A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages, Volume 1 · Part 3 · Chapter 22
CHAP. XXII.
Of Bethlehem, the Mountains of Judea, and their famous Places. Where alſo is made mention of my returning back from Jeruſalem to Tripoli.
BEthlehem formerly called Ephrata, is ſituated towards the South Twenty Furlongs or a German Mile diſtant from Jeruſalem. The neareſt way to it you go through the Gate of Hebron, and come to the Right by the upper Mote, and the bloudy Field, up the ſteps over mount Gihon, where juſt before you ſee a Ciſtern with good freſh Water near the Path, made of white Stones, and well prepared: near which the Star did appear again unto the three wiſe Men of the Eaſtern Countries, and led them into Bethlehem. Near it there groweth a Turpentine Tree larger and higher than any that ever I ſaw elſewhere in my life. Further, about half way, you paſs over a Hill, at the top whereof you may ſee both Towns, Jeruſalem and Bethlehem. Before you is a large Valley, which altho it be rocky, yet is it fruitful both of Corn and Wine. In it towards the Right Hand near the Road is an Acre called the Cicer-Field, which had its Name (as I was informed) from the following Tranſaction. It is ſaid, that when Chriſt went by at a certain time, and ſaw a Man that was a ſowing Cicers, he did ſpeak to him kindly, and asked him what he was a ſowing there, the man anſwered ſcornfully, and ſaid, He ſowed ſmall ſtones. Then let it be, ſaid our Lord, that thou reap the ſame ſeed thou ſoweſt. So they ſay, that at Harveſt-time he found inſtead of the Cicer-peaſe, nothing but ſmall Pebles in ſhape, and colour and bigneſs, like unto them exactly. Now whether there be any thing of truth in it or no I cannot affirm, but this I muſt ſay, that there are to this day ſuch ſtones found in this Field. For as we went by, ſome of us went into it, and did gather a great many of them, that were in bigneſs, ſhape and colour, ſo like unto theſe Cicers (by the Arabians called Ommos, and in Latin Cicer arietinum) that we could hardly diſtinguiſh them from natural ones.
Hard by it you ſee ſtill ſome old Ruins of old Stones, where firſt Abraham the Patriarch did build a Tent as you read Geneſis 12.8. And he removed from thence unto a Mountain on the Eaſt of Bethel, and pitched his Tent, having Bethel on the Weſt, and Hai on the Eaſt. Senacherib, the King of Aſſyria, when he went before Jeruſalem, did come into this Valley with all his might and power: and had by the Angel of the Lord in one nights time, One hundred and eighty five thouſand Men ſlain: and ſtill to this day there are two great holes to be ſeen, wherein they flung the dead Bodies: one whereof is hard by the Road towards Betlehem, the other towards the Right Hand over gainſt old Bethel: which Town fell to the Children of Benjamin, and is called ſtill to this day Bethiſella, and is ſituated half a League farther towards the Weſt at the Foot of the Hill, in a very fruitful Country. There did Jacob the Patriarch when he fled from his Brother Eſau, ſee in his ſleep the Ladder which reached up into Heaven, whereon the holy Angels aſcended and deſcended, wherefore he erected there a ſtone for a mark, and called the place Bethel, which was called Luz before, as you may read in the Twenty eighth Chapter of Geneſis. As you come nearer to Bethlehem, you ſee the Grave of Rachel at your Right Hand near the Road, which Jacob did erect there, when his Wife died in labour with Benjamin, as you read in Geneſis xxxv. 16. And they journeyed from Bethel and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Verſe 18. And it came to paſs as her ſoul was in departing (for ſhe died) that ſhe called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin: and Rachel died, and was buried in the way Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob ſet a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's Grave unto this day. Before you come quite thither there is juſt by without it on the Left a good rich Ciſtern, which is deep and wide. Wherefore the People that go to dip water, are provided with ſmall Leathern Buckets and a Line, as is uſual in theſe Countries; and ſo the Merchants that go in Carrvans through great Deſarts into far Countries, provide themſelves alſo with theſe, becauſe in theſe Countries you find more Ciſterns or Wells than Springs that lie high. This was formerly under the Gates of Bethlehem, whereof King David longed to drink: wherefore his three Champions did break into the Camp of the Philiſtins, and did dip ſome Water out of the Well, and brought it to the King: but the King would not drink of it for certain Reaſons, as you may read in the Twenty third Chapter of Samuel, and in the Twelfth Chapter of the Firſt of Chronicles. From thence we went by the Path of the Mount into Bethlehem the Town of David, where he was born, and anointed King by the Prophet Samuel; it lieth upon an Aſcent, its Buildings, Town-Walls and Towers are ſo decayed, that now it is quite open, and nothing at all to be ſeen, except the Well and Monaſtery, but ruined Cottages.
