e a revelation of the Saviour. There are still miracles in the Land of
Judah. As the dusk gathered in the deep streets, I could see nothing but
the ineffable sweetness and benignity of that countenance, and my friend
was not a little astonished, if not shocked, when I said to him, with the
earnestness of belief, on my return: "I have just seen Christ."

I made the round of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday, while the monks were
celebrating the festival of the Invention of the Cross, in the chapel of
the Empress Helena. As the finding of the cross by the Empress is almost
the only authority for the places inclosed within the Holy Sepulchre, I
went there inclined to doubt their authenticity, and came away with my
doubt vastly strengthened. The building is a confused labyrinth of
chapels, choirs, shrines, staircases, and vaults--without any definite
plan or any architectural beauty, though very rich in parts and full of
picturesque effects. Golden lamps continually burn before the sacred
places, and you rarely visit the church without seeing some procession of
monks, with crosses, censers, and tapers, threading the shadowy passages,
from shrine to shrine It is astonishing how many localities are assembled
under one roof. At first, you are shown, the stone on which Christ rested
from the burden of the cross; then, the place where the soldiers cast lots
for His garments, both of them adjoining the Sepulchre. After seeing this,
you are taken to the Pillar of Flagellation; the stocks; the place of
crowning with thorns; the spot where He met His mother; the cave where the
Empress Helena found the cross; and, lastly, the summit of Mount Calvary.
The Sepulchre is a small marble building in the centre of the church. We
removed our shoes at the entrance, and were taken by a Greek monk, first
into a sort of ante-chamber, lighted with golden lamps, and having in the
centre, inclosed in a case of marble, the stone on which the angel sat.
Stooping through a low door, we entered the Sepulchre itself. Forty lamps
of gold burn unceasingly above the white marble slab, which, as the monks
say, protects the stone whereon the body of Christ was laid. As we again
emerged, our guide led us up a flight of steps to a second story, in which
stood a shrine, literally blazing with gold. Kneeling on the marble floor,
he removed a golden shield, and showed us the hole in the rock of Calvary,
where the cross was planted. Close beside it was the fissure produce