I might almost say that he can believe in them although he has seen them.
There can be no rule about this realisation; it seems to come in
the most random fashion; and the man to whom it comes can only speak
for himself without any attempt at a critical comparison with others.
In this sense I may say that the Church of the Nativity at
Bethlehem contains something impossible to describe, yet driving
me beyond expression to a desperate attempt at description.
The church is entered through a door so small that it it might fairly
be called a hole, in which many have seen, and I think truly,
a symbol of some idea of humility. It is also said that the wall
was pierced in this way to prevent the appearance of a camel
during divine service, but even that explanation would only repeat
the same suggestion through the parable of the needle's eye.
Personally I should guess that, in so far as the purpose was practical,
it was meant to keep out much more dangerous animals than camels,
as, for instance, Turks. For the whole church has clearly been
turned into a fortress, windows are bricked up and walls thickened
in some or all of its thousand years of religious war.
Pages:
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294