The Washington critic., 1888-04-07
.JOTTINGS IN JUDEA.
A Young American Seaman's Pill
grimage to Palestine.
THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.
Adams Skull--The Chapel Of Col
gotha-Many Strange Relics
and Traditions.
BY II. W. STEPHENSON, U. s. N.

believed by the Hebrews to be the
only portion of their ancient temple
that has survived the repeated con-
quests, sackings and dcmolitions of
Jerusalem, is situated in the valley
between Mount Zion and Mount
Moriah, and is unquestionably the
most ancient, the most authentic and
withal the most hallowed Of Jerusa-
LENS structural relics. 1t is hallowed
by the bitterness of fallen nation;
a bitterness that cannot be imagined;
bitterness that must be witnessed to
he appreciated. Here, under the
shadow of a massive, hoary wall, we
bcheld scene heartrending in the
extreme. Shrunken and shriveled
old men, with long white hair and
boards, sat on the ground, book in
hand, reading for very life and, at in
icrvals, moaning in the most plaintive
manner Women, many young and
beautiful, kissed and pressed the
stones with their forcheads and
shrieked till 1t seemed as if their
hearts would burst. Grief-profound
grief-the grief Of down-trodden
! people for their nations lost glory was
I mere sadly eNempllueQ.
One Of the most affecting scenes it
is possible to conceive is the spectacle
of-what we are taught to believe
Gods chosen people, clutching and
kissing rocky wall, and, with we'll
ing tears, imploring the God Of Jacob
TO send them the long-promised
Messiah. No longer, after witnessing
this, can even the most prejudiced
fnal 1,orcl,l.- -, rlrtha Tho
spell is broken. The derision that
any may have felt for them before
changes into pity when the spectacle
of their humiliation is meditated on
The once mightiest nation upon earth
banished from their native land,
scattered throughout the universe,
broken and dismembercd, without
government and oppressed to this
day beyond all measure in the very
seat of their former might. Small
wonder is it that the old men and
Jnaidens of Jerusalem cry aloud for
The Messiah and integration. And
yet, to fulfil an awful and inscrutable
purpose 1t Is written that they dis
carded and put to death the Christ.
But was it not proph hesied they
should, Here,
OH DOCTORS OF THEOLOGY,
is chasm you cannot bridge, for it
transcends all human thought to con-
lecture what might have transpired
had that event not come to pass
We'are all workers to q great end,
whether we be Gentle, Jew, or
Heathen, and do we but exist for a
moment and then pass away our
allotment in the furtherance of the
Great Scheme is surely accomplished,
TO traduce the Jews clearly indicates
lack of respect for the will Of the
Great Designer, whose purpose,
whether fraught with good or evil to
them, is not for us to judge.
(. Believed to be part of the Western
wall of the courtyard of the Temple
Of Solomon and composed of huge
blocks of stone, which, as Mahomet
informed us, were originally brought
from the quarries of Damascus, and
which, from their size must have re-
quired enormous tackle to lift and
put them i'll place, the "Wailing
Place of the Jews" presents
at once, wonderful specimen Of the
colossal nature of the structures the
and, in fact, all manner of weeds,
DPiOut III AiOiii VIZ WV tNSo
between the stones and serve i'm
measurably to heighten the desola-
ton of the place. The wall is,
should Judge, about eighty feet in
height and extends some sixty feet,
forming one side of q narrow lane,
which is blocked up at one end and
which on Fridays--the day we visited
it-(the Jewish Sabbath eve, is en-
tirely filled by Jews, of both sexes,
who betake themselves thither TO
study the Talmud and weep and
pray. Leaving this mournful scene,
} Mahomet led us to the
CHURCH OF THE HOLY sEPULcHRE,"
which is situated nearly in the centre
= of the city. / had often read descrip-
tions of this church before seeing it,
and had quite as often wondered
whether the authors whose works !
had perused had sweated at all over
their composition. know l always
used to do so in trying to follow them,
and fear that all who read the fol-
lowing description, and endeavor to
picture to themselves the kind of
place 1t Is, will have the same eN
perience
The group of buildings known rs
''The Church of the Holy Sepulchre"
consists, properly speaking, OF three
churches, the largest of which is the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre"
proper. The other two are the
"Church of Mount Calvary" These
three churches, built over the sup
posed localities of the cruciliXion and
resurrection, are also supposed to
cover various other interesting spots,
J notably "Tbe Centre of the World
4 and "The Tomb of Adam" Previous
I the days Of Helena Uhe mother of
the Emperor Constantine) these sites
were enveloped by heathen
temple erected to Venus. But
y after the entry of constantine into
Y Jerusalem ca. d, 325) and the subse
quent excavation of the three crosses
by workmen under the direction OF
Helena, this was torn down and Q
cave answering the description of the
tomb in which the Son of God wa'
laid as given by the Evangelists, was
discovered; hence sprang into exist
enGe 'The Church of the Holy Sep
ulchre," structure which has suf
fered destruction more times thar
y any other sacred structure in tn,
world Through the courtesy of {
,N Maltese monk, in the convent o
"rerra Sante," who spoke Englisl
very fluently, and who proved yer
table encyclopedia TO me, ] am Ell
] abled to give the dates of its success
sive demolitions.
The building erected by the En-
peror Constantine, after standing fo
\ nearly 800 years, was destroyed by tn
L Persians under King Chosroes "a, ID