Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-10-14
6tsturitaI.
The Holy Land.
HI-JERUsALEM. THE TEMPLE
BY MISS HARRIET MARTINEAU,

tired of gazing. A considerable portion of the
city was spread out below me; not with its streets
laid open to view, as it would be in one of our
cites but presenting collection of fiat roofs,
with small cupolas rising from them, and the
minarets of the mosques springing, tai and
light as the poplar from the long grass of the
meadow. The narrow, winding lanes, which
are the streets of eastern cities, are scarcely ira
ceabe from hight; but there was one visible
from our terrace,-with its rough pavement of
large stones, the high house-walls on each side,
and the arch thrown over it, which is so familiar
to all who have seen pictures of Jerusalem This
street is called the Via Dolorosa, the Mournful
Way, from its being supposed to be the way by
which Jesus went from the Judgment Hall to
Calvary, bearing his cross. Many times in a
day my eye followed the windings of this street,
in which rarely saw any one walking; and when
it was lost among the buildings near the walls, l
looked over to the hill which bounded our pros
ct;-and that hill was the Mount of Olives 1t
was then the time of full moon, and evening af-
ter evening used to lean on the parapet of the
terrace, watching for the coming up of the large
yellow moon from behind the ridge Of Olivet-
BY day the slopes of the Mount were green with
the springing wheat, and dappled with the shade
of the Olive clumps. By night those clumps
and lines of trees were dark amid the lights and
shadows cast by the moon; and they guided the
eye, in the absence of daylight, to the most in
terestng ponts,--the descent to the brook Ked-
ron, the road to Bethany, and the place whence
Jesus is believed to have looked over upon the
noble city when he pronounced Its doom Such
was lie view from our terrace.
One ofour first walks was along the Via Do
lorosa. There is strange charm in the streets
of jerusalem, from the picturesque character of
the walls and archways. The old walls of yell
low stone are so beautifully tufed with weeds
that one longs to paint every angle and projec-
ton, with their mellow coloring, and dangling
and trailing weeds And the shadowy arch
ways, where the vaulted roofs intersect each 9TH
err, till they are lost in the dazze Of the sunshine
beyond, are perpetual treat to the eve. The
pavement is the worst | ever walked on;-llrIe,
slippery stones, sllnting all mnnner Of wny>.-
P lssng such wpedy W lis and dlrk archwlys as
! hive mentioned we tlrnei into the Vl}D lloros l.
and followed it rs fr as tic Governors House
which stands where Fort A1tonil stood when
! Pillte there tried Him in whom he found, as he
decllred, no guilt Here we obtlined permits.
sion to moInt to the roof
Why dill we wish it! For reasons of sucl
force as desplir Of making understood by any
bat hose to whom the nlme Of the Temple hU
been sacred from their earliest years. None bu
Muhrmmedans may enter the mel sure now; n
Jew or Christian. The Jew and Christian WIKI
repel each other in Christian llnds are under thu
same ban here. They are alike excluded from
the place where Solomon built and Christ slncti
fed the temple CT Jehcvah; and they are allk,
Knocked and nsulted, if they draw ne II the gates
OF course, we were not satisfied without SEEM
all we could see Of this pl lce--now occupied b.
thu mosque eft N,r-lhe most slcrcd spot to tn
Mohanmedlns, after Mecca. We could sit un
der tine Golden G tie, outside the walls we cou
me lsure with the eye, from the bed Of the broo
kedron, the hight Of the walls which crowne
M1rl h, and from amid which once arose tn
! Temple courts; we could sit where Jesus sat O
the slope CT Ollylt, and look over to the heigt
> whence the glorious Temple once commando
the Valley Of Jehoshuphat, which lay between u
and 1t; but this was not enough, if we could Sc
. more. We had gone to the threshold of one
the gates as far as the Faithful permitted the il
= fdel to GO: and even there we had insulting wa
nings not to venture farther, and were mocke
by little boys. From this threshold we had ool
ed in; and from the top Of the city wall we ha
looked down upon the Enclosure, and seen the e
+ ternal beauty of the buildings, and the pride an
u prosperity of the Mahommedan usurpers. B
1t we could see yet more from the roof of the Go
ernor's house; and there we went accordingly.
. The enclosure was spread ont like a map b
j. low us: and very beautiful was the mosque, bu
= of variegated marbles, and its vast dome, and
nj, {
II and light arcades and the green lawn Whit
e sloped away all around, and the row of cypre
trees under which "A company of worshipers we
at their prayers But how could we, comiI
from christian land, attend much to prese
things, when the sacred Past seemed spread b
fore our eyes | was looking, almost all t
while, to see where the Sheep-gate was throu
which the lambs for sacrafce were brought; al
the Water-gate, through which the priest we
down to the spring of Sloan for water for t
J. ritual publication, | saw where the Tenn
itself must have stood, and pinned how far t
outer courts extended the Court of the Gt
tiles, the Court of the Women, the Treasu
at where the chest stood on the right of the entran
lis and the right hand might give without the
= hand knowing; and the place where the scril
ne sat to teach, and when Christ SO taught in tn
o. jealous presence as to make converts ofthose "
were sent to apprehend him. saw whereabo
ms the altar must have stood, and where arose, ns
OF and morning. for long centuries the smoke of
lie sacrifices. | saw where the golden vine IN
at have hung its clusters OH the front of the H
lp- Place, and where, again, the innermost chamI
,P- must have been,-the Holy of Holes, the DIV
he ling-place of Jehovah, where none but the III
pit. Priest might enter, and he only once year
es- These places have been familiar to my minds
lid from my youth up; almost as familiar as my O
nat house: and now look at the very ground Il
had occupied, and the very scenery they
SIN commanded, with an emotion that the gnor
The or careless reader Of the New Testament co
hardly conceive Of And the review of time
aid hardly less interesting than that of place. He
I'VE my thoughts were led back to the early d
I'VE when David and Solomon chose the ground,
lat eveled the summit of Mount Morah, and be;
MA the Temple of Jehovah, | could see the Law
are irg If Solomon's wealth upon the edl6ce, and