The Site Of Solomon's Temple Discovered.

which he selected for his base line of verification , and the Sakhra , from Which the first standard offset Avas draAvn—are all that is left by the vandals under Titus' of the original foundations ancl superstructure resting thereon .. The eminent success Avhich has resulted from this judicious

selection , arid the practical foresight which led to their adoption , will directly influence Palestine exploration in the Holy City for many years to come . Mr . BesAvick quietly visited , the Haram with a working " plan" of "his - own making ,

which showed Avhat had been clone , and what had been left undone ; ' what ' to do , and whereto go and do it ;' AA'hat to discover , and Avhere to find it . Hehad reason , therefore , to hope for the very best results from his reconnaissance survey . The elaborate measurements which form' the basis of his verifications , and upon AA'hich his identifications of so many sites are grounded , are so

numerous , varied , and full of detail , ancl applied to so many places ancl sites , that no amount of reading , or investigation at a distance , could ever have afforded the opportunity to develop so completely as he has done , a discovery Avhich has seemed hitherto involved in inexplicable mystery .

He has , however , completed the proof Avhich fixes the site of the Temple in the Haram , and makes the Sakhra the absolute central spot of the Old Temple Area And the proof is so simple that any one can verify it for himself . The standard offsetor fun

da-, mental measurement which fixes this site of the Temple , places the Sakhra at a ' distance of 250 cubits—369 . 26 ft . —from . the western wall , of the Inclosure , regarded as ; a base of' verification . It will' introduce ! a ' central fact to"the ' attention of'the civilised

Vorld ; and there can be but one opinion as to its ' . value , and significance , and the revolution AA'hich its revelations will make in the field ' of Jerusalem topography .

THE SITE FIXED BY ' DIVINE COMMAND . The distance of . the apex of the Sakhra from the western wall as ' a base of verification is a fundamental measurement , and a leading test , of the discovery claimed "; " ' arid it is the most simple and satisfactory verification of the exact site of the Temple . If

this distance or standard offset be admitted then the Sakhra , or Sacred Rock , ' Avas simply a Central Core to the Avhole Temple Area , around which all the pavements arid

courts were built . up , and to Avhich they Avere fastened and united as one solid mass . The whole platform of pavements taking hold of the Sakhra , as . a Central Core , solid and immovable , according to the folloAving Divine command that they should place the Temple Area around this rock as a centre :

" This is the law of the house . Upon the top [ Hebrew rosh—head , summit , vortex , apex , or tiptop ] , of the mountain , the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy . Behold , this is the lair of the house . "—Ezek . xttii ,, 12 .

Now the Avhole limit of the Sakhra round about Avould be as folkrws : On the north the mountain was limited by the valleylying- -betAveen the Bezetha hill and the Temple Area ; on the east it was limited by the Kedron valley ; on the south by the Hinnom and Kedron ravines ; and on the Avest by the Tyropceon ravine . Thus the " whole limit thereof round about "

was well defined by ravines ; and on' all these sides the extreme limit . had to' be built up to the required'level of the platform of the outer court . Josephus gives a similar-description : "The hill was encompassed with a wall around the top of it . Joined' together as a . part of the hill itself to the very top of it . Ori the very top of all ran another wall . In the midst of which was the Temple itself . "—" Jew . Antiq . " -xv , 11 , 3 .

This LaAv of the House is a Divine command which fixes definitely the exact 'size of the Temple Area to be " the whole limit round about the top of the mountain . " And this is the only passage Avhere' the site is ever definitel y named . "' And what is most remarkablethis notable passage

, has never been noticed by any one of the numerous explorers of Jerusalem . Yet , from this supreme stand-point , Mr . BesAvick has studied the Svhole subject de novo ' He foresaw that the Old Rock of Moriah had a special pjlace in the Templethat it

. . ; acted as a Central Core , 'and carried iipon its shoulders all the Temple pavements and courts , and upon his head ( " upon the top of the mountain" ) rested as a crown' the Temple itself . His discovery solved a problem , Avhich has resisted every other lace

attempt at solution : that the special p of the Old Rock in the Temple Area [ has been the cause of its preservation , and which , when determined , would enable the discoverer to settle all'other questions of a ' topographical and numerical nature m