The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1866-08-18
JerusaIem bY Moonlight.

The broad moon fingers on the summit of
Mount OliYet, but its beam has long left the
garden Of Gethsemene and the tomb of Alb
SALON, the waters of KedrOn and the dark
abyss of Jehosaphat Full falls its splendor,
however, on the opposite city-ViVid and de-
fined in its silver blaze. A lofty wall, with
turrets, and towers, and frequent gates IN
dulates with the unequal ground which it
covers as it encircles the lost capitol of Je-
hovah. 1t is a city of hills, far more famous
than those Of Rome; for all Europe has
heard Of Sion and Calvary, while the Arab
and Assyrian, and the tribes and nations be-
yond, are as ignorant of the Capitolian and
Aventine Mounts as they are Of the Nal
verne or Chiltern Hills
The broad steep Of Sion, crowned with the
tower Of David nearer STILL Mount Moriah,
with the gorgeous temple Of the God of
Abraham, but built, alas by the child Of
HagaF, not by Sarah's chosen one; close to
its cedars and expresses, its lofty spires and
airy arches, the moonlight falls upon Be
thesda's pool; further on, entered by the
gate of St Stephen, the eye, though it is the
noon of night traces with ease the street of
Grief long, winding ascent to vast cupo-
laed pile that now covers Calvary, called the
street of Grief because there the most illus
triOus Of the Hebrew race, the descendant
of King David and the divine Son of the
most favored of women, twice sank under the
burden of suffering and shame which is now
throughout all Christendom the emblem of
triumph and honor; passing over the groups
and masses of houses built of stone, with
terFaced roofs OF surmounted with small
dOmes, we reach the hill of Salem where
Melchisedek built his mystic citadel and still
remains the hill of ScOpas, where Titus gazed
upon Jerusalem on the eve of his final as
sault Titus destroyed the temple. The re-
iIUIn nf Ind in aFahv
fanes, which were raised to his father and
to himself in their imperial capital; and the
God Of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, is
now wOrshipped before every altar in Rome
Jerusalem by moonlight 'Tis fine spec
tacle, apart from the indissoluble associa-
tions Of awe and beauty. The mitigating
hour sOftens the austerity of a mountain
landscape magnifed In outline, however
harsh and severe in detail and, while it re-
tains all its sublimity, removes much of the
savage sternness of the strange and unrival-
led scene. A fortified city almost surroun-
ded by rayines, and resting in the centre Of
chains of far-spreading hills, occasionally
Offering, through their rocky glens, the CLEAN
of a distant and richer land.
The moon has sunk behind the Mount of
Olives, and the stars In the darker sky shine
dOubly bright over the sacred city. The all
pervading stiffness is broken by a breeze that
Sharon from the sea. It walls among the
tcmbs and signs among the cypress groves.
The paim-tree trembles as it passes, as if it
were the spirit of woe. Is it the breeze that
has travelled over the plain of Sharon from
the sea2 Or is it the haunting voice Of
prophets mourning over the city they could
not save 2 Their spirits would surely linger
on the land where their Creator had designed
to dwell, and over whose impending fate
I l., Il. I
this mount! Who can believe that at the
midnight hour, from the summit Of the AS
cent the great departed Of Israel assembled
TO gaze upon the battlements of their mys-
tic city There might be counted heroes
and sages who need shrink from no rivalry
with the brightest and wisest OF other lands
hut the law-giyers Of the time of the Pha-
raOhs, whose laws are still obeyed, the mon
arch whose reign has ceased for three thou
{ sand years, but whose wisdom Is a proverb
/ in all nations Of the earth the teacher whose
/ doctrines have modelled civilized Europe;
/ the greatest Of legislators, the greatest Of
! administrators, and the greatest Of reform
! ers, what race, extinct or living, can pro
/ duce three such men as thesei
! The last light is extinguished in the village
4 Of Bethany The wailing breeze has become
/ a moaning wind; "a white finn spreads over
/ the purple sky; the stars are veileds the stars
are hid, all becomes as dark as the waters
! of KedrOn and the valley Of Jeh0sephat
/ The tower Of David merges into obseurity
no longer glitter the minarets Of the Mosque
! Of Omar Bethesda'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 discernible. Alone In the in
/ creasing darkness, while the very line Of the
1 walls gradually eludes the eye, the church
/ Of the Holy Sepulchre is beacon light
And why Is the church Of the Holy Sc
/ pulchre a beacon light2 Why, when It is
already past the noon of darkness, when
every soul slumbers in Jerusalem, and not
sound disturbs the deep repose except the
/ howl Of the wild dog crying to the wilder
4 wind-why is the cupoIa Of the sanctuary
illumiued though the hour hes long since