IJEF Conference Papers 2004

What Were Four Scotsmen Doing in Palestine?
by John S. Ross

A Beach Party near Haifa

Sitting in little groups on the beach near Haifa, they looked, from a distance, like any other tourists who might have come to spend a day by the sea. Moving closer, however, both in time and space, we see from their dress that they are nineteenth century European travellers to the Levant; the date is 26^th or 27^th June, 1839. What appeared, from a distance to be large canvas windbreaks are, in fact, tents. Two groups, in close proximity, catch our attention. One includes the veteran Jewish traveller, Sir Moses Montefiore, and his followers, who have arrived on the beach shortly after another group consisting of four Church of Scotland ministers. The two groups converge and begin a conversation. Who were the four ministers? Why are they having a beach party in Haifa with Moses Montefiore? Before answering those questions, we see that it is Sir Moses who supplies water melons and the fabled 'wine of Lebanon.' He has presented a few bottles to the four ministers. Appreciative of such kindness, the two younger men, both well regarded for their Christian discernment, now reveal discriminating palates, recording in their journal their tasting notes:

If this was a fair sample of that famous wine, it must have lost much of its excellence since the days of Hosea, for it is not very pleasant to the taste. It has the same peculiar flavour with the wine of Cyprus, a flavour said to be communicated by the tar put upon the thread with which the skins of wine are sewed.

Montefiore enjoyed the company of the four minister's and wrote kindly of:

the pleasure of becoming acquainted with several eminent men, including the Rev. Dr Alex. Keith and Dr Black, who happened to be performing their quarantine in the same locality.

The two groups were in quarantine. Bubonic plague was raging throughout Palestine. In an effort to contain the contagion Jerusalem had been shut up and all travellers in and out of the country were obliged by the authorities to be detained sufficiently long enough to be fumigated and provide evidence they were free of infection. Their quarantine over, the four ministers set sail northwards on 1st July in a large open boat, without any kind of shelter, along the coast to Beirut, where they disembarked and took stock of their past travels and planned for the future.

Of the four, Drs Alex. Black and Alex. Keith are greatly experienced and much respected ministers of the Kirk, men of eminence and proven worth. The other two, Andrew Bonar and Robert M'Cheyne, who are our main interest, are considerably younger, still in their twenties. Although highly regarded, they are, nevertheless, considered by some of the older ministers back home to be relative lightweights, indeed, they and some of their colleagues have been nicknamed, 'the Evangelical Light Infantry.' The four form a deputation sent from the Church of Scotland to travel through Europe to Palestine to assess which Jewish communities might be the location of the first station for missionaries commissioned by the Kirk.

Scotland and the Jewish People

At home in Scotland, the Jewish mission had become the foremost missionary interest, eclipsing even the famous pioneering work of Alexander Duff in India. This, after all, might have been expected from a Church that had for centuries felt a special affinity towards the Jewish people. Bible reading, the practice of national covenanting, the exclusive use of the Psalms of David in worship, the Jewish-like veneration of the Christian Sabbath, and the awareness that their Saviour, as to his human nature, had descended from the Jewish people, all predisposed the Scottish Church to feel a deep indebtedness to Israel. This gratitude had been embedded in the Church's theology, especially the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Directory for Public Worship. These documents required that all ministers publicly pray, each week, for the salvation of the Jews.

Expectations of Israel's restoration ran as an integral thread through the teaching of Scotland's spiritual leaders, including Samuel Rutherford and Thomas Boston. Influenced by the theories of John Eliot, Thomas Thorowgood and Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel, that native Americans were Israelites, descended from the 'ten lost tribes,' The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge employed David and John Brainerd to work as evangelists among the indigenous peoples of Pennsylvania. Brainerd's biographer, the famous Jonathan Edwards, probably did not share this view of the origins of the Indian peoples but he too was passionate about the salvation of the Jewish people, seeing it as of strategic importance in the outworking of the history of redemption. Edward's transatlantic correspondence with Scottish ministers, William M'Culloch of Cambuslang and James Robe of Kilsyth, led to the revitalisation of the old Scottish practice of covenanted praying. Around 1743, when Edwards was concerned to re-ignite the feebly smouldering flames of the Great Awakening, he read how in 1732 and 1735 Scottish Christians, desiring God's blessing in some specific area, had covenanted together to pray for it. Thus able to reject the dread charge of novelty, which still alarms some Reformed Christians, he published, in 1748, An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth. Through this work he not only advocated covenanted prayer in the old way, including prayer for the restoration of Israel, but suggested also the appointment of regular, recurring, days of prayer.

The connection between Edwards the Great Awakening, the Concert for Prayer and, fifty years later, William Carey's departure for India has become a commonplace in the historiography of modern Christian missions. A much less remarked, but more direct link with the Cambuslang revival (the Scottish flowering of the Great Awakening) and the Concert for Prayer was the conversion and missionary endeavours of Claudius Buchanan, whose maternal grandfather, Claudius Somers, had been one of M'Culloch's elders. At 75 years of age, the elderly M'Culloch baptised the infant Buchanan who grew up to become, in 1795, one of Charles Simeon's Anglican chaplains to The East India Company, a missionary to the Beni Israel and Cochin Jews on India's west coast, and a powerful influence on the infant London Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jew.