Juſt without Bethlehem at the the other ſide of the Path, towards the Eaſt (for formerly the Town reached fo far) they ſhew ſtill the Stable, under a large Rock, wherein Jeſus Chriſt the promiſed Meſſias, God and Man was born of the immaculate Virgin Mary, and laid in a Manger. Of his coming, and the place where he ſhould be born, the holy Prophet Micah long before propheſied in his Fifth Chapter, and Second Verſe, ſaying: But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thouſands of Juda, yet out of thee ſhall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Iſrael: whoſe goings forth have been from of old, from everlaſting. On that place hath Helena, Mother of Conſtantine the Great, alſo built a ſtately Church; but ſince it is ſo ruined and demoliſhed, that hardly half of it is left, as one may ſee by the old Walls of the Foun-Foundation, and other Places and Arches that are ſtill left without; yet that part that ſtill remaineth ſtanding, is very large, covered with Lead at top, and is ſo glorious a Building, that one ſhall hardly find a better any where. For within it is paved with white Marble all over, and upheld with a great many large and high Marble Pillars, each whereof is about Nine Spans in Diameter; I told about Fifty of them, they ſtand without before the Chancel (and underneath them is the place of the holy and joyful Birth of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt) in four Rows one behind the other, and ſo give a glorious Ornament to the whole Church. There are alſo to be ſeen on the Arches and the Walls about, ſome fine Hiſtories, taken out of the Old Teſtament, made in Moſaick Work, laid in with Colours very artificially: and are ſtill ſo plain to be ſeen and and diſcerned, as if they were made but the other day. The Cave wherein Chriſt was born, hath without on each ſide of the Chancel, underneath which it is a peculiar way into it, one againſt the other, the Doors thereof are commonly locked up, becauſe behind the Church there is ſtill another, through which they generally go down into it; therein is below at the Right Hand ſtill another leſs one, going down two ſteps more, which is the true Stable, wherein our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt did lie in the Manger between the Ox and Aſs: ſo there is ſtill in the ſame place made a marble one very well wrought. Without before it we put off our Shoes, and went in with the Father Guardian into the holy place. Where when I conſidered, the joyful Birth of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt: where he, as the true long before promiſed Meſſias and Saviour was born, I was affected as if I ſaw the Child wrapt up in Swadling Cloaths, and lying in the Manger, diſguiſed in our mortal Fleſh and Blood, yet without ſin, that we as Children of Wrath and eternal Damnation, might be received again by God his Heavenly Father, as his Children, unto everlaſting Salvation: that did humble himſelf ſo low, as to be born in a dark Stable in the miſerableſt Poverty, that he might bring us out from the Filth and Mire of Sin wherein we lay, into the Parlour of his Heavenly Father. Seeing then, my dear Lord Jeſus Chriſt, that thou art come to us into the World, as the true Light, to make of us, that were Children of Darkneſs and eternal Damnation, Children of Light and eternal Salvation and Felicity; I return unto thee, O Lord, for theſe thy unſpeakable Benefits, eternal Praiſes, and ſeeing that thou hast aſſumed our Fleſh and Blood, and haſt alſo cauſed theſe thy Merits and Benefits to be by thy holy Angels profered to me; thereſore I pray thee let me come to thee with the poor Shepherds, and ſee thy ſaving Incarnation, give me and us all thy Grace and Holy Spirit, that we may comfort our ſelves with this thy bleſſed Birth, againſt our ſinful and impure one, conſtantly and without ceſſation, that we may rejoice in it, in good and bad Times, in Tribulations and Adverſities, in proſperous Succeſs and ill Fortune, in the time of this temporal Life, heartily, until at length we ſhall, in the life to come, ſee thee with all the elected ones, face to face, to all Eternity. Amen.
