CHAP. VIII.

MOSQUE OF OMAR.

"O God, the heathen have come into thine inheritance, thy holy temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones."

ONE of my first wishes at Jerusalem was to examine, and ponder on all that I might of the site and ruins of the ancient temple on Moriah, What spot on earth more hallowed than this from David's day*, who stayed with fervent

* I do not here adopt the idea that in this place the sacri. fice of Isaac was prepared by Abraham. Although the Jewish traditions, as I am told, are positive in affirming this, I think Scripture is against them: 1st, Because the place of sacrifice was three days' journey from Hebron, or rather more, for then the mount was "afar off." (Gen. xxii. 34.) Hebron is not more than a day and a half from Mount Moriah, supposing Abraham to have walked with the ass; while Gerizim, for which the Samaritans contended, would be about the distance mentioned. 2dly, Had it been Mount Moriah (the expression is, "the land of Moriah"), allusion would probably have been made to topography, as was done when speaking of Abraham's meeting with Melchisedek (Gen. xiv. 17.); and from Salem's having a king, it seems

prayers the angel of wrath, to the glorious temple of his Son hallowed by the divine presence, to the rebuilt sanctuary of Zerubbabel, and to the most honoured structure of Herod, wherein the presence of Incarnate God eclipsed the splendours of antiquity? But the entrance upon that square platform of masonry and embankment, whose origin is attributed to Solomon, and much of whose present fabric may be safely assigned to Herod-a platform hanging, on the east and south, over the abrupt declivity of the valley of Jehoshaphat and which now supports the great temple of Moslem worshippers, the Haram-esh-Shereef, or Mosque of Omar, is forbidden to all but the professors of a faith which casts the Jews, the nation of Solomon, into the lowest hell but one. No Christian or Jew dare enter there, save in disguise, without encountering the fierce attacks of the fanatical dervishes of the mosque.* And

unlike the solitary place required by the narrative. 3dly, The woman of Samaria seems to refer to this when speaking to our Lord, as a thing admitted on both sides in that day, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain ;" and the Saviour does not refute it as an error. The Samaritans, of course, assert the claim of Gerizim.

* Dr. M'Gowan was shamefully ill-treated a short time ago in returning from visiting a patient who had sent for

had it not been for the enterprising zeal and skill of Dr. Richardson, and later of Messrs. Catherwood and Bonomi, we should have been left to speculate in ignorance on the mysteries long supposed to be concealed within the domed edifice, whose site is conjectured to agree with that of the innermost sanctuary of the Jewish temple.* The best views of the mosque and its courts are obtained from the Mount of Olives, which overhangs the channel of the Kedron opposite, and from the roof of the governor's palace, which is deemed to occupy part at least of the site of the ancient fortress Antonia. I saw both of these views, the former frequently. At the angle of the outer wall of the city, which here, from the immense. size of the blocks of stone (some are thirty feet in length), appears to be partly of ancient workmanship, is a great level platform, the earth and materials composing which are supported by this city wall, in the manner of a sunken fence. This platform seems an oblong parallelogram; but its form and situation may be seen upon any modern

him within the outer court of the Mosque. Instead of punishing the wrong-doers, the Sultan sent the injured Doctor a decoration.

* See Bartlett's "Walks about Jerusalem," where a most interesting letter from Mr. Catherwood is given.

map of Jerusalem. The western and northern sides are enclosed by offices and buildings con. nected with the mosque, through which there are several entrances from the city. These entrances, while walking about Jerusalem, are so inviting, and one is left so entirely without warning as to where they lead, that more than once I found myself upon the point of transgressing the boundaries appointed for Christians. The flashing eye of some devotee of Islam, or a short angry cry of "Haram" (forbidden) from some lingering knot of Mussulmen, were the intimations I received of the danger of progressing further. Near the centre of the great platform a part of it is elevated some few yards above the level of the rest, and this (which is also an oblong) is surrounded and supported by a wall having in the centre of each side a fine flight of steps, leading through a gateway of four arches. About the centre of this second platform stands the great mosque, an octagonal building supporting a large and beautifully-proportioned dome. This dome is an interesting link between the semicircular cupola of ancient Roman architecture, such as we see in the Pantheon, and the spire of the early Gothic; and I think we may trace the principle of the arch of either age imprinted on the very outside of its

temples. Thus the semicircular arch of the days of the Pantheon, existing still in the days of Justinian, continues in the church of Santa Sophia at Constantinople nearly the same semicircular dome, while the pointed arch of the Saracens is manifest in the cupola of the mosque of Caliph Omar.*

Great interest is added to the three divisions of ground contained in the outer and inner platforms, and the interior of the mosque itself, by the arguments of Mr. Catherwood, which go far to prove that they severally answer to the sites of the outer court of the Gentiles, the Temple, and the Holy of Holies, into which the ancient Jewish Temple was divided. We learn also, from the same valuable source, that the great platform contains subterranean passages of arches which are considered as of Roman architecture, probably of the time of Herod, and similar in style to the arch of the Golden Gate, hereafter to be mentioned. These passages are, it seems, connected with the approach to the fragment of a bridge, first published, if not noticed, by Dr. Robinson, and leading an

* Although the name of Omar is given to this mosque, it was not built by him, but by Khalif Abd-el-Melek, from A.D. 686 to 693. (Robinson, vol. i. p. 441.)