LEAVING the devout pilgrims to kiss "the Stone of Unction," we passed through a vast throng of people, in which we recognized Turkish, Arab, and Greek soldiers, mingled with Armenian, Greek, Coptish, and Latin priests. Such a Babel of worshippers and languages, such a variety of costumes and countenances, and such a mixture of expressed passions and feelings, I never remember to have heard or seen collected together in one place before or since that time.

"Now, Signor, look right to the Calvary, upstairs, where old man pray," shouted our guide, in a loud voice; and therefore following him, we commenced ascending a narrow, dark staircase (31*) of eight-and-twenty winding steps, nineteen of which are of wood, and run up the sides of the church wall, the remainder being formed from the solid rock. Many weary

* See Plan of Holy Sepulchre at page 335, April number.

36*

pilgrims pass over these steps during the day, and to

"Calvary's mournful mountain climb." Calvary, or, as it is sometimes called, "Golgotha, that is to say, the place of a skull’because, according to tradition, the skull of Adam was deposited there by Melchisedek-i3 about 110 feet southeast of the sepulchre; the upper part of it (K) is level, and forms a platform 47 feet square, on which is a chapel divided into two parts, and separated by arches. One is paved with mosaic, hung with tapestry, and lighted by lamps, whose dim light, shed upon the aged or care worn faces of the devotees, imparts a singular appearance to the whole. This is called the Chapel of the Cross (35), and the guide, pointing to a silver plate under the altar, at the eastern extremity of the other, informed us that it marked the spot where the foot of the cross rested, while on either side he showed us the holes where the crosses of the two thieves were fixed (33). A few paces from these is a long narrow opening, with brass bars over it. The guide removed the metal covering, and passed a lighted taper into the fissure, which is about three feet long and three inches wide; the edges being rough and corresponding, really appear to be a rent in the rock (34). This is said to have taken place when our Saviour, about the ninth hour, being in the agonies of death, cried out with a loud voice from the cross, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (Matt. xxvii. 46, 51). The Greeks say that the soul of the bad felon went to perdition through this rent. Adjoining the place where the crosses were placed is the Chapel of the Crucifixion (32), but as there was not anything remarkable about it, we descended the staircase, and turn439

LEAVING the devout pilgrims to kiss "the Stone of Unction," we passed through a vast throng of people, in which we recognized Turkish, Arab, and Greek soldiers, mingled with Armenian, Greek, Coptish, and Latin priests. Such a Babel of worshippers and languages, such a variety of costumes and countenances, and such a mixture of expressed passions and feelings, I never remember to have heard or seen collected together in one place before or since that time.

"Now, Signor, look right to the Calvary, upstairs, where old man pray," shouted our guide, in a loud voice; and therefore following him, we commenced ascending a narrow, dark staircase (31*) of eight-and-twenty winding steps, nineteen of which are of wood, and run up the sides of the church wall, the remainder being formed from the solid rock. Many weary

See Plan of Holy Sepulchre at page 335, April number.

36*

pilgrims pass over these steps during the day, and to

"Calvary's mournful mountain climb.” Calvary, or, as it is sometimes called, "Golgotha, that is to say, the place of a skull"-because, according to tradition, the skull of Adam was deposited there by Melchisedek-is about 110 feet southeast of the sepulchre; the upper part of it (K) is level, and forms a platform 47 feet square, on which is a chapel divided into two parts, and separated by arches. Oue is paved with mosaic, hung with tapestry, and lighted by lamps, whose dim light, shed upon the aged or careworn faces of the devotees, imparts a singular appearance to the whole. This is called the Chapel of the Cross (35), and the guide, pointing to a silver plate under the altar, at the eastern extremity of the other, informed us that it marked the spot where the foot of the cross rested, while on either side he showed us the holes where the crosses of the two thieves were fixed (33). A few paces from these is a long narrow opening, with brass bars over it. The guide removed the metal covering, and passed a lighted taper into the fissure, which is about three feet long and three inches wide; the edges being rough and corresponding, really appear to be a rent in the rock (34). This is said to have taken place when our Saviour, about the ninth hour, being in the agonies of death, cried out with a loud voice from the cross, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" (Matt. xxvii. 46, 51). The Greeks say that the soul of the bad felon went to perdition through this rent. Adjoining the place where the crosses were placed is the Chapel of the Crucifixion (32), but as there was not anything remarkable about it, we descended the staircase, and turn439

