The San Francisco call., 1896-12-20

cher, which has been hidden from sight
for many centuries, owing to the accumu-
lation OF debris which had gathered
over ana around ii, principally through
the devastation resulting upon the destruc-
ton OF Jerusalem by the Romans.
This tomb has been carefully cleared
out and thoroughly explored, and, as
Haskett Smith shows, it bears unmistaka-
Bile evidence of being the actual tomb of
Christ. 1t is a Jewish tomb; it was meant
for Jew of wealth and importance; it
was OF the Herodias type. showing that it
must have been excavated at about the
time of our Lord; it was never really fin
ished, and was evidently occupied hur-
riedly and it is the only tomb which has
vet been discovered where the events as
recorded in the twentieth chapter of ST.
John could possibly have occurred.
1t was bold attempt to overthrow the
unbroken tradition of nearly sixteen CEN
turies, implicitly accepted by universal
Christendom, but Haskett Smith very
clearly demonstrated how the true site OF
Calvary and the tomb were lost, owing to
the action of the Emperor Adrian, who
expelled all Jews and Christians from Je-
rusalem in the year 130 A. D., converting
the city into heather Roman city,
changing its name to Aelia Capitolina and
carefully destroying as far as possible all
Jewish and Christian sacred spots and
edifices.
For three generations-for close upon
100 years-no Christians were allowed to
enter Jerusalem, and when at length they
we're permitted to return there was no one
living who knew the city in it's former
condition. The consequence was that
when the Empress Helena, mother OF
Constantine the Great, went to Jerusalem
in the year 323 A. D., with the express
purpose of building a church over the
pf 7 10 ix-jn III
there was not a soul who could tell where
the true site was.
The ecclesiastical tradition is that in
this dilemma Helena had miraculous
dream, in W which a certain spot in Jerusa-
lem was pointed out to her and ste was
told that if she dug there she would find
beneath the surface three buried wooden
crosses; that these were the crosses of
Christ and of the two thieves and that
they had been buried there by the first
disciples in order that they might be pre-
served as sacred relics and that no one
should be able to discover where they
were buried.
The Empress, though an extremely Ge.
vout and holy woman, was like most peo-
pie Of her age, fanatical, ignorant and
superstitious in the highest degree She
was surrounded by body of sycophantic
and unscrupulous followers, whose one
duty was to satisfy all the old Lady's de.
sires, and, therefore, when she told her
dream to them, it is not very SURPRISING q
that couple of days afterward, when she
had the spot which she had dreamed of
dug open, three wooden crosses were
found. On the strength of this supposed
miraculous discovery the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher was erected on the spot,
and ever since hat time, strange to saw.
no one seems to have yentured to discuss
or dispute the genuineness of the site un-
til the intelligent and painstaking re-
searches of the Palestine explorers during
the last thirty years have effectuaily ex-
posed the fallacy of the tradition.
All this is most ably and Interestingly
dealt with in Haskett Smiths Calvary
and the Tomb of Christ" and very
practical and important issue has resulted
from the publication of his work. 1t was
felt by large number of influential and
earnest people in England that the garden
and tomb, surrounded by such sacred as
soclations, should, if possible, be secured
by purchase, SO as to be preserved forever
from desecration on the one hand and
from superstition on the other. Accord
ingly committee was formed in London,
under the patronage of the late Arch
bishop of Canterbury and of seven of the
leading Anglican bishops, and funds were
raised for the purchase of the property.
Mr.. Haskett Smith was deputed by the
committee to go to Jerusalem for the pur-
pose of negotiating with the owner of the
property, and after many obstacles, de.
lays ana drawbacks the matter was finally
brought to a successful issue. the property
purchased for $10, 600. or f2000 and before
he left Tor Australia in February, 1895,