Chapter 44 - Jerusalem - Sacred Places
Chapter 44 - Jerusalem - Sacred Places
JERUSALEM-SACRED PLACES.|
Sacred shrines.|Jews' wailing-place.|
The Holy Sepulcher.|Remains of ancient arch.|
"Navel of the Earth."|Ancient oriental cities.|
Holy lire.|Size of ancient Jerusalem.|
A house in Jerusalem.|Jerusalem during festivals|
The virtuous woman-Customs|Siege by Titus|
Jews of Jerusalem|Modern history.|
Instrumental music.|Bethany-Bethphage.|
Mosque of Omar-El Aksa.|Sacred scenes on Olivet.| vSacred Shrines
When you were laying down rules for visiting these sacred localities with safety and advantage, I felt and remarked that the whole truth had not been stated, and I now resume the subject in connection with my visit to the Holy Sepulcher, and inquire whether it is not possible that we carry our disgust at what is doubtful or puerile much further than is necessary-or profitable. For example, do not the purest and best feelings of our nature prompt us to preserve and protect from desecration such sites as this of the Holy Sepulcher? And then, again, look at another aspect of the matter. Suppose that on our arrival here we inquired for the tombs of prophets and kings who rendered this place so illustrious, and were answered by the people that they knew nothing about them; that they had never heard of such men as David and Solomon; that there were neither tradition nor memento of their ever having lived and reigned in this city. "Strangers from a distance, like you, come to us with these stories, but neither we nor our fathers ever heard of them, nor is there any locality in our vicinity that has now, or ever had, any such associations connected with it.”
vReverence Due to Sacred Sites
And if our most diligent inquiries proved fruitless-there really were no Calvary at Jerusalem, no Garden of Gethsemane, no Bethlehem, no Olivet, no Bethany-would we not, upon opening our New Testaments, look into each other's face with perplexity and blank dismay? On the other hand, what is it now that gives such supreme gratification to our visit at Jerusalem? Is it not these very names, clinging to these sacred sites and scenes with invincible tenacity, through wars and destructions absolutely without parallel, and repeated down long centuries of most dismal darkness and confusion worse confounded And because, in the death-struggle to hold fast these sacred land-marks, ignorant men or crafty priests have perverted them to selfish purposes, or pushed becoming reverence and love over into sinful superstition, are we therefore to scout the whole thing, and scowl upon these cherished sites, and upon those who have cherished them, as though they were guilty of the sin of witchcraft? I more than admit that nothing can justify idolatry; but is even a little too much reverence in such a case as odious to Him in whose honor it is manifested as cold contempt or proud neglect?
One more of my many thoughts and reflections to-day:-If these sacred sites were to be preserved at all, how was this to be done? Leave the stable and the manger just as they were on the night of the advent, you reply; and so Calvary, and the garden, and the sepulcher. Certainly this would have been more satisfactory, but then it would have required a succession of the most stupendous miracles from that day to this. War, earthquake, fire, and fierce fanaticism have driven by turns their plowshares of destruction through all these scenes, and to preserve them exactly where and as they were became impossible; and when kings and princes sought to restore and preserve them, they did it in accordance with the sentiments of the age. Hence arose over and around these sites the splendid basilica and the spacious convent. We may regret their bad taste, we condemn their superstitions, we must abhor their frauds, but we cannot wisely refuse the confirmation of our faith and hope which their faulty zeal has furnished.
vThe Holy Sepulcher
This train of reflection has, as I said, been suggested by a visit to the Holy Sepulcher. I have come to regard that as by far the most interesting half acre on the face of the earth. Nor is this appreciation materially affected by the doubts which hang over the questions of identity and genuineness. Around that spot, whether it be or be not the real tomb, have clustered the hopes and affections of the great Christian world for sixteen centuries at least, and with all but a few learned men it is still the accepted representative and locale of events of such transcendent magnitude as cast all others into the category of mere vanities. The reputed sepulcher of the Son of God is no place for soulless criticism, calm, cold, and hard as the rock itself.
Your imagination, I perceive, has been quite captivated, and yet I do not believe you have explored half the wonders of that wondrous temple. Did you see the altar of Melchizedek? No! Nor that on which Isaac was sacrificed-nor the chapel of St. John-nor of the angels-nor the marble chair on which St. Helena sat-nor the chapel of the division of garments-nor the sweating pillar-nor the navel of the world-nor the place where Mary Magdalene stood-nor the chapel of Adam-nor the rent in the rock whence his skull leaped out-nor the altar of the penitent thief-nor-
You may cut short your categories; I saw none of these things, probably because I asked not for them.
Possibly the "scourge" of modern skepticism has whipped them all out of this temple; no very wonderful achievement, for, as credulity brought them in, unbelief can cast them out. But you should not have undertaken to go the round of these "pilgrim stations" without some courageous champion for their integrity by your side.
vCassini’s Work
Here, for example, are three smart volumes of Padre Francesco Cassini, an Italian monk of the Minori Riformati. They are the very latest thing of the kind, hot from the press at Genoa this very year, and dedicated to Ferdinand Second of Naples, better known by the sobriquet of Bomba,-a real curiosity in their way, lively, full of wit, Metastasio, and the Bible, three things remarkable in a brother of the Riformati. His countless quotations from the Bible are, however, all in good old canonical Latin, and therefore harmless to the general reader. It is refreshing to follow a gentleman and a scholar who treads fearlessly among all these crumbling traditions of the Dark Ages. He would have been an admirable guide for you.
I prefer my own way, and my own thoughts were my best companions. There were but few people present, and but little noise, and the impression produced was solemn and very sad. Though there may not be one thing there that had any actual connection with the passion of our Savior, yet they have long represented the various scenes of that mysterious and awful, yet joyful transaction, and I gave myself up to reverent, devout meditation and humble prayer.
vFirst Visit
You have been fortunate. My introduction to this church was totally different, and the first impressions most unhappy. It was on the 6th of April, 1833. I arrived from Ramleh much fatigued, but, as an important ceremony was going forward in the church, I hastened thither at once. The whole vast edifice was crowded with pilgrims from all parts of the world, and it was with difficulty that I followed my companion into the rotunda. There a priest who knew us came up, and, after inquiring about the news of the day, asked if we would be conducted into the interior of the Greek chapel, where the religious services were going on, and then, summoning a Turkish cawass, we began to move in that direction.
vA Human Pavement
To my amazement and alarm, the cawass began to beat the crowd over the head, when down they crouched to the floor, and we walked over their prostrate bodies! There was no help for it; those behind, rising up, thrust us forward.
vNavel of the Earth
After proceeding some distance, we paused to take breath where the crowd was more dense and obstinate than usual, and I was seriously informed that this was the exact navel of the earth, and these obstinate pilgrims were bowing and kissing it. Finally we reached the altar at the east end without any serious injury to the living causeway which we had traversed, and I had time to look about me. The scene throughout had all the interest of entire novelty. I was young, and fresh from America, and was seized with an almost irrepressible propensity to laugh. The noise was deafening, and there was not the slightest approximation to devotion visible, or even possible, so far as I could judge; while the attitudes, costumes, gestures, and sounds which met the eye and stunned the ear were infinitely strange and ludicrous. Such splendor, too, I had never seen. By the aid of numerous lamps the whole church seemed to flash and blaze in burning gold. I stood near the altar, which was covered with gold cloth, and decorated with censers, golden candlesticks, and splendid crucifixes.
