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ARCH OF THE ECCE HOMO.
8hov»ing the tit* and part of the Judgment Hall of V
Pilate. Part of the arch it origirlil and it owned
by th* Sisteri of Zion.
a-xt-aa-xiac**
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.
BATonnAT, uAitcn 30. lwr.
js&r jr^^assnsr
Publisher of “The Aiio.ni> Georgian
who hear* the prayer unuttered, who
eeee neither rasa nor diamond*, and
to whom the Greek, the Catholic, the
Protectant and the Jew are one.
old ttonea about half way up. The
upper part la the more modern work of
rebuilding after the tooth of time and
other thing* had partly deitroyed It. I
believe Conatantlne had a much better
opportunity of knowing the exact
place* three hundred year* A. D. than
we have now nearly 2,000 yeara A. D.,
especially when we contlder that tra
ditions and facta were handed down
from generation to generation because
books and records were not depended
upon as now.
Jerusalem Still a Walled City.
Tou see, the city of Jerusalem la
walled In today as it wa* in Christ's
time, and In tome parts of the wall the
atones placed there by Solomon a thou
sand years before Christ, still remain.
They represent the "Jews’ Walling
Place,” where the Jew* are seen
devoutly worshiping. Eastor, of
course, does not mean to them what it
means to those who believe In the di
vinity of Christ and His ascension
which gave Easter to the world.
We entered Jerusalem by the Joppa
gate and went at once to the hotel
that was our home while we remained
In the Holy City. Wo had a pretty
good room, with comfortable bed, much
better than one gets in many Eastern
countries—In China or India, for In-
Church Packed with Easter
Worshipers.
Of course the churches are not Uko
ours. They are not fine buildings with
teats in them prepared for services as
we hold them. They, are simply big
rooms containing the relics and sacred
emblems of many sects. The main en.
trance to the church of the Holy Sep
ulchre Is tho door to be seen In the
picture. On Easter day tho place In
front was simply packed with worship
ers, among them Greek priests and
many Turkish soldiers.
We passed in through these doors,
and In front of us. Just a little above
the level of the floor, is the so-called
"stone of unction," where many believe
Christ was anointed—a large, flat
stone, Just of a site on which to lay
him. A canopy Is built over It, and
from the canopy hang twenty or thirty
brass lamps, all of different design,
each the representative of a creed. One
kindly sentiment over It ail Is that tho
creeds have not usurped any sacred
places. They are owned or enjoyed by
many sects or beliefs, and at each sa
cred place the creeds are represented
by their own peculiar lamp—Catholics,
Greeks, both Protestant and Catholic,
and many, many more. As they came
to the atone of unction they reverently
knelt around the stone and klssod it
gently, many a peasant mother silently
dropping tears with her kisses.
F. L. SEELY.
Mr. Seely contributes as an East
er feature this article representing
the impressions of a visit he and
Mrs. Seely made to the Holy Land.
HEN Mrs. Seely
and I left the
ship that had
brought us from
Bombay, India,
and started on
our trip through
Egypt and the
Holy Land, it
Rock Base Which Supported the
Three Crosses.
was with a feeling of considerable
loneliness. Wo boarded a row boat at
Port Said, which Is the western end of
tho Sues canal, and pulled off in the
darkness to And the little Russian ship
that was to carry us to Joppa.
One would have to experience It to
realize how lonely we were as we
climbed over the sides of the little
steamer, the Russian name of which
we could hot spell, much less pro
nounce. Everybody on the ship, from
captain down, spoko only Russian, and
English meant nothing to them.
After an unpleasant night, we
reached Joppa, and fortunately the
sea was smooth enough 1 to permit a
landing, for there is no harbor at
Joppa, and If there Is much wind It is
impossible to make a landing. Whin
we reached the city, we went to the
little hotel, rested up and made ar
rangement for our trip to Jerusalem,
securing tho best guide and Interpre
ter to be had. a very Intelligent Jeru
salemite—"Salaam George," he called
himself—well verted In the Bible, a
copy of which he always carried with
him, In order that he might refer to
It when desirable.
Easter Pilgrims to the Holy City.-
Finally, we reached the Holy City
three days tefore Easter, and with ua
came hordes of Egyptians, Arabs, Be
douins, Abyssinian* and every conceiv
able form of Mohammedan—Greek
Catholic, Russian peasant and believer
of every sort that could get together
meant enough to come to Mecca on
Easter. They came from Constantino-
ble, herded like animals on the decks
and In the steerage of vessels, the few
dollars necessary for the pilgrimage
representing years of saving to give
fj Street of the Tower of David, a most typical street scene In Jerusalem.
Next we went up a little stairway,
where a cover was lifted and wo saw
the rock with the holes where The three
crosses are supposed to have been, and
a rent or crack In the rock. All tho
while tho crowds were reverently surg
ing through, their faces seeming to tell
us that they had lived to see that holy
them the priceless blessing of worship
ing for bnce and for all at the Holy
City.
Russian peasants predominated, the
men with hair and whiskers grown
wildly In their desert life; tho women
with big rouyh boots—and with such
clothing as they wore made up of
patches of a rough horse blanket mate
rial, sleeping on the floors of the mis
sions or anywhere they could get to
sleep—all telllne silently of tho human
heart that turned with one In worship,
to that great heart of God which knows
no tongue, no dress, no religion, but
stance—and we fared pretty well at
the table. We all sat at a big, long
table and enjoyed our meals, chatting
with such of the European travelers os
could speak our tongue.
Jerusalem Is not very large, the
walled city being possibly one-half
mile or more In length by a little less
In width, and although surrounded with
such sacred traditions, It Is probably
one of the most unsafe places In all tho
world. It It now under Turkish rule,
which Is almost enough to say It Is full
of Turks, Arabs and Bedouins.
