Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-10-09

| !
slsts that He pay tax, and, too poor to raise
the requisite two dollars and seventy-five
cents, He orders Peter TO catch q fish that has
in its mouth a Roman state. which Is a
bright coin (and you know that Ash naturally
bite at anything bright, but it was miracle
that Peter should have caught it at the first
haul
Now we follow our Chieftain until for
the paltry sum OF fifteen dollars Judas
sells Him 10 his pursuers. Tell it TO all tho
betrayed II for ten thousand dollars or
for five hundred dollars or for one hun
dred dollars your interests were sold out,
consider for how much cheaper a sum the
| Lord of earth and heaven was surrendered
to humiliation AMI death. But here, while
| following Hun on a spring night between
eleven and twelve o'clock, we saw the fash
OF torches and lanterns, and we hear the cry
OF mob of nihiists. They are breaking in
| on the quietude Of Gethsemane with clubs
like mob with sticks chasing q mad dog.
1t is herd Of Jerusalem ''roughs' led on
| by Judas TO arrest Christ and punish Him
Tor being the loveliest and best being that
| ever lived. But rioters are liable to assail
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 of ar
rest' SO the kiss which throughout the
| huulhu race anu LOT All llule bOu lnJtnde1
as the most sacred demonstration OF afTec-
ton, for Paul writes to the Romans and
the Corinthians, and tho ThesSalontans
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 Joua-
than met David, and Orpsh 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 tho world is invited to
kiss Christ as inspiration cries out, kiss
the Son, lest He be angry and 'ye perish
from the way"-that the most sacred demon
strstion of reunion and affection was desc
Grated as the filthy lips of Julas touched
the pure cheek Of Christ and the horrid
smack OF that kiss has its echo in the treach-
cry and deoasement and hypocrisy OF all
ages.
As in December 1889, walked on the way
from Bethany, and at the foot OF Mount
OIivet, 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 scsnc of horror and OF crime
came back 10 me- until shuddered with the
historical reminiscence.
In further following our great Chieftains
march through the centuries, l find myself
in u crowd in front of Herod's palace in
Jerusalem, and on a moveable platform
placed upon a tasselatei pavement, Pontius
Plate sits. And as once a year condemned
criminal is pardoneI. Plate let's the peo-
pie choose whether il shall be an as
sassin c.. our Chieftiam, and they all cry
out for the liberation OF the assassin
thus declaring they prefer a murderer to the
sal cation of the world. Plate took a basin
10 Tash Off the blood of this murder from
hi3 bands, but he could not They are still
lifted, and see them looming up through
all the ages, eight fingers and two thumbs
standing out red with the carnage
IStill following our Chieftain, l ascend the
Mill which General Gordon, the great Eng
Iish explorer aud arbiter. made a clay model
'of. 1t is hard Climbing for our Chicftaiu,
for He has not only two heavy timbers to
carry on His back, the upright aud horizon
tai pieces OF the cross, but He Is suffering
from exhaustion caused by lack of food,
mountain chills, desert heats. Shippings with
olmwood 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
NdlNN1- lDub OuI SultlIdu UluhV
have taken a long time for tho ascent, for
He had all earth and all heaven and all hell
on His back as He climbed from base 10
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 do Vinci
aud all the great Italian and German and
GDa,tch onA Ernurl arfietc hava attamntaH
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 battlefields Of Arbela, Blen.
helm. Megiddo and Esdraelon, and all the
scenes of carnage that have ever scalded
and drsnchei the earth with human gore
that sun could not look upon the scene. Inc
sun dropped over its face veil of cloud. lt
withdrew. 1t hid itself 1t said to the mid
night, ~ resign to thee this spectacle upon
which l have no strength to gaze; thou art
blind o midnight and for that reason com.
hawk and the bat few by, and the jackal
howled in the rayinos.
Now we follow our Chieftain as they
carry His limp and lacerated form amid tho
flowers and trees of garden, the glaiioluseS,
the oeanders, the lilies the geraniums, the
mandrakes, down five or six steps to an aisle
of granite, where He sleeps. But only a
little while He sleeps there, for there IS an
earthquake in all that region, leaving the
rnpyc fn this Iav In fbnir acaut and
tured state declarative Of The fact thsS
something extraordinary there happened.
And we see our Chieftain arouse
from His brief slumber and wrestle down
the rutfian Death, who would keep Him i'm
prisoned in that cavern, and put both heels
on the monster, aud coming forth with a
cry that will not cease TO DO echoed until on
the great resurrection day the door OF the
lost sepulcher shall be unhinged aud flung
Changing into the debris of demolished ceme.
teries.
Now we follow our Chieftaiu to the
shoulder of Mount Olivet and without
wings He rises, the disciples clutchlng for Hi
robes too late to reach them, and across th'
great CULTS of space with one bound He gain
| that world which for thirty-three years had
been denied His companionship, and al
heaven lifted shout of welcome
as He entered, and of coronation az
up the mediatorial throne He mounted
1t was tho greatest day HEAVIER
had ever seen. They had Him back agail
from tears, from wounds, from ills, from 6
world that never appreciated Him to worlt
In which He was the chief delight. In all the
libretto Of celestial music 1t was hard to flnC
an anthem enough conjubilant to celebrat'
the JOY sanity, seraphic, arch-angelic
deific.
But still we follow our Chieftain In Hi
| march through the centuries, for invisibl
faith We still follow Him. You eau tel
where He walks by the churches, and hos
pitals, and reformatory institutions an,
houses OF mercy that spring up along tn
way. hear HIS tread In the sick room an
In the abodes Of bereavement He marchC
on and the nations are gatheriB
around Him. The islands of the sea ar
hearing His voice. The continents are feel