This Cave is underneath about the Walls lined, with long Tables of Grey Marble, adorned with Blue, artificially laid in: the Rock that cometh out over the Stable only excepted. Juſt by the furthermoſt Entry of the fine Chapel there are others, in one whereof St. Jerom did live, and did Tranſlate the Bible out of the Hebrew and Chaldean Languages into the Latin. In another near it lieth buried, the Noble Pious Roman Lady Paula, with her Daughter Euſtachia. Who after the Deceaſe of her Husband, went thither to St. Jerom, where ſhe led all the reſt of her Days in Chriſtian Piety, until at length ſhe died in the Lord. From thence we came up again into the Church, wherein without cloſe to the Chancel on each ſide were to be ſeen two Altars, covered with good large Marble; on one thereof on the Left the Father Guardian did ſhew me the Effigies of the old Simeon, holding the Child Jeſus in his Arms, and in the Manger ſtill another, with this Admonition, That from hence we may ſee, conclude and learn, that it is not culpable at all to have Images, ſeeing that Nature it ſelf alloweth ſo much unto Stones that Images may grow in them. Wherefore they are not only not to be forbidden, but rather to be honoured. But what every Chriſtian ought to think of this, being quite contrary to the Holy Scripture, every Child that hath but begun to learn the Catechiſm, can eaſily and ſufficienlty decide. The Franciſcan Monks have near the Church a large and pleaſant Habitation, and alſo by it great Gardens, (rich of fine Plants and good Fruits) defended round about with high Walls, againſt the Incurſions of the Arabians, which they make daily. Bethlehem lieth high, ſurrounded by the Hills of Judaea, as you may ſee by the Words of Jeremiah in the Thirty firſt Chapter, Verſe 15. where he doth propheſie the Murthering of the Children, which cruel Tyranny Herod Aſcalonit did a great while after in Chriſt's time execute, the words are theſe: Thus ſaith the Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her Children, refuſed to be comforted for her children becauſe they were not. In this Monaſtery, becauſe it lieth at the top of the path, you ſee with pleaſure, as well as on Mount Olivet, the Confines of Hiericho, and the Dead Sea, and the Mountains of Arabia, but chiefly within the ſpace of a League and half towards the South, a great and high Hill, which extends it ſelf much further than the reſt, whereupon in former years the ſtrong and mighty Caſtle of Thecköa was built, whereof the holy Prophet Jeremias maketh mention in his Sixth Chapter, and alſo Amos (who did propheſie there) in his Firſt Chapter. The Chriſtians had this in poſſeſſion a great while, and did keep it againſt the Infidels and Heathens for above Thirty years after Jeruſalem and the Holy Land were taken; for they had Corn and Wine, and Water, and other Neceſſaries abundantly of their own growing, ſo that they might have kept it longer, if a great contagious Diſtemper had not got among them, which did encreaſe to that degree, that they were forced to leave it, and to retire to more healthy places. When the Heathens did underſtand that the Chriſtians were marched off, they fell into the Caſtle with a great multitude, tore it all to pieces, and did demoliſh it to the very Ground, ſo that now one cannot diſcern that ſuch a one did ſtand there before. But this loſt Troop of the Chriſtians did at length ſettle themſelves on Mount Libanus, and began to inhabit it, where they are ſtill remaining in our times, and call themſelves (as I have told you before) Truſci. About Bethlehem there are ſome Valleys very well tilled with Corn and Wine, and among the reſt a very pleaſant and fruitful one, that beginneth immediately by the Church and Fountain, and runs down towards Jericho and Jordan. This is below pretty wide, full of Olive and Fig-trees, it alſo bringeth forth ſome comfortable Herbs, viz. ſome ſtrange Origanums, Tragoriganum, Roman Serpillum, which the Arabians call Sathar, Abſintium Santonicum, which groweth every where in the holy Land, this hath ſmall aſh-coloured Leaves, very like unto them of ours, and many ſmall Stalks, full of ſmall yellowiſh Seeds, it is of an unpleaſant Smell, very bitter, with a ſaltiſh ſharpneſs, wherefore it is reputed to be the Scheha of the Arabians: from whence our Worm-ſeed cometh.
