Jottings At High Xii. In The Holy Land.

JOTTINGS AT HIGH XII . IN THE HOLY LAND .

BY BRO . ROB . MORRIS , LL . D . I AM spending a brief hour under a ivide-spreading oak east of Bethlehem . Here before me is the field of Boaz . This way came that noble specimen of manhood , spreading " God speed ye ' s " right and . left among bis workmen as he came . The same harvest is yellow here to-day . The barley blades , yellow under this meridian sunare tinged here and there with the scarlet

, adonis and the blue pimpernel and the rich corn-cockle . Reapers are at work to-day ancl the gleaners follow after them . But there is no Boaz to wish them " God speed ye , " or to distribute the noon-tide refreshments , or to scatter heads of barley " of purpose , " that the poorer gatherers may secure it . Need I say there is Ruth here among these gleaners , old , jaded , covetous ancl shameless as the } - are ? No Ruth in the barley fields of Boaz ; for while all nature

remained unchanged , humanity has changed to its worse aspect . And here in this quarter of the suburbs of Bethlehem , if tradition err not , ivas the pasture where shepherds were watching their flocks b y night , when the angelic messenger announced an event not less glorious than that ivhich excited the morning stars to sing together , ancl all the sons of God to shout for joy . Come out , ready note book ! Fall into position , facile pencil ! Bestir your laden memories , ancl let me not leave here until I have made " jottings " enough to recall the time , the place , and the occasion . " When the building Avas erected , its several parts fitted with such exactness

that it had more the appearance of being the handiwork of the Supreme Architect of the UniA'erse . than that of human hands . " This thought will occur to tbe Masonic traveller at all points where great ruins abound . The Kubbet es-Sakhrah or Dome of the Rock , standing where Solomon ' s Temple did , has been styled by an experienced teweller the most magnificent piece of architecture in the Turkish Empire . Superior outside to the Mosque St . Sophia at Constantinopleit is characterised b y a loftySaracenic pomp in the stle

, , y , by its capacious dome , its numerous arcades , its extensive plaza paved with varigated marble , and the extreme neatness of the avenues which lead to it . It is funny to hear the criticisms upon a monstrous work like this . Jealousy , ignorance , the desire to become notorious by suggesting a new theory , all appear in the descriptions of great architectural remains the world oi'er . Even the traveller Bruce , Avhose honest fame Avas not OA'ershadowed by any

others , was so jealous of the discoveries made in his time at the Great Pyramid as to suggest that the whole structure was but a native hill , hewn cloivn artifically and cased in by Egyptian builders ! So with writers upon the Kubbet es-Sakhrah . The Phoenician builder begau at the bottom , deep , in the earth . He built for all time . It was onl y in the defiles of Petra , where the rocky conformation compelled such an inversion of rules , that the ivorkman building his temple began at the top , first finishing the capitals and architraves of columns , then the columns themselves , lastly the pediments .

I haA'e seen a statement , but cannot verify it , that all the steam engines in England in 1848 would require eighteen hours' use to lift from the quarries the stones that compose the great platform on which Solomon ' s Temple stood . So natural ivas it for King Solomon , situated as he ivas , to send to Lebanon for timber , that we imagine him uttering literally the words in Isaiah lx ., 13 , " The glory of Lebanon shall come unto me , the fir tree , the pine tree , and the box together , to beautify the place of the Lord ' s sanctuary ; aud I ivill make the place of His feet glorious . " The ancient tools were rude , and of materials no harder than bronze .