Show AROUND JERUSALEM the environs of the holy city are not less interesting than the cit city itself everywhere every where it is holy brouny ground and a description of jerusalem would be incomplete without reference to the various surroundings which play such an important role in sacred history having in a previous letter attempted to give a representation of the most moat interesting points within the walls of the city I 1 would now invite the readers of the DESERET NEWS to follow me on a foot tour outside these walls leaving jerusalem through the ste stephen hen gate on the east side we find fing a road leading down into the dee deep valley of kidron or valley of J josaphat osa phat not far from the gate is a stone which la Is supposed to mark the place where the first martyr for christianity stephen was stoned to death on this occasion we first hear of the afterwards great reat apostle of the gentiles paul N going at over a small bridge we cross the kidron a dried up creek in which water is found only after heavy rain the valley of ls is according to jewish and lahomme dan tradition the place where the last judgment shall be held the prophet hommed mahammed Ma shall on that day stand on a pillar which pro trudea from the wall of the haram the baaba in mecca shall come to the es cachra mosque in jerusalem christ is sitting on a throne on the mount of olivet across tm valley and a bridge abridge as thin as a hair is suspended across the abyss everybody must cross this bridge the good will be helped over b by the angels but the bad will fall down and be forever lost thus runs the account of the last judgment and many people have their graves here I 1 in u order to beat be at hand as soon as the jud judgment ment trumpet shall sound according according to the prophet pro phet joel a great judgment will be held in this valley at the winding up of the present dispensation a judgment which will affect the nations who have dealt cruelly with the children of judah in their long captivity compare joel ill 1 3 xiv 14 14 21 we continue 0 our ur walk to the left and follow the tide of pilgrims who go 0 to worship at the grave of the argin virgin mary this is a subterranean chapel built at the time of the crusaders not far from this grave we find a cave which is pointel pointed out as the place where our savior sweated blood during his prayer in gethsemane Getha emane and a few steps further on we reach the garden Itself where jesus spent the last hours of his life on earth and where he was betrayed by one of the twelve the garden is very small and still con taino a few olive trees some of which look old enough to have stood there already when our blessed savior sought repose under their shady branches from gethsemane we ascend mount olivet the top of which we reach in a quarter of an hour here jesus shed tears over the sinful city and ana from nere here lie he probably ascended edento into heaven his work in the flesh being completed on the highest point the russians have built a tower from the top ol of which is obtained a grand view of the surroundings roun dings to the west the holy city with its hundreds of towers and cupolas cu to the east the valley of jordan and the dead sea 1200 metres under our feet not far from the tower we are shown an old church which is pointed out as the one in which the disciples composed the so called Sym bolum apostol icum and having seen this we view the pater noster church built on the spot where the monks believe the lord sat when he taught his disciples disciple a the lords prayer this church is a very neat building ornamented with 32 marble statues on which the lords prayer is written in 32 different languages the graves of the prophets a magnificent russian church ab coloms grave and the pyramids of zechariah are all worth seeing continuing our tour we soon arrive at the valley of hinnom a wild looking rocky canyon here are pointed out the tree on which judas ended his life after having betrayed our lord and ateo also the hakel bakel dama that was bought for the money which the priests refused to accept from his guilty hands it has been thought that the valley has its ite name hinnom from a person so called but it is more probable that the name the valley of the sons of hinnom means literally translated the valley of the sons of groaning por for here near the mouth of the valley of kidron was the place where the apostate kings ahab manasseh and amon sacrificed children in honor of the shocking idol baal moloch hence the name fireplace king josiah put an end to this fearful idolatry and from this time the place was a receptacle for the bodies of executed criminals and all kinds of uncleanness which was thrown out from the city and here consumed by an almost continually burning fire thus the name Ge hinnom greek geenna became in the oriental language with figurative expressions so richly ornamented a symbol of hell the place of the eternal punishment of the wicked we now continue our walk to the end of the valley and ascend the traditional mount zion on which the possess a couple of large buildings called the prophet david cehi daud at the time of the empress helen a church was erected here but at the present time the christians have no possession here entering the building we are shown a large hall Coena culum in which as we are told christ ate his last passover with his disciples and instituted the lords supper in another part of the building WO W are shown the of divid daviu thi covered with a large cloth abw the grave of david was on mount zion is sure enough ac according cordin w nehemiah tit iii 15 but that the mft homm edans have found his hie conn and still can show it is of co course ullo doubtful we now continue our walk pa past the jaffa gate and the damascus gate until we arrived at the cave ave 0 the prophet jeremiah but the called it He damye this cave e also in the hands of the dans and it appears that an old ow sheik has here taken up his N dence in order to enjoy the q qui ude of life in the circle of his wives IV and children after much kno knowing on the door we secured an ed trance and the back beilla bebb paid we are shown the grave of thap sultan ibrahim the grave of jera miah the prophet and the baw where he composed com composed posea his lamen lamenta eions 11 bewailing the destruction of OT jerusalem by may be mentioned here that SOT consider the hill above this cave 0 w be the calvary hill on which our savior was crucified I 1 v we have now almost scribed ascribed the holy city and return to our humble lodgings meditating 01 0 the events of the past so vividn brought to our minds by everything we see here As I 1 write this letter one of wj MY neighbors informs me the saull su tan has just issued a I firman bl y which the concession has been givel to a french company of capita liaw to build a railroad from to jerusalem and from haifa to T dw m mascus cus and that the german fists have sent a telegram thanks the sultan for this firman atil AO further information on this I 1 have not been able to obtain but I 1 suppose there is some truth in the toa rumor certain it is that his turk ish majesty like all earthly nion archs aichs needs vast sums of money molley and for money almost anything dan 0 be had here as well as in dw america ironey money can open way even for railways A jew wey old once told me that the railway WO wood be the forerunner for messiah ao one of the means by which jhb to children of israel should retal bretal from their exile he referred to w where the prophet in hio bw vision sees the jews scattered among the n nations at t I 1 on S br bringing 1 ng 1 ng th lawr offerings to jerusalem on tario conveyances on horses and ast wa Y ons and mules and on kirka rOth this word kir haroth l has been variously translated commonly V ima meaning swift runners runner sn or 0 camels pAT nela it tt Is IR however colva cow from kar a furnace and karkar karkafi kark aft sway and might be rendered aw ing furnaces the P prophet h e tivI dett ly tried to coin a word for ilor a train which he saw in his but for which object the langu langew gf then had no word taking this explanation of 01 wv pas passage e the building of railway railways 8 jf th the I 1 voly holy land is certainly one 0 the signs of the times which W people of god will do well to W sider older adieu J M JERUSALEM april 1889 |