In this Valley were the Shepherds, to whom the Angels of the Lord did appear, and declared to them the ſaving Birth of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, ſaying, Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which ſhall be to all people; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David a Saviour, which is Chriſt the Lord, &c. and ſuddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hoſt, praiſing God, and ſaying: Glory to God in the higheſt, and on earth peace, good will towards men. In that place, which is about half a League below Bethlehem, is ſtill a Church, which alſo Queen Helena did build, as Nicephorus teſtifieth in the Thirtieth Chapter of his Eighth Book, this is for the greateſt part fallen in, ſo that nothing more but a ſmall Arch is to be ſeen of it. Hard by it did ſtand the Tower Ader, as St. Jerom writes, whereby Iſrael did erect a Tent, (as you may read in Geneſis:) and looked after the Sheep with his Twelve Sons. This is in our time ſo demoliſhed, that it lieth quite in Ruins. Beyond it in another Valley not far from Bethlehem, they ſhew ſtill to this day a large Orchard, full of Citron, Lemon, Orange, Pomegranate, and Fig-trees, and many others: which King Solomon did plant in his Days, with Ponds, Canals, and other Water-Works very pleaſantly prepared: as he ſaith himſelf in the Second Chapter of Eccleſiaſtes, Verſe 5. I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. This is ſtill in our time full of good and fruitful Trees, wherefore it is worthy to be ſeen for their ſakes, and alſo for the Ditches ſake that are ſtill there. Wherefore I really believe it to be that ſame whereof Joſephus maketh mention in his Eighth Book of the Jewiſh Antiquities, and the Seventh Chapter. ſaying: And the King rode in a Chariot, cloathed in white, and it was his Cuſtom to ride early in the morning to a place called Hetten, a hundred Furlongs from Jeruſalem, where he had a Garden with Water-pools and Works very pleaſant and rich. Thither went the King for his pleaſure; and did always uſe great diligence and conſideration in all things, and took delight to ſee every thing neat and handſom, &c. After we had ſeen the chiefeſt places within and without, near and a far off of Bethlehem, we returned to Jeruſalem again by another way that was near as far again about, and went over the Mountains of Judea, which have firſt as you come from thence very good and fruitful Valleys, full of Vines and Corn, but the nearer you come to Jeruſalem, the higher and rougher are the Mountains. In this way half a League from Nebeleſchol, the Friars ſhewed us a Well very rich of Water, juſt by the Road that goeth down to Gaza, this runneth into a ſmall Rivulet, wherein the holy Apoſtle Philip did baptize Candaces Chamberlain to the Queen of Aethiopia, by it is nothing elſe to be ſeen but a ſmall Church, and a Fiſh-pond. From thence we came over high, rough and ſteep Hills into the Deſerts, where St, John the Baptiſt did lead his life in his young Age, there is nothing to be ſeen but a very ancient Chapel, and hard by it a delicate Spring on the top of the Hill, where we went up to refreſh our ſelves a little, with eating and drinking of what we had taken along with us. About the Roads grow many Trees, by the Inhabitants called Charnubi, the Fruit whereof is called St. John's Bread in our Country, and is brought to us in great plenty. From thence we had ſtill a very rough and hilly way to the Church and Habitation of Zachary, whither the Virgin Mary did come (climbing over the Hills) to give Elizabeth a Viſit, &c. before it a League diſtance nearer to the Town, at the end of the Valley Raphaim (whereof the holy Scripture maketh often mention, viz. in the Fifteenth and Eighteenth Chapters of Joſhua; and in the Firſt of the Chronicles, and the 12th. Chapter) ſtands in a very pleaſant and fruitful place, the Church of St. John the Baptiſt: and by it, before you come quite to it, falleth down the Spring of Nephthaah that is very rich of Water. This Church is very ancient, but yet pretty well built, and hath on the Left Hand as you go in, a deep and hidden Cave, wherein Elizabeth did hide her ſelf with John her Child, that it might not be ſlain, with the Children of Bethlehem, by the Servants of Herod, whereof you may read more in the Proto-Evangelium of St. Jacob, where it is thus written: When Elizabeth did hear that among the reſt of the Innocents which Herod had commanded to be killed, her Son John was alſo ſearched for, ſhe did climb up the Hills, and looked about her where ſhe might hide him; but when ſhe ſaw no place there where ſhe could do him, ſhe ſighed, and cried out with a loud voice, ſaying: O ye hills of Gad, take both the Mother and the Child: for ſhe could not aſcend them: the Hill did open it ſelf inſtantly, and took them into it, &c. But how afterwards Herod did ſearch for John, and how he did threaten and exhort his Father Zachary, to tell him where his Son was, and alſo how his Servants did kill Zachary, (not being ſatisfied with his Anſwer) for it in the Porch of the Temple, is at length related in the Books of the Martyrs