Palestine or the Holy Land | Page 7

is natural to
suppose, as M. Chateaubriand well observes, that the apostles and
relatives of our Saviour, who composed his first church upon earth,
were perfectly acquainted with all the circumstances attending his life,
his ministry, and his death; and as Golgotha and the Mount of Olives
were not enclosed within the walls of the city, they would encounter
less restraint in performing their devotions to the places which were
sanctified by his more frequent presence and miracles. Besides, the
knowledge of these scenes was soon extended to a very wide circle.
The triumph of Pentecost increased vastly the number of believers; and
hence a regular congregation appears to have been formed in Jerusalem
before the expiry of the third year from that memorable epoch. If it be
admitted that the early Christians were allowed to erect monuments to
their religious worship, or even to select houses for their periodical
assemblies, the probability will not be questioned that they fixed upon

those interesting spots which had been distinguished by the wonders of
their faith.
At the commencement of the troubles in Judea, during the reign of
Vespasian, the Christians of Jerusalem withdrew to Pella, and as soon
as their metropolis was demolished they returned to dwell among its
ruins. In the space of a few months they could not have forgotten the
position of their sanctuaries, which, generally speaking, being situated
outside the walls, could not have suffered so much from the siege as the
more lofty edifices within. That the holy places were known to all men
in the time of Adrian is demonstrated by an undeniable fact. This
emperor, when he rebuilt the city, erected a statue of Venus on Mount
Calvary, and another of Jupiter on the sacred sepulchre. The grotto of
Bethlehem was given up to the rites of Adonis, the jealousy of the
idolaters thus publishing by their abominable profanations, the sublime
doctrines of the Cross, which it was their object to conceal or
calumniate.
But Adrian, although actuated by an ardent zeal in behalf of his own
deities, did not persecute the Christians at large. His resentment seems
to have been confined to the Nazarenes in Jerusalem, whom he could
not help regarding as a portion of the Jewish nation,--the irreconcilable
enemies of Rome. We accordingly perceive, that he had no sooner
dispersed the church of the Circumcision established in the holy city,
than he permitted within its walls the formation of a Christian
community, composed of Gentile converts, whose political principles,
he imagined, were less inimical to the sovereignty of the empire. At the
same time he wrote to the governors of his Asiatic provinces,
instructing them not to molest the believers in Christ, merely on
account of their creed, but to reserve all punishment for crimes
committed against the laws and the public tranquillity. It has therefore
been very generally admitted; that during this period of repose, and
even down to the reign of Dioclesian, the faithful at Jerusalem, now
called Aelia, celebrated the mysteries of their religion in public, and
consequently had altars consecrated to their worship. If, indeed, they
were not allowed the possession of Calvary, the Holy Sepulchre, and of
Bethlehem, where they might solemnize their sacred rites, it is not to be

imagined that the memory of these holy sanctuaries could be effaced
from their affectionate recollection. The very idols served to mark the
places where the Christian redemption was begun and completed. Nay,
the pagans themselves cherished the expectation that the temple of
Venus, erected on the summit of Calvary, would not prevent the
Christians from visiting that holy mount; rejoicing in the idea, as the
historian Sozomen expresses it, that the Nazarenes, when they repaired
to Golgotha to pray, would appear to the public eye to be offering up
their adoration to the daughter of Jupiter. This is a striking proof that a
perfect knowledge of the sacred places was retained by the church of
Jerusalem in the middle of the second century. At a somewhat later
period, when exposed to persecution, if they were not allowed to build
their altars at the Sepulchre, or proceed without apprehension to the
scene of the Nativity, they enjoyed at least the consolation of keeping
alive the remembrance of the great events connected with these
interesting monuments of their faith; anticipating, at the same time, the
approaching ruin of that proud superstition by which they had been so
long oppressed.
The conversion of Constantine gave a new vigour to these local
reminiscences of the evangelical history. That celebrated ruler wrote to
Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, to cover the tomb of Jesus Christ with a
magnificent church; while his mother, the Empress Helena, repaired in
person to Palestine, in order to glue a proper efficacy to the zeal which
animated the throne,