HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE HOLY CITY.

(Continued from page 264.)

The history of Jerusalem, from the time of Adrian until Constantine, presents little more than a blank. The christians who as individuals, or perhaps communities, had suffered so greatly from the atrocities of Barcochba and his followers, had become more distinctly separated from the Jews; and while the latter (as we have seen) were now prohibited on pain of death, even from approaching Jerusalem, the latter would seem to have resided in it without special molestation from the Romans. At this period, probably, if ever, the former church of Jerusalem, which, as a body, is said to have withdrawn before the seige by Titus, to Pella beyond the Jordan, re-established itself in the new city; and in order to lay aside, as far as possible, every appearance of a Jewish character, elected its bishop Marcus, and his successors, from among the Gentile converts. Between Marcus and Macarius, in the time of Constantine, twenty-three bishops were enumerated; respecting whom, however, little is known. Narcissus, in the beginning of the third century, under Severus, is related to have wrought miracles; and Alexander, his successor, founded a library in Jerusalem, which was still extant in the days of Eusebius, nearly a century later. Yet both these bishops, as well as other christians were exposed to persecutions on account of their faith; and the christian church existed in Jerusalem as elsewhere only by sufferance.

The severe prohibition against the Jews appears not to have been relaxed during all this interval of nearly two centuries; and they continued to be shut out of the land of their fathers, and deprived even of the common right of strangers upon its soil. In the days of Constantine they were first allowed again to approach the holy city, and at last to enter it once a year, in order to wail over the ruins of their ancient sanctuary.

Meanwhile the influence and the limits of christianity were continually increased and extended, as well in Palestine itself as in other parts of the Roman empire. The hearts of christians in other lands yearned to behold the sacred city, and the scenes of so many great events and hallowed recollections; and in that age of pilgrimages, the holy land did not of course remain unvisited. Even early in the third century, two pilgrimages of this kind are recorded; one that of Alexander, then bishop of Cappadocia, who became the successor of Narcissus in the see of Jerusalem; and the other that of a female mentioned in a letter to Cyprian. In the beginning of the fourth century, these journies had become more common; for Eusebius, writing about A.D. 315, speaks of christians who came up to Jerusalem, all the regions of the earth, partly to behold the accomplishment of prophecy in the conquest and destruction of the city, and partly to pay their adorations on the mount of Olives, where Jesus ascended, and at the cave in Bethlehem where he was born.

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In the conversion of Constantine, christianity obtained a worldly triumph, and became thenceforth the public religion of the state. The difficulties which had formerly beset the way of pilgrims to the holy city were now removed; the number of the pilgrims increased; and an example of high influence was set by Helena, the mother of the emperor. At the age of nearly fourscore years, but with a youthful spirit, she repaired in person to Palestine, in the year 326, to visit the holy places, and render thanks to God for the prosperity of her son and family. Having paid her adorations at the supposed places of the nativity and ascension, and being sustained by the munificence of her son, she caused splendid churches to be erected on those spots, viz. in Bethlehem, and on the mount of Olives, which were afterwards still further adorned by sumptuous presents from Constantine himself. She returned to Constantinople, and died there at the age of eighty, about the year 327 or 328.

In the mean time, after the transactions connected with the council of Nicea, as Eusebius informs us, the emperor Constantine (not without a divine admonition) became desirous of performing a glorious work in Palestine, by beautifying and rendering sacred the place of the resurrection of our Lord. For hitherto, according to the same writer, impious men, or rather the whole race of demons through their instrumentality, had used every effort to deliver over that illustrious monument of immortality to darkness and oblivion. They had covered the sepulchre with earth brought from other quarters; and then erected over it a sanctuary of Venus, in which to celebrate the impure rites and worship of that goddess. All these obstructions Constantine caused to be removed, and the holy sepulchre to be purified. Not content with this, he gave directions to build a magnificent temple, or place of prayer, over and around the sepulchre. His letter on this subject to the bishop Macarius is preserved by Eusebius ; and pre-supposes the recent and joyful discovery of the "sign (or monument) of the Saviour's most sacred passion, which for so long a time had been hidden beneath the earth." This discovery the emperor regards as a miracle, which it is beyond the capacity of man sufficiently to celebrate, or even to comprehend. The church was completed and dedicated, in the thirtieth year of Constantine, A. D. 535. On this occasion, a great council of bishops was convened, by order of the emperor, from all the provinces of the empire, first at Tyre, and then at Jerusalem. Among them was Eusebius himself, who took part in the solemnities, and held several public discourses in the holy city.