vThe Interior
A bench of bishops and priests filled the entire space within the railing, and two monks were waving, or, more accurately, swinging their censers before them. The "cloud of incense" rose wreathing and circling to the upper dome, diffusing on all sides a strong aromatic odor. After some delay, the whole priesthood of those denominations which then united in this ceremony were assembled, properly robed and fumigated, and, with lighted candle in either hand, stood ready for the grand feat of the day. In single file, seventy priests and bishops, in long robes of gold and silver texture, marched out into the body of the church with solemn pomp. Turkish officers went before, beating the heads of the crowd, who bowed down as they had done for us. Slowly the gorgeous procession worked its way along the north side, singing, with nasal twang and stentorian lungs, harsh harmony in barbarous Greek. In a few minutes they returned, laid aside their robes, extinguished their tapers, and the multitude dispersed, greatly enlightened by-a vast number of wax candles, and edified by a devout manifestation of splendid canonicals. Our friend, in his robes and with candles lighted, inquired in the careless tones of ordinary conversation concerning our journey, the roads, Ibrahim Pasha, and the war that was then going on with the Sultan; while the people in the body of the church were laughing, talking, praying, shouting, or quarreling, as suited their convenience. The noise was perfectly astounding to American ears. I would have taken the whole affair for a city auction, or the exhibition of a traveling show, rather than an assembly engaged in the worship of God. Such was my introduction to the Holy Sepulcher; and I have never been able to banish from my mind the first unhappy impressions, nor can I visit the church with either pleasure or profit.
vThe Exterior
I am thankful that I have no such associations to disturb and disgust. I entered the open court from Palmer Street, which there runs east and west. This court is paved with the common flag-stone of Jerusalem, and I judged it to be about ninety feet long and seventy wide. Certain parts of the church seem to be ancient,-that is, of the Greek Empire anterior to the Crusades. The two ample doorways are elaborately ornamented with the architectural devices common on all temples and churches of that era. The whole, however, is much dilapidated, and disfigured with additions and patch-work of every conceivable degree of barbarism. The campanile on the west of the court must have been an imposing tower when perfect.
It is said to have been five stories high, and richly ornamented, but there remain now only the two lower, with the ruins of the third. The under story is the chapel of St. John, south of it is that of Mary Magdalene, and adjoining this is the Chapel of St. James. These are now ordinary churches.
Having entered by the great door, only one of whose large leaves was open, I came upon the "stone of unction," with its colossal wax candles. Turning westward along the aisle, and then north, I entered the grand rotunda between two huge square columns. This is striking and impressive.
vThe Dome
I estimated the height of the dome to be about one hundred feet, and the circular opening at the top, for light, to be about fifteen feet in diameter. This dome is sadly out of repair, and the rain must descend in torrents over the whole south-western part of the rotunda.
Its covering of lead has been torn off by the winds, and a contest between the rival races of monks for the privilege of making the repairs keeps it in this ruinous condition.
vThe Sepulcher
Of course, "the Sepulcher" was the object which most attracted my attention, and I had as good an opportunity to examine it as could be desired. Externally it looks very much like a small marble house. All the world knows that it is twenty-six feet long and about eighteen broad, and, I should think, something more than twenty feet high. It stands quite alone, directly under the aperture in the center of the dome. I went into the Chapel of the Angel by its low door, saw the stone on which the angel sat; crept into the proper sepulcher room, and looked at the raised, altar-like recess on the north side, whose fine marble slab is said to cover the real rock couch where the body of our Lord was laid. I did not measure these rooms, nor count the silver lamps which crowd the little apartment overhead. A thousand pilgrims have counted and measured, and given very various results.
vGreek Church
As to the lamps, they seem really to vary in number from time to time. There are at least forty of them now, and I do not well see how there can he any more suspended from the roof. The Chapel of the Angel is admitted to be artificial, but it is stoutly maintained by all who venerate the place that the small anterior room is a genuine rock tomb, merely cased in marble. The ecclesiastical tradition is, that Constantine's architect caused the rock to be cut away all round this tomb, so as to leave it standing alone, beneath the church raised over it. This is certainly possible, but if it could be proved it would settle nothing as to the identity of this sepulcher with that of Joseph of Arimathea. I could not tell whether it was native rock or artificial masonry, nor do I care which it is, or whether it is partly natural and partly artificial.
After standing a long time in front of this affecting tomb, I sauntered off into the Greek Church; It is a gorgeous affair, blazing with gold quite up to the dome. It is a sort of cruciform structure, with the high altar at the east end, and broad transepts at the west. I judged it to be about one hundred feet from west to east, and nearly the same from north to south.
vChapel St. Helena
The only other places that I cared to visit were the Chapel of St. Helena, to which I descended eastward from the grand circular aisle by thirty steps. It is a half-subterranean church, nearly fifty feet square. There are various altars and sacred places in it connected with the "invention" of the cross, which, however, actually took place in a real cave, to which one descends still further eastward by twelve steps. In this cave the pious Helena (so the Church tells us) was rewarded for her long travel and labor by finding the three crosses, the nails, the crown of thorns, etc. After examining the place sufficiently, I returned along the south-eastern aisle, and ascended Calvary by a flight of eighteen steps; there looked at the three holes in which the crosses are said to have stood; but this seems to me the most bungling arrangement in the whole “invention." The three holes are too close together, and there is an air of desperate improbability about the entire contrivance that cannot be over come. Besides, it is notorious that a large part of this Golgotha is an artificial vault, with rooms underneath.
vThe Interior
I see you are yet less than half a pilgrim. Your faith is not sufficiently robust to cast into the sea the dark mountains of skepticism over which it stumbles. You must summon to your aid the courageous maxim of Padre Francesco,-"that it is better to believe too much than too little." With this brave maxim he valiantly assaults all impertinent improbabilities, and steadfastly stares them out of countenance. I myself have been a much more persevering pilligrino than you. Why, there are some seventy "stations" within and connected with this vast and confused mass of buildings, all of which I have had the resolution to visit, and most of them many times. It is no light achievement, to be done up in an hour. The whole pile of edifices connected together is three hundred and fifty feet long, from Joseph's sepulcher, within the aisle on the west of the rotunda, down to the extremity of the Chapel of the "Invention" on the east; and it is not less than two hundred and eighty feet from the south wall of St. James's Chapel to the north side of the apartments belonging to the Latins. Within this vast enclosure there seems to be no end to aisles, windows, stairways, vaults, tombs, dark recesses, chapels, oratories, altars, concealed relics, and other holy "inventions." Verily, nothing is too hard for stout-hearted Credulity. She has not only removed mountains, but wrought impossibilities of transposition and aggregation. At her bidding, rocks and caves, and distant localities gathered from all quarters into this temple, as the wild beasts came to the ark; and, having got them in, it is very difficult to get them safely out, however offensive their presence may be to the eye of modern research.
vReality of the Sepulcher
I have very little of this wonder-working credulity in my composition, but your raillery (scarcely becoming on such a subject) cannot rob the place of all its sacred titles and honors. It is not certain that the main claims to respect and affection are mere "inventions." Though some may fancy that they have completely exploded the whole series of traditions which have clustered around the spot for so many centuries, they are egregiously mistaken. That battle is not over yet. Many, perhaps most of even Protestant critics, either maintain the reality of the Sepulcher, or, at least, are doubtful; while all the rest of the Christian world, with one voice and one heart, as stoutly and earnestly defend it now against the assaults of skeptics as the knights and militant monks of yore did against the Saracens. The difficulty of the defense is immeasurably augmented by this herd of impertinent and intolerable intruders, that have no right to be there, but still victory is not yet declared in favor of the assailants.
vFourteen “Stations.”