Founded in 1809, as an offshoot of the London Missionary Society, the LSPCJ, the first of the British Jewish missions, was strongly supported in Scotland by auxiliaries and 'penny societies.' In 1814, the heavy hand the Anglican majority, insisting on Episcopal baptism, forced the Dissenters (Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Baptists) to secede from the Society, which was rapidly re-established as an Anglican organisation. By 1837 the Church of Scotland was ready to commence its own mission for the conversion of the Jews. That year, under the powerful influence of Robert Wodrow, a Glasgow businessman and elder, many of the Church of Scotland Presbyteries were induced to overture the General Assembly to establish a committee for the conversion of the Jews. In 1838 the Church of Scotland claimed it was the first church as a church to inaugurate mission activity among the Jews. The follow year, the Assembly, after receiving suggestions both exotic and mundane, commissioned Black and Keith, M'Cheyne and Bonar to be a Mission of Enquiry to report to the Assembly on the best location for the first mission station.

The Members of the Deputation

At 52 years old, Dr. Alexander Black was the senior member of the deputation in age, though no one was nominated the leader. Born the son of a humble market gardener in Aberdeen in 1789, Black was educated at the grammar school and Marischal College; first, studying medicine, and then divinity. He was ordained in 1818, and in 1832 became professor of divinity at his Alma Mater. He possessed great ability as a linguist; being especially proficient in Hebrew and other Semitic languages and was reputed to have been able to speak nineteen languages in all, and to write in twelve. Thomas Guthrie once said that he and the John Duncan were so proficient in languages ancient and modern that they could literally talk their way to the Great Wall of China. In addition Black had a thorough knowledge of rabbinic literature and so was a natural choice for the deputation.

Three years younger than Black, Dr. Alexander Keith, son of Dr. George Skene Keith, minister of Keith Hall, Aberdeenshire, was also educated at Marischal College before being licensed to preach on 17^th March, 1813. Having been presented by George, Prince Regent, to the coastal parish of St Cyrus, Kincardineshire, he was ordained in August 1816. In December the same year he married Jane Blackie, the daughter of an Aberdonian plumber. Keith's interest in the apologetic value of fulfilled prophecy resulted in a number of widely acclaimed books on the subject. It was to the first, Evidences of the Truth of the Christian Religion Derived from the Literal Fulfilment of Prophecy, that he owed his selection for the Mission of Inquiry. With the hope of recording photographic images, for this, his first, visit to Palestine he equipped himself with Calotype equipment, but the paper became spoiled and unusable. In 1844 he revisited Palestine with his son, George Skene Keith M.D., a pioneer of photography who created some of the first Daguerreotype images of Palestine for the engravings in 1844 illustrated edition of his father's book, one of earliest, if not the very first, to have been illustrated by the use of photographs. Reputedly Keith was no linguist. Andrew Bonar is said to have commented that 'he could scarcely speak any language; but he had such a kind and winning way . . . that he never failed to get what he wanted!'

Of the two younger men, one was a fine boned, elegant young man, with large almond shaped eyes, an aquiline nose, and a shock of fair hair curling inwards from a central parting. This was the twenty-six year old Robert Murray M'Cheyne, minister of the parish of St. Peter's, Dundee, a new parish established in an industrial area, where many of his congregation lived in grim and overcrowded tenements. M'Cheyne was a gifted individual, having learned to read Greek when a boy and, whilst at Edinburgh university, excelling in Hebrew, being able with some fluency to hold a conversation in the language. He also had artistic, musical and poetical gifts. M'Cheyne has suffered from an unfortunate image as an overly pious, otherworldly, almost effeminate, young man. The famous Memoir, by his close friend Andrew Bonar, whilst being an admirable biography in many respects, fed a voracious Victorian appetite for sentimental hagiography from which M'Cheyne's reputation has never fully recovered, being further undermined by a posthumous remark from William Garden Blaikie, that he had brought to the Scottish pulpit 'an almost feminine quality. His friend, Thomas Guthrie, however, portrays a thoroughly manly individual. Sometime in 1837, Guthrie and M'Cheyne travelled together to visit James Grierson the minister of Errol, Perthshire. Guthrie recollected how M'Cheyne spotted Grierson's gymnastic apparatus set up in the manse garden.

No ascetic, no stiff and formal man, but ready for any innocent and healthful amusement, these no sooner caught M'Cheyne's eye than, challenging me to do the like, he rushed at a horizontal pole resting in the forks of two upright ones, and went through a lot of athletic manoeuvres. I was buttoning up to succeed, and try if I could outdo him, when, as he hung by his heels and his hands some five or six feet above the ground, all of a sudden the pole snapped asunder, and he came down with a tremendous thud. He sickened, was borne into the manse, lay there for days, and was never the same again.