In like manner, Constantine gave orders to erect a church on the site of the terebinth of Mamre, where Abraham had dwelt; and where it was supposed the Saviour had first manifested his presence in Palestine. The emperor wrote on the subject to Eusebius, who bas preserved the letter. This church is also mentioned by the Bordeaux pilgrim, and by Jerome.

Such is the account which Eusebius, the cotemporary and eye-witness gives of the churches erected in Palestine, by Helena and her son Constantine. Not a word, not a hint, by which the reader would be

led to suppose that the mother of the emperor had anything to do with the discovery of the holy sepulchre, or the building of a church upon the spot. But, as I have already remarked, this was the age of credulous faith, as well as of legendary tradition and invention, if not of pious fraud; and this silence of the father of church history respecting Helena, was more than made good by his successors. All the writers of the following century relate, as with one voice, that the mother of Constantine was, from the first, instigated by a strong desire to search out and discover the holy sepulchre, and the sacred cross on which the Saviour had suffered. A divine intimation had pointed out to her the spot; and on her arrival at Jerusalem, she enquired diligently of the inhabitants. Yet the search was uncertain and difficult, in consequence of the obstructions by which the heathen had sought to render the spot unknown. These being all removed, the sacred sepulchre was discovered; and by its side three crosses, with the tablet bearing the inscription written by Pilate. The tablet was separated from the cross; and now arose another dilemma, how to ascertain which of these three was the true cross. Macarius, the bishop, who was present, suggested an appropriate means. A noble lady of Jerusalem, lay sick of an incurable disease; the three crosses were presented to her in succession. The two first produced no effect ; but at the approach of the third she opened her eyes, recovered her strength, and sprang from her bed in perfect health. In consequence of this discovery, Helena caused a splendid church to be erected over the spot, where the crosses were found. The same writers relate also the erection, by Helena, of the two churches at Bethlehem and on the mount of Olives.

Leaving out of view the obviously legendary portions of this story, it would seem not improbable, that Helena was the prime mover in searching for, and discovering the sacred sepulchre; and that through her representations, her son was induced to undertake the erection of the church, which in this way might still be appropriately ascribed to her. The emperor's letter to Macarius, as we have seen, seems to pre-suppose such an event. Yet how are we then to account for the entire silence of Eusebius, as to any such discovery by Helena, supported as it is by the like silence of the pilgrim of Bordeaux, A. D. 333 ? Possibly Eusebius, the flatterer of Constantine, may have chosen to ascribe all to the piety and magnanimity of his patron; and while the church was building under the emperor's auspices, for six or seven years after Helena's death, her participation in it may have been unknown, or overlooked by the pilgrim.

However this may be, and notwithstanding the silence of Eusebius, there would seem to be hardly any fact of history better accredited, than this alleged discovery of the true cross. All the historians of the

following century relate the circumstances as with one voice, and ascribe it to the enterprise of Helena. But this is not all. Cyrill, who was bishop of Jerusalem from A. D. 348, onward, only some twenty years after the event, and who frequently speaks of preaching in the church erected by the munificence of Constantine, mentions

expressly the finding of the cross under that emperor, and its existence in his own day. So too Jerome, describing in A. D. 404, the journey of Paula, relates, that in Jerusalem, she not only performed her devotions in the holy sepulchre, but also prostrated herself before the cross in adoration. Yet neither of these fathers makes mention of Helena in any connexion, with either the cross or sepulchre. It would seem, however, to be as little reasonable to doubt the existence of the alleged true cross at that early period, as it would be to give credit to the legendary circumstances related of its discovery. It was probably a work of pious fraud.

