Twice a year a feast is held in Bethlehem. At ten o'clock at night the long service commenced, and after seven hours of heat and discomfort, in which many of the excited crowd fainted, it ended at five in the morning. A wax figure in a wickerwork basket, surrounded with long strips of paper to resemble swaddling clothes, was laid, at a certain moment, on the marble slab where Christ is supposed to have been born. As the priest read the words, ' And wrapped Him in swaddling clothes,' the paper bands were wound round the limbs of the image. When the reader came to the words, And laid Him in a manger,' the cradle was laid on one of the altars; and so the mystery-play was continued to the end of the story. Some of the leading writers on these topics do not accept the tradition on which Mr. Conder relies. Mr. Groves allows that probably Justin Martyr was correct. But he proceeds to say, 'The step from the belief that the nativity may have taken place in a cavern to the belief that the present subterraneous vault or crypt is that cavern, is a very wide one. Even in the one hundred and fifty years which had passed when Justin wrote, so much had happened at Bethlehem that it is difficult to believe that the true spot could have been accurately preserved.' A number of writers call attention to the fact that the Gospels use language which could hardly be employed of a cave. Dean Stanley states that this particular cavern was probably once a tomb, and, therefore, no true Jew could ever have occupied it; while Mr. Bartlett reminds us of the obvious, and apparently conclusive, fact, that the only means of access to this cave is by a narrow staircase, along which cattle could not conveniently be driven. It increases our incredulity to find that caverns are constantly fixed upon as the scenes of events which must have been transacted in the open air; and, notably, if we are to credit the monks, most of the important events which have ever happened have, somehow or other, happened in this grotto of Bethlehem. The variety of opinions,' says Ritter, which clash in Bethlehem, has led to bitter words, and even to blows, before the altar of the church of the nativity, making the Mohammedans wonder whether the truth is with those who display such hatred in a place whose associations are so sacred. The very purpose of the Gospel, which is to unite all men, here seems to lose all its hallowed intent, and to be turned into a wild and brutal mockery.' The concluding part of the first volume of this work is occupied with a description of Jerusalem. The situation of this ancient capital is singular among the cities of Palestine. From every side, except one, the ascent to it is perpetual, so that the summit of Mount Moriah is two thousand four hundred and forty feet above the level of the Mediterranean. Compared, therefore, with the sultry valley of Jericho, it breathes a mountain air; and compared with Sheckem or Damascus, it is enthroned as a mountain fastness. On two sides it is bordered by deep ravines, which bear the familiar names of Kedron and Hinnom. Both valleys,' writes Major Wilson, are at first mere depressions, but after running a mile and a half they fall more rapidly, and at Joab's well are six hundred and seventy feet below their starting point. A third valley divides the city into two unequal parts, and joins the Kedron at Siloam. On the eastern of these two halves, Mount Moriah, once stood the temple; and on the western, which is one hundred and twenty feet higher, were Herod's palace and the upper city. Few cities have been so frequently sacked and destroyed; so that the Jerusalem of to-day stands on a deep mass of débris. The present bed or bottom of the Kedron is more than thirty-eight feet above the true one. The present city is built on mounds of ruin which average thirty feet in depth. 'Jerusalem,' writes Mr. Conder, is a very ugly city. It is badly built of mean stone houses perched on the slope of the watershed, and seems in constant danger of sliding into the Kedron valley. Beautiful bits of architecture are to be admired in the interior: the view towards the east is very fine; yet with all this the city is not beautiful. Its flat-roofed houses and dirty lanes are neither pleasing nor healthy, and the surrounding chalk hills are barren and shapeless. Sheckem is a fine, wellwatered city: Damascus is bedded with gardens, and bristles with minarets; but there is nothing in the site or architecture of Jerusalem, as a whole, which can save it from the imputation of ugliness.' To discuss the vexed questions concerning the temple would require an accurate knowledge of architecture. As, however, Mr. Conder bases all his arguments upon careful and repeated measurements, it would seem as if his readers might accept his conclusions. One New Testament illustration has been brought to