NAZARETH,

The position of Nazareth is peculiar, but it cannot be called either fine or picturesque. High up among the hills that bound the great plain of Esdraelon on the N., is a little valley, 1 m. long from E, to W., and ¼ m. broad; but shooting out narrow irregular branches on every side. It is completely filled with verdant corn-fields, and has a patch of gardens enclosed with hedges of cactus in the centre, and olive-trees sprinkled in clumps, and singly here and there, through it. A line of rounded rocky hill-tops encompasses it; and the white limestone of which they are composed is dotted and streaked with the foliage of fig-trees and wild shrubs, and the verdure of little patches of grain. The hill on the N., side overtops the others, rising to a height of some 400 ft. Its summit is darkened with thyme, and crowned by a white-domed wely. The side of the hill is steep, and its lower part, where it joins the plain, is seamed by 3 or 4 ravines, divided by precipitous ridges of rock. In these ravines, and on the lower declivities of the ridges between them, stands the village of Nazareth. This, therefore, is the hill on which the “city was built.” (Luke iv. 29.) The houses in some places seem to cling to the sides of the precipices, in others they nestle in glens, and in others again they stand boldly out overlooking the valley. The most prominent building is the great Franciscan convent; and a little above it is a mosk with a tall white minaret. The houses are all of stone, and have a clean, neat, and substantial look; but the narrow lanes are unusually filthy. Every one of them seems to be a dunghill; and every hollow place is converted into a cesspool—in fact, after a shower they are in many places impassable, except to such as will wade knee-deep through liquid abomination.

The population of Nazareth is estimated by Dr. Robinson as follows :— Greeks 1040; Greek Catholics 520; Latins 480; Maronites 400; Muslems 680—giving a total of 3120. I think, however, this is too low, and the population may be safely stated at 4000; exclusive of the crowds of strangers that flock to it periodically at the great feasts. The Christians here have a look of sturdy independence that will please the western traveller. It is plain enough that, if not the “lords of the soil,” they are at least at home. They are better dressed, and better fed, and better mannered than any we have yet met—not even excepting Jerusalem. The women are famed, and justly too, for their beauty. If we go out and sit for an hour of an evening by the little fountain, we will see many a face which Raphael might have chosen as a study when about to paint his Madonna della Seggiola ; and many a figure that Phidias might have selected as a model for a Venus. Their style of dress and ornament will also attract attention—the capacious shintiân, the close-fitting jacket, and the long, pointed, white veil; then the curious strings of large silver coins round the head and chin, reminding one of the massive chain of a dragoon’s helmet. The fountain is here the place for gossip and flirtation; and the young damsels of Nazareth, as they gracefully poise the pitcher of water on head or shoulder, are just as ready to give drink to a well-conditioned stranger, or to give ear to a proposal of marriage, as Rebekah was at the fountain in Mesopotamia nearly 4000 years ago.

The whole history of Nazareth clusters round one remarkable event, which is known throughout the Chiristian world as the ANNUNCIATION. Before that event its name was unknown —since that event it has become a household word throughout Christendom, linked in holy alliance with Bethlehem and Jerusalem. From this single event it derives all its traditional glory. Magnificent structures have been built in commemoration of it; and thousands of pilgrimages have been made in honour of it. But, to the simple Christian, Nazareth, the home of the Saviour’s boyhood, the scene of His early labours, His prayers, His domestic relations, His whole private life, possesses a far greater charm, a far more intense interest, than the miraculous event of the Annunciation could have ever given it. In this respect it far surpasses Bethlehem. How often must the Saviour have run in boyhood about these streets! How often must he have accompanied His mother to the fountain! How often. must He have sat with His parents in the quiet evenings on the house-top, as the custom is! How often must He have wandered over those rocky hill-tops, meditating on His Divine mission, and holding sweet communion with the Father! We have no memorials of this period of the Saviour’s life; and even during the 4 years of His public life only 2 recorded incidents occurred “in the city where He had been brought up.” In both these “His own “—His kindred and townsmen—rejected Him. In the first they were so exasperated at His faithful preaching that “they thrust Him out of the city, and led Him unto the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong” . Looking up to those white cliffs that here and there impend over the modern houses, the eye rests on more than one “ brow” that would have answered their wicked designs. From that moment Nazareth was no longer His home; “He came and dwelt in Capernaum,” (Luke iv. 16-31; Matt. iv. 13-16.) His second visit was scarcely less distressing. No violence, it is true, was offered, but the bitter taunts of His people must have pierced His very soul—“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and of Juda and Simon? And are not his sisters with us? And they were offended at him.” (Mark vi. 1-6; Matt. xiii. 54-58.) He “wept over” Jerusalem when its people refused to hear Him, but He seems to have been filled with righteous indignation at the brutal violence and wanton insults of His townsmen.

