to desecrate the place of Christ's entombment, and that Constantine's
church, being erected on the site of the temple, and regarded as the
place called Calvary, fixes this as the true site; but whether the
church and temple were on the same site or not, the present church
stands where the one built by Constantine stood, and is regarded by the
mass of believers as the true location.

Constantine's church stood two hundred and eighty years, being destroyed
by Chosroes II., of Persia, in A.D. 614, but was soon succeeded by
another structure not so grand as its predecessor. In 1010, in the
"reign of the mad caliph Hakem," the group of churches was entirely
destroyed, and the spot lay desolate for thirty years, after which
another church was erected, being completed in eight years. This
building was standing in 1099, the time of the Crusaders, but was
destroyed by fire in 1808. This fire "consumed many of the most sacred
relics in the church. Marble columns of great age and beauty crumbled in
the flames. The rich hangings and pictures were burned, along with lamps
and chandeliers and other ornaments in silver and gold. The lead with
which the great dome was lined melted, and poured down in streams." The
building now standing there was finished in 1810 at a cost of nearly
three millions of dollars, one-third of this, it is said, being expended
in lawsuits and Mohammedan bribes. It is the property of several
denominations, who adorn their separate chapels to suit themselves.

The church is entered from a court having two doors or gates. Worshipers
pass through the court, and stop at the left-hand side of the door and
kiss the marble column, which clearly shows the effect of this practice.
Just inside of the building there is a guard, composed of members of the
oldest Mohammedan family in the city. The reader may wonder why an armed
guard should be kept in a church house, but such a reader has not seen
or read of all the wickedness that is carried on in the support of
sectarianism. Concerning this guard, which, at the time of the holy fire
demonstration, is increased by several hundred soldiers, Edmund Sherman
Wallace, a former United States Consul in this city, says in his
"Jerusalem the Holy": "This Christian church has a Moslem guard, whose
duty it is to keep peace among the various sects who profess belief in
the Prince of Peace. * * * It is a sickening fact that Moslem brute
force must compel Christians to exercise, not ch