Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1915 — WAR MAY FREE RELICS SACRED TO CHRISTIANITY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WAR MAY FREE RELICS SACRED TO CHRISTIANITY

I- — 1 —NE of the most desirable results of the present world war will be the eliminanon of Turkey as a power and the liberfl fl ation of the territories under her yoke, M ■ including the Holy Land, with all the sites of Biblical history and the Savior’s life, for so many years In Moslem hands. ■ jr Then, at last, we shall see an end of the outrageous conditions that allow (ftyv jfrt the barbarous Turks to control the holy city of Jerusalem, with tjie sepulcher of 4 the Savior, the temple of Solomon and itu other almost innumerable sacred sites Christian civilization has gained some rights in

Jyrusalem, but tn other altered places of the Holy Land Christians are entirely shut out by the Turks or must venture there at the risk of their lives. In Jerusalem the American tourist could, before the war, visit such sites as the garden of Gethsemane, with the olive tree where the Savior was betrayed by Judas and the garden tomb of Jesus, near Mount Calvary. Many of the most interesting parts of Jerusalem have, however, not been open to the visitor or the explorer. Chief among these is the site of the temple of Solomon, which cannot be touched by a ■Christian or a Hebrew because it is occupied by a Mohammedan mosque.

Excavations in the temple area may still, reveal the altar of sacrifice, the brazen altar, the table of shew bread, molten sea and various other sacred objects mentioned in the Bible.

The palace of Solomon, where he received the queen of Sheba, is a building concerning which great interest is naturally felt. It was “built of the cedars of Lebanon." When the stories of Herod’s palaee are unearthed it Is not improbable that beneath these may be found the cedars of Solomon’s building, for in those times they had a habit of building on the ruins of their predecessors. A notable instance of a Biblical site of extraordinary interest from which investigators are entirely excluded Is the tomb of Abraham and the Hebrew patriarchs at Hebron in Palestine. It was here that Abraham, the forefather of all the Israelites, dwelt with his family, as the book of Genesis tells* us. Before he died Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place for himself and his family (Genesis 17). The site of the cave of Hebron has been known from time immejnorial. It was known in early Christian times, and In the days of the Savior. No confusion has aver arisen as to its position, such as has occurred in the case of other Bible sites. The cave of Machpelah is •'situated within an inclosure called the Haram, formed by a gigantic Herodlan wall. Above the cave stands a church built by the crusaders in 1187, but since converted into a mosque and for many centuries in the possession of the Turks. In the cave were buried Abraham, his wife, Sarah; his son, Isaac; the latter’s wife, Rebekah; Jacob, son of Isaac; Leah, wife of Jacob, and Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel. In the mosque above the cave are monuments in the form of toD>bs to Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Leah and Joseph, but they do not inclose the actual bones. These are presumably in the cave below. The Mohammedans venerate the Hebrew patriarchs, although they oppress their descendants. Ordinarily Christians and Hebrews are not even allowed to enter the Haram surrounding the mosque. Occasionally Christians of great influence, such as the king of England’s heir, have been permitted to enter the mosque. Recently photographs were taken for the first time of the six cenotaphs or memorial tombs of the patriarchs within the mosque. These are reproduced in a recent report of the Palestine exploration fund, which gives some very interesting information about the building. ” z..: “In the church pavement,” says the Rev. A. 5. Grimaldi in this article, “are three movable slabs which give access by ladder or rope to the cave. But two are fastened* up, and not even Moslems are allowed to enter by the third. It is used to throw down written petitions to Abraham; and, looking down, the floor is seen to be Covered as with snowflakes; "When King George V (then prince of Wales) visited the mosque a light was let down, and the rocky sides were seen and a doorway entering out of this antechamber into the tomb cave itself. With the granting of freedom to the inhabi- . tants of Palestine the representatives of religion and science will be able to enter this mysterious cave and disclose its contents to the world. Around .Hebron center all the interesting events ’of the patriarchal age recorded in*the Bible. Here Abraham prepared to sacrifice .his own son, Isaac,' in obedience to the will of God, Jacob labored seven years for Rachel, and Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. From here Joseph started on his fateful journey to Egypt. A remarkably interesting relic affected by the war is the monastery of St. Catherine, on Mount Sinai, shown in one of the accompanying photo- - theLorddeliveredthe ten commandments to Moses. .. In the library «C this monastery was recently