The subsequent history of Nazareth is not worth recording. One thing is remarkable, and that is, that there was not a Christian inhabitant in it before the time of Constantine, nor a Christian pilgrimage to it till about the 6th centy. In the 7th centy. It contained 2 churches, one built over the fountain, where the Greek ch. now stands ; and the other on the site of Mary’s house, however it had been discovered —now occupied by the Latin convent. Immediately after the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders, Tancred, to whom the province of Galilee had been given, built ach. at Nazareth, and richly endowed it; and the see of Scythopolis was then transferred to this place. In A.D. 1263 the ch. was laid in ruins by Sultan Bibars; and thus it continued for nearly 400 yrs. (till A.D. 1620), when the Franciscans obtained permission from the celebrated Fakhr ed-Dîn to rebuild it, and take possession of the grotto of the Annunciation. It was subsequently enlarged and decorated as we now see it.

The Latin Convent.—After an examination of the natural features of the site of Nazareth, this building has the first claim on the traveller’s attention. It stands on a spur of the hill, which projects some little distance into the green plain. A square of heavy buildings encompassed by a high dead wall is all that meets the eye from without. Beside the great gate are old shafts of red sienite, and just within it a large column of the same material lies prostrate. We first enter an open court roughly paved, in which are school-rooms, a pharmacy, the reception rooms of the superior, &c. This leads to a smaller one immediately in front of the ch. On entering this building we are struck with its solemn look ; and should it be the hour of prayers the chanting of the monks and mellow tones of the organ will carry us away to the far west. The interior is nearly a square of about 70 ft., divided into nave and aisles by 4 massive piers which support the vaulted roof. These piers and the whole of the walls are covered with canvas hangings, painted, in imitation of tapestry, with appropriate Scripture scenes. In front of the door between the 2 first columns is a broad flight of 15 steps leading down to the shrine—a grotto of course. On descending we first reach a kind of vestibule, 25 ft. wide by 10 deep; from this a low arched opening opposite the stairs admits to the sanctum, about the same dimensions as the vestibule. Before us as we enter is a marble altar, and beneath it is a marble slab with a cross in the centre, marking the place where the Virgin stood during the Annunciation. On our 1. is a fragment of a large granite column suspended from the roof, and another fragment of a marble one below it: this column, the monks inform us, was hacked through by the infidels in the vain attempt to pull down the roof, but was miraculously sustained in its place without visible support, and has since remained, and probably will remain for many a day to come, “a suspended miracle.” Behind this column is a curtain covering another column of the same material; from a little nook behind the latter the angel is said to have issued at the time of the Annunciation. The whole sanctum and vestibule are encased in marble, and hung with beautiful silver lamps. Over the altar is a good modern painting of the Annunciation —a gift, I believe, from the Emperor of Austria. To the rt. of the altar a little door opens into the back part of the grotto, which has been left in its natural state, rough and irregular. Here is another altar, back to back with the former, with a fair painting of the “Flight into Egypt.” From this a narrow rock-hewn staircase leads up to the “ Virgin Mary’s Kitchen,” a low rude cave. The fireplace, chimney, and other details are still pointed out.

