DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0159
TESTIMONY OF AN EYEWITNESS. 143
ruins, and stopping for a moment to talk with
some of the Arabs, I saw on the left, in the side of
a mountain, an open door like those of the tombs in
Egypt—a simple orifice, without any ornament or
sculpture. A woman was coming out with a child
in her arms, a palpable indication that here, too,
the abodes of the dead were used as habitations by
the living. In Paul's disabled state I could ask no
questions, and I did not stop to explore.
I cannot leave this interesting region without
again expressing my regret at being able to add so
little to the stock of useful knowledge. I can only
testify to the existence of the ruins of cities which
have been known only in the books of historians,
and I can bear witness to the desolation that reigns
in Edom. I can do more, not with the spirit of scof-
fing at prophecy, but of one who, in the strong evi-
dence of the fulfilment of predictions uttered by the
voice of inspiration, has seen and felt the evidences
of the sure foundation of the Christian faith ; and
having regard to what I have already said in refer-
ence to the interpretation of the prophecy, " None
shall pass through it for ever and ever," I can say
that I have passed through the land of Idumea.
My route was not open to the objection made to
that of Burckhardt, the traveller who came near-
est to passing through the land; for he entered
from Damascus, on the east side of the Dead Sea,
and struck the borders of Edom at such a point
that literally he cannot be said to have passed
through it. If the reader will look at the map ae-
ruins, and stopping for a moment to talk with
some of the Arabs, I saw on the left, in the side of
a mountain, an open door like those of the tombs in
Egypt—a simple orifice, without any ornament or
sculpture. A woman was coming out with a child
in her arms, a palpable indication that here, too,
the abodes of the dead were used as habitations by
the living. In Paul's disabled state I could ask no
questions, and I did not stop to explore.
I cannot leave this interesting region without
again expressing my regret at being able to add so
little to the stock of useful knowledge. I can only
testify to the existence of the ruins of cities which
have been known only in the books of historians,
and I can bear witness to the desolation that reigns
in Edom. I can do more, not with the spirit of scof-
fing at prophecy, but of one who, in the strong evi-
dence of the fulfilment of predictions uttered by the
voice of inspiration, has seen and felt the evidences
of the sure foundation of the Christian faith ; and
having regard to what I have already said in refer-
ence to the interpretation of the prophecy, " None
shall pass through it for ever and ever," I can say
that I have passed through the land of Idumea.
My route was not open to the objection made to
that of Burckhardt, the traveller who came near-
est to passing through the land; for he entered
from Damascus, on the east side of the Dead Sea,
and struck the borders of Edom at such a point
that literally he cannot be said to have passed
through it. If the reader will look at the map ae-