The spot where
once stood the
CHURCH OF THE MW WUjjBHWW JERUSALEM.^
This church, built by 8t. Helena 300 A. D., it PP ehurch jt original stonework—though ....
anointed, crucified and buried. jT^ir'ffE.-.Aorlion having been rebuilt by the Crusaders,
and ether causes have destroyed parts of it—snr upper H
Holy of Holies Is
now covered with
a Mohammedan
mosque, the Mos
que of Omar, with
the sign of anti
christ at Its top—
and In all my tray
els. even In the
Jungles of India and Java, where I
have been twenty-five and thirty miles
from civilization. I have never felt the
uneasiness that we felt In tho Holy
Lands.
What They Do On Easter Day in
Jerusalem.
But now as to what we did and saw
on Easter In Jerusalem. The streets
are so narrow—simply alleys live or six
feet wide, many of them roofed over—
we had to do as others who could af
ford It, hire little asses to ride on, so
small our feet would touch the ground.
These were led by their owners through
the crowded streets and wherever we
cared to go, simply pushing through
the crowds of strange-looklng, dirty.
Ill-smelling people trying to make our
way to the church of the Holy Sepul
chre, the center of Interest on that
day.
We had already visited Bethlehem,
about live miles from the Holy City,
and had seen the place of the manger,
and all that. So now we waited with
the crowds of worshipers In front of
the church of the Holy Sepulchre,
which stands over the place where
Christ was crucified. I do not
say where Christ was "supposed
to have been” crucified. There
be some who ask how we know
It was here or there, and some who say
It was a few feet this way or a few
feet that way, and tome who say It
never happened at all. We won't use
up valuable space on these points.
The church of the Holy Sepulchre
was built by 8t. Helena, mother ct
Constantine, ns was the church at
Bethlehem, und rebuilt by the cru
saders over the ploco of the manger,
about 300 year* after Christ The pic
ture of the church of the Holy Sep
ulchre shows some j of the original
i1
Church of the Nativity at Jerusalem. Built A. D. 300 over the place of the
Manger. The lady teen near the little door It Mrs. 8eely.
day and that they, felt they were nearer
the One they worshiped than they
would ever be again In this life.
From there we passed to the center
of attraction—the tomb, a little stone
sepulchre in the middle of the room.
It was very small, affording only room
for two or three of us to get Into It.
At Its side was the stone slab, under
which Christ Is said to have been bur
led. There .are windows In this little
room and from them on Easter day,
by some means, fire is made to come
out when the priests light their great
candles, and these In turn give light to
the candles ef the worshipers.
We leave here now and go along the
"Via Dolorosa" (the way of sorrow)
and have the stations, as they or*
called now, pointed out to us. We see
where Christ tried to carry His cross,
the arch of Eeee Homo, where Is the
site of the Judgment Hall of Pilate.
Part of the arch is original, and on the
floor of the convent one of the ”8lsters
of Zion" (Roman Catholic), by whom
It Is now owned, showed me the squares
cut in the stones, where Roman sol
diers played their gomes similar to
our chess or checkers.
Journey to the Mount of Olives
We left the crowd and took up our
little Journey out of the city and across
the valley to the Mount of Olivet. On
our way wo passed the outcast lepers,
about fifteen of them sitting along th*
road begging of us, holding out the
stump* of what once were hands—the
finger* all having dropped ofT, leaving
little round rough places on the skin-
feet half gone. Some of them were
of appearance so horrible one could
hardly look on them.
Then a half mile farther to the hill
top, and we stood alone by a little white
stone, sheltered by a roof, and here
neither of us seemed to care to speak,
and whether It be Just the ploco where
Christ took His flight to heaven or not,
one unconsciously removes hit hat,
and thoughts of past Ilf* flit across
the mind.
We only came to ourselves when our
Interior of church at Bethlehem built by St. Helena at the same time
that the Churoh of the Holy Sopulchre was built, about A. D. 300. The
church is over the place where Christ is said to have been born. The
columns are from Solomon's Temple.
Dead sea, tho Mount of Olives, Mlz-
pah, the Golden Gato facing Olivet,
tho wnllcd city and much of evon
Solomon's work that Is a thousand
yoar* older than Christ—but that Is
another story.
Wo left It all, stopping at Gethsem-
ane, where a good old bencdlctlno
monk, I believe he was, showed us
around, saying little things that our
Jerusalemite boy could translate to us,
finally giving me a much coveted me
mento In tho shape of a little acacia
bush that I carefully pocked away.
This token I* now In Palestine Lodge
of Freemasons, In Atlanta.
Farewell Thoughts of tho Holy
Land.
A few nights later wo found our
selves pulling slowly out to sea from
Joppa, many and serious thoughts
crowding In upon us as we walked
slowly up and down the deck and
caught possibly the last view of tho
mountains fading away In tho dark.
And as we turned, as one involuntarily
does, from the things accomplished to
semething that tells of the future, wa
taw Just below us on the lower deck
many sleeping pilgrims—Arabs, Abyq-
(fnlans, Bedouins, i Turks and Egyp
tians. One-half clothed native stand
ing out alone In the darkness of tho
starless night, ignorant that any eye
but of Him to whom b* was paying
devotion looked upon him, silently went
through his penance or mission to Mo
hammed. As he changed from a stand
ing to a kneeling posture, touching his
forehead to the ground, many hun
dreds of times. I wondered If In the last
day his worship, though misguided,
would not win for him all mercy be
cause of Its sincerity and devotion.
boy with the Bible rev
erently said: That stone
marks the spot where
Christ lost stood, and
over there It the River
Jordan.
Yes, if* all there—
the River Jordan, the
, . . -
II
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