Here our Lord was crucified.
Is there any child who does not wish to hear about it?
The children of Jerusalem once loved the Lord, and sang his praises in
the temple. Their young voices pleased their Saviour, though not half so
sweet as angels' songs.
Which is the place where the temple stood?
It is Mount Moriah. There is a splendid building there now.
Is it the temple? O no, that was burned many hundreds of years ago. It is
the Mosque of Omar that you see; it is the most magnificent mosque in all
the world. How sad to think that Mahomedans should worship now in the
very spot where once the Son of God taught the people. No Jew, no
Christian may go into that mosque. The Turks stand near the gate to keep
off both Jews and Christians.
Every Friday evening a very touching scene takes place near this mosque.
There are some large old stones there, and the Jews say they are part of
their old temple wall: so they come at the beginning of their Sabbath
(which is on Friday evening) and sit in a row opposite the stones. There
they read their Hebrew Old Testaments, then kneel low in the dust, and
repeat their prayers with their mouths close to the old stones: because
they think that all prayers whispered between the cracks and crevices of
these stones will be heard by God. Some Jewesses come, wrapped from head
to foot in long white veils, and they gently moan and softly sigh over
Jerusalem in ruins.
What Jesus said has come to pass, "Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate." The thought of this sad day made Jesus weep, and now the sight
of it makes the Jews weep.
But there is a place still dearer to our hearts than Mount Moriah. It is
Calvary. There is a church there: but such a church! a church full of
images and crosses. Roman Catholics worship there--and Greeks too: and
they often fight in it, for they hate one another, and have fierce
quarrels.
That church is called "The Church of the Holy Sepulchre." It is pretended
that Christ's tomb or sepulchre is in it. Turks stand at the door and
make Christians pay money before they will let them in.
When they enter, what do they see?
In one corner a stone seat. "There," say the monks, "Jesus sat when He
was crowned with thorns." In another part there is a stone pillar.
"There," say the monks, "He was scourged." There is a high place in the
middle of the church with stairs leading up to it. When you stand there
the monks say, "This is the top of Calvary, where the cross stood." But
we know that the monks do not speak the truth, for the Romans destroyed
Jerusalem soon after Christ's crucifixion, and no one knows the very
place where He suffered.
On Good Friday the monks carry all round the church an image of the
Saviour as large as life, and they fasten it upon a cross, and take it
down again, and put it in the sepulchre, and they take it out again on
Easter Sunday. How foolish and how wrong are these customs! It was not in
this way the apostles showed their love to Christ, but by preaching his
word.
Mount Zion is the place where David brought the ark with songs and
music. There is a church where the Gospel is preached and prayers are
offered up in Hebrew, (the Jew's language.) The minister is called the
Bishop of Jerusalem. He is a Protestant. A few Jews come to the church at
Mount Zion, and some have believed in the Lord Jesus.
And there is a school there where little Jews and Jewesses and little
Mahomedans sit side by side while a Christian lady teaches them about
Jesus. In the evening, after school, she takes them out to play on the
green grass near the city. A little Jewess once much pleased this kind
teacher as she was sitting on a stone looking at the children playing.
Little Esther repeated the verse--
Glory, honor, praise and power
Be unto the Lamb forever;
Jesus Christ is our Redeemer,
Hallelujah, praise the Lord!
and then she said very earnestly, "O, ma'am, how sweet to think that
Jesus is _our_ Redeemer. No _man_ can redeem his brother: no money--no
money can do it--only the precious blood of Jesus Christ." Little Esther
seemed as if she loved Jesus, as those children did who sang his praises
in the temple so many years ago.
But there is another place--very sad, but very sweet--where you must
come. Go down that valley--cross that small stream--(there is a narrow
bridge)--see those low stone walls--enter: it is the Garden of
Gethsemane. Eight aged olive-trees are still standing there; but Jesus
comes there no more with his beloved disciples. What a night was that
when He wept and prayed--when the angel comforted Him--and Judas betrayed
Him.
The mountain just above Gethsemane is the Mount of Olives. Beautiful
olive-trees are growing there still. There is a winding path leading to
the top. The Saviour trod upon that Mount just before he was caught up
into heaven. His feet shall stand there again, and every eye shall see
the Saviour in his glory. But will every eye be glad to see Him?
O no; there will be bitter tears then flowing from many eyes.
And what kind of a city is Jerusalem?
It is a sad and silent city. The houses are dark and dirty, the streets
are narrow, and the pavement rough. There are a great many very old Jews
there. Jews come from all countries when they are old to Jerusalem, that
they may die and be buried there. Their reason is that they think that
all Jews who are buried in their burial-ground at Jerusalem will be
raised _first_ at the last day, and will be happy forever. Most of the
old Jews are very poor: though money is sent to them every year from the
Jews in Europe.
There are also a great many sick Jews in Jerusalem, because it is such an
unhealthy place. The water in the wells and pools gets very bad in
summer, and gives the ague and even the plague. Good English Christians
have sent a doctor to Jerusalem to cure the poor sick people. One little
girl of eleven years old came among the rest--all in rags and with bare
feet: she was an orphan, and she lived with a Jewish washerwoman. The
doctor went to see the child in her home. Where was it? It was near the
mosque, and the way to it was down a narrow, dark passage, leading to a
small close yard. The old woman lived in one room with her grandchildren
and the orphan: there was a divan at each end, that is, the floor was
raised for people to sleep on. The orphan was not allowed to sleep on the
divans, but she had a heap of rags for her bed in another part. The
child's eyes glistened with delight at the sight of her kind friend the
doctor, he asked her whether she went to school. This question made the
whole family laugh: for no one in Jerusalem teaches girls to read except
the kind Christian lady I told you of.