may his own house it was because of this miracle that the is said to have destroyed the church in the writer the author of the universal history from the creation who must have written about says � the author of this persecution that of was some enemy of the christians who told that when the assembled in their temple at to � a winter pilgrimage the of the use of a pious fraud the chain of iron that held the lamp the tomb with oil of and that when the officer sealed up the door which led to the tomb they applied a match through the roof to the other extremity of the chain and the fire descended immediately to the of the lamp and lighted it then the burst into tears and cried supposing that it was fire from heaven that fell upon the tomb and they were thus strengthened in their faith really when he learnt the truth of the matter it is not wonderful that in his turn the was strengthened in his indignation against the christian religion and the who practised such a fraud in the day of it appears that the head priest was shut by the into the lord s monument with an candle he brings forth lighted with a loud cry and from which all the lamps are lighted but although at times was too sensible a man to be thus imposed upon he says but it is not lighted by a miracle but the ignorant mob raises its cries to heaven rod as though a miracle had been wrought and so they noise it abroad among the people even among the he goes on to tell how that the said that if this fire was really brought down from heaven and the christians could prove it they would be willing to be converted a fable which he calls a beautiful story this fire it is that when an ancient bishop of was about to hold service on eve his told him that there was no oil but being holy and believing and full of faith he sent for water instead when it he blessed it the church of the and filled the lamps then suddenly by a po unheard of in any other age the water took upon itself the of oil and being lighted from heaven made the light of the lamp shine more brightly than it was wont to do this very curious event which chanced under the � years before the day of was it is suggested the beginning of the miracle wliich thereafter repeated itself as may be imagined this yearly wonder happening in a crowded � i believe that people can press into the space beneath the dome although at the time of writing i am unable to find an authority for the statement � is not with danger in indeed a fearful catastrophe occurred of fortunately we have an account in visits to in the the late hon robert the author of this interesting work was travelling in the holy land and chanced to be present in the church upon that dreadful occasion he tells how the was carried out of the in triumph on die shoulders of the people he had deceived and how overcome by the smoke and smell three unhappy wretches fell from the upper range of galleries and were dashed to pieces on the heads of the people below an girl dying in her place merely of heat and f afterwards mr and his party set out to return to the where they were lodging the soldiers of their escort making a way for them when he reached the station occupied by the virgin during the he saw a number of people lying on the floor of the church at first he thought that they were resting but at length coming to a great pile of them perceived that these were dead bodies now i must quote since nothing can give a idea of this fearful event than the words s a winter pilgrimage of the eye witness who describes its details many of those whom he took to be peaceful were he found quite black with and farther on were others all bloody and covered with the brains and of those who had been trodden to pieces by the crowd at this time there was no crowd in this part of the church but a little farther on round the comer towards the great door the people who were quite panic struck continued to press forward and every one was doing his utmost to escape the guards outside frightened at the rush from within thought that the christians wished to attack them and the confusion soon grew into a the soldiers with their killed numbers of fainting wretches and the walls were with blood and brains of men who had been like oxen with the butt ends of the soldiers every one struggled to defend himself or to get away and in the e all who fell were trampled to death by the rest so desperate and savage did the fight become that even the panic struck and frightened appear at last to have been more intent upon the destruction of each other than desirous to save mr then tells of his own fight for life and of his hideous struggle with one of the s whom in the end he the officer died where he fell but mr found his legs again and succeeded in winning his way back to the of the and thence to the room adjoining the church which had been assigned to him by the he says the dead were lying in heaps even upon the stone of and i saw full wretched people dead and living heaped one upon another in some places above five feet the site of the church of the holy has witnessed many during the last fifteen centuries the of 