ART. VIII.-THE SAVIOUR'S TOMB.

WHEN in Jerusalein we went out of the city to see an ancient tomb, believed by many to be the veritable tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and the place where the Lord lay. Because of the interest gathering about it we give a description of this tomb, and also some of the reasons why it is considered to be the very one in which the body of Jesus was laid, and from which he arose on the third day. John says, "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid." Matthew tells us that Joseph took the body "and laid it in his own new tomb." We are told in Hebrews that he, Jesus, "suffered without the gate;" and, whatever gate may be meant, because it was without the gate it must have been without the walls of Jerusalem.

In the excavations and surveys that have been made of Jerusalem it is conceded that the so-called Church of the Holy Sepulcher lies within the old walls. It is further granted by most authorities that the genuineness of the reputed site of the holy sepulcher rests solely upon the vision which Helena, the mother of Constantine, is said to have had; and the reality of this vision is generally repudiated. Therefore, if we are led by a reasonable faith instead of by a blind credulity, if we are guided by confidence in the revealed word of God instead of by trust in a pretended vision of a superstitious woman, then we must reject the traditional site of the holy sepulcher. Further than that, when Titus destroyed Jerusalem in A. D. 70 all that he left standing was a part of the walls of Zion; for sixty-two years the very site of the city was a waste place, and then it was rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian, and became a Roman city. The Jews under Barcochebas retook the city and occupied it only for a brief time, when it was again captured and made a Roman city. Before the siege by Titus the Christians all escaped to Pella, and it is regarded as very uncertain when they returned. During the time of the Roman occupation they were permitted to dwell in Jerusalem only under exceptional circumstances and in small number; and during the Jewish occupation if the sepulcher had been within the city it would likely be known to the Jews, and by them be destroyed

because of the hatred they had of Christians. So that we are not surprised that no mention is made of the holy sepulcher until the fourth century, and that Eusebius tells us the "illustrious monument had been lost in darkness and oblivion." But during the latter part of the first century it may have been known, and Schultz says in the Schaff-Herzog Cyclopedia: "Of course the first Christians knew the place where Christ was crucified and buried, but they evidently did not give much attention, or ascribe much value, to such externalities." But if they knew these sacred places they must have held them in

reverence.

By the aid of natural features it may be possible to determine the position of Calvary, and we may also be able to locate the holy sepulcher. The evangelists translate Golgotha as "the Place of a Skull;" and the presence and position of the Greek article, together with the capitals, imply that it was a wellknown place, and very early in the history of the Church was designated by a specific name. The gospels no doubt refer to a topographical characteristic in naming the place. As early as the time of Jerome it was held to mean "the Hill of Death." Now, outside of Jerusalem, a little northeast of the Gate of Damascus, there is a peculiar hill; it is in the shape of a skull, as has been shown by accurate plaster casts made of it. It is inclosed by four roads, and is very conspicuous from them and from the city walls, which meets the requirements of inferences obtained from Matt. xxvii, 39, and Mark xv, 29, and from the fact that the Romans always crucified their malefactors in such places in order to make the spectacle an impressive one to the people. This hill has been called from time immemorial "the Hill of Execution." Moreover, it appears that something took place there which has made a lasting impression by stirring the hatred of the Jewish people; for as they pass they throw stones at the hill and cry, "Cursed be he that destroyed our nation by aspiring to be the king thereof." After the most exact and patient investigation Dr. Conder has placed this hill in his maps of survey as Calvary.

Now, it is near Calvary, and in a garden, that we must seek for our Lord's tomb. And here just a little northwest of the skull-shaped hill we find a garden; this may easily have been a garden from the earliest times, for there is a deep and an

cient well for irrigation, and the configuration of the land and its sunny exposure would make it a very desirable spot for a garden, as it is to-day. In this garden is an ancient sepulcher, of which we offer a brief description. After having hastily viewed it one morning in March we took a guide in the afternoon and went to examine it more closely. Passing a short distance up the road leading from the Damascus Gate toward Nablous, we came to a lane passing up a hill, and in the lane opposite the Church of the Witness of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ we reached an arched gate, the entrance to a garden. In this garden, on the upper side, not far from the gate, we found a deep excavation. Entering the excavation, we came to a singular tomb, very unlike those in the rocks near Akeldama, and different from any tombs we saw in Palestine. This sepulcher is cut into "the Hill of Execution."

