DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0208
192
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
resenting them in the act of making their offerings ;
and one of the kings is represented as an Ethio-
pian.
All this has but little conformity with the rude
scene of the stable and the manger as described in
the Bible ; and, in all probability, most of the holy
places pointed out in Bethlehem, and adorned and
transformed by the false but well-meaning piety
of Christians, have no better claim to authenticity
than the credulity of a weak and pious old woman.
But amid all the doubts that present themselves
when we stop to ponder and reflect, it is sufficient
for our enjoyment of these scenes to know that we
are in " Bethlehem of Judea," consecrated by the
greatest event in the history of the world, the birth
of the Son of God. We know that, within the at-
mosphere we breathe, Christ first appeared on
earth ; that one of the stars of heaven left its place
among the constellations, and hovered over the
spot on which we stand ; that the kings of the
earth came here to offer gifts to the holy child; and,
beholding multitudes of pilgrims from far distant
lands constantly prostrating themselves before the
altar, in the earnestness and sincerity of undoubt-
ing faith, we give ourselves up to the illusion, if
illusion it be, and are ready to believe that we are
indeed standing where Christ was born.
My Arnaout behaved remarkably well, though
once he broke the stillness of the grotto by an in-
voluntary exclamation ; his loud harsh voice, and
the rattling of his armour, startling for a mornenl
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
resenting them in the act of making their offerings ;
and one of the kings is represented as an Ethio-
pian.
All this has but little conformity with the rude
scene of the stable and the manger as described in
the Bible ; and, in all probability, most of the holy
places pointed out in Bethlehem, and adorned and
transformed by the false but well-meaning piety
of Christians, have no better claim to authenticity
than the credulity of a weak and pious old woman.
But amid all the doubts that present themselves
when we stop to ponder and reflect, it is sufficient
for our enjoyment of these scenes to know that we
are in " Bethlehem of Judea," consecrated by the
greatest event in the history of the world, the birth
of the Son of God. We know that, within the at-
mosphere we breathe, Christ first appeared on
earth ; that one of the stars of heaven left its place
among the constellations, and hovered over the
spot on which we stand ; that the kings of the
earth came here to offer gifts to the holy child; and,
beholding multitudes of pilgrims from far distant
lands constantly prostrating themselves before the
altar, in the earnestness and sincerity of undoubt-
ing faith, we give ourselves up to the illusion, if
illusion it be, and are ready to believe that we are
indeed standing where Christ was born.
My Arnaout behaved remarkably well, though
once he broke the stillness of the grotto by an in-
voluntary exclamation ; his loud harsh voice, and
the rattling of his armour, startling for a mornenl