light by the excavations conducted by Major Wilson and Captain Warren. Most of us remember the mingled astonishment and derision with which we first read the statements of Josephus as to the size of the stones in the temple. One block of stone, however, consisting of white marble, has been measured, and is actually thirty-eight feet long, four feet high and ten feet wide. Now, as this block is eighty feet above the natural level of the ground, it must have been visible in the days of our Lord; and hence the exclamation of the Apostles, 'Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!' The appearance of the temple, as a whole, is thus described by Mr. Fergusson, the well-known authority on architecture : In order to realize the whole, fancy a building like the nave of Lincoln, raised on a lofty terrace, and standing in a court surrounded by cloisters and porches. E Fancy these courts approached by ten gateways, each in itself a work of great magnificence; and, again, this group surrounded by another court on a lower level, one side of which is occupied by a building longer and higher than York Cathedral, and the other three sides by cloisters, more magnificent than anything we know of; and all this supported by terrace walls of such magnificence of masonry that, even at this day, in their ruined state, they affect the traveller as much, perhaps, as any building in the ancient world.' Mr. Conder gives a long and vivid description of the annual orgies which defile that 'grim and wicked building,' the church of the Holy Sepulchre : 'No other edifice has been directly the cause of more human misery, or been defiled with more blood.' At the Easter of 1875, Mr. Conder rode the sixty miles from Gaza to see the miracle of the Holy Fire. On the eve of the miracle, the huge building was full of pilgrims, with long rows of Armenian women propped against the walls. On the morrow, a double line of Turkish soldiers kept order around the supposed tomb of Christ, and the crowd was packed so tightly that, at every motion, it seemed to oscillate like a huge jelly. A fat old colonel walked to and fro within the space kept clear by the soldiers, armed with a whip of murderous hippopotamus hide, which he frequently brought down heavily upon the crowd. At last, a lighted torch was passed from the Patriarch, in an inner chamber, through the fire-hole, and a great forest of arms stretched towards it. The flame was passed from one to another, and, as the many torches were lit, the church became a sea of fire. was 'The fury of the crowd seemed to increase. A stalwart negro, struggling and charging like a mad bull, ran round the church, followed by the writhing arms; then, as all got their candles lit, men might be seen bathing in the flame, and singeing their clothes with it, or dropping wax over themselves as a memorial, or even eating it. The whip came down on crowd and soldiers alike, until the line had been reformed, and, at last, the excitement abated," Comparing this hideous story with the accounts given by other writers, it appears to be a plain, unvarnished tale, in which nothing is extenuated, and nothing set down in malice; but, if so, what a foul mass of imposture and fanaticism has been substituted for the pure and reasonable service of Christ! Mr. Kinglake, in Eothen, gives an equally painful description, and adds that, on the feast before his own visit, Ibrahim Pasha chose to witness the miracle. Such dense crowds filled the church that multitudes fainted from the heat and the pressure, while nearly two hundred people were trampled to death. Fatal tumults indeed so frequently disturb the festival, that Eothen remarks, with melancholy sarcasm: 'It is almost too much to expect that so many ministers of peace can meet together without finding some occasion of strife.' This charming book of Eastern travel is so delightfully unencumbered with dates, that it is difficult to say whether Mr. Kinglake refers to a date as far back as 1834, when the feast ended in the loss of hundreds of lives. Mr. Conder's measurements lead irresistibly to the conclusion that the true burial-place of our Lord is still unknown. A verse in the Epistle to the Hebrews asserts that 'Jesus also... suffered without the gate,' and only a very few, who were counted worthy of national honour, as assuredly Christ was not, were buried within the city. Now, if we can depend upon the recent measurements, the present church of the Holy Sepulchre is within the boundary of the ancient wall, and is, therefore, not the place of our Lord's burial. As with Moses, so also is it with the greater Prophet like unto him: 'No man knoweth of His sepulchre.' With very little alteration we may use the words of good Bishop Hall: 'God purposely conceals this treasure, both from men and devils, that so He might both cross their curiosity, and