Early in 1839, partly due to palpitations of the heart, which may have resulted from his fall, and the suspected onset of tuberculosis, M'Cheyne was compelled to lay down his pastoral responsibilities in Dundee and temporarily retire, under doctor's orders, to his parent's house at 20 Hill Street, Edinburgh. It was during his time in the city that M'Cheyne struck up a close friendship with Robert Smith Candlish, the minister of St. George's, and his wife, with whom he would often dine. Candlish's able mind was wrestling with two important matters: the need to gather information for the Jewish Committee, of which he was convenor; and the equally pressing needs of his young friend. One afternoon, as he walked through Edinburgh's New Town, he met his former assistant, Alexander Moody-Stuart. Fifty years later Moody-Stuart recalled the event:

I met Dr. Candlish one afternoon in Ainslie Place, and we spoke about Robert M'Cheyne having been advised to go abroad for his health. The conversion of Israel, in which Dr Candlish was deeply interested, had already been taken up by the General Assembly, but without the adoption of any practical steps. With the sanctified fertility of resource that characterised him, he said to me, 'Don't you think it might be well to send M'Cheyne to Palestine to inquire into the state of the Jews?'Ñto which I cordially assented, and he followed it up, with all his promptness and ardour.

M'Cheyne readily submitted to the idea, the thought of missionary involvement being no new thing to him. As a student, his reading of missionary classics such as the memoirs of Henry Martyn and the life of David Brainerd, had moved him to consider his own willingness to become an overseas missionary. By June 1833, he had become perplexed that his motive for missionary endeavour might have been self-seeking; was he not, he asked himself, dangerously in love with 'the romance of the business' and the esteem that might accrue to him in the public eye? It was around this time he attended a meeting in Stirling to hear Dr. Alexander Duff, the Church of Scotland's first missionary to India. He readily responded to Duff's appeal and was able to write: 'I am now made willing, if God shall open the way, to go to India. Here I am; send me!

Though some friends were concerned that his strength might break down in such an arduous undertaking as a trip to Palestine; others were entirely positive. The Rev. Alexander Cumming, writing to accept an invitation to preach at a St Peter's communion, said he was delighted, '. . . you would return with a blessing to your people after expending your energies in behalf of God's ancient people. Some members at St. Peter's were anxious about their own spiritual welfare during their pastor's absence and they wrote expressing their affection and honest worries, 'Dearly Beloved Pastor if it is ordained that you are to leave us what will become of all the sweet Monday evenings that we have spent: out of your own loving desire for our spiritual welfare. The St. Peter's Kirk Session, whatever may have been their personal apprehensions, accepted the decision of the Committee in good grace and wrote to bid their minister farewell.

May the God of all grace and & all consolation be the companion of your journey. May he uphold your soul by rich communications of his love. May he conduct you in safety to the place of your destination: and when your feet stand amid the ruins of the once glorious temple on that Mount Zion which is "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth" may the Spirit himself come down upon you "as the dew of Hermon, even the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: There may the Lord command the blessing, even life for evermore!" Again we commend you to the keeping of the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob...

The final member of the deputation was M'Cheyne's close friend and Robert Candlish's former parish assistant, the twenty-nine year old Andrew Bonar, then the minister of Collace, Perthshire. During the General Assemblies of 1828 and 1829, Bonar, as a nineteen-year-old student, had listened to Edward Irving's Edinburgh lectures on prophecy and became convinced of the premillennial position. His interest in the cause of Israel steadily developed and when in Edinburgh he entertained the 'hope of seeing some Jews in the town. At least once Bonar visited the newly established Edinburgh synagogue and with an air of youthful arrogance, recorded in his diary that it was, 'Interesting, and instructive too, to us who look upon their delusion with a better knowledge. Bonar found no difficulty in believing that his coming to Edinburgh in 1836, to work at St. George's under Robert Candlish, partook something of the nature of a special divine commission, 'for the sake of drawing attention the Jews, and being able to do something for them. As a parish missionary, working from the Rose Street hall, he had numerous opportunities to meet Jewish people and even taught some of their children in the church school. On Friday, 7^th June, 1837, he recorded in his diary a conversion he had had with a Jewish man, Joseph Leo. A week later he had begun to instruct Leo, 'who seems really anxious to know'. Two months later, on 5^th August, to the great delight of Bonar, Leo became a member of St. George's by baptism.

To Bonar such personal contacts were significant. Writing to Alexander Sommerville he asks, 'Now, Alic, is there not something from God in all this? Is not Christ saying to me that I am right in peculiarly loving Israel? Believing this to be the case he undertook to equip himself appropriately. In November 1830, he recorded that, 'A few day's ago bought a Hebrew Bible, with the Rabbis' notes, etc. It may be important to my studies hereafter. I have thought that I may yet be able to read Hebrew with as much ease as ever I can read Latin or Greek. He was elated when the Church of Scotland began to take serious interest in this cause but was 'unsettled' by Candlish's suggestion that he go with M'Cheyne 'for six months to inquire about the Jews'. If he was unsettled, the Committee, despite Candlish's enthusiasm, was uncertain about his suitability as a member of the deputation. On Friday 1^st March, Somerville wrote to M'Cheyne, summarizing a committee meeting held on 25^th February, at which pessimism had been expressed over Bonar's suitability: he wrote, 'As to Andrew I fear his millenarianism will knock the prospect of his going on the head.

