JERUSALEM. 311 
affirms, that Helena, upon her arrival, found the chap. 
VII. 
fane of Fenus^, and ordered it to be thrown ■_ 
down. To what then can be attributed the 
want of every document within the building 
now called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, 
which might denote the site of such a monu- 
ment ? The sepulchres of the Jews, as it has 
been already maintained'', were, in the age of 
the Crucifixion, of a nature to withstand every 
attack of time ; they were excavations made in 
the heart of solid rocks, which even earthquakes 
would scarcely remove or alter. Indeed, we 
have evidence from the Gospel itself, that earth- 
quakes, in certain instances, had no power over 
them ; for the sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea, 
made before the earthquake which accompanied 
the Crucifixion, is described ^ after that event 
had taken place, as '* his own new tomb, which 
he had hewn out of the rock." Even the 
grooving for the stone at the door was un- 
changed and entire, for " he rolled the great 
(3) Theodorel. lib. i. cop. 18. Paris, 1642. This Greek Father also 
mentions the age of Helena, at the time she visited Palestine. The 
journey look place a short time before her death, when she had 
attained her eightieth j'ear. Few octogenarian ladies exhibit equal 
enterprise. 
(4) See the obsei vations in the last Chapter concerning the sepul- 
chres of Samaria. 
{5) Matth.xwn. 60. MarkyiwAQ. Z/Uicxxiii. 53. JoAnxix. 41. 
