Rome, Turkey, and Jerusalem

by Edward Hoare

What, then, are the Gentile powers which have trodden down Jerusalem? In the course of the eighteen hundred years of her humiliation there have been times during which there have been short interruptions in the sway of the ruling powers. But, looking at the period as one great whole, and fixing our attention on the conspicuous outlines of history, we find that there are two powers which stand out conspicuous above all the rest as the great oppressors of the holy city. These are Rome and the successive forms of that Mahommedan power of which the present head is Turkey. Rome trod her down at the siege of Jerusalem, and Turkey holds her down now. Rome cast her to the ground, and when she was down Turkey set its foot on her neck. Rome hurled her to the dust, and Turkey now tramples her in the mire. Rome destroyed God’s Temple, and actually ploughed up the sacred ground on which it stood. Turkey maintains on the sacred site the mosque of Omar; and on that holy hill where Abraham offered Isaac, where David offered the oxen of Araunah, where Solomon built his Temple, and where the Lord Jesus, the Son of David, cast out all that was unholy; there, by Turkish authority, now stands a Mahommedan mosque; and there no Jew is permitted to set his foot, the only privilege allowed him being to kneel in the Street of Wailing outside the enclosure, and there weep for the desolation of Jerusalem.

There is something very remarkable in this fact, because these are the two powers especially connected with the two great predicted apostasies, Popery and Mahommedanism; Rome being the seat of the Popedom, and the Sultan of Turkey the recognised head of the Mahommedan apostasy.

But I have no time now to examine that connexion, nor is it my present object to do so. The one fact I desire to leave perfectly clearly on your mind is this, that Rome, and the Mussulman power of which Turkey is now the head, are the two Gentile powers which for the last eighteen hundred years must be charged with having trodden down Jerusalem.

And now, what is the present position of these two powers? And how do they stand in Europe? What is the condition, and what the prospect, of these two great oppressors of Jerusalem?

As for Rome, as a political power it has ceased to exist, for I need not say that the modern kingdom of Italy has nothing to do with it. It is not built on the old lines, but is altogether a new creation, an extension of the kingdom of Sardinia. Now there can be no doubt whatever that the vast, iron-footed, undivided, Roman Empire, of which Titus was emperor at the time he trod down Jerusalem, has long since passed away. Different historians may assign different dates to its dissolution, but no one doubts for one moment that it is dissolved. The power that trampled down Jerusalem is broken up into ten kingdoms, and the Imperial head is no more. There is no successor to the throne of Titus, and the throne itself is in fragments.

It is very remarkable also that the Papal head which succeeded the Imperial has within the last few years come also to an end as a political power. After the division of the undivided empire the ten kingdoms were to a great extent held together by the Papal head which succeeded the Imperial. The Pope claimed to be the sole authority from which the kings derived their power, and before the Reformation all Europe acknowledged his claim. He was supposed to hold all the crowns of Europe in his hand. But that is all over now. The kings have taken away his dominion. As a political power the Papal head has followed the Imperial. According to Sir G. Bowyer, in the Times of Nov. 10, 1871, ‘The Pope has been dethroned, and all his dominions and property have been reduced to a palace, a church, and a garden,’ it does not seem, therefore, very probable that Rome in either shape will ever again tread down Jerusalem. We may safely say that the first of the two oppressors is no more.

But what shall we say of the second? of that Turkey which is the only power now treading down Jerusalem? I would meet this by another question. Is there any politician in Europe who has the least expectation of Turkey remaining in its present position for another ten years? Whatever little political power it retains is dying out as fast as it can die. Its exchequer is bankrupt. Its credit is gone. Its character for good faith is at an end. Its armies are unpaid. Its subject populations are rising against the intolerable burdens of its injustice and oppression; and the Turks themselves have lost heart in the melancholy conviction that their days are numbered.

Thus, of the two powers that have trodden down Jerusalem, one is already extinct, and the head of the other at its last gasp. The foot of the Sick Man is the only foot now remaining on the neck of Jerusalem, and the Sick Man is dying. Surely it is not unreasonable to ask the question, ‘When he dies, why should not Jerusalem arise and be free?’

The result is that, without dwelling on any minute detail, we are brought by the great, long-continued facts of European history, to the most important conclusion that, in all probability, we are approaching the time when Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden down of the Gentiles, and when, therefore, the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled. It is only reasonable to suppose, that when the oppressors are taken out of the way the oppression will come to an end; and, therefore, as one of those two oppressors is already fallen, and the other falling so fast that all the powers of Europe seem unable to keep him in his place, there is surely good reason to hope that before long the captive will be free, and that the time may not be far distant when we shall hear the cry, ‘Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.’

And it certainly is a most remarkable fact that, simultaneously with the consumption of Rome and the decay of Turkey, there has been a wonderful awakening of interest in Jerusalem and the Jews. The explorations in Palestine are very like a fulfilment of the prophecy, ‘Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof;’ and if they are, there is good reason to hope that ‘the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.’