Palestine or the Holy Land | Page 6

one after another at the approach of his
disciples, and before the prevailing efficacy of the new faith. A little
stone becomes a mountain, and fills the whole earth. Judea swells in its
dimensions till it covers half the globe, carrying captivity captive, not
by force of arms, but by the progress of opinion and the power of truth,
all the nations of Europe in successive ages,--Greek, Roman,
Barbarian,--glory in the name of the humble Galilean; armies, greater
than those which Persia in the pride of her ambition led forth to
conquest, are seen swarming into Asia, with the sole view of getting
possession of his sepulchre; while the East and the West combine to
adorn with their treasures the stable in which he was born, and the
sacred mount on which he surrendered his precious life.[2]
On these grounds, there is presented to the historian and politician a
problem of the most interesting nature, and which is not to be solved by

any reference to the ordinary principles whence mankind are induced to
act or to suffer. The effects, too, produced on society, exceed all
calculation. It is in vain that we attempt to compare them to those more
common revolutions which have changed for a time the face of nations,
or given a new dynasty to ancient empires. The impression made by
such events soon passes away: the troubled surface quickly resumes its
equilibrium, and displays its wonted tranquility; and hence we may
assert, that the present condition of the world is not much different
from what it would have been, though Alexander had never been born
and Julius Caesar had died in his cradle. But the occurrences that enter
into the history of Palestine possess an influence on human affairs
which has no other limits than the existence of the species, and which
will be everywhere more deeply felt in proportion as society advances
in knowledge and refinement. The greatest nations upon earth trace
their happiness and civilization to its benign principles and lofty
sanctions. Science, freedom, and security, attend its progress among all
conditions of men; raising the low, befriending the unfortunate, giving
strength to the arm of law, and breaking the rod of the oppressor.
Nor is the subject of less interest to the pious Christian, who confines
his thoughts to the momentous facts which illustrate the early annals of
his religion. His affections are bound to Palestine by the strongest
associations; and every portion of its varied territory, its mountains, its
lakes, and even its deserts are consecrated in his eyes as the scene of
some mighty occurrence. His fancy clothes with qualities almost
celestial that holy land,
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet, Which eighteen hundred
years ago were nailed For our advantage to the bitter cross.[3]
In a former age, when devotional feelings were wont to assume a more
poetical form than suits the taste of the present times, an undue
importance, perhaps, was placed on the mere localities of Judea,
viewed as the theatre on which the great events of Christianity were
realized, and more especially on those relics which were considered as
identifying particular spots, honoured by the sufferings or triumph of
its Divine author. The zealous pilgrim, who had travelled many

thousand miles amid the most appalling dangers, required a solace to
his faith in the contemplation of the cross, or in being permitted to kiss
the threshold of the tomb in which the body of his Redeemer was laid.
To such a character no description could be too minute, no details
could be too particular. Forgetful of the ravages inflicted on Jerusalem
by the hand of the Romans, and by the more furious anger of her own
children within her,--fulfilling unintentionally that tremendous doom
which was pronounced from the Mount of Olives,--the simple
worshipper expected to see the hall of judgment, the house of Pilate,
and the palace of the high-priest, and to be able to trace through the
streets and lanes of the holy city the path which led his Saviour to
Calvary. This natural desire to awaken piety through the medium of the
senses, and to banish all unbelief by touching with the hand, and seeing
with the eye, the memorials of the crucifixion, has, there is reason to
apprehend, been sometimes abused by fraud as well as by ignorance.
But it is nevertheless worthy of remark, that from the very situation of
Jerusalem, so well defined by natural limits which it cannot have
passed, there is less difficulty in determining places with a certain
degree of precision than would be experienced in any other ancient
town. Nor can it be justly questioned, that the primitive Christians
marked with peculiar care the principal localities distinguished by the
deeds or by the afflictions of their Divine Master. It