The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1890-10-23

|
morning. the angels rolled the stone thunder
ing down the hill. Up these steps walked the
| liberated feet of the Conqueror, 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 heav-
| ens through which hs would soon ascend.
"For the temple that lies desolate;
We sit in solitude and mourn;
For the palace that il destroyed
We sit in solitude and mourn;
| For the walls that are overthrow.
We sit in solitude and mourn;
For our majesty that is departed,
We sit in solitude and mourn:
For our great men TINT lie dead, i.
We ait in solitude and mourn;
For priests who have stumbled,
We sit in solitude and mourn
think at that prayer Jerusalem will come
again to more than its ancient magnitcence;
| it may not be precious stones and architec-
| tural majesty, but in a moral splendor that
shall eclipse forever all that David or Solo
| men saw.
But must get back to the house top where
stood enrly this morning, and before the
sun sets, that may catch q wider vision Of
what the city now is and once was Stand
| was built cor military safety. Some old war
| rior, l warrant, selected the spot 1t stands
on a hill 2, 600 eet above the level of the sen
| and deep ravines on three sides do the work
o military trenches. Compact as no other
city was compact. Only three miles journey
round, and the ancient towns. Hippicus.
Phasaelus. Marianne, frowning death upoa
the approach of all epemies.
As l stool there on the house top in the
midst Of the city, said. 20 Lord. reveal to
me this metropolis Of the world, that may
see it as it once appeared No one was
see more wildly with no one but God aud
yourself present. Immediately the Mosque
OF Omar, which has stood for ages on Mt.
Moriah. the site of the ancient temple, dis
appeared and the most honored structure
of all the ages Ii ted itseli in the light and
saw 1.-THE temple. the ancient temple Not
Solomon's temple, but something grander
than that. Not Zerubbabel's temple but
something more gorgeous than that. 1t
was Herods temple built or the one pur-
pose of eclipsing all its architectural prede-
cessors. There it stood. covering 10 acres,
| and 10000 workmen had been 46 years
| In building it. Blaze of magnfcence Be
| wildering range of porticoes, and 10 gateways
and double arches, and CORN THAN capitals
| chiseled into lilies and acanthus. Masonry
bevel ed and grooved into such delicate forms
| that it seemed to tremble in the light. Clos
! tiers with two rows of Corinthian columns.
royal arches, marble steps pure us though
made out OF frozen snow. carving that seem
ed like PANEL of the door Of Heaven let
down and set in, the facade OF the building
| on shoulders at each end lifting the glory
higher and higher. and walls wherein gold
put out the silver. and the carbunce put out
the gold, and the jasper put out the carbun-
Gle, until in the changing light they would
| oil seem to come back again into a. chorus of
| harm onious color. The temple The temple!
| Doxology in stone! Anthems soaring in RAFT
ers of Lebanon cedar. From side to side.
and from foundation, to gilded pinnacle, the
| frozen prayer OF all ages.
From 1hor
/ afternoon welooked outin another direction,
and see the kings palace covering 16O. 900
| square feet, three rows OF windows iumin-
ing the inside brillinnce, the hallway vain
scoted with all styles of colored marbles
surmounted by arabesque vermillion and
gold, looking down on mosiacs, music of
! water alls in the garden outside answering
the music OF the harps thrummed by det
| fingers inside; banisters over which princes
and princesses leaned and talked to kings
and queens ascending the stairway. o,
Jerusalem! Jerusaeml Mountain city! City
OF Godl JOY OF the whole earth! Stronger
than Gibraltar and Sebastopol surely it
never could have been captured.
! But while standing there Oh the house top
that December afternoon hear the crash
OF the % mighty sieges which have come
against Jerusalem in the ages past. Yonder
| Is the pool of Hezekiah and Sloan, but
again and again were those waters REDEEMED
| with human gore. Yonder are the towers,
but again and again they fall Yonder are
| the high walls, but again and again they
were leveled. TO rob the treasures from her
| temple and palace and dathrone this queen
city city: o. the earth all nations plotted. David
! taking the throne at Hebron decides that he
must have Jerusalem Tor his capital and
| coming up from the south at tile head Of
2SO.OOO troops he captures it, Look, here
comes another seige of Jerusalem! The
Assyrians under Sennacherib ensIaved
| n u OF ~, ,,l,oz1 l.
| 10000 captives in his one campaign.
Ph9nirian cities kneeling at his feet. Egypt
trembling at the fash of his sword comes
upon Jerusalem. Look, another siege! The
armies Of Babylon under observation-disclosures
come down and take a plumber from Jeru-
salem such MS no other city everhad to yield,
and 10000 OF her citizens trudge off into
| Babylonian bondage. Look, another siegel
and Nebuchadnezzar and his hosts bv night
go through breach OF the Jerusalem wall,
and the morning finds some of them seated
triumphant in the temple, and, what they
could not take away because too heavy,
| they break up-the brazeu sea, and the two
Wreathed pillars Jachn and Boaz. Another
selge OF Jerusalem; and Pompey with the
! gathering rams which o hundred men would
roll back, and then at full run forward would
bang against the wall OF the city, andcatapults
hurting the rocks upon the people, left ! 2, 900
dead, and the city in the clutch OF the Roman
war eagle. Look, more desperated siege Of
Jerusalem! Titus with his Tenth legion on
Mount of Olives, and ballist arranged on the
principle OF the pendulum to SWING great
bonlders against walls and towers, and
miners digging under the city making CALLER
les Of beams underground which, set on fire,
tumbled great masses OF houses and human
beings into destruction and DEATH All is
taken now but the temple and Titus, the con-
| queror, wants to save that unframed, but d
soldier. contrary to orders, hurls torch into
the temple and it is consumed. Many
strangers we're in the city at the time and
$4,000 captives were taken, and Josephus
1 says ], 100000 lay dead.
But looking from this housetop, the siege
that most absorbs us is that of the Crusad-
ers. England, and France md all Christen.
dom, wanted to capture the holy sepulchre
and Jerusalem, then in possession of the Mo
4 hammedans under the command OF one OF
the loveliest, bravest, and mightiest men
that ever lived, for justice must be done him
though he was Mohammedan-glorio
saIndin! Against him came the armies Of
Europe, under Richard, Ceur de Lion, king
4 of England; Phillip Augustus, king OF
/ France; Tancred, Raymond, Gudfred, and
other valiant men, marching on through
/ levers, and plaques and battle charges, and
sufierings as intense as the world ever saw.
Saladin, in Jerusalem hearing OF the sick
ness of King Richard, his chic enem y, sends
i him his own physician and from thp wills