After leaving the church and examining some curious old buildings a little to the south-west of the court, I returned by the Via Dolorosa, stopping for a moment at each of the "stations" along its crooked line. This whole street, with all its sacred points and places, I give up at once. The buildings are modern, and no plausible evidence can be produced for the identity of any one of the “stations.”
You should have had our friend P. Cassini with you, who would have stoutly contended for the integrity of the whole fourteen. According to him, however, this street is intolerably long. He says that the Via Dolorosa for the human race began in Eden when Adam was condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow, and all men traveling along it from that day to this have had their "stations" of sorrow and of suffering!
To return now to your original inquiries. I am free to confess that it is utterly impossible for me to regard the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and its incredible congregation of sacred sites, with complacency; nor could you, if you had been a spectator of the scenes which I have witnessed there, not once, but often. I will not shock your sensibilities with details of the buffoonery and the profane orgies performed by the Greeks around the tomb on the day of the Holy Fire. I doubt whether there is anything more disgraceful to be witnessed in any heathen temple. Nor are the ceremonies of the Latin monks on the night of the Crucifixion a whit less distressing and offensive. The whole scene, in all its parts, is enacted before a strong guard of Turkish troops, stationed all around to keep the actors in this dismal tragedy from being assaulted by the rival players in the Greek comedia-a precaution absolutely necessary and not always successful. Furious and bloody riots have occurred several times since I have been in the country, and many travelers mentioned similar battles between the monks in former years. I was here in 1834, when several hundred pilgrims were crushed to death on the day of the Holy Fire.
Now I am devoutly thankful that no amount of learning or research can establish the remotest connection between any act of our Savior and any one of these so-called holy places. And I seem to find, in this uncertainty which hangs over every sacred locality, the indications of a watchful Providence in beautiful accordance with many similar interpositions to save God's people from idolatry.
vConcealment of Tombs Intentional
The grave of Melchizedek, the typical priest-of Joseph, the rejected of his brethren and sold-of Moses, the lawgiver and deliverer-of Joshua, the captain and leader into the land of promise-of David, the shepherd and king-of John the Baptist and Forerunner-and of Mary, the mother whom all nations shall call blessed-the tombs of all these have been irrecoverably concealed: and the same watchful care has hid forever the instruments of the Savior's passion; the exact spot where he was crucified, buried, and whence he rose again to life; and also the place from which he ascended into heaven. I would have it thus. And certainly, since God has concealed the realities, we have no need of these fictitious sites to confirm our faith. We are surrounded by witnesses, and these mountains, and valleys, and ruins, that cannot be effaced or corrupted. They are now spread out before our eyes. There was the Temple, type of the Savior. Beyond it was Zion, symbol of the Church of God. Here lies the whole scene of our Lord's last actions, teaching, and passion. There he instituted the Supper. Below us is the garden of agony and betrayal. The palace of Pilate was on that hill above it, where he was examined, was scourged, buffeted, robed in mock purple, and crowned with thorns. Along that rocky way he bore his cross; there he was nailed to it, was lifted up, was reviled, was given gall and vinegar to drink, and when all was finished he bowed his head and died. Then the sun refused to shine, and darkness fell on all the land; the earth quaked, the rocks rent, and the graves were opened. There was the new tomb in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea. Thither the angel came down and rolled the stone from the door, while the Lord of life burst the bars of death, and rose triumphant o'er the grave. All those things-
" Which kings and prophets waited for,
But died without the sight,”
did actually take place here. These eyes gaze up to the same heaven which opened to receive him ascending to his Father's right hand. The great atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and every item of it, was offered up here, on this unquestioned platform of the Holy City. This is all I care for, all that mere topography can offer. If sure, to the fraction of a foot, in regard to the sepulcher, I could no more worship it than I could worship the boat in which he sailed over Gennesaret, or the ass upon which he rode into Jerusalem, and hence I have no need of any of these "inventions;" and since they are perverted to an idolatry worse than the burning of incense to the brazen serpent, I would have them all removed out of sight, that He who is a spirit may be worshipped, even at Jerusalem, in spirit and in truth.
vHouse in Jerusalem
My cicerone took me to his house this morning, and I was pleased to be introduced to the interior of a native Christian family on Mount Zion. There was an ease and a cordiality in the reception which surprised as much as it delighted me, and a grace displayed by the ladies in presenting sherbet, sweetmeats, coffee, and argelehs, which would have attracted the admiration of any society in the world. They showed me over their house, and explained the various contrivances which excited my curiosity. Nothing can be further from our notions in regard to the fixtures necessary for the comfort of a family; yet some things are pretty, and all are adapted, I suppose, to the country, and the actual state of civilization.
vTesselated Pavement
The reception-hall, with its heavy vault above, matted pavement, and low divan ranged round three sides of the apartment, was cheerful and inviting; and the floor of an inner room was beautiful, with its tesselated pavement of various-colored marble drawn in many elegant and complicated patterns. The Arab artists exhibit great skill in this kind of work, and, indeed, one rarely sees prettier pavements in any country.
One reason of their success in mosaics of both stone and wood is, that this art has always been in demand in the East. Tesselated pavements are found beneath the rubbish of all ancient cities, and, beyond a doubt, our Lord and his apostles often reclined upon them at meat. The "large upper room" where he celebrated his last Passover and instituted the "Supper" may have been finished in this style.
Tesselated pavement is seen in greatest abundance and highest perfection in Damascus, around their delightful fountains and in their magnificent imams.
vWindow Shutters
The Damascenes also take great pride in having their window-shutters made after patterns even more intricate than those of the pavement. Having no glass, their ambition is to show window-blinds as elaborate and attractive as possible. I have counted more than two hundred bits of polished walnut wood in the shutter of a small window.
vSpinning
I saw a woman sitting at the door of her hut on Zion, spinning woolen yarn with a spindle, while another near her was twirling nimbly the ancient distaff, and I felt some curiosity to know whether in other things they resembled king Lemuel's good wife, according to the "prophecy that his mother taught him.”
vThe Virtuous Woman
There are such even now in this country, and in this city, where the prophecy was uttered. They are scarce, however, and their price is above rubies. 1* The very first item in the catalog of good qualities is the rarest of all: "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." 2* The husband, in nine cases out of every ten, does not feel very confident that “she will do him good and not evil," and therefore he sets a jealous watch over her, and places every valuable article under lock and key. His heart trusts more in hired guards and iron locks than in his wife. This is mainly owing to two things,-bad education and the want of love; both grievous sins against her, and committed by her lord and tyrant. She is kept in ignorance, and is married off without regard to the affections of her heart; and how can it be expected that the husband can safely trust in a wife thus trained and thus obtained?
