Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1890-10-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subjects Gin Jerusalem"


Jeremiah, seated by the river EuphrateS,
wrote this psalm. and not David. Afraid l
am of anything thatapproachesi mprecation,
and yet can understand how any one who
has ever been at Jerusalem should in enthu-
siasm of soul cry out, whether he be sitting
by the Euphrates, or the Hudson, or the
Thames, IF forget thee, 0 Jerusalem. let
my right hand forget her cunning You
see it is a city unlike all others for topog-
rarhy, for history, for significance, for style
of population, Tor water works, for ruins,
for towers for domeS for ramparts for lit
erature. for tragedies, for memorable birth
places, for sepulchers, for CONGREGATIONS and
famines, for victories and defeats.
am here at last in this very Jerusalem,
and on a 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," l said, where is Mount
Zionw Here at your right" ''W here isMount
Oivetg In front of where you standY
"Where is the Garden Of GethsemaneY SIN
yonder valley" Where is Mount Calvary|
Before he answered | saw it. No unpreju-
diced mind can have moments doubt as
to where it is. Yonder l see hill in the
shape of a human skull, and the Bible says
that Calvary was the 'place of a skull"
Not only is it skull shaped, but just be-
meath the forehead Of the hill is cavern
that looks like eyeleSs sockets Within
the grotto under it is the shape of the in
side OF a skull Then the Bible says that
Christ was crucified 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 a malefactOr.
The Saviour's assassination took place be-
side thoroughfare along which people went
wagging their heads" and there is the an.
Gent tho Oughfare. l saw at Cairo, Egypt,
clay mould of that skull hill, made by the
late General Gordon. the arbiter 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
dragOman proposed this and that and the
other Journey, but l said: First of ell show
us Calvary. Something might happen if we
went elsewhere and sickness or accident
might hinder our seeing the sacred mount.
1--we see nothing else we must see that, and
see it this morning Some OF us in carriage
and some on mule back we We're soon on the
way TO the most sacred spot that the world
has ever seen or ever will see. Coming to
the base of the hill we first went inside the
skull of rocks. 1t is called Jereul ahs grOttO
for there the prophet -,rote his book Of
Lamentations. ThegrOttO is thirty-hve feet
high, and its top and side are malachite,
greer, crown, black, white, red and gray.
Coming forth from those pictured Subter-
raneous passages we begin to climb the steep
sides of Calvary. As we go 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 a limestone rock,
white, but tinged with crimson the white so
suggestive Of purity and the crimson Of sac
rifce that said, That stone would be beau
tifuly appropriate for a memorial wall in
my church. now building III America; and
the stone now being brought on camels back
from Sinai across the desert, when put under
It, how significant OF the law and the gospel
And these lips of stone will continue to speak
of justice and mercy long after all our living
lips have uttered their last message"
So rolled it down the hill and trans
ported it, When that day comes Tor which
many of you have prayed-the dedication
of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, the third i'm
mense structure we have reared IN this
city. and that makes it somewhat difficult.
DelQE ltlS lulu q MbiA ouNu %
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 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
Sinai, the other reLt at the crucitixion on
Calvary.
It 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 a bluff of Cavalry, just
wide enough to contain three crosses. l
raid to my family and friends: IL think
mere is where stood the cross Of the impeni-
tent burglar and there the cross Of the
miscreant, and here between, | think, stood
the cross on which all our hopes depend
AS | opened the nineteenth chapter Of Joha
to read a chill blast struck the hill and a
clOud lowered, the natural solemnlty i'm
pressing the spiritual solelnnity. l read
little but broke down. / DEFY any emo
tional Christian man sitting upon Col
GOTTA to read aloudand with unbyoken voice,
or with any voice at all. the whole Of that
account in Luke and John, Of which these
senteL ces are a fragment: They took Jesus
and led Him away. and he, bearing His cross,
went forth into a place called the place of
skull, where they crucified Him and two 9th
ers with Him, on either side one, and Jesus
in the midst" Behold thy motherw Il
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 signs, what sobs,
what tears what tempests of sorrow, what
surging oceans of agony in those utterancesi
While we sat there the whole scene came
before us. All around the TOP anu The sides
and the foot of the hill mob rage1. They
gnash their teeth and shake their clinched
fists at Him. Here 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
man dips sponge into sour wine, and by
stick lifts it 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 a solar eclipse, such as astronomers
record or we ourselves have seen. 1t was
bereavement Of the heavens Darkerl until
the towers of the temple were no longer visi-
BILE Darker until the surrounding hills dis
appeared. Darker until the inscription
above the middle cross becomes llegiDle.
Darker until the chin Of the dying Lord falls
upon the breast, and He sighed with this last
sigh the words, 1T is fnishedw
As we sat there silence took possession OF
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 hill the apostles and martyrs pointed
backward. To this all heaven pointed down
ward To this with foaming excavations
perdition pointed upward. Round 1t circles
all history, ali time, all eternity, and with
this scene painters have covered the might
lest canvas, and sculptors cut the richest
marble, and orchestras rolled their grandeSt
oratorios and churches lifted their greatest
doxologies and heaven built its highest
thrones.
Unable longer to endure the pressure Of
this scene we moved on and into garden of
olives, garden which in the right season is
tull or flowers, and here is the reputed tomb
OF Christ. You know the Book SAYS. In the
midst Of the garden was a sepulchre.n
think this was the garden and this the
-sepulchre. 1t is shattered, of course. About
four steps down we went into this, which
seemed family tomb. There is room in it
for about five bodies. We measured it and
found it about eight feet high and nine feet
wide and fourteen feet long The crypt
where ] think our Lord slept was seven feet
ono I L, bof L.. Al.