"Who but must weep? For where, Above thy bulwarks fair, Once floated Judah's banners to the breeze, Now, with malignant beams, And chills and blasts the springing sap of life; The bannaret of Mecca's prophet waves, soon be a greater number of the children of Israel located in Jerusalem, than there has been at any given period since its destruction by the Roman power. We had several conversations on religious sub.. jects, during our stay at Jerusalem, with different classes of individuals. It has been visited by Protestant missionaries, and some have remained here a few months, but their principai attention was of necessity directed towards the pilgrims, among whom they distributed many tracts and copies of the Scriptures. The brethren whom I accompa a house not far from the Jaffa gate, and intended to remove here with their families, and make it their permanent residence. They had hopes of being able to establish a school. They need not apprehend any danger from the government, and individuals are kept in too much fear to do them harm. In the city I retained the European dress. and it may now be worn with safety. The only insults we met with were from women and children, who called us monks, pilgrims, Jews, dogs, and devils, and would sometimes spit upon the The mount of Olives will ever be the favorite resort of the Christian, when he wishes to drink in the inspiration of the place, and to draw wisdom from the instructive pages of its eventful history. We will pass over Kedron, and tread on this holy ground. In all other parts of the city there is doubt, and in too many disgust, but when standing upon this famous eminence, it is as if we listened to the words of some messenger of truth, furnished from heaven with sure and certain evidence of his high commission. There have been those who have doubted of the truth of prophecy, but let them accompany us in our present exercise, and they can doubt no more. "Doubt no more," did I say? Nay, they may still doubt, for men in this very spot have doubted of miracles that they saw performed with their own eyes, and prophecy is only the standing miracle of the present and future ages of the church, that grows in power as it grows in years. The Jews occupy a portion of the city that bor-nied here, Messrs. Nicolaison and Thompson, took ders upon the temple. They are said to be principally old people, who come here to die. In the appearance of many of them I could not distinguish that peculiarity of feature we are accustomed to attribute to their nation; but there are others who might sit to the painter, and their portraits would be immediately recognized as intended for Moses or some of the other ancient worthies.The women are fair, and less afraid to be seen of men than the other eastern females. The children are pretty on being introduced, they kiss the hand of the visiter, and touch it with their fore-ground as we passed. head. The houses of the more respectable persons are clean, and the principal room has a divan with rich cushions and carpets. Many of the Jews have a synagogue in their own house. I partook with them of the bread of the passover.On the last day of the feast, I visited the principal synagogue. It is divided into many rooms, and is mean in its appearance. Service was performed in all the apartments at the same time. There are both Spanish and German Jews, but the latter are comparatively few. There might be present about 600 men, a small proportion of the whole population, as there were many others assembled at the same time in private places of worship.The women sat on the steps at the entrance, and in the outer court. The service was chaunted, in general by the voices of the whole assembly.Nearly all had books in their hands, and they moved their bodies to and fro continually, in conformity as they say to the words of David::-" All my bones shall praise thee." It was mournful to see old men suddenly, and with an expression near to agony, lifting up their long, thin, fleshless fingers towards heaven, and crying aloud, as if to say, "Lord, how long?" Some parts of the same service have been performed in the same city, and in the same language, and by the same people, since its first erection, but how different was the sight now witnessed to that which was presented when Solomon held a feast, and all Israel with him, and, they offered unto the Lord 22,000 oxen, and 120,000 sheep, at the dedication of the temple: and the people "blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for David, his servant, and for Israel, his people." When shall that Jesus, whom with wicked hands their forefathers crucified and slew, be again declared unto them with power? The Jews being now comparatively free from oppression, great numbers are flocking from all parts, especially from the northern states of Africa, towards the city, and there will probably When we read the account given by Josephus, of the immense stones that were used in some parts of the city, borne out by the words of the disciples, "Master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings are here!" and then turn to the bold language uttered by our Saviour in reference to the same, "Seest thou these great buildings; there shall not be one stone left upon another, that shall not be thrown down :"-we almost tremble to think, lest the words of the prophecy should have been overcharged in the fervor of inspiration, and lest we should find, upon a personal examination of the facts, that they are in some degree contrary to the declarations of Scripture. Our fears may cease, for nothing can be more true. We know from undisputed au thority, that the prophecy was literally fulfilled at the siege of Titus; and looking now on the city as it lies beneath our feet, we cannot