There are numerous allusions to the domestic habits of Orientals in this "prophecy" of Lemuel's mother which are worth noticing: "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh diligently with her hands."3* In Sidon, at this day, a majority of the women are thus working in raw silk and cotton instead of wool and flax. Many of them actually support the family in this way, and, by selling the produce of their labor to the merchants, "bring their food from afar." A leading Moslem told me that nearly every family in Sidon was thus carried through the past scarce and very dear winter.
(1*Proverbs 31:10) (2*Proverbs 31:11) (3*Proverbs 31:18)
vEarly Rising
“She riseth while it is yet night,"and" her candle goeth not out by night." 4* The industrious of this country are very early risers. Long before day they are up and about their work; but, what is especially remarked, they never allow their lamp to go out by night. This, however, is not always a sign of industry. The very poorest keep a light burning all night, more from timidity or from habit than from anything else.
(4*Proverbs 31:15; Proverbs 31:18)
vGirdles
“She girdeth her loins with strength, and delivereth girdles to the merchant. 5* The use of the girdle is universal, under the impression that it greatly contributes to the strength of the loins, around which it is twisted tightly in many a circling fold.
(5*Proverbs 31:17; Proverbs 31:24)
Being always in demand, it is an important article of domestic manufacture. And again, scarlet, and purple, and tapestry, and embroidery, mentioned in verses 21, 22, are still the favorite colors and patterns of Oriental taste. The husband of such a faithful and industrious wife is known in the gates, where he sitteth among the elders of the land. What the Bourse is in Paris and the Exchange in London, the open spaces about the gates of the city were to the Orientals, and still are in many parts of the East. There the elders congregate to talk over the news of the day, the state of the market, and the affairs of their particular community. The husband of such a wife is distinguished among his compeers by a costume clean, whole, and handsome, and a countenance contented and happy. "Her children, also, call her blessed; and her husband he praiseth her,"*-a most happy exception; for children in this country too often treat their mother with contempt, and the haughty husband says ajellak-"my woman"-when he has occasion to speak of his wife.
(*Proverbs 31:28)
vGrass on the House Tops
Isaiah says that because God had brought it to pass that Sennacherib should "lay waste defensed cities, therefore the inhabitants were dismayed,... and became as grass on the house-tops,... blasted before it be grown up;" ** and this morning I saw a striking illustration of this most expressive figure. To obtain a good view of the Tyropean, my guide took me to the top of a house on the brow of Zion, and the grass which had grown over the roof during the rainy season was now entirely withered and perfectly dry.
When I first came to reside in Jerusalem, in 1834, my house was connected with an ancient church, the roof of which was covered with a thick growth of grass. This being in the way of a man employed to repair my house, be actually set fire to it and burned it off; and I have seen others do the same thing without the slightest hesitation. Nor is there any danger; for it would require a large expense for fuel sufficient to burn the present city of Jerusalem. Our translators have unnecessarily supplied the word corn, and thus confused the idea and diluted the force of this passage from Isaiah. Corn does frequently wither away, but the reference here, I suppose, is to that grass on the house-tops which David says "withereth afore it groweth up; wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord."*** The latter expressions are most refreshingly Arabic. Nothing is more natural than for them, when passing by a fruit-tree or corn-field loaded with a rich crop, to exclaim, Barak Allah!-"God bless you!" we bless you in the name of the Lord!
(**Isaiah 37:26-27) (***Psalms 129:6-8)
vA Synagogue
Expressing a desire to visit a synagogue, my obliging cicerone took me to a large one which was crowded with worshippers. The room had nothing in or about it like any other place of worship I ever entered, and the congregation was in character and keeping with the place. I never saw such an assemblage of old, pale, and woe-begone countenances. There is something inexpressibly sad in the features, deportment, and costume of these children of Abraham, as they grope about the ruins of their once joyous city.
This is partly owing to the fact that many of them have been great sinners elsewhere, and have come up here from all countries whither the Lord hath driven them, to purge away their guilt by abstinence, mortification, and devotion; then to die, and be buried as near the Holy City as possible. This also accounts for the ever-increasing multitude of their graves, which are gradually covering the side of Olivet. The Jews come to Jerusalem to die, and a community gathered for that specific purpose will not be particularly gay, nor very careful about appearances.
The behavior of the worshippers was very peculiar and somewhat ridiculous. The men, with broad-brimmed hats, and whatever other head-dress they possessed, were reading or muttering prayers; and while doing so they twisted, and jerked, and wriggled about incessantly, and at times with great vehemence, that "all their bones should praise the Lord," as one of them explained the matter to me. When they began what was understood to be singing, it was the most outrageous concert of harsh nasal sounds I ever heard. It was Hebrew, too; but if David thus "praised the Lord," I should never have thought of calling him "the sweet singer of Israel.”
And yet, I presume, it was very much after this style that he and all his band of trained musicians did actually celebrate the praises of the Most High. You hear the same nasal twang and grating gutturals in the singing of every denomination throughout the East. The Orientals know nothing of harmony, and cannot appreciate it when heard; but they are often spell-bound, or wrought up to transports of ecstasy, by this very music which has tortured your nerves. It is useless to quarrel about tastes in this matter. I have never known song more truly effective than among these Orientals; and no doubt the Temple service, performed by those trained for it, stirred the deepest fountains of feeling in the vast assemblies of Israel gathered at Jerusalem on their great feasts. They had also instrumental music, which these have not; and David himself was a most skilful performer.
I made that remark to my guide, and he immediately offered to take me to a coffee-shop where I should hear a grand concert of instrumental musicians. Thinking it would be a pleasant remembrance to carry away from the Holy City, I went, and was not disappointed. Seated on a raised platform at one end of the room were half a dozen performers, discoursing strange music from curious instruments, interspersed occasionally with wild bursts of song, which seemed to electrify the smoking, coffee-sipping congregation. They had a violin, two or three kinds of flutes, and a tambourine. One man sat by himself, and played a large harp lying upon his lap.
That is called a kânûn; and an expert performer, with a voice not too sharp, often makes very respectable music with it.
ILLUSTRATION
There was one with a droll but merry countenance, who told stories and perpetrated jokes, to the infinite amusement of the audience, and now and then he
ILLUSTRATION
played with spasmodic jerks and ludicrous grimaces upon an instrument called kamanjeh. There were also players on the guitar, and one of them had a very large instrument of this kind, over whose chords his nimble fingers swept, at times, like magic. The notes are much louder than those of an Italian guitar.
