tervals were the little solitary towers where the watchmen of the vineyards lodged. In scarcely any part of Judea is it possible to form a vineyard without first going through the very processes of which Isaiah speaks, and especially that process of gathering out the stones. They cumber the very ground as did the Canaanites the promised land. To build them into walls, so as to form numerous narrow lanes through the vineyards, is often the easiest way to dispose of them. A still more perfect specimen of this peculiarity, than any we saw at Bethlehem, we subsequently met with at Ain-Yebrûd on our way from Jerusalem to Samaria. In the neighbourhood of that place, which abounds in vineyards, we rode for nearly two miles, hemmed in all the way between long lines of walls, rudely formed of the stones gathered out of the adjacent vineyards, and where there was often hardly space for one horseman to pass another. No doubt it was in just such a position the angel of the Lord obstructed the progress of Balaam. "For the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall." So unchanging are the customs of the East, that in riding through these "paths in the vineyards" of Judea at the present day, one can realize, without an effort, the very sort of scene that witnessed Balaam's memorable adventure in the neighbouring country of Moab, nearly 3500 years ago.

At Bethlehem we regained the road by which we had approached it in the morning, and from this point our course was over the same ground we had then traversed all the way to Jerusalem. As we approached the city we struck off to the right, while passing along the valley of Rephaim, and rode up to the highest point of the Hill of Evil Counsel, which looks right over the narrow gorge of the valley of Hinnom to Mount Zion. According to one tradition, it was here the conspirators met, in the country-house of Caiaphas, the high-priest, to concert their plans for taking away the life of Jesus, on the night on which He was

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betrayed. Another tradition, however, as already noticed, places the house of Caiaphas, and the scene of that memorable night's proceedings, where an Armenian convent now stands, on the Hill of Zion. Upon the top of the height to which we ascended there are numerous and extensive remains of buildings and walls, though not apparently of any great antiquity. On its eastern slope, overhanging the deep valley of the Lower Kedron, and immediately above the Aceldama, the burying-place bought with the price of the Saviour's blood, there is a solitary tree, scraggy and sere, and which bears the ominous name of the tree of Judas. It has a wild, blasted, tempest-tossed look about it, that well accords with the gloomy legend which connects it with the traitor's suicidal end, and of which it at least served to remind us. It must have been just such a lonely and ghastly specimen of forest life which, when seen by Robert Hall, upon some desolate moor, suggested to him the idea of nature hanging out a signal of distress.

As we re-entered the city, near nightfall, by the Jaffa gate, our attention was called to the wretched hovels immediately outside of it, which are assigned to the lepers. It seemed like a remnant of the ancient law of Moses-"Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper." Many of the poor disfigured, and miserable looking creatures were hanging about their doors, ready to assail the passing traveller with a petition for alms. It were well if those who look upon them were to bear in mind that there is a far commoner and a far deadlier kind of leprosy of which the other, loathsome as it is, exhibits but an imperfect emblem; a leprosy which, unless it be healed, will effectually, and for ever, exclude its victims from the Jerusalem that is above.

CHAPTER VI.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre-Its traditions-Their fabulous character -Light thrown upon the subject by Scripture, and by topography of the ancient city-Dishonour done to Christianity by scenes exhibited around the pretended sepulchre of our Lord-Some account of these scenes, and of the miracle of the holy fire-Probable position of Calvary.

THERE is one place in Jerusalem which few who enter the city would like to leave it without visiting. Since the earlier part of the fourth century, it has been an object of the deepest reverence and most sacred interest to by far the larger proportion of the nominally Christian world. By that time the religion which began with a few peasants and fishermen of Galilee, had spread from the Baltic to Abyssinia, and from India to the British isles. The faith whose founder expired on a malefactor's cross, had been embraced by the Roman empire; and he who wore the crown of the Cæsars had recently become the avowed disciple of the despised and persecuted Nazarene.

