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That the Devil could not have led or conducted CHRIST to the top of the roof of "the Sanctuary," as imagined by some, is evident from the appropriation of the Greek word, ó vaos, thereto, both in the NEW TESTAMENT and in Josephus, as distinguished from ro ispov, "the temple," or sacred enclosure in general. See Matt. xxiii. 35; xxvii. 51; John ii. 19-21, &c. ;. Into the Sanctuary none but the Priests could be admitted: and Josephus observes, that even "Herod himself, who rebuilt it, was excluded, as not being a Priest;"--and that "the Sanctuary was built by the Priests,” (του δε ναου δια των ἱερεων οικοδομηθέντος) Ant. 15, 11, 5, 6. But into the outer temple courts (ro ispov) the Laity were admitted; John ii. 14; v. 14, &c.; Matt. xxiv. 1, &c. And further, the roof of the Sanctuary was inaccessible even to birds, being covered with gold spikes set very thick, to prevent them from pitching upon, and polluting it; as remarked by Josephus; Bell. Jud. 5, 5, 6.

The inner Temple, or Sanctuary, was the most splendid and magnificent part of the whole stately pile; covered all over at top with plates of gold; and so brilliant, that when the sun at his rising shone thereon, passengers at a distance could not bear to look at it; and it seemed like a mount of snow, being excessively white below the gold, or roof. Its dimensions were but small sixty cubits in length and height, and twenty cubits in breadth. This was divided into two parts; the outer Sanctuary, forty cubits in length, and the inner, or most holy place, of twenty cubits square, separated from the outer by a rich vail. Into the latter, none but the High Priest entered once a year, on the great day of atonement. Heb. ix. 2-7; Bell. Jud. 5, 5, 5.

It is remarkable that the Sanctum Sanctorum, or (6 Most Holy Place," where was supposed to be the more immediate residence of the Shechinah, or Divine presence, was at the west end of the Sanctuary; pointing, as it were, towards Mount Calvary, the future scene of our Lord's crucifixion: perhaps by a typical reference thereto, as the true place of atonement for the sins of mankind; and also to distinguish it from the Heathen temples in the East, whose Adyta, or Oracles, usually fronted the East, or rising sun, the grand object of Heathen idolatry. Our "SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS rose with healing in his wings," or rays, in the West.

MOUNT CALVARY.

The modern city of Jerusalem has in some measure shifted its site, westwards. Mount Calvary was shut out of the walls of the old city as an execrable and polluted place, and appropriated to the execution of malefactors; where OUR LORD suffered "without the gate," Heb. xiii. 12; but," nigh to the city;" John xix. 20. But since it was made the altar on which was offered up the precious and all-sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, it has recovered itself from that infamy, and has been always reverenced and resorted to with such devotion by all Christians, that it has attracted the city round about it, and stands now in the midst of Jerusalem; a great part of the hill of Sion being shut out of the walls, to make room for the admission of Calvary. And now, by an awful and disastrous reverse, the once holy hill of Sion is now become a dry and poor desert, flat and level, left by the Turks as a burial ground for all denominations of Christians to bury their dead! The Swedish traveller, Hasselquist, botanized there, and found only such plants as usually grow in waste grounds: Allium pallens, veronense, two sorts of garlick; Betonica officinalis, betony of the shops; Biscutilla didyma, buckler mustard; Trifolium globosum, tomentosum, resupinatum, three sorts of trefoil; Ephedra distactica, the shrubby horsetail.

Mount Calvary is eight hundred paces from the palace of Pilate, according to Sandys; and two hundred paces from the ancient Gate of Judgment, through which criminals were led to execution on Calvary. It stands in the west wall of the old city of Jebus, or Salem, and still resists the subversions of time, so many ages since the rest of the wall at that side has been demolished; a standing monument of our Lord's iniquitous judgment. Nehemiah called it the Valley Gate, Neh. ii. 13. leading into the valley of Goatha, Jer. xxxi. 39, or Golgotha," the place of a skull," where the skulls of the criminals who had been executed upon Calvary, and buried there, rolled, or tumbled, in process of time, into the deep ground or valley beneath. Matt. xxvii. 33, &c. And where they usually gave criminals, going to execution, a stupifying potion of "wine mingled with myrrh." But this our Lord refused to take. Mark xv. 23.

The ancient city of Jerusalem was completely razed to the

THE NEW YORK NO URLARY

X AND

PLIV.

THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.
From Sandys.

Engraved by J.Bye.Camberwell near London.

Published by C. J. G. & F. Rivington.

ground by the Romans, contrary to their usual policy, partly through resentment at the obstinate resistance of the Jews, partly through avarice, to discover the treasures of money and plate, which it was customary with them to bury. It may therefore appear a matter of surprise, how the situation of particular places could be ascertained amidst the general devastation. But, as ingeniously observed by Mr. Townson: "the city stood on very uneven ground, and was intersected, as well as encompassed, with walls of great strength and thickness; whose bases would still remain after the demolition of the city, and render the boundaries and contents of each division, or ward, more easily discoverable, than if the same calamity had befallen a city built in a plain. By such standing landmarks, the first Christians, who returned after the siege, preserved the memory of the most remarkable places, consecrated as it were by some transactions of our Saviour and his Apostles, to the present day."

CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.

This magnificent structure, which covers the whole summit of Calvary, including under its roof both the place of crucifixion, and the holy Sepulchre, was built by the piety and munificence of the Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor. See Sandy's plates, p. 125, 126, 129.

In order to the fitting of this hill for the foundation of a church, the first founders were obliged to reduce it to a plain area; which they did by cutting down several parts of the rock, and by elevating others. But in this work care was taken that none of those parts of the hill, which were reckoned to be more immediately concerned in our blessed Lord's passion, should be altered or diminished. Thus, that very part of Calvary where they say Christ was fastened to, and lifted upon his cross, is left entire; being about ten or twelve yards square, and standing at this day so high above the common floor of the Church, that you have 21 steps, or stairs, to go up to its top. And the Holy Sepulchre itself, which was at first a cave hewn into the rock under-ground, is now, as it were, a grotto above ground.

The Church is less than one hundred paces long, and not more than sixty wide: and yet is so contrived, that it is supposed to contain under its roof twelve or thirteen sanctuaries, or places consecrated to a more than ordinary veneration, by being

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