450

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE DISCOVERED.

and they viewed from afar the walls of the holy city, which were profaned in their eyes by the triumph of the cross, and the devotion of the Christians.58

Jerusalem.

60

In the midst of a rocky and barren country, the walls of Jerusalem" enclosed the two mountains of Sion and Acra, within an oval figure of about three English miles. Towards the south, the upper town, and the fortress of David, were erected on the lofty ascent of mount Sion; on the north side, the buildings of the lower town covered the spacious summit of mount Arca; and a part of the hill, distinguished by the name of Moriah, and leveled by human industry, was crowned with the stately temple of the Jewish nation. After the final destruction of the temple by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. Sion was deserted; and the vacant space of the lower city was filled with the public and private edifices of the Ælian colony, which spread themselves over the adjacent hill of Calvary. The holy places were polluted with monuments of idolatry; and either from design or accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus, on the spot which had been sanctified by the death and resurrection of Christ.* Almost three hundred years after those stupendous events, the profane chapel of Venus was demolished by the order of Ĉonstantine; and the removal of the earth and stones revealed the holy sepulchre to the eyes of mankind. A magnificent church was erected on that mystic ground, by the first Christian emperor: and the effects of his pious munificence were extended to every spot which had been consecrated by the footsteps of patriarchs, of prophets, and the Son of God.

62

5 Basnage has fully illustrated the state of the Jews under Constantine and his successors (tom. viii. c. iv. pp. 111-153.)

59 Reland (Palestin. 1. i. pp. 309. 390, 1. iii. p. 838) describes, with learning and perspicuity, Jerusalem, and the face of the adjacent country.

60 I have consulted a rare and curious treatise of M. D'Anville (sur l'Ancienne Jerusalem, Paris, 1747, p. 75). The circumference of the ancient city (Euseb. Preparat. Evangel. 1. ix. c. 36) was 27 stadia, or 2550 toises. A plan, taken on the spot, assigns no more than 1980 for the modern town. The circuit is defined by natural landmarks, which cannot be mistaken or removed.

61 See two curious passages in Jerom (tom. i. p. 102, tom. vi. p. 315), and the ample details of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. i. p. 569, t. ii. pp. 289, 294, 4to edit. 62 Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. 1. iii. c. 25-47, 51-53. The emperor likewise built churches at Bethlehem, the Mount of Olives, and the oak of Mambre. The holy sepulchre is described by Sandys (Travels, pp. 125-133), and curiously delineated by Le Bruyn, (Voyage au Levant, pp. 288-296. +

On the site of the Holy Sepulchre, compare the chapter in Professor Robinson's Travels in Palestine, which has renewed the old controversy with great vigor. To me, this temple of Venus, said to have been erected by Hadrian to insult the Christians, is not the least suspicious part of the whole legend.-M. 1845. + Dr. Clarke and his companion seem to be the only pilgrims who have beheld the true sepulchre. (See his Travels, vol. ii, p. 57. 59.) But prejudices, too inverate and profitable, quashed the discovery.-ENG. CH.

PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM.

The passionate desire of contemplating the original monuments of their redemption, at

63

451

Pilgrimages.

tracted to Jerusalem a successive crowd of pilgrims, from the shores of the Atlantic ocean, and the most distant countries of the east, and their piety was authorized by the empress Helena, who appears to have united the credulity of age with the warm feelings of a recent conversion. Sages and heroes, who have visited the memorable scenes of ancient wisdom or glory, have confessed the inspiration of the genius of the place;" and the Christian, who knelt before the holy sepulchre, ascribed his lively faith, and his fervent devotion, to the more immediate influence of the divine Spirit. The zeal, perhaps the avarice, of the clergy of Jerusalem, cherished and multiplied these beneficial visits. They fixed, by unquestionable tradition, the scene of each memorable event. They exhibited the instruments which had been used in the passion of Christ; the nails and the lance that had pierced his hands, his feet, and his side; the crown of thorns that was planted on his head; the pillar at which he was scourged; and, above all, they showed the cross on which he suffered, and which was dug out of the earth in the reign of those princes who inserted the symbol of Christianity in the banners of the Roman legions. Such miracles, as seemed necessary to account for its extraordinary preservation, and seasonable discovery, were gradually propagated without opposition. The custody of the true cross, which on Easter Sunday was solemnly exposed to the people, was intrusted to the bishop of Jerusalem: and he alone might gratify the curious devotion of the pilgrims, by the gift of small pieces, which they enchased in gold or gems, and carried away in triumph to their respective countries. But as this gainful branch of commerce must soon have been annihilated, it was found convenient to