Unhappily, however, while Christianity had been rising to this height of political ascendency, its primitive purity had been suffering a lamentable decline. The Christian church, now loaded with wealth and honours, and wielding most formidable powers, was fast losing its grand primitive distinction as a "kingdom not of this world." Lifeless forms were rapidly usurping the place of great spiritual truths; and pilgrimages to the shrines. and tombs of saints were coming to be regarded as better proofs of piety than taking up the cross and following Christ in a life of self-denying goodness and holiness.

It was about this period that an illustrious stranger appeared in Jerusalem. This stranger was Helena, the mother of Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. By a dream, or by some other mysterious impulse, she had been moved, in her

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old age-as those who have chronicled her doings tell-to undertake this journey, and especially to make inquisition for the very spot on which the Saviour suffered, and for the cross on which He died. Two centuries before, as some say, one of the imperial predecessors of her son had erected over Christ's tomb, a temple, if not also a statue of Venus, by way of pouring contempt upon the name and worship of our Lord. Time, however, and the many changes the city had meanwhile undergone, had so completely obliterated every trace and record of the exact locality, that when Helena came to seek for it, her long journey seemed as if it must prove to have been made altogether in vain. But the mother of the Roman emperor was no common pilgrim. It was a thing not to be thought of that the pious zeal which had brought her all the way to Jerusalem should come to nought. The case was worthy of a miracle; and a miracle accordingly came to her aid. The same divine instinct that prompted the enterprise, guided her to the grand object of her search. After long and laborious digging amid rubbish and ruins, lo! at length a rock is laid bare. The rock is found to be pierced with three holes, and beside it three crosses are lying. Beyond all question this is Calvary; and these are the crosses of Christ and of the two thieves between whom He suffered. But a great difficulty remained. The crosses were all alike; and how should it be known which was that of Jesus? Macarius, the Bishop of Jerusalem, was present, of course, on an occasion that was to bring such renown to his see. A happy thought struck him. "Let the suffering victim of some hopeless disease be immediately brought." According to some versions of this marvellous tale, it was one, not simply diseased, but dead, whose body was straightway carried to the spot. The body was placed in contact first with one cross, then with a second, but still there was no result. No sooner, however, does it touch the remaining cross, than the disease or the death, whichever of the two it was, instantaneously fled. Life, or at the very least health, was restored; and the great fact was complete of what is known in history by the sin

gularly significant and suggestive name of the invention of the cross. This, it is to be presumed, is that same cross of which portions so numerous have been distributed among the worshippers of such sacred relics, that it is confidently said to have supplied as much timber as would have sufficed to build a seventyfour!

To perpetuate the memory of this amazing discovery, and to guard the spot from all future profanation, a splendid basilica was erected over it by Helena, of which, however, no part now remains. Two or three times over, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has been completely destroyed; but still there can be no reasonable doubt, that the church of the present day stands precisely where that of Helena stood.

It is hardly worth any one's while to sift out the few grains of truth from the huge pile of chaff and dust which pious fraud and monkish superstition have heaped up upon the floor of this ancient edifice. Almost the only thing to be relied on, in the whole story, is the fact that the mother of Constantine did visit Jerusalem; and that she, or her son, or the two conjointly, did build a church on the pretended site of our Saviour's sepulchre. The fact, already noticed in an earlier chapter, that the same lady fixed the scene of the ascension on the summit of the Mount of Olives, while Scripture tells us in so many words, that it took place at Bethany, far down the farther side of the hill, is conclusive as to the amount of reliance to be placed on the traditions of her time.

In visiting this world-famous church, we were most kindly favoured with the company and guidance of Madame Gobat, and had, in consequence, the advantage of being preceded by the bishop's tall cawass, with his long silver-headed staff of office, to clear the way of all interruptions to our progress. The church has a patched and half-ruinous look, which impairs a good deal the effect of such remnants of its ancient grandeur as are still to be traced in many parts of the building. After making our way through a crowd of dealers in crosses, rosaries, and such