Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1873-05-03
#saisfsIIa'enns. q

JERUSALEM RESTORED Two recent
| announcements are strikingly suggestive of
the rapid advance of modern science into
the most distant and ancient seats of the
worlds civilization. A railway is project
ed from Jatla, on the coast of Palestine, to
the holy, though now desolate city of Jeru-
salem; and in the streets of Jerusalem
itself horse car tracks are TO be laid, and
ere long the ring of the conductors punch
| may be heard in the very places where Sol
omon was wont to sweep by in all his Slo
ry. With more ready communication with
the venerable centre of Christianity, re-
newed interest must be felt by the Chris.
tan nations in the explorations which are
at last revealing to us as much of the rigi-
nal city rs yet remains, hidden beneath de-
bris, later superstructures and modern
buildings. About five years ago pcrmis-
sion was granted to certain Englishmen, by
the Sultan, to enter upon an excavation of
the foundations of the magnificent temple
which Solomon reared without the aid Of
any iron tool, on the craggy summit of
Mount Moriah fund to defray the cX-
pcnscs of this estima bic work was raised
with the usual generosity of the moneyed
men of England ; and now we are iu pos
session of results which, though partial, are
yet most valuable. and conlirnsat least the
traditions which have fingered of the vast
size, the massive masonry, the noblencss of
the architecture. and the gorgeous adOrn-
ments of the monuments which the wise
king reared to the glory of God above the
vale of kedron. The restoration Of all the
old temple which Chaldean and Mosirm
have spared seems likely to be fully accom-
! plished under The energetic auspices OF
! Captains Wilson and Warren, unless their
financial resources give out--a contingency
which is not probable, considering from
| whence they come, and the increasing
interest with which the work cam
not but be regarded when the discoveries
already made arc appreciated.
| The revelation already made of the walls
chambers, galleries and conrts of SolomOn'S S
! Temple is not fattering to the pride Of mo-
/ dern art for it is safe to say that there is
| no nation Oh the face of the globe which
could now rear so splendid Il monument.
The great pyramid is an architectural Won
der and mystery; what architect in twcn-
ty centuries has been able to imagine how
it was built or what achnologist when it
was built? Yet in some respects Solo
mons temple, its foundations wedged into
the very crags and cliffs of Moriah, is a
grandcr triumph than the great pyramid
of CheOps. The walls are formed Of i'm
mensc blocks of stone, and of these walls
there Is Il total height OF more than 400 feet
but little less than the apex of the pyramid
and between the four walls of the temple il
was possible for 100000 adult human be-
ings 10 worship together at the same time
Coloseuns and st. Peters and amphithea-
tres and La ScalaS are dwasicl TO insignif
canoe in the comparison. So wildly may
the temple be reconstructed in imagination
by the data already published, that it re-
quires no forcing of the mind to fancy Sol
ONION seated in its midst, the highest priests
sacrificing at the altar fires, the great mel
of the most dazzling of Oriental courts ga
thered in shining raiment around the inner
courts, land the multitude of ancient long
bearded Jews and cream-complexionel
Jewesses gathered in human sea in th,
great quadrangles and galleries, humbln9
themselves in the presence at the anointcC
monarch and the priests, and awstruck 10y
their propinquity to the mysterious Holy
of Holes. That Moscm sovereign
should permit the Christian dogs" to thus
reveal the most sacred relics Of both rcli
gions, marks singular and happy Goa
trast with the days when the hosts Of hos
tile armies warred about its very walls fol
the possession of the Holy City.-BoStol
Post.