; but
in a far meaner place."

These monks have an image of a baby, which they call Jesus. On
Christmas-day they dress it in swaddling-clothes and lay it in the
manger: and then fall down and worship it.

The next day, as the traveller was ready to mount his camel, the people
of Bethlehem came with little articles which they had made. But he would
not buy them, because they were images of the Virgin Mary and her holy
child, and little white crosses of mother-of-pearl. They were very
pretty: but they were idols, and God hates idols.

JERUSALEM.

Here our Lord was crucified.

Is there any child who does not wish to hear about it?

The children of Jerusalem once loved the Lord, and sang his praises in
the temple. Their young voices pleased their Saviour, though not half so
sweet as angels' songs.

Which is the place where the temple stood?

It is Mount Moriah. There is a splendid building there now.

Is it the temple? O no, that was burned many hundreds of years ago. It is
the Mosque of Omar that you see; it is the most magnificent mosque in all
the world. How sad to think that Mahomedans should worship now in the
very spot where once the Son of God taught the people. No Jew, no
Christian may go into that mosque. The Turks stand near the gate to keep
off both Jews and Christians.

Every Friday evening a very touching scene takes place near this mosque.
There are some large old stones there, and the Jews say they are part of
their old temple wall: so they come at the beginning of their Sabbath
(which is on Friday evening) and sit in a row opposite the stones. There
they read their Hebrew Old Testaments, then kneel low in the dust, and
repeat their prayers with their mouths close to the old stones: because
they think that all prayers whispered between the cracks and crevices of
these stones will be heard by God. Some Jewesses come, wrapped from head
to foot in long white veils, and they gently moan and softly sigh over
Jerusalem in ruins.

What Jesus said has come to pass, "Behold, your house is left unto you
desolate." The thought of this sad day made Jesus weep, and now the sight
of it makes the Jews weep.

But there is a place still dearer to our hearts than Mount Moriah. It is
Calvary. There is a church there: but such a church! a church full of
images and crosses. Roman Catholics worship there--and Greeks too: and
they often fight in it, for they hate one another, and have fierce
quarrels.

That chur