REPUTED PLACE OF THE ASCENSION. 491 here except for the following reason. They are opposition shops: that is, the Latins having of late years, and especially since Napoleon's invasion of Palestine, lost their influence in the country, as well as at the Porte, the chief holy places are now rented by the Greeks or the Armenians, but particularly the former. To make up for this deficiency the Latin fathers immediately pretend to have discovered some spot in the neighbourhood of each of these places, still more holy than the former; and at once establish its sanctity by reputed miracles, by masses and processions. Our track now led toward the summit of the mount, by a narrow, winding road. The sides of the hill are partly cultivated; the corn was just becoming green; and the fields and enclosures were studded with numerous low bushy olive trees; the stones of whose fruit are manufactured into beads, and considered very sacred. We passed several cisterns, some of which bear evident marks of antiquity. The ascent is toilsome, and as we rested occasionally to take breath, the prospect gradually became more extended, and increased in beauty; for, step by step as we ascended, the city opened to our view, and like the unfolding of an immense scroll, or the turning of a panorama, Jerusalem and the splendid Mosque of Omar became developed, till we gained the summit, when it was so completely under our eyes that we could readily discover every place of note within and around its walls; nay, trace every street and lane that winds among its white, dome-roofed houses. In fact, so very much does the mount overhang the city, that the Lord may literally be said to have "wept over it.” The summit is crowned by an Armenian convent and a mosque; and in a space encircled by a high wall, we were conducted to the spot pointed out as that from which the Ascension is said to have taken place. Within this area there is a small octagonal building of very tasteful architecture, and in its outer decoration not unlike an ancient Greek temple. In the centre of this oratory a portion of the naked rock, encircled by a marble casing, is said to be the last spot of earth touched by the Saviour's feet. On it there is a mark something like the impression of a foot, which is believed by all devout pilgrims to be the print left in it miraculously by the Saviour; but it is now so much kissed away, and worn down by the multitude of casts in wax and plaster that 492 THE MOUNT OF CORRUPTION. are daily taken from it, that it requires considerable faith in order to recognise any resemblance to that which it is stated to be. The Christian pilgrims who went up with us, knelt around and devoutly kissed and rubbed their faces on this spot, which is considered a relic of great value, even by the Mooslims. An Armenian priest had the care of the place; but none of the Christian sects are allowed to celebrate religious services within it. The Latins informed us that they had intended purchasing a firman from the Básha, empowering them to perform mass within it, but were deterred from doing so by the fear of being out-bid by their richer neighbours, the Greeks, the next year. Some of the best specimens of carving to be found in or about Jerusalem may be seen in the capitals of the pillars that surround this oratory. A little to the south of the place of Ascension, I visited a subterranean chamber in the form of a cone, having a hole at the top. It is lined by an extremely fine and solid cement, similar to that coating the cisterns lower down upon the side of the hill, and also those that I noticed outside the present wall near Jeremiah's grotto; to which latter cisterns it bears a most remarkable resemblance in every particular. Clarke was of opinion that this cave was one of the "high places" erected to the worship of Ashtoreth by Solomon, and that it answered the description of "the high places that were before Jerusalem which were on the right hand of the Mount of Corruption which Solomon the king had builded for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Zidonians, and for Chemosh, the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom, the abomination of the children of Ammon." (2 Kings xxii. 13.) This Mount of Corruption he supposes to be the Mount of Olives, but offers no proof to substantiate his opinion. I see nothing, however, as yet, to invalidate the opinion as to the Hill of Evil Council, or Mount of Offence, which is to the south of the city, being the eminence that Solomon crowned with the high places of pagan worship; and the cave itself, which Clarke considered to have been one of the high places, is identically the same as those shown, and believed to be cisterns, in other localities; and if there were persons dwelling on the summit of this hill, such a contrivance was not only probable but indispensable. The Mount of Olives is mentioned in Scripture long before these "high places" could have been set up, and it is as likely to have been PROSPECT FROM THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 493 mentioned by that name as by the title of the Mount of Corruption-an appellation given to the site of these places from the abominations practised on them, and their leading the Israelites into the sin of idolatry. Had, however, the identity of the place which is more generally acknowledged as the Mount of Offence, remained unquestioned, it would consequently have interfered with Clarke's topography; and could not therefore be Mount Sion, as he has endeavoured to prove. Not only is the prospect from this point grand and imposing, but the associations it recalls to the mind, and the impressions it leaves, are well calculated to inspire fervour and excitement. Jerusalem lay beneath us, stretched like a carpet at our feet, part of its ancient walls and the golden gate of its temple being distinctly visible.