ch 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 lo
|