Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-09-28

perish from the way" that uiost -
cred demonstration of reunion ana af-
fection was desecrated as the filthy lips
Christ. and the horrid smack of that
kiss has it's echo in the treachery and
debasement and hypocrisy Of all ages.
As. in December 1889, ] walked on
the way from Bethany, and at the foot
of Mount Olivet. half mile from the
wall of Jerusalem. 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 aud of crime
came back to NE until shuddered
with the historical "reminiscences.
In further following our great Chiel
tain's march through the centuries
find myself in crowd in front oi
Herods palace in Jerusalem. and on
movable platform placed upon a ties
selated pavement Pontius PLATE sits
And as once a year a condemned Grim
inaI is pardoned, PLATE lets the people
choose whether il shall be an assassin
or our Chieftain, and they all cry out
for the liberation of the assassin, thus
declaring they prefer a murderer to the
salvation of the world. PLATE took a
basin of water in front of these people
and tried to wash of the blood of this
murder from his hands. but he could
not They are still lifted, and | sec
them looming up through all the ages
eight fingers and two thumbs standing
out red with the carnage.
THE AGONY on CALVARY.
Still following our Chieftain ascend
the hill which General Gordon. the
great English explorer and arbter first
made IA clay model of 1t is hard climb
ing for our Chieftain. for he has not
only two heavy timbers to carry on his
back, the upright and horizontal pieces
of the cross. hut he is suffering from eX
haustion caused by lack of food, noun
tain ehills, desert heats. whippings with
elmwood rods and years of maltreat
ment.
1t took our party. in 1899, only fifteen
minutes to climb to the top of the hill
and reach that limestone rock in yon
der 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 all hell on his back
as he climbed from base TO summit
and there endured what William Cow
per and John Milton and Charles Yves
ley and Isaac Watts and James Mont
gomery and all the other sacred poets
Angelo and Raphael and Titan and
Leonardo da Yinci and n! the great
Italian and German and Spanish and
French artists haveattempted TO paint
and Bossuet and Massillon and George
Whitetield aud Thomas Chalmers have
attempted to preach.
Something OF its overwhelming aw
fulness you may estimate from the fact
that the sun which shines in the heav
ems could not endure it; the sun
which uniiinchingly looked upon the
deluge that drowned the world, which,
of earthquakes which swallowed Lisbon
and Caracas. and has looked unblanch
ed on the battletields of Arbela, Blen
helm. Megiddo and Esdraelon, and all
the scenes of carnage that have ever
scalded and drenched the earth with
human gore-that sun could not look
upon the scene, The sun dropped over
its face veil OF cloud. 1t withdrew.
Ii hid itself Ii said to the midnight.
II resign to thee this spectacle upon
which have no strength to gaze; thou
art blind, oh, midnight and for that
reason commit to thee this tragedy
Then the night hawk and the bat flew
by, and the jackal howled in the
ravines.
Now we follow our Chieftain as they
carry his limp and lacerated form amid
the flowers and trees OF garden, the
gladioluses, the oleanders, the lilies, the
geraniums, the mandrakes, down five
or six steps to an aisle of granite where
he sleeps But only little while he
sleeps there, for there is an earthquake
in all that region, leaving the rocks t.
this day In their aslant and ruptured
state declarative of the fact that some
thing extraordinary there happened
And we see our Chieftain arouse from
his brief slumber and wrestle down the
rutilan Death who would keep him i'm
| prisoned in that cavern and put both
heels on the monster, and coming forth
with cry that will not cease 10 be-
echoed until ON tile great resurrection
day the door Of the lost sepulcher shall
be unhinged and flung changing into
the debris OF demolished cemeteries.
Now We follow our Chieftain To the
shoulder of Mount Olivet. and without
wings he rises, the disciples clutching
for his robes too late 10 reach them, and
across the great gulfs Of space with one
bound he gains that world which for
thirty three years had been denied his
eompanionShip, and all heaven lifted
shout Of welcome as he entered, and OF
cOronation as up 90 the mediatorial
throne he mounted Il was the great
est day heaven had ever seen They
had him back again trom tears, from
wounds from Ills, from a world that
never appreciated him TO a world IN
which he was the chief delight In All
the libnctio Of celestial music Il was
hard "a tlnd an anthem enough eonjubi
iaut In os,al,.brata fla ioV safutlv scramble