It is to court the shades of night; it is to invite | interview with his mother. The pillar to which he was bound, when undergoing the punishment of being scourged, has been taken from the court near the Hall of Judgment, and affixed to the right of an altar, erected in a chapel at the extremity of the aisle; this chapel, and the altar within the sepulchre, are consecrated to the worship of the Catholics. The place where he was tortured by the crown of thorns, that of the agony, of his being affixed to the cross, and the partition of his vesture by lot, are all severally comprised within the considerable portion of mount Calvary. Tradition has even attempted to designate the spot where the mother of the Messiah stood, a weeping spectatress of the cruelties and ignominy to which he was exposed. limits of the Church, which is thus made to include a The irregularity of the surface on which the temple tion of that particular part of the mount, where the sacrifice of our Saviour was accomplished. The place where the cross was planted retains its original elevation, the adjacent ground being merely flattened suliciently to receive a marble pavement. It is seventeen or eighteen feet above the common floor, and is approached by one and twenty steps. The aperture in which the cross was fixed is below the centre of a Greek altar it appears to have been perforated in the rock, and is encircled by a large plate of silver, inscribed with bas-relief figures, representative of the Passion and other scriptural subjects: thirteen lamps are constantly burning over the altar. Instead, then, of opposing, let us yield to the mild influences of the Spirit. It is one of the first principles in conveying instruction to the young, to keep their minds open to good impressions. These become the seeds of virtues and graces to appear in after life. We are all, how-is erected, has been made subservient to the preservaever, as children under the training of the Divine Spirit; and it is our part to preserve a kindly feeling, a heart free and open to his entrance and influence, to receive his counsels with the meekness of wisdom, to tremble at his representations of the offensiveness of sin, and, instead of committing sin, willingly and knowingly, to shudder at the thought of committing it at all. Opening, then, our minds in this manner, listening to his voice as addressed to us in the Word of God, in the warnings of conscience, in the admonitions of friends, in the lessons taught by the vicissitudes of life, may we, my friends, all be led by him, and may his impressions now be the seeds of heavenly graces; and, being the evidences of our interest in Christ, in a land of change and sorrow, may they prove the foretastes and forerunners of peace and salvation in the mansions of eternal rest! A DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY From Jolliffe's Letters from Palestine. 2 Vols. 8vo. London 1822. THE tomb of our Saviour is enclosed in a Church to which it has given name, and appears in the centre of a rotunda, whose summit is crowned by a radiant cupola. Its external appearance is that of a superb mausoleum, having the surface covered with rich crimson damask hangings, striped with gold. The entrance looks towards the cast; but, immediately in front, a small chapel has been erected to commemorate the spot where the angel appeared to the two Marys. Just beyond this is the vault in which the Redeemer submitted to a temporary interment; the door of admission is very low, probably to prevent its being entered otherwise than in the attitude of adoration. The figure of the cave is nearly square, extending rather more than six feet lengthways, and being within a few inches of the same width; the height I should imagine to be about eight feet: the surface of the rock is lined with marble, and hung with silk of the colour of the firmament. At the north side, on a slab raised about two feet, the body of our Saviour was deposited; the stone, which had been much injured by the devotional zeal of the different pilgrims, is now protected with a marble covering; it is strewed with flowers and bedewed with rose-water, and over it are suspended four and forty lamps, which are ever burning. The greater part of these are of silver, richly chased; a few are of gold, and were furnished by the different sects of Christianity, who divide the possession of the Church. In an aisle north of the sepulchre, is the spot where Christ appeared to the Magdalen in the habit of a gardener; and a few steps further is the scene of his Not far from this part of the Church, but several fect below the level of the floor, is the descent to the well, where discovery was made of the cross and crown of thorns, and the spear with which one of the soldiers pierced our Saviour's side. An inscription to the memory of Godfroy and his brother is affixed to the wall, near the steps; but in repairing the injury which the Church suffered from fire about eight or ten years since, the Greek Catholics, who are proprietors of this part of the building, either from neglect or caprice, allowed the tablet to be plastered over. During the whole of the time that we were engaged in examining the objects of veneration, the numerous altars were thronged with votaries of the different sects, exercising, in their respective rituals, the solemnities of religion. On quitting the Church, we proceeded to the Mount of Olives: our