Alleluia; the sweating reaper, betakes him to psalmody; the vine-dresser as he trims the vines with his crooked knife sings some of the songs of David. These are the ballads of this province; these are what are commonly called elsewhere "lovers' songs." Thus St. Jerome. Bethlehem was so highly prized by the holy Paula that she preferred it to Rome, and, as St. Jerome saith in his epistle on the life and death of S. Paula, she exchanged the contemptible glitter of hideous dirt for beaten gold. The great Sophronius, a man of deep learning, composed an elegant book on the praises of Bethlehem, as Jerome tells us in his treatise `Of Illustrious Men.' He likewise translated from Latin into Greek all the works which Jerome had translated from Hebrew into Latin. St. Bernard in his sermon to the Knights Templars greatly praises Bethlehem, the place where the Lord was born.

The place of the Lord's birth was not in the town, but was adjoining the city wall on a slope on the north side of the town, as may be seen at this day. It delights me to talk about this most sweet place, even as it delighted me to dwell therein, and I wish to say what this place was like.

I. Before Christ's coming, in the time of the judges,prophets, and kings of Juda.

II. At the birth of Christ, when Mary bore Christ,therein.

III. After the birth of Christ, when the malice of the Jews raged against the very place itself.

IV. In the time of Helena, who rendered the place illustrious with glory and honour.

V. In the time of St. Jerome, who became famous there for his holiness and miracles.

VI. In the time of the perverted and bad Christians, who desecrated the holy places.

VII. In the time of the Saracens, who have brought it almost to nothing, and reduced it to its present wretched state.

As touching the first question what the place of Christ's birth was like before the Lord's advent, the reader must know that Salmon, the son of Naasson, took to wife Rahab the harlot of Jericho. Now this Salmon was one of the greatest chiefs of the people of Israel, when they crossed over Jordan and took the land by force of arms. He and Rahab his wife owned Bethlehem, and their stronghold and house was there. He built for himself a vast dwelling against the wall, in such sort that his house was not included within the walls of the town, but separately fortified, even as in our own parts the lords of cities have separate dwellings of their own, adjoining the city wall. Now this dwelling was built upon the rock, and there was a hollow in the rock [b] forming a grotto, which was useful as a cellar to put things into which would not bear the heat; and when the heat was very great people used to sleep there, and pregnant women were delivered there, wherefore it was there that Rahab bore Boaz, who after his father's death was made judge over the whole people of Israel and lord of Bethlehem, who took to wife Ruth the Moabitess, who in that cave bore Obed, and Obed's wife bore Jesse therein, and Jesse's wife bore David the king in that same cave. Now, after David was made king, he took the flocks and the household of his father to the house which he had built. for himself in Jerusalem on Mount Sion, and left the house of his birth empty. Yet was Bethlehem called the city of David, because he was born there and anointed king there, as likewise Mount Sion, where he reigned, was called the city of David, and both often occur in Scripture. But after this transfer of the household of David was made less respect was paid to the house at Bethlehem, wherefore the doors and doorways became ruined and broken through by age, and the house became a house of call for merchants, and bread, cloth, and fruit was sold therein; and before the house was an open space where men met to converse, and young men met to dance, and so this house stood for many years as a public shop or place of shops which stood under the vaults, and it was an inn--a shelter for strangers at night. This was the first state of the holy place of the nativity.

The second state of this place was as follows: Because no care was taken of the place to maintain the buildings thereon, at last the vaults were broken and fell in, the bare walls went to ruin, and contained no more shops or merchandise; howbeit, the ruins of the walls still stood there, and upon them a poor and imperfect building was raised, and a hovel, at the end or head of which hovel was the aforesaid grotto. Now this hovel was an inn, to which poor people resorted, and tied up their cattle there, and put there their carts and the other things which they could not find room for in the city. Thus the place remained until the time of Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. When at the proclamation of Caesar Augustus he came from Nazareth to Bethlehem with the pregnant Virgin Mary, he found the city full of people, and all the rooms in the inns taken; and so, not finding any place wherein he could stay, he went out of the city, turned into this inn in which stood cattle and farming-gear, and there made a place for himself. Now when the blessed Virgin Mary's time was come that she should be delivered, she entered into the cave wherein last the first David had been born, and there she bore the second David, Jesus Christ, as hath been told on page 169b, and in that place she dwelt for a time. For what an inn is like see page 195a.

The third state of this most holy place was as follows: When our Lord was born, and after His flight into Egypt, Herod proceeded to the murder of the innocent children, and with great fury searched the inn, seeking therein for the Boy Jesus, because he had heard that the mother to whom the Magi had brought presents had dwelt there. As he did not find the Child [178a] there he destroyed the inn, cast down the walls which had remained standing, and ordered that thenceforth there should be no inn on that spot. So the place remained deserted until after the Lord's ascension. Then, however, the blessed Virgin Mary began to visit the place with her friends, as is told on page 173b; and, in consequence of this, other faithful people came to that holy place and did honour to it. After the assumption of the blessed Virgin, when the faithful were showing their respect for the place, the Jews, enraged at this, laid a ban upon both the place and those who came to it, proclaiming the place to be unclean and accursed, and that everyone who entered into it was defiled and worthy of punishment; moreover, they blocked up the ways leading into the place with stones. The place remained thus shut up even unto the times of Titus and Vespasian, who took Jerusalem by storm, and scattered abroad the Jews throughout the world. After they had been scattered the Christians began to dwell in the Holy Land, and they cleansed the place of the Lord's nativity, and made pilgrimages to it until the time of the emperor Aelius Hadrianus, who made the holy places abominable to the Christians with idols; for he set up a statue of Venus upon the rock of Calvary in the place where Christ died, and placed the image of Jupiter in the cave wherein Christ was .buried, and ordained the cave of the Lord's nativity to be used for wailing for Adonis, so that Adonis, the darling of the most unchaste Venus, was now wailed for in the cave wherein once Christ had cried as a babe and the most chaste Virgin had nursed Him; as we are told by Jerome in his epistle to Paulinus on the ordination of monks. For this wailing for Adonis see Ezekiel viii.14, and Part II. of this book, page 140a, and at greater length on page 179a. So was this holy place rendered strange to Christians--nay, loathsome to them because of idolatry.

The fourth state of this holy place was as follows: The place remained for more than three hundred years given up to the vile service of idols, at the end of which time God raised up the soul of that holy woman Helena, a German, who, after she had become empress and been made a Christian, went to Jerusalem, sought out the holy places, found the cross and the other symbols of our redemption, cleansed the holy places, cast down the idols, and hurried from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where she cleansed the place of the most sweet nativity of the Lord, cast out the abominations of the idols from the holy cave, overthrew all that she found there, and beneath the ruins found the Lord's manger entire. In it she found the stone which the blessed Virgin had placed under the Babe's head, and the hay, the swaddling clothes, Joseph's sandals, and the long gown in which she was delivered, after the fashion of Eastern women, who when they are with child wear long wide gowns like the surplices of priests, and pages carry their mistresses' trains. But if they be poor and have no pages, they gird themselves, and carry the gown hanging down from their girdle. Such a gown had the blessed Virgin Mary, and left it in that place with other things because of the haste with which , she fled, which things were by Divine command preserved uncorrupted even unto the time of St. Helena, who found them.

When she had cleansed the spot, she built above it a church of wondrous .beauty. She called together the best workmen in wood and stone, and [b] told them of her design, which was that an exceeding costly church should be built here, but in such a manner that the rock beneath which the Saviour was born should remain untouched. So the workmen prepared the place for the building of a great church, and placed therein none but chosen pieces of wood and stone, white and polished slabs of marble, exceeding precious columns, and beams of cedar and cypress wood. Besides these things this holy woman gave more, providing gold and silver without fail to the chief workmen, and other metals without measure. She covered all the walls and all the pavement with white or variegated marble, and caused the upper part of the walls to be painted in mosaic work. Thus was built a great and noble church of oblong form, exceeding well arranged, in such sort that the cave of the Lord's nativity remained untouched immediately beneath the choir, beneath the sanctuary. This church is built after the fashion of Roman churches, for it has first of all at the west end a covered porch before the doors of the church, and when one enters a great, long, and wide nave; and beyond this to the eastward a choir, into which one ascends by some steps from the nave, from which choir one goes up into the sanctuary and into the presbytery. From the sanctuary one goes up some steps to the high altar. On either side of the choir are chapels, and on either side of the nave are apses (?transepts). Beneath the choir is the crypt of the Lord's nativity, which is about as long as the choir and beneath the high altar is the hollow stone wherein Christ was born. There are two doors leading into this crypt, whereof one is on the right-hand side leading into the chapel of the Lord's circumcision, and the other leads into the chapel on the left-hand side. The way down into the crypt is by sixteen steps. It has a roof made of lead, and is not vaulted, as; indeed, the chief churches at Rome are not vaulted. It has a round choir full of windows, and a passage on the outside above the windows. The nave has many windows on either side, and the church is bright and light. This is the general arrangement of the church. To come to details, the church measures thirty-seven paces in length, and eighteen in width. It contains four rows of costly columns, which are great and tall, and each one of them is made of a single solid stone, and they are polished with oil, so that a man can see his face in them as in a mirror. So it is also with the slabs of polished marble with which the walls are clothed, which are so clean that a man can see in them everything that is in the church more clearly than he could in a good mirror. Each row of columns has twelve columns, and each column is twelve paces distant from the one next to it, and in all these are seventy exceeding precious columns arranged as the building requires them. Above the capitals of the columns are placed beams of imperishable wood, from which on either side a wall rises up as far as the roof. This wall, from the columns as far as the windows, is not painted, but inlaid,* being adorned with mosaic work with wondrous art on either side, like the church of St. Mark at Venice, with figures from the New Testament, and corresponding figures from the Old Testament, and the whole church in all its walls is either cased with white polished marble, or adorned with mosaic work.

