Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

582 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
From the time that Christians began to make pilgrimages
to Palestine until our own century, the causes that
impelled them to do so have been religious. To pray in
sacred places was thought particularly meritorious, and extensive
indulgences were secured through a visit to them.
The interest of the pilgrims was excited, however, only by
those places which were pointed out to them as the scenes
of sacred events. The knowledge of Palestine which they
brought home with them consisted
substantially in an enumeration
and description of the places that were held in
special veneration. Concerning these they wrote for the
edification of other Christians and the guidance of future
travellers. All this is to-day of inestimable value to those
of us who endeavor to trace accurately the history of the
individual sacred places, but it was no scientific exploration
of the land.
Besides, during the first centuries of Christendom such a
veneration of sacred places was not yet known, — a fact
which renders the value of the traditions handed down
by the pilgrims practically almost nil. To know Christ
" after the flesh " seemed to a Paul almost worthless
(2 Cor. 5
: 16); and the gaze of the first Christians was
fixed not backwards but forwards, upon the glorious future ;
the Jerusalem for which they were looking lay not in Palestine.
It was only after the great persecutions during
which the Christians had learned to esteem as holy the
martyrs and their burial-places, that they also thought of
the greatest of martyrs. Only after Christianity had, under
Constantine, become the state religion could the Christian
Church look upon Palestine as its own possession ; and
only after Marv came to be quite generally regarded as the
mother of God could the cult of the saints and of sacred
places blossom forth in all its vigor. It is necessary to keep
this in mind in order to understand how tradition — even
the oldest and best — is separated from the time of Christ