ing to the left, visited the lower part of Calvary (H), and the tombs of Godfrey of Bouillon (36), and his brother Baldwin (37), which are almost destroyed. After this we proceeded towards the western end of the building, passing "the Stone of Unction" on our way, and pushing through a crowd of noisy Greek and Latin priests in the Vestibule (B), entered the nave of the church (C), in the centre of which is the Holy Sepulchre (D). The nave is about 100 feet in diameter, in the form of a circle, surrounded by eight square columns (15) and eight pilasters (16), supporting galleries above, and a lofty cupola. This is the Latin Chapel, in the centre of which is an oblong building of stone resembling marble, brought from the Red Sea. It is surmounted by a small cupola, pierced with circular windows, and supported by columns. This is the Holy Sepulchre (D), which is the object of the pilgrim's visit to the City of God.

Ascending a few steps we entered the vestibule or ante-chapel (6), in the centre of which is a small square block of marble, which, we were told, was the stone the angel rolled back from the door and sat upon, when he announced the tidings of the resurrection to Mary Magda-_ lene and the other Mary: "He is not here; for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (Matt. xxviii. 2-6). Stooping down, we passed through a narrow doorway, partially veiled from curious eyes by a curtain, and entered the sepulchral chamber (7), which is about seven feet square, containing the sarcophagus or coffin of marble, about six feet long, three feet high, and three feet wide, which forms a kind of altar. Above this a large number of gold and silver lamps, suspended from the roof, are kept constantly burning. They are the gift of princes and nobles, some of whom have made the pilgrimage. The sarcophagus, which is a modern production, is asserted to be the one wherein Joseph and Nicodemus laid the body of our Saviour (John xix. 38-42).

From the sepulchre we proceeded to the place where Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, as "she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus" (John xx. 14.) Near this is the Chapel of the Apparition (E), belonging to the Latins; and within the door, on the right, is the Pillar of Flagellation (22), which is almost hidden from view. This is said to be the identical pillar to which our Saviour was tied when he was scourged, before being crucified (Matt. xxvii. 26). The guide fixed a lighted taper to the end of a long stick, and passing it through a hole in the inclosure,

showed us the broken shaft of a pillar. Near to the Altar of the Flagellation is the Altar of the Holy Cross (21), and that of the Holy Sacrament (20), but they are not worthy of special notice.

Retracing our steps from this spot, we turned to the left and entered the Greek Church, which occupies the largest space in the building. It is fitted up in a rich and costly style, and contains the spot where the head of Adam was found, which the Greeks also call the Centre of the World (13); the chair of the Greek patriarch of Jerusalem (11); the chair of the Greek vicar (12); and the Sancta Sanctorum (10), with the screen before the altar (9).

Outside of this is the prison (24), where, it is said, our Saviour was confined when he was bound and delivered to Pontius Pilate, the governor (Matt. xxvii. 2); and the guide showed us one of the miraculously created wonders of the priests-a stone with holes in it, on which our Saviour was placed when put in the stocks! Near to this is the altar of the Inscription over the Cross (25), where the soldier is said to have pierced our Saviour's side with his spear (John xix. 34); and, adjoining it, the chapel where the soldiers "took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part," and cast lots for his vesture (26) (John xix. 23, 24).