The tomb must have belonged to a rich man, for the work is extensive and the finish fine; it must have belonged to a married man who had children, for there is evidence of preparation for several single loculi; and it never had but one occupant, because only one of the loculi was finished. We found two openings to the sepulcher; one was a door, and the other an opening in the masonry above the level of the door that had evidently never been closed. If one were to stoop and look into this opening from the garden level of old he might see clothes lying in the bottom of the loculus in the north side of the sepulcher; but he could not see a napkin that had been bound about the head unless he entered the sepulcher, which is in singular conformity with the requirements of John xx, 5. Upon entering the door of the sepulcher we found ourselves within a rectangular chamber whose greatest length is from south to north. In the northwest part of this chamber there is a groove cut into the rock wherein a slab could be fitted to form the side of a loculus, or single tomb; but the slab has apparently never been placed in position. At the right of this chamber, and at right angles with it, is another chamber cut into the solid rock and divided from the first by a partition which is pierced midway for a door. The second chamber, being below the level of the first, is reached by a descent of two stone steps. Crossing this chamber to the right, we come to a place for a loculus, but the loculus has

never been cut out, and the marks about it show that this place was used at an early date for an altar. On the wall of the chamber above the altar there is the fresco of a peculiar cross, a Roman cross with mortise-like ends. Above the left arm of this cross are the Greek letters iota and sigma, making the ancient abbreviation of the word Jesus; above the right arm are the Greek letters chi and rho, which form the ancient abbreviation of the name Christ. Below the left arm of the cross is the Greek letter alpha, while below the right arm is the Greek letter omega. These letters are in uncial characters, indicating that the fresco antedates the ninth century; and because the chi and rho are not in monogram the fresco may date before the third century, for at that time and thereafter they were usually placed in monogram.

If this peculiar chapel had been known to Eusebins, whose historical memory must have extended into the second century, as he was born in the latter part of the third, he would likely have spoken of it; but he does not speak of it; and of the tomb of Christ he says, as previously quoted, that it “had been lost in darkness and oblivion." Now, the gradual accumulation of rubbish around and over this might have caused it to be lost. Furthermore, there are other more definite considerations to identify this tomb as that of the Saviour. In the south side of the chamber there is cut into the rock a place for a loculus, but no place has been cut for the head to rest, and the slab for the side of the loculus has never been placed in position, the inference being that this loculus was never occupied. In the north end of this chamber is a loculus of great interest. It lies east and west, with head toward the east. The slab forming its side is in position, and the place for the resting of the head is cut out of the rock, indicating that not only was the chapel used for a tomb, but it also contained only one grave, and in this grave a body had been deposited. Outside of this sepulcher a Roman guard could be placed after the door had been closed by a great stone and sealed. Here, as long as the guard remained awake, no man could come and steal away a body, and what Roman guard ever slept at the post of duty? Here they could behold an angel if he rolled away the great stone. Here two women could stand and certain others with them, and two men in shining garments could stand by them

within this chamber. Here, after he had calmed their fears, an angel could lead the two Marys within, saying to them, "Come, see the place where the Lord lay." And here a young man in a long white garment could sit on the right side, and yet sit at the head of the tomb. The position and construction of this sepulcher are just such as a wealthy Sanhedrist would probably choose; and before a body was placed in the one particular loculus it was a new tomb hewn out of the rock wherein never man was yet laid. The strictest examination seems to show that this sepulcher meets the minute particulars given in the varying accounts presented in the several gospels, and harmonizes them all. Opposite the sepulcher have been found broken columns, tessellated pavement, and other remains of an ancient church, and near by was discovered a ruined crypt containing many ancient loculi placed close together. Upon the loculi were found inscriptions in abbreviated words formed of uncial Greek letters. Some of these we examined. One contains the following: "Nonus and Onesimus, Deacons of the Church of the Witness of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ." One tablet which has been removed, we were told, to Gethsemane, is said to bear the words, "Buried near his Lord." The loculi face the west and north sides of the sepulcher and tomb where Jesus is supposed to have been laid. The church must have been very old, for there is no record of it. Those who were to be buried in this crypt believed that so they would be laid near their Lord, that is, near where their Lord had been buried; the name of the church declares their assured and positive knowledge of his resurrection. It should be said in conclusion that this theory of the site of the holy sepulcher is not a new one; Mr. Fisher Howe, of New York, wrote a pamphlet forty years ago advocating its claims. The distinguished missionary and scholar, Dr. Jessup, of Beyroot, considers this to be the very tomb in which our Lord was laid, and an increasing number of scholars and archæologists accept the same conclusion.

WRasturnery