Morning journal and courier., 1884-07-16


1t may be of interest to some to know that
/ the Greeks, enraged at the idea that the Lat
l ms should have a monopoly of this place,
I have started an opposition Gethsemane on
1 the opposite side of the road! I understand
I that it is not yet exhibited to Franks, as its
| custodians wish to wait while for the olive
I trees to grow in it. In sorrowfu1 disgust at
| such proceedings, which the sacred nature of
l the locality ought to render eternally iInpos-
sible I returned by the trail and proceeded
I along under the eastern wall of the city
| taking the lower of two possible paths. A
short walk brought me to large gate on
/ Moriah which has for many years been closed
! by means of thick masonry. This is the fa-
/ bled Golden Gate, located directly in front
! of the old Temple site on the west, and di-
/ rectly in front of Olivet on the east. All be-
levers in the literal restoration of Palestine
/ claim that it is through this gate that Christ
Will cons when his feet descend ON Olvet in
| the time of his second coming. Then will
4 this gate Gift up its head" and ''the king of
| glory shall come in,' as the words of the
Psalmist are interpreted. Even the Jews and
Mohammedans look for something of this
kind. have seen people who, for allegori-
cal purposes, maintain that it was in front of
this gate ON Moriah that the erueifxion took
place and the sacrifice of Abraham was con-
| Quoted; and that the ram was caught by its
horns in bush over across the ravine, in
/ Gethsemane, where also Christ was found to
become substitute for guilty world about
! to suffer death. Thus Though by means of
wanton disregard of facts and probabilities
1 the one scriptural fact is made to be a pre-
1 figure of the other I call such persons ale
| gorical fends, however beautiful the concep-
tion.
| 1t was through the gate which was where
| this Golden Gate is now that Peter and John
| were passing on their way to the Temple
when a lame man asked aims of them, Just
1 as a score crave aims to-day when you are
| about to enter the mosque area. You re
| member how God then attested his conf
| dence in Peters repentance, and what Won
| derful sermon Peter preached in Solomons
porch to the multitude that gathered about
wondering at the miracle
To the left I now discovered series of
monuments and tombs of great interest
1 The first was the reputed tomb of Jehosa-
phat. Owing to the accumulation of rub
& bish, only small part of the pediment of
this is now visible, and I believe one seri-
ously claims that this is where King Jehosa-
phat ''was buried with his fathers in the city
of David his father'-unless it be the all I
believing monks
The second is what is called in all the
guide books the "Tomb of Absalom" With
out protesting to be antiquarian or even
Bible scholar, 1 should prefer to regard this |
as the so-called pillar, which Absalom |
'Ereared up for himself during his lifetime in
the kings dale" I have idea that Absa- |
lom persisted and was buried on the other |
side of the Jordan. One supposition does !
not involve greater antiquity than the other. /
AS for the monument itself, it is a cubical
monolith of solid rocks, measuring twenty |
two feet each way, capped above by con
cave-curved pyramid. Around the base of I
the tomb-or rather pillars great quanti-
ty of rubbish, for the natives continue to |
this day to cast stones at it in token of their |
detestation of Absalom's disobedience. [ |
picked up stone and was about to give ex-
preston to my own eXecration, when two |
ed fO al ba
bidding me refrain, and 1 dropped the mis-
sile. One that most piteous of all pa
ternal cries-the lament of poor, heart-brok- |
en- David in behalf of the erring one: ooh |
my son Absalom-my son, my son Absalom! |
Would God had died for thee, o Absalom,
my son, my son!" The other was that quiet |
but awful mandate addressed by the Son of |
Man unto the abashed Scribes and Pharisees:
"He that is without sin among you, let him /
cast the first stone.'
Next came the Cave and Tomb of ST. |
James, porch with two Doric columns, |
leading into the hillside. The tradition is |
that James sought refuge here between the |
crucifxion and the resurrection.
