5. And when he came to Jerusalem not to speak anything about
religion.'
George Robinson had no intention of promising any one of these
things--much less all five. 'I stand in the will of God, and shall do
as He bids me,' was the only answer he would make, which did not
satisfy the Irish friar. Determined that his journey should not have
been in vain, and persuasion having proved useless, he sought to
accomplish his object by force. Taking his prisoner, therefore, he set
him on horseback, and surrounding him with a number of armed guards,
both horsemen and footmen, whom he had brought down from Jerusalem for
the purpose, he himself escorted George Robinson back for the second
time to Jaffa. There, that very day, he put him aboard a vessel on the
point of sailing for Acre. Then, clattering back with his guards
across the plain of Sharon, the Irish friar probably assured the
Ramleh friars that they had nothing more to fear from that heretic.
Nothing could turn George Robinson from his purpose. He was still
quite sure that his Master had work for His servant to do in His Own
City of Jerusalem; and, therefore, to Jerusalem that servant must go.
He was obliged to stay for three weeks at Acre before he could find a
ship to carry him southwards again. He lodged at this time at the
house of a kind French merchant called by the curious name of Surrubi.
'A man,' Robinson says, 'that I had never seen before (that I knew
of), who friendly took me into his house as I was passing along, where
I remained about twenty days.'
Surrubi was a most courteous host to his Quaker visitor. He used to
say that he was sure God had sent him to his house as an honoured
guest. 'For,' he continued, 'when my own countrymen come to me, they
are little to me, but thee I can willingly receive.' 'The old man
would admire the Lord's doing in this thing, and he did love me
exceedingly much,' his visitor records gratefully. 'But the friars had
so far prevailed with the Consul that in twenty days I could not be
received into a vessel for to go to Jerusalem, so that I knew not but
to have gone by land; yet it was several days' journey, and I knew not
the way, not so much as out of the city, besides the great difficulty
there is in going through the country beyond my expression; yet I, not
looking at the hardships but at the heavenly will of our Lord, I was
made to cry in my heart, "Lord, Thy will be done and not mine." And so
being prepared to go, and taking leave of the tender old man, he
cried, "I should be destroyed if I went by land," and would not let me
go.'
The friars had told the Consul that Robinson had refused to accept
their conditions, 'He will turn Turk,' they said, 'and be a devil.'
But, thanks to Surrubi's kindness and help, after much trouble
Robinson was at length set aboard another ship bound for the south.
And thus after bidding a grateful farewell to his host, he made a
quick passage and came for the second time to Jaffa. Again he set
forth on his last perilous journey. Only a few miles of fertile plain
to cross, only a few hours of climbing up the dim blue hills that were
already in view on the horizon, and then at last he should reach his
goal, the Holy City.
Even yet it was not to be! This time his troubles began before ever he
came within sight of the tall Tower of Ramleh, under whose shadow his
enemies, the friars, were still lying in wait for him. He says that
having 'left the ship and paid his passage, and having met with many
people on the way, they peacefully passed him by until he had gone
about six miles out of Jaffa.' But on the long straight road that runs
like a dusty white ribbon across the wide parched Plain of Sharon, he
beheld three other figures coming towards him. Two of them rode on the
stately white asses used by travellers of the East. The third, a
person of less consequence, followed on foot. As they came nearer, our
traveller noticed that they all carried guns as well as fierce-looking
daggers stuck in their swathed girdles. However, arms are no unusual
accompaniments for a journey in that country, so Robinson still hoped
to be allowed to pass with a peaceable salutation. Instead of bowing
themselves in return, according to the beautiful Oriental custom, with
the threefold gesture that signifies 'My head, my lips, and my heart
are all at your service,' and the spoken wish that his day might be
blessed, the three men rushed at the English wayfarer and threw
themselves upon him, demanding money. One man held a gun with its
muzzle touching Robinson's breast, another searched his pockets and
took out everything that he could find, while the third held the
asses. 'I, not resisting them,' is their victim's simple account,
'stood in the fear of the Lord, who preserved me, for they passed
away, and he that took my things forth of my pockets put them up
again, taking nothing from me, nor did me the least harm. But one of
them took me by the hand and led me on my way in a friendly manner,
and so left me.... So I, passing through like dangers through the
great love of God, which caused me to magnify His holy name, came,
though in much weakness of body, to Ramleh.'
At Ramleh worse dangers even than he had met with on his former visit
were awaiting him. Many more perils and hairbreadth escapes had yet to
be surmounted before he could say that his feet--his tired feet--had
stood 'within thy gates, O Jerusalem.' Throughout these later
hardships his faith must have been strengthened by the memory of his
encounter with the robbers, and the victory won by the everlasting
power of meekness.
East or West, the Master's command can always be followed: the command
not to fight evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good.
Leonard Fell was given his opportunity of 'putting in practice the
things he had learned' as he travelled in England. Our later pilgrim
had the honour of being tested in the Holy Land itself:
'In those holy fields,
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet,
Which [nineteen] hundred years ago were nailed
For our advantage on the bitter cross.'