428 Mr. J, Fergusson [Feb. 21, 



the church which Constantine erected over it ; and the rock in this 

 building had one cave in it exactly as described by this author. Every 

 word, in fact, which Eusebius uses in his narrative of the discovery 

 of the Holy Sepulchre, and of the building erected over it by Con- 

 stantine, is so completely borne out by what is now found here, and 

 is so essentially confirmed by the architecture, that it is impossible to 

 escape the conviction that what we now look upon is the identical 

 building to which he refers. 



It may be added, that although the proposition has now been for 

 more than fourteen years before the public, the architectural evidence 

 has never been disputed by any competent authority, notwithstanding 

 the opposition which the conclusions drawn from it have been met with 

 on other grounds ; and until it is refuted, the argument must be con- 

 sidered as proved. 



The description which Eusebius gave of the Basilica of Constan- 

 tine, in the immediate vicinity of this sepulchral church, pointed to 

 the " Golden Gateway," now forming part of the city wall, and 

 further tended to fix the site of the sepulchre. This gateway was 

 evidently not originally a city gate ; it had no carriage-way, and was 

 not fortified ; and its architecture, as in the case of the Dome of the 

 Rock, bore unquestionable evidence of the age of Constantine. 



Besides the direct evidence derived from the architectural cha- 

 racter of these two buildings, there was almost as strong, though 

 negative evidence, derived from the examination of the Mosque el 

 Aksah situated in the same inclosure. That building was undoubtedly 

 erected by Abd El Malek in the first century of the Hegira, or 

 about A.D. 695, and showed such a difference of style, such a progress 

 towards mediae valism, that some centuries must have elapsed between 

 its erection and that of the buildings just referred to. 



Another curious coincidence was, that Justinian had erected his 

 Mary Church so near this spot, that most travellers contended that the 

 Aksah must be the identical building. There was abundance of evi- 

 dence to prove that that was not so. But the fact of that Emperor 

 having come to this corner of the city, so near to the accursed temple 

 of the Jews to erect his church, proved that the great group of sacred 

 localities must have been in this neighbourhood. 



In concluding this part of his subject, the speaker contended that 

 the historical, local, and architectural evidence connected with these 

 four buildings made together so clear and tangible a proof of his pro- 

 position, that no direct refutation of it had been attempted, and, in so 

 far as he could judge, none was possible. 



An objection to this theory had been raised, that the church of 

 Constantine was not within the city wall, whereas the Mosque of Omar 

 was. The difficulty was, however, at once removed by the knowledge 

 that the wall which now runs along the eastern side of the Haram area 

 was erected by Herod Agrippa twelve years after the crucifixion, and 

 consequently the locality was at that time certainly without the walls. 

 It was also clear that the site of this building was the Hill of Zion ; 