prevent their superstition. Yet that Divine hand, which locked up this treasure and kept the key of it, brought it forth afterward glorious. At the Ascension, this body, which was hid among the tombs of the rich, appeared on the Mount of Olives, that we may know these bodies of ours are not lost, but laid up, and shall as sure be raised in glory as they are laid down in corruption.' Člosely connected with this subject, is the question as to the real site of Calvary. The Gospels do not afford sufficient data to settle the locality; but the words already quoted of the Epistle to the Hebrews, condemn the site that is commonly shown. There is a curious fact mentioned by Dean Stanley which some travellers have overlooked. We continually speak of the hill of Calvary. Some Preachers go so far as to describe the 'steep hill-side of Calvary,'and some painters represent the cross as on the summit of a mountain which, unlike any mountains with which we are familiar, curiously runs up to a point. Now, there is not a word in the Gospels which warrants this fancy. Golgotha may, indeed, have been an elevated knoll. Mr. Conder, however, believes that the true Golgotha has been discovered. This word means the 'place of a skull," and many of the early Christian Fathers refer the expression to the shape of the ground: a rounded hill like a skull. Another indication is that the great cemetery of ancient Jewish times lies North of Jerusalem, on the main road to Sheckem; and here, among tombs fitted, like the true sepulchre, with rolling stones to close the mouth, may have been the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Close to this road, on its Eastern side, is a rounded knoll, which a venerable tradition asserts to have been the scene of Stephen's martyrdom. In addition to all this, the Jews call the knoll 'the place of stoning,' and state that it was the place of public execution. Mr. Conder is thus led to identify the spot with Calvary. The stony road comes out from the beautiful Damascus gate, and runs beside a yellow cliff in which are excavated caverns. Above the cliff, which is some thirty feet high, is the rounded knoll, without any building on it, bare of trees, and in spring covered in part with a scanty grass, while a great portion is occupied with a Moslem cemetery. To the North are olive groves; to the West, beneath the knoll, is a garden in which the remains of the crusading Hospice of the Templars was found in 1875. The place is bare and dusty, surrounded by stony ground and by heaps of rubbish, and exposed to the full glare of the midday sun. Such is the barren hillock, which is identified with the "place of stoning," or execution, according to the Jewish law.' (Vol. i., p. 375.) We must allow that this spot meets all the requirements of the Gospel. Golgotha was apparently well known, as may be inferred from the way in which it is mentioned in the New Testament; it was outside the gate, but close to the city; apparently, also, it was near a public road along which such travellers as Simon the Cyrenian would be likely to pass; and, in all probability, it would be the ordinary place for public executions. In default, then, of any more certain evidence, we may accept this identification as bearing strong marks of probability. It is not our intention to follow Mr. Conder closely through the rest of the Holy Land. The valley of the Jordan, the desert of Judah, the hillcountry around Hebron were all surveyed; and the work was brought to a full stop in Galilee by the violence of the natives. Mr. Conder still leaves the site of Capernaum, to our mind at least, an open question. That city, which was exalted unto heaven, has indeed been cast down, and forgotten. These volumes conclude with five chapters on the origin and history of the inhabitants, with kindred topics. The character of the peasantry appears to be a curious 6 compound of virtues and vices. They are described as patient, sober and kind; they have a strong sense of religion, eminent personal courage and are remarkably docile to recognized leaders. On the other hand, their brutal immorality is proverbial; their love of money is evidenced by their ordinary conversation, and they are shamelessly false. They are often tempted to lie by the oppression of an unjust Government. Above all, the Syrian appears to be a creature of the most unbounded conceit. This is not less noticeable in religion : in spiritual pride, and the conviction that he alone is fitted to understand the true faith. Mr. Conder adds: 'With such qualities the native peasantry are capable, under a wise government, of becoming a fine people; but the present rule of the Turk discourages them in every way: their natural quickness is uncherished by education; their industry is rendered useless by unjust taxation; their worst vices are unchecked, and