On rcascending into the bodv of the church and np-
The " Tomb of t'liiist,
SEPULCHRE
566
SEQUENCE
proaching the vestibule through which we first entered, we find Mount Calvary on our left. This we ascend by a narrow marble staircase of eighteen steps, formed of a single stone, a fact to which the pilgrim's attention is solicited by the monks as a proof that the chapel at the top is really founded on the natural rock. But this fact would prove nothing; for there is a staircase in the Kuspoli Palazzo at Rome of one hundred and twenty steps, cut from a single block of white marble. Every visible part of the chapel is a manifest J'abi-ic. To this objection it is answered that "the stone-work cases the rock," which may or may not be true ; but wherever ex- amination might be allowed it seems to be purposely withheld. The chapel is about fifteen feet square, paved with marble in mosaic, and hung on all sides with silken tapestry and lamps dimly burning; it is divided by two short pillars, hung also with silk and supporting quad- rangular arches. At the extremity is a large altar, or- namented with paintings and figures, and under the altar a circular silver plate with a hole in the centre, in- dicating the spot in which rested the step of the cross. Behind the altar and separated from it bj' a thin wall is a chapel, in the centre of which is a stone marking the exact spot where Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac ; and the monks state that when the cross was laid down, before it was raised, our Lord's head rested upon this point ; they seem to consider the establishment of this fact necessary to the complete fulfilment of the type.
Descending to the floor of the church, we are shown another rent in the rock, said to be a continuation of the one above, but so guarded by an iron grating that ex- amination is out of the question, as it can onh^ be ex- amined by thrusting a taper through the bars. Directly opposite the fissure is a large monument over the head of — Adam,
The little chapel on the spot where Mary stood when St. John received our Lord's dying injunction to pro- tect her as his mother is an appendage to Mount Cal- vary.
4. The Tonib itself. — The reader will probably think that all these things are enough, and more than enough, to be comprised under one roof. Having finished the tour of the church, let us return to the great object of th4 pilgrimage to Jerusalem — the Holy Sepulchre. Tak- ing off the shoes on the marble platform in front, the visitor is admitted by a low door, on entering which the proudest head must needs do reverence. In the centre of the first chamber is the stone which was rolled away from the mouth of the sepulchre — a square block of marble cut and polished ; and, though the Armenians have lately succeeded in establishing the genuineness of the stone in their chapel on Mount Zion (the admis- sion by the other monks, however, being always accom- panied by the assertion that they stole it), yet the infat- uated Greek still kisses and adores the block of marble as the very stone on which the angel sat when he an- nounced to the women, " He is not dead ; he is risen ; come and see the place where the Lord lay." Again bending the head, and lower than before, the visitor enters the inner chamber, the holiest of holy places. The sepulchre " hewn out of the rock" is a marble sar- cophagus, somewhat resembling a common bathing- tub, with a lid of the same material. Over it hang forty-three lamps, which burn without ceasing night and day. The sarcophagus is six feet one inch long, and occupies about one half tlie chamber; and, one of the monks being always present to receive the gifts or tribute of the pilgrims, there is only room for three or four at a time to enter. The walls are of a greenish marble, usually called verd-antique, and this is all. It will be borne in mind that all this is in a building above ground, standing on the floor of the church.
SEPULCHRE, Church of the Holy. See the preceding article and Jekusalem.
SEPULCHRE, The Easter, a representation of the
entombment of our Saviour, set up in Roman Catholic churches at Easter, on the north side of the chancel, near the altar. In England, previous to the Reforma- tion, it was most commonly a wooden erection, and placed within a recess in the wall or upon a tomb ; but several churches still contain permanent stone structures that were built for the purpose, some of which are very elab- orate, and are ornamented with a variety of decorations, as at Navenby and Heckington, Lincolnshire, and Haw- ton, Nottinghamshire, all of which are beautiful speci-
Easter Sepnlchie, Slunlou St. John's, Oxfordshire.
mens of the Decorated style. Sepulchres of this kind also remain in the churches at Northwold, Norfolk; Holcombe Burnell, Devonshire, and several others. The crucifix was placed in the sepulchre with great solem- nity on Good - Fridav, and continually watched from that time till Easter-day, when it was taken out and replaced upon the altar with especial ceremonj'. — Par- ker, Gloss, of A 1-chitect. s. v.