The fifth state of the place of Christ's nativity was as follows: After the times aforementioned the whole of the East was converted to Christ, and the holy places were visited by all the nations of the world. Some devout men and saints sold all that they had, came to the Holy Land with the money, and they bought a dwelling-place there, desiring to finish their lives there. Among them came St. Jerome, from Rome, and chose to live at Bethlehem, near the Lord's manger. He was followed by that most holy widow, Paula, and many others. This has been set forth on page 6a, and page 8a. After this golden age, as the sins of the Christians increased, the Saracens again conquered the land in the time of Benedict the Eighth, in whose reign the great schism arose in the church, and many evil deeds were done, and the Saracens held the holy places for many years by the payment of tribute. Then a second time Christians throughout the world cried out for the holy places, the whole West was united together, and they went into the Holy Land in a great multitude, both by sea and by land, won it back with much labour, and set up a king in Jerusalem. They rebuilt the churches and monasteries, instituting bishops and prelates for the increasing of the service of God, and in a short time they brought all the nations round about into subjection, so that no one stirred a finger against them; for in the meanwhile the Christians had fortified towns and castles, and more especially they had strengthened Jerusalem and Bethlehem against the infidels with walls and towers. In those times holy Bethlehem was full of people-famous, and rich. Christians from every country on earth brought presents thither, and exceeding rich merchants dwelt there. Wherefore at this day there are vaulted colonnades in front of the churches, beneath which the shops of the merchants used to stand, and the clergy and people alike progressed enormously [b] in matters temporal and spiritual alike. Every day pilgrims from all parts of the world flocked thither in great companies, not merely to the end that they might see the holy places and receive indulgences, but that they might see examples of righteousness, and might take home with them amendment of their own lives. More especially at the chief feasts, to wit, the Lord's Nativity and the Resurrection, such a multitude collected together from the uttermost parts of the world that the land could scarce contain them, because of the exceeding devotion wherewith the holy services were performed.

They used to celebrate the Feast of the Lord's Nativity in the following manner: On the eve of the Lord's Nativity the patriarch of Jerusalem came to Bethlehem, together with his bishops, abbots, clergy, and monks. Accompanying them came the King of Jerusalem, with his princes, counts, knights, lords, and nobles, who were followed by a countless multitude of pilgrims, led by the grand master and lords of the Knights Hospitallers, and the common people, both old and young, all hastened to Bethlehem on that day. At midnight the ringing of bells called all the people into the Church of Christ's Nativity, where after morning prayer the Bishop of Bethlehem, with his attendants, all in their sacred vestments, went in procession into the cave of the Nativity, and sang mass in the place of the nativity--`Dominus dixit ad me,' etc. When this service was over they all went out of the church in procession, carrying lighted torches, candles, lamps, and other lights, and went down the valley as far as the Church of `Gloria in Excelsis,' where they held the service `Lux fulgebit cum magno gaudio,' this service being chanted by some one of the great pastors and prelates. After this service they went up again, and chanted the rest of the canonical hours. At this time the patriarch of Jerusalem put on his sacred vestments, and performed the high mass; ' Puer est natus,' etc., in the choir with admirable solemnity. They used to have a great golden star, which some of them lowered down from the roof of the choir into the midst of them. Young men stood above, who sang ' Glory to God in the highest,' and moved the star all the way from the east to the west. Likewise also on the Day of the Circumcision a great solemnity took place at Bethlehem, and likewise on the Day of the Kings all the people assembled thither with presents. On the octave of the Epiphany they used to celebrate the Feast of the Baptism in the Church of St. John the Baptist upon Jordan, and for this all the people and clergy went down to the Jordan. On the Day of the Annunciation they met at Nazareth; on Good Friday and Easter Day in the (Church of the) Lord's Sepulchre; on the Day of the Last Supper on Mount Sion, as likewise on the Day of Pentecost; on the Day of the Lord's .Ascension on the Mount of Olives; on the Day of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary in the Valley of Josaphat. The only wish of the people was to perform divine service with devout solemnity. As long as this singleness of heart and devotion to the holy places endured, they were kept in great honour and beauty [180a], and the Christian people dwelt in peace and quietness. Oh, had anyone then beheld the church of Bethlehem with all its adornments, he would have been astounded at its magnificence!

The sixth state of the place of the Lord's Nativity strikes every faithful Catholic with sorrow. Alas! my kind brethren, in order that I may tell you of this, I am forced to change my style, and must offer to you to drink the cup of bitterness which I myself have mournfully received, filled to the brim with the acerbity of sorrow. While the Christians served God in the Holy Land, they possessed the holy places in peace,, and all nations served Him; but when the service of God was neglected, the opposite of these things came to pass. In the year of our Lord 1186, in the days of Pope Urban III., there was a king in Jerusalem named Guy, who was careless and unlucky, and between him and his princes there arose strife and sedition, so that, as the nobles of the land were quarrelsome and jealous, the priests and clergy became greedy and proud, and the common people incontinent and vicious. Wherefore the Saracens rose against them, and persecuted them even to extermination.

Moreover, a certain Christian committed a sin in the church at Bethlehem, whereat all courage and power of resistance was taken away from the Christians, and they became weaker than women. Of a truth, a horrible infamy is recounted, how that a Christian turned the enclosure of the church at Bethlehem, built in honour of the most glorious Virgin Mary, the mother of chastity, the hall of modesty, the vase of cleanliness, into a house of ill-fame, to the despite of the mother of God. I loathe to speak of this event, but the ruin and piteous contempt into which the place has fallen, and which must be wept for because of this crime, does not allow me to pass it over in silence. There was a Christian in those days who loved a Saracen woman with an unclean love, and earnestly besought her every day to consent to him, whereas she constantly resisted him, and fled from him. One day, when he was annoying the woman more eagerly than usual, she cast in his teeth the name of Christ, and the chastity of the Christian religion, which he made light of, and declared that the crime was not so grave a one as it was thought to be. Now, the woman had marked the virtue of the Christians in many things, and wondered that she should be so solicited. Led by curiosity, she wished to try whether there were any virtue or fear of God in that Christian, and one day she said to him: `Lo! I am overcome by thy importunities, and I consent to thee; but I will not yield to thee save in the church of St. Mary in Bethlehem.' He willingly accepted this condition, and at the appointed hour they met in the church, he and she alone. When the woman saw that he cared nothing for the church, that he should restrain himself therein, she said: 'I will not yield to thee here; let us go into the cave of the birth of thy God; there it is dark and secret.' He straightway went down with the woman, who placed herself upon the Lord's manger, and sate there. As he pressed upon her, she rose up, took her seat upon the stone, which is in the place of the most holy Nativity, and said to the Christian: `Here was thy God born of a virgin; if thou canst lie with me here [b], come.' That desperate and execrable wretch fearlessly went to her, caring nothing for the place. Seeing this, the woman abhorred his wickedness, and indignantly cast away that Christian from her. 'Go,' said she,' most wicked Christian, and know that this wickedness shall by no means pass unpunished.' Saying this, the woman fled, and first entered Bethlehem, where, with cries and tears, she told all men what had befallen, inveighing against the Christians, and urging on the Saracens to avenge her upon them. Hence. forth that woman became a kind of prophetess among the Saracens, preaching to them that there was no more virtue among the Christians, and that they might fearlessly attack them, and drive them out of the country. Hearing this, the Saracens, excited by religious zeal, rose against the Christians, and began to rage furiously against them, conquered them, and in a short time drove all the Latins out of their country. Now, he who did this aforesaid wickedness was one of the greatest and most powerful of the Christians. Oh, had such an evil deed been done in the time of Jerome, what wailings and tears it would have called forth! For in the time of Jerome there was a deacon named Sabinianus and a virgin named Susanna, who, being in love with one another, used to hide their letters either in the cave of the Lord's Nativity, or in the Church of the Shepherds. St. Jerome found them, and anyone who wishes to know what weeping and mourning they caused him should read the objurgatory epistle to Sabinianus, and he will scarce restrain himself from weeping together with the mourner. Thus, then, the Holy Land came into the hands of the infidels and enemies of the Cross of Christ, who hold the same even to this day, and have already held it for two hundred and eighty-seven years; and thus it is evident that as our salvation began in Bethlehem, even so our banishment began there also.