ILLUSTRATION
The Greeks, and especially the Albanians, manage this 'God with the greatest skill. They have a small kind, which they take with them in their extemporaneous picnics, and on the shady bank of some murmuring brook they will sit by the hour and sing to its soft and silvery note.
vMusic of the Country
But the most popular of all music in this country are the derbekkeh, the tambourine or dell, and the nŭkkairat or kettle-drum, with cymbals, castanets, and the clapping of hands. At weddings, birth-days, and all other festal
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gatherings, this is their chief entertainment; and they will beat the derbekkeh, thrum the dell, rattle the castanets, and clap their hands in concert, without weariness or intermission, until long after midnight.
vTemple Area
I attempted to look into the Temple area this morning, at the pool inside of St. Stephen's Gate, hut was rudely ordered away by some loungers within. This is the only instance in which I have been insulted during my walks about Jerusalem.
The Moslems have become suddenly very fanatical in regard to this holy Harem, owing in part to the injudicious behavior of travelers. In company with a large party I was taken in by the British consul, and the old sheikh of the Harem treated us with great respect, showing everything about the Mosque without reserve, and allowing us afterward to ramble as we pleased in the vaults below, and over the area above, without any surveillance whatever.
We entered by a small rude door near the north-west corner of the area, and walked in our ordinary shoes to the raised stoa upon which the Mosque of Omar stands. Here we put on red morocco shoes, purchased from the bazaars for the purpose, and kept them on until we left the Mosque of El Aksa.
vThe Harem, or Mosque of Omar
The first thing that struck me within the enclosure of the Harem was its ' great size. It contains about thirty-five acres more or less; for, owing to irregularities in its outline and boundaries, it is not possible to arrive at entire accuracy. It is about 1500 feet on the east side, 1600 on the west, 1000 on the north, and 900 on the south end. This large enclosure undoubtedly takes in, on the north, the whole area of the Castle of Antonia. I noticed that the rock on the north-west corner had been cut away, leaving a perpendicular face, in some parts at least twenty feet high.
The surface is not a perfect level, but declines in various directions. From the entrance we walked over smooth bare rock, descending rapidly toward the south-east, then rose over green sward to the foot of the stoa, which may be elevated about twelve feet at the north end. There is also a large descent southward from the Mosque of Omar to El Aksa, and on the east side there is quits a depression at the Golden Gate.
vThe Building
The stoa is not paved with marble, as has been often stated, but with slabs of the ordinary flagging-stone of this country. We have admirable drawings of the Mosque of Omar and its surroundings, and from them one obtains a good idea of the whole affair. The pen-pictures are immensely over-drawn, and the colored views are glaring exaggerations. Externally, at the base, the edifice is an octagon of about one hundred and seventy feet diameter, each of the eight sides being sixty-seven feet long. There are four doors at the opposite cardinal points. The dome is sustained by four great piers, and has twelve arches, which rest on columns. There are also many other columns with arches which mark off the inner aisles. But you can study the details of this curious edifice in the works of Williams, Catherwood, Bartlett, Fergusson, and many others, if you have a desire to do so. Dr. Richardson's account of what he saw within the Harem is also worth reading. We found nearly everything mentioned by him, and very much as he describes them.
The beauty of the interior of the Mosque is greatly marred by numberless contrivances for illuminating the edifice, and by railings and galleries which seem to answer no particular end that I could discover.
vThe Rock
The greatest curiosity is certainly the immense stone from which the name, Es Sakhrah (the Rock), is derived. It is a mass of native rock, the sole remnant of the top of the ridge of Moriah, some sixty feet long by fifty-five wide, and ten or twelve feet high on the lower side. All the rest of the ridge was cut away when leveling off the platform for the Temple and its courts. No tool of iron has left its mark upon this Sakhrah, and I please myself with the idea that it was the basis on which the altar of sacrifice was arranged. Nor am I convinced by the reasoning of those who hold that the Temple was a small edifice erected further to the south. It is not yet proved that the substructions by which the area in that direction has been extended are not of an age long posterior to Solomon, and therefore, on any scale of measurement, it must remain a matter of uncertainty just how far northward the Temple stood. Hence I do not quarrel with the tradition that the Mosque of Omar is on the site of that sacred sanctuary; and if this be so, the Sakhrah may well mark the exact spot of the altar. Beneath the south-east end of it is a cavern, the bottom of which is covered with the usual flooring of the country. Stamp upon it, and you discover that there is a well or shaft below; and the sheikh of the Harem told me that this shaft terminated in a horizontal passage leading southward from some place further back under the edifice, and that water descended along it. May not the blood and the ashes from the altar have originally been cast into this pit, and thence washed down into the valley of the Tyropean or of the Kidron, quite beyond the precincts of the holy house? Those who now speak of fountains in the enclosure must mean merely places where water is obtained from cisterns below the stoa. The curb-stones of these openings are deeply worn by the ropes of those who have drawn from these enormous reservoirs during many hundred years.
vEl Aksa
El Aksa was undoubtedly a Christian church, and probably the one built by Justinian. In converting it into a mosque, but little alteration was necessary, and hence we have the columns very much as they were in the original building. There is a close resemblance to the interior of the church at Bethlehem. The vaults beneath are very remarkable, but whether any of the huge limestone columns, with their architectural peculiarities, were of Solomonic times, I will not attempt to decide. It is my opinion, however, that there is nothing absurd in ascribing arches and columns to that age, for they were both employed in architecture long anterior to it.
Instead of attempting to describe these vaults, columns, gateways, and mysterious passages, I must direct you to the works of others, and to the numerous drawings of artists. I ran about, half wild with excitement, until was quite exhausted.
vVaults
The main vaults now accessible are beneath the south-eastern corner of the area.
vThe Piers
The piers which sustain the most eastern group are arranged in lines running from south to north, parallel to the outside wall of the Harem. There are fifteen rows, at very unequal distances, ranging from about six to twenty-three feet apart. And so also the length of the lines is very different. Those which extend furthest northward may reach two hundred feet, while the shortest terminate at the solid rock in less than forty
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feet. The piers are built of blocks about tour feet square more or less, rudely beveled, and laid up somewhat carelessly. This group of piers and vaults is succeeded by another further west, similar to it, but less every way, and they extend to the substructions beneath El Aksa. No one can examine them for an hour without being convinced that the pillars are made out of older ruins, and that the vaults spread over them are comparatively modern. There are many remains, however, extremely ancient, particularly near the south-east corner. The roof has fallen through in several places, and we descended to the vaults from one of these openings. The time will come when these interesting remains, in a most remarkable locality, will be fully cleared of rubbish, and thoroughly explored by scientific architects, and then we shall know what revelations they have to disclose. The description of these will take volumes, and, moreover, they will be very dry to all but artists and minute critics.
vView From the Golden Gates
I looked at the various traditional sites, Moslem and Christian, sat down on Solomon's throne and Mohammed's judgment-seat, and stood on the top of the Golden Gate for an hour, looking at this most suggestive spot and its surroundings. Olivet is beautiful, even in its present desolation; and the area itself, with its mosques, minarets, oratories, columns, cypress, kharûb, olive, and other trees, form a tableau which will never be forgotten.
vCarrying Sheaves
Nehemiah speaks of bringing sheaves into Jerusalem: 1* is it not singular that the people should carry their grain into the city to thresh it?
