‘Spring up, O well, I ever cry, spring up within MY soul!’”
BETHLEHEM.
Bethlehem, celebrated throughout the world as the birthplace of the Redeemer, is situated at the distance of six miles south-west from Jerusalem, in a fine country, blest with a salubrious air, and abundant fertility. The water is conveyed in a low aqueduct which formerly passed to Jerusalem. The fons signatus is a charming spring, yielding a constant supply of water to three large cisterns, one of which is still in good preservation. At a small distance from these, a beautiful rivulet called the deliciæ Solomonis, laves the herbage of the valley, and fertilizes several fine gardens, while the circumjacent soil is richly clothed with an elegant assemblage of fig-trees, vines and olives.
Bethlehem received its name, which signifies the house of bread, from Abraham; and it was surnamed Ephratah, the fruitful, after Caleb’s wife, to distinguish it from another Bethlehem, in the tribe of Zebulon. It belonged to the tribe of Judah, and also went by the name of the city of David, that monarch having there been born, and tended sheep in his childhood. Elimelech, Obed, Jesse, and Boaz, were, like David, natives of Bethlehem, and here must be placed the scene of the admirable eclogue of Ruth. Matthew, the apostle, was also born in the village of Bethlehem.
The convent now at Bethlehem is connected with the church by a court inclosed with lofty walls. This court leads by a small side door into the church. The edifice is certainly of high antiquity, and though often destroyed and as often repaired, it still retains marks of its Grecian origin. On the pavement at the foot of the altar, you observe a marble star, which corresponds, as tradition would have us believe, with the point of the heavens where the miraculous star that conducted the three kings became stationary. The Greeks occupy the choir of the Magi, as well as the two other naves formed by the transform of the cross. These last are empty, and without altars. Two spiral staircases, each composed of fifteen steps, open on the sides of the outer church, and conduct to the subterraneous church situated beneath this choir. At the further extremity of the crypt, on the east side, is the spot where tradition reports that the Redeemer of mankind was born. This spot is marked by a white marble, incrusted with jasper, and surrounded by a circle of silver, having rays resembling those with which the sun is represented. Around it are inscribed these words:
HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA
JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS EST.
At the distance of seven paces toward the south, after you have passed the foot of one of the staircases leading to the upper church, you find what is called “the Manger.” You go down to it by two steps, for it is not upon a level with the rest of the crypt. It is a low recess, hewn out of the rock. A block of white marble, raised about a foot above the floor, and hollowed in the form of a manger, indicates the spot where tradition says our Saviour was laid upon straw. Two paces further, opposite to the manger, stands an altar, which, the same tradition would teach, occupies the place where Mary sat when she presented the Child of Sorrow to the adoration of the Magi.
Nothing can be more pleasing to the view than this subterraneous church. It is adorned with pictures of the Italian and Spanish schools. These pictures represent the mysteries of the place, the Virgin and Child, after Raphael, the annunciation, the adoration of the wise men, the coming of the shepherds, and all those miracles of mingled grandeur and innocence. The ornaments of the manger are of blue satin embroidered with silver. Incense is continually smoking before the cradle of the Saviour. The grotto of the Nativity leads to the subterraneous chapel, where tradition places the sepulcher of the Innocents: “Herod sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: In Rama was there a voice heard,” &c.