The seventh state of the place of Christ's Nativity is that wherein I, Brother Felix Fabri, beheld it. For when, as aforesaid, the Saracens had triumphed over the Christians, and had driven them out of the land, they first rushed into Jerusalem, into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, desiring to overthrow it; but the Syrians, that is to say the Christians of Syria, redeemed it by giving the Soldan a great sum of gold. After this the Soldan came to Bethlehem, where he broke down the exceeding strong fortalice which had been built there, destroyed the city wall, and turned himself to the Church of the Nativity of the Lord. First he destroyed the monastery which adjoined the church, which was exceeding great and stately, and cast down the walls and towers which the Christians had built with great expense and labour, and left a piteous heap of ruins all round about the church, When he had destroyed the defences he attacked the church, meaning to break it down and destroy it. When they came in they first destroyed the altars, and then broke the carven images; but the Soldan, when he saw the marble slabs wherewith the walls and the floor were adorned, and the exceeding precious columns, gave orders that they should all be pulled down, that he might take them away whither he pleased. O miracle and prodigy, meet to be proclaimed among the faithful! When the workmen came with their tools, and had touched the wall near the door by which one goes into the Lord's cave with their iron crowbars, the Soldan standing by and watching them out of the unbroken solid wall, which it seemed that even, a needle could not pierce, there came forth a serpent of wondrous size, who bent his head back against the wall, and gave a bite to the first marble slab, and split it with.his fiery tongue. [181a] From thence he swiftly crawled to the next slab, and onwards to the third and fourth, and so he went along one side, splitting every slab. He leaped into the chapel of the Three Kings, ran along that highly-polished wall whereon not even a spider could plant its feet, split forty slabs in two, and, disappeared. On beholding this miracle the Soldan was astounded, and all those about him, so that they changed their purpose, left off destroying, and went away. Now the track of the serpent over the. slabs remains even to this day, and is as though someone had held glowing hot iron hard against the stones, and as though the stones themselves had been able to burn like wood. I beheld the traces of, this miracle with great pleasure, and often looked curiously upon them with inward. wonderment.

After this, in. the year 1341, there came Saracens, who were sent by the Soldan, to carry away the precious columns. But, when they laid their hands upon them they were so greatly frightened by some horrible vision that their limbs were palsied, and they could do nothing; wherefore they fled in terror, and never again presumed to lay their hands upon them. After some years had passed another Soldan again gave orders, not, indeed, that the church should be destroyed, but that the slabs of the pavement in the Lord's cave should be taken up. Now the slabs of the pavement of the Lord's manger are exceeding costly, great and wide, not altogether white, but a beauteous colour is mixed with the white, as it is in the skins of calves.*

Not many years passed before some young Saracens, who presumed to lay their sacrilegious hands on these holy stones, were punished. There is a belief among the Saracens that beneath the stone of the Lord's Nativity, and beneath the manger, inestimable treasures lie buried, but that they cannot be found or seen. Some curious and greedy youths climbed into the church by night through the window which is above the altar of the Lord's circumcision, entered the most holy cave, and raised the slabs at the place of the Nativity and those at the manger. What ever they raised fell into pieces in their hands, and when they began to dig such great fear and trembling came upon them that they left their tools, dropped out of the window through which they came, and left their country; nor could anyone find out whither those thieves went. It is said to be true, and, is not doubted among those who dwell near the spot, that no Saracen can carry anything out of the church himself, with his own hands; [b] and if any Saracen presumes to lay his hands upon anything with intent to take it away, he will not go unpunished. But, notwithstanding this, many polished slabs have been torn from the walls by Christian thieves; for the wretched Eastern Christians take away such things as these and sell them to the Saracens, wherefore the Saracens sometimes hire Christian thieves for a price, to steal for them the slabs which they covet. No one can doubt that if the Saracens were able to take away these marble ornaments they would all have been taken away long ago; but God watches over these places for our consolation, and for His own glory, and nevertheless suffers them to come into jeopardy for our sins. During my first pilgrimage the roof of the church, which is of great weight because it is made of lead, was threatening to fall in upon the choir, and was only held up by long beams set up on the pavement of the choir, upon which it rested. Wherefore I then wished that God would raise up King Jehoash, of whom we read in 2 Kings xii. that he forced the priests to repair the breaches of the Temple of the Lord, and I have often sorrowed.deeply, fearing that the church would fall into irretrievable ruin; for had it fallen down it never would have been rebuilt; for thus are the Saracens charged by Mohamet in his Alcoran, that they suffer not the Christians to build new churches, nor to repair their old ones. So for many years the Soldan refused permission to the Christians to repair the breaches of that church; howbeit, at length being overcome by the constant entreaties of the Minorite brethren of Mount Sion, he relaxed his strictness, and allowed the breaches to be repaired. Wherefore the brethren took measures to have all the wood needful for these repairs got ready at Venice by workmen who had been given the measurements of the church, and for having it brought in galleys by sea to Joppa, and carried from Joppa to Bethlehem upon camels, and thus the whole of the roof of the church has been restored by Venetian workmen, and all defects in the wood and in the lead have been made good with great labour and expense; for they took away from the roof the old wood, which was cedar and cypress from Mount Lebanon, and put in new pine-wood from our mountains. Indeed, Solomon, when building the temple at Jerusalem, received cedar-wood from Lebanon, which the King of Tyre sent him over sea in ships to Joppa, and he himself brought it from Joppa to Jerusalem, as we read in 2 Chron. ii., and Joshua iii. 2. Likewise St. Helena caused beams of cedar to be sent to her over sea by ships to Joppa, and there to be landed and brought to Bethlehem. This was then easy, and could be managed in a few days; but now it is most difficult for Christians to take timber from Lebanon, because the infidels now possess those countries, and even if they were to allow us to take it, they would burden it with excessive customs, duties, and other exactions, wherefore it is easier to take wood from our Alps for the repair (182a) of the churches of Christ than from the mountains which border on the Holy Land. I believe that in Lebanon itself there is no more cedar timber, even as on Mount Sion there is no more of the cypress wood, whereof Solomon saith in the Book of Wisdom: `I was exalted as a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress on Mount Sion."*

This church at Bethlehem is in its upper part profaned and desecrated, nor has it one single lamp in its upper part, neither in the choir nor in the nave nor in the chapels, but it stands like a barn [b] without hay, an apothecary's shop without pots of drugs, or a library without books; the precious pictures are dropping from the walls, and there is no one to restore them. Yet we are thankful that the body of the church is still standing. Now, the church Is divided among Christians according to the division of their rites, as hath been aforesaid touching the church of Golgotha, on page 133a, and the church of the blessed Virgin, page 144b. The Greeks, have the choir; the Latins have the cave of the Lord's Nativity; the Armenians have the altar at the place where the three kings made their offerings. Nothing in that church is consecrated or illumined with lamps; save the cave of the Lord's Nativity. Whenever I have been at Bethlehem I have performed divine service in this cave as follows: First, I have performed the canonical hours according to the rule of our breviary, after which, in the second place, I began to say the hours of the Lord's Nativity, and the three masses which are said on the Day of the Lord's Nativity on three consecutive days. In the cave I said, the first mass one day at midnight, `Dominus, dixit ad me,' etc.; on the second day, 'Lux fulgebit in Aurora,' etc.; and, on the following day the third, `In clara luce puer natus est.' For God allowed me to remain so long a time in that place that I was able to perform the aforesaid services. May I be thankful to God therefor.

When we had finished our visit to Bethlehem, we mounted our asses, and departed thence. When we were come to the side of the town, lo! a dead woman, was being carried out for burial, and all the Saracens, both men and women, attended her with wondrous and horrible cries and howls, and held their hands closed and clasped together above their heads. When our guides saw them, they understood what it was, and suddenly with shouts and threats drove us aside out of the road, lest it should come to pass that we and the mourners should meet together, for we were marked with the sign of the cross, and had we come against them wearing our crosses, the devil would have stirred up a dreadful quarrel, for without doubt they would have risen against us, and driven us away from them with stones, out of respect for the dead woman. For they think that their dead are especially angry with us, and that our wandering about the Holy Land causes them to be punished in the world to come. They would willingly suffer us to dwell among them were it not that they say that their dead cannot abide us. So we entered into Jerusalem to rest, as I have said on page 176b.

On the seventeenth day, which is that of St. Alexius the Confessor, on the evening before, when we had come from Bethlehem, we were all called to the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. So we made haste, and came down to the church, where we found many Saracens also, and merchants, but we could find nothing eatable for sale, as we had done before; and at this we were vexed, because we were tired with our journey, and had had but little time for rest, and had come down thither faster than we should otherwise have done, in the hope that we should find food in the courtyard, which we could eat in the church, but no one offered it. I know not how it came to pass, or who managed, that the Saracen lords, guardians of the church, should have proclaimed throughout the city that no one was to bring food for the pilgrims. I thought in my heart that perhaps this had been done at the instance of the venerable Father Guardian to check the unseemly behaviour of the pilgrims, some of whom would sit all night eating and drinking in the church, like those Corinthians whom the Apostle (I Cor. ii.) praises in all things, save in that each of them presumed to eat his own supper in church, and there was a difference among them, for one was hungry and another was drunken. Even so was it among the pilgrims, some of whom stuffed themselves with food, while others fasted; and so it was a virtuous precaution that no food should be forthcoming.

