JERUSALEM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4546, 15 October 1875, Page 3

JERUSALEM.

(From the New York Herald.)

The most interesting part of the planet, on account of associations which reach back into the mists of prehistoric times, is undoubtedly that known as the Holy Land. The whole country is only about one hundred and forty miles long, while it averages something like forty in width. Yet within; that narrow space victories, defeats, and revelation have been crowded which have been the impulse of civilisation and the foundation of religion. Whatever we may say or think of the Hebrew family as it is represented in Europe and America at the present time, there ean be little doubt in the mind of a critical scholarship that the time has been when that remarkable family held the key to the world's future. The whole of Christendom looks on the soil of the Promised Land as holy, and there is hardly an acre, from thickly wooded Lebanon in the north to the desert in the south, that has not been the scene of some prominent and important event. What the Hebrew race is to become at some time in the distant future, when certain vague and not easily understood prophecies shall come true, is matter of grave interest and speculation ; but-so proud are we all of its heroic and privileged past that every hill top and valley, every plain and stream, has an inestimable value.

Leaving its future, then, for time to settle, and caring less than nothing for its ignoble present, the religious bodies of Christendom some years ago determined to discover whatever insciiptions, monuments, and relics of any kind remained after the ravages of centuries. To Great Britain was assigned the country lying west of the Jordan, while the land of Moab was given to the spade, pick, and derrick of American zeal. This land of Moab lies directly east of the Jordan, stretching along the Bhores of the Red Sea, and is about fifty miles long by nearly twenty broad. It contains some very interesting remains, and discoveries of more or less importance are being made every year by persevering explorers. Their expenses, which are by no means light, are met by a commendable generosity on the part of churches and individuals. The American people are not much given to antiquities, because we believe more in to-morrow than in yesterday. The new rather than the old 1b valuable to us. As a general rule, we are quite willing to let the dead past bury its dead. But in this instance the past seems to have a very decided relation to things of the present. It is no ordinary event to discover a tablet of a monument whose inscription corroborates Old Testament Btory, and so far, at least, confounds the audacity of modern infidelity. The English, however, have the more startling field of discovery. They have concentrated their efforts on the city of Jerusalem, and have managed to unearth important inscriptions and facts. The difficulties of thiß work are understood by few. There are relics which point to a variety of periods, and which must be carefully discriminated. There are ruins which the people of Israel found whim they captured the country ; ruins Herodian ; ruins Roman and post-Herodian ; ruins Christian and ruins Saracenic. Now, in spite of the time and money spent in this enterprise, the English explorers are compelled to confesß that they have demonstrated very little, while they have guessed at a great deal. They seem to have no definite idea as to the position of the Temple even, and cannot reproduce the ancient city with suffi-

cient accuracy to give any satisfaction to the Bible student. It is impossible to tell the position of the fortress Antonia, or of the Tombs of the Kings. It is not known where the Pool of Bethesda was, or that of Hezekiah, nor where the towers of Hippicus, Phasselus and Mariamne were. Even the site of Mount Zion itself is matter for hot controversy.

We have a conviction, contrary to the judgment of many, that a private enterprise is apt to be more successful than a regularly organised expedition. The latter is likely to use more ordinary methods and to lack the zeal and personal responsibility of the former. When business of importance is to_ be accomplished, it can be more satisfactorily done by one earnest administrative man than by a. cumbersome committee. We should hesitate to utter a word of criticism even concerning the efficiency of the expedition which' is excavating in the region of Jerusalem. Still it occurs to us to say, in spite of the admonition of that expedition not to _ engage in or encourage any private enterprises, that a private enterprise is just as likely to make important discoveries as the not entirely satisfactory organisation, which has the work in hand. It is a pity that nothing can be found which will fix some important site, like that of the Temple, which will be a key to other important discoveries. We have strong hopes that the day is not far distant when new light will be thrown on these disputed matters, and when the Christian Church can have some definite conception of the city which to their affection is the centre of all things earthly.