63 The Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem was composed in the year 333, for the use of pilgrims; among whom Jerome (tom. i. p. 126) mentions the Britons and the Indians. The causes of this superstitious fashion are discussed in the learned and judicious preface of Wesseling (Itinerar. pp. 537-545).*

64 Cicero (de Finibus, v. 1) has beautifully expressed the common sense of

mankind.

es Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 326, No. 42-50) and Tillemont (Mém. Eccles. tom. vii. pp. 8-16) are the historians and champions of the miraculous invention of the cross under the reign of Constantine. Their oldest witnesses are Paulinus, Sulpicius Severus Rufinus, Ambrose, and perhaps Cyril of Jerusalem. The silence of Eusebius, and the Bordeaux pilgrim, which satisfies those who think, perplexes those who believe. See Jortin's sensible remarks, vol. ii. pp 238-248.

*Much curious information on this subject is collected in the first chapter of Wilken, Geschichte der Kreuzzüge.-MILMAN.

Dr. Johnson, in his tour to the Hebrides, echoes the same sentiment amid the ruins of Iona.-ENG. CH.

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LEGENDS AND RELICS.

suppose that the marvellous wood possessed a secret power of vegetation; and that its substance, though continually diminished, still remained entire and unimpaired." It might perhaps have been expected that the influence of the place, and the belief of a perpetual miracle, should have produced some salutary effects on the morals, as well as on the faith, of the people. Yet the most respectable of the ecclesistical writers have been obliged to confess, not only that the streets of Jerusalem were filled with the incessant tumult of business and pleasure, but that every species of viceadultery, theft, idolatry, poisoning, murder-was familiar to the inhabitants of the holy city. The wealth and preeminence of the church of Jerusalem excited the ambition of Arian, as well as orthodox, candidates; and the virtues of Cyril, who, since his death, has been honored with the title of saint, were displayed in the exercise, rather than in the acquisition, of his episcopal dignity."

Julian attempts to rebuild the temple.

67

70

68

The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem. As the Christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction had been pronounced against the whole

66 This multiplication is asserted by Paulinus (Epist. xxxvi. See Dupin. Bibliot. Eccles, tom. iii. p. 149), who seems to have improved a rhetorical flourish of Cyril into a real fact. The same supernatural privilege must have been communicated to the Virgin's milk (Erasmi Opera, tom, i. pp. 778, Lugd. Batav. 1703, in Colloq. de Peregrinat. Religionis ergo), saints' heads, &c., and other relics, which are repeated in so many different churches.*

67 Jerom (tom. i. p. 103), who resided in the neighboring village of Bethlehem, describes the vices of Jerusalem from his personal experience.

6s Gregor. Nyssen, apud Wesseling, p. 539. The whole epistle, which condemns either the use or the abuse of religious pilgrimage, is painful to the Catholic divines, while it is dear and familiar to our Protestant polemics.

69 He renounced his orthodox ordination, officiated as a deacon, and was reordamed by the hands of the Arians. But Cyril afterwards changed with the times, and prudently conformed to the Nicene faith. Tillemont (Mém. Eccies. tom. viii.), who treats his memory with tenderness and respect, has thrown his virtues into the text, and his faults into the notes, in decent obscurity, at the end of the volume.†

Ammian.

70 Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare. xxiii. 1. The temple of Jerusalem had been famous even among the Gentiles. They had many temples in each city (at Sichem five, at Gaza eight, at Rome four hundred and twenty-four); but the wealth and religion of the Jewish nation were centred in one spot.

* Lord Mahon, in a memoir read before the Society of Antiquaries, (Feb. 1831), has traced, in a brief but interesting manner, the singular adventures of the true cross. It is curious to inquire, what authority we have, except of late tradition, for the Hill of Calvary. There is none in the sacred writings; the uniform use of the common word rooç, instead of any word expressing ascent or acclivity, is against the notion.-M1LMAN,

Cyril's changes are recorded by Jerome. (Chron, anno 2364). He was first elected A. D. 348 (then an Arian), under Constantius; thrice deposed, and as often restored. The date of his last re-installation is 381, the third year of Theodosius, the orthodox; from which time he retained his position till his death in 388. The last dates are Clinton's. (F. R. ii. 536.)-ENG. CH.

CHURCH OF JERUSALEM.

