RELIGIOUS ANTIPATHIES.

403

to Christians: but this is consistent with the character of religious antipathies in general, which seem to gain strength as the disputed points exciting them diminish in number and importance. Where the shades of difference are scarcely perceptible, hatred between the parties is deadly, while the antipodes of the theological sphere will meet together on a friendly footing. The heathen are pitied and perhaps despised, but seldom violently hated, by those who recognise but one God. The Mohammedan and the Jew, who, adoring a God in unity, regard as an idolater the worshipper of the Holy Trinity, view that idolater with more complacency than they entertain towards each other, whose chief difference consists in the acceptance or rejection of a prophet. But, if we would see theological hatred carried out to its full extent, we must turn towards the sectarian parties which divide the Pagan, Mohammedan, Jewish, and Christian worlds. If their power were equal to their enmity, Asia would be too small to contain the followers of Brahma and of Boodh, or the Sunnee and the Sheeah: the Rabbinist is authorized to make a bridge of a Karaite brother to save a Nazarene from drowning; and, to revert to the original source of this observation,

404

RELIGIOUS ANTIPATHIES.

the Jew, who differs from the Samaritan principally as to the site of a temple, excludes his opponent from eternal life. We are reluctant to trace further a parallel which is too applicable not to be humiliating; and we would throw a veil over the unchristian rancour which has so often animated Papists and Protestants with their respective rival sects, and diffused itself too subtilely into the disputes of those who, wasting their time and talents on metaphysical points, have forgotten "the weightier matters of the law," and especially that holy principle which is superior to faith and shall survive hope.*

1 Cor. xiii. 13.

CHAPTER XXIX.

JUDEA. FROM NABLOOS TO JERUSALEM.

Road. Cultivation.-Levitical law observed. Enter Judea. -Attel. - Terraces on mountains.-Soil and cultivation.

Causes of former fertility and present barrenness. Ainberood. - Value of water.- Bethel.-Jacob's altar.Beer.- Scriptural allusions. Inhospitality of Arabs.— Ramah. Tomb of Samuel. View. Sepulchres of Sepulchres of kings of Judah. First view of

Judges.

Jerusalem.Reflections.

Enter Jerusalem.-Sion.-Acra.- Bezetha.- Moriah.

Modern town. Population. Jews. Protestants. Missionary labors.

LEAVING Nabloos, we followed the course of the valley between Gerizim and Ebal nearly as far as "Jacob's well" and his "parcel of ground," and then turned to the right, asscending the hill whereon Sychar is said to have stood; after which we entered a very fertile plain, bounded on either side by the mountains of Samaria, and indicating more cultivation than we had yet seen in Syria. Several ploughs were at work; and a large proportion of the land was tilled.

406

NATURAL CONGRUITIES OBSERVED.

An ox and a horse or ass are never seen working together in Palestine or Egypt, as they are in other countries. In the same field a camel will be attached to one plough, an ox to another, an ass to a third, and a horse to a fourth, each wanting assistance, but none unequally yoked. It is difficult to determine how far this regard to natural congruities may be the mere result of custom, and how far it may be connected with a scrupulous adherence to the law of Moses,* a great portion of which is copied into the Mohammedan Torah, or Pentateuch. Black horses are very scarce; the prevailing color is grey. A good horse may be bought for ten or twelve pounds; but mules are rather dearer because better suited to the mountains.

Passing in the same fertile plain the villages of Khowarah and Leban, we halted to refresh ourselves and cattle at a clear stream which we were told was the last we should see for a considerable distance. Here we met with a rare instance of a peasant possessing information; and, little as was the knowledge displayed, it excited remark; so unusual is it for a Syrian laborer to know anything beyond his own daily requirements and the means of their * Deut. xxii. 10.

supply. A man of whom we asked the name of the last-mentioned village, answered, "It is called Leban; it is the boundary between the mountains of Jerusalem and Nabloos;" in other words, between Judea and Samaria.

Crossing the little brook, we quitted the kingdom of Israel, and entered into Judea; a land of such high former glory, such high future expectations, and such present degradation! The summit of all our desires, as regarded this tour, seemed now within reach. Actually in Judea, we were scarcely more than a day's journey from Jerusalem, and the heart beat high with expectation.

Ascending and descending among the mountains of Judah, we passed the villages of Koofursayah on the left and Sinjun on the right, and reached a mound on which stand some ruins, called Attel, or "The heap." From this point, for a distance of about two hours, the entire slopes of the hills, from the base to the summit, are, or have been, laid out in terraces. The great majority are fallen into decay, but enough remain to shew what once existed; and, here and there, near a village, a dozen in a state of repair and cultivation indicate what might exist again. The rock is of a kind easily converted into soil; which, being