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

and queens ascending the stairway. q Jeru
salem, Jerusaleml Mountain cityl City oi
GodI Joy OF the whole earthi Stronger
than Gibraltar and SebastoDol, surely il
never could have been capEuredl
But while standing there on the housetop
that December afternoon hear the crash of
, the twenty-three mighty sieges which have
I come against Jerusalem in the ages past
| Yonder is the pool of HeZskiah and Sloan,
but again and again were those waters red.
dened with human gore. Yonder are the
towers. but again and again they fell. Yon-
der are the high walls but again and again
they are leveled To rob the treasures from
her temple and palace and dethrone this
| queen city OF the earth all nations plotted
/ David taking the throne at Hebron decides
that he must have Jerusalem for his capital,
and coming up from the south at the head OF
! two hundred and eighty thousand troops he
captures 1t. Look, here comes another siege
Of Jerusalem
The Assyrians under Senuacherib, en-
slaved nations at his chariot wheel, having
taken two hundred thousand captives in his
one campaign. Phen.cian cities kneeling at
his feet, Egypt trembling at the flash OF his
sword, comes upon Jerusalem. Look, an
other siege The armies OF Babylon under
Nebuchadnezzar come down and take
pluuder from Jerusalem such rs no other city
ever had to yield, and ten thousand of her
citizens trudge of into Babyloniau bon1-
age. Look, another siegel and Nebuchad-
nezzsr and his hosts by night go through
a breach OF the Jerusalem wall, and the
morning finds some of them seated tri.
umphant in the temple and what they could
not take away because too heavy they break
up-the braZen sea, and the two wreathed
pillars, Jachin and Boaz
Another siege of Jerusalem, and Pompey
with the battering rams which a hundred
men would roll back, and then, at full run
forward, would bang against the wall OF the
city, and catapults hurling the rocks
upon the people, left twelve thousand dead
aud the city in the clutch Of the Roman war
eagle. Look, a more desperate siege of Je-
rusalemi Titus with his tent. legion on
Mount of Olives aud ballista arranged on
tho principle of the pendulum to swing great
powders against the walls and towers, and
miners digging under the city making gal
leries OF beams underground which, set on
fire, tumbled great masses Of houses and hu-
man beings into destruction and death. All
is taken now but the temple, and Titus the
conqueror. wants to save that unharmed,
but soldier. contrary to orders, hurls
torch into the temple and it is consumed.
Many strangers were in the city at the time
and ninety-seven thouS'nd captives were
hundred thousand lay dead.
But looking from this house top, the Siege
that most absorbs us is thatof the Crusaders.
England and France and all Christendom
wanted TO capture the Holy Sepulchre and
Jerusalem, then in possession Of the Mohnm-
medans under the command Of ono of the
loveIiest, blavest and mightiest men that ever
lived; for Justice must be done him, though
lie was Mohammedan-2lorious Saladfni
et hin, fba pt,,ia Of l.~
Richard CGur de Lion, King Of England;
Philip Augustus, King Of France: Tancred,
Raymond Godfrey and other valiant men,
marching on through fevers and plaques and
battle charges and sufferings as intense a.
the world ever saw. Ealadiu in Jerusalem.
hearing OF the sickness Of King Richard, his
chief enemy sends him his own physician,
and from the walls OF Jerusalem, seeing King
R.ichard afoot, sends him horse. With all
the world looking on the armies Of Europa
come within sight OF Jerusalem.
At the first glimpse Of the city they fall on
their faces in reverence and then lift anthems
OF praise Feuds and hatreds among them
selves wers given up, and Raymond and
Tancred, the bitterest rivals, embr ced while
tho armies looked on, Then the battering
rams rolled, and the catapults swung, and the
swords thrust, and the carnage ragged. God
frey, of Bouillon, Is the first TO mount the
wall, and the Crusaders, a cross on every
shoulder or breast, having taken the city,
march bareheaded and barefooted to what
they suppose to be the Holy Sepulcher, and
kiss the tomb. Jerusalem the possession Of
Christendom. But Saladin retook the city,
and for the last four hundred years it has
been in possession of cruel and polluted
Mohammedanism
Another crusade is needed to start for
Jerusalem, a crusade in this Nineteenth
Century greater than sll those of the past
centuries put together. A crusade in
which you aud Viii march; A crusade
without weapons of death, but only tho
sword OF the Spirit A crusade that will
make not a single wound, nor start one
tear OF distress, nor incendiarizs one home
stead crusade of Gospel Peace Aud
the Cross again be lifted on Calvary, not
as once an instrument OF pain, but a signal
OF invitation, and the mosque of Omar
shall give place to a church OF Christ, and
Mount Zion become the dwelling place not
OF David, but Of Davids Lord. and Jerusa
lem, purified Of all It's idolatries, and taking
back the Christ she once cast out, shall be
made worthy type OF that heaving city
which Paul styled 1.-THE mother Of us all, "and
which St john saw, 1.-THE holy Jerusalem
descending out Of heaven from Cor
Through its gates may we all enter when our
work is done, and in its temple, greater than
all the earthly temples piled in one, may we
worship.
Russian pilgrims lined all the roads around
the Jerusalem we visited last winter. They
lad walked hundreds Of miles, and their feet
bed on the way TO Jerusalem. Many Of
them had spelt their last farthing to get
there, and they had left some OF those who
started with them dying Of dead by the road
side. An aged woman exhausted with the
long way, begged her fellow pilgrims not to
| let her die until she had seen the Holy City.
As she came to the gate of the city she could
not take another step, but she was carried in,
and then said, Now hold my head up till can
look upon Jerusalem" and her head lifted,
she took one look, nm said: Now die con-
tent; have been it! have seen itm Some
OF US before we reach the heavenly Jerusalem
may be as tired as that, but angels Of mercy
will help us in, and one glimpse OF the temple
OF God and the Lamb and one gooi look at
tho "sin- in his beauty" will more than
compensate for all the tolls and tears and
heartbreaks OF the pilgrimage. Halielujahi
| Amenl