Bonar was envious of M'Cheyne's position and was bitterly disappointed that, perhaps, after all he might not go. He begged M'Cheyne to write to Candlish, his old boss, 'without delay and at length', adding, as if his frustration was upsetting his spiritual equilibrium, 'I have not forgotten prayer and supplication, . . . we must "continue in them". This flurry of panicky activity proved needless. The General Committee had already met and decided that he should go. Candlish immediately wrote informing him that he was 'appointed along with M'Cheyne, . . . and Dr Black to go upon the expedition. Ironically, Bonar received Candlish's note on the 8^th March, the same day that he wrote to M'Cheyne appealing for help, Candlish's letter having probably arrived by the same post which took away his letter to M'Cheyne.

It was hard for Bonar's country people to come to terms with, what was to them a rather bizarre expedition. Bonar, however, relished the exoticism of the venture. On the very day he departed from the parish, a farmer met him on the road and greeted him in broadest Scots, 'Ye'll be gaun to Pairth the daay, mister Bonar?' 'No!' came the unexpected reply, 'I'm going to Jerusalem. One old woman in the parish, asked how her minister would get there, and when she was told he would travel via Egypt, she promptly threw up her hands in despair, uttering, 'Oh, then, we'll nae see him again for forty-years!

Preparations

A little black notebook of M'Cheyne's and his surviving correspondence give us some indication of the arrangements each member of the deputation needed to make for their travelling comfort. Whilst, M'Cheyne hoarded away his private provisions of tea, biscuits and brandy, his father, Adam, nagged him about being efficient in dealing with logistical problems.

Your mother is quite distressed that you have no thin clothes with you for the hot climate and to use when travelling I understand the other gentlemen are all suitably provided in this respect. I really wish you would all meet and overhaul each other's baggage so as to ascertain what each requires in addition to his equipment. I send you with this a pair of plain trousers which I think you will find pleasant for travelling especially on horse back if you should have occasion to mount anywhere. I also earnestly recommend you also to get a Travelling Bag which you will find quite indispensable for keeping your morning gown, night clothes, foul linen and many other things in constant use. It will prevent your trunks from being over-crowded as they are, and thrown into confusion every time you have to seek for anything. You will find your maps in the other portmanteau.

Travelling ahead of the rest of the party, M'Cheyne set sail for London on the steamboat Caledonian, from the port of Leith on Wednesday, 27^th March, 1839, at 4.45 in the afternoon. It was a pleasant evening, he recalled, with a light breeze. At dinner he was fascinated to see 'a Jewish countenance. . . he was very gentlemanlyÑheard afterwards that his name was Tobias. Before breakfast next morning he spoke to him and asked if he could read Hebrew. He said he could, but asked how M'Cheyne knew him to be a JewÑ'said I must be a good Physiognomist'. Much to M'Cheyne's disappointment, Tobias, was not at all religious. He recorded his disillusionment, 'I suppose this is a genuine specimen of the worldly infidel Jew.

By 5 o'clock in the evening of 29^th March, M'Cheyne had settled into his lodging at Hampstead Heath, having found the journey entirely refreshing, 'I feel a great deal the better of the voyageÑThe palpitation has quite left me'. Coming from the northern provinces, he was intimidated by the great city, writing to his family, 'I know not how I am to get about London.' He managed remarkably well, taking every opportunity to see the sights, sometimes riding in the carriage of his wealthy friends, the Tates.

Rode through Regent's parkÑsaw some of the finest buildings in LondonÑcalled on friends and friends of IsraelÑwalked up Pall MallÑ& PiccadillyÑnever well known to meÑFound it a lesson in humilityÑSo many better dressed Ñbetter lookingÑwiserÑthan myself.

Friends of Israel he visited included J. B. Cartwright, the secretary of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, based at the society's headquarters Palestine Place, Bethnal Green.

On the Friday night, M'Cheyne attended the synagogue Erev Shabbat service and was much impressed by the splendour of the new buildings, but, compared to the slower paced services he was familiar with at home, he was disconcerted by the speed with which the rabbi and the two tenor cantors conducted the service. He was, however, deeply touched by a prayer, in the form of an intercession, on behalf of the new Queen, Victoria.

On Tuesday 9^th April the deputation reassembled in London. They all dined together the home of James Nisbet, the publisher, and afterwards attended a great prayer meeting in the Regent Square, National Scotch Church, organised to bid them farewell. The meeting was well attended by Presbyterians, Anglicans and Dissenters, as well as many Jewish Christians, including Joseph Samuel C.F. Frey, and a little known Lithuanian Jewish Christian, Erasmus Scott Calman.

