Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1890-10-24
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject, "IN JERUSALEM"

its muscles anu nerves, Is here invoked II the
author allows to pass out of mind the gran
deurs OF the Holy City where once he dwelt.
Jeremiah, seated by the river Euphrates,
wrote this psalm. and not David. Afraid
am OF anything that approaches imprecation,
and yet can understand how any one who
has ever been at Jerusalem should in enthu
siasm OF soul cry out, whether he DO sitting
by the Euphrates, or the Hudson, or the
Thames, III forget. thee, o Jerusalem, let
my right hand forget her cunningr' You
see it is city unlike oil others for topog-
raFhy, for history, for significance, for style
OF population, for water works for ruins,
for towers, for domes. for ramparts, for lit
erature, for tragedies, for memorable birth
places for sepulchers, for condagrations and
famines, for victories and defeats.
| am here at last in this very Jerusalem,
and on housetop, just after the dawn OF
the morning of December 3, with an old in.
habitant to point out the salient features OF
the scenery. Now" said, where is Mount
Zion" Here at your right. "'Where isMounl
Olivet" I'm front OF where you standP
"Where is the Garden of GethsemaneYn 'In
yonder valley" Where is Mount CalvaryP'
Before he answered | saw it. No unpreju-
diced mind can have moments doubt as
to where it is. Yondcr | see a hill In the
shape Of human skull, and the Bible says
that Calvary was the "place OF q skull.'
Not only is it skull shaped, but Just be-
meath the forehead of the hill is a cavern
that looks like eyeless sockets. Within
the grotto under it is the shape Of the in
side Of skull Then the Bible says that
Christ was crucifed outside the gate, and
this is outside the gate, while the site form
erly selected was inside the gate Besides
that, this skull hill was for ages the place
where malefactors were put to death, and
Christ was slain as malefactor.
The Saviour's assassination took place be-
side thoroughfare along which people went
''wagging their heads" and there is the an
cient thoroughfare. / saw at Cairo, Egypt
q clay mould of that skull hill, made by the
late General Gordon. the arbter of nations.
While Empress Helena, eighty years OF age,
and imposed upon by having three crosses
exhumed before her dim eyes, as though
they were the three crosses OF Bible story,
selected another site as Calvary, all recent
travellers agree that the one point out TO
you was without doubt the scene of the most
terrific and overwhelming tragedy this
planet ever witnessed
There were thousand things we wanted
to see that third day of December, and our
drsgoman proposed this aud that and the
other journey, but said: First of all show
us Calvary. Something might happen II wo
went elsewhere, and sickness or accident
might hinder our seeing the sacred mount.
II We see nothing else we must see that, and
see II this morning. Some of us in carriage
and some on mule back we were soon on tho
way TO the most sacred spot that the world
has ever seen or ever will ses Coming to
the base Of the hill we first went inside the
skull OF rocks. IL Is called Jeremiah's grotto,
for there the prophet wrote his book OF
Lamentations. The grotto is thirty Ave feet
high, and its top and side are malachitt,
green, brown, black, white, red and gray.
Coming forth from those pictured subter-
raneous passages we begin to climb the steep
sides OF Calvary. As we 60 up we see cracks
and crevices in the rocks, which think were
made by the commissions OF nature when
Jesus died. On the hill lay limestone rock,
white, but tinged with crimson, the white 50
suggestive of purity and the crimson Of sac
rifce that said, That stone would be beat
hfuly appropriate for memorial wall in
my church, now building in America; and
the stone now being brought on cameis back
from Sinai across the desert, when put under
II, how significant OF the law aud the gospel
And these lips Of stone will continue to speak
Of justice and mercy long after all our living
Ups have uttered thoir last message"
So rolled it down the hill and trans
ported It, When that day comes for which
many Of you have prayed-the dedication
Of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the third i'm
CITY, and that makes it somewhat difficult,
being the third structure, a work such as
no other church was ever called on to I'M
dertake-we invite you in the main en-
trance of that building to look upon a me.
mortal wall containing the most suggest
| I've and solemn and tremendous antiquities
ever brought together-this rent with the
earthquake at the giving of the law at
Smai, the other reLt at the crucitixion on
Calvary.
II Is impossible for you to realize what
our emotions were as we gathered group
of men and women, all saved by the blood
Of the Lamb, on bluff of Cavalry, just
wide enough TO contain three crosses.
said to my family and friends: II think
here Is where stood the cross Of the impeni.
tent burglar, aud there tho cross OF the
niscreant, and here between think, stood
the cross on which all our hopes depend"
As opened the nineteenth chapter OF John
to read a chill blast struck the hill and
cloud lowered, the natural solemnity i'm
pressing the spiritual solemnity. / read O
little but broke down. / defy any emo
tional Christian man sitting upon Col.
gotba to read aloud and with unbroken voice,
or with any voice at all, the whole of that
account in Luke and John, Of which these
sentences are fragment: ''They took Jesus
and led Him away, and He, bearing His cross,
went forth into place called the place of a
skull where they cruciiied Him and two 9TH
srs with Him, on either side one, and Jesus
In the midst" Behold thy motherr' ~
thirst" This day shalt thou be with Me in
Paradise" Father, forgive them, they know
not what they do" "If it be possible, let this
cup pass from Ne" What slghs, what sobs,
what tears what tenpests OF sorrow, what
surging oceans of agony in those utterancesI
While we sat there the whole scene came
before us. All around the top and the sides
and the foot Of the hill mob ragged. They
gnash their teeth aud shake their clinched
Hsts at Him. Hero the cavalry horses champ
their bits and paw the earth and snort at the
smell Of the carnage. Yonder a group Of
gamblers are pitching UP as to who shall have
the coat of the dying Saviour. There are
women almost dead with grief among the
crowd-His mother and His aunt, and some
whose sorrows He had pardoned. Here a
| man dips sponge into sour wine, and by a
stick lifts IL to the hot and cracked lips
The hemorrhage Of the five wounds has done
its work.
The atmospheric conditions are such as the
the world saw never before or since. 1t was
not solar eclipse, such as astronomer:
record or we ourselves have seen. II was a
bereavement Of the heavensl Darkerl until
the towers Of the tample were no longer visi'
bic. Darker until the surrounding hills dis
appeared. Darker until the inscription
above the middle cross becomes illegible
Darker until the chin of the dying Lord falls
upon the breast, and He sighed with this last
sigh the words, ut is finished"
As we sat there silence took possession oi
us, and we thought, this is the centre from
which continents have been touched, and all
the world shall yet be moved. Toward this
hill the prophets pointed forward. Toward
this hilf the apostles and martyrs pointed
backward. To this all heaven pointed down.
ward. To this with foaming execration.
all history, all time, all eternity, and with
this scene painters have covered the might
lest canvas and sculptors cut the richest
marble, and orchestras rolled their grandesi
oratorios and churches lifted their greatest
doxologies and heaven built its highest
| thropaa