THE JOY OF THE EARTH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2318, 4 August 1898, Page 53

THE JOY OF THE EARTH.

By a Banker,

Of all the various places of note on this earth ttlurh the traveller visits there is one spot which infinitely surpasses all others in supreme interest, and which for many centuries has ben regmlccl by the whole of Christendom v.itli feelings of veneration and regard. Bciutiful ior situation, and the joy ot the whole enrlli, the Holy City, suddenly coming into view as the traveller turns a bend in the road leading from Joppa, presents a spectacle of solid grandeur, npproacliing alrnoct to magnificence, as its domes and minarets and substantial cmbrasuicd battlements and towers abruptly rise up bcfoie him; and he must bo a man devoid of all the finer feelings of our nature if the sight of that central vortex, around which havo circled -* !S^gßy incidents of transcendent interest; doca

; not awaken within his bieast sensations of th» i most profound emotion, as with quickened 1 pulse and tear-lillcd eye he for tho first tune be- . holds thegorious City in all its beauty stretched 1 out before him. And if ho wishes these emotional feelings to be intensified, before entering I the massive gut^s bo should iirst proceed to that j wo; Id - 1 5:101. j.i-d cm.ncnco the Mount of

Procee.ln:;< v.p She svccLvily of the sacred mount the iiivuiler ascends 'the path which li'ts termed Ihc highway to Bethany probably from the first settlement of Palestine, far back vi the dim vista of history, the very path which was often trod by the Saviour of the world on His w;y to visit His friends at tli«l village, i.eriicips even the very stones nno:i which h? ,-tcprcd. A_od at the turn of "thy track towards Dithany 13 probably the ldentica! spot v. neure He viewed the s-ite which wrs to ho hallowed for all time by His sniffennc"and expiatory death, and mournfully uttcrc I that paihetic apostrophe to the einng i:i'e the hot tears coumng down His sacred face a= He contempl-jtcd tho coming doom which Divine justice had decieed agimst it for its sins.

Suioly those fallni" teais have consecrated for all time t'io saciecf around upon whi-jh tluv fell.

Prom tins [joint is obtained a glonous ]><ospect of the lioiy City, and Lhe soul-stmi'v, spectacle recoils to Jic mmd (he long reco.U of the hi«toiy of l);e chosen race— from the time when its founder Abr.iham, with marvellous f.ut't and iA'AI rawe marvellous obedience, was toady to lmaoLite lam who was to he the parent of .1 line of successor who were to be as the &and of the seashore lor multitude right down thiongh the centuries until it lesti on tho crowning epoch of the whole long iecord, culnun'itmg in the nslounding tra^i A which the Eternal permitted to bo enacted im order that the fallen worlds m.glu b < r--.m ! from perdition

On Ins way down the bjuovoJ nioua- i.i traveller pas-es the gaulen of Crcthsera.;. v, possibly, and even probably, the very tits v.hich wilnps-e:! tho Kedeemer's av;fu! ago.,}, aud ho must be cold indeed v/ho could pondct without emotion those gnarled old olive tree?, sai.l to be a thousand or more years old, and perlnps the direct successors of those beneath which he writhe ! in a*i agony of appalling horror, the very blood oozing through Ji. , skm, not, however, from fear of the death lie knew was awaiting 111 in, but from the intense and loathing detestation and abhorrence of th.it oppressive and deadly burden of the sins of other i which was crushing His pure and holy soul right down, as it were, into a hell of revolting torment, a toituro winch was almost too much even for Ilira to bear. At His csy for help, however, angels were sent to ad mn.tstcr to Him, and lie wad strengthened to undergo the pain and mocking and in?rhs which were awaiting Him at the hands of lLs outrageous tormentors.

And surely the scene of all thetc Fiiff Tings of the adorable Son of God must be the one sw.t which must exceed in interest all other* in the great universe. The ;ur around must alwa} •> be crowded with tinsels, come down to contrr"plate the holy site. Ai.d if ledecmecl spiWU are allowed, before the rcsurrectcn, to 101 m throughout the universe, tins v.o-.iW bo t.V first place, out of Paradise, which they wou'il hasten to visit ; aud v/erc it possible for our liioital eyes to sec immortals, what a brilliant f-h'-i-ing anay of angels aud saints we should b"hold continually congregated around fcho^c lu>ilowed sites, some of them oye-vritnosses of tint wondarful exhibition of Divine ice to eianj, maiikipcl'