The days that followed were filled with practical preparations, including the collection of passports and other documents guaranteeing them safe conduct. From M'Cheyne's records it is clear that the deputation could count on every assistance from supporters at the very heart of the British Establishment, including Members of Parliament, Peers of the Realm and Government officials. One whose help he solicited was Sir John McNeill, a native of Isle of Colonsay, and the British ambassador to the Shah of Persia. McNeill provided two letters of introduction, one addressed to Col. Taylor at Baghdad, should the deputation ever reach there; the other an open letter of introduction for M'Cheyne personally. They found the youthful Lord Ashley, better known as Lord Shaftesbury, to be '. . . deeply interested in the cause'. They dined at Sir George Grey's, the judge-advocate-general in Lord Melbourne's second administration, where they met Arthur Kinnaird, the banker and Member of Parliament for Perth, a generous supporter of Scottish evangelical causes. M'Cheyne recalled that he was 'much interested and kind'. The following day they called on the Tory grandee, Lord Aberdeen, and after dinner they packed, and 'at seven this evening set off for Dover'. For M'Cheyne the 'thought that we were really on our way raised our hearts'. An overnight coach took them to Dover and the cross Channel boat.

London to Beirut

As the white cliffs of Dover receded into the distance, M'Cheyne, conscious both of the fragility of his state of health and the risks inherent in their journey, committed to his notebook the poignant thought that, perhaps, they might never return again to Britain.

Who can tell when we shall look upon them again or in what circumstancesÑor if at all. We may see the shore of a better countryÑthe true home, the heavenlyÑbefore then. The will of the Lord be done.

As the English Channel was 'boisterous,' their ship took three hours to make the thirty miles crossing to Boulogne. Here they were exasperated to find that the public stagecoach for Paris was not due to depart until the following morning. The delay, however, gave them an unexpected opportunity to meet, 'a very interesting Jew, a person of education and agreeable manners, who spoke English fluently'. They gratefully accepted his parting advice: 'If you wish to gain a Jew, treat him as a brother.'

They arrived in Paris on the morning of Sunday, 14th April, and 'felt this violation of the Holy Day very painfully'. As they set out on foot for the Marboeuf Chapel to hear the preaching of FrŽdŽric Monod, they were appalled at the Parisian disregard for the sanctities of the Sabbath Day. M'Cheyne commented in his notebook: 'There is a look of vice about the streets... I do not think it can be lawful to a Christian to live in Paris.

From Paris their coach passed through Chatillon-sur-Seine and Troyes, to Dijon and on to Chalons, where they embarked on the steamboat that would carry them, via Lyons, to Marseilles. In Marseilles they were disappointed to discover that the steamer for Malta had left the previous day and the next one would sail ten days later. They resolved, therefore, to go to Malta via Italy and so see as much of the Jewish community of Leghorn (Livorno) as possible. Here their books and tracts fell foul of the authorities and the two elder members of the Deputation, Black and Keith, were summoned to appear before the Commissary of Police. After a long examination, it was decided that their books and tracts be sent to the Censor at Florence. In due course, their tracts were returned, but all copies of Keith's Evidences of Prophecy were confiscated because it contained Biblical interpretations contrary to those of the Roman Catholic Church. On the day they embarked for Malta the Censor's sentence arrived from Florence banishing them immediately and perpetually from Tuscany. A sentence they 'could easily bear'. From Malta, they arrived at Alexandria on Monday, 13th May. Leaving the oppressive heat of their cabin, they went on deck, 'our eye rested with quickened interest on the graceful palm trees, the camels slowly moving along the beach, and other indications of an Eastern clime, as the anchor dropped and we prepared to land.

Now, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, they were travelling in a region dominated by Islamic history and culture and in addition, the state of hostilities between Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman viceroy in Egypt, and the Sultan in Constantinople, of which they had read much in the British press, formed the immediate context of their everyday lives. It was not, however, political realities that gripped their imagination. On that very day bubonic plague had made its appearance in Alexandria. Their original intention, to enter the Holy Land either through Jaffa or Beirut, was now impractical; the time spent in quarantine would impose too serious a delay. They, therefore, decided to travel overland by way of the ancient coastal route and the border town of El Arish. Even so, extreme urgency was necessary as it was expected that within a few days a quarantine station might be established at El Arish itself.

Although certain articles of travel equipment, as well as light clothes and straw hats, had been purchased in Europe, other necessities needed to be obtained for the desert journey. As most expeditions set off from Cairo, Alexandria was not the ideal place for this, yet with the help of Mustapha, a servant of the English Consul, a visit to the bazaar was organised, and tents, carpets, quilts, cooking gear and provisions were purchased. In addition they secured the services of two servants, Ibrahim and Ahmed, with whom they developed not only a mutual respect, but also a warm affection.

