The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-02-16
The Land of Prophecy.
JERUSALEM AND ITS ENVIROES.

The Place Of Crucifixi0n Tn.
knOWn-Site Of SOlomon's Tenn
ple-Three Noted Valleys The
Tomb Of AbSaIOm.
sIr. GOO. Colton's Letter in TIE BaIHmorean
! Having in previous letters given
my impression of nearly all the au-
thenticatcd sacred spots i'm and about
Jerusalem, ! now turn to some that
are not so well accredited. While
the names of nearly all this latter
class are mentioned in Scripture.
their actual location is either lost i'm
the wilderness of time or hOpclcsslv
obscured by monkish stories SO
that it is impossible to separate the
truth from more tradition, and say
where the one begins or the other
ends. 1t is not difficult to perceive
why such confusion exists. The re-
peated extension Of the city walls
on the naturally less dctenseless
sides has necessarily obliteratcd
very many Of
THE ANCIENT LANDMARKS;
but pilgrim credulity had to be ca
tered to in order to reap an average
harvest Of backsheesh, and the holy
places whose sites were absolutely
unknown were easily falsifed, and
in their stead were erected modern
shrines, with nothing of ancient ac-
tuality except their reverend names.
But all this l consider Of minor i'm
portance. That these holy places
do actually exist is enough for us to
know, and the faith Of the truly
faithful would be increased in an
apPreciable degree if we knew the
precise locations. or could look upon
the original shrines themselves. So
that in briefly describing some of
these | am sure your readers will
have, with me, sufficient belief for
all devout interests and purposes.
For if we doubt that the stone
shown to pilgrims as the very one
rolled away by an angel from the
door of the SaviOur's sephulchre is
the very stone, we yet know that q
stone was rolled therefrom, and that !
He has arisen. And similarly as to |
the many other pious prctenccs with !
which the tourist is every day be |
guiled
ABSOLUTELY UNKNOWN.
One would suppose that Mount |
Calvary, "Ilolicst OF these Holes. (
would be better known than any
other of the sacred spots, whereas il /
is not known at all AS ! have |.
heretofore stated, for centuries the /.
pilgrim has been told that the /.
Church Of the Holy Sepulchrc en- /
closes that followed place where all /
mankind was redeemed by His pre- /
ciOus blood But there is no truth /
whatever in this supposition The |
actual spot is absolutely unknown, |
and no amount of conjecture can \
ever fix it. Yet ii certainly was in
or very near to the present Jeru-
salem. 1t was most probably with
out the city gates, but whether on
the eastern, southern or northwcs-
tern side, no man llnOweth. Per-
haps it is the will of God that il
shall forever be concealed from
mans eye but Biblical scholars
are certainly almost unanimous in
the declaration that no accounts of
the Crucifxion justify the common
belief that it took place on the
Mount Calvary now pointed out
consequently, the spot at present
known by that name may be con
5idered utterly shorn of its dreadful
lOnOrs.
WHERE ABRAHAM OFFERED Up ISAAC.
Memorable Mt. Moriah is pointed
,ut on the eastern side of the city. ;
Its first record is of Abraham S prof
ered sacrifice: "Take now thy son,
hine only son Isaac, whom thou /
ovest, and get thee into the land Of
Moriah and offer him there for a
)urnt offering upon one Of the noun !
aims which l will tell thee Of !
Gen. xxi. 2) 1t was also the site :
# SOlomon's Temple, and of the
hreshing floor of Arunah, the Jebu- =
ite To the Jews it is to-day a
loly place; and it must ever be
everenced by Christians as the spot
where God and His servant Abra-
lam met, and the coming of Christ ;
vas promised: "In thy seed shall
he nations of the earth be blessed"
Nigh to it, and almost indistinguish- J
bile from it, is Mt. Zion-the ravine |
hat once distinctly separated the :
wO being filled with centuries of
uins and rubbish. A sort Of cause
way, however, gives rude passage !.
rom one to the other :.
THE THREE GREAT VALLEYS L
From the slopes of these hills fall a
.lmost precipitOusly the great val b
eys Of Jehoshaphat, HinnOm and /,
iihon. The first of these, which is a
he rocky bed of brook Kedron, be- G
ins on the northern side Of the Il
ity, and is at first a mere declivity a
f the mountain slope but it grows
eeper and more PERCEPTIONS little
urther on, and winds southward, o
)rming, in ancient days and styles q
f warfare, an almost insuperable e
efence for that side of Jerusalem. d
{ is joined, or consolidated with. s.
he valley of HinnOm, and further il
n with that OF Gihon the three \
eing in reality one continuous nat &
raj defence of the city. The proph- Z
t Joel says that God viii Judge the n
.eathen in Jehoshaphat "Let the K