point out one single building, or part of a building, not even so insignificant a ruin as two stones together, that the most zealous antiquarian can suppose to have existed in the time of Christ. Other cities have been sacked and partially destroyed, but the ruin has not been total. I have seen the Parthenon at Athens, the Colosseum at Rome, and there are temples still standing even at Thebes: here rage hath done its worst, and there is no present edifice over which the Jews can weep, and say, Our fathers reared these walls. The sepulchres alone have come down to our time, but they are hewn out of the rock and not built, and it is only with the stone that contains them they can perish. So pitiless has been the angel of destruction, as he swept from the face of heaven the guilty city, so complete the exercise of his commission, that were it not for these certain memorials, we might almost doubt the identity of the place, and for this purpose what could be more appropriate than tombs, once consecrated by affection and tears, but now stripped of their love-tokens and ornaments, and thrown open to the careless tread of the passing traveller? The site of Jerusalem is peculiarly adapted to have appeared in beauty, when its hills were terraced after the manner of the east, and were verdant with the olive, the fig-tree, and the vine; but that which was then its beauty now adds to its deformity, and the bare and blasted rocks seem to say that God in his anger has passed by, and cursed the city for its sins. There are rocks, but they have no sublimity; hills, but they have no beauty; fields and gardens, but they have no richness; valleys, but they have no fertility; a distant sea, but it is the Dead Sea. No sound is now heard, but that of the passing wind where the audible voice of Jehovah once spoke in thunder; the sky is now cloudless and serene, where the angel of the Lord was once seen in glory; the paths are now deserted, where the tribes once approached from the most distant parts, to the festivals of the tempie, the old man, and the venerable matron, and the beloved son, and the beautiful daughter, weeping for very gladness as they came; and in that city, where once was the monarch, his brow encircled with the golden diadem, and in his train the noble and the wise, there is now no higher power than a delegated governor, and its own people are the most despised of men. There is no part of the city that has not its own separate history, each of which is without a parallel. Upon that distant mount Titus encamped, and it was there that his active mind planned the stratagems of the siege. Upon that nearer plain the Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, the caliph of Mahomet, the Christian crusaders, the Saracens, and the Turks, have all encamped in battle array, and displayed their banners before the sun. The guilt and the woes of the city itself are of too awful a description to be written in words. The aggregate of its groans, and tears, and blood, is too immense to be calculated. Death has here held his richest festivals, and has called with glee to his crimson banquet, the dog from the plain, and the worm from the earth, and the vulture from the sky. But it was here too that death was overcome, and the victory wrested from his fatal grasp. In some part of that We He area, Jesus Christ suffered for our sins. must not for a moment associate his sufferings with that of the sinful men who have here perished; he suffered in our stead, but we are not to look upon the thorns of his crown or the nails of his cross as the sole ministers of his sorrow. gave his SOUL an offering for sin. Without prying with too curious an eye into the particulars of place or pain, enough is it for me, that my soul was there ransomed, and that I may now be cleansed from all sin by his blood. No city upon earth has been so guilty as Jerusalem, yet it was here that our Lord offered himself as a sacrifice for rebellious man, and when the offers of salvation were commanded to be made to all the world, so far from being excluded from the hope of forgiveness, it was here, in the centre of iniquity, that the apostles were told to begin the exercise of their gracious commission. Who then need despair? The history of the temple alone would detain us long to trace the whole of the events we know concerning it. It was the place chosen by God for the placing of his name. On that spot, to which the sound of our voice might be heard, the temple rose in silence, ribbed with cedar, and adorned with gold, and the glory of the Lord filled its courts. In the splendor of its worship might once be seen the priest in his gorgeous robes, and the various vessels of untold value. The solemn ritual, the swelling music, the grateful incense, and the prayers of a thousand votaries, ascended from thence to heaven. The sacrifice was there slain upon the altar, an emblem of "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." Its treasures were the ark of the covenant, with the rod that budded, the pot of manna, the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness, and a copy of the law. There were also the Urim and Thummim, the sacred fire upon the altar lighted from heaven, and the divine presence in the holy of holies. In that court Solomon offered up his consecration prayer, and blessed the people, "with his hands spread up to heaven;" and along its paths, kings, and priests, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, have come to supplicate before the Lord.In after times, when this erection had been destroyed, amidst the opposition of the enemy, another edifice was built about which we have this affecting testimony: "Many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discover