Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-12-18

valley here Is several hundred 1eet WlQe
end nearly fat. It is green with early
grain. What scores of great olive trees are
up and down its breadth, with gnar!ed
trunks. They look at distance ike ven
cradle apple orchards. / turned aside and
under one of them saw an Arab farmer. L
marked a straight limb on one of the trees.
after much hunting, and asked him by
motions to cut it off for me. which he did,
climbing<he tree. gave him a nickel,
which pleased him much. received bene-
diction and passed on. I intend to have a
pen holder made of it some day:
The brook Cedron is perfectly dry and
very narrow At the season we were there
only pebbly bed was visible. A stone
bridge is over it. This is very quiet and
retired place, shut out from the noise and
Interruptions OF the city. do not wonder
our Saviour often retired here for medita-
tion an prayer.
8 Passing on, to the left of US is a small
chapel, half under ground and almost out
descend into it by long stairway of sixty
steps. Twas built in the time of the Cru
saders. The guide points out to you the
tombs of Mary, the mother of Jesus, of
Anna, thr Prophecies, and j oseph. They
say this was the scene of our Savior's
agony. where He went apart from His dis
ciples and sweat as it were, great drops of
blood.
A little further on, to the right, and two
base or lower slope of Olivet. IS the Garden
of Gethsemane 1t is a large, nearly
square. enclosure surrounded by a com
pactly built limestone wall, plastered and
whiteWashed. Within are eight very an
cient olive trees, doubtless the oldest in the
world Their trunks are hollow and twist
ed with age, and the branches of some of
them are supported by stone piers, to pro-
tect them from destructive winds. All
beds filled with flowers. with
The walls are hung with Catholic
pictures representing the scourging, the
knocking of the soldiers. ard the sinking
beneath the cross. An old Franciscan
monk kindly shows you around and gives
you pebbles from the paths. leaves from
the olive trees and flowers from lavender
which fill the garden with fragrance. On
Saviour took his disciples and was broken
down in agony for the sins of the world
and uttered the thrice repeated prayer,
IN OF my WILL but thine be done Here
he received the Judas kiss of betrayal
was beset in the darkness by the priests,
and soldiers, and rabble of the city. Here
he was arrested and bound and carried
away to the Sanhedrim and Judgment
Half. &
Leaving Cedron and Geshsemane before
Us, eastward rises the Mount of Olives, the
most hallowed mount in the Holy Land.
OVer. this Mount our Saviour walked scores
of times to Bethany and back. Here amid
It's palms, and olives and myrtles, in sec1u-
sion he retired again and again for rest
and contemplation. Over this Mount he
made his last public entry into Jerusalem
The very paths he trod are trod to day.
On its summit he sat with his disciples, and
in full view of Jerusalem and the Temple
the great stones of its foundations walls
70, go feet long. in clearest sight. though
half mile away, he declared the awful
guilt and downfall of the city, and that
not one stone of it should be left upon
another On this summit he uttered his
parallels of the Ten Virgins and the Five
talents, and pictured the desolation of
Zion, the destruction of the Temple, the
general Judgment, and the end of the
world. Zion may be 81, emoved'' and Car
mePs beauty may fade, and Lebanon cedars
die, and Moriah lose its hold on Jew and
Moslem and Christian, but Olivet shall be
forever remembered. as long as the Sa-
yiour's passion and Calvery's cross.
The Mount of Olives is separated from
j Jerusalem by the Valley of ,Iehoshaphat,
and ri les nearly 500 feet above the brook Ce-
dron at its base. 1t is hill range
along the whole eastern side ofJ erusalem,
with long swelling eminences. Formerly
it was covered thick with pine and myrtle. |
palm and fig trees, and from its easy access
to the city, and splendid outlooks and
filled as it was with open gardens, it was q
kind of Jerusalem park, much frequented
and greatly delighted in by the people
Among its winding paths and under its
groves the citizens strolled and reclined
Fec = he hoof oy,I
confusion of the city. Only fig and olive
trees are seen upon it to- day; the rest have
been cut down, and from the wearing away |
of the soil only a scanty growth of grass |
and wheat in places can be produced. Over |
Mount Olivet are three roads, one running |
steep over the central summit, second
running by Gethsemane and round the |
shoulder of the hill. This is the |
road of the Saviour's triumphal entry, and |
the one travelled by caravans and mounted
horsemen between Jerusalem and Jerrico. |
The third running up the Mount more to
the north through the sli bit depression
between the eminences, This road our
Saviour and his disciples always took on
their way to Bethany. We will ascend by
this way. The path is somewhat steep and
winding. The fig trees are putting out
their first white and pink blossoms Up
this same path King David, when betrayed
by Ahithophel and rebelled against by Abb /
SALON. was obliged to fee, as you remember, |
across the Jordan. No question about
the identity of this very path 1t is over
8 .0C0 years old. We reach the top over the
finty road, and turn little to the south,
and are on the very summit of Olivet,
While the view from this point is not the
broadest nor grandest in Palestine, it is yet
the most impressive and thrilling. Below
you to the east street thes the deep, winding
valley of Jeposhaphat, and through the
transparent atmosphere Jerusalem seems
but hundred yards away. So filed up
are its ancient valleys with the rubbish of
centuries, that it looks almost fat, and
slopes towards you, and you see both
walls, the whole of the Temple from base
house of the city Ascending the minaret |
of a Mosque close by, from its narrow
balcony you get your first full, sa eeping
view of the eastern country. Before you
break down in countless dark, deep ra-
vines and canyons. the wilderness OF Judea
In the southeast. that dazzling mirror is
the Dead Sea. and those abrupt walls of
frame it in are the mountains of Moab
We tented three days on the very summit
of Oivet, and saw the sun rise and the sun
set again and again over the hills and val
leys Of Judea. and beheld Jerusalem un-
der every mood and change Of sunlight
and moonlight and starlight. We were
there over Sunday, calm, beautiful day,
and drank in the scenery from every point
of view, and reading up in our Bibles
every event and description in the Old and
New Testaments connected with the
Mount. We must have sat in the very
spot where Jesus and his disciples were
when gazing upon the sacred city he por-
tray to them its Fastening DOWNFALL All
afternoon the Moslems were plow-
ing the slopes; the Jewish women were