Connecticut western news., 1919-04-17
TURKISH NO MORE
 Whole World Rejoices That "the lnfideF" Has Been Driven
 From Holy City.

@ llltiIly CClIlul ICS, dlllu IhS
 Christian world will celebrate with greater fcrvor and deeper rever- ence now that the hand of the 'infidel Turk" is removed.
 It is exactly GT+ years since the Turk drove cut the Christians and took pOsse&S.nn of JerUSalcm, after it had been taken by Frederick II, March IT, 1929, who crowned himself king of the Latin Kingdom, in imitation of that earlic'' king of JvrCaalcm, Godfrey of BOuil.on GU|J),
 Land Of Pilgrimage.
 Palestine had been assigned 10 the Emperor of the East i'll 3O5 4. D., and was r0minally Christian at that time, when pilgrimage to the Holy Land be- caEic almost q cult and the finding of relics became a regular pursuit in all the places identified with the life of Jesus.
 This was tho period that might al- most be termed the Christianizing of Palestine, for Christianity had devel- OpCd far more vigorously at Rome and in other parts of the Roman empire than in tho Holy Land itself, up to this time. Constantine had made it the state religion and Helena had found Inc "True Cross" so that there was a great stirring of interest throughout the land. Many fine churches were built, and Justinian erected the Golden Gate and part of great church, now the El Aksa mosque (527-565l.
 Christians Prosecuted.
 It was in GA that Chosroes II, king of Persia, made his great inrOad, per- scouting the Christians wherever he found them, especially in what is now Armenia, and capturing Jerusalem. The Emperor Heraclius managed to regain control (629), but he had to yield before the might of the Caliph Omar (63O, who erected many great structures, especially the mosque called after him, upon the great rock which had been the site of the temple of Solomon.
 For more than 400 years the Mo. | hammedans held sway, until as a re- suit of the Crusades Godfrey of BOu. illon took possession in 1909. The 1 Christian powers could not, however, hold possession, for they were always | fighting among themselves, and so Saladin, the mighty leader of the Mos lens, gained a permanent hold over the land of Palestine and Jerusalem in 11S7. x. It was during the next century that l the Christians under the leadership of Frederick II gained possession of Pal I estine for the last time, until our own day. But with dissension among the Christians of that time it was not diff ficult for the Turks to" regain control in 1244 and retain it verlsince, in one form or another.
 . Surrender of Jerusalem, .. The surrender of Jerusalem to the British forces last December, and the subsequent. conquest of much of the rest of the land now establishes Chris tian control, at least for the present, and the doubt has been raised whether any Christian power, even Germany, will dare to suggest that the holy
 
 power of the Moslem, no matter what the terms of peace may be.
 Precisely what local changes in priv ilegeS of worship will come out of the change may not be foretold. For a long time a strange situation has pre- vailed in Jerusalem. The holy sepul- cher, for example, with it's relics of Christian treasure, has been used by Greeks, Armenians and Western Chris tianS in attenuation, the control re- maining with the Turkish authorities. Naturally many disputes have arisen out of so strange q situation.
 This Easter Significant. When the city was captured by the British there was great local anxiety as to what might result. With the en- try of General Allenby, with his staff and certain French and Italian officers, these anXieties were quickly set at rest. The Jewish population soon learned that all was to be we'll with them and other sects represented in the citizenship of the historic place were equally treasured. A sense of peace, liberty and security had its i'm mediate effect and influenced pro- foundly the preparations for the new, uneXampled Easter as well as for flu ture worship of every sort in the trou bled Holy Land. In Jerusalem as elsewhere began to appear conviction that, no matter how long world peace might be delayed. St new spirit was abroad throughout the earth.
 This Easter, then, has a special sig nificance, in view of all the centuries of struggle for holding the places con secrated to Christianity by the activity of it's Savior.