Such was the price of our redemption. “He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
The question with regard to the place of our Saviour’s burial is in a measure dependent on that into which we have just been examining, and will therefore not require more than a few minutes’ attention. St. John (xix. 41, 42.) tells us that “in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein never man was yet laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews’ preparation day, for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” We are therefore to look for this spot close in the neighborhood of Calvary; and I think that the merriment in which Protestant visitors sometimes have indulged on finding the spot pointed out for the sepulchre, so near that of the crucifixion, to be quite out of place. It certainly is in bad taste; for whatever these places may be, they bear sad and solemn names, and have been regarded by Christians from time immemorial as really the places of our Saviour’s bloody death and burial, and glorious resurrection. However, then, we may be disposed to regard their genuineness, we should approach them with solemn feelings; and levity or sarcasm in such a place becomes us very ill.
For myself, I believe that as regards the place of our Saviour’s crucifixion, there is no just ground for disbelief, nor can I see much as regards also that pointed out as the place for burial. It is about 110 feet from the rocky knoll, and is not at all too near to have a garden wall intervene, and make this a proper place for Joseph of Arimathea to hew out a sepulchre. Gennath, the name of the gate opening from the Upper City to this place, means gardens,[49] and it is probable that much of this space was originally occupied with gardens. We find also that it was a place of tombs; for the monument of the high-priest John was near this, as were also probably “the monuments of king Alexander.”[50] The circumstances of the case are, therefore, in favor of this spot; the Scriptures in some measure give it their sanction, and tradition from the earliest years has been uniform on the subject. Hadrian over it erected the statue of Jupiter, and here also Helena built a church; and among the rival sects of the Greek and Latin church, which soon after sprung up, and which have been endeavoring to appropriate, each to itself, as much as possible of the holy places, no one has ever attempted to designate another spot.
I confess I take pleasure in believing that the spot pointed out to us as that of our Saviour’s sepulture, is the true one; and that, to the scene of his deep humiliation and his agony for us is in close proximity the scene of his triumph over hell and the grave; and though it can be no argument, I confess there seems to me to be a fitness of things where we are allowed to stand where stood the cross of Christ, and look down on the empty tomb, and say through him, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
CHAPTER XV.
Commencement of our visits. Hospital of the knights of St. John. Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Reputed tomb of the Saviour. Marble sarcophagus. Effect of this visit on us. Question whether this is the real tomb, or only a representation of it. Removal of the floor two centuries since. Greek chapel “the centre of the world.” Origin of the various incredible traditions. Charity to be exercised. Cave where the cross is said to have been discovered. Fissure in the rock. Tradition about the head of Adam. Calvary. Holes for the crosses. Another fissure in the rock. The humiliation in the tomb, and resurrection.
We were glad, on arriving at Mr. Nicholayson’s, to find the ladies of the Commodore’s family quite recovered from the effects of the preceding day’s severe fatigue. Mrs. Nicholayson herself was in a feeble state of health, occasioned by her watchings over Mrs. Thompson’s couch, and exposures during the earthquake, and the subsequent fighting in the city; their house, as has already been observed, having been used as an advanced point of attack on the citadel. The presence of ladies speaking her own language had immediately an astonishing effect on her spirits, and she became rapidly convalescent.