The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-10-14

OF mop OF nlpHlSGS. 1aey aFo VI IA
on the quietude OF Gethsemane with clubs
like mob with sticks chasing mad dog.
It is herd of Jerusalem ''roughs' led on
by Judas to arrest Christ and punish Him
for being the loveliest and best being that
ever lived. But rioters are liable to assall
the wrong man. How were they to be sure
which one was Jesus? II will kiss Him."
says Judas" land by that signal you will
know on whom to lay your hands or ar
rest" So the kiss which throughout the
human race and for all time God intended
as the most sacrsd demonstration OF atfec-
tion. for Paul writes to the 4 Romans. sno
concerning the ''holy kiss" and Peter
celebrates the kiss Of charity, and with
that conjunction of lips Laban met Jacob
and joseph met his brethren, and Aaron
met Moses. and Samuel met Saul, and Jona-
than met David. and Orpah parted from
Naomi, and Paul separated from his friends
at Ephesus, and the father in the
parable greeted the returning prodfaal
and when tue millennium shall come
we are told Righteousness and peace will KISS
each other and all the world is invited to
kiss Christ as inspiration cries out "Kiss
the Son, lest He bs angry and ye perish
from the way"-that the most sacred demon
stration Of reunion and affection was desc
Grated as the filthy lips Of Judas touched
the pure cheek Of Christ, and the horrid
smack of that kiss has its echo In tha treach.
cry and deoasenent and hypocrisy OF all
ages.
from Bethany, and OF the foot Of Mount
Olivet, half mile from the wall Of Jerus-
alem, through the Garden Of Gethsemane
and under the eight venerable olive trees
now standing, their pomological ancestors
having been witnesses of the occurrences
spoken OF, the scene Of horror and Of crime
came back to me, until shuddered with the
historical renliniscence.
In further following our great Chieftaln's
march through the centuries, find myself
in crowd in front Of Herod's palace in
Jerusalem, and on q movable platform
placed uoon a tasselated pavement. Ponttus
Plate sits. And as once a year condemned
criminal is pardonej, Plate lets the peo-
ole choose whether it shall be an as
sassn OF our Chieftiau, and they all cry
out for tho liberation OF the assassin,
thus declaring they prefer murderer TO the
salvation Of the world. Plate took basin
Of water in front Of these people and triel
to wash off the blood Of this murder from
his hands, but he could not. They are still
lifted, and I see them looming up through
all the ages, eight fingers and two thumbs
standing out red with the carnage.
Still following our Chieftain, ascend the
hill which General Gordon, the great Eng
lish explorer and arbiter, made clay model
OF. 1t is hard climbing for our Chieftaiu.
for He has not only two heavy timbers to
carry on His back, the upright and horizon
tai pieces of the cross, but He is suffering
from exhaustion caused by lack Of food,
mountain chiils desort heats. whippings with
elmwood rods and years Of maltreatment.
1t took our party in 1889 only fifteen
minutes to climb to the top Of the hill and
reach that limestone rock in yonder wall,
which rolled down from the apex of Mount
Calvary. But think our Chieftan must
have taken a long time for the ascent, for
He had all earth and all heaven and all hell
on His back as he climbed from base to
summit and there endured what William
Cowper and John Milton and Charles
Wesley and Isaac Watts and James Mont
gomery and all the other sacred poets have
attempted to put in verse, and Angelo and
Raphael and Titan and Leonardo da Vinci
and all the great Italian and German and
Spanish and French artists have attempted
to paint, and Bossuet and Masillon and
George Whitefeld and Thomas Chalmers
have attempted to preach.
Something of its overwhelming awful
ness you may estimate from the fact that
the sun which shines in the heavens could
not endure it; the sun which unhinchingly
looked upon the deluge that drowned the
world, which without blinking looked upon
the ruins of earthquakes which swallowed
Lisbon and Caracas, and has looked un-
blanched on the battleaelds Of Arbela, Bien-
helm, Megiddo and Esdraelon, and all the
scenes of carnage that have ever scaided
and dreuched the earth with human gore
that sun could not look upon the scene. Inc
sun dropped over its face veil Of cloud. IL
withdrew. It hid itself. It said to the mid
night, 81 resign to thee this spectacle upon
which I have no strength to gaze: thou art
blind, o midnight and for that reason com.
NIT to thee this tragedy Then the night
hawk and the bat flew by, and the jackal
howled in the ravines.
Now we follow our Chieftaiu as they
carry His limp and lacerated form amid the
flowers and trees Of a garden, the gla5iolusss,
the oleanders. the lilies, the geraniuns, the
mandrakes down five or six steps to an aisle
of granite, where He sleeps. But only
little while He Steps there. for there is an
earthquake in al that region, leaving the
rocks TO this day in their aslant and rup-
tured STATE declaratiye of the fact that
something extraordinary there happened,
And We see our Chieftain arouse
the ruffian Death, who would keep Him i'm.
prisoaed in that cavern, AMI put both heels
on the monster, aud coming forth with
cry that will not ceaSs to be echoed until on
the great resurrection day the door of the
lost sepulcher shall be unhinSed and Hung
Changing into the debris Of demolished ceme-
teries.
Now we follow our Chieftaiu to the
shoulder of Mount O.ives, and without
wings He rises, the disciples c!utchins for His
robes too lete to reach them. and across the
great gulfs of space with one bound He gains
that world which for thirtv-three years had
been denied His companionship, and all
heaven lifted shout Of welcome
as He entered, and Of coronation as
up the mediatorial throne He mounted.
1t was the greatest day heaven
had ever seen. They had Him back again
from tears, from wounds, from ills, from
world that never appreciated Him to world
in which He was the chief delight. In all the
libretto Of celestial music it was hard to find
an anthem enough conjubiiant to celebrate
ths Joy sanity. seraphic, arch-angelic.
deiic.
But still! We follow our Chiestain in His
march through the centuries. for invisibly
He still walks the earth. and by the eye Of
faith we still follow Him. You can tell
where He walks by the churches, and hos
pita:s, and reformatory institutions and
houses or mercy tnaI spring up along tue
way. l hear His tread in the sick room and
in the aboies Of bereavement He marches
on and the nations are gathering
around Him. The islands Of the sea are
hearing His voice. The continents are feel
ing His power. America will be His! Europe
will be His. Asia will be His! Africa will be
His! Australia will be His! New Zealand will
be Eis All the earth will be His! Do you real
izs that until now it Yves impossible for the
world to be converted9 Not until very re.
Gently has the world been found.
The Bible talks about "the ends Of the
earth" and the 'uttermost parts OF the