Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-10-17

bling with emotion, book or psalms open
before them, bewai.ing the ruin of the an
cient temple and the captivity of their race
and crying to God for che restoration Of the
temple in all its original splendor. Most
affecting scenel And such prayer as that,
century after century, l am sure God will
answer and in some way the departed gran
deur will return, or something better 1
looked over the shoulders of some of them
and saw that they were reading from the
mournful psalms of David, while have been
told that this is the litany which some chant:
For the temple that lies desolate,
We sit In solitude and mourn;
For the palace that Is destroyed,
We cit In solitude and mourn;
For the walls that are overthrown,
We sit in solitude and mourn
For our majesty that Is departed,
West IN solitude ald mourn;
For Cur great men that lie dead,
We sit 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 magnifcence:
it may not be precious stones and architec-
tural majesty. but in a moral sp;endor that
shall eclipse forever all that David or Solo
mon saw.
But l must get back to the housetop where
l stood early this morning, and before the
sun sets, that may catch a 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, l warrant, selected the spot. 1t
stands on hill $500 feet above the level of
the sea, and deep ravines ON three sides do
the work of military trenches. Compact as
no other city was compact. Only three miles
journey round, and the three ancient towers
Hippicus, Phasaelus Marianne, frowning
death upon the approach of all enemies.
As stood there on the housetop in the
midst of the city said, 20 Lord, reveal to
me this metropolis Of the world that may
see it US it once appeared" No one was with
me. for there are some things you can see
more wildly with no one but God and your
self present. Immediately the mosque of
Omar. which has stood for ages on Mount
Moriah, the site of the ancient temple disap-
peared. and the most honored structure Of
all the ages lifted itself in the light, and l
saw 1.-THE temple, the ancient temple! Not
Solomons temple but something grander
than that. Not Zerubbabers temple, but
something more gorgeous than that. 1t was
Herods temple, built for the one purpose OF
eclipsing all its architectural predecessors.
There it stood, covering nineteen acres,
and ten thousand wOrkmen had been forty
six wears in building it. Blaze of magnifi.
cencel Bewildering range Of pcrticos and
ten gateways and double arches and Corin-
THAN capitals chisele1 into lilies and acaD-
thus. Masonry beyeled and grooved into
such delicate forms that it seemed TO tremble
in the light. Cloisters with two rows Of Cor
inthian columns, royal arches marble steps
pure as though made out of frozen snow,
carving that seemed 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 carbuncle put out the
gold. and the jasper put out the carbuncle,
until in the changing light they would all
seem TO come back again into chorus OF
harmonious color. The temple The temple.
Doxology in stOnel Anthems soaring IN RAFT
ars of Lebanon cedar From side to side
md from foundation to gilded pinnacle the
rozen prayer Of all ages
From this housetop ON the December after
noon we look out in another direction, and
see the kings palace, covering hundred and
sixty thousand square feet three rows of
windows illumining the inside brilliance,
the hallway wainscoted with styles OF colored
marbles surmounted by arabesque, vermillon
and gold, looking down on mosaics, music OF
waterfalls in the garden outside answering
the music of the harps thrummed by deft
fingers inside: banisters over which princes
and princesses leaned. and talked to kings
and queens ascending the stairway. o Jeru-
salem, JeruSalem Mountain cityl City Of
God JOY of the whole eaTthl Stronger
than Gibraltar and Sebastopol, surely il
never could have been captured
But while standing there on the housetop
that December afternoon hear the crash Of
the twenty-three 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 red
dened with human gore. Yonder are tho
towers, but again and again they fell. Yol-
der are the high walls, but again and again
they are levele1. 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 be must have Jerusalem for his capital,
and coming up from the south at the head Of
two hundred and eighty thousand troops he
captures it. Look, here comes another siege
of Jerusalem!
The Assyrians under Sennacherib, en-
siaved naUlons au MS cnarlot wheel, having
taken two hundred thousand captives in his
one campaign: Ph9nician cities kneeling at
his feet Egypt trembling at the fash Of his
other siegel The armies of Babylon under
Nebuchadnezzar come down and take .
plumber from Jerusalem such as no other city
ever had to yield, and ten thousand OF her
citizens trudge off into Babylonian bond
age. Look, another siegel and Nebuchad-
nezzar 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 wreathel
pillars, joachim 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 hurting the rocks
upon the people, left twelve thousand dead
and the city in the clutch Of the Roman war
eagle. Look, a more desperate siege Of Je-
rusaleml Titus with his tenth legion on
Mount of Olives and ballista arranged on
the 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 hui
man beings into destruction and death. All
is taken now but the temple, and Titus, thu
conqueror, wants to save that unharmei.
but a soldier, contrary to orders hurls
torch into the temple and it is consumed.
Many strangers were in the city at tho time
and ninety-seven thousand captlves were
taken. and Josephus says one million one
hundred thousand lay dead.
But looking from this house top, the siege
that most absorbs us is that OF the Crusaders.
England and France and ali Christendom
wanted TO capture the Holy Sepulchre and
Jerusalem then in possession of the Moham-
medans, under the command OF ono OF the
loveliest, bravest and mightiest men that ever
lived; for Justice must be done him, though
he was glorious Saiedn
Against him came the armies Of Europe, under
Richard Coeur de Lion, King Of England;
Philip Augustus, King Of France: Tancred,
Raymond, Godfrey and other valiant men,