IT seems almost impossible to realize that the day is coming when Israel will be raised from the dust, and yet it is written, “Whereas thou halt been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations” (Isa. 60:55Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. (Isaiah 60:5)). We might notice much more about this deeply interesting place, but let us withdraw: though not to forget the lessons to be learned from the voices of Lamentation and of Prayer, with the spectacle of them that sit in the dust.
Our next visit will bring the subject again to our minds: for we proceed to the depot of the Bible Society. We have scarcely entered when we find that we are followed by a Jewish beggar. Probably he was attracted by the sight of an Englishman, and hoped to receive a gift, like the man that was laid at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, as we read in Acts 3. At all events he seated himself on the floor and proceeded, without apologies, to smoke his pipe. A sketch in my notebook shows him with the marks of poverty and decrepitude, and in rags and wrinkles, as is the case with most of the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem. Their Rabbis are furnished with tiny little coins—several of which, I believe, make the value of a farthing— for the purpose of distributing alms amongst them.
As we think of the actual poverty of the Jews, let us remember the One who “though He was rich, yet for ‘our’ sakes He became poor that ‘we’ through His poverty might be rich.” The next day we were reminded of this, when we visited Bethlehem. There we were shown a manger, such as that referred to in the Gospel history: “And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger.” As we looked at that cold stone manger in the dimly lighted and dusty underground stable, we saw indeed much to remind us of the condescension of that Blessed One. How “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)).
“How condescending and how kind
Was God’s Eternal Son:
Our misery reached His heavenly mind,
And pity brought Him down.
“This was compassion like a God,
That when the Saviour knew
The price of pardon was His blood,
His pity ne’er withdrew.”