The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-12-27
Discoveries at Jerusalem.

Exploration FUND.- been made
at great cost of moneJs4ad7kb6r, and
no little danger, by silk5ng Sandstone
hundred feet deep and running.saller
les at right angles to those shafts, fhe
explorers feeling their way under
ground burning magnetism wire, and
60 throwing light upon stones and
pavements which. have been buried
: tycfhousand and three thousand years
- from human sight Mount Morfah
has been found to pc assharp crag or
sidge, with SO little space upon the top
rs scarcely to afford room forA temple
of small dimensions. On all sides il
fell off rapidly and very .steeply, ex-
cept from northwest to southeast, the
direction in which the ridge ran. The
area on the summit was .e.iarged by
. walls built along the declivities, the
outside walls deep down sin the sal.
leyafrom one hundred and fifty feet
below the area on which the temple
b1lldings stood. One hundred feet
agaIn. below this lay the original bed
-offhes brook Kedron. The founda-
Et;ons Of the temple, therefore, we're
: two Hundred and fifty above the deep
defles aroupd.. This area, originally
bdift by Solomon, and enlarged by
Hefod. stu exists, running on the
south along the valley OF Hinnom one
heusandnleet, and along the Kedron
fiteea hundred feet
This enclosure was originally cover
ed18lfb splendid edifices. First were
thezPogdcos or covered walks, built
Edo6a5hepAterStRags, and HyeElookx
fHgstberKedron d-Binnom. THEY
fnrr9 fassdiEBehfesfFHctSres .reseai6
zll665fhe nave ,aBdsafsles of Gothic az
zfH6dr6kSs5t6s .mddl6swalk, orfnayE,
afss fSies:s apss fsst broadS andstte taotl
s1'slsst6;ftEfsaE-.The aisles wsrer fk
6;anA4he snave, rising Ike
!. a-c1ezzkstssS -betReens the two, was
~nf1reth a1sHis kHadred feet high.
AfasnoW terrace alIs to the Height
OF tie boftisossS SahdSM h~avesassid4
anfedntnq6pE Halr WRssAS5 1--WE
handrsf nd fty- feet kgik BAtl
these were 5hlY4the 6nterbuldi4gs pEl
thetenple area. TIE porticoes open.
edmeardly upon ac6uftpaved with
marble, and open 48the sky. Steps
iedtP Co d second court.+Beyond
t6n;-agafn, through beautiful gate
Ways ras.a third, and rising above
them aHwas a fourth, in which stood
the temple proper, ascending story
sbuxeasteryS aid. said to Aaye,b.eu
enc hspdgsd orseyenio 2 hundred and
fifty feet high: %---
These horizontal ReasuEe1hents
have been ,yerefied.! OF course, we
cannot vouch for the correctness of
the reputed height of these immense
structures. We haye the less reason, I
however, to doubt the last, as we have
established the frst.S If one looked
upon Mount Moriah from the Mount
of Olives on the WAY from Bethany,
as our Lord did when beholdingi the
city, it must have been a sight which,
for architectural beauty and grandeur,
perhaps, has never been equaled, GER
tainly not surpassed. 1t was an ar
tificial mountain from the deep ravines
below, wall, column, roof, pinnacle,
eliminating in t~he-temple within and
above all, and probably measuring
bet five and six hundred feet.
- The palace Of Solomon, too, added
to the impressiveness of the sight. 1t
is settled, by recent discoveries, that
this pile of buildings was on the south
east corner Of the area, joined on the
House of the Lord above, and ex.
tending below to the kings gardens
where the two valleys met, and <the
waters of Siloah go softly"
James Ferguson, Esq, the distin-
guished architect, writes "The
triple temple of Jerusalem, the lower
court standing on its magnificent ter
races, the inner court raised on its plat
itself rising out of the group and
GROWING the whole-must have form
ed, when combined with the beauty !
of-the situation, one of the most
splendid architectural combinations of
the ancient world"
Josephus wrote : "If any one
looked down from the top of the bat {
Elements he would be giddy, while
his sight could not reach to such an
immense Depth" This passed for
foolishex aggeration till recent explora-
tons yindicated the statement.
All these buildings, porticoes, col
qmps. PiDnacles, altar and temple have
perislied. Not one stone remains
upon another which has been thrown
down" The area alone remains, and J
the massive substructufes that for
three thousand years have been sleep
Ing in their codrses. The preserva-t
ton has been dae to the ruin. Bull.
dings SO vast have been toppled down
the slope Of the Moriah that the orr
ginal defl1es and valleys have been al
most obliterated- What had been re-
garded as the original surface, has
been found to be debris from seventy
to ninety feet deep.
With spickaxe and shovel, British
explorers have been down to the ORR
ginal foundations. Fallen. columns
have been. met with, and avoided, or
4 way blasted through them. The
cinders of burnt Jerusalem have cut !
through and turned Cp to the light
ficirrnouids deposited by tire treasures
of Jewish pride. The seal of Hag
gal, in ancient Hebrew characters, {
was picked up, out of the siftings OF
this deposit. The first courses of {
stones, deposited by PheOician bull '
ders, have been reached, lying on the
living rock. Quarry-marks, put on
in Vermillion, have been copied I
known to-quarry- marks by the trick !
ling drops of the paint, still visiHe-ti
only they are above the letters show {
ing, that when they were written the
stones lay with the under side. upper
most-Appleton's Journal. s