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 charity toward each other, but common decency and decorum.  But it is a fact nevertheless, and will remain apparent to all so long as priestcraft takes the place of New Testament Christianity and superstition supplants religion.”

A little beyond this guard is the “Stone of Unction,” upon which many believe Jesus was prepared for burial, but the original stone for which this claim was made is not now visible, being covered with the present slab to keep it from being worn out by the kissing of pious pilgrims.  It is eight and a half feet long and four feet wide.  Pilgrims sometimes bring the goods for their burial robes here and measure them by this stone.  Some large candles stand by it, and above it are eight fine lamps, belonging to the Greek and Roman Catholics, the Copts, and Armenians.  Not far away is a small stone, which I understood was called the place where the women watched the preparation by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. (John 19:38-42.)