Such is the Latin “Holy Grotto”’ of Nazareth, where, to use the words inscribed in the marble pavement, VERBUM.CARO FACTUM EST. But the most wonderful part of its wonderful story still remains to be told. Most people have heard of Loretto, the “Nazareth of Italy,” and its Santa Casa, the “Holy House,” in which the Virgin lived, and (as is attested by the same inscription as that at Nazareth) received the angel Gabriel. This house—so says the Rome-attested tradition—once stood over the little vestibule in front of the grotto. But when evil days came, and infidels triumphed over Christian arms and Christian piety, it was conveyed by angels, first to the heights above Fiume in Dalmatia, then to the plain, and finally to the hill, of Loretto. There it now stands the most frequented sanctuary of Christendom, daily thronged with crowds of pilgrims, embracing every rank and class, from the Pope of Rome and King of Naples to the most tattered and squalid of their subjects. It is not necessary, of course, to show here that there is not a shadow of historic testimony for this miracle; indeed we have not the slightest hint in the writings of historian, monk, or pilgrim from the earliest time to the 15th centy. That there ever was a house at all on this spot, much less of its conveyance to Italy in the 13th centy. In the 15th centy. the story first began to be circulated, and it was definitely related and authenticated in a Bull of Leo X. in the year 1518, and has since constituted part and parcel of the Catholic faith. The probable origin of this most incredible of ecclesiastical legends is well stated by Mr. Stanley. “Nazareth was taken by Sultan Khalil in 1291, when he stormed the last refuge of the crusaders in the neighbouring city of Acre. From that time, not Nazareth only, but the whole of Palestine, was closed to the devotions of Europe. The Crusaders were expelled from Asia, and in Europe the spirit of the crusades was extinct. But the natural longing to see the scenes of the events of the Sacred History—the superstitious craving to win for prayer the favour of consecrated localities—did not expire with the crusades. Can we wonder that, under such circumstances, there should have arisen the feeling, the desire, the belief that, if Mahomet could not go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mahomet? The House of Loretto is the petrifaction, so to speak, of the ‘last sigh of the Crusades.’”’

Over the sacred grotto is the choir where the Latin monks have their daily mass. It is raised 8 or 10 ft. above the floor of the church.

From the church the pilgrim will be led through the dirty lanes of the village up to the “workshop of Joseph,” now a chapel in the possession of the Latins. It is a modern building, but a fragment of an old wall is shown in the interior. Above the altar is a very indifferent picture representing Joseph at work, assisted by Jesus. It was presented by a noble lady of Florence, whose name and arms are seen on it. He is next led to the chapel of the Mensa Christi, “The Table of Christ”—a small vaulted chamber with a large table-shaped fragment of solid rock projecting about 3 ft. from. the floor. This, according to the tradition—Traditio continua et nunquam interrupta—which may be seen on the wall in Latin, Italian, and Arabic, is the very table at which our Lord and his disciples frequently ate both before and after His resurrection. Lastly he is taken to the synagogue where Jesus was teaching when He was driven out by the Jews and led to the “brow of the hill” from which they designed to cast him down. It is the property of the Greeks. But the clumsiest tradition of all is that of the “The Mount of Precipitation.”” The monks have located it about 2 m. from the village, overhanging the great plain. How they reconcile this with the words of the sacred narrative it is of course for them to explain—“ And all they in the synagogue rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him to a brow of the hill on which the city was built, so as to cast him down the cliff” (Luke iv. 28, 29). The village stands on the side of a hill, along its lower declivities, and the brow to which Jesus was led is over the site. The exact cliff cannot be identified, but every one can see that there are several whose height and position would answer to the narrative. '

On the eastern side of the village is the “Fountain of the Virgin,” and here the Greeks have their “Church of the Annunciation,” whose authenticity is grounded on a tradition unquestionably of older date than any the Latins can lay claim to. In the Protevangelion we are told that the first salutation of the angel came to Mary when she was drawing water from the fountain. The fountain is here still, bearing her name; and over it stands the Greek church, a low, plain building, the interior tricked out in the usual tasteless finery which characterizes Greek churches.

