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

eye, and here his voice was last heard by
his beloved disciples. 1t is said he led
them out as far as to Bethany, and blessed
them with uplifted hands, and then being
caught up, a cloud received him out of
their sight. We stood there on that spur of
the mountain covered with wheat planta-
tions and dense with olive trees, with our
faces turned skyward; we stood there long
gazing into the cerulean depths above to
catch, if we might. some foating cloud
that would symbolic to us the one in
which our Saviour went up. We talked
few minutes with an Arab farmer, and
then marched, on descending the ridge for
perhaps an eighth of mile 10 search of
Bethany I did not think it was so far
down back of Olivet, but it is-on dattish
ridge that runs southeast from Olivet, and
hidden from the summit of the Mount by
an intervening elevation or hump.
Bethany is mean and neglected village,
of some thirty or more stone wall houses,
narrow streets or alleys, the buildings fiat
rooted and made out of old ruins. Little
filthy children were sitting here and there
in the alleys looking, for all the world. like
a score of ragged, unwashed colored boys
and girls sitting in the lanes of Knoxville.
The N oslems possess the village to-day-a
shiftless, indolent. begging set of people.
Here in ancient times Mary and Martha
lived, in whose home our Saviour was so
tenderly aud Hospitality entertained. Here
he raised Lazarus from the dead; here was
the house of Simon the leper, at whose
Toasted, and where the alabaster box of
precious ointment was broken at his feet.
To this little village, quiet and peaceful
and retired, at convenient distance from
the noise and traffic of the city, our Saviour
was wont to retire at night after His weary
travels and thankless tolls in Jerusalem.
An Arab guide shows you the traditional
houses of Martha and Mary. and Simon,
the Leper, and the tomb of Lazarus in the
down an old stone stairway, and there
found vault in which they say Lazarus
was buried. 1t requires a great deal of
credulity to believe it, as the masonry is
modern, but it may be indeed the original
sepulchre, with later additions There is
no place that reveals our Lords private
and domestic life so perfectly as does
Bethany. 1t is beautiful and sequestered
and pensive place. Some of the sweetest
around this little village back of Ohvet.
We will return to Jerusalem by the car
AVIAN or public way, which leads around
the southern shoulder of Olivet. Soon
Bethany disappears from sight The road
is wide and level and smooth as though
macadam. Over to the left, beyond the
ravine, is Bethphage where our Lord sent
the disciples to bring the colt for his ride
into Jerusalem We are on the southeast
ern slope of the Mount of Olives Any
one of these fig trees on either side the way
might have been the one the Lord cursed.
On we passed, and as we round the hillside
Mount Zion breaks ON our view, 8nd going
a5little further, the Mosque of Omar-the
site OF the old Temple-comes into full
sight. And it was at this spot, the popu.
lace that thronged the way, spreading palm
branches and their garments in the road:
that our Saviour wept over Jerusalem and
said, IF thou hadst known, even then, in
this thy day. the things that belong to thy
house, but now they are hid from thine
eyes" And it was here that the Pharisees
chided the populace for crying out Hosanna
to the Son of David, blessed is He that
cometh in the name Of the Lord" and
mere and now it was our Saviour said, eff
these should hold their peace the very
stones would cry out"
I have but time now to speak of the most
sacred and holy place in Jerusalem in
the Holy Land, age, in all the world
Calvery, or the place of the Lords cruel |
fixion and burial. Every traveller asks at
have [ been asked if saw the exact place |
where Jesus Was crucifed. Volumes have |
been written about it. If We only knew |
where around Jerusalem that |
most awfully sacred site might be Just |
to stand on that spot-to touch the place of |
The sepulchre would be privilege indeed |
enough for ones whole life.
The sacred writers tell US it was on Fri |
iay-that it was outside the gate, near to
he city, close by the public thoroughfare, |
and adjoining a garden where was q rock |
hewn grave, and on globular eminence,
As is signifed by Golgotha, or place of |
skull, 4. e, u skull-shaped knoll or round
I'D hillock. That is all we know posi-
lively.
But since the fourth century, one place !
alone has been settled upon as the true site
IF Calvery by nearly all Greek and Latin |
writer's and travellers, and by large mum.
Der of Protestants as we'll. From A. d. $50,
chapels and churches have been erected
over that place without any break or inter-
-uptiOn.
The site is in the western section of the
city, inside the present wall, on a general
elevation, and right among the streets and
1abitations and noise of Jerusalem. You
,an not see the bare locality or naked
.omb, for grand cluster of churches and
,hapels is built over the spot, called alto
yether The Church of the Holy Sepul--
,hre." 1t is an immense pile of buildings,
Greek land Latin, and Armenian and Abys-
SIMON and Coptic chapels and affairs, all |
under one miscellaneous roof. Within the
vast structures are affairs, and inches, and
vaults, and galleries, and crucifxes almost
without number. The whole building is
Illuminated with countless lamps, and the
smell and smoke of inscense fill the church
from end to end.
In that great diversified structure nearly
every incident and scene in the suffering.
and death, and burial of our Lord is rep
esented in shrines, and crosses, and relics
The guide says, here Jesus was scourged,
and here He was bound, here the sol llers
cast lots for His garments, and here the
disciples stood afar off, and here the women
gathered, here He was anointed, and here
N these three holes in the rock the feet of
The crosses stood when Jesus and the male
factors were hanged, and here is the rift in
he solid rock made by the earthquake /
But the most interesting thing in that
church is the Sepulchre or actual Tomb of
Dur Lord. 1t is right in the center of the
building and directly undel the vast dome,
with large open area all around it. This
chapel is of white and green marble, about
rs feet long and IL WIDE, and of proper
.ional hight, surrounded by crown-like
dome. That little marble chapel, right
lnder the dome in the rotunda of that great
church, is the most holy structure on the |
whole globe. To defend it, if need be.
hundreds of millions would be willing to
die. And to rescue that site from infdel |
hands once engaged all Europe in the re-
peated Crusades. That marble chapel is
over the traditional burial place of the
Lord. We enter it through low door on
The East, leaving our shoes at the entrance,
and we find ourselves in small porch.
The chapel of the angel, for here was the
door of stone on which they say the angel
sat when ne had rolled it away. and they