The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-28

here is blind man by the wayside- 1t
not from cataract Of the eye or tror
ophtbalmia, the eye-exting1isher OF 10
east, but he was born blind. be opened
he cries, and first there is smartng OF th
eye-lids, and then twilight, ana tnen
mid-noon and then a shout; II see see !
Tell it to all the blind, and they at leasS ca
appreciate it. And here is the ~ldoW
dead son, and here is the expired damsei
and here is Lazarus. "Liven our CHIEF
tan cries, and they live. Tell itthrough al
the bereft households; tell it among th'
gravs. And here around mn
gather the deaf aand the dumb ahc
the sick, and at bis wore
they turn on their couches, and blush IRON
awful pallor of helpless illness to ruDlcuht
health, and the swollen foot OF the dropslca
sufferer becomes feet as a roe on the noun
tains. The music of the grove and house
hold wakens the deaf ear, and lunatic ana
maniac return into bright intelligence, ana
the leper's breath becomes as sweet as tne
breath Of child, ana the flesh as roseate.
Tell il to all the sick, through all t1e
homes, through all the hospitals leII ~
at twelve O'clock at night tell IL at W.
o'clock in the morning; tell it at man
past three, ana in the last watch Oh 'ne
night, that Jesus walks the tempest.
Still We follow our chleftaln untH Ine
insists that he pay tex and too poor TO raise
the requisite two dollars aud seVenty'n'e
cents. he orders Peter to catch h hSn that
has in its mouth a Roman slater, who Is
a bright coin land you know that Hsu nat-
urally bite at anything bright, but IL was
a miracle that Peter should have caught II
at tie first haul.
Now we follow our chlettaln until LOT the
ualtry sum of fifteen dollars Judas sells
( Toll n al
traveil II for ten thousand dollars or for
five thousand dollars or for one
hundred dollars your interests were
sold out, consider for how much
cheaper sum the Lord of earth and
heaven was surrendered to humiliation and
death. But here while following him on a
spring night between eleven aud
twelve o'clock. we see the fash
of torches and lanterns and we
hear the cry of a mob of nihilists They are
breaking in on the quietude of Gethsemane
with clubs-like q mob with sticks chasing
a mad dog. 1t is a herd of Jerusale N
''roughs" led on by Judas to arrest
Christ and punish him for being
the loveliest and best thing that ever
lived. But rioters are liable 10 assail the
wrong man. How we're they to be sure
which one was Jesusl 81 will kiss him, y
says Judas, land by that signal you will
know on whom TO lay your hands of arrest. y
So the kiss throughout the human race and
for all time God intended as the most
sacred demonstration of affection, for Paul
writes TO the Romans and Corinthians and
the Thessalonians concerning the "holy
kiss and Peter celebrates the kiss of char
ity, and with that con- unction Of lips Laban
met Jacob, and Joseph met his brethren.
and Aaron met Moses and Samuel met
Saul and Jonathan met David and Orpah
parted from Naomi and Paul separated
from his friends at Ephesus and the father
in the parable greeted the returning
prodigal, and when the millennium shall
come we are told righteousness and peace
will kiss each other, and all the world is
invited to greet Christ as inspiration cries
out kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye
perish from the way"---that most sacred
demonstration of reunion aud affection was
desecrated as the filthy lips of Judas
touched the pure cheek of Christ. and the
horrid smack Of that kiss has its echo in the
treachery and debasement and hypocrisy
of all ages.
As in December, 1889, l walked on the
way from Bethany, and at the foot of
Mount Olivet, half-mile from the wall of
Jerusalem, through the Garden OF Geth-
semane, and under the eight venerable olive
trees now standing, their pomological an
cestors having been witnesses of the oc-
currences spoken Of, the scene of horror
and of crime came back to me, until l shud-
dered with the historical "Reminiscences.
In further following our great chieftan':
march through the centuries l find myself
In crowd in front of Herod's palace in
Jerusalem, aud on a movable platform
placed upon tesSalAted pavement Poutius
PLATE sits. And as once a year a con-
demned criminal is pardoned, Plate lets
he oh - -. ~
assassin or our chieftain, and they all cry
out for the liberation Of the assassin, thus
declaring they prefer q murderer to the sal
walton of the world. Plate took O basin OF
water in front Of these people and tried to
wash off the blood of this murder from his
hands, but he could not. They are still
lifted, and l see them looming up through
all the ages, eight fingers and two thumbs
standing out red with the carnage.
Still following our chieftain, l ascend the
hill which Gen. Gordon, the great English
explorer and arblter, first made clay
model of. It is hard climbing for our
chiefEain, for he has not only two heavy
timbers to carry on his back, the upright
and horizontal pieces of the cross, but be is
suffering from exhaustion caused by lack
of food, mountain chills, desert heats, whip
pings with elmwood rods aud years OF NAL
treatment.
1t took our party in 1889 only fifteen
minutes to climb to the top of the hill and
reach that limestone rock in wonder wall
which | rolled down from the apex of
Mount Calvary. But think our chieftain
must have taken a long time for the ascent.
for he had all earth and all heaven. and ali
hell on his back, as he climbed from base to
summit, and there endured what William
Cowper and John Milton and Charles IVES
ley and Isaac Watts and James Mont
gomery, and all the other sacred poets hava
attempted to put in verse; and Angelo and
Raphael and Titan and Leonardo da
Nlncl and oil the great Italian aud Ger
man, and Spanish. and French artists have
attempted to paint; and Bossuet. and Mas
sillon, and George Whitfield, and Thomas
Chalmers have attempted to preach. Some
thing OF its overwhelming awfulness you
may estimate from the fact that the sun
which shines in the heavens could not an
dure 1t; the sun which untliuchiuQly looked
upon the deluge that drowned the world.
which without blinking looked upon the
ruins of earthquakes which swallo ed Lis.
bon and Caracas, and has looked un-
blanched on the battlefields of Arbela.
Blenheim, Megiddo, and Esdraelon, and ali
the scenes OF carnage that have ever
scalded and drenched the earth with
human gore-that sun could not
look upon the seems. The sun
dropped over its face a veil of cloud. Ii
withdrew. II hid itself 1t said to the
midnight, 81 resign to thee .this spectacle
upon which have no strength to gaze
thou art blind. o, Midnight and for tha
reason l commit thee to this tragedy 7
Then the night-hawk and the bat flew by
and the jsckal howled in the ravines.
Now we follow our chieftain as they carry
his limp and lacerated form amid the flow.
ers and trees of Il garden, the gladioluses