Hebrews. The Jews go, however, to an alley which runs along outside of the foundations of the Haram. This is known the world over as the "Wailing Place of the Jews." Here during all the centuries of their subjection they gathered daily and chanted responsively: "For the place that is destroyed We sit in solitude and mourn. Comfort those who mourn over Jerusalem." A sacred church. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, or "the Church of the Resurrection," as it is called in Arabic and Greek, is the most sacred building of the Holy Land to Christians. To this shrine men and women have journeyed to worship for sixteen centuries or more. It is a jumble of buildings which are cared for by the Greek, Armenian, Roman Catholic, and Coptic churches. The center of the main building is the chapel of the Sepulcher, a small structure only twenty-six feet long and twenty feet high under the great dome. It is extravagantly decorated, crowded with lamps and candles, and pictures hung very close together on the marble walls. In the center of the first of the two small rooms that comprise the interior is a stone said to be the one which the angel rolled away from the door of the tomb (Matt. 28. 2). The inner room, the sepulcher itself, is only about six feet square. Millions of Christ's followers have visited this scene of the first Easter Day (John 20. 1-20). The edifice is supposed to cover Calvary, the garden of Joseph of Arimathæa, the two places where Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, and many other interesting spots, including the one where the cross is supposed to have been discovered. These points are not all in the central structure, but are under one roof. The whole area is on four or five different levels, and a visit to the place is rather confusing to most travelers. Ancient roads. Six roads lead out of Jerusalem. The east road passes the tomb of the Virgin near the Latin site of the Garden of Gethsemane. It branches into several roads that ascend the Mount of Olives and lead to different sacred shrines. On the other side of Olivet is the little village of Bethany, where Jesus loved to visit in the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus (John 11). After his resurrection he led his disciples "out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, as he blessed them he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24. 50, 51). The south road passes Rachel's tomb and enters Bethlehem (Gen. 35. 19, 20), of which it is written, "But thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel" (Micah 5. 2). Bethlehem.-Bethlehem, "The House of Bread," is situated on a ridge six miles from Jerusalem. It contains 8,000 people and is the largest and wealthiest Christian town in southern Palestine. At one end of the town is the Cathedral Square, which is crowded with peddlers, beggars, monks, soldiers, and townspeople. Housewives doing their marketing attract our attention, for over their dresses of dark cotton (usually blue) monasteries, and religious schools. The central building, the most sacred of all, is the Church of Saint Mary. This is Under it are six cham the oldest Christian house of worship. bers, the first and holiest of which is the Chapel of the Nativity, which has a chamber forty feet long. At one end of it is an altar under which a silver star is set into the floor with the inscription, "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary." Other ancient cities.-Hebron, the fourth of the sacred cities of the Jews, is the largest town south of Jerusalem and probably the oldest one in the country. It is mentioned as a city "with the suburbs thereof" (Josh. 21. 11) over fourteen centuries before Christ. In the massive Haram, which incloses the cave of Machpeleh, lie buried Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 23. 2; 25. 9), Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah (Gen. 50. 13). Under the rule of the Turks, non-Moslems were forbidden to visit this sacred place. Hebron is one of the busiest, most modern towns of Palestine, with its glass factories and tanneries and its well-built two-storied houses. Joppa, the port of Jerusalem, was the home of Simon the tanner, in whose house Peter lodged when he had his wonderful vision (Acts 10). It was also the home of Tabitha, or Dorcas, a woman "full of good works and alms deeds" whom Peter raised from the dead (Acts 9). Joppa is famous for its gardens, which extend around it in a belt seven by one and one half miles, and have produced fruit for centuries. In the olden times date palms were grown, but oranges and modern fruits are raised there now by the Germans and Zionist communities and shipped to Europe. At the city of Haifa, farther north, the British have a tenmillion-dollar project for improving the harbor and making that city the port of Palestine and Mesopotamia. This place will then be the sea terminus of the Syrian Desert Railway to Bagdad. A pipe line will carry the Anglo-Persian oil which will be shipped from here to Europe. Haifa is now the terminus of the Palestine Military Railway, which runs from Cairo through Kantara on the Suez Canal to Haifa. It will in the future be the connecting link of the "Cape-to-Cairo-to-Calcutta" project of the British. 1. Name and locate the four sacred cities of the Jews. Tell why each one is considered holy. list of 2. Volunteer group of girls hunt in your Bible and make |