road lay though the Via dolorosa, so called from its having been the passage by which Christ was conducted from the place of his imprisonment to Mount Calvary. The outer walls of what was once the residence of Pilate, are comprehended in this street; the original entrance to the palace is blocked up, and the present access is at one of the angles of the court. The portal was formerly in the centre, and approached by a flight of steps, which were removed some centuries ago to Rome, and are now in a small chapel near the Church of San Giovanni di Laterano. Very little of this structure is still extant; but the Franciscan monks imagine they have accurately traced out the dungeon in which our Saviour was incarcerated, as well as the hall where Cæsar's officer presided to give judg ment. The place where the Messiah was scourged is now a ruined court, on the opposite side of the street; and not far from thence, but in a direction nearer to Mount Calvary, is the arch which the Latin friars have named “ Il arco d'Ecce homo" from the expressions of Pilate as recorded by St. John, (chap. xix. 5.) Upon an eminence between the pillars which support the curvature, the Roman governor exhibited their illus. trious victim to his deluded countrymen. Between this place and the scene of his crucifixion, Christ is said to have fainted under the weight of the cross: tradition The Arch of "Behold the man." relates that he sunk beneath its pressure three times, and the different stages are supposed to have been accurately noted: they are severally designated by two columns, and an indenture in the wall. Towards the eastern extremity of the town, not far from the gate of St. Stephen, is the "piscina d'Israel:" this is the pool of Bethesda, which an angel was commissioned periodically to trouble. It appears to have been of considerable size, and finished with much care and architectural skill; but I was unable to ascertain either the depth or dimensions; for its contiguity to the enclosure, which contains the mosque of Omar, made it rather hazardous to approach even the outer borders; and our dragoman entreated us to be satisfied with a cursory view. Near to this place is the Church of St. Anna, so named from being erected on the ground where the house of the Virgin's mother formerly stood, and where the Virgin herself was born. Between that structure and Pilate's palace is the Torre Antoniana, a ruined pile, which has a more striking air of antiquity than any other building in the city. [ing the valley watered by the Jordan, and the entrance of that river into the Dead Sea, which appears like a vast plateau of burnished silver. The place where our Saviour dictated the universal prayer to his disciples, is supposed to have been a garden about one hundred yards to the north-west. In an opposite quarter, and farther removed from the apex of the hill, is the cave where the apostles assembled to compose the creed which bears their name. It is a long subterranean recess supported by twelve arches, but no otherwise an object of curiosity, than as having been the retreat of those illustrious martyrs. CHRISTIAN TREASURY. Health of the Soul.-It is pitiable and melancholy to hear with what accuracy a sick man will describe all the marks and features of his disorder, how every passing pain, every change, every symptom, and every fluctuation of health and strength, is treasured up, and amplified, and discussed. What a physician does the sick Just without the walls is the scene of St. Stephen's man become in his own case! Nay, with what seeming martyrdom we passed over it in our descent to the pleasure does he dwell upon every circumstance! With brook Kedron, which flows through the valley of Jeho- what fond and longing eloquence he can expatiate upon saphat, at the base of the mountain. At present the his pangs and his sufferings, as if he loved them because channel is entirely dry, the breadth is little more than a they are his own! But if you inquire into the health of yard, and the depth scarcely two feet. At a short dishis eternal soul, its sicknesses, its symptoms, its peculiar tance to the left is a cavern, which has been consecratconstitution, its signs of life and death; all dumb, all ed to the sepulchres of the Virgin, of Joseph, of St. languid, all flat and unprofitable! Before we go farther, Anne, and St. Joachim. It is a very magnificent vault, is not this a sufficient proof that all is wrong, that the spacious, and chastely ornamented, and preserved with spirit within him has been left to take care of itself, great care and neatness; the descent includes fifty steps. while the heap of dust to which it is attached has exThe several tombs are distinguished by chapels and cited such an interest, that every grain of it seems to altars, with the usual accompaniments of lamps and have been weighed and counted! O that it would tapers, and embellished with decorations adapted to the force itself upon our senses, and burst itself upon our respective characters whose virtues they commemorate. notice! O that this mysterious stranger within us could We had no means of ascertaining on what authority it appear to us in some palpable shape, that we might inis asserted that the mother of the Messiah expired at spect, and handle, and examine it, that we might be Jerusalem, or that her mortal remains were preserved in able to feel the beating of its pulse, and watch the such a