The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-07-17
Prom D'israeli's "Tancred.
JSrWsalem by MOOA1lghS.

Prom D'israeli's "Tanered."
Jerwsaien BY Messiishs.
The broad moon fingers ON the summit
of Mount Olivet, but its beam has long left
the garden Of Gethsemane, the tomb OF
Absalom, the waters of kedron, and the
dark abyss OF Jehosaphat. Full falls its
splendor, however, on the opposite city,
vivid and defined i'm its silver blaze. A
lofty wall. with turrets and towers. and
frequent gates, undulates with the unequal
ground which il covers, as il encircles the
lost capital of Jehovah. 1t is a city Of
hills, far more famous than those of Rome.
for all Europe has heard Of Sion and of
Cavalry, while the Arab and the Assyrian,
and the tribes and the nations beyond, are
as igorant of the Captolian and Aventine
Mounts as they are Of the Malvern or the
Chltem Hills. The broad steep of Sion,
crowned with the tower of David; nearer
still, Mount MOriah, with the gorgeous tenn
pie of the God OF Abraham, built, alas . by
the child of Hagar, and not by Sarah's
chosen one; close to its cedars and It's cy.
presses its lofty spires and airy arches, the
moonlight falls upon Bethesda's pool; fur.
ther on, entered by the gate of ST. Stephen.
the eye, though It's the noon of night, ira
ces with ease the street of Grief, long
winding ascent to vast cupolaed pile that
now covers Calvary, called the Street of
Grief because there the most illustrious of
the human, as well as of the Hebrew race,
the descendant of King David, and the di.
vine Son of the most favored of women,
twice sank under that burden of suffering
and shame, which is now, throughout all
Christendom, the emblem OF triumph and
of honor; passing over groups and masses
of houses, built of stone, with terraccd
roofs, or s,lrmomted with small domes, we
reached the hill of Salem, where Mel
chisedec built his mystic citadel; and still
remains the Hill of Scopas where Titus
gazed upon jerusalem, on the eve Of his
final assault. Titus destroyed the temple
The religion of Jude has, in turn, subver-
ted the fanes which We're raised to his ia
Their and himself, in his imperial capital; and
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob,
is now worshpPed before every altar in
Rome Jerusalem by moonlight IT'S a
fine spectacle, apart from all It's indissolu-
bic associations Of awe and beauty. The
mitigating hour softens the austerity of a
mountain landscape magnificent in out
line, however harsh and severe in detail; and
while il retains all its sublimity, removes
much Of the savage stemness of the strange
and unrivalled scene. A fortified city, al
most surrounded by ravines, and rising in
the centre of chains Of far-spreading hills,
occasionally offering, through their rocky
glens, the CLEANS Of a distant and a richer
land The moon has sunk behind the
Mount of Olives, and the stars in the dar-
ker sky shine doubly bri ght over The sa-
cred city, The all,Pervading stiffness is
broken by breeze that seems TO have
travelled over the plain of Sharon from the
sea. 1t walls among the iombs, and sig rs
among the cypress groves. The palm tree
trembles as ii passes, as if it were spirit OF
Woe. Is it the breeze that has travelled over
the plain Of Sharon from the sea? Or is
the haunting voice Of prophets mourning
over the city that they could not save
Their spirits surely would linger Oh the land
where their Creator had deigned to dwell,
and over whose impending fate Omnipo-
tence had shed human tears. From this
mount Who can but believe that, at the
midnight hour, from the summit Of the As
cension, the great departed of Israel assem-
bled to gaze upon the battlements of their
mystic city There mi ght he counted he
roes and sageS, who need shrink from no
rivalry with the brightest and the wisest of
other lands but the law-giver of the Pha-
raohs, whose laws are still Obeyed; the
Monarch, whose reign has ceased for three
thousand years, but whose wisdom is pro-
verb in all nations of the earth the teach.
err, whose doctrines have mod, lied civilized
Europe-the greatest of Legislators. the
greatest of administrators. and the greatest
of relOrmers-what race, extinct of living,
can produce three such men as these! The
last light is extinguished in the village of
Bethany. The wailing breeze has he
come moaning wind white film spreads
over the purple sky; the stars are yelled; the
stars are hid: all becomes as dark as the
waters of Kedron and the valley Of Jchop-
sapha,. The tower of David merges into
obscurity; no longer glitter the minarets Of
the Mosque Of Omar; Bethesdas's angelic
waters, the gate Of Stephen, the street Of
sacred sorrow, the hill of Salem, and the
heights of Scopas, can no longer be dis
cerned. Alone in the increasing darkness,
while the very line of the walls gradually
eludes the eye; the Church Of the Holy
Sepulchre is a beacon light.