I turned from it soon, however, to look for a spot of still more absorbing interest. Where was Mount Calvary? Not far from me rose two domes, one somewhat peaked, the other one more obtuse, but very large. In all directions, however, were domes of various sizes, and the mind was puzzled, though still arrested by the position as well as the magnitude of these two. A couple of old and venerable looking monks were hanging over the parapet of a neighboring convent watching my motions, and turning to inquire of them, I found my surmise had been correct. This was the church of Mount Calvary and of the Holy Sepulchre.--“Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”--“At least,” a voice seemed to say to me, “walk here with seriousness and humility; bow thy head, and cleanse thy heart, and tread with meekness the ground trod by Him who was here humbled for thee, and here bore thy sins upon the cross.” It was the Sabbath also--this first day of our visit; and the quiet and healthful influence of that holy season was added to the power which Jerusalem would at any time have exercised upon the heart. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Imagination in its highest flights has not pictured a scene that will compare in interest, or in deep and searching pathos, with the reality here displayed in the redemption of man. It partakes of the character of all the works of God, combining a simplicity that opens it to the comprehension of all men, with a grandeur and sublimity that must excite the admiration of the highest seraphim. I have seen it where I have seen man’s proud philosophy quail and shrink into nothingness--in the sick room and by the dying bed; I have seen it come gently and quietly, and open the feeble lips in praise, and in utterance of joyful and triumphant hope. I have seen it sustain and cheer those whom the world, and the world’s enjoyments and earthly hopes too, had all deserted, and who would otherwise have been left in maddening solitude and wretchedness; I have seen it sustain them; and while the body was tortured with pains, I have seen it raise the mind superior to bodily feeling, and while the cold sweat was breaking out upon the brow, keep that brow calm and serene. The tortured child of clay thought of his Saviour’s humiliation and pains, and of the glory wrought out for him; and, in the boundless love that led to the sufferings of Calvary, found assurance that God was even now a friend closer than a brother, and would not desert him to the last. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ crucified, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;”--and the highest honor of my life was on that day, when I was permitted to walk amid scenes dignified and exalted by the great events of our redemption.