receptacle. It is worse than useless to apply for changes of its complexion, that we might know when information on points of this nature at the convent. it looked pale, and sickly, and death-like, and when it Any attempt to investigate traditionary statements, wore the fresh and rosy hue of health! But it hides itseems to be regarded by our hosts as conveying an ob- self from my view,-it muffles itself from my observalique reflection on their own credulity. The date of tion; and though I can amuse myself with looking at the the sepulchre is entirely unknown. The Gospel repre-perishable body in which it is contained through a misents the Virgin as being consigned, by the dying injunction of our Saviour, to his beloved disciple, and some authors have conjectured that she closed her earthly existence at Ephesus; yet, whatever was the original destination of this vault, the cost and labour which must have been expended in its construction, sufficiently entitle it to be classed amongst those objects which claim an attentive examination. After passing the bridge thrown over the bed of the rivulet, a few paces brought us to the garden of Gethsemane, where the Messiah prayed in agony, and the sweat fell from him as it were great drops of blood. Here too was the scene of Judas's treason. This spot, scarcely half an acre in extent, is partly enclosed by a low wall, and contains eight venerable olive trees, which are said to have been growing at the time of Christ's entrance into the city. They have certainly the marks of extreme age, but Josephus expressly states, that all the trees which were in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, were cut down by Titus, for the purpose of embankments. At the summit of the mountain is fixed the scene of our Saviour's last appearance on earth, and his ascension into heaven. The impression said to have been made by his foot, is engraved on the surface of the rock, so as to preserve a record of the Messiah's attitude when he bade adieu to this lower world. It appears from thence, that Christ's left hand was towards Jerusalem, which lays west of the mountain, and that his face was consequently directed to the north. The view from this elevation is grand and extensive, comprehend croscope, and studying its very infirmities with a fond and melancholy delight, I do not feel a sufficient interest in the immortal and unseen spirit within to follow it into its hiding-places, and pursue it into its recesses.— Wolfe's Remains. law of God and the justice of God; should it not then Satisfaction for Guilt.-Christ's blood satisfies the satisfy the sinner's guilty conscience?-R. Hill. Virtue, its Nature and Attendants.-St. Augustine defines virtue to be nothing else, than to love that is to be loved. Thus it has a sweet reference to all the graces. To love this is knowledge; not to be seduced from it by allurements, is temperance; not to be removed from it by calamity, is patience; to do this for God's cause is godliness; to communicate it to others is brotherly kindness; to dilate it to all men is charity. Knowledge seeks virtue; temperance finds it; patience suffers for it; godliness possesses it; charity communicates it. These are so linked together by a golden chain of harmony, like the tabernacle curtains of blue silk, that, pull one, pull all. Hath any man virtue, he must have knowledge, the ignorant are not capable of the habit of virtue. If there be knowledge, temperance will follow, for folly is the mother of surfeit, but abstinence is the daughter of wisdom. If temperance, then surely there will be patience. Temperance doth no wrong, patience suffers it. He that abhors to hurt others, will much less hurt himself. If patience, there must be piety, for the thankworthy patience is that which, for conscience toward God, endureth wrongful grief. If we be content to suffer evil for God, surely we will do good for God. If godliness go before, paternal kindness will follow after, for no man can love the invisible God and hate his visible brother. If kindness to our brother in Christ, then charity to all. A heathen will be kind to his friends. A Christian must be charitable to his enemies. This is a golden chain. The wicked have a chain, their pride compasseth them about as a chain, the cord or chain of their sins, one end whereof reaches to hell. But thy chain is tied to heaven by the one end thereof, fasten the other end to thy conscience, it shall draw thee up thither.-ADAMS. But Saith The way to the kingdom prepared.-When God sends men to enter his kingdom, they cowardly excuse themselves, as Israel did. There be giants, the sons of Anak. There are principalities and powers to withstand us. Christ answers, I have slain them on my cross. There is a great red dragon, I have chained him sure enough. That blessed angel, who hath the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, hath bound the dragon, the old serpent, for ever. there is a fortification of the law against us. Christ, I have scaled that fort, performed full obedience to the law, and given full satisfaction to justice for you. But there is a deep trench-a sea of glass before the throne--none shall be got over that to the kingdom. