OF of the Patriarchs-Bazars-Sepulchres of the Kings their real History -- MOSQUE OMAR-Existing evidence of Julian's discomfiture- Observations of Mosheim and MoyleGreek and Armenian Convents-State of Politics in Jerusalem. PERHAPS it may now be manifest, that so far from deriving accurate notions of the topography and antiquities of Jerusalem from the descriptions of former writers, these objects really remain for future investigation. If, during an endeavour to remove existing prejudices, and to excite a due contempt for Monkish errors, the subject seems rather perplexed than elucidated, it is because, in the subversion of a fabric raised by Ignorance and Superstition, its parts must necessarily lie scattered and confused. The materials have been falsely put together, but they are genuine; and others, coming after, will arrange and connect them in a more reasonable manner. Since the period of the author's visit to Jerusalem, the building which had received the appellation of the Church of Mount Calvary has been destroyed by fire. In all probability it will now be seen, that what was called the Holy Sepulchre was a mere delusion-a Monkish juggle; that there was, in fact, neither crypt nor soros, resembling a Jewish place of burial, beneath the CHAP. VIII. CHAP. dome of that building; that we must look else- (1) See Chap. IV. of this volume, p. 178. (3) The Palladium, like many other of the antient idols of Greece, the places venerated by Laplanders, and the idols worshipped by the Chinese3; in short, in every country of the earth where uncultivated man is found, Fear, the parent of Superstition, has pointed out objects of adoration, or multiplied articles of faith. The state of human intellect is not less degraded among Christians of the Holy Land, making prostrations and processions before stocks and roots, than among the forlorn worshippers of Thor, the loggerheaded idol of Northern nations'. Such superstitions disgraced (4) "Loca quæ Lapponibus sancta erant et religiosa, singulari quâdam et inusitatâ formå et figurâ a reliquis distinguebantur." Lemii Comment. de Lappon. &c. p. 442. Hafn. 1767. (5) In Cuchiung, near to Hangam, there is a great stone, &c. which they cover yearly quite over with gold, and then worship it." Nieuhoff's Dutch Embassy to China, englished by Ogilby, p. 224. Lond. 1669. (6) See the account given by Quaresmius of a Lusus Naturæ found near Jerusalem, to which miraculous powers were ascribed in healing diseases. Also the engraving "CRUCIFIXI EX LILII RADICE, PRODIGIOSA ET NOVA IMAGO." The representation really excites horror. Speaking of it, he says, "Mirabilis est virtutis et efficacia: illo et enim aqua benedicitur, quæ etiam post annum, etsi in parvo vase recondita, incorrupta ac velut recens è fonte hausta invenitur: febricitantibus feliciter propinatur, qui et sanitatis inde beneficium consequuntur. Ad eum (i. e. possessorem) habentur stationes et processiones, et in quibusvis afflictionum et tribulationum necessitatibus, post Deum, ad illum confluunt fideles, ut ab omni animi et corporis adversitate liberari, et necessariis bonis ditari mereantur." Elucidat. T. S. lib. iv. c. 10. tom. II. p. 18. Antv. 1639. (7) Thor, or the Thunderer,' of Northern nations, (See Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 75. Lond. 1628.) from whom Our Thor's Day, or Thursday, is derived, is always an image of VOL. IV. Ꮓ wood CHAP. VIII. CHAP. VIII. both the Greek and the Catholic churches long after the time of Constantine: and Helena, whether the daughter of a British Prince1, or of an inn-keeper at Drepanum, cannot be supposed to have possessed attainments beyond the age in which she lived, or the circumstances of her origin. That she was amiable,-that she merited, by her virtues, her exalted station, has not been disputed; but her transactions in Palestine bear the stamp of dotage and infirmity. Few things, considering her sex and the burthen of her years, have occurred more extraordinary than was her journey to the Holy Land, and its consequences. Whatsoever might have been her mental endowments, her bodily energies, at a season of life3 when human strength is said to be "but labour and sorrow," were superior to the weight of age, and to the fatigues of a pilgrimage sufficient to wood among the Laplanders. The account given of it by Scheffer proves it to have been the trunk of a tree, having at one end an accidental similitude of the human head. See Scheffer's Hist. of Lapl. p. 103. Lond. 1704. (1) "Filia fuit unius Britanniæ Reguli, Coel nomine." Quaresmii Eluc. T. S. tom. II. p. 424. (2) “ Τὴν πόλιν Δρέπανον, Ελενόπολιν τὴν μητέρα τιμῶν, προσηyópeve. Oppidum Drepanum, matrem honorans, Helenopolim adpellavit." Nicephorus Callistus, lib. vii. c. 49. Paris, 1630. (3) “ Paulo ante mortem, quam octogesimum ætatis agens oppetebat, stud iter fecit." Theodoret. lib. i. cap. 18. Paris, 1642. have exhausted the most vigorous youth'. Nothing could surpass the zeal with which she visited every spot consecrated by the actions of JESUS CHRIST, and by his Apostles, from the hills of Jerusalem to the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and over all Samaria, nor the piety with which she endeavoured to perpetuate the remembrance of the holy places by the monuments she erected. But, after all, the manner in which the identity of any of those places was ascertained seems not less an object of derision, than the gross superstition, founded upon their supposed discovery, has long been of contempt. From the time of Adrian, to that of Constantine, Jerusalem had been possessed by Pagans: HELENA arrives, overturns their temples, and prepares to identify the situation of every place connected with our SAVIOUR'S history. The first thing to be ascertained is the site of Mount Calvary. An accidental fissure in one of the rocks of Jerusalem suggests the idea of a possible consequence CHAP. VIIL (4)" Cum ætate recipiens incrementa virtutum, sexu et ætate quidem infirma, sed divinâ virtute promptior et fortior reddita," &c. Quaresm. Elucid. T. S. lib. v. cap. 28. Antv. 1639. (5) Vid. Nicephor. lib. viii. c. 30. Paris, 1630. (6) Nicephorus, (ibid.) after enumerating twenty-six churches and chapels built by Helena in the Holy Land, adds, "Quin et plures ecclesias alias in sanctis illis locis, supra triginta, amantissima Dei fœmina Imperatoris mater condidit." |