Before the serious work of the desert march began the travellers indulged themselves in the luxury of a Turkish bath. After they had disrobed, and had towels wrapt around their waists, with another wound around their head as a turban, they were laid on their backs, soaped all over and well scrubbed with a rough glove of camel hair. A shower of warm water followed this. Next they were 'shampooed,' their finger joints flexed until they cracked, and their feet scraped. They were slightly alarmed by the fact they had entrusted themselves to the care of 'Mahometans with shaved heads and black skins' but after coffee and sherbet they came away 'not a little amused, as well as refreshed.

The following morning, 16th May, they were awakened by the noisy arrival of sixteen donkeys and ten Egyptian lads, together with Ahmed and Ibraim. Loading up their baggage, and passing through the city gate, they commenced their journey east and north towards the Holy Land. A week later, in the vicinity of biblical Zoan, eight camels, better suited to the softer going of the sandy coastal desert, replaced the donkeys. Like other British and American desert travellers, it was with some trepidation that they first mounted their camels, colourfully describing the event:

The loading of a camel is a singular scene. The camel often moans sadly during the time of mounting, and sometimes tries to bite. When it rises there is much danger of being thrown over its head, and then of being thrown the other way; and the Arabs are very careless in warning, for they say no one is hurt by a fall from a camel.

As to falling off a camel, the Arab guides were quite wrong, as Black demonstrated early the very next day. The accident, which seemed trivial enough at the time, was to be the hinge upon which pivoted the final decision as to where the first mission station would be sited. Although not seriously hurt, Black was badly shaken up but recovered so well that they were able to advance a few miles to spend that night and all the next day, it being the Sabbath, in a poor Arab village they understood to be called Menagie.

Desert travel had a profound effect on the deputation. Heat and thirst tested them severely but, as they testified, there was something spiritually bracing about having life reduced to its basic elements. The romantic nature of M'Cheyne, responded to the solitude and revelled in the element of risk they were enduring:

the desert life has its charmsÑyou are alone with God! No object attracts your eye,Ñthere is only one wide ocean of sand, round and round; no sound breaks on the ear, but the plaintive song of the Bedouin, cheering on his slow paced camel.

The border of the Holy Land was crossed on the 31st May, well ahead, as they had hoped, of any attempt to establish a quarantine camp in the area. Passing through Khanounes, they circumvented Gaza, where the plague was raging, crossed the Wadi Sorek, and swung eastwards to reach Latrun and the main Jaffa to Jerusalem road. Here they entered the narrow defile that leads up through the Judean hills to Jerusalem and were greatly impressed by its beauty. The following day, after a further seven hour camel trek through the Judean hills, they came within sight of Jerusalem. Having been brought up from childhood with Bible stories in which Jerusalem features so prominently, Christian travellers have often found it emotionally overwhelming to arrive at the Holy City. As M'Cheyne drew near he dismounted and ran forward to gain the first sight of 'the most wonderful spot in the whole worldÑwhere Jesus lived, and walked, and prayed, and died, and will come again'. Later they recalled, 'The feelings of that hour could not even be spoken. We moved forward in silence, or interchanging feelings only by a word.

In Jerusalem they contacted the newly appointed British Consul, Mr William Tanner Young, who was a member of the committee of the London Society (LSPCJ) and had only taken up his post in Jerusalem on 19th April. Lord Shaftesbury, a strong advocate for the cause of Jewish settlement in Palestine, had urged the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, to instruct the Consul to recognise that an important part of his task was 'to afford protection to the Jews generally' as well as 'reporting . . . upon the present state of the Jewish population of Palestine.' In fulfilment of these functions, Young had ably assisted John Nicolayson the missionary of the London Society, and would, with equal faithfulness, serve both the Scottish deputation and Sir Moses Montefiore. Evidence to justify British concern for the small, though growing, Jewish community in the land was readily available. Even to the deputation, who only spent ten days in the city, there were clear signs of Christian anti-Semitism:

The professing Christians hereÑGreeks, Armenians and Roman CatholicsÑare even more bitter enemies to Jews than Mahometans; so that in time of danger, a Jew would betake himself to the house of a Turk for refuge, in preference to that of a Christian. How little have these Christians the mind of Christ! Instead of His peculiarly tender love for Israel, they exhibit rooted hatred, and thus prove they are Anti-Christ. So far do they carry their enmity, that no Jew dare at this day pass by the door of the Holy Sepulchre. On this account, the kindness of Protestants appears to them very striking; and convinces them that there is a real difference in the religion we profess. And they are now becoming strongly attached to British Christians. The fact of a British Consul being stationed here on their account has greatly contributed to this effect.

Young placed himself immediately at the disposal of the deputation, warned them that because the plague was still in the city, it was inadvisable to camp on the Mount of Olives as they had planned, and found for them two large and comfortable rooms. They had not long been in their rooms when John Nicolayson arrived. Of Danish origin, Nicolayson had been sent from London in 1831 to purchase property on the edge of the Jewish quarter and establish himself as the first Protestant minister permanently settled in Jerusalem. He insisted the deputation move immediately to the mission house on Mount Zion. They were delighted by their new accommodation, with its window looking out over the old city, the Temple Mount lying in the middle distance and the Mount of Olives on the horizon. Nearby, lying just within the Jaffa gate, and beside the Citadel of David, lay Nicolayson's house and the site of the new Anglican Church, then under construction.

