360

THE JEWS' PLACE OF WAILING.

THE JEWS' PLACE OF WAILING.
MOUNT MORIAH, AND REMAINS OF ANCIENT WALLS OF
THE TEMPLE.

MOUNT MORIAH lies on the east of Jerusalem, between
Zion and the Mount of Olives, and being almost exclu-
sively inhabited by the Turkish portion of the popula-
The principal
tion is called the Turkish quarter.
buildings upon it are the mosques of Omar and El-
Aksa, and the residence of the governor of Jerusalem.
There is a tradition that the house of the governor
stands on the site of the palace of Pontius Pilate; and
it was from thence the staircase (Santa Scala), most
absurdly pretended to be the identical one that led to
Pilate's hall of judgment, was taken, which is now pre-
served with so much superstitious veneration at Rome,
next to the church of St. John Lateran. The present
building is near the site of the ancient fort Antonia,
the castle mentioned in Acts xxi. 34—37, and xxii. 26,
where St. Paul was confined; it is large and irregular,
and adjoins the inclosure of the mosque of Omar, an ex-
cellent view of which is obtained from its terrace roof.
The inclosed area on which the mosque stands, called
El-Haram-Schereef (the noble place of retirement), is
about five hundred and twenty paces in length, and
three hundred and seventy in breadth; the walls of the
city form its boundary on the east and south; the
western side is inclosed by Turkish houses, occupied
by the attendants on the mosques, and schools for chil-
dren; and on the northern side are some houses, and a
There are several slender
wall with three gates.
minarets in the area (a privilege confined to royal
mosques), and it is beautifully planted with cypresses,
orange trees, mulberries, and other shrubs. This is a
favourite place of resort with the Moslem ladies. A
considerable portion of this area is supported by large
subterraneous vaults, originally formed of fifteen rows
of square pillars, measuring about five feet on a side,
built of large bevelled stones. These structures, erected
on the slope of Mount Moriah, for the purpose of form-
ing a level area, extend further than is yet known, and
were most probably the work of Solomon. There are
several large cisterns beneath the area, and a fountain
springs up from a great depth under the mosque, com-
municating with a Turkish bath, situated near the wall
of the area.

spring of this arch are very distinctly seen projecting from the foundations of the western wall, at its south end. They are of enormous magnitude, and are carefully bevelled off at their edges,-which is the case with many of the stones in other portions of the inclosure. This is a reasonable proof of their being really the work of the Hebrews, and remnants of the outer wall of their temple; for they are wholly unlike the materials of which the city and its present walls are built, and do not belong to any modern style of architecture. In one part of the western wall, as many as ten ranges of these massive stones can be counted one above another, some twenty-four feet long, and three or four feet broad, and some eight feet square; they are of a white limestone, and worked with great skill.

A little to the north of the ancient bridge there is a part of the wall, constructed mostly of these enormous stones, called the Jews' Wailing Place, where it has We* found been their custom, for ages, to assemble every Friday afternoon, for humiliation and prayer. about twenty Jews, most of them aged, deeply engaged in reading or reciting portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, and in earnest prayer. Many were sitting in the dust, at the foot of the wall, while others were standing up, with their heads bent against the wall, kissing the stones, and fervently whispering, with sighs and tears, their supplications to the Lord, at the junctions of the bevelled stones, as if expecting their petitions would thus more easily be transmitted into the sacred inclowhere the Lord once promised, "Mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually." 1 Kings ix. 3. The stones, in some places, are worn smooth with the kisses and tears of the unhappy Israelites. There were a few Jewesses, covered with long white veils.

sure,

It was a deeply affecting sight, bringing to mind the prophet's lamentations: "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Lam. i. 12. And the complaint, also, of the Psalmist, "How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?" Ps. xiii. 1.

We thought, also, of the children of Israel, when by the waters of Babylon they sat down and wept. But we remembered, above all, our blessed Saviour's deep anguish of soul, when, on surveying, shortly before his In the centre of the area stands the celebrated death, his beloved Zion, from the Mount of Olives, he so feelingly bewailed the obduracy of heart with which mosque, founded by the great caliph Omar, when he The other the Israelites had rejected his many proffers of partook possession of Jerusalem, A.D. 673. mosque, named El-Aksa, on the south side of the doning love: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that inclosure, is of great antiquity, and held in high killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent veneration, belonging to the sect Shafei. Besides these unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy chilmosques there are several small oratories, and a hand-dren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens some marble fountain for ablutions.

