FROM ACRE TO NAZARETH, 
267 
the hill whereon the city is built” and came to a precipice 
corresponding with the words of the evangelist- It is above 
the Maronite church, and probably the precise spot alluded 
to by the text of St. LukeV gospel. 
But because the monks and friars, who are most interested in 
st^ch discoveries, have not found within the gospels a sufficient 
number of references to Nazareth, whereupon they might erect 
shops for the sale of their indulgences, they have actually ta 
ken the liberty to add to the writings of the evangelists, by 
making them vouch for a number of absurdities, concerning 
which not a syllable occurs within their records. It were an 
endless task to enumerate ail these. One celebrated relique 
may however be mentioned; because there is not the slightest 
notice of any such thing in the New Testament; and because 
his holiness, the Pope, has not scrupled to vouch for its authen¬ 
ticity, as well as to grant very plenary indulgence to those 
pilgrims w ho visit the place where it is exhibited. This is 
nothing more than a large stone, on which they affirm that 
Christ did eat with his disciples, both before and after his re¬ 
surrection. They have built a chapel over it; and upon the 
walls of this building, several copies of a printed certificate, as¬ 
serting its title to reverence, are affixed. We transcribed one 
of t hese curious documents, and here subjoin it in a note.* 
There is not an object in all Nazareth so much the resort of 
pilgrims as this stone—Greeks^ Catholics, Arabs, and even 
Turks; the Two former classes, on account of the seven years 5 
indulgence granted to those who visit it; the two latter, because 
they believe that some virtue must reside within a stone before 
which all corners are so eager to prostrate themselves. 
As we passed through the streets, loud screams, as of a per¬ 
son frantic with rage and grief, drew our attention toward a 
miserable hovel,Whence we perceived a w oman issuing hastily, 
with a cradle, containing an infant. Having placed the child 
upon the area before her dwelling, she as quickly ran back, 
again; we then perceived her beating something violently, all 
the while filling the air with (he most piercing shrieks. Run- 
. te While the author was engaged in making the following transcript of the Papa 
c-ertlficHte, the Greeks and Catholics, who-were of the party, busied themselves i 
breaking off pieces of the stone as reliques. 
u Tradictio continua est, et nunquam interrupla, apud omnes nationes Orientales 
hanc petrarn, dictam Mensa Christi, illam ipsam esse supra quam Bominus noste 
Jesus Christus cum suis comedit discipulis, ante et post suam resurrectiojiem 
niortuis. 
“.Et sancta Romana Ecclesia Indulgentiam concessit septem annorum et totidem 
quadragenarurn, omnibus Christi fidelibus hunc sanctum locum visitantibus, reeitando- 
s&Mca ibi uniira Pater, et Ave 7 dummodo sit in statu gratis/ 7 
