Danbury Times

BETHLEHEM.

The City of David, as it is called, is distant about six miles from Jerusalem; and the beauty and verdure of its environs present a striking contrast to the stony and forbidding prospect around the immediate neighborhood of the Holy City; and when coming suddenly in view of Bethlehem, the scenery is truly enchanting. The town is built upon an elevated rock, but is surrounded on every side with meadows and rills of water, and large flocks with the attendant shepherds. The first view of Bethlehem is calculated to recall to the mind the remembrance of the glad tidings that broke upon the ears of the shepherds of by-gone days, who upon these same pasture ground, were tending their flocks. The region of Bethlehem still continues to be a sheep feeding country, and presents all those lovely varieties of pastoral life which are so intimately associated with our ideas of quiet and happiness.

But the full force of the idea is not to be appreciated by any but those who have been intimate with the shepherds life as it exists in oriental lands. When the shepherd is the owner of his sheep, and dwells with them, and devotes all his care and attention to their comfort and welfare, oftentimes may be seen the shepherd and his family relinquishing their tent for the accommodation of the sick and fallen of the flock. They become acquainted with each other; and the shepherd not only knows the number, but the countenances and bleating voices of his sheep. And so the flock know the voice of the shepherd, while to that of another they show no signs of recognition. Thus may we the better understand the language of our blessed Lord when he says: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." And again: "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep, and am known of them." And thus throughout that touching and beautiful 10th chapter of St John. And again in Isaiah xi. 11--"He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those with young." This is beautifully exemplified in the tender care and solicitude of the shepherd for the lambs of his flock, and those that are in circumstances which require more than ordinary tenderness and attention. Thus we see the striking adaptedness of Scripture language, especially in the conversations of the Saviour to those who knew and could appreciate the full force of his illustration.

Bethlehem contains an equally divided population of Christians and Mohomedans, who dwell together, however, in uninterrupted harmony. There is the appearance of great poverty exhibited every where throughout the town; for the people, if ever possessed of wealth, dare not make it known, for fear of its being taken from them to supply the coffers of a despotic government. Not far from Bethlehem stands the celebrated Church of the Nativity, and a little way off a Franciscan Convent. This church is said to be built over the place where Christ was born: and the precise spot which has been denominated the manger, is now converted into a subterranean chapel, and is lighted by a great number of lamps which are constantly kept burning. Upon the wall around the chapel, hang a number of paintings, and the organ is sometimes made to utter solemn notes, which sound peculiarly so in this subterranean abode. Much doubt has arisen in the minds of various travellers as to whether this was in reality the place of the Saviour's nativity, which has been occasioned by the spot being a cave, rather than such a place as in other lands would have been selected for a manger. This objection is answered by the fact that in this country the climate is peculiarly addicted to sudden and violent changes; causing the mercury in the thermometer to vary within the period of twenty-four hours, upwards of sixty degrees; and on this account caves were frequently selected for the accommodation of animals, because of the greater equanimity of temperature. We have the expression in Scripture in allusion to the climate thus expressed: "The sun consumes me by day, and the frosts by night."

That this exposition causes the doubt to remove from this fact, we have no doubt; and what even still more strongly confirms the belief that this place was the exact spot of the nativity, is clearly shown by the almost utter impossibility for any class of designing persons to fabricate, at any given period of time, such a statement of this kind, without the refutation of others, who demanded the proof of prior testimony; and, moreover, to places of a sacred and interesting character, a certain identity attaches itself, which it would be impossible to obliterate while tradition existed among the people; and thousands of places remain notable for peculiarities attached to them from age to age, and from generation to generation, without either marble monuments or letters of brass to perpetuate their memories.

But not to the identity of Scripture places, nor to any reliance upon traditionary facts, does the Christian religion appeal for evidence of its divine authority. The word of God, written by the pen of inspiration, stands, the unrefuted and imperishable monument of his power and his goodness; but while to this we may cling, as to the rock of our salvation, still may we indulge in laudable curiosity in endeavoring to trace out those localities rendered sacred by the presence of the Redeemer. And the Christian cannot but love to dwell with hallowed remembrance upon the descriptions brought before him, when they call to mind the scenes and the circumstances of his Lord's humiliation. And although Palestine abounds in relics of a sacred character, there can be none so calculated to fill his soul with joyous rapture as the scenes of the nativity, the manger in which the babe of Bethlehem was born. Buckingham's Lectures.