It would be strange with us, because our citizens are not husbandmen. In the East, however, the farmers all live in villages and towns, and „go forth to cultivate the surrounding country. It is not unusual, therefore, for them to bring their harvest home to thresh it; and thus we find that Araunah the Jebusite had his threshing-floor on the present site of the Temple in the days of David. 2* The farmers brought their grain within the walls of Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah to secure it against robbers, for the country was then in an unsettled and unsafe condition; and I do not suppose that he rebuked them for adopting this precaution, but because they did the work on the Sabbath. They made the disturbed state of the country an excuse for violating the law of God, which was clear and emphatic on this very point: "In earing time and harvest thou shalt rest." 3* These people, as thousands still do, set aside this command, and maintained that during harvest and the vintage they must work on the Sabbath day-so they treaded their wine-presses, gathered grapes and figs, and brought in sheaves on that day. If Nehemiah were here now, he would be grieved with precisely the same violations, and might also find men of Tire who bring fish, and all manner of ware, to sell on the Sabbath; 4* nor would he be able to break up these practices, and free Jerusalem from that sin on account of which God brought all this evil upon this city. 5*
(1*Nehemiah 13:15) (2* 2 Samuel 24:16; 2 Samuel 24:18) (3*Exodus 34:21) (4* Nehemiah 13:16) (5*Nell. 13:18)
vJews’ Walling Place
No traveler thinks of leaving Jerusalem without paying a visit to the Wailing-place of the Jews in the Tyropean, at the base of the wall which supports the west side of the Temple area. Those stones, no doubt, formed part of the foundations of the holy house, placed there certainly not later than the time of Herod, perhaps long before. They are, however, not very large, and here, as everywhere else about Jerusalem, either the stones have been broken and ensmalled, or the measure used by Josephus was much shorter than has been assumed, or he greatly exaggerated. The latter is true, at any rate. There is not a specimen in any part of the Temple area, or about the Castle of David, which even approaches the size of those which he repeatedly affirms were placed in these towers and walls. Still, those at the Place of Wailing are large enough for all the purposes of strength and durability.
vAntiquity of the Custom
No sight meets the eye in Jerusalem more sadly suggestive than this wailing of the Jews over the ruins of their Temple. It is a very old custom, and in past ages they have paid immense sums to their oppressors for the miserable satisfaction of kissing the stones and pouring out lamentations at the foot of their ancient sanctuary. With trembling lips and tearful eyes they sing, "Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste." *
(*Isaiah 64:9; Isaiah 64:11)
vArch of Bridge Between Zion and Moriah
South of this Wailing-place are the great stones of the arch which Dr. Robinson identified as part of the bridge on which Titus stood in order to hold a parley with the Jews in the Temple. One of these stones is twenty-five feet long, another a little more than twenty, and the whole width of the bridge was about fifty-one feet, while its length across the Tyropean to the perpendicular face of Zion could not have been less than three hundred and fifty. Of course there must have been several piers and arches. The whole causeway is supposed to have formed a magnificent passage from Zion to the south porch of the Temple. The identification, history, and object of this gigantic work have in our day furnished an arena of debate and strife almost as noisy
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and earnest as when the Temple was sacked and burned by the &mans. It is subsiding now, and we shall do nothing to renew it. In consequence of a vast growth of cactus in that neighborhood, and the closing of the blind paths which formerly led to it, one cannot reach the spot without much trouble, and few travelers now visit it.
vSize of Jerusalem
Looking down upon the city this morning, and comparing the area with that of other great capitals, the question how Jerusalem could have accommodated the vast multitudes that resided in or resorted to her continually, occurred to my mind with unwonted emphasis.
vNumber of Her Inhabitants
It has perplexed many before you, but the problem has been embarrassed by extreme assumptions. We are not required to find room for more than 200,000 regular inhabitants at Jerusalem in her highest prosperity and. largest expansion. As to the 2,565,000 assembled at the Passover in the time when Cestius was governor, or the 1,200,000 shut in by Titus and his army, they were not citizens, but strangers. Josephus has given us an elaborate and minute topographical description of the city, from which, if no mistake has crept into his numbers, it is certain that the area within the walls did not much exceed one mile square. Other statements give larger dimensions, but we shall adhere to the thirty-three furlongs of Josephus for the entire circuit of the walls. Allowing for the Temple, there could not have remained more than the above superficies for dwellings, markets, offices, shops, streets, pools, and all other purposes and demands of a great city. Reasoning from these data, and from the statistics of modern European cities, Mr. Fergusson, in his ingenious but reckless critique, reduces the population to a very low figure indeed, and scouts the numbers of Josephus with utter contempt. But there are many circumstances overlooked or overleaped by Mr. Fergusson which must be carefully considered and allowed for if we would arrive at even an approximation to the truth. I do not believe his basis of calculation, that no modern European city has more than 25,000 inhabitants to the square mile. But admitting this extreme statement, it does not follow, because modern cities have only this number, that therefore Oriental cities in olden times had no more! We must remember that those ancient cities were built within walls; that gardens, parks, and open spaces were excluded, and the entire area occupied with buildings; that the streets were narrow, and covered over with houses; that stores, shops, markets, etc., were small, and had dwellings in the rear and above them; that the houses were several stories high; that Orientals have even now but little furniture, and can and do crowd into very small apartments-an entire family in one room-many families in a single house; that the topography of Jerusalem, broken into valleys, is favorable to the erection of houses having many stories, as in certain parts of Edinburgh, for example; and, finally, that the pressure of a constant necessity would lead both the government and the people to make provision to receive within the walls the largest possible number. These things considered, it will not appear unreasonable to allow for ancient Jerusalem twice as many rooms on the ground floor as can be found in a mile square of any modern European city, and double the number of people, on an average, to each room. This would give 100,000 inhabitants upon Mr. Fergus-son's own data. But there were doubtless two if not three stories to the houses, and upper stories have more rooms and larger available space than the lower, and so always accommodate much the greater number of people.
vSize of Ancient Jerusalem
This at once furnishes accommodation for at least 200,000 inhabitants, and no impartial person who has opportunity to examine modern Oriental cities, or to observe how densely the poor Jews can and do pack themselves away in the most wretched hovels, will deem these calculations extravagant. But we are prepared to lay aside all speculations and theories, and take Jerusalem as she now is for the basis of calculation. I have seen more than twenty-five thousand people in the present city, nor was it overcrowded. Then it must be remembered that the whole of Bezetha, and a large part of Acra, is uninhabited; the space taken up by the Mosque of Omar is much larger than was that of the Temple; the parts about Bab el Mugharabeh and the south-east end of Zion are either plowed fields or overrun with cactus; the entire western face of Zion is occupied by the gardens of the Armenian Convent; the space south of Calvary is vacant; convents, churches, and mosques take up much room; and, finally, that even in those parts occupied by dwellings, the houses are low, small, badly contrived, and many of them in ruins. All these things taken into account, we can readily admit that, if the whole area were covered over with high houses, economically built, a hundred thousand inhabitants could find homes within the present walls. It only remains to state that the southern half of Zion, all of Ophel, and the broad expansion of the lower Tyropean, is without the walls on the south; and so, also, on the north, is the entire space enclosed by the third wall, about which Josephus speaks in such glowing terms. Take in the whole, cover it with habitations as it once was, and I hesitate not to say that two hundred thousand inhabitants could dwell comfortably "within thy walls, O Jerusalem." Should any one think differently, I will not argue the point with him. We are not obliged to assume so high a figure, for neither the Bible, nor Josephus, nor any other old author, gives such a number for the actual resident population of the Holy City.
