Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-23
THE HOLY LAND
TH-CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCH
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

succession of professions Wlnulhb III
and about the halls and corridors OF
the great church, worshiping at the
various sacred shrnes. I3ut each sect
ignores a sacred place peculiar to an
other and denies strenuously the au-
thenticity of the traditions Of the oth-
er SectS.
The holy sepulchre stands in the CEN
ter of the great retunda which Is the
principal feature of the edifice. rms
rotunda is the common property OF all
Christians, oriental and occidental
orthodox and hetrodox. 1t is the one
place in the Christian world where an
sectarianism is forgotten and the Chfls~
tian pilgrim is free to come and Wor-
ship according to the dictates OF his
own conscience.
Whatever may be ones own religious
belief or unbelief, the heir of twenty
centuries of Christian civilization cam
not look upon that sepuchre without
emotion. It's dirty marble, its solled
tinsel, it's forty-three twinkling lamps,
stand not in the way of the magma
ton For here is the place which taith
has long accepted as tlse spot where
was laid the body of the crucifed Jesus,
the spot where he arose from the dead
and where he made unto the world ms
supreme revelation. This is the spot
for the possession of which Christian
Europe for two centuries batlled III
vain This is the spot which was the
inspiration of that most remarkaple OF
all psychological folk-movements, the
orusades. This is the spot so holy that
never has it passed from the ownership
and control OF the Christian church,
for even when the crusaders sought 10
deliver the sepulchre from the 40
minion of the Saracens, although un-
known to Europe, this church was
safely in the hands OF the oriental
Christians.
Here come annually tens Of thou
sands of pilgrims from every quarter
of the Christian globe. Russian peas
ants in companies of several hundred
at the expense of every bodily com
fort make the great sacrifices neces-
sary to bring them to the Holy Land.
And here, at the tomb of the Lord, one
sees them PROSTATE themselves ana
kiss the holy stones in a passion or
religious fervor and zeal which must
impress the American onlooker with
the fact that to the miserable RUSSIAN
moujilx the consolation of the Chris
tian religion is n very real and potent
thing. Here comes cowled friar from
the mountains Of northern Spain who,
has begged his way along the long
Journey with n faith that rivals the
passion of Peter the Hermit himself.
Here comes n prelate of the Church or
Rome who has been labOring for the
cause of Christ in faraway America,
who thanks his God at the altar OF
Constantine that wherever Christ was
buried He lives everywhere today IN
the hearts Of men. Here comes an
Ethiopian with skin black as night,
from the heart OF Africa, n priest in the
Church of Abyssinia. against which all
the powers of Islam and OF paEanism
have not prevailed. Here comes
HISTORIAN pilgrim from Chinese East
Turkestan, a representative OF the
tiny remnant Of that once great chris
tan church which held sway over all
Asia. even unto China and Japan.
Here comes, in the uniform OF TWEEN
tieth century crusader, a salvation
Army captain from the cast end of
London, whose zeal equals and whose
morals are far above those of the good
English soldiers of the cross who fol-
lowed Richard Of the Lion Heart into
battle against Saladin. Here comes
from the United States the presiden+ OF
a womans university, who here, amid
this incongruous convention OF all
types of Christians, gives thanks unto
her Risen Lord for her own country IN
which the teachings of Jesus Christ
have resulted in the emancipation of
her SEX
One wishes that the church was
clean, one shudders to think that Mos
lem swords must preserve the peace
between the pickering factions of those
who follow the lowly Na2arene, one Is
depressed by the squallor and the su-
perstitions: but one is forced to re-
member that the religion of Jesus
Christ is for all men of every shade of
opinion, of every race and color, of
every age and century. No armor of
materialism, no defense of rationalism
no argument OF reason is potent to
withstand the powerful emotional in
fluence of this spot which is after ALL
to Christians the center of the world
TOmOrrOw-The Holy Land:
V-Bethlehem of Judea.