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complexion, more intelligent and better looking than the Egyptians.
If one wishes to observe what is occurring, let him go to the gate in
the afternoon, where the motley crowd is gathered in the open space and
around the fine fountain. A great many matters are transacted in the gates
of Eastern cities. There the people meet, and as from a newspaper, learn
what is going on, talking over the things in which they are interested.
The Bible frequently speaks of this. The king and the Court are at the
gate. There burdens are imposed or lightened; there the poor are turned
aside; and there judgment is established.
As Jaffa is surrounded by a wall and ditch, and has but one gate, all
these characteristics may be witnessed there.
One of the oldest cities in the world, Jaffa in the distribution of land,
was given to Dan.
Here Jonah embarked for Jarshish, in a vain endeavor to avoid going to
Nineveh, as the Lord had commanded him.
Much of the history of Jappa is written in blood. It has been the scene
of terrible massacres Jews, Romans, Saracens, Moslems, and Christians
have fought decisive battles here. Napoleon figured here, too, in no very
enviable light. It is said that he ordered hundreds of sick soldiers to
be prisoned, and had some four thousand prisioners of war, taken in the
capture of the city, shot down in cold blood.
Interesting as Jappa is one other accounts, and especially as the apostle
Peter had the remarkable vision opening his mind to the great truth of
Gentile evangelism, it has a peculiar sacredness, also, as the scene of
Dorcas’s charitable labors, death, and miraculous restoration.
---It was a beautiful afternoon of a spring day, and memorable as our
first in the Holy Land, when we left the old city of Jappa on our way
to Jerusalem.
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