of the Learned and Reverend Ludowich Rabus. As you come from the before-mentioned Church, nearer to the Town of Jeruſalem, there is ſtill ſeen a large Pillar, that is of great Antiquity, and lieth very high between the Mountains on a high Hill, five Furlongs off of Jeruſalem, wherefore ſome take it to be Ruines of the Fortification of Betzura: but as far as one can underſtand by the Books of Maccabees, that is ſituated more towards the Eaſt behind Mount Olivet. Juſt before it within ſtands in the Valley (that is full of pleaſant Olive Trees) a very old, yet well built Church called the Holy Croſs, whereof ſome Greek Friars are poſſeſſed: they pretend that in that place, the Tree did ſtand, that was made uſe of for the Croſs of Chriſt: this we did ſoon leave, and went over a ſmall height through the Gate of Hebron again into Jeruſalem, and made our ſelves ready to return the next day again to Joppe towards our Ship. And ſo we rewarded the Father Guardian, their Interpreter and others that had conducted us, for their Faithfulneſs and Services done us according to our Ability, to their full content and ſatisfaction, wherefore the Father Guardian did freely give to each of us a Certificate under his uſual Seal, that we had ſeen all the holy places, which were named in it. This done, we went away, and came the next day to Rama towards Joppe. By the way I found ſome Lentiſcus's from whence the Maſtich cometh, Arbutus, Ilex, and a ſtrange ſort of Willows, by the Inhabitants called Saſſaf, but by Theophraſtus Elaeagnus, ſome Olive-Trees, Palm-Trees, White Mulberry-Trees, Sumach-Trees and Styrax, from which cometh a fweet ſmelling Gum, called by the ſame Name, that is brought from thence into our Country; Spartium, Lycium, which is a ſtrange Shrub, and the Juice thereof retaineth the ſame Name, and is found ſometimes in our Apothecaries Shops: the King and Prophet David maketh mention thereof, under the Hebrew Name Hadhadd, by which alſo the Arabians call it, their Speech running much upon the Hebrew. Hereabout grow alſo very many Fruits (called Siliquae by the Latines, and foreign and foreign by the Greeks, but by the Inhabitants Charnubi) whereof many are brought out to us, and are very well known by the Name of St. John's Bread. Theſe are ſo common in theſe Countries, that they eſteem them leſs than we do the worſt Fruit we have, wherefore they give them to the Cattle to eat. Wherefore it is probable, that the prodigal Son deſired to fill his Belly with theſe Fruits, which, as it appeareth by the Greek Text, the Hogs did eat, and yet could not have enough of them to ſatisfie his Hunger. Beſides theſe I found alſo by the way many Turpentine-Trees, by the Inhabitants called Botin and Albotin, which are very common in France, chiefly about Montpelier, they have ſmall green Kernels; that are of a reddiſh Colour, and hollow within, and are oftentimes baſely ſold and uſed by the Apothecaries for the true Carpabalſamum: for theſe and others above-mentioned, as we read in the Eighth Chapter of Nehem. the Iſraelites did take Bows, and made themſelves Tents of them to live in, during their great Feaſt of Tabernacles. I ſaw alſo chiefly between Rama and Joppa ſome white Barbery Trees, which I took firſt for Paliurus the third kind of Rhamnus, unto which they are very like, except the Fruits whereby I did diſcern them firſt, and beſides they are much higher, and their Branches covered with a white Bark. Now although they are not to be taken for the ſame, yet they are very like unto the ſecond Paliurus whereof Theoprastus maketh mention in the Fourth Chapter, and the Fourth Verſe. Among the Corn I did find a ſtrange Origanum, Serpillum: Smilax aſpera, Triones of Theophrastus, whereof I have made mention above.
After we had made our ſelves quite ready to ſail for Tripolis, whither we had about Forty German Miles, we went aboard the Ship, and ſet Sail with a fair Wind. But this did not laſt long, for as ſoon as we were out at Sea, there aroſe one that was ſo contrary to us, that we hardly reached the Confines of Tirus and Sidon the Fourth Day, where we arrived in our former Voyage at night, as I have ſaid before, I ſaw nothing of any Buildings on the Shoar, but ſome ſmall Houſes in the place where formerly the Town Sarepta did ſtand, which (as you may read in the Fourth Chapter of St. Luke, and in the Third Book of Kings, Chap. 17.) was ſituated near unto Sidon, or as Joſephus writes in his Eighth Book of the Jewiſh Antiquities, Chap. 13. between Tyrus and Sidon in the Country of Phaenicia, wherein the holy Prophet Elias, during the great ſcarcity did live a great while with a Widow, and did reſtore her dead Son to life again.
Departing thence the night befel us before we gat over againſt Sidon, but we went ſo near the Town, that we could ſee the Houſes, and ſome Rocks butting upon them by Moon-light. From thence the nearer we came to Tripolis, the more the wind was for us, ſo that we arrived there on the Firſt of October in the year 1575, in very good health and condition. Wherefore I give eternal Thanks, Glory, and Praiſe unto the Almighty God the Father, Son and Holy Ghoſt. Amen.