Christians and Jews are forbidden to enter these hallowed premises, under penalty of death, unless by special permission, which is scarcely ever granted. The fanatic Moslems would immediately surround and murder any one not holding their creed, whom they found within the ates of the inclosure.

The present walls, which enclose the area, are believed to stand on the site of the ancient walls, and to be erected, in several parts at least, on the ancient foundations. A remarkable confirmation of this opinion was the discovery, by Professor Robinson, of the remains of an arch belonging to the bridge which, in ancient Jerusalem, connected Mount Moriah with Mount Zion, across the intervening valley, Tyropoon, and which is often mentioned by Josephus. The stones forming the

under her wings, and ye would not!" Matt. xxiii. 37.

And then setting his seal to the many warnings of God's terrible judgments, previously delivered by his messengers the prophets, he added the awful words, Behold, thine house is left unto thee desolate."

* Journal of a deputation sent to the East by the Committee An interesting acof the Malta Protestant College, in 1849. of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of Scotcount of the Place of Wailing is also given in the "Narrative land." The Jew who was the guide to the Scottish missionaries, on approaching the massy stones, took off his shoes and kissed the wall. The existence of these stones is not contradictory to the prophecy of our Lord, that "there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down," for these words referred to the temple itself, and have been fulfilled to the The place of weeping is probably part of the ancient outer wall of the temple enclosure.

very letter.

362

MISSIONARY. SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN CHINA.

MISSIONARY SCENES AND ADVENTURES

XIII.

IN CHINA.

AN AFTERNOON'S WORK IN OUR CITY CHAPEL. SOME Indian missionaries have boasted that their chapel was like Solomon's Temple "built without the sound of a hammer;" but we may say that before a brick was laid in our chapel the roof was placed upon it for it is the custom in China first of all to erect a wooden frame, then cover it in, and then proceed to build. This fashion, like most Chinese customs, has one immediate and obvious advantage: it defends the builders from the sun or rain, while they rear the edifice, and this method is believed to be safer in the case of an earthquake. Built of stones or brick, without a frame, the house would be more easily overturned, but in this way it can stand a good shock. Well, our chapel stands in a thronged thoroughfare. It has no spire, but is like an old dissenting meetinghouse; and will hold about four hundred hearers. The walls are adorned with large rolls, on which are painted numerous passages of Scripture. We open the door, and the crowd rush in, and the place is soon well filled. We ascend the modest pulpit and begin. During the prayers mute astonishment seals the lips of the assembly, and there is generally great silence. They cannot understand what we are doing; for they have no conception of offering up petitions to an unseen being. On sabbath-day we always take a text or portion of Scripture, and go through the service in the usual manner; but this being a week-day we take greater liberty, and begin, perhaps, by quoting one of their proverbs, or selecting a passage from their classics, or in a parabolic form. For instance:

"There was a nobleman in a neighbouring province who had a number of sons; he was a very wise and a very good father, he watched over and directed all their ways, and provided them with every good thing. But they rebelled against him-they openly disobeyed his commands-they associated themselves with his enemies; and not only so, but so far did they carry their malice, that they had pictures and statues of his bitterest foes placed in the most honourable positions in their dwellings. They seldom mentioned his name except in opprobrium, and they paid him no reverence. Were these sons filial? What ought to have been done with them?"

They were utterly destitute of the first of all virtues, and ought to have been discarded and punished," is the reply of a number of voices.

"You are these very sons. Your father in heaven-
the great God-made you, and has guided you by his
providence all the days of your life; has given you
good things without number, and has placed a monitor
what is right;
you
within you your conscience, to tell
but you have paid no attention to him, you have done
thousands of things you knew perfectly well were
wrong. You have never reverenced him, nor shown
him any respect. You have forsaken him and followed
gods and devils, set up images of them in your houses,
and pay homage to them publicly in your temples.
What do you think of yourselves?"

I repeat my
No one speaks for a few minutes.
question, and at last a voice exclaims: "You assume
what you cannot prove. You say that there is a great
God who made us and rules over us, and whose laws
we break; but we have never seen him, nor had any
communication from him whatever. How then do you
know that he exists?"

"Have you ever seen your ancestors, whom you so regularly and devoutly worship? Or have you had any communication of any kind from them to convince you that they are living ?" I ask.

Smiling at our simplicity, the Chinaman replies, "No; but we know that if they had not lived, could not have been born."

we

"Precisely so; but who made your ancestors ?" I reply, trying to bring the matter home. "Their ancestors, of course," he answers indignantly.

