The Lake of Galilee.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3220, 14 June 1879, Page 1

The Lake of Galilee.

I It ii sometimes said that the Lake of j Galilee is very like Windermere. I tbink that the caniparison most' have 1 originated' With sonic traveller who holds the opinion of a friend of mine that all lakes are alik#. To an jone who has discovered ih« differences between on» lake ! and another—differences as great as those between- one mointain ajid another and almost as great at those between onr book, or one man and another—the companion could never hare occarred. Of course, if anyone thinks that Loch Lomond is at all like Derwentwater, or Grasmero like Wastwattr, he may alto think that the Lake of Galilee is like Windermere. I know Windermere pretty well. I hare seen it every month of the year except one, -and, hardly know in which month it is most beautiful; I have seen it in most of its moods as well as in most of its tenses—in storm and in sunshine; with snow on the surrounding hills; with the fresh bright green of June on the meadows ; with the splendid' heights about the head of the lake corered with the rich browns and the gold and the amber of November, as with the robe ,of a,king; I Jjare seen it lying pale and white in. the light of the early morning,' and looking angry and sullen under gathering clouds- .The Lake of Galilee is no more like Windermere than Monmouth is like Maoedon. Both of the lakes are long sheets of fresh water lying among hills but there the likeness end*. ' z >

The form of the Lake of Galilee is familiar. Its eastern, ahpre ?is bordered by a long line of steep hills, having a level .ridge. My first impression was that, with theexception of a thin covering of grass which was too thin , and too patchy, to cover the rocks, these hills wero bare; but °n looking, more carefully I could see a few bushes and trees. The sides are broken^ with occasional ravines, and down these ravines I noticed strip of more vivid green,-indicating the presence of mountain streams. >

On the north-eastthe hills are not so steep; they slope up to high plains covered with forests of oak; and beyond these is a range of loftier mountains. Far aWay in ihe north Hertnon rises grandly with its perpetual snows. The hills on live western side are much less steep than those on .the eastern side.' They are covered with grass to their very summits, which rise about 1,200 feet^or.pcrhaps more, above the lake. The water is said to be full of fish, but there were only, two rickety boats to be seen. They were so old and battered that they looked as if they might have been the, very boats which Peter left on the shore when he gave up fishing at the call of his Master.

The Jake.seemed to me to have,more of the awe of Christ's presence about it than almost any of the sacred sites that we have seen. The very desolation deepened the solemnity,, and left the .mind'more completely alone with Him. I remember one curious illustration of the power which its sacred memories bad over me. My revolver had been loaded some days, perhaps some weeks before, and one or two of the chambers still had cartridges in them., I .wanted to discharge them, and I could' iave fired over tho lake without the chaneeof hurling anybody,,; but when I took the, pistol in my hand I felt that to make a rude noise on those shores «ud among those hills would be as great an act of irreverence as to make a rude noise in a church. ' lln the time'of our Lord the shores of the Lake, now so lonely, were-densely populated: It was in 1 the cities, towns, and villages which then surrounded these inland waters, that most of His mighty works were done. The only city which, so far as the Gospel informs us, our Lord never entered, still stands. Tiberias was founded by Herod Antipas when our Lord was still a youth in Nazareth, and there are many remains of its ancient magnificence. Bat its walls and towers are miserably dilapidated, and the site which they enclose is much larger than the present population can cover. The mean little towu —it contains abput two thousand inhabitants — looks like a shrivelled kernel lying in a broken shell! The,only brightness and relief come from the trees which rise here and there among U»e houses,.—B. W. Hale. . . r