the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people." Though in metals and gems the glory of this latter house might be less than that of the former, in essential glory it was far greater, for its courts were visited by "God manifest in the flesh." In the siege under Titus, the temple was the principal scene of battle from its great strength. The Roman general was wishful to preserve it, but God had ordained otherwise, and a soldier having thrown into it a lighted brand, it was speedily consumed. It was then THEIR house, forsaken by God. The sun still shines upon the same spot, and there is a temple, a book, and worshippers, but the temple is a mosque of the false prophet, the book is the Kuran, and the worshippers are the haughty Moslem. "The but how cold our own affections, how earthly our desires, how languid our efforts, how small the sacrifices we are willing to make for Christ. "And shall we then for ever live At this poor dying rate? "Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, With all thy quickening powers; "And Above us, is the place of the Ascension. he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them: and it came to pass while he blessed them that he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven....Then returned they unto Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey." The heavens received his glorified form from the sight of his sorrowing disciples, and he is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God, "to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins." We cannot now look upon the actual body wounded for our transgressions, but we can come boldly to the throne of grace, and receive freely, without money and without price, the pardon of sin, and be filled with all the fulness of God. We may now retire from this memorable position. It appears to us as if invested with attributes that are not of earth, like some land that is midway between earth and heaven, the story of which obtains an equal prominence in the records of angels as in the more perishing pages of our own poets and historians. It has been said of the reflective mind, that it "Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brook, Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." The mount upon which we stand is, if possible, still more interesting in the details of its story. There are yet a few olive-trees that maintain their ground, though in nation, language, and religion, their owners have once and again been changed. Some of them appear very ancient, with gnarled branches and hollow trunks, and though not so old as Christianity, they may be lineally descended, by not more than one remove, from the trees that here flourished when Christ trod upon the same spot. In this direction David retired from the city on the rebellion of Absalom, with the priests and the Levites bearing the ark of the covenant of God. "And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot and all the people that were with him, covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up." This mount was the favorite place of retirement to our Saviour and his disciples from the noise and distraction of the city, of which we have many evidences in the gospels. "As he sat upon the mount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be?.... At night, he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.... Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.... And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives." In passing to Bethany, where Jesus appears generally to have lodged during his visits to the city, he would have to cross this mountain. It was probably along that path, which still leads from the village, that he rode in triumph, attended by acclaiming thousands; and at that turn in the road, where the city in all its magnitude bursts at once upon the sight, that he wept. "When he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thy eyes.' Beneath us is the garden of Gethsemane. Let us here kneel meekly upon our knees, for it is sacred ground. Here Jesus prayed, and "being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and he sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground." In such a place, how deep appears the WE mounted our horses soon after sunrise, April love of God, how unfathomable the mystery of our 16, to accompany the pilgrims to the river Jordan, redemption, how infinite the debt of our gratitude; and found them assembled near St. Stephen's And admitting the general truth and beauty of the sentiment, we may ask, what trees can discourse with such eloquence as the venerable olives in the garden of Gethsemane? what brook unfolds a volume like that of Kedron, and what stones can preach sermons so powerful as the masses scattered at the foot of mount Olivet, that have been huried from their foundations by Jehovah, monuments at once of his anger against sin, and that the words of Scripture are the words of the living God? In taking the last look of the city, we may pray, that as we now behold from hence the Jerusalem desolate, we may one day behold "the holy city, new Jerusalem," the gates of which are of one pearl, and the streets of pure gold, where God shall wipe away all tears from all eyes, and there shall be no more death. JERICHO-THE JORDAN. THE DEAD gate, awaiting the arrival of the governor and his guard, who soon afterwards made their appearance, and had with them two banners and a rude band of music. The slopes that overlook the Kedron, both on the side of the city and of mount Olivet, were crowded with people who had come to witness the procession. When we reached the bed of the brook, we were in a vast amphitheatre, and looking upwards, we found ourselves surrounded by long lines of females, row