When we were all collected together, the Moorish lords opened the doors of the holy church, and let us go in after the fashion which is told on page 108a. There entered with us likewise the brethren of Mount Sion, among whom there entered with us that eminent man, John of Prussia, of whom I have spoken before, who is the procurator of the brethren of Mount Sion, and who is a secular in position, but a regular (monk) in habit and life, for he of his own choice makes use of the habit of the third order of St. Francis--albeit, he hath not taken the vow to obey its rule. This man is of noble birth, of a family of the rank of count, and is a German of the country of Prussia. He is of tall stature, with along beard, and of a seemly presence, with venerable gray hair. He is exceeding wise, and of great experience, of quiet habits, conscientious, and Godfearing. I give this good man this praise not from hearsay, but from certain knowledge. He hath the authority of our lord the Pope, and our lord the Emperor, and the favour of the kings and princes of Christendom, for creating and dubbing knights all noble pilgrims who come to the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord [b]. He is, moreover, known to the lord Soldan, who treats him with high respect. He is also respected by Naylon, who is the governor of the city of Jerusalem, and Sabathytanco and Elphahallo the Calini and dragomans all know and reverence him; wherefore to him the lords of the land have granted leave to set the holy places in order with drystone walls and the like, save that he does not dare to build walls (with mortar). This man has gained leave to have the ruins of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and of the church in Bethlehem, repaired, and he has such authority in Jerusalem that even the Saracens and Jews fear him, and children hide themselves from him. And I declare of a truth that there are two men in Jerusalem, aged and stricken in years, who are of exceeding use both to the holy places and to the pilgrims, and I cannot conceive how pilgrims will manage in Jerusalem after their death. I should be very sorry to be a pilgrim in Jerusalem if they were not there. One of these men is the aforesaid Brother John. The other is Elphahallo, a Saracen, the lesser Calinus, a good man, of whom I shall speak in his place.

Now, when the procession had been formed and had been completed, and brought to an end in the manner which is told on page 110a, the aforesaid Brother John, at one hour before midnight, called together to him all the noble pilgrims who wished to receive knighthood into the church of Golgotha--that is to say, into the choir where is the middle of the world, as is told on page 117a, and, having ranged the counts, barons, and nobles before him; began. to tell them of the laws of this knighthood. In the first place he forbade that anyone should presume to come to receive this knighthood unless he be proved to be noble by four descents of sufficient substance, just, of good report, and not disgraced by any infamous, misdemeanour. He declared that should any unfit person present himself before him and be dubbed a knight, that such dubbing would be invalid, and that such a man ought not in any wise to be counted as a knight, but as a mocker and insulter and scorner of nobility. Finally, he charged them that they should draw near to receive their knighthood in the fear of God and with reverence; that they should in all things obey the Pope and the Emperor, by whose authority this honour was conferred upon them; that they should defend the Catholic Church, and maintain its rights; that they should protect and fight on behalf of bishops, monks, all religious persons and ecclesiastics, their lands and their goods; that they should rule the common-wealth peaceably, that they should deal justly with orphans, widows, strangers, and the poor; and that they should console all faithful people in distress by affording them help when called upon. Furthermore, he forbade them to make any treaties whatsoever with the infidels, but charged them to drive them as far away from Christendom as possible, and, above all, to labour with all their strength to the end that the Holy Land and the most. Holy Sepulchre might be torn from the hands of the infidels; and that they should urge upon all kings, princes, dukes, counts, marquises, and other men of the sword, to come as soon as they were able to succour the Holy Land, and that they should stir up the minds of all men to help it, and should make it their business with all diligence to set forth to the faithful the piteous captivity of the Sepulchre, and that they themselves should hold themselves in readiness at all hours to set out to fight for the Holy Land.

[184a] After the brother had said all this and much more, he entered into the little cabin of the Lord's monument, and all the nobles followed him, standing before the door of the monument. He had the names of all the nobles who wished to receive knighthood written down according to their rank, and it was in this order that he conferred knighthood upon them.

First, therefore, he called to him the noble Lord John, Count of Solms, into the inner cave of the Lord's monument, wherein is the most holy tomb, and girded the sword of knighthood upon his thigh, tied the spurs of knighthood on his feet, and bade him bow himself down upon his bended knees before the Lord's tomb in such sort that his knees rested upon the pavement, and his breast and arms lay upon the lid of the tomb. He being thus kneeling, the aforesaid Brother John took from its sheath the sword wherewith the count was girded, and with the blade thereof smote him thrice upon the shoulders in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. After this had been done he raised up the count, loosed the sword and the spurs from him, kissed him, and respectfully said: `May it be for thy good,' He being thus made a knight, the brother called a noble baron, my Lord John Werner of Zimmern, and gave the sword and the spurs to the count, that he might dub the baron knight, which he did. After this there entered my Lord Heinrich, Baron of Stoffel, whom the Baron John of Zimmern dubbed knight. By the former my Lord John the Truchsess was dubbed knight, and he dubbed knight my Lord Ursus of Hohenrechberg, who came in after him. When these had all received knighthood and had left the place the other nobles also received their knighthood in turn according.to their rank. In my first pilgrimage Brother John dubbed all the nobles knights with his own hand, because there were none who were above the rest in rank as nobles, but all were equal. He did this because one equal doth not dub his coequal a knight, even as one equal hath no right or lordship over his coequal. But when princes, marquises, counts, barons and nobles come thither, then John first dubs the chief man among them himself, and afterwards he dubs him that cometh next, and so on down to the lowest in rank of the nobles, who beg to be dubbed by those lords whose squires they are, or to whose service they especially belong. If, however, there be any devout men who receive knighthood out of piety, and yet do not wish to bear its ensigns in their own country, such men are not dubbed by princes or by the rest of fellows, but they offer themselves to Brother John. So at that hour all the nobles were made knights, and every one of them as he received knighthood made some considerable offering to Brother John, each man, according to his means, giving some ten ducats, some eight, some six, and some five for the repair of the holy sepulchre and the church, and the honour of the holy places, and the maintenance of the brethren who watch over the holy sepulchre, and the keeping alight of the lamps, and for other purposes for which the aforesaid Brother John knows it to be needful.

From ancient times the high spirit of noblemen hath not remained content with the provinces bequeathed by their parents and ancestors, but hath been commonly wont to busy itself in raising up fresh titles to grace their name. Ancient historians tell us how Hannibal, the noblest of the Africans, came from Carthage into the land of Italy, and how by the might of his own, valour he brought Rome and many provinces under his own dominion. So also Perseus Tacius (sic); the father of the nobility of Greece, flew across the sea on a winged horse, entered Persia, and conquered it. So also Alexander, who was powerful by his wealth and great by his noble birth; passed through the countries of the world and brought them all into subjection to himself, and even then did not rest content, but meditated extending the bounds of his empire beyond this world; and so we read of many others who have not been contented with their own countries, and have gone forth to do great deeds. Such men as these stay not for rest, and give up no time to sleep, but toil in unceasing struggles and mighty labours. Howbeit, to take examples from the noblemen of modern times, let us behold the glorious army of our pilgrim nobles now graced with the order of knighthood, who, indeed, in their own cities, towns, hamlets, castles, villages, and estates, might have overflowed with riches, lived in luxury, quietly enjoyed their fiefs, and taken part in merry games, been spectators of theatrical shows, engaged in bold encounters, tiltings and tourneyings, in hunting and dancing, or dwelt in peaceful devotion to Ceres, Bacchus, and Venus. But they held it to be but vain to follow indolence, and to be vicious to devote their minds to the aforesaid pursuits; wherefore, obeying their reason, they with eager desire raised themselves to the highest rank of knightly service, and that not of any common knighthood, but of the most noble and excellent which can be obtained in this world--that is, the Knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the best and noblest of all knighthood. This can be proved by many arguments, which are now given.

Firstly, because this knighthood is more holy, seeing that it is received when in the act of a righteous service, for it is received on the bended knees in the act of revering the holy sepulchre, and there is no nobleman who says that he came to Jerusalem chiefly on account of knighthood, but chiefly on account of his veneration for the places wherein our redemption was wrought-an act which pertains to the service of God, an act of holy virtue. Indeed, they say, and I have often heard it said by knights, that if the holy places were not in Jerusalem they never would cross the seas--no, not if they could obtain a thousand knighthoods there; but it is the holy places which move them to journey thither, wherefore this knighthood is more holy than any others.

Secondly, this knighthood is the most holy, because it is conferred in the most holy place in all the world, in this spot where our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Thirdly, this knighthood is the most spiritual of all, because it is only conferred upon those who are of a contrite heart, who have confessed their sins, and have been strengthened by the sacrament of the Eucharist in a spiritual place by a spiritual person and humble friar.

Fourthly, it is the most virtuous of all, because this knighthood is not alloyed with any vices. For other knighthoods have jealousy, anger, envy, pride, and many other vices connected with them, but this is in itself altogether virtuous.

Fifthly, this knighthood is the most becoming of all. For of a truth it is most becoming that a Christian, desiring to become a knight, should receive knighthood on that field whereon his King overcame His most powerful. enemy. By `Our King' I mean Christ, and by `field' the place Golgotha, whereon he laid low the devil.

Sixthly, this Knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre is purer and cleaner and more innocent than any other, for it is not defiled with any human blood, like other orders of knighthoods.which as a rule are exceeding unclean; being given whenever a great shedding of human blood is at hand. And, which is worse than all these, men gain knighthood by the shedding of human Christian blood, the blood of their brethren. Oh, accursed is that knighthood, and displeasing to God! David, the holy king, was not suffered to build the Temple of the Lord, because he was a man of war, and had shed much human blood, as we read in I Chron. xxii.8. Yet it is to be noted, that he only shed the blood of the uncircumcised and infidels, and he shed their blood at the command of the Lord God. If, then, the blood of idolaters could make that holy man unclean, so that he could not build a temple, what will the most noble blood of faithful Christians do?--how great uncleanness will it cause in him who sheds it! Doth it not render a knight defiled and unclean? Our innocent knighthood of Jerusalem is not thus stained with Christian blood, but rather purifies the knight, that Christian.blood may be defended (by him); for they receive knighthood in the place where the most innocent blood of Christ was shed for all men. Wherefore they abhor the shedding of any human blood, unless they be forced to shed guilty blood in defence of the blood of Christ.