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. But there is a high wall and mighty gates, too high to climb over, and too thick to break through. You need not attempt such a course, for the gates are set open,-the gates of it shall no more be shut at all. But there wants room for so many as thou invitest to this kingdom. No, in my Father's house are many mansions,— there is room enough for you all. Thus is this entrance ready for us. God grant we may be ready for this entrance.-Old Puritan Writer. HEBREW IDYLS. BY PROFESSOR TENNANT. No. II. HILLEL, OR THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM. Time-dawn of day. Scene-Zophim, on or near Mount Pisgah, about ten miles north-east of the Dead Sea. HEAV'N's high revolving wheel, that bears And dimming more and more their glow; The shepherd Hillel was awake, Ere he had reached fair Zophim's height, (The bay whose bottoms lie all bright, They sat them down on Zophim's height, Before them lay the land all wide, green That shine far gleaming in the sun; "Lock round," said Hillel," look abroad, "And in yon sea," Hilkiah said, "That glitters in the morning red, Yon sea, that still and stagnant stands O'er sinful Sodom's domes and lands, Behold of Him who rules on high The justice and the majesty! " They paus'd, and fed their museful mood A while upon that prospect good, Up-sending their still morning praise To Him whom earth and heav'n obeys. When thus the shepherd-youth begun, (Mebunnai's wisdom-loving son ;) 66 Hillel thy hymns to us are dear; More sweet than turtle's song to hear: The breath of morn, that wafts along From Elam's groves sweet odours strong, The breath of eve, whose lulling breeze Brings freshness from the Tyrian seas, The shade of rock, the green retreat Of forest in the mid-day's heat, In Elul's mouth, are not more dear Than are thy sweet songs to mine ear; Then, sing, my friend, that lay, wherein Is sung God's punishment of sin, How yonder glimmering sea first roll'd Her waves o'er Sodom's spires of gold :— My father heard the hymn, what day And with thee sought, for converse sweet, Fain too would hear, and laud it high." "O Seal that show'st afar thy stream Flung dazzling back the morning's glance; Her streets they walk'd; one night's brief time "Awake, my harp! my soul record As whirl'd the reeling cloud all round, Earth, from her bowels, bursting fire, For now, through all its length, the vale, The meads, where pasturing trod the kine, The slopes, o'erclad with flowering vine, The corn-clad furrows of the field, Heaved, and upswelled, and rolled, and reeled, "Awake, my harp! my soul record "Awake, my harp! my soul record At once was, by th' Almighty's hand, They fought not-but agreed to kill; "Awake, my harp! my soul record The dreadful doings of the Lord! He stood, and saw the plains beneath, "Thus did the Lord shower down a rain O thou my soul! be hush'd in fear, He ceased they heard the hymn with joy, Its waves o'er Sodom's spires of gold. MISCELLANEOUS. The King of Sweden. Of all the singular virtues which united in the character of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, that which crowned the whole was his exemplary piety to God. The following is related of him when he was once in the camp before Werben. He had been alone in the cabinet of his pavilion some hours together, and none of his attendants, at these seasons, durst interrupt him. At length, however, a favourite of his, having some important matter to tell him, came softly to the door, and looking in, beheld the king very devoutly on his knees at prayer. Fearing to molest him in that sacred exercise, he was about to withdraw his head, when the king espied him, and bidding him come in, said, "Thou wonderest to see me in this posture, since I have so many thousands of subjects to pray for me but I tell thee, that no man has more need to pray for himself, than he who being to render an account of his actions to none but God, is for that reason more closely assaulted by the devil than all other men beside." When the town of Landshut, in Bavaria, surrendered to him at discretion, the principal inhabitants of it fell down upon their knees before him, and presented him with the keys of their town. Rise, rise," said he, "it is your duty to fall upon your knees to God, and not to so frail and feeble a mortal as I am." The Efficacy of Prayer.-A lady in New York, who had openly avowed infidel principles, was brought to the verge of the grave. Although she and her husband had professed their attachment to deistical abominations, they had yet been accustomed to attend upon the ministry of that faithful, eloquent, and zealous servant of God, the Rev. Dr Mason. In the prospect of death she sent for the Doctor, and, upon his arrival, she declared that she neither felt herself to be a sinner, nor believed in the doctrine of mediation. " Then," said the Doctor, "I have no consolation for you, not one word of comfort. There is not a single passage in the Bible that warrants me to speak peace to one who rejects the Mediator provided; you must take the consequences of your infidelity." He was on the point of leaving the room, when one said, "Well, if you cannot speak consolation to her you can pray for her." To this he assented, and kneeling down by the bed-side, prayed for her as a guilty sinner just sinking into hell, and then rising from his knees, he left the house. To his great surprise, a day or two after, he received a message from the lady herself, earnestly desiring that he would come down and see her, and that without delay. He immediately obeyed the summons. But what was his amazement, when on entering the