The Rock in the Temple
We present to our readers a rare view furnished also by our American consul at Jerusalem. We see as perfect a photograph as can be secured of the rock itself over which the dome of Omar rises. The inside of the mosque is so dark that it requires the light a long time to place the image of the object before the camera upon the plate. The impression from which this picture is printed required three or four hours. Such a picture we could not have possibly secured, for when we were in the holy city the mosque of Omar was filled with visitors nearly all the time. This is the most historic rock in the world. It is the sphinx of the Holy Land; the threshing floor of Araunah where David built an altar; the spot on which Abraham offered Isaac; the site of the great altar of the temple; and thus thrice an historical and sacred place. It was evidently known as a holy place in the days of the Emperor Constantiue. But the true history of the rock is lost under a mass of Moslem traditions. It rises from the tessellated pavement a point of virgin rock that has remained the same for thirty centuries carefully guarded by all schools of religious faith. It is believed by some scholars that the subterranean passages branching out from the cave beneath the rock were the outlets for the blood of the sacrifices here offered. There is no proof that this was the cave leading to the canal that connected the Fountain of the Virgin below the rock Ophel with the Pool of Siloam. The cave which the visitor may enter is a natural one, and evidently has not been enlarged. In the center of it is a marble slab that covers the mouth of the well.
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