Seventhly, this knighthood is the most reasonable of all, for reason dictates that there should be some among the Christian people to defend the Faith with their swords, to check iniquity with arms, and to compel the froward to come in by force. This is the duty of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, as hath been set forth already; and no mention is made of these duties when men receive knighthood in other places.

Eighthly, this knighthood is the most kindly of all, for men are not created knights at Jerusalem to anyone's hurt. Other knights are created to fight their enemies; and to work another's hurt in divers ways.

Ninthly, this knighthood is, the most toilsome of all. For who can describe the labours of a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, which he undergoes not in order to win his knighthood, but for the honour of God and the salvation of his soul?

Tenthly, this knighthood is the most dangerous of all, for toil without danger is but little valued, but a little toil with much labour is thought to be a great thing. Now, both of these are to be found in our knighthood, both great toil and great danger, as the whole story of my wanderings proves.

Eleventhly, this knighthood of ours is the most painful of all, for it is gained [b] through many miseries and much tribulation, even though the pilgrim hath his purse full of money.

Twelfthly, this knighthood of Jerusalem is wiser, because of the various experiences which a man undergoeth therein. A nobleman who sets out for Jerusalem gains much experience about the way of the world at sea and on either side of the sea, about the customs of men and their differences; for he receives knowledge both of the faithful and of infidels, because he sees and dwells with Christians, Turks, Saracens, Mamelukes, Tartars, Arabs, Jews, Samaritans, Moors, Greeks, Nubians, Jacobites, Abyssinians or Indians, Georgians, Armenians, Hungarians, Dalmatians, Pannonians, Achaeans, Italians, Gauls, Angles, Teutons, and, in short, he gains knowledge about men of all lands, both Eastern and Western, if he be a man of reflection. Moreover, he who would gain this noble knighthood learns by experience who is a friend and who is an enemy; he learns to distinguish between liars and honest men; he finds out the difference between what is well and what is ill; and discovers what is meant by good fortune and bad fortune, by virtue and vice; and how great the difference is between a good and a bad man. He likewise receives an experience worth more than all the aforesaid, in that while on this pilgrimage a man begins to know himself intimately, and to understand his own wisdom and folly, his various passions and desires, his likes and dislikes, his virtues and vices. I say of a truth, that in forty weeks of this pilgrimage a man learns to know himself better than in forty years elsewhere. I confess that I never saw my own shortcomings and vices better or more clearly than during these my wanderings, more especially when at sea in the galley, or in the desert in a tent, for in these places no part of a man's character remains concealed. I am sure that my comrades and my: noble lords know me and all my habits better than the brethren of my order, with whom I have dwelt for thirty, years, and that I know those knights better than their, wives; their parents, their sons, or their servants do. For in these hardships and adventures of pilgrims no one can keep to himself, but all his secret thoughts are shown in deeds in their turn, for there is continual action to call them forth. Other knights; such as are dubbed in the courts of kings, or on the bridge of Tiber, or on the battlefield, receive few experiences.

Thirteenthly, our knighthood is more worthy than others, because Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are given the first place by all men, both spiritual and temporal. .

Fourteenthly, it is of greater power and greater authority than others, because it is conferred by the authority of our most holy father the Pope, and our most serene lord the Emperor, whereas other men are sometimes created knights in defiance of the Pope, and in defiance of the Emperor, or apart from them, and without their sanction and knowledge; wherefore they are of no authority.

Fifteenthly, our knighthood is more noble than any other, and ennobles other knighthoods, whereas the converse is not true. I have seen many who had been made knights by the Emperor, and on the battlefield, and who nevertheless did not care to bear the ensigns of their knighthood until [186a] they were dubbed knights in the holy sepulchre. I know one nobleman; whom the Emperor dubbed a knight at one battle, and the King of Hungary at another, and the King of Bohemia at a third, who nevertheless always gave himself out as a simple nobleman, until he was dubbed knight for the fourth time, in the Lord's sepulchre, after which he came home, and, displayed the ensigns of knighthood, and is at this day a magnificent knight, who rides with many followers.

Sixteenthly, our knighthood is the most admirable of all, for all men feel some sort of admiration for a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, because he hath received his knighthood in the midst of infidel Saracens, and in the Lord's sepulchre.

Seventeenthly, this knighthood is the most worshipful, for Knights of the Holy Sepulchre have precedence of all others in walking, standing, sitting, speaking, washing of, hands, eating, and so forth.

Eighteenthly, our knighthood is the most distinguished, of all, for whensoever a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre begins to speak of his knighthood, of the place thereof, and of the adventures which befell him, all men fix their eyes upon him, and with open mouths listen to what he saith.

Nineteenthly, our knighthood is.the most acceptable of all, for Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are acceptable both to nobles and commons, whereas they care but little for other knights--nay, abhor them for cruel, savage, and terrible men.

Twentiethly, our knighthood is the most manly of all, for it is a small thing to have once broken through the line of the enemy, or to have looked the foe in the face, but it is much to have frequently been in deadly peril, as is the case in our knighthood.

Twenty-firstly, this knighthood is more active than any other, because it needs a man of valour all round.

Twenty-secondly, our knighthood is more righteous than any other, for all other knighthoods have certain injustices and wickednesses connected with them, whereas this is founded upon justice, both human and Divine, and is regulated by laws made by the Emperor and the Pope. .

Twenty-thirdly, our knighthood is more approved and established than any other, for it frequently happens that those who are made knights in one place are not recognised as knights by others, but are laughed at, and called lady-knights, and pussy-cat knights; and in war neither party recognises as knights those who have been dubbed by the other side to fight against it. Now, there is nothing of all this in our knighthood, but all are recognised as knights.

Twenty-fourthly, our knighthood is the most ancient of all, for ever since the Passion of Christ those who have crossed the seas out of devotion to the holy places have been held to be knights.

Twenty-fifthly, this knighthood is more to be desired than any other, which is proved. by the fact that those who have been dubbed knights elsewhere do not remain content therewith, but covet our knighthood in addition to that which they have received. Moreover, a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre glows with so warm a love thereto that he longs to return to the place where he received his knighthood; indeed, those who have been in the Holy Land usually wish to return thither, nor can any perils restrain them. This is not so in other orders of knighthood.

Twenty-sixthly, our knighthood is the most strict in its rules, for the ancient rule of this knighthood was, that no one should receive it unless he were noble by four descents, and illustrious in all his family [b]. Howbeit, this rule is not strictly observed at the present day, but base-born men are dubbed knights as well as nobles, even as in other orders of knighthood.

Twenty-seventhly, our knighthood is the most humble and long-suffering of all. Other knights do not deign to consort with plain men who are not of noble birth, and grudge any good fortune which befalls their inferiors. Not so the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, who despise no man, suffer all men to travel in their company, and reject none; for they sail across the sea to Jerusalem in company with monks, priests, merchants, mechanics, and poor beggars--nay, they even cross in company with women, both young and old; with Beguines and nuns, and heed not the foolish sneers of their detractors, who say that the Knighthood of the Holy Sepulchre is womanish, because of the old women in whose company it is gained. They are not ashamed of the society of these old women--nay, they delight therein, and take credit to themselves for receiving their temporal knighthood in the place where nuns, Beguines, and old women, monks and priests, and all manner of devout persons seek for help in their spiritual warfare, and for increase of the grace of God.

Twenty-eighthly, our knighthood is the hardest of all, for at the courts of kings' and princes and on battle-fields knighthood is conferred with somewhat of triumph and rejoicing, and brings with it sundry advantages, whereas this is all grave and penitential, bearing with it no joys or advantages, but much tribulation.

Twenty-ninthly, this knighthood demands greater courage than any other, for he who boldly crosses the sea risks his life more than he who goes to the wars, for this latter goes protected by armour, and can guard himself against dangers, and in the last resort can flee and seek shelter, whereas the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre has no help of this sort against the dangers which beset him both by sea and by land; for when among the infidels he must bear himself as though he had no feelings, and make no return to those who strike him, so that he might truly say, as it is written in the Book of Proverbs, xxiii. 35, `They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not.' See page 77b.

Thirtiethly, this knighthood is more distant than any other, being given in the middle of the world; and those knights who go to St. Catharine's touch the three principal parts of the world--Europe, whence they go forth; Asia, which they pass through; and Africa, which they touch in the parts about Alexandria. Other knights stay near home for their service.

Thirty-firstly, our knighthood is the most equal and uniform, for other knights, even when dubbed in the same war, boast themselves, and one exalts himself before another, and some are preferred before others by men as being better knights, and having deserved the honour of knighthood better than they, and ofttimes in kings' courts they quarrel terribly with one another about these matters; now our knighthood of Jerusalem is free from all these squabbles and ignoble boastings, because all earn it by the same means, and a nobleman who is created a knight is no less a knight than is a king who is dubbed there.

Thirty-secondly, this knighthood of ours is universal, in that all noblemen are dubbed there, whether they be from the East or the West, old or young.

Thirty-thirdly, this knighthood of ours is the least perilous to the soul, seeing that all that is done at, Jerusalem is righteous and sacred, which is far. from being the case with others.

