The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-05-26

THE NAME.-JEsUs was condemned to
death by the Jewish authorities IL; XVI. %,
66: Mark xiv. 65), who at this time, it ap-
pears, had not the power to execute the
death penalty (John xviii. 81. we are IN
formed by historians that they we're deprived
of authority to inflict capital punishment by
the Roman government about forty years
before the destruction of Jerusalem. Line
confirmation of their condemnation of JESUS
by the Roman governor must be obtained
before he could be executed. Cruclhxlon
was the Roman form of capital punishment,
and was inflicted only upon the worst GRIM
inals, and chiefly upon foreigners. Ihougn
PLATE adjudged JESUS guiltless OF any crlme'
he was impelled by the persistent and threat
eninp demand of the Jewish rulers, whose
GOODWILL and favor he desired to MAINTAIN
or secure, to deliver him to the executioners
to be crucified. (Read from the beginning
of the chapter.) The place of execution is
called Golgotha, the Hebrew word for
"skull." It may have been a small, barren
skull-shaped mound, whose appearance sug-
Qested the name. The place is familiarly
known to us as Calvary, which is the Angll-
cized Latin word for skull, adopted from the
Latin Version and used in the Common Yer
sion of Luke xiii. SO. Mount Calvary" Is
hardly suggested by the New Testament &C.
counts. This name is probably founded
upon an ancient tradition of the place OF
crucifxion, which located it upon hill or
small mount.
THE PLACE.-The site of Calvary is not
now certainly known. 1t was near Jerusa-
lem, where was a garden (John xix. ~, Al,
but outside the city wall Hebrews kill ~,
and was presumably by the roadside (o9;
Mark XIV. 29). The traditional spot is occu-
pied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
which was originally built by Helena the
mother of Constantine the Great, A. ID. 3d.
1t is within the modern city limits, but the
limits of Jerusalem have greatly changed
since CHRIsT's day, and the exact location OF
the ancient walls are not now known. 1t is
within the limits of probability that the iden-
tity of location so distinguished and SO
well-known might be preserved for three
hundred years, Notwithstanding the calami-
ties that befell the city and the changes of
its population. But scholars differ.
In every view which 1 have been able to
take of the question, both Typographical and
historical, whether on the spot or in the
closet, and in spite of all my prepossessions,
/ am led irresistibly to the conclusion that
the Golgotha and the tomb shown IN the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre are not the real
places of the cruci6xion and resurrection OF
our Lord.-Dr. Robinson, Biblical Re-
searches"
Since the time of DR.. Robinson, Captain
Condor has made discoveries which go long
way to sustain, if not satisfy, curiosity re-
specting the sites both of the ancient place
of criminal execution, Golgotha, and of the
rock-hewn tomb in the garden. The locality
referred to lies near the Damascus Gate, just
beside the great north road. The principal
knoll, the supposed place of doom, is lone
hundred and ten feet above the top of the
Sakhrah rock in the Haram, and commands
view of the city walls to the temple inclos-
ure." An ancient Jewish tomb, apart from
all others, has been discovered in a smaller
knoll, lying west of the north road, about
two hundred yards from the top of the larger
knoll, and now the question is started, What
if this should be the actual sepulchre of 10.
seph of Arimathea? 1t has been Gus
tomary to speak of Mount Calvary. The
custom has prevailed in Europe for above q
thousand years. There was doubtless some
foundation for the popular representation
James Morrison, d. D., " A Practical Com
Tnantarv -