"But who made them? Did they create themselves, "We are all descended from the first man, whose or where did they come from?" man four times taller than ordinary men and of proname is Pwan Koo, who came from the vast deserts; a digious strength;" shouts a voice from the end of the building.

"But did Pwan Koo come into existence of himself? Look at your hand, how skilfully it is formed; or your eye, or your ear, or your whole body, so wonment. Could these things make themselves? Could a derfully adapted for all the purposes of life and enjoyhouse lay its own foundation, ercet its own frame, put on its own roof, and place in the bricks and lime of which it is composed? Or could a fire-ship (steamer) make its own wheels, place them in their proper positions, form its own furnace and fill it with coals, and keep its own fire going? How then could our flesh and bones make themselves and place themselves in their right places? Exercise your reason, and conHere a Taouist, quoting from the "Shin Seen thung sider whether there must not be a Maker of all ?" Keen" cries out "From the time that the yang and the yin combined, and the five elements intermingled in the centre of the universe-when moisture and heat operated on each other, a man was produced." And he adds, "His nature was intelligent; as he gazed upon the heaven he saw a golden blaze of light darting forth from a star and falling to the earth. When he approached it he found it to be a living being of the same species who addressed him, and said, "On the breaking forth of the fructifying principle I knew that you had entered the world.' These called other four human beings to themselves, and from them the race of mankind arose.'

"That is all fable!" exclaims another Chinaman, a mere Taouist legend worthy of no credit. 'One produced two, two produced four, four produced eight, and eight produced all things,"" and he propounds a theory of numbers not unlike the system of Pythagoras -a very common view in China.

"You are right," I reply, "in saying that our friend's story is utterly destitute of reason; but I am Is it one brick, afraid your's is little better. What do you mean by one producing two, etc. What is it? or one being, or one stroke? for if you by one, mean one brick, of course it is absurd; if you mean one stroke, it is still more absurd, but if you mean a being eternal and infinitely glorious, then you are on the way to the truth."

"He means the Tae Kiugh, the grand extreme,” says another, "for it is the origin of all things."

"Then will you explain in a few words what this Tae Kiugh is?" I ask, anxious to get them to give me this doctrine of theirs in their own words.

"It is eternal, omnipresent, and almighty. In eterAt the nity it was the Vu Kiugh or negative extreme. beginning of time it became positive or the Tae Kingh.

MISSIONARY SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN CHINA.

It moved and rested, and formed the yang and the yin;
i.e. the male and the female principles: they moved and
rested, and formed the five elements, fire, earth, wood,
water, and air. The five elements moved and rested,
and formed the four seasons. Then they all inter-
mingled and formed heaven and earth. Heaven and
earth were at first united; by-and-by heaven ascended
and earth descended. Heaven and earth then acted
and reacted on each other and formed man, who is a
microcosm (for they have this very term) participating
in the intelligence of heaven and in the grossness of
earth. This is the true way; and," he triumphantly
adds, “if you wish to know the way in which all things
go on at present, I can also explain this. The universe
is like an egg.
The earth is the yolk in the centre:
the heavens are the white all round about it: the
thunder, the clouds, the winds, and the atmosphere
are produced between the two by the action of the one
on the other; and the great germinating principle lies
inside."

"I am certainly very much obliged to you for your trouble in explaining so fully your ideas; but will you allow me to ask is this Tae Kiugh a person, or a principle, an intelligent being, or a law ?"

"It is a principle," he unhesitatingly affirms. "Well, how can a principle-an airy spiritual principle, as for instance, 3+3=6; or, 'honour thy parents' -how can such principle produce matter hard, coloured, heavy, organised, or beautiful material things?" "By moving and resting," he replies.

"But how can a principle move or rest? Living creatures can move or rest. Spirits can move or rest, but how can a principle move or rest?"

Seeing this untenable, he darts off and exclaims, "The Tae Kiugh is an essence which is omnipresent. It lies in the centre of everything and makes things what they are-makes a man a man, or a tree a tree. It has no life, but only action."

"Has it intelligence?" I inquire.

"No: it has only force; but no intelligence." "Well, now, I appeal to the common sense of all present: our friend here admits that the Tae Kiugh is without life, and without intelligence; now how can such a principle, or law, or essence make me or you? How can a principle without life and thought impart life and thought to me?"