Thirty-fourthly, it is honourable to all men, for these, knights are honoured by the Emperor, by kings, princes, counts, and barons, and likewise by the Pope, by cardinals, bishops, and all the clergy and religious, by the. common people, by old and young alike.

Thirty-fifthly, our knighthood is of higher price than the others, seeing that it is gained for a greater price, and with much expense, especially if the knight makes the pilgrimage to St. Catharine's. And although in other knighthoods more money may be spent, yet it is spent in vain, or in worldly pomps and vanities, or in extravagance, none of which finds any place in our knighthood.

Thirty-sixthly, our knighthood is better disciplined than any other, for we commonly see that Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are more modest and orderly, more serious and better bred than knights made in the wars.

Thirty-seventhly, our knighthood is the most fruitful in many ways and fashions, for in our knighthood a knight even though without books studies many of the things done in both the Old and the New Testament while he is being taken round the holy places. Hence it comes to pass that these knights as a general rule speak more often, more distinctly, and with greater knowledge, about the histories to be found in the Bible, about the Lord's Passion, and so forth, than many priests. This is set forth on page 9a. A knight in the Holy Land is made wise by many experiences, as is set forth in the twenty-seventh article; moreover, he is rendered contrite there, he confesses his sins, and receives indulgences in abundance, from all of which much fruit results in all things.

Thirty-eighthly, our knighthood is the most faithful of all, because as a rule Knights of the Holy Sepulchre are exceeding steadfast, and good catholics, for they see with their eyes that our faith is more reasonable and more righteous than that of any others, whereas in other orders of knighthood no heed is taken of this aforesaid faith.

Thirty-ninthly, it is clear from all that hath been said that our knighthood is more deserving of eternal life than any other, whereas other knights not only do not earn this life, but render themselves unfit for it, since as a rule sinful acts are needed to obtain their knighthood.

Fortiethly, and lastly, our knighthood of Jerusalem is a happy knighthood, for a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre is, indeed, happy while on a pilgrimage, because, should he die on the way, he flies to heaven straightway, and does not enter purgatory. On this point see St. Thomas Aquinas, in Qu. v., Qu. vii., 7. ar. 2. Moreover, like as he is happy who beholds God in the heavenly Jerusalem which is above, so also in his own way he is happy who imitates the mysteries of heaven in the Jerusalem upon earth. And as he is happy who beholdeth Christ in glory, and the most blessed Virgin Mary, the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, even so he is happy who retraces and kisses the footsteps of Christ and the blessed Virgin, of the prophets and the apostles. Furthermore, as he is happy who hath a sure and certain hope of happiness, even so he who beholdeth the earthly Jerusalem is happy, for it is written that they who for the glory of God have visited and beheld the holy city of Jerusalem shall certainly and without doubt enter the heavenly Jerusalem, and shall there behold in His majesty the King whom they have sought in the manger, on the cross, and in the sepulchre in the Jerusalem upon earth. What the. truth of this saying may be: I know, not; nevertheless I. hope. By all these arguments the pre-eminence of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre above all other is proved. St. Bernard wrote a long sermon addressed to these knights of Jerusalem, wherein he describes their knightly life and conversation, and reprobates the vices of carnal knights in the fourth chapter thereof.

Midnight was now past, and as the business of the knights was over we began to say masses in the four places mentioned on page 110 under article vi. On that morning I had the place of the Lord's anointing, and at mass I kept the paper with the names of my dear ones lying before me, and performed the mass itself on their behalf. When day broke we sang high mass in the sepulchre of the Lord's resurrection, as will be seen below, page 180b (sic), and so ended this service.

Now, when everything was finished, and we were waiting for the Moorish lords to let us out, lo! of a sudden strife and quarrelling arose among the newly-made knights, and a serious riot, caused by one of the pilgrims having thrust himself in and been dubbed a knight, albeit he was for many reasons unfit; indeed, he was a good and merry comrade, but of too low estate to bear the dignity of knighthood. The pilgrim knights, counts, and barons reproved this man for his over-boldness, while other knights his comrades defended him, and so they stood wrangling with one another in the holy church. Howbeit, when the cause was explained to Brother John, who has been mentioned on page 183b, he summoned all the knights into the church of Golgotha before the high altar, and adjured him on whose account the strife had arisen, and all his companions, in the name of God, that they should tell him the rank and position of that man. After he had heard them the aforesaid Brother John pronounced that he was in no wise a knight, nor to be held as such. So this matter was [188a] settled and ended peaceably, and that good fellow was stripped of his knighthood. Now, straightway while we were still speaking of this matter the Moors came and turned us out of the church, and we went to our own quarters to eat and rest. On this occasion I did not go up to Mount Sion with the brethren, but was begged by the newly-made knights my lords to stay with them that day in the hospital and preach a sermon to them in praise of the holy knighthood, which I did in manner following, albeit in the vulgar German tongue, seeing that they were laymen and ignorant of Latin.

Devout zeal and love towards Almighty God hath stirred you up, my most worthy knights, so that, like the great-hearted gentlemen that you are, you have been attracted towards your Redeemer's grave, and made to think it a pleasant thing that you should hazard the loss of your own possessions by leaving the country of your birth to seek these foreign and holy lands. Herein you have been moved by your pious intention of worshipping and kissing these most holy places, of receiving indulgences, and taking upon yourselves the sacrament of knighthood; to the end that in that holy service you may faithfully fight until death against the enemies of the faith, the contemners of the cross, and the foes of the church of God. Wherefore, I pray and beseech you, abide steadfast in this your pious intention, and whereas you have brought your souls into divers perils to the end that you might obtain this knighthood, now manfully devote them to carrying it out, strive with your whole strength to fulfil all those promises which you made when you undertook to be knights, and day by day renew this spirit within your minds, that you may ever be clothed with the new man, who is created according to God's will, and be protected by the whole armour of God, whereby you may stand fast against the wiles of the devil. Let your hearts, pray you, be kindled like fires with zeal for those things which are of God, more especially to succour the necessities of the Lord's sepulchre and of this Holy Land; let your affections be inflamed by the heat of pious thoughts, and fight the battle of the Lord with the hope of succour from on high. Let every one of you gird his mighty sword upon his thigh to avenge the wrongs offered to God. Lo! your eyes behold at the present time how the goodly heritage of our Saviour, alas! hath fallen among strangers, and how the most holy place where the Virgin mother bore the King of Heaven, the place stained with our Redeemer's most precious blood, the place which hath been honoured by the laying therein of the foundation of the Lord's sepulchre, and the place which Christ, risen from the dead, hath in manifold ways rendered famous by the glory of His resurrection, hath been brought under the sway of strange peoples. Unless his breast were of iron or his heart of adamant, who is there whose bowels would not yearn for this land? Who would not be roused from the bottom of his heart? Who would not be kindled into wrath and be inspired to courage, that he might wreak the vengeance which is due? God forbid that a soldier of the holy sepulchre should leave his arms for the rust to eat. God forbid that he should grudge his life to the victory, seeing that the victors cannot fail of winning the crown of glory; for look you how safely and how blessedly the soldiers of Christ fight the battles of their Lord and of His bride, the Church, when they take arms against the infidels, seeing that they need not either fear to sin in slaying the enemy, or to suffer peril by their own death, since death ought both to be given and taken for Christ's sake. Such a knight, I say, both slays his foe without sin, and dies with certain hope, because he gains a grave for himself when he dies, and for Christ when he slays, nor is he a homicide, but, if I may so speak, a malicide when he slays an evildoer, and is held to be a defender and vindicator of Christendom. A Christian rightfully glories in the death of a pagan, because Christ is glorified therein. Wherefore rouse yourselves, most valiant knights, and rise up to avenge the insults offered to our God and the shame of the people of Christendom, even as did those most doughty Maccabees of old, and make it your aim to slay or put to flight the infidels, and bring back the heritage of the Lord into Christendom. Every man avenges wrongs done to his own vassals, and shall he not avenge such foul wrong as these when done to his God? No one suffers the hands of trespassers to be laid upon the heritage of his own family, and shall he patiently suffer the heritage of the Lord to be held for so long a time by strangers? Let not those who worship the cross overlook outrages offered to Him crucified, which they would rightly resent if offered to a man. Let the contempt cast upon your Redeemer stir up your minds and souls; let zeal for His faith kindle your hearts, and God forbid that fear should hold you back from this glorious fight wherein victory and a crown of everlasting glory is always to be won. Here ended the, sermon. After I had finished the sermon the knights thanked me very warmly, and declared that they were as willing as possible to recover the Holy Land, provided that the kings, princes, and leaders of Christendom would go before them burning with the same zeal, seeing that unless they bestirred themselves no one could make any useful movement in the matter, because so great a thing could only be done by all the peoples of the West together; even as when in the year of our Lord 802 the Emperor Charles the Great, at the invitation of Zacharias, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and of the Emperor of Constantinople, marched into the East with all the people of the West, and rescued the Holy City and all the land from the hands of the infidel Saracens. When they were lost a second time, and reoccupied by the Saracens, the Christians were cast out and exiled from the Holy Land for more than two hundred years; after which arose the never wearied and most glorious Duke of Lorraine, Godfrey of Bouillon, in the year of our Lord 1099, who collected together chosen. warriors from all the West, fearlessly crossed both sea and land, and after great slaughter of the infidels reached Jerusalem, wherein were forty thousand armed Saracens, besides the common people. Our soldiers besieged the city for thirty-nine days, and when they took it the Christians fought with the infidels in what is called ' Solomon's Temple,' and its courtyards, revelling in slaughter to such a degree that they rode knee deep in the blood of the slain. Thus by means of those most glorious knights [189a] the sepulchre of the Lord came for the second time into the hands of its rightful owners, and remained with them for ninety-eight years, when at length, as help from the Western countries failed, and God was angry with Christian people for their sins, as hath been set forth on page 189a, Jerusalem was again taken by the infidels, and.continues to be held by them even to this day, now for three hundred years down to this our own unhappy time. Well may I call this time of ours unhappy, wherein the evening of faith hath drawn in upon the world, and the chaos and night of wickedness abounds. The light of righteousness is waning; scarce a shadow of its shade remains. Law hath departed from the priests, justice from princes, counsel from elders, faith from the people, love from parents, respect from servants, charity from prelates, religion from monks, honour from youth, discipline from the clergy, learning from teachers, study from laymen, equity from judges, defence from knights, concord from citizens, fear from serving men, fellowship from rustics, truth from. merchants, virtue from nobles, chastity from maidens, lowliness from widows, love from wedded folk, modesty from women, patience from the poor, and so forth. So we wander blindly away from the true path, and headlong course through caverns of wickedness and the fields of the world, in foul darkness. Oh, how uncertain is the state of human affairs, and with out Thee, O good God, how full of calamity are all the days of our life! O evil times and evil manners! Times of exceeding great disquiet! times of disaster! Wicked manners, abandoned manners, both among clergy and people! Time whereof it hath been said, Venit summa dies et in eluctabile tempus!*--time wherein, according to the old saying of the prophet, every head shall be weary, every heart shall be grieved, and from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head there shall be no health in it.