Keeping towards the southwest, we descended a flight of about thirty steps (27), leading to the Chapel of the Finding of the Crosses (G), which is a dark, damp chamber, about eighteen paces square, dimly lighted by some lamps suspended from a pole. The roof, which is rough and black, is supported by four large columns. In front of us was the altar (28), and, on the right, a seat where the Empress Helena sat, and watched the workmen digging below, when they were searching for the crosses. Below this is another chamber (29), darker than the other, which is reached by descending fourteen steps. The guide points to a slab marked with a cross, and says, "Eceolo! there cross found in big hole under him stone." You retreat from this dismal place, retrace your steps to the church, and, turning to the left, arrive at the Chapel of Derision (30), where a large block is shown as the one on which our Saviour sat whilst mocked by the soldiers, when crowned with thorns and arrayed in a scarlet robe (Matt. xxvii. 27-31).

I turned with intense satisfaction from viewing these pretended relics, to gaze upon localities that had, at least, more of the semblance of reality and probability. Indeed, I should not have trespassed upon the reader's patience thus

far, but for a desire to relate things as they exist at the Sepulchre, or, as it was formerly called, the Church of the Resurrection. A visit to the Holy City, that has been "trodden down of the Gentiles," and "ploughed as a field," leaves impressions upon the sober-minded Christian of a mournful kind.

A visit to the Sepulchre is replete with painful associations and feelings. The aged and the young, the noble and the beggar, undergo many a peril and privation, and encounter many hardships, to bow down before the supposititious sacred places and relics. The young and beautiful, the fairest daughters of other lands, were there, with pale faces and sunken features, that bespoke much mental and bodily pain, days of toil, and weary journeying. Yon man with a proud and haughty bearing, whose piercing dark eyes wander restlessly over the sea of heads, bespeaks a noble origin; but ever and anon a saddened look overspreads his features, and reveals a tale of hidden woe--perhaps the remembrance of some dark deed committed, that must now be atoned for by rigid penance and vigil. Contrast all the groups of devotees with the jovial-looking monks around; the impassioned fervor and intense devotion of the pilgrims, whose days are numbered, with the jocund laugh of the priest, well lodged and fed. Does not this scene of hope and sorrow, of joy and repentance, of self-denial and triumph, teach us a mighty lesson? Who can gaze on these people, who have sacrificed health and happiness, wealth and luxury, in exchange for poverty and all its horrors, with fell disease, and not be sad? Yet these people, who have braved so much, implicitly believe all they see, and all they are told, and go their way, faint and hungry, but buoyed up with the shadow rather than the substance-the illusion and not the reality.

How can we reconcile the discrepancies between traditional and biblical topography? Are we to believe that the Calvary of the present day is the Calvary of Scripture? Assuredly not. We are told in the Bible that Jesus "suffered without the gate" (Hebrews xiii. 12); "for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city" (John xix. 20); and there was a garden in it, and in the garden a new "sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid" (John xix. 41). In the face of all this, we are shown the spot of the Crucifixion, of the nailing to the cross, and the rent in the rock, in a space fortyseven feet square; and collected within a comparatively small space, the sepulchre where the body was laid, the place of anointing, the

sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathea, and many other places. But we have to remember that the Holy Sepulchre was burned A. D. 614, and the true Cross, with the patriarch Zacharias, carried away; that it was set on fire again A. D. 969; that about A. D. 1010 the Sepulchre was razed to its foundations, and every exertion made by the Khalif el-Hâkim to remove all traces of its existence; and that, in addition to these, it has been partially destroyed on several occasions. It is but just, then, to conclude that the sites pointed out to pilgrims and travellers, by the monks and guides, do not coincide with historical and biblical accounts, and that the true sites are hidden for some wise purpose.

We must forbear mentioning the particulars of the enacted representations of the Crucifixion by the Latin church; the riotous scenes that occur on the eve of the Greek Easter-day, when the ceremony of receiving the Holy Fire is performed in the sepulchre, and other exhibitions of the same character.

Passing out of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and through several narrow streets, we came to the Bab-es-Sham, or gate of Damascus, the outer part of which exhibits a fine specimen of massive Saracenic architecture. It was from