176 THE HOLY LAND. 
a disbelief of the whole mummery seems best 
suited to the feelings of Protestants ; who, after 
all, are better occupied in meditating the pur- 
pose for which Jesus died, than in assisting, 
by their presence, to countenance a sale of 
indulgences in the place where Joseph is said 
to have resided. 
Other ob- 
jects of re- 
verence in 
Kay.areth, 
The Church and Convent of Nazareth, in their 
present state, exhibit superstructure of very 
recent date ; having been repaired, or entirely 
rebuilt, in no very distant period ; when the 
monks were probably indebted to some ingenious 
mason for the miraculous position of the pillar 
in the subterraneous chapel, whose two frag- 
ments, consisting of different substances, now 
so naturally give the lie to 'each other. The 
more antient edifice was erected by the mother 
of Constantine ; and its remains maybe observed 
in the form of subverted columns, which, with 
the fragments of their capitals and bases, lie 
near the modern building. The present church 
is handsome, and full of pictures ; most of which 
are of modern date, and all of them are below 
mediocrity. EgmonfaxidL Heyman mention an 
antient portrait of our Saviour, brought hither 
from Spain by one of the Fathers, having a 
Latin inscription, purporting that it is " the 