they have be come broken-spirited and hopeless; their only object is, therefore, to drag on their miserable lives with as little trouble as possible.' (Vol. ii., p. 211.) Perhaps there is no question connected with the history and geography of the Holy Land more important than that concerning its fertility. Was Palestine what we should understand by a land flowing with milk and honey'? And if so, are there any indications of change in the climate? We have already quoted Gibbon's comparison of the fertility of the Land of Promise to Wales. When he was attacked by the writers of the day he vindicated his description in the following passage: "The Emperor Frederick II., the enemy and the victim of the Clergy, is accused of saying, after his return from his crusade, that the God of the Jews would have despised His promised land, if He had once seen the fruitful realms of Sicily and Naples.' Dean Stanley asserts that there are. proofs of a general change of climate : The destruction of the woods which once clothed the mountains, and the utter neglect of the terraces which supported the soil on the steep declivities, have given full scope to the rains, which have left many tracts of bare rock, where formerly were vineyards and cornfields.' It is, moreover, according to all experience, that the rainfall itself should be diminished by the loss of vegetation. The Dean, familiar as he is with the emerald landscapes of Britain, speaks thus of his own entrance into Palestine: 'With Ziph the more desolate region ended. The valleys now began, at least in our eyes, almost literally to laugh and sing. Greener and greener did they grow, the shrubs too shot up above that stunted growth. Then came ploughed fields and oxen. Lastly, a deep and wide recess opened in the hills; far up on the right ran a wide and beautiful upland valley, all partitioned into gardens and fields, green with fig-trees, and cherry-trees, and the vineyards famous through all ages; and far off, gray and beautiful as those of Tivoli, swept down the western slope the olive groves of Hebron.' If this, then, be a description of the effect produced by the hill country of Judah, there is little need to prove the fertility of Esdraelon, Philistia or Jericho. After a very careful examination, Mr. Conder apparently comes to the conclusion that the fatalistic creed of the peasantry, and a Government at once oppressive and unsettled, explain any alteration there may be in the fertility of the Promised Land. We have, indeed, every reason for judging that the distribution of the springs is the same to-day as in the times of Moses; for those parts which are now dry and desert have in the Bible names derived from their barren appearance; and wherever individual springs are mentioned by name they are still plentiful and perennial. The numerous remains of ancient cisterns, in the districts where springs are rare, prove that it has always been a necessity to guard against drought. Further, by extracts from the Mishna, Mr. Conder proves that the general character of the seasons has probably remained unchanged. From the days of Abraham and Jacob there have been years of drought, while the battles fought for the possession of springs show what importance has always been attached to any perennial fountain : The change in productiveness which has really taken place is due to decay of cultivation, to decrease of population and to bad government. It is man, and not nature, who has ruined the good land in which there was no lack; and it is, therefore, within the power of human industry to restore the country to its old condition of agricultural prosperity. The population of the land is insufficient; and it has been calculated that Palestine might support ten times its present total of inhabitants, if fully tilled, even though in the rude and primitive manner of the peasantry only; and that the plains of Sharon and Philistia might, under a proper system of irrigation, become an important corn-growing country. The soil is as good as ever; the crops are, even now, very fine in the cultivated parts; all, therefore, that is wanted is the men and the money to work the land.' (Vol. ii., p. 323.) Whatever he may be at Constantinople, the 'gentlemanly Turk' does not appear to advantage on the pages of Mr. Conder's book. At Nazareth, the Lieutenant-Governor had curious ways of increasing his income; his salary being a mere pittance, on which he could not live. One was to levy a tax on his subjects of all the white hens in the village. Another official offered his good services in consideration of a present of a pair of white trousers; while a third, an officer in command of three thousand men, held a review in honour of the travellers, and then demanded a 'bakshish' of ten francs. In his many difficulties with the natives, Mr. Conder appears to have found |