DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0252
234
THE PILGRIMS.
they could implicitly believe, as these poor creatures
do, that their eternal salvation is absolutely secured by
the washing in the sacred river, the obtaining of the
holy Fire, and as a reward for the perils and dangers
bravely incurred, the hardships and sufferings cheer-
fully borne of their long and very painful pilgrimage.
Whatever may be said of the deplorable superstition
under which they labour, their faith in the providence
of Grod, and the intense earnestness of their piety, is as
remarkable as it is exemplary: we were told of a thou-
sand instances in which these poor creatures have sold
all their little possessions to purchase the means of
transport to the sacred goal—for their own support on
the journey they provide little or nothing, trusting to
the alms of the charitable,—and one might almost
envy them the perfect simplicity of faith and trust,
with which they expect the Hand of G-od to be used
almost visibly in their service, while they are doing so
much in His—as they think:—"the Lord will pro-
vide " is their simple answer to every anxiety,—and
the same conviction has moulded many a lovely cha-
racter in every clime and creed, and the same trustful
faith has been answered by a blessing on many a noble
institution.
What little money they can scrape together before
starting, is kept with the utmost care for the payment
of the enormous fees extorted from them in the con-
vents and for the indulgences to be purchased at the
various shrines—all which they are assured are indis-
pensable for the completion of their salvation : they
frepuently bring ornaments in gold and silver, or pieces
of fine embroidery, &c, with them to sell or barter in
Jerusalem to obtain the requisite sums,—when all is
concluded, the title of hadjj, the odour of sanctity ex-
THE PILGRIMS.
they could implicitly believe, as these poor creatures
do, that their eternal salvation is absolutely secured by
the washing in the sacred river, the obtaining of the
holy Fire, and as a reward for the perils and dangers
bravely incurred, the hardships and sufferings cheer-
fully borne of their long and very painful pilgrimage.
Whatever may be said of the deplorable superstition
under which they labour, their faith in the providence
of Grod, and the intense earnestness of their piety, is as
remarkable as it is exemplary: we were told of a thou-
sand instances in which these poor creatures have sold
all their little possessions to purchase the means of
transport to the sacred goal—for their own support on
the journey they provide little or nothing, trusting to
the alms of the charitable,—and one might almost
envy them the perfect simplicity of faith and trust,
with which they expect the Hand of G-od to be used
almost visibly in their service, while they are doing so
much in His—as they think:—"the Lord will pro-
vide " is their simple answer to every anxiety,—and
the same conviction has moulded many a lovely cha-
racter in every clime and creed, and the same trustful
faith has been answered by a blessing on many a noble
institution.
What little money they can scrape together before
starting, is kept with the utmost care for the payment
of the enormous fees extorted from them in the con-
vents and for the indulgences to be purchased at the
various shrines—all which they are assured are indis-
pensable for the completion of their salvation : they
frepuently bring ornaments in gold and silver, or pieces
of fine embroidery, &c, with them to sell or barter in
Jerusalem to obtain the requisite sums,—when all is
concluded, the title of hadjj, the odour of sanctity ex-