Whosoever will read a sorrowful sermon upon the desolate state of the Holy Land and the city of Jerusalem, a piteous mourning over the Eastern Church, a sad lamentation over the vicious and most unhappy position of the Western Church, and an exhortation addressed to the kings, princes, and nobles of the West, let him look at the book of the pilgrimage of the Lord Bernhard von Braitenbach, dean of the cathedral church at Mainz, which hath been written in ornate style by that celebrated doctor of divinity, Master Martin Roth, regent of the school of Heidelberg, and monk of the Order of Preaching Friars. There he will find clearly set forth all that I have said before; he will find what I have expressed in many words put into few, and will find a duplicate of my book of pilgrimage and wandering, with the exception that sometimes I have been forced by the plan of my work purposely to alter the days, saying, 'This was done on such a day,' whereas he says that it was done on another day; wherein there is no violence or discrepancy, seeing that when we read the Scriptures we find the same thing to have been done by the Evangelists.

On the eighteenth day, early in the morning, our guides came to the Mount with our asses and their drivers, and called together all the pilgrims. We all mounted our asses, rode out of Jerusalem to the southward in a great hurry, and went by steep roads into the hill-country of Judaea. This mountainous country is rough and stony, but yet is fruitful, and full of fruit-trees, figs and olives. Herein we came to a house standing on high ground, great and tall, but in ruins, which they say was the house of the holy old man Simeon, who took up Christ in his arms in the Temple of the Lord (Luke ii.). This house hath many vaulted chambers, and from the top of it there is a view of Jerusalem and of Bethlehem. Beside this house we sang the hymn of Simeon, `Lord, now lettest thou thy servant,' etc., and received indulgences (^). From hence we went down into an exceeding fertile valley to a sloping place between dry stone walls. It was upon this mountain that the valiant Maccabees built an exceeding strong fortress to drive back the invading Gentiles, and called it Bethsura, which means the `bitter house,' or ` the house of courage,' whereof we read in I Maccabees, chs.iv. and vi. This fortress was taken by stratagem by the younger Antiochus, who from thence greatly annoyed the Jews, as is told in the second book of Maccabees, chs. xi. and xiii.

On another side of the mountain is the well wherein Philip baptized the eunuch, as will be told in its place.

From Bethsura there is a view of Jerusalem, and in time of war they who dwelt in Bethsura could make signals to them who were in the citadel of Sion, and they back again. So now we turned our backs to Bethsura and went down the valley.

After a pretty long descent we came to a place between two little hills, where in the midst of them a fountain gushes forth with cool, clear, and wholesome waters, which runs through the whole valley, moistening it and rendering it fertile, so that it is of great use to that country. They say that it was through the merits of the blessed Virgin Mary that this fountain first sprang forth in her presence when she came up from Nazareth and served Elizabeth for three months. The blessed Virgin wished to get water to carry it to Elizabeth, who was pregnant, for use both in the upper and the lower house; for Zacharias was a rich priest, and had a farm in that place, with gardens of olive-trees, fig-trees, and vineyards, and he had a house on each of the little hills, and servants to wait upon him and to feed his cattle; so he used to live now in one of these houses, and now, in the other, according to the time of year, and the fountain stood in the midst, and was used by both of the houses.. Now, at the time when the blessed Virgin came to greet and to serve Elizabeth, they were dwelling in the house which stood on the lower ground; but when the time came for her to bear John the Baptist, Elizabeth herself went up to the upper, house, taking with her the blessed Virgin; her midwives and her maidservants. but Zacharias stayed in the lower house with the men and the menservants; for in the days of old men did not dwell in the house of pregnant women at the time of their childbed.

So, after we! had drunk of the fountain of the blessed Virgin, we went on still with fasting stomachs to our left towards the first, or lower house of Zacharias. When we came to it; we found it fast shut. We knocked with stones, clubs and, stayes, but no one answered us. The young.Saracens began to walk, round about the house, searching for a place where they could climb the wall, and so open the door to us. Howbeit, there was after all a Saracen within the house, a beast rather than a man, who had pretended that he did not hear us, but who, when he saw, the young Saracens who, accompanied us searching for another way to get in, came down to the door, and threw it open. He then stood in the doorway with a club, and his wife with a firebrand, and they took care that no one should come in before some money was given to them; when it was given, he laid aside his rage and, allowed us to enter. Straightway, as we began to enter, the precentor begin to sing in a loud voice the song of the most blessed Virgin Mary, 'Magnificat anima mea,' etc., and singing thus we came to the place where the Virgin Mary saluted Elizabeth, where John leaped for joy within her womb, where Elizabeth returned her greeting and prophesied, and Mary sang that sweetest of songs, full of the deepest mystery, every word of which is pregnant with some mighty meaning. In this place we fell on our knees in prayer and received plenary indulgences (^^). Indeed, we felt singular joy in this place with the blessed Virgin Mary, who here by her greeting and sweet song openly published abroad the ineffable joy which through the greeting of the angel she had hitherto borne hidden and concealed, in the depths of her heart. Moreover, both the children leaped and rejoiced in their mother's womb at the meeting of their mothers, even as also the two mothers were filled with unwonted gladness. In the heart of the most blessed Virgin Mary all the joy which she had received from the greeting of the angel was in this place renewed and, as it were, completed; nay, if we may venture so to speak, she seems to have had a greater joy in this place: for when the angel greeted her at Nazareth; he said: ' Hail, thou that art full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women'; but Elizabeth cried aloud, `Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.' Now, we [b] know that the most blessed Virgin Mary loved the fruit of her womb incomparably more than she loved herself, and rejoiced more in His honour than in her own. The angel did but call her blessed, but Elizabeth proclaimed both her and the fruit of her womb to be blessed, and hereby increased the joy of the Virgin. For this reason, we do not read that the blessed Virgin sang her song of gladness in answer to the greeting of the angel, but in answer to the greeting of Elizabeth she said with joy, 'My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced,' etc. It was therefore in this place that the greeting of the angel was finished and made perfect; and so we pilgrims received on this spot all the joy which we should have felt at Nazareth, whither, we were unable to go, and in the words both of the angel and of Elizabeth we many times repeated Ave Maria, giving kisses to the Virgin even as Elizabeth greeted her and also kissed her. For the devout Bernhard says, ' It is as a kiss to thee, O Mary, to hear this angel's verse, Ave Maria; and. thou art kissed as often as thou art greeted with an Ave.' In, truth, at this greeting the heavens drop sweetness, the stars laugh, the angels rejoice, the world exults, the devils tremble, the powers of hell wither away, just men are glad;.sinners gain hope. Hence among many men the custom has grown up of adding Ave Maria to the Lord's Prayer, wherever it occurs, even in the canonical hours; yet others say that this ought not to be done, because in the ordinaries and notes and rubrics there is no mention made of the Ave Maria when the Paternoster is appointed to be said.

Upon this subject I have heard that a dispute once arose between the abbots and canons of the church of Batavia (sic). The abbot wished always to have the Ave Maria added to the Paternoster, but the canons and clergy refused to do so, alleging that it was not appointed for them by the rubrics. At last, for the sake of. peace and concord, the matter was laid before the Pope, who decided in the abbot's favour, on the affirmative side of .the question, and ordained by a bull that Ave Mariashould be said after Pater Noster.

