Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-10-24

think this was the garden and this the
sepulchre. IL is shattered, Of course. About
four steps down we went into this, which
seemed family tomb. There is room in il
for about five bodies. We measured It aud
found IL about eight feet high and nine feet
wide and fourteen fe long The crypt
where think our Lord slept was seven feet
long. think that there once lay the King
wrapped in His last siumber. On some OF
these rocks the Roman government set its
seal At the gate OF this mausoleum on the
on the first Easter morning the angels rolled
the stone laundering down the hill. Up these
steps walked the lacerated feet of the Con-
queror, and from these heights He looked off
upon the city that had cast Him out and
upon the world He had come to redeem and
at the heavens through which He would soon
ascend.
But we must hasten back to the city
There are stones in tho wall which Solomon
had lifted. Stop here and ses n startling
proof OF the truth OF the prophacy. In
Jeremiah, thirty first chaper and fortieth
verse it is said that Jerusalem shall be built
through the ashes What ashes, people have
been asking. Were those ashes put into the
prophecy to fill up? MOI The meaning has
beon recently discovered. Jerusalem is now
being built out in a certain direction where
the ground has been submitted 10 chemical
uuhi1bih, anu IL has DttU tOuln dSueS
cast out from the sacrifices of the ancient
temple-ashes of wood and ashes of bones Of
animals. There are great mounds OF ashes,
accumulation of centuries Of sacrifices. 1t
has taken all these thousands Of years to dis
cover what Jeremiah meant when he said,
behold the days shall come, saith the Lord,
that the city shall be built to the Lord from
the tower OF Hananeel to the gate of the cor
ner, and the whole valley of the dead bodies
and Of the ashes" The people Of Jerusalem
are at this very time fulfilling that prophecy.
One handful OF that ashes on which they are
building is enough TO prove the divinity of
corner stone OF the ancient temple was laid
three thousand years ago by Solomon.
Explorers have been digging, and they
found that corner stone seventy five feet be-
meath the surface. 1t is fourteen feet long,
and three feet eight inches high, and beauti-
fully cut and shaped, and near it was an
earthen jar that was supposed to have con-
tained tho oil OF conservation used at the
ceremony Of laying the corner stone. Yon.
der, from depth Of forty feet, signet ring
has been brought up inscribed with the
words "Haggai, the Son OF Shebuaiah," "
showing it belonged to the Prophet Haggai,
and to that seal ring he refers in his prop
phecy, saying, II will make thee as a signet."
! walk further on far under ground, and
find myself in Solonon's stables, and see the
places worn In the stone pillars by ths hal
ters Of some of his twelve thousand horses.
Further on, look at the pillars on which
Mount Moriah was built You know that
the mountain was too small for the temple,
and so they built the mountain out on pill
lars, and saw eight Of those pillars each
one strong enough TO hold mountain.
Here We enter the mosque OF Omar, a
throne of Mohammedanism, where we are
met at the door by officials who bring slip
pers that We must put on before we take
step further, lest our feet pollute the sacred
places A man attempting to go in without
these slippers would be struck dead on the
spot. These awkward sandals adjusted as
well as we could, we are led to whore we see
O rock with an opening in 1t, through which,
no doubt, the blood of sacrifice in the ancient
temple rolled down and away. At vast ex-
pense the mosque has been built, but so som-
Der Is the place / am glad to get through it,
and take or the cumbrous slippers and step
into the clean air.
Yonder is a curve Of stone which is part OF
bridge which once reached from Mount
Morah to Mount Zion, and over it David
walked or rode 10 prayers in the temple.
Here is the waiting place of the Jews, where
for centuries almost perpetually, during the
daytime whole generations Of the Jews have
stood putting their head or lips against the
wall OF what was onc1 Solomon's temple.
It was one Of the saddest and most solemn
and impressive scenes | ever witnessed TO seo
scores OF these descendants OF Abraham, with
tears rolling down their cheeks and lips trem-
bling with emotion. n book OF psalms open
before them, bewailing the ruin Of the an
cient temple and the captivity Of their race,
and crying TO God for the restoration OF the
temple in all its original splendor. Most
affecting scene! And such prayer as that,
century after century, l am sure God will
answer, and in some way the departed gam
deur will return, or something better. |
looked over the shoulders Of some of them
and saw that they were reading from the
mournful psalms OF David, while have been
.old that this is the litany which some chant:
For the temple that lies desolats,
We cit In solitude and mourn;
For the palace that 10 destroyed
We cit In solitude and mourn;
For the walls that are oyerthrown,
We sit In solitude and mourn:
For our majesty that Is departed,
West In solitude and mourn;
For our great men that lie dead,
We sit 10 solitude and mourn
For priests who have stumbled,
We sit In solitude and mourn.
I think at that prayer Jerusalem will come
again to more than Its ancient magn1cence;
IL may not be precious stones and architec.
tural majesty, but in a moral splendor that
shall eclipse forever all that David or Solo-
| mon saw.
But must get back TO tho housetop where
stood early this morning and before the
sun sets, that may catch wider vision Of
what the city now Is and once was. Stand
| ing here on the housetop see that the city
was built for military safety Some old
warrior, warrant, selected tho spot. lt