Of the many interesting sights and scenes that occupied them during ten days in the city, one stood out as most significant. M'Cheyne in his private correspondence, referred to the fact that he had pulled some ripe barley from a field on Mt. Zion, much of which had been given over to agricultural use. They could see for themselves how Zion was, quite literally, ploughed like a field and the debris of the ages stood as heaps of stones, as both Jeremiah 26.18 and Micah 3.12 had predicted. Far from finding these realisations discouraging, they took them as signs for good, for if God had literally fulfilled these promises of judgement on Israel, would he not also literally fulfil his promises to restore the Jews?

It so happened that one of the great supporters of Jewish settlement in the Land, Sir Moses Montefiore, was then camped on the Mount of Olives. On 10th June they visited him to discuss Jewish resettlement and to assure him 'that the Church of Scotland would rejoice in any amelioration he might effect in the temporal condition of Israel'. They were 'received with great kindness', being served with cake and wine. Sir Moses recorded in his diary, '... visitors arrived, among whom were four Scotch clergymen, who were making a tour in the Holy Land to enquire into the state of the Jews there; they intended going through Poland for the same purpose.

Although they were bitterly disappointment by their visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, they found some compensation in trips to other Jerusalem sites and outings to Bethlehem, Hebron, and Bethany, a favourite spot for Bonar and M'Cheyne, who twice walked around the Mount of Olives to visit the village.The reason for their presence in the city was not, however, as tourists but as missionary strategists, and so, prepared to run the risk of plague, they visited the Jewish Quarter, the Jewish population of which according to Young's and Nicolayson's separate calculations was about 5,000, with only eighty or so, strictly orthodox. Only two synagogues served the whole community. On their final day at Jerusalem, 18th June, M'Cheyne and Bonar made a walking tour of 'its more notable scenes,' following a route easily traceable today.

We passed through the bazaar and . . . issuing forth by St Stephen's Gate, we crossed the Kedron, and once more visited Gethsemane... we went up the face of the Mount of Olives... standing on the summit . . . we once more enjoyed the commanding prospect of the Dead Sea [and] our last view of the Jordan . . . Leaving the summit, we descended, . . . upon the "city of Mary and her sister Martha" . . . We left Bethany with regret, and proceeded to Jerusalem by the broad and rocky pathway. Leaving the track, and descending . . . we tried to find our way . . . through the hanging village of Siloam. [Pausing] at the Pool of Siloam . . . [we then] ascended to the wall of the city, and entering by the Zion Gate, once more passed through the Jewish quarters.

They left the city deeply moved and highly motivated, anxious that their impressions of the city's Jewish community at Jerusalem would be lasting:

May we never lose the feelings of intense compassion toward Israel, which these few days spent in Jerusalem awakened; and never rest till all the faithful of the church of our fathers have the same flame kindled in their hearts!

The deputation and their entourage headed north out of Jerusalem, through Samaria, traversing the central spine of hills, before veering north-west along the ridge of the Carmel to the port of Haifa. No further Jewish communities were discovered in the hills of Samaria, and no more would be found until they arrived, ten days later, at Haifa, where because of outbreaks of plague south of Carmel, a quarantine station was located on the beach, which brought the deputation once more into contact with Montefiore's party. Now, having travelled together from London to Haifa, via Alexandria and Jerusalem, the four determined to divide into two groups. The older men would return home to Scotland via the Black Sea and the river Danube, which would give them an opportunity to visit the large Jewish community in Pesth, Hungary. The younger men would turn back to Galilee to visit Safed and Tiberius, before returning home via Wallachia and Moldavia, Austrian Poland and Prussia.

To Beirut via Galilee

Ibraim's and Ahmed's contracts had terminated at Beirut and in their place, for the duration of the journey back to Britain, was Erasmus Scott Calman, the Lithuanian 'Jewish convert, of a very gentle and kindly spirit', whom they had met at the prayer meeting held in the Regent Square Church, London. His usefulness as a companion was much enhanced by his fluency in Arabic and, having already completed five years service with Nicolayson in Jerusalem, knew the country through which they would pass. On the afternoon of July 8^th, after bidding farewell to Ibraim and Ahmed, and accompanied by their attendants, Bonar, M'Cheyne and Calman set out for Galilee. Their route took them through Sidon, where they visited the synagogue, then to Tyre, considered a 'wreck of a town', before they reached Kana (Cana) two days later.