vAccommodation at the Festivals
How the vast multitudes at the great feasts could be accommodated may easily be explained. Let us take even the astounding statistics of Josephus himself, and suppose that the two millions and a half who partook of the Passover at the time of Cestius was neither an exaggeration nor an exception, it is by no means certain that one-fifth of this multitude sat down to the Paschal Supper within the walls. The Jews originally were dwellers in tents. It is certain that in some parts of the country they did not abandon this custom, at least not until after many generations. The proverb, "To your tents, O Israel!" was not a mere Oriental metaphor; and the tribes, when they assembled at small places, such as Gilgal and Shiloh, must have come up with their tents, or, at least, prepared to sleep out-doors. Nor is even this last supposition absurd. The feasts occurred in the warm, non-rainy months, and throughout all the southern part of Palestine the people at this season do not hesitate to sleep in the open air, under trees, vines, or even in open gardens. Now not only two, but half a dozen millions of people could find room to eat and sleep on the mountains which are "round about Jerusalem." At such times, no doubt, every garden was thrown open, and every available spot occupied. We may gather this much from two incidents in the history of our Lord. When he drew near the city, and sent two disciples to prepare the Passover, they were to say to the man whom they should meet bearing a pitcher, "Where is the guest-chamber?" * implying the existence of such apartments, and the custom of allowing the use of them as a matter of course. Again, after supper our Lord went out into a garden in Olivet. ** Neither he nor his disciples owned a garden there, but the matter thus mentioned clearly implies that such gardens were on these occasions left open for all who needed them.
(*Mark 14:12-17) (**John 18:1)
I have often tried to realize the appearance of these profound valleys and high hills around Jerusalem during the great feasts. Covered with olive-groves, fruit-orchards, and vineyards, beneath whose friendly bowers many a happy family and neighborhood group assembled, rising rank over rank to the very top of the mountains, I marvel that no artist has thought of reproducing this scene. Innumerable thousands gathered to the Passover, with happy children, busy servants, festooned victims, and all the joyful host, in picturesque costumes, hastening hither and thither, as business, or pleasure, or worship prompted, furnishing all the elements for the most magnificent and impressive panorama the world has ever beheld. It might require the lifetime of the artist, but he who should realize the idea would need to execute no other work.
vArrangement of the Tribea
These hills, and valleys, and mounts lie all around the Holy City, as if on purpose for such convocations. The artist might arrange the tribes, with their ensigns and standards, round about Jerusalem, as they were commanded to pitch their tents about the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Judah would then occupy this Mount of Olives; for that tribe, with Issachar and Zebulun, encamped on the east side, toward the rising of the sun. Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, with their standards, pitched on the south. On the west were Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin; and on the north, Dan, and Asher, and Naphtali. *** Thus they continued to pitch and march for forty years. Now, it is not improbable that when the Tabernacle was in Gilgal and in Shiloh this same order was preserved, and, as far as circumstances permitted, it might have been kept up even after the Temple at Jerusalem took the place of the Tabernacle. Without some well-arranged system, there would be endless confusion in such vast assemblies.
(***Numbers 2:18)
Each tribe, therefore, had its proper station on these noble hills. Every important city may also have had its appropriate quarter, every village its terrace, every family its shady tree or sheltered arbor. Fancy now, if you can, this great city, thus surrounded by all Israel, assembled here to worship; the glorious Temple towering up on Moriah like a pyramid of snow; the smoke of victims and the clouds of incense ascending up to heaven from morning to night; while Temple, court, hall, street, valley, and hill side echo and re-echo with the songs of Zion from millions of devout and joyful worshippers of the living God. Who would not join the sons of Korah in their triumphal psalm: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. Let Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Israel be glad; for this God is our God forever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death."*
(*Psalms 48:1-14)
vJosephus History of Jerusalem
Josephus, near the close of his Wars, gives the following rapid sketch of the history of Jerusalem:** "He who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our tongue called the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which account he was the first priest of God, and first built a temple, and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem. However, David, the king of the Jews, ejected the Canaanites, and settled his own people therein. It was demolished entirely by the Babylonians four hundred and seventy-seven years and six months after him. And from king David, who was the first of the Jews who reigned therein, to this destruction under Titus, were one thousand one hundred and seventy-nine years; but from its first building till this last destruction were two thousand one hundred and seventy-seven years. It had been many times besieged and taken-first by David, then by Shishak, king of Egypt; afterward by Nebuchadnezzar, then by Antiochus; after him by Pompey, then by Sosius, then by Herod, and finally by Titus, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpieus"-September. He closes the sad story with this affecting remark: "Yet hath not its great antiquity, nor its vast riches, nor the diffusion of its nation over all the habitable earth, nor the greatness of the veneration paid to it on a religious account, been sufficient to preserve it from being destroyed.”
(**Wars vi. 10)
vMelchizedek
How much importance do you attach' to the statement of Jerome, that the Salem of Melchizedek was near Beisan Not enough to disturb my settled belief that he was mistaken. I follow Josephus, and am convinced that his account coincides with the Bible; but the old tradition that Melchizedek was no other than Shem is a vast improvement on the Jewish historian. Such an origin for the city of the great King is so gratifying that one is reluctant to carry research into the cold region of critical skepticism. Let us therefore believe, if we can, that here the son of Noah founded the City of Peace, reigned in righteousness, and was priest of the most high God. Perhaps it was near his very altar that Abraham, in a figure, offered up Isaac-type of that other sacrifice, when an infinitely greater Father offered his only-begotten Son on this same mountain.
From Abraham's sacrificial visit to the conquest under Joshua there is nothing said about Jerusalem. At that time it bore the name of Jebus, and appears to have been already a very strong place. Though the king of it was slain in the great battle of Gibeon,* the city did not fall into the conqueror's hands, nor was it until the reign of David that the Jebusites were finally subdued. Having taken the stronghold, he transferred the seat of government at once from Hebron to Zion, and ever afterward Jerusalem appears as the capital of the Jewish commonwealth, and the center of the Hebrew faith and worship.