73

453

fabric of the Mosaic law, the imperial sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of prophecy, and the truth of revelation." He was displeased with the spiritual worship of the synagogue; but he approved the institutions of Moses, who had not disdained to adopt many of the rites, and ceremonies of Egypt." The local and national deity of the Jews was sincerely adored by a polytheist, who desired only to multiply the number of the gods; and such was the appetite of Julian for bloody sacrifice, that his emulation. might be excited by the piety of Solomon, who had offered, at the feast of the dedication, twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep." These considerations might influence his designs; but the prospect of an immediate and important advantage would not suffer the impatient monarch to expect the remote and uncertain event of the Persian war. He resolved to erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a stately temple, which might eclipse the splendor of the church of the resurrection on the adjacent hill of Calvary ; to establish an order of priests, whose interested zeal would detect the arts, and resist the ambition, of their Christian rivals; and to invite a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be always prepared to second, and even to anticipate the hostile measures of the Pagan government. Among the friends of the emperor (if the names of emperor, and of friend, are not incompatible) the first place was assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and

71 The secret intentions of Julian are revealed by the late bishop of Gloucester, the learned and dogmatic Warburton; who, with the authority of a theologian, prescribes the motives and conduct of the Supreme Being. The discourse entitled Julian (2d edition, London, 1751) is strongly marked with all the peculiarities which are imputed to the Warburtonian school.

72 I shelter myself behind Maimonides, Marsham, Spencer, Le Clerc, Warburton, &c., who have fairly derided the fears, the folly, and the falsehood of some superstitious divines. See Divine Legation, vol. iv. p. 25, &c.

73 Julian (Fragment. p. 295) respectfully styles him uéyaç 9éos, and mentions him elsewhere (Epist. Ixiii) with still higher reverence. He doubly condemns the Christians, for believing, and for renouncing, the religion of the Jews. Their Deity was a true, but not the only, God. Apud Cyril. 1. ix. pp. 305, 306. 74 1 Kings, viii. 63. 2 Chronicles, vii. 5. Josephi. Antiquitat. Judaic. I. viii. c. 4, p. 431, edit. Havercamp. As the blood smoke of so many hecatombs might be inconvenient, Lightfoot, the Chri Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le Clerc (ad loca) is bold enough to the fidelity of the numbers.*

According to the historian Kotol Arabia, p. 276), the Khalif Mokteder in the year of the Hejira 350, forty th sheep. Barthema describes thirty th to the poor. Quarterly Review, xiii. According to the historian Raron Occurred.-E.

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SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.

learned Alypius." The humanity of Alypius was tempered by severe justice and manly fortitude; and while he exercised his abilities in the civil administration of Britain, he imitated, in his poetical compositions, the harmony and softness of the odes of Sappho. The minister, to whom Julian communicated, without reserve, his most careless levities, and his most serious counsels, received an extraordinary commission to restore, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem; and the diligence of Alypius required and obtained the strenuous support of the governor of Palestine. At the call of their great deliverer, the Jews, from all the provinces of the empire, assembled on the holy mountain of their fathers; and their insolent triumph alarmed and exasperated the Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem. The desire of rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. this propitious moment the men forgot their avarice, and the women their delicacy; spades and pickaxes of silver were provided by the vanity of the rich, and the rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple. Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a share in the pious labor; and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people."

is defeated.

In

Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power The enterprise and enthusiasm were unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish temple, which is now covered by a Mahometan mosque," still continued to exhibit the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation. Perhaps the absence and death of the emperor, and the new maxims of a Christian reign, might explain the interruption of an arduous work, which was attempted only in the last six months of the life of Julian. But the Christians entertained a natural and pious expectation, that, in this memorable contest, the honor of religion would be vindicated

78

Julian, Epist. xxix. xxx. La Bleterie has neglected to translate the second of these epistles.

76 See the zeal and impatience of the Jews in Gregory Nazianzen. (Orat. iv. p. 11), and Theodoret (1. iii. c. 20).

Built by Omar, the second Khalif, who died A. D. 644. This great mosque covers the whole consecrated ground of the Jewish temple, and constitutes almost a square of 760 toises, or one Roman mile in circumference. See D'Anville, Jerusalem, p. 45.

*

78 Ammianus records the consuls of the year 363, before he proceeds to mention the thoughts of Julian. Templum instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis. Warburton has a secret wish to anticipate the design; but he must have understood, from former examples, that the execution of such a work would have demanded many years.