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the Apparition. The fact that two other pieces, preserved, one at Rome, and the other in the church near the Greek Patriarch's house at Constantinople, are of a different mineralogical character, does not prevent the pilgrim from touching this with the end of his staff, and devoutly kissing that part which has come in contact with the holy stone. Here they sung a hymn, and a sermon was preached in Spanish, upon the scourging of the Lord. They next proceeded, in priestly array, to the Prison of our Lord, or the place where he was incarcerated while the preparations were made for the crucifixion. This is also a circumstance upon which the New Testament is silent. After the customary singing, a French sermon was preached in this place. The same ceremonies, with a sermon at each, took place at the altar and the Chapel of the Division of the Garments. The procession then ascended the steps, and went first into the chapel where our Saviour is said to have been nailed to the cross. Here they placed the large cross upon the floor, and performed the ceremony of affixing the image to the cross. Then followed another hymn and another sermon. The crucifix was next taken to the adjoining chapel on Mount Calvary, and set up in a hole in the rock. Hymn and sermon. Two friars, representing Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, now approach the cross, and with an air of great solemnity and sorrow, draw out the nails and take down

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the figure from the cross. As it is a flexible image, the two men who acted the part of mourners composed the limbs, bending the arms and arranging them in the usual manner, and then laid it in a winding-sheet and carried it to the stone of unction, followed by the procession. Upon this stone the figure was laid, and odours and spices thrown over it. After another sermon, it was placed in the Holy Sepulchre, and here, at least for the present, the performance ended. How much soever such scenes may annoy us, they cannot altogether destroy the associations of the locality, nor detract from the sublimity of the real events. We cannot forget that we stand upon or near the spot where the greatest problem that had hitherto troubled the world was solved for ever. During the long night of four thousand years, the nations, “sitting in darkness," had vainly endeavoured to discover whether "the shadow of death' was eternal. Here the veil was lifted: man had share in the secrets which lie beyond the tomb. After the Lord of Life had been three days subject to death, he came forth here triumphant, the first-born of his own glorious revelation and purchase-Immortality.

Saturday, April 7.-We rode out at St. Stephen's Gate, and again passing the spot where the first Christian martyr is said to have sealed his testimony with his blood, we went down into the

Valley of Jehoshaphat, crossed the brook Kedron, and rode along, ascending the side of the Mount of Olives, to Bethany. This village is about two miles distant from Jerusalem, or, as we are told in the Scriptures, "about fifteen furlongs off," and on the road which our Lord travelled when he came from Jericho. Bethphage appears to have been somewhat more distant; but no traces of its existence can be found at the present day. The hamlet of Bethany probably occupies the site of the ancient village to which our Lord loved to resort, the abode of Martha and Mary, and the scene of one of his greatest miracles. It is now a poor place, and contains only some fifteen or twenty families. It is, however, delightfully situated, and affords a fine view of the valley of the Jordan. The house of Mary and Martha, and the tomb of Lazarus, are pointed out; for in the Holy Land every sacred event has its modern locality. The tomb is cut out of the rock, and is descended by twenty-five steps; but as it would appear, from the account given us by St. John, that the grave was not in the town, we are led to suppose that either the modern village or the tomb may not be upon the ancient site. The latter is described simply as "a cave, and a stone lay upon it." But it was sufficient for us that we had gone over ground which had often been pressed by the hallowed feet of our blessed Lord, and that we looked upon a

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beautiful prospect, down one of the valleys, which his eyes in the flesh must have often beheld. On our return, we crossed the summit of the Mount of Olives, and had a fine view of the Dead Sea. At the top of the Mount is the Church of the Ascension, built over the rock, in which a foot-print is shown, and which tradition assigns to the last event in the earthly life of our Lord, though the account by St. Luke places the ascension at Bethany itself, rather than the summit of Olivet: "And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven." (Luke xxiv. 50, 51.) Approaching Jerusalem, we could see the city from the very summit of the mount. We could look directly down upon Jerusalem and upon the site of the temple, and felt the full force of the words which he addressed to his disciples, after they had said to him, "Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" And when they had retired to the place which we now occupied, "as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple," he uttered that fearful prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem itself, as well as of the temple: "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matt. xxiv. 34.) What more affecting picture can be presented to the mind, than the

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approach of the Divine Teacher from the humble dwelling of Martha and Mary, in the little village of Bethany, towards that great city of iniquities, whose riches and splendour were spread out indeed before his eyes, but only to be saddened and overclouded by the contrast with her coming and inevitable woes! He stood here upon the side of the mountain, and hence embraced in one view the whole of Jerusalem. The site of the temple, the whole circuit of the walls, the direction of the streets-all can be seen from this spot where "he beheld the city and wept over it." After he had passed the night in the Mount of Olives, whither he retired for meditation and prayer, this was the way that he took on his return to preach "daily" in the temple, setting a high example of retirement combined with action. Below us is the Garden of Gethsemane, and yonder is the way by which, after his betrayal, he was led to the house of the high priest, thence for a mock trial to the hall of judgment, and then, alas! for our sins, to a cruel and ignominious death upon Calvary! The place upon which the temple was built is now occupied by a most prominent and most sacred object of Mohammedan adoration, the famous Mosque of Omar, which stands upon the broad summit of Mount Moriah. Into this we could not enter, as the faithful followers of the prophet alone are allowed within the sacred precincts; for the Mussulmans