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DESCRIPTION OF THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM.

“Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem rise!

Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes!
See, barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,

Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend;

See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate kings,

And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs!" ANON.

We trust that the reader will accompany us with great satisfaction, not unmixed with religious reverence and awe, over the pious relics of the holy city, over that ground which was selected by his God for the scene of his redemption.

On entering the church of the holy sepulchre, likewise called Saint Helen's church, from having been built by the Empress Helen, the stone of unction presents itself, where our Saviour was embalmed and anointed by Joseph and Nicodemus; to the right of which is the ascent to Mount Calvary, by twelve steps, where is seen the hole in which the cross was placed, and near it a cleft in the mountain, occasioned by the earthquake after our Saviour's death; likewise the place of crucifixion: this last belongs to the Catholics. The schismatic Greeks robbed us of the hole of the cross by means of money.

From Mount Calvary you descend to the holy sepulchre of our Lord, where forty-four lamps are burning, fourteen of which are ours, the rest belong to the Greeks, Armenians, and Copts; but these have no dominion whatever over the sepulchre itself. Its length is nine spans, its breadth four, and its height about three and a half. Before the entrance to it is the Angel's Chapel, a little longer than the sepulchre. In the middle of it is a stone, little more than a span high, and

about nine spans in circumference. On this stone sat the angel who, after the resurrection of our Lord, appeared to the holy women, saying to them,-" Do you seek Jesus who has been crucified? He is not here, but is risen." On leaving this chapel, at the distance of a few paces, is seen the place where the Lord, after being risen, was seen by Mary Magdalen, in the dress of a gardener; and, a few paces farther, the spot where the penitent stood. You then enter our church, where our Saviour made his first appearance to his holy mother after the resurrection. On the right of the great altar (in which our Lord is preserved under the sacramental form), is a hollow place, fastened up with an iron grating, within which is part of the column, to which he was bound and scourged. On the left is part of the holy cross, shut up in the same manner. At the foot of the altar is seen the place where one of the three crosses was miraculously discovered by St. Helen, perhaps the cross of the Saviour. Leaving our church, you visit the prison where our Saviour was bound before he suffered the death of the cross: this place belongs to the Greeks. A few steps from it, is the Chapel of St. Longinus, the soldier, who, after having pierced the sacred side of our Saviour, wept on account of his sins in this place; which likewise belongs to the Greeks. A few steps farther is the place where the soldiers went to divide the garments of the Redeemer, and which belongs to the Armenians. A few steps from this is the pillar of reproaches, belonging to the Greeks. From thence you descend twenty-nine steps, and you see the chapel of St. Helen, and the place where she stood when they dug for the holy cross. Then descending

thirteen other steps, you see the place where the cross was found; this place belongs to us, but the chapel of St. Helen was, as well as the other places, stolen from us by the Armenians. St. Helen lived eighty years:

she was buried in one of the churches of Rome.

Under the holy Mount Calvary is the Chapel of Adam, where, as authors say, the head of Adam was buried by Shem, the son of Noah, after the deluge. This belongs to the Greeks. At a little distance from it, is the place where the holy women stood whilst our Saviour was crucified, and likewise the place where they sat down. Behind the holy sepulchre is the monument of Joseph of Arimathea, who earnestly requested of Pilate the holy body of Jesus: this belongs to the Armenians.

Near the door of the church you ascend eleven steps, and come to the chapel of St. Mary Calvary, where the blessed Virgin stood with St. John the Evangelist, when the Jews crucified our Saviour, and where we perform mass every day. In the road leading to the garden of Gethsemane, called the Mournful Way, are seen, the place where the Lord fell under the weight of the cross which he carried on his shoulders; the palace of Pilate, within which is the tribunal where the Saviour was scourged, and given into the hands of the Jews to be crucified; and also the place where they bound him to the column, and crowned him with a crown of thorns, saying to him, "Hail! King of the Jews." Without is, likewise, the place where he was scourged; together, with the arch where Pilate showed him to the people, saying, "Behold the man." In the court-yard of the palace is the place where the soldiers despoiled him of the purple, and dressed him again in his own garments,

giving him the cross to carry. At a short distance from the arch, before-mentioned, is the place where the Virgin Mary met her son. Pursuing the road to Gethsemane, you meet with a mosque near the gate of St. Stephen, where the Virgin Mary was born. Without the gate is the place where St. Stephen was stoned by the Jews, and near to it the cistern, into which, they say, his body was thrown. The church of the Virgin Mary is next seen. Having descended forty-eight steps, you view the altar, or sepulchre, whence she was taken up into heaven by the angels. About ninety years ago this was taken away from us by the Greeks. Within the church are the tombs of St. Ann, St. Joseph, and St. James. At a short distance from the church is the grotto, in which our Saviour sweated blood. Near the grotto is the garden in which he was taken. In this garden are eight olive-trees, which according to tradition, were there in the time of our Saviour; they bear fruit, and are wonderfully preserved. At the bottom of a small mount, is the place were our Saviour parted from the eight apostles to pray, and near it the place where he left the other three, viz. Peter, James, and John his brother. A few steps farther is the place where the Virgin Mary prayed for St. Stephen, whilst the Jews

stoned him.

Leaving the garden, you go to the torrent of Cedron, near which our Saviour fell, when he was bound by the Jews. Moving onward, you see the tomb of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, curiously excavated in a rock, and also the tomb of Absalom, son of David, which he himself caused to be excavated, in order that he might be buried there, and which is made in the form of a tower.

Ascending a little, you see the place where St. James the Less hid himself after our Saviour was taken: likewise the tomb of Zachariah the prophet and martyr, slain by the Jews. All these places are on the left of the torrent of Cedron. Not far off, is the town, or village, commonly called Siloe; and about a mile from it a fountain, called Mary's Fountain, because it is known from tradition, that the holy Virgin washed in it the clothes of her child. Near this is a wall of the ancient church of the pool of Siloe, in which our Saviour put the blind man, in order that he might wash himself, and recover his sight. Not far from this is a a tree where the prophet Isaiah was severed in two parts: likewise the well of Nehemiah, in which, by God's permission, the holy fire remained hidden for seventy years; that is, during the time when the Israelites were carried into Persia, in the reign of Nebuchadnezzer, king of the Persians. At the expiration of the se venty years, the priest Nehemiah caused a search to be made for the holy fire, and found in place of it water, which, however, by divine power, was reconverted into fire. On the holy mount of Olives, where our Saviour ascended into heaven, are seen the impressions of his feet. The church built there by St. Helen is now a mosque. A mile from this is the place called Men of Gallilee, because, after the ascension, the angels appeared here to the disciples, oppressed with grief, saying unto them," Men of Gallilee, why stand ye looking up to heaven?" The following places are likewise seen on the mount of Olives, viz. the place where the Saviour, casting his eyes towards Jerusalem, wept for it; where the apostles composed the creed; where the Saviour

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