The following morning they were awoken by the sound of horses and the alarming appearance at their tent flap of 'a solider, armed with gun and pistols, looking in upon us'.His interruption was to inform them of the danger of Bedouin raiders on the road to Saphet, where a Jew had been shot the previous day and the soldiers were now setting out in an attempt to find his body. Aware of the danger, it was nevertheless decided to 'journey forward by ourselves, as we could not have reached Saphet by the proposed bypath the same night'. Apart from Bonar falling off his mule on the ascent up to Saphet, the journey was uneventful but the local Jewish population were amazed that in such a dangerous area, and in such troubled times, they would rather trust in God than carry guns.

Saphet is a beautiful town, in a wonderful location. Set high in the Galilean hills it is refreshingly cool in the heat of summer and blessed with wonderful panoramic views over the Sea of Galilee and the country to the east. Calman, Bonar and M'Cheyne spent four days reconnoitring the area, observing the inhabitants, visiting ancient synagogues and Jewish cemeteries, and coming to the conclusion that of all the places they had so far visited it was undoubtedly best suited as a site for a mission station. The people, mostly Sephardim though greatly impoverished, were generally friendly, even though they were 'shy to us, because they had been warned from an influential quarter to have no dealings with us'. Reflecting on the possibilities, the Deputation considered that an ideal arrangement might be for missionaries to be based in cooler Saphet during the heat of summer, resorting to Tiberius in winter, 'where the cold is scarcely felt'. The major hindrance, however, remained the state of the region. Writing the Narrative in 1842, Bonar and M'Cheyne recognised that even with the passage of two years the situation had not improved, 'at present, the country is said to be so unsettled, that no missionary would be safe in Saphet or any where in the interior of Galilee.'

Recommencing their journey on 15^th July, they descended to the lake-side and, passing through Capernaum, they followed the west side of the Sea of Galilee to arrive, later the same day at Tiberius, where they spent two days visiting biblical locations, eating fish from the lake, and familiarising themselves with the local Jewish community. The unsettled state of the country and the threat of Bedouin raiders had unnerved many, so at that time the town was home for only around 600 Jews. Nicolayson's estimate had led them to expect double that number.

From Tiberius, they crossed the plain of Esdralon, and came to the northern slopes of Mount Tabor. Their baggage had been sent to the village of Dabourieh, on the west side of the hill but wanting to see as much as possible and it being almost dark, they decided to make an ascent from the north. They promptly lost the path. Dragging their mules through scrub and up a very steep slope, they arrived 'perplexed and wearied' at the summit, just as the sun sank below the horizon. Hastily scanning around, they found the path and, by moonlight, started to descend to Dabourieh. Before they had gone far, much to their alarm, a group of men armed with clubs sprang at them from the bushes. These, however, turned out to be men from the village sent to find them. It was only when they were safely off the hill that they heard that the Bedouin had been lurking in the woods through which they had passed, and had, it was said, killed several travellers the day before. A few days later, on the Carmel ridge, they had another narrow escape, but their servant, Antonio, in retracing his steps to find a lost cloak, was not so fortunate; he was attacked, robbed of his horse and all his clothes, and left naked at the roadside.

With little further excitement the group made its way, once more through Tyre and Sidon, to reach Beirut on Saturday 20^th June. Finding that the next steamer for Smyrna sailed the following week, they reconciled themselves to a few restful days, writing up their journals in Giuseppe's comfortable inn, where they had earlier stayed with Black and Keith. At this convenient point, they attempted to draw some conclusions from the past two months of travelling. Ass they saw it, there were five arguments in favour of establishing missionary stations in the Holy Land. Firstly, the Jewish community was impoverished, oppressed and vulnerable, but responded to those who showed them kindness. Secondly, because the Jews in the land were Orthodox, it was felt that their belief in the Bible as God's Word, and their expectation of the coming of the Messiah, provided common ground for interaction. Thirdly, Jerusalem and Judea were the very centre of the Jewish world: whatever happened there would be widely reported across the Diaspora. Fourthly, in the face of Christian anti-Semitism and Islamic hostility, the Jewish community looked to the British as their friends and this might dispose them to a friendliness towards British missionaries. Lastly, work established in the Holy Land would be strongly supported by the Christian public. They concluded that, 'the Holy Land presents not only the most attractive, but the most important field for missionary operations among the Jews.'

Despite M'Cheyne and Bonar's passionate advocacy, the unsettled state of the country, and the remarkable experiences of Drs Black and Keith in Hungary, turned the attention of the Church of Scotland to central Europe. The church's first missionary, Daniel Edward, commenced work in Jassy, Moldavia, in 1840 and the following year saw the founding of a mission at Pesth, under the erudite and eccentric, John Duncan. A mission station in Saphet was opened up in 1843 by Dr Kiel, a Jewish Christian working under the auspices of the LSPCJ, but due to Jewish hostility and the general troubled state of the country, it was eventually abandoned, not to be reopened until 1884. Now, with greater political stability in the country, the Free Church of Scotland opened in Tiberius, its Sea of Galilee Medical Mission, under the supervision of Dr. David Watt Torrance.

© John S. Ross, 56 Castle Heather Crescent, Inverness, IV2 4BF

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