DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0100
86
JACOB'S WELL.
pointed as she spoke of the Temple wherein " our
fathers worshipped,"—one fancies one hears the grand
message of universal salvation in the spiritual religion
of the true and pure heart, echoing silently, as it were,
still in this quiet spot, — one enters into the mingled
astonishment and joy of the woman, who perhaps had
felt something stirring in her heart, a groping after
something better and holier than the jumble of idola-
trous fetishes around her, who, accustomed only to the
harsh bigotry of the narrow-minded Jews, heard now
for the first time that religion was confined neither
to one place nor to one name—that Grod was not "like
unto gold or silver, or stone, graven by art or man's
device/' but a Spirit " in whom we live and move and
have our being;"—that Messiah was come neither to
judge nor to condemn, nor to destroy, but to save men
—to gather them into one fold under one Shepherd,
Whose yoke was easy and Whose burden was light —
Who was ready to lay down His life for His sheep, and
to be " indeed the Saviour of the world."
The Crusaders had a Church in Nablous, which is
now of course a Mosque, but the nearly perfect door-
way is well worth seeing: — it is in the Gothic style,
then prevailing in France, with a good dash of Sara-
cenic about it—it is very richly and well carved. We
found the people of Nablous, unlike their former
selves of even only ten years ago, remarkably civil and
obliging : the present Governor punishes any instance
of incivility in the severest manner, and it is now an
agreeable resting-place for travellers : we stayed two
days and walked much about the town, admiring the
handsome and well-dressed women and children. Seeing
we were strangers, some men invited us into a large
court filled with some hundreds of water skins, for the
JACOB'S WELL.
pointed as she spoke of the Temple wherein " our
fathers worshipped,"—one fancies one hears the grand
message of universal salvation in the spiritual religion
of the true and pure heart, echoing silently, as it were,
still in this quiet spot, — one enters into the mingled
astonishment and joy of the woman, who perhaps had
felt something stirring in her heart, a groping after
something better and holier than the jumble of idola-
trous fetishes around her, who, accustomed only to the
harsh bigotry of the narrow-minded Jews, heard now
for the first time that religion was confined neither
to one place nor to one name—that Grod was not "like
unto gold or silver, or stone, graven by art or man's
device/' but a Spirit " in whom we live and move and
have our being;"—that Messiah was come neither to
judge nor to condemn, nor to destroy, but to save men
—to gather them into one fold under one Shepherd,
Whose yoke was easy and Whose burden was light —
Who was ready to lay down His life for His sheep, and
to be " indeed the Saviour of the world."
The Crusaders had a Church in Nablous, which is
now of course a Mosque, but the nearly perfect door-
way is well worth seeing: — it is in the Gothic style,
then prevailing in France, with a good dash of Sara-
cenic about it—it is very richly and well carved. We
found the people of Nablous, unlike their former
selves of even only ten years ago, remarkably civil and
obliging : the present Governor punishes any instance
of incivility in the severest manner, and it is now an
agreeable resting-place for travellers : we stayed two
days and walked much about the town, admiring the
handsome and well-dressed women and children. Seeing
we were strangers, some men invited us into a large
court filled with some hundreds of water skins, for the