It is only in our own time that an end has been put to the ancient custom of the saints, who used to pray to God with five Paternosters, and to salute: the most blessed Virgin Mary with fifty Ave Marias frequently in the course of their thanksgivings for the works of our redemption. This wholesome custom, which had almost fallen into disuse in our parts, has with great labour been renewed by that excellent doctor of divinity, Master James Sprenger, of the Order of Preaching Friars, and of the (Dominican) convent of Cologne. This master and I were, so to speak, foster children, having both taken the religious habit in the convent at Basle in the same year, and after a year had passed, having made our profession in the same schools, been trained under the same masters, and at this day we are intimate friends. My only reason for telling this is because I know that this venerable master hath been from his youth devoted to the Virgin Mary, and from his youth up until this present hath never ceased to magnify and extend the praises of the most glorious Virgin Mary. [191a] He busied himself with the Holy Apostolic See about a bull of indulgences, and obtained one, wherein the Holy .Lord, Pope Sixtus IV., granted great indulgences to all who say the aforesaid number of Paternosters and Ave Marias thrice a week. They called this prayer the 'Rosary of the blessed Virgin.' I have seen this bull, have read it through, and have made a copy of it. Some people repeat the aforesaid prayer thrice every day, and call it the `Psalter of the blessed Mary,' and for them great indulgences are thereby obtained, once in life, and once in death. It is called a `Psalter' because, like as David's psalter hath three fifties, even so hath this. The first fifty is appointed for a thanksgiving for the incarnation and childhood of. Christ; the second for His passion; and the third for His glorification. Others add yet another fifty, and repeat twenty Paternosters and two hundred Ave Marias every day; for they declare that the Book of Psalms is imperfect unless after the Psalm Laudate dominum de coelis be added the canticles of the New and Old Testaments, and the hymns; wherefore they add a fourth fifty for the canticles and hymns, that the psalter maybe perfect. They give another reason for saying four fifties, namely, that. it is no less fitting to bless the holy Virgin and the fruit of her womb for the most virtuous and perfect life of God, than for His incarnation, His death, and His glorification; wherefore, in saying the first fifty they contemplate Christ's incarnation and childhood; in the second His works and life; in the third His passion and death; in the fourth His resurrection and the glorification of Himself, of His mother, and of ourselves. Moreover, that this prayer may be more regular and less tedious; they have appointed each Paternoster, with its ten Ave Marias, to be a thanksgiving for some especial blessing which they have in their minds; as, for example, they repeat the first Paternoster, with its ten Ave Marias, as a thanksgiving for the blessing of the incarnation; the second Paternoster with its ten Ave Marias for the blessing of the nativity, the third for the blessing of the circumcision and the honour of the Name of Jesus; the fourth for the offering of the kings; the fifth for the blessing of the purification, because He was presented in the temple in the likeness of a sinner, and His mother was purified as though she were unclean: also for the flight to Egypt and the return from thence, and His humble attendance at school, and His obedience to His parents; and this is the first fifty. They arrange the second as follows: they say the first Paternoster with its' ten Ave Marias for the blessing of His baptism; the second for His endurance of temptation in the wilderness; the third for the choosing and calling of the disciples; the fourth for His godly life, His clear doctrine, and His miracles; the. fifth for the institution of the sacraments, and especially for the blessing of the Eucharist, and so on. The third they arrange as follows: the first for all the inward sufferings of Christ, His weepings and agony on the Mount of Olives; the second for His capture and torment throughout the whole night; the third for His accusation, His being sent to Herod, His scourging and coronation; the fourth for His mocking, His leading forth, His crucifixion, and all that Christ did upon the cross while alive; the fifth for His expiring, the piercing of His side, and His burial. They arrange the fourth fifty as follows: they repeat the first Paternoster with its ten Ave Marias, as a thanksgiving for the glory of His resurrection; the second for the splendour of His ascension; the third for the gracious sending of the Holy Ghost; the fourth in honour of the assumption of the blessed Virgin; the fifth for His power as judge and His righteous judgment. This prayer is devout and consoling when a man hath become accustomed to it.

Moreover, to the end that he might put down those who were jealous of the blessed Virgin Mary, and who denied the merit of these prayers, the aforesaid Master James appointed this whole matter of the rosary and the indulgences to be the subject for a public disputation in the University of Cologne, in quodlibetis, wherein it was proved that this prayer was innocent and useful, and most acceptable to the blessed Virgin. Let this suffice for my wanderings upon this subject.

After we had staid awhile in the aforesaid place, we went up from the lower church by stone steps above a vault, where once a fair chapel stood, and as we went up we sang the hymn, 'Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, quia,' etc., which hymn was composed by Zacharias when filled with the Holy Spirit at the circumcision of the child, as is told in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. Singing thus we came to the upper building, where was the chamber wherein Zacharias sate speechless, and where he asked for a tablet and wrote, 'His name is John.' There, also, his mouth was straightway opened, and he prophesied, saying and singing; 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for,' etc. So here we bowed ourselves to the earth in prayer, and received indulgences (^). At last, after we had risen from prayer, we betook ourselves to viewing the place, and on the left-hand wall we saw a large windowless (?) church, built for a barn. It was into this barn that Elizabeth thrust her infant, St. John the Baptist, and, hid him, when the servants of Herod were running about that country, seeking for children to slay them. It is even believed that they came into that very house to search for children, but when they saw two old people, Zacharias, and Elizabeth, they did not suspect that there was any child with them, and quickly departed, and the child John remained unhurt. Howbeit, Albertus says in his commentary on Luke i. that Zacharias was slain there by Herod's people because he would not give up his son, as we shall see hereafter.

In this chapel there are broken altars and ruined vaults on the walls are ancient paintings, and both at the upper and the lower building shrubs and grasses grow upon the vaults. Some pods of a blue colour, like beans, grow there, and are found in no other place. Once there was here a fine and stately church, and monks dwelt in cells beside it; but now, alas! it has become the ruined home of one most miserable Saracen.

From this place we.went on our way, and came out back again to the aforesaid fountain. From the fount we climbed up a steep place to a hill, and when we were on the top of it, we came to a large church, where we sang in a loud voice the hymn Ut queat laxis. This church is built on the place where John the Baptist, the Forerunner of the Lord, was born. Now, the actual birthplace of the Forerunner is on the left hand in a chapel of the choir, whose doorway is blocked up by the ruins of the walls. So we climbed up over the wall, and one pilgrim placed himself beneath another, so that he might climb over him on to the top of the wall, and get down on the other side upon the head and neck of another pilgrim; and so we all got over the wall, and came into a dark chapel, wherein we could see nothing without lights. At the head of the chapel there is a grotto beneath a rock, wherein it is believed that the most holy Baptist was born. So we bowed ourselves down before this cave, kissed the place, received plenary indulgences (^^), and were not a little consoled and gladdened, and in some sort strengthened in the faith; for by reason of the merits of the Forerunner there breathes forth from that deserted cave a sweet and wholesome odour, whereby the holy Forerunner kisses and greets in his turn the land of his birth, kissed by pilgrims.

Indeed; had not God comforted us by this means, we should have been not a little sorrowful in that place because of the great desecration of so holy a place; for the church, albeit lofty and vaulted, and still painted, yet stood full of cattle, asses, and camels, and there was nought therein save dung and filth, and a great stench, inasmuch as from being a holy church it has been turned into a stable for. beasts. Round about the church were the ruins of many houses; wherein once, dwelt clergy and servants of God; but now there is only one wretched farmhouse in the place.

Beyond the; valley is said to be the desert of John the Baptist; wherein he dwelt while yet a boy, as is told in Luke i.: `And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel.' Wherefore saith Jerome in his sermon, `By the words "Behold I send my, messenger," we must understand that messenger who, after leaving the refuge of his mother's womb, sought out the secret parts of the desert, and played with serpents there as a child.' This occurs in the sermon against the heretic Luciferianus. For in his fifth or seventh year he sought the desert, fleeing from the corruption of the world, and lived the life of a hermit for five-and-twenty years; wherefore it is sung of him:

Indeed, according to Bernhard, reason urges, and justice prompts a man to offer his whole being unto Him from whom he received it all; and so to the end that he might keep clean the hands wherewith he was to touch Christ, the eyes wherewith he was to behold the Holy Ghost, in the likeness of a dove, and the ears with which he was to hear the voice of God the Father, he left the world, entered into the desert; and sought its caves.

The venerable Albertus Magnus, in his sermon on the first chapter of St. Luke, on the verse, 'The child . . . was in the desert,' etc., speaks as follows: `Bede saith that John was in the desert ten years, and that he entered the desert at the age of ten years, and left it when thirty years of age, as is clear from the third chapter of St. Luke.' But the Gospel of the Nazarenes tells us that when Herod was seeking for children to put them to death, John's father, Zacharias, was slain because he would not give up his son, but that his mother took her son from his aforesaid hiding-place, and with difficulty fled into the desert. When her pursuers were pressing her hard, so that she knew not where to hide the child, a rock in a mountain was rent and opened itself, and enclosed both herself and her child, so that the eagerness of those who sought her was brought to nought. Thereafter in a few years the mother died, and the child still abode in the wilderness, and, after the fashion of childhood, learned to eat locusts and wild honey which he found in the desert, as doth the ant. It is said likewise that the blood of his father, which was received into vases by the priests and kept in the temple, would always boil whenever anyone of the family of Herod appeared in the temple. Thus far Albertus. Howbeit, St. John the Baptist had two deserts, the first not far from his father's house, wherein the caves in which he dwelt as a young man are shown to this day; the other beside the Jordan, wherein he preached to the people and baptized them. The former is spoken of in the first, and the latter in the third. chapter of St. Luke.