gale; the reckless merriment of the seamen, is represented by Pliny as having been four miles as they enjoy upon land a little respite from their in circumference, but the peninsula upon which constant toils:-all these, and a thousand other the present town is situated, is of much less ex-scenes of noise, and joyousness, and wealth, have tent. It would therefore appear that it is built for the most part upon the mole thrown up by Alexander, including a small portion of the original island. There is thus enough of the rock left in existence for the fishers to spread their nets upon, while the principal area, once mantled with paaces and alive with a busy population, has been swept into "the midst of the water," and can be built no more. The disappearance of the island has caused the destruction of the harbors; and as all protection to shipping is now taken away, Tyre can never again rise to eminence as "the mart of nations." There are still two small rocks in the sea, to which the island probably extended; and as the fishermen's boats can approach them in calm weather, they seem to invite the spreading of nets upon their surface. I and my companions sailed over the present harbor in a small boat, to examine the columns that may clearly be seen under the water on a fine day, but the sea was too rough to allow us to discover many of them. The present town is walled, and is of very modern date. The space inside is in a great measure open, and the houses are mean. The governor's been exhibited upon these shores. They have passed away, like the feverish dream of a disturbed sleep. Ships may be seen, but at a distance; no merchant of the earth ever enters the name of Tyre upon his books, and where thousands once assembled in pomp and pride, and there was beauty and splendor, and dominion, I could discover only a few children amusing themselves at play, and a party of Turks sitting in gravity, and sipping their favorite coffee. With these reflections it was impossible not to think of another people, still more favored in their privileges, and whose commercial transactions are as extended as the world. Cities of my country, shall it ever be said of you, that ye are no more? The patriot may sing exultingly over his cups the praises of Britannia, ruler of the waves, but the Christian will fear and tremble, and offer up prayer to God, that what we deserve in justice may be withheld from us in mercy. There was one sin chargeable against Tyre, from which England is now happily free: she dealt in slaves. "They have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Yea, and what have |