* The church that covers Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre, formed a prominent object in the picture; and the magnificent mosque of Omar standing on the site of the temple, appeared so close beneath us, as though we could have leaped into its court. This building is of an octagonal figure, and is raised upon a large platform of masonry; and, surmounted by its stately and enormous dome, its walls coated with light blue tiles, its golden crescent glancing in the sunbeam, and standing within a large open space of green-sward, studded with olives, cedars, and cypresses, added considerably to the apparent magnitude of the edifice, and heightened the effect of the whole; while, the lines of Mooslim pilgrims traversing its courts and avenues gave life and animation to the scene. Sion raised its acropolis above the city, and the tombs and monuments of the mighty dead that slumber in the valley of Jehoshaphat, told of the greatness of the past. The broad plain of Rephaim led to the heights of Bethlehem, on the extreme left, and the conical hill, called the "Mount of the French," formed prominent objects in the landscape; while to the right appeared the stony country that leads towards Damascus. Behind us to the south-east, the dull waters Catherwood's beautiful panorama of Jerusalem was lately exhibited in this city, and many persons criticised it on account of the faded look the different places appeared to have. This appearance I have often remarked in the original; and in this consisted the great truth and accuracy of the representation. 494 A RETROSPECT OF THE HOLY CITY. of the Dead Sea could be seen in the distance, having a bluish mist brooding over the perpendicular wall of the mountains of Moab and Arabia, that rises from its southern shores. A little more northward glimpses are obtained of the plain of Jericho, with the silver thread of Jordan's stream winding its way to the lake that covers the doomed cities of the plain. There is this charm about Mount Olivet, that there can be no cavil as to its identity, no question as to its being the very Olivet up which David went, with his head covered and his feet bare, and all his weeping adherents with him, when he was driven from the city by the rebellion of Absalom; no doubt of its being the favourite resort of our Lord and his disciples, and the scene of some of the most remarkable events in his life. Even though the spot pointed out may not be the actual Gethsemane, we knew that it must have been within our view; and though antiquaries may dispute as to the exact position of Calvary, yet we were convinced that at this moment and from this spot we must have been looking at the place. No one acquainted with the past history of Jerusalem, or who has read and reflected upon the prophetic descriptions of its future state, can look down upon it from this spot unmoved. Its story rushes unbidden and irresistibly upon the mind: its many privileges; its slighted and despised mercies; its purchased woes, and glory yet to come-with Solomon as its king, Melchizedec its priest, Hiram its architect, Isaiah and Ezekiel its prophets, and Moab and Tadmor its dependencies, awaken feelings which they only who have stood upon that spot can experience. "Oh! fair and favour'd city, where of old The balmy airs were rich with melody, How crowded all her nation's solemn feasts With white-robed Levites, and high-mitred priests; *Milman's " Fall of Jerusalem." THE DECLINE AND FALL OF JERUSALEM. 495 The many vicissitudes that it had suffered under the hand of its successive conquerors, appeared to rise and pass before me— invaded by the Theban Shishak; besieged by Pharaoh Necho; razed and trodden under foot by the Babylonish conqueror; visited by Alexander; ruled by the Ptolemies and Seleucidae; then governed by the Maccabees; bowed beneath the Roman yokewhen Jesus would have gathered it as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and it would not-again begirt and hemmed in by the soldiers of Vespasian; its temple pillaged, and its smoking ruins levelled with the dust. "Her tale of splendour now is told and done, And all is o'er, her grandeur, and her guilt. By stealth her priesthood's holy garments worn; Oh! long foretold, though slow accomplish'd fate, Art and vanity have not been able to deface the natural aspect of this spot with tapestry and marble. All here wears the garb of unsullied nature, unadorned by the pomp of religious pride, and tinselled decoration of man's hand; no perfumed incense smokes from the golden censer; no flaunting banner waves in its refreshing breezes; and no jarring tones of the lip-worship of the creature grate upon the ear. Here all is real, and wears the livery of creation; if rocks are bare and rugged, they are those a Saviour trod; if olive-trees are stunted, it is their nature to be so; and though they want the verdure of more humid climes, they are the descendants of those that sheltered Emanuel's head; and if the earth appears barren, still it is that on which in his agony the sweat of Jesus fell. The touching lines of Heber often rose to my lips while thus musing over the doom of that widowed queen of cities "which kings with envy viewed," but now "No martial myriads muster in thy gate; No suppliant nations in thy temple wait; |