Wherever the crucifixion took place, it was surely in the open air, beneath the wide sky, and the cross that stood on Golgotha has become the light at the centre of the world's night. _A PSALM OF THE UNSEEN ALTAR_ _Man the maker of cities is also a builder of altars: Among his habitations he setteth tables for his god._ _He bringeth the beauty of the rocks to enrich them: Marble and alabaster, porphyry, jasper and jade._ _He cometh with costly gifts to offer an oblation: He would buy favour with the fairest of his flock._ _Around the many altars I hear strange music arising: Loud lamentations and shouting and singing and sighs._ _I perceive also the pain and terror of their sacrifices: I see the white marble wet with tears and with blood._ _Then I said, These are the altars of ignorance: Yet they are built by thy children, O God, who know thee not._ _Surely thou wilt have pity upon them and lead them: Hast thou not prepared for them a table of peace?_ _Then the Lord mercifully sent his angel forth to lead me: He led me through the temples, the holy place that is hidden._ _Lo, there are multitudes kneeling in the silence of the spirit: They are kneeling at the unseen altar of the lowly heart._ _Here is plentiful forgiveness for the souls that are forgiving: And the joy of life is given unto all who long to give._ _Here a Father's hand upholdeth all who bear each other's burdens: And the benediction falleth upon all who pray in love._ _Surely this is the altar where the penitent find pardon: And the priest who hath blessed it forever is the Holy One of God._ VII JERICHO AND JORDAN I "GOING DOWN TO JERICHO" In the memory of every visitor to Jerusalem the excursion to Jericho is a vivid point. For this is the one trip which everybody makes, and it is a convention of the route to regard it as a perilous and exciting adventure. Perhaps it is partly this flavour of a not-too-dangerous danger, this shivering charm of a hazard to be taken without too much risk, that attracts the average tourist, prudently romantic, to make the journey to the lowest inhabited town in the world.