found the oldest known manuscript of the Bible. The monks have occupied this ancient monastery for about 1,800 years, since the foundation of the Christian religion. This monastery lies along the route by which the Turks were reported to be advancing to attack the British defenders of Egypt. It is possible that- the peaceful 'inmates of this very ancient sacred building may be driven out by war. At the foot of the mountain lies “the plain of assembly," where the Israelites waited for Moses to bring down the laws to them. Persons who have read about certain mofiern enterprises in Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land may have gained an idea that the Turk has become more amiable in recent years. This is a mistake. ' Yoir can only get anything from the Turk by paying him exorbitantly, and this is not always possible. “Until recently," writes the Rev. Lewis B. Paton, professor of Old Testament history in Hartford Theological seminary, “no permits for excavation were given by the government, and when, under European pressure, firmans were at last granted, these were hedged around with so many restrictions that they were of little practical value. According to the present Turkish law of antiquities, the consent of the local authorities must first be secured before a permit will be issued in Constantinople. To obtain this a lavish expenditure of money is necessary in order to overcome the fanaticism and prejudice of the provincial authorities. “The site desired for exploration must be purchased at a price estimated by the owners. After local permission is secured endless delay and bakshish are necessary before an edict can be secured from the central government When at last it is obtained a Turkish commissioner, whose expenses qre paid by the excavator, must be constantly in attendance to decide what may and what may not be done, and all antiquities discovered must be turned over to the imperial Ottoman museum. These conditions stand in disagreeable contrast to the liberal provisions in' Egypt, where any competent person is allowed to excavate, and <is required only to divide his finds with the Cairo museum. "At the beginning the exploration of Palestine was confined to the study of places and objects that remained above ground. Edward Robinson, the distinguished American archeologist and professor in Union Theological seminary: New York, in a series of journeys carried on during the years following 1838, * and the French scholar,, Guerin, ascertained the modern names of many localities, and succeeded in identifying them with places mentioned in the Bible. The Palestine exploration fund, founded in England in 1865, and largely supported by Amerlcancontributors, conduetedanelaborKteßurvey of Palestine, whose results were embodied in their,‘Great * Way 6f Palestine,’ which is still the standard. “Other explorations were carried on at Jeru-

salem since 1867, and a little digging was done outside the present city limits to determine the lines of the ancient walls. In the course of the superficial study of the land a number of Important monuments were discovered still standing upon the surface. In 1868 the German missionary, Klein, discovered an inscription of Mesha, king of Moab, who is mentioned in II Kings 3. In 1880 some boys, playing in the conduit which leads to the pool of Siloam, discovered an inscription in ancient Hebrew characters dating from the time of King Hezekiah. In 1891 Schumacher discovered a monument of Rameses II (1292 B. C.), who was probably the Pharaoh who oppressed the children of Israel in Egypt; and in 1901 Prof. George Adam Smith discovered a beautiful stele of Sett I, the father of Rameses II." The Harvard expedition at Samaria in 19091910 discovered remains of the palace of the Hebrew kings Omri and Ahab, and in one of its chambers potsherds were fpund containing business accounts written, in a character similar to that of the Siloam Inscription. These discoveries are only a beginning of the exploration of Palestine. The sites excavated, except that of Samaria, are relatively unimportant towns. The great religious centers of antiquity, such as Hebron, Jerusalem, Bethel and Dan, remain unexplored. Hundreds of large mounds exist all over the country, within which the records of ancient times are deposited one above the other in chronological order. It is not unreasonable to expect that, if these mounds could be explored thoroughly ihany more Babylonian tablets such as those found at Tanach would be discovered. Perhaps even a whole library might. be unearthed in such a place as Kirjath-Sepher, whose name means “Book Town.” Since Hebrew inscriptions have been found already there is no reason why more might not be found, or why even manuscripts might not be discovered sealed up in earthen jars, which, as we know from Jeremiah 32:14, was the custom of the Hebrews. Think how the world would be startled if some of the lost books mentioned in the Old Testament were rediscorajed, or ancient manuscripts of some of the canonical books! Not only the sacred places of the Holy Land but the most famous sites of the ancient and classical world, barring those of Greece and Rome, lie under the clutches of the unspeakable Turk. Among them are Constantinople, Troy, Babylon, Nineveh, Damascus, Tyre, Sidon, Arbela and many others. Before the war French archeologists had just begun some very interesting researches at Constantinople. They have now partially laid bare the ruins of the palace of Constantine, which, of course, js of great Interest as the residence of the emperor who gave his name to the* city. This amazing building covered a space of many acres, including quarters, baths and every luxury for the one thousand persona who composed the imperial household and the guards of the palace. It surpasses incomparably both in extent and splendor the palace of the Caesars at Rome, and yet' it is probably equaled in interest by many of the other ruins in the city. Few Americans realize the extraordinary interest of Constantinople and the strange manner in which the wealth of the ages has been locked up in it Constantinople has a longer continuous history than any other great city in the world. Everybody hopes that one of the first results of the war will be to free this ancient center of culture and Christianity, as welt as the Holy Land, from the horrible, barbarous Turka,