In the writings and traditions of succeeding centuries, the name of Helena became more prominent. Her memory and her deeds were embalmed and magnified in story, as successive ages rolled on; until, in the fourteenth century, not less than thirty churches were ascribed to her, within the limits of Palestine. And to the present day, almost every remaining church in that country of any antiquity, is in like manner referred, in monastic tradition, to the munificence of Helena. Yet if we adhere, as we must, to the testimony of all the writers near her time, the only churches which she can be regarded as having built, are those at Bethlehem, and on the mount of Olives; except so far as she may have taken part in the construction of those connected with the holy sepulchre.

The christian temple thus erected over the holy places at Jerusalem, according to the description of Eusebius, had little resemblance to the structure which exists there at the present day. The first care of Constantine was to erect a chapel, or oratory, over the sacred cave or sepulchre itself. This edifice was decorated with magnificent columns and ornaments of every sort. No mention is made of its magnitude or elevation, as is the case in respect to the neighbouring Basilica; whence we may infer that the chapel was not large. Before this, on the east, was a large open court, or area, ornamented with a pavement of polished stones; and surrounded on three sides by long porticos or colonnades. This place was apparently held to be the garden near which Christ was crucified; and as such it is also mentioned by Cyrill, as having been beautified by regal gifts. The eastern side of this court was shut in by the Basilica, or church erected over the rock on which the cross was supposed to have stood, and which was held to be Golgotha. This edifice is described as of great extent, both in its length and breadth, and of immense altitude. The roof was covered with lead; the interior overlaid with variegated marbles; the ceiling decorated with carved work; and the whole glittered in every part with burnished gold. The entrance was from the east, where were three gates; before which twelve columns, after the number of the apostles, formed a semicircle in front of the whole building. It was this large church to which the name of Martyrion was strictly applied, as standing over the place of the Saviour's passion. The chapel over the sepulchre, was called the Anastasis, or resurrection. But both these names seem also to have often been applied indiscriminately to the whole structure and to its various parts.

The high example of Helena, the supposed discovery of the sacred places, and the erection of all these splendid churches, conspired to draw, in a still greater degree, the attention and longings of the christian world towards Jerusalem. Pilgrimages were now multiplied, as the dangers and difficulties were diminished; and one of the most important documents of the age, is the itinerary of a palmer from Bordeaux, in A. D. 333. The dedication of the church of the holy sepulchre, in A. D., 335, was afterwards celebrated annually, by a festival which continued for a week, and was resorted to by multitudes from all parts of the world. Towards the middle of the same century, Helarion first introduced the monastic life from Egypt, into Palestine and Syria, which, finding there a congenial soil, at once took deep root, and spread itself rapidly abroad throughout the land.

(To be continued.)

FRITZ HAZELL-A TEMPERANCE TALE.

(Continued from page 270.)

AFTER an uncommonly short and prosperous passage, the Triton arrived at Amsterdam; and by the ship Jason, which left that port three days after the Triton's arrival, captain Hazell received the following letter:

Amsterdam, June 4th, 18

HONOURED FATHER :-You always told me to call you father, and I hope I shall always behave like a dutiful child. We had a very pleasant voyage, and I handed your letter to Mr. Van Scrompfen, whom I knew directly by your description. I thought he looked proper cross, and he told me to wait. He went out and kept me waiting several hours. On his return he seemed very different: he looked very good-natured, and spoke very kindly. He promised to find me a good chance, and I am to sail to-morrow in the ship Jahn Schmidt, for Sumatra. He inquired about your health several times, and asked how you were pleased with the last gin which they sent you. At first I was afraid to tell him the truth; but I remembered what you had often said to me, and I told him of the temperance reform in America, and that you was president of the society, and felt obliged to throw the gin away. The old gentleman and all the brothers fell to laughing at a great rate. When it was over, the old gentleman went to a little glass, and fixed his wig, and seemed to look as if he thought he had laughed more than he ought to. He told me very kindly to be a good lad, and he would look after my welfare. Many years will pass, I am afraid, before I shall get to be mate of a ship. The first officer of the Triton was very kind to me; and, seeing that I was desirous of knowing something of navigation, he took a great deal of pains to teach me. He was a religious man: the captain, I am afraid, was not. Now, dear father, I must leave off. It will be many years before I shall see you again; but I shall never get into my hammock without praying for you: and I trust God will hear the prayers of an orphan boy.

Your grateful son,

FRITZ HAZELL.