The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-10-15
"GOLGOIHA."

The desire to Know if the present
wall anywhere represents the position
of the old wall, and lift carries with it
the solution of the question, Which is
the true sight of ''the Place of
Skull!' "Golgotha,' where our
Lord was crucified-is strong. Of
course the three Eastern Churches
Greek, Latin, and Armenian-assert
that the true site is covered by ''the
churches of the Holy Sepulchre."
They can point to past ages of belief,
to the multitude ofpllgrims in the past,
nay, even to the crowds of pilgrims in
the present. But nothing that is mere
ly "old'' is accepted without inquiry
to-day, when all pretensions are tested
and sifted. Many belief held by our
forefathers is now found to have had
no real foundation in fact Let us
very briefly see on what grounds this
site of the churches was selected.
When the pious Empress Helena
visited Jerusalem, and asked the
Monks, ''Where was the place of cruci-
fxion and the tomb of Christi" they
were compelled to admit they did not
know. The very early Christians,
who had been scattered abroad, had
left no record of the place. Their
minds had not been so much directed
to the place of the death as to the
greater fact that Christ had risen,
which to them was the evidence of His
divinity. But the day was now at
hand when, through the piety of an
English woman (for Helena was born
in England), the church was to have
new interest in ''sites' and "caves."
Many are the stories related. One,
that statue of Venus stood over the
site, and that on its being destroyed
the rock was found. Another, that a
monk had dream which directed at
tention to the spot. On digging-this
tradition alleges-three crosses were
fund; one had the inscription written
by Plate still attached; also the holes
in which those crosses had been placed
where discovered; then, when the
dead body of 4 criminal was placed on
the rock, it came to life This and
many other miracles" satisfied the
monks. The pious woman believed
them, and gave her money for the
building. .
For moment let us go back to the
question of the walls. The discoveries
made this year show that Jerusalum
on the southeast side extended quite
up to, if not beyond, the Valley of
Hinnom. At present we cannot say
how far they went on that side, but all
the work of the Palestine Fund exca-
vations goes to prove that Pilates
Judgment hall was towards the north
west of the city. That northwest wall
does, think, undoubtedly stand Oh an
old site the present Damascus Gate
is proved to stand on the site Of an
older gateway. The line of wall from
that to the northern angle also I'M
doubtedly stands on the site of an old
er wall, for there you find the living
rock had been scraped towards the
north angle. This scrap rises to the
height of 30 to 80 feet :: beside that
there is an old ditch or moat, also cut
out of the living rock. The north
runs outside this 'ditch,' which is on
your right hand going north. On
your left hand across the road is
bank of rock broken away in places.
Some 200 yards away from the gate,
lying back from the road, is remark
able cliff, commonly called "Jeremiah's
Grotto.' We shall have more to say
about this later on, for we believe that
this cliff is the place of Skull" the
"Golgotha.
Let us first see if the Bible will help
us in our search. There is little that
is definite rs to place, but that little
most important. st. Luke (xXiii. 26)
relates how they compelled Simon, a
Cyrenian, looming out of the country"
to bear the cross This | have long
considered gives us proof on which
side of the city Christ was crucified.
Four roads lead, have ever done so, in
to Jerusalem. That from the south
has ever been called the "Hebron road;'
that from the west, the ''Joppa road;'
but the north road was the road which
led to Bethel, Samaria. Galilee, Tyre,
Babylon, and beyond. So the "Cyre-
nian" would naturally enough be COM
ing along that road. When we read
that ''they that passed by wagged
their heads" Matt. xvii 39), so there
must have been a road near. Then
again we are told that the women"
and others "stOod far OFF, (Luke
xiii. 49) and saw the crucitixion.
Then comes Hebrews xiii. IL, which
saws that ".Jesus suffered without the
oatc." Now this last verse is all con-
clnsive, for by no possible freak of fam
cy can anyone imagine a "walr' and
gate" which should leave the present
''churches of the Holy Sepulchre''
'.outside :" they are well within the
city on the northwest The old rock
scarp, ditch, and road prove that on
that e;.Ia tho nrnSant wall occuniaS th1