(*Joshua 10:1-43)
vSiege of Jerusalem by Titus
The siege of Jerusalem occupied Titus four months and twenty-five days-from April 11th, A.D. 70, to the 7th of September. After this destruction we hear but little of Jerusalem until the reign of Hadrian. No doubt it was speedily occupied by both Jews and Christians, and I am disposed to credit Eusebius, who supposes that the city was not wholly destroyed by Titus. Indeed such a thing is scarcely to be imagined. There were, doubtless, multitudes of the lower vaulted rooms uninjured, and in these, when slightly repaired, a considerable population could reside, and no doubt did. Indeed, it soon acquired somewhat the proportion of a city and the character of a fortress, for when the Jews rebelled against Hadrian, about A.D. 132, it was able to make a prolonged resistance. Having destroyed it, Hadrian built a new town, which he called Alia, and for several generations afterward Jerusalem was only spoken of under this heathen name. Constantine restored its ancient name, and greatly enriched and adorned it with splendid churches and other edifices. Henceforward it became the grand center of pilgrimages from all parts of the Christian world, and such it has continued to be down to the present hour.
vModern History
Jerusalem during the last fourteen centuries has suffered terrible calamities and undergone many important changes. It was taken by the Persians under Chosroes II., with vast slaughter. The Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher was burned, and the city sacked and pillaged, about the year 614; and in 636 it was permanently wrested from the Christians by the Khalif Omar. From this event to the appearance of the Crusaders before her walls, about the first of June 1099, the history of the city is almost a blank. There were, however, frequent contests between the Moslem rulers of Egypt and of Syria for its possession, and it suffered many calamities from its peculiar position and character, being sacred to Mohammedan, Christian, and Jew.
The Franks kept possession of it less than one hundred years, for it was given up to Saladin in 1187, and from that day to this it has remained in the hands of the Mohammedans. Saracen and Osmanly in succession have held it, and the flag of the Turk still floats over the Tower of David. Such is a rapid survey of the long history of Jerusalem. If it had existed 2177 years when overthrown by Titus, its whole age is now about 3964 years. Spreading over almost the entire historic period of the human race, it has shared largely in that history-and the end is not yet!
vBethany
It took half an hour to walk over Olivet to Bethany this morning, and the distance from the city, therefore, must be about two miles. This agrees with what John says: "Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off." * The village is small, and appears never to have been large, but it is pleasantly situated near the south-eastern base of the mount, and has many fine trees about and above it. We, of course, looked at the remains of those old edifices which may have been built in the age of Constantine, and repaired or changed to a convent in the time of the Crusades. By the dim light of a taper we also descended very cautiously, by twenty-five slippery steps, to the reputed sepulcher of Lazarus, or El Azariyeh, as both tomb and village are now called. But I have no description of it to give, and no questions about it to ask. It is a wretched cavern, every way unsatisfactory, and almost disgusting.
(*John 11:18)
vBethphage
I have never been so painfully impressed as to-day with the importance of the advice, not to allow mere topographical controversies to rob one of the delightful and precious influences which these sacred scenes ought to afford. We not only disputed about the tomb of Lazarus, but fell into an earnest discussion in regard to other matters equally indifferent-as whether Bethphage (of which no one now knows anything) was east or west of Bethany, according to the directions of our Lord to the two disciples in reference to the ass, or whether it might not have been on the north or south of the village.
vThe Ascension
Then came the grand question about the true site of the "Ascension," whether in this church at Et Tar, or on the spur of Olivet, which lies over against Bethany to the north; and thus we walked through scenes suggestive of the most glorious anticipations to the Christian, with scarcely a single profitable reflection. Indeed, we came out of the Church of the Ascension with feelings of utter disgust.
vOlivet
You have certainly fallen into a serious mistake. Olivet, including Gethsemane on the west, and Bethany on the east of it, has witnessed the most affecting and the most stupendous scenes in the history of our blessed Redeemer. It was in connection with this mount that the God-man-the divine Logos-chose to reveal more of his human nature than anywhere else on the earth.
vJesus at Bethany
How often, after the fatigues and temptations of the day in this wicked and captious city, did he retire in the evening to Bethany to enjoy the hospitality and affectionate sympathy of Lazarus and his pious family! There he laid aside the awful character of prophet and teacher divine, to rest his hard-tried energies in the gentle amenities of social life; and such was the freedom of intercourse between these chosen friends, that Martha could even come to him with her little domestic troubles. Alas! how many Marthas there are, careful and troubled about many things; and how few Mary’s, anxious to sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word As excuse for this Martha, we should remember that she was the responsible house-keeper, and that they belonged to the class of society in which the women of the family performed the household work with their own hands, and hence it was perfectly natural that she should claim the assistance of her younger sister.
vCondescension of Jesus
What a touching exhibition of lowliness and divine condescension does this reveal! He who is Lord of the universe selects, of choice, the humble poor for his dearest friends and most intimate associates! "He whom thou lovest is sick," was the only message sent by the sorrowing sisters. Most honorable distinction! He whom angels adored, and from heaven to earth hastened to serve, lavishes his richest love upon a poor man called Lazarus! The Son of God groaned in spirit at the sorrow of Mary and Martha. He wept over the grave of his friend. He did more. He asked of the Eternal Father, and received power to raise him from the grave, and, standing at the head of that dark cave, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" Wonderful voice! It startled the dull ear of Death, and the inexorable Grave heard, and gave up his prey. Here on Olivet the Christian learns to sing the song of victory over the king of terrors: "O Grave, where is thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting?" No wonder that much people of the Jews came six days after, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead; nor that on the next day they should take branches of palm-trees and go forth to meet Jesus, crying, "Hosanna! blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!"*
(*John 12:1; John 12:9; John 12:12-13)
vSacred Scenes on Olivet
Again: it was on this mount, with the city and Temple in view, that our Lord sat down, and in private answered those three pregnant inquiries of the anxious disciples: When shall it come to pass that there shall not be left one stone of the Temple upon another? What shall be the sign of thy coming! and the sign of the end of the world?** And in response there fell from his sacred lips those wonderful revelations recorded in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew. It was from this same mount, also, that the compassionate Jesus beheld the city and wept over it, saying, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto my peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes."***
It was also unto Olivet that he retired to pray on that doleful night when "his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." **** Here he was betrayed with a kiss; was surrounded by soldiers with lanterns, and torches, and swords; was rudely seized, bound with cords as a malefactor, and led away to Caiaphas.
(**Matthew 24:3) (***Luke 19:42) (****Luke 22:44)
And, finally, this favored mount witnessed the glorious out-come and consummation of this mystery of sorrow and suffering. It had been watered by his tears, had drunk his bloody sweat, and it must also behold his triumphant and glorious ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high. Olivet first heard the grand commission to the Church: "Go YE INTO ALL THE WORLD, AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE." He had led out his disciples as far as to Bethany, and, having thus spoken, "he lifted up his hands, and blessed them; and it came to pass that while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven."* Men of Galilee! favored of God above all the race, I would, oh! I would have been of your company on that triumphant morning,-with you to look steadfastly toward heaven as be went up, and with you to worship; or, better still, I would have been among the heavenly host that-
"Thronged his chariot-wheels,
And bore him to his throne;
Then swept their golden harps, and sung,
“The glorious work Is done!'”
(*Luke 24:50-51)
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