DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0191
JERUSALEM.
173
indeed, too true, — but is it any reason for sweeping
away the whole fabric that the pinnacles are ill-built
or may be formed of unworthy materials ? I would not
have an inch of ground taken upon tradition only, for
it is better and best to have a reason for everything,
and there should be no limit to honest and earnest in-
quiry; but it is more than melancholy, it is pitiful, to
see reason and study laid aside because Protestantism
has fixed on one thing, and it would be " Eomish," and
therefore " superstitious," to think anything else : people
are mourned over in Jerusalem nearly as lost sheep, or
as brands in the burning, if they choose to think and
study, to read and examine for themselves: if they will
not throw themselves down with unquestioning faith
before the Protestant idol, they are supposed to gulp
down at once the whole draught of superstition — no via
media is possible, or rather none is permitted, — and if
any one, great or small, hestitates to declare that the
site of the Holy Sepulchre could only have been within
the Second Wall, he is at once believed to be lying under
the deepest folds of such darkness as encompasses the
Spanish or the Russian pilgrim.
I believe myself that Dr. Eobinson, as not only a
learned, but an honest and honourable man, would be
the first to disapprove of the Truly Protestant banner
set up in his valuable book, and the last to think that
the pure faith of the Church in England or in America
would be endangered, if even the time-honoured spot,
hallowed at least by the prayers and tears of fifteen
hundred years of pilgrims, was, by and by, proved to
be the true, real, and unquestionable site of the Holy
Sepulchre of our Lord.
Eeturning into the city the traveller may walk along
a very distinct, deep depression running the whole way
173
indeed, too true, — but is it any reason for sweeping
away the whole fabric that the pinnacles are ill-built
or may be formed of unworthy materials ? I would not
have an inch of ground taken upon tradition only, for
it is better and best to have a reason for everything,
and there should be no limit to honest and earnest in-
quiry; but it is more than melancholy, it is pitiful, to
see reason and study laid aside because Protestantism
has fixed on one thing, and it would be " Eomish," and
therefore " superstitious," to think anything else : people
are mourned over in Jerusalem nearly as lost sheep, or
as brands in the burning, if they choose to think and
study, to read and examine for themselves: if they will
not throw themselves down with unquestioning faith
before the Protestant idol, they are supposed to gulp
down at once the whole draught of superstition — no via
media is possible, or rather none is permitted, — and if
any one, great or small, hestitates to declare that the
site of the Holy Sepulchre could only have been within
the Second Wall, he is at once believed to be lying under
the deepest folds of such darkness as encompasses the
Spanish or the Russian pilgrim.
I believe myself that Dr. Eobinson, as not only a
learned, but an honest and honourable man, would be
the first to disapprove of the Truly Protestant banner
set up in his valuable book, and the last to think that
the pure faith of the Church in England or in America
would be endangered, if even the time-honoured spot,
hallowed at least by the prayers and tears of fifteen
hundred years of pilgrims, was, by and by, proved to
be the true, real, and unquestionable site of the Holy
Sepulchre of our Lord.
Eeturning into the city the traveller may walk along
a very distinct, deep depression running the whole way