Beyond this came to the Tomb of Zacha-
rius, cubical monolith of seventeen feet |
crowned by quadrangular pyramid. The |
whole structure is hewn out of the solid
ock, he mountain being cut away from it. |
The Jews honor this monolith very highly
but it doubtless belongs to the Christian era
Inc mOO6rn GQoOry Is UQaG In6 structure was
made in honor of Zechariah, who was stoned
in the court of the temple in the reign of
Joash ed Chronicles, "a, 21), to whom Christ
refers in the Both verse of Matthew, %. It
has also been pronounced the tomb of Isaiah, !
Uzziah and Benjamin of Tuelda. Over be |
yond it, part way up the Mount of Olives I |
could seee the mouth of the so-called Tombs |
of the Prophets, ancient subterranean burial |
places. Even though the names are often |
spurious, the traveller finds them convenient
for purposes of reference, almost |
Indispensable.
I found myself facing the dirty village of
Sloan, which stood over on the steep west |
ern slope of the Mount of Ofense. Moriah
was prolonged into the spur called Ophe1, |
around which the chasm of the kingdom cir
cled, on the way to unite with the valley of
Hinnom. At the point of union could see
venerable stone arch which from previous
rambles knew to mark the site of well |
1875 feet deep, known as En- Rogel,-the well
of Job, or the well of Nehemiah. Donkeys |
quench their thirst in troughs in front of it |
to this day. En- Rogel marked the boundary |
between Judah and Benjamin Joshua 1918
and 1915. Here also, David's servants,
Jonathan and Ahimaaz, waited by this well
for instructions from Hushai, during Absa-
loms rebellion; and here Adonijah, David's
son, assembled his friends when he aspired |
to be king in his fathers stead. These stories
are told in End Samuel 17:17 and 1st Kings g
Hoary-headed tradition also says that in this |
well the sacred fire of the Temple was hidden
during the Babylonish captivity, and recov-
erd by Nehemiah on his return to Jerusa-
lem!
1t did not take much penetration to dis
cover that was now in the vicirityof theDung |
Gate. Tons of rubbish were scattered about
hairless, scabby dogs barked |
at me, and 1 came across the carcasses of two
donkeys, from which the jackets had evident
1ofo, IL
Holding my ofactory organ be-
tween the thumb and index finger of my
left hand, descended again to the bottom of :
the valley, and inspected the fountain of the
Virgin, an artificial cave eighteen feet long
by ten feet high and ten feet wide, from the i
pebbly bottom of which a stream of pure
cold water bubbled up. The traditions con- o
eerning this spring are too numerous and too
trivial to be mentioned. 1t seems to be :
barely possible that it is the Kings Pool men I
toned in Nehemiah 2: 14-15. 1t is connected
by means of tunnel with the Pool of
Sloan not very far distant which was the
next place of interest visited.
The Pool of Sloan is a rectangular reser-
voir in ruins, some So feet long by 18 wide
and 10 deep. Some of the masonry is mod
ern and some ancient; but the local habita-
ton of the pool is doubtless unchanged.
Although this fountain is very celebrated !
it is but thrice mentioned in the bible SO far
as can learn, being called Siloah in the Old
Testament. Isaiah speaks of "the waters of
Siloah that flow softly" and Nehemiah says
that Shal1um ''built the wall of the Pool of
Shiloah by the Kings garden" The site of
this Kings garden is still plainly visible near -
by, being indicated by strip of peculiarly
verdant ground In the New Testament
John tells US how the blind man was sent to
this pool to wash by the Savior, and of the eff
fcacy of the ablution. DIR. Robinson performed
the remarkablefeat of crawling through the
tunnel from the Virgins fountain to the
Pool of Sloan. Near the pool is
hugh mulberry tree, said to mark the spot
where Manasseh caused the prophet Isaiah to
be sawn asunder. 1t is known as Isaiahs
tree
paeon valley, 1 skirted Zion close under the
walls as far as the Zion Gate. Here l was
looking straight towards the valley of Hin
nom on the south, or Tophet. What an aw-
full series of bloody sins and bloody iudg-