THROUGH THE LANDS OF THE BIBLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23691, 24 December 1938, Page 4

THROUGH THE LANDS OF THE BIBLE

H. V. MORTON'S CHRISTIAN PILGRIMAGE

Through Lands of the Bible." By H. V. Morton. London: Methuen, 9s,

Readers of Mr Morton's volumes on Jesus Christ and St. Paul have been looking forward with eagerness to the one before us which completes a splendid trilogy by giving a picture of the Christian life in the Near East Undertaking what he aptly describes as a Christian pilgrimage from the Euphrates to the Nile and into Sinai, he provides an absorbing account of a portion of Asia which is all-too-little known except to a few. Yet the Near East has remains of splendid churches which show that once this land was inhabited by saintly followers of Jesu:Christ. Even to-day, in Moslem countries, there are, Mr Morton tells us. communities of native Christians who have held true to their faith through centuries of persecution. Starting from Kalat Siman in Syria, where St. Simeon Stylites spent so many years sitting on a pillar, un-

sheltered, and with an iron collar round his neck, the author journeyed through Resafa, Palmyra, and Baghdad, down to Ur of the Chaldees. Turning westwards from the Euphrates he travelled to Cairo, the Oasis of Siwa, away in the Western Desert, and to Alexandria. A journey up the Nile to Luxor followed. This was a preliminary to a visit to Sinai and the Monastery of St. Catherine. A visit to Tre Fontane. near Rome, the catacombs, the tomb of St. Peter, and the

ruins of Ostia formed part of the return journey to England. The mere statement of his route will prepare many who are interested in such matters for the rich faie which Mr Morton gives his readers. The vivid descriptions of the scenes of to-day m these Eastern lands which form the cradle of Christianity, the reconstruction of episodes of long ago, and the well-informed narrative to which we have become 'accustomed from the perusal of the two earlier books, are all found in "Through Lands of the Bible." The pages which tell of his journey in Egypt give us the striking story of the Copts and their ruined monasteries in the desert, is well as ot their churches of to-day. The story of the way in which 'Abd er-Rasul Ahmad found the "secret cache in which the priests had hidden about thirty royal mummies in 966 8.C., to save them from the thieves who robbed the tombs of Egypt even in ancient times," is well told. Poor fellow, he had to reveal his find to the Antiquities Service, and, though he lived to nearly a hundred, he was ever after haunted by the dream of great wealth that came true, only to vanish as he stretched out his hand to grasp the treasure. To Mr Morton, too, the Pharaohs have a sad fate, doomed to dreary divinity in death and cut oft from the human reminiscences which enrich the tombs of their less exalted,but happier subjects. Throughout the book there is a wealth of information and description, of historical lore and modern instance, which will delight the discriminating reader. Mr Morton concludes: "It pleased me to think that I had seen the Euphrates flowing southward through Mesopotamia, that I had seen the Nile carrying Egypt on its ancient banks, and that now, at last, I stood with my journey complete upon the place where the Tiber once brought the ships to Ostia. I walked thoughtfully away through this eld town, feeling the regret for something over and done, but hoping that a man may not have fared too badly if he returns from his travels with those words in his heart which were said in this town of Ostia so long ago, 'Nothing is far from God.'" The reader will come to the final words with regret that he has no more to read of this fascinating journey, but he will go back with joy to special chapters and to the excellent plates—twenty-five of themwith which the book is furnished "Through Lands of the Bible" is a book to buy and read and re-read. G. H. J