Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/133

 *side with sad and slow steps, they looked back from its top down upon the cross, that might still be seen in the dark valley, though dim with the shades of falling night! Their Lord, their teacher, their guide, their friend,—hung there between the heavens and the earth, among thieves, the victim of triumphant tyranny; and they, owing their safety only to the contemptuous forbearance of his murderers, must now, strangers in a strange land, seek a home among those who scorned them.

The of Calvary.—This expression will no doubt excite vast surprise in the minds of many readers, who have all their lives heard and talked of Mount Calvary, without once taking the pains to find out whether there ever was any such place. Such persons will, no doubt, find their amazement still farther increased, on learning that no Mount Calvary is mentioned in any part of the Bible, nor in any ancient author.

The whole account given of this name in the Bible, is in Luke xxiii. 33, where in the common translation it is said that Christ was crucified in "the place called Calvary." In the parallel passages in the other gospels, the Hebrew name only is given, Golgotha, which means simply "a skull." (Matt, xxvii. 33: Mark xv. 22: John xix. 17.) This particular place does not seem to be named and designated in any part of the Old Testament, but a very clear idea of its general situation can be obtained, from the consideration of the fact, that there was a place beyond the walls of Jerusalem, where all the dead were buried, and whither all the carcasses of slain animals were carried and left to moulder. This was that part of the valley of the Kedron which was called the valley of Tophet, or the vale of the son of Hinnom. This is often alluded to as the place of dead bodies. (Jer. vii. 32, &c.) Besides, all reason and analogy utterly forbid the supposition, that dead carcasses would be piled up on a "mount" or hill, to rot and send their effluvia all over the city in every favorable wind; while on the other hand, a deep valley like that of Hinnom would be a most proper place for carrying such offensive matters. Josephus, in his description of the temple, very particularly notices the fact, that all the blood and filth which flowed from the numerous sacrifices, was conveyed by a subterraneous channel or drain to this very valley.

THE RESURRECTION.

With such feelings they returned to Jerusalem, where the eleven, who were all Galileans, found places of abode with those of Christ's followers who were dwellers in the city. Here they passed the Sabbath heavily and sorrowfully, no doubt, and their thoughts must now have reverted to their former business, to which it now became each one of them to return, since he who had called them from their avocations could now no more send them forth on his errands of love. On the day after the sabbath, while such thoughts and feelings must still have distressed them, almost as soon as they had risen, some of them received a sudden and surprising call from several of the alarmed women, who having faithfully ministered to all the necessities of Jesus during his life, had been preparing to do the last sad offices to his dead body. The strange story brought by these was, that having gone early in the morning to the sepulcher, in the vale of Calvary, with this great object, they had been horror-struck to find the place in