room, she held out her hand to him, and said, with a benignant smile, "It is all true, all that you said on the Sabbath is true. I have seen myself the wretched sinner you described me to be in prayer. I have seen Christ to be that allsufficient Saviour you said he was, and God has mercifully snatched me from the abyss of infidelity in which I was sunk, and placed me on that rock of ages. There I am secure, there I shall remain: I know whom I have believed.'' The prayer which had been offered by the Doctor, was the means of bringing her to a sense of her sinfulness, her last moments were employed in the exercises of penitence and devotion, and she passed into eternity in that state of the soul which afforded a well-grounded hope of her acceptance with God through the merits and for the sake of a crucified Redeemer. A Pious Physician.—It was the daily practice of that eminent physician, Dr Boerhaave, throughout his whole life, as soon as he arose in the morning (which was generally very early) to retire for an hour for private prayer and meditation on some part of the Scriptures. He often told his friends, when they asked him how it was possible for him to go through so much fatigue, "That it was this which gave him spirit and vigour in the business of the day." This therefore he recommended as the best rule he could give. "For nothing, he said, could tend more to the health of the body than the tranquillity of the mind; and that he knew nothing which could support himself or his fellowcreatures amidst the various distresses of life, but a well-grounded confidence in the Supreme Being, upon the principles of Christianity." God is Everywhere. During the ravages of the great plague in London, Lord Craven, whose house was situated where Craven Street now stands, alarmed at the progress of the disease, determined to retire into the country. His carriage was at the door, and he was passing through the hall to enter it, when he heard a negro servant saying to another domestic, "I suppose, by my Lord's quitting London to avoid the plague, that his God lives in the country, and not in town." The negro said this in the innocent simplicity of his heart, really believing in a plurality of gods. The speech, however, struck Lord Craven most forcibly. My God," thought he, "lives everywhere, and can preserve me in town as well as in the country. I will even stay where I am. The ignorance of that negro has preached a useful sermon to me. Lord pardon that unbelief, and that distrust of thy Providence, which made me think of running away from thy hand." He countermanded his orders for the journey, he remained in London, he was remarkably useful in administering to the necessities of the sick, and he was saved from the surrounding infection. He makes the Wrath of Man to praise Him.-Soon after Tindale's New Testament was published, a royal proclamation was issued to prohibit the buying and reading of such translation or translations. But this served to increase the public curiosity, and to occasion a more careful reading of what was deemed so obnoxious. One step, taken by the Bishop of London, afforded some merriment to the Protestants. His lordship thought that the best way to prevent these English New Testaments from being circulated, would be to buy the whole impression, and therefore employed a Mr Packington, who secretly favoured the Reformation, then at Antwerp, for this purpose; assuring him, at the same time, that, cost what they would, he would have them, and burn them at St. Paul's Cross. Upon this, Packington applied himself to Tindale (who was then at Antwerp,) and, upon agreement, the Bishop had the books, Packington great thanks, and Tindale all the money. This enabled Tindale instantly to publish a new and more correct edition, so that they came over thick and three-fold, into England, which occasioned great rage in the disappointed Bishop and his Popish friends. One Constantine, being soon after apprehended by Sir Thomas More, and being asked how Tindale and others subsisted abroad, readily answered, "That it was the Bishop of London who had been their chief supporter, for he had bestowed a great deal of money upon them in the purchase of New Testaments, to burn them; and that upon that cash they had subsisted till the sale of the second edition was received." Published by JOHN JOHNSTONE, at the Offices of the SCOTTISH CHRISTIAN HERALD, 104, High Street, Edinburgh, and 19, Glassford Street, Glasgow; JAMES NISBET & Co., HAMILTON, ADAMS & Co., and R. GROOMBRIDGE, London; W. CURRY, Junr. & Co., Dublin; and W. M'COMB, Belfast; and sold by the Booksellers and Local Agents in all the Towns and Parishes of Scotland; and in the principal Towns in England and Ireland. Subscribers in Edinburgh and Leith will have their copies delivered at their own residences regularly, by leaving their addresses with the Publisher, or with John Lindsay & Co., 7, South St Audrew Street.-Subscribers in Glasgow will, in like manner, have their copies delivered, by leaving their addresses at the Publishing Office there, 19, Glassford Street. 1s. 6d.-per half-year, of twenty-four weeks, 3s. per year, of fortySubscription (payable in advance) per quarter, of twelve weeks, eight weeks, 6s.-Monthly Parts, containing four Numbers each, stitched in a printed wrapper, prite Sixpence. Printed at the Steam-Press of Ballantyne & Co., from the Stereo. type Plates of Thomas Allan & Co. |