Here a voice on the left is heard coming to the rescue, crying out: "The Tae Kiugh is like the spirit in man; when man rests and meditates it is yang, when man rises and acts it is yin. These forces are seen everywhere: the heaven is yang, the earth is yin; the sun is yang, the moon is yin; light is yang, darkness is yin; man is yang, woman is yin; and by the action of the one on the other all things are made."

"You do not mean to say that man's spirit is the Tae Kiugh-eternal, almighty, and so forth," I ask, in order to bring the matter home to the audience.

"No," he replies.

"Well, now, observe the force of your illustration. Man's spirit can think, can look back and look forward, can deliberate and resolve, and act, or refrain from acting as it pleases. If you affirm that the Tae Kiugh is like this, then you are so far right; but you call it by a wrong name, it is not the great extreme, but the great God. You and I are substantially agreed. We both believe that the origin of all things must have been a thinking mind-a thing like man's spirit, only unspeakably mightier and more intelligent; and no one who thinks calmly can get quit of this."

363

"But it is not a thinking mind, but just the aimighty principle," reiterates our first friend. "Our classics all affirm that it is a principle, and acts in accordance with the great rule or law 'li.'

Turning to my audience, I ask, "Did you ever hear the like of this? Here is a man openly and deliberately declaring that a thing that can neither plan, nor hear, nor see, nor will, made you and me and all things. Consider for a moment we can hear. Some being must have made the ear. Now he that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall he not know? He that breathed into man the breath of life and intelligence, must he not have life and intelligence before he can impart them ?" and thus I enlarge and try to prove to them the personality and glory of God.

Some of our readers may be tired of this discussion; but when I tell them that these are the views held by the literate, and by all who pretend to intelligence in China, no doubt they will take a deeper interest in them. "The proper study of mankind is man," and it is certainly important to know the method in which so many millions account for the creation of all things. These arguments are deeply instructive. They show how weak a thing the human intellect is. How easily it is overpowered by sophisms. They show, also, how powerfully an illustration may veil the truth, and at the same time satisfy the mind, for the illustration that the "Tae Kiugh is like the spirit in man" is one often employed; and it only rivets the error in the understanding; and the constant cry "the heaven is yang, the moon is yin," etc., has all the force of an axiom.

But there is another Chinaman in front of me-eyes beaming, and evidently impatient to say something. Consequently I ask, "Well, friend, what have you got to say?"

"We don't know much about these things," he says, looking very wisely; "we have come into existence somehow or other. The world has been set agoing at some period; and now we just are born, and live, and beget others and die; and there is no great being creating us, and sustaining and supporting us, as you teach. We live by the laws of life."

Here a Buddhist exclaims, "This is all fancy! This life is but a long continued dream. We live and move in a dream, and all things are unreal."

He has been studying the "Len yen Kuing." "I tell you this, my friend, I know something which every one must admit is real-pain is real. When you put your foot in the fire you feel pain; and when you break the laws of the emperor you are bastinadoed and imprisoned, and you feel pain; when you are discovered lying, or stealing, or in mean acts you feel pain; and when your friends die, you feel pain, just as real ́ though mental. This should make you consider: for dream or no dream you can feel pain, and do suffer when you transgress certain laws, and you may dream, and yet be in agony throughout all eternity. Be ye not deceived, God is not mocked, that which a man sows, that shall he also reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption?"

This settles the point for a little, and silence pervading the assembly, my native assistant rises and speaks with that fluency and pith in which many Chinese excel.

He begins: " Every house must have a builder, every ship must have a carpenter-all things must have a maker, and he is God. We hear his voice in the

364

MISSIONARY SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN CHINA.

thunder: we see the glance of his eye in the flash of the lightning: we see his power in the stormy wind: we see his holiness in the clear azure heavens, and in the stainless beauty of the lily: we see his justice in the vengeance with which he overthrows wicked dynasties we see his faithfulness in the regular succession of day and night, summer and winter: we see his love in a parent's heart, and his mercy in a mother's forbearance; and we find the premonitions of a judgment in the tribunal of our conscience. But God is not in all these. He is behind them: above them: he fills all space: he is the invisible, omniscient everblessed God. Men have broken his laws, and consequently he has cursed this earth, and sent pain and sorrow into our hearts-even as the magistrate immures transgressors in prisons, and deprives criminals of the luxuries of life which they otherwise would possess. But his Son Jesus Christ has atoned for the sins of the world, and now, whosoever repents and believes in him, will be renewed in spirit and life, and taken to eternal happiness in the blessed world above."

Thus he speaks, and after praying again, we descend from the pulpit, and mingle with the people and the conversation becomes freer and opener.

There is a group around our native assistant, and words are high-what is the matter? Let us listen. One man is charging him with becoming a preacher for money.

"Well," he replies, "that is not the point at all: the question is, are the doctrines true or false; for if they are true, everyone is bound to believe them. If I preach for money and am a deceiver, I have the greater sin."

"Do you worship your ancestors?" a man angrily

asks.

'No, I do not," he sturdily replies.

Oh, he has denied his root !" (Kun pun) a chorus of voices exclaims. "He is a base fellow." For the Chinese consider this the first duty of man, and esteem one who renounces this worship worse than we do an infidel. He is in their estimation the very climax of worthlessness.

"No, I have not denied my root," he manfully maintains. "It is you who have denied your root. I worship the great root and support of all. You stupidly worship the branches, or twigs, or leaves. I revere and honour Him who created all things and upholds them by his power: you ignorantly worship your parents or ancestors, frail men like yourselves, and like yourselves made by God. How absurd and simple!"

"Our bodies came from our ancestors-our all came from them, and it is a great sin not to respect them," one vociferates, quoting a common proverb.

"Respect them, if you please; but do not place them in the position of almighty God," he says. "I honour my parents as a most sacred duty, but I do not worship them as Divine, nor am I so stupid as to believe that they need rice, and fowls, and fish, and clothes after they are dead, and I am not so ignorant as to imagine that the burning of paper, houses, and furniture, and money, will etherealize them and give them actual houses, and furniture, and money in the world of spirits. This is a great delusion."

This strikes too keenly-a storm is rising, I must interfere, and so I step forward and say a few words. But I am interrupted: for my brother missionary comes in to begin his hour's work; and so we leave and he ascends the pulpit, and thus service is continued

in our chapels two or three hours at least every day. Very often before returning home we proceed to the open square at the tea gardens; and preach again and distribute tracts and books. Here great crowds collect, and often most animated discussions arise.

HON. AND REV. WILLIAM BROMLEY
CADOGAN.

AMIDST the dark and dismal gloom which hung over
religion in this country during the eighteenth century,
there were not a few eminently faithful ministers of the
church of England, whose labours were blessed to the
conversion of thousands. Venn and Berridge, Romaine
and Haweis, were a few of those honoured names.
They were succeeded by Simeon and Newton, Scott
and Cecil, and similar kindred spirits; till in a few
years the faithful clergymen of the church of England
could be counted by hundreds, and the great evan-
gelical reaction of the present century began. Among
the second group of pioneers to which we have referred
the name of Cadogan holds an honourable place.

The Hon. and Rev. William Bromley Cadogan was the second son of the Earl of Cadogan, who succeeded to the title in 1776. He was born at the family town residence in Bruton Street, on the 22nd of January, 1751. It was his privilege, like Timothy, to have a grandmother and mother piously disposed, who instructed him from his infancy in the Holy Scriptures.

He was placed at Westminster school, where he distinguished himself, and was for some time captain of the school. In 1769 he left Westminster to enter at Christ Church, Oxford. Even when at school he had remembered the scriptural instructions of home; but at Oxford his religious impressions became more deep and lasting. He suffered very severe conflicts between his own convictions and those impediments which arose from his associates. Thus agitated in his mind, he sought a refuge in retirement and in the study of his Bible. We get a curious glimpse of college life, and of the state of religion in those days. We are told that Cadogan, in order to avoid the teasings of his companions, took the precaution of not lettering on the back the books of those authors whom he knew that they despised.

In 1774 Mr. Cadogan, though not yet ordained, was presented by the Lord Chancellor Bathurst to the living of St. Giles's, Reading. It was more than a twelvemonth before he was capable of holding it; but as the Crown was concerned, no lapse was incurred. It was in the days of pluralities; and next year he was presented with the additional living of St. Luke's, Chelsea. This was in the gift of his own family, Lord Cadogan having married a daughter of Sir Hans Sloane. He meant to reside at Chelsea, and expended 800l. in repairing the parsonage house. He commenced his ministerial labours at Chelsea with great zeal; he wished to know every person in his parish, and even the most miserable cottage was not neglected. He exhorted them all to come to church, and live like Christians. He was very attentive to the charity schools, and was for some time their principal manager. He did not leave the sick to be visited by his curate only, but made it a rule to go often himself. He exerted himself to prevent the opening of shops on the Sunday mornings. There was a set of ringers who began their entertainment early on Sunday morning: he took his Bible, went up into the belfry, and told