No traveller should miss the view from the top of the hill behind Nazareth. It is the richest, and perhaps also the most extensive, one gets in all Palestine. It surpasses that from Tabor, for it embraces the picturesque hills and vales on the N. and N.W. A little ruinous wely called Neby Ismaîl marks the most commanding point. The snowy peak of Hermon, the rounded summit of Tabor, the long dark ridge of Carmel, and the white strand of the Mediterranean beyond the plain of ’Akka, are the limits of the panorama. Spread out before us on the S. is the great plain of Esdraelon, that battle-field of nations, which separated the 3 northern tribes from their brethren of the houses of Judah and Joseph on the S., just as the Jordan separated the 24 tribes from them on the E, But what chiefly strikes us here is the great contrast between the hill scenery of this section of Palestine and that of any other we have seen. With the exception of a few rocky summits round Nazareth, the hills are all wooded, and sink down in graceful slopes to broad, winding valleys of the richest green. The outlines are varied, the colours soft, and the whole landscape is characterized by that picturesque luxuriance which one sees in all its perfection in the environs of Florence. The blessings promised by Jacob and Moses to the 3 tribes—Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali—seem to be here inscribed as it were in the features of nature. Zebulun, nestling amid these hills, “offers sacrifices of righteousness” of the abundant flocks nourished by their rich pastures; he “ rejoices in his goings out” along the fertile plain of Esdraelon; “he sucks of the abundance of the seas,” his possessions skirting the bay of Haifa at the base of Carmel, the only natural harbour along the coast of Palestine ; and “he sucks of treasures hid in the sand,” probably in allusion to the glass which was first made from the sands of the river Belus (Deut. Xxxiii. 18, 19). Asher, dwelling amid the hills on the N.W. of Zebulun and on the borders of Phœnicia, “ dips his foot in oil,” the produce of luxuriant olive-groves, such as still distinguish this region; “his bread,” the fruit of the rich plain of Phœnicia and the fertile upland valleys, “is fat;” he “vields royal dainties ’"—oil and wine from his olives and vineyards, and milk and butter from his pastures; and “under his shoes are iron and brass ’’"—the ores which the traveller can still see who explores the southern slopes of Lebanon (Gen. xlix. 20; Deut. xxxili. 24, 25). To Naphtali were allotted the wooded mountains that sink down into the plain of the Hûleh and to the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee, comprising some of the most beautiful scenery, as well as of the most fertile soil, in Palestine. He is “satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord” (Deut. xxxiii. 23).

The name Galilee, which was in Roman times applied to this whole country, appears to have been confined originally to a little “ circle " (the word Galil signifies a “circle ” “circuit ’) round Kadesh (Josh. Rx, Ti 1 Kings i ix. 11), in which were the 20 cities given by Solomon to Hiram King of Tyre for his assistance in conveying cedars from Lebanon for the temple. This “circuit” having been thus colonized by strangers was subsequently called by Isaiah “Galilee of the Gentiles (Is. ix. 1; Matt. iv. 15).

Many interesting ancient sites are visible from this commanding eminence—some of them we have already visited, and others we shall visit hereafter; but the traveller will naturally wish to see their relative positions, and thus to impress the outlines of the country on his memory. An intelligent guide from the city will readily point out to him the following, which I mention in order. Away on the northern slope of Jebel ed-Duhy, on the E, side of the great plain, stand Endor and Nain; a little to the rt. of the hill ed-Duhy is Mount Gilboa; and Zer’în, the ancient Jezreel, looks like a white speck on its western end. Along the mountains that bound the plain on the S. lie Jenîn, Ta’annuk (Taanach), el-Lejjain (Megiddo), and Tell Kaimôn (Camon). Carmel is seen apparently running far out into the sea; the convent on its western brow, and Haifa at its base. Turning northward the most conspicuous village is Sefûrieh, the Sepphoris of Josephus, on a low tell crowned by a ruin, about 3 m. off. A little to the rt. of it away in the distance, beyond the green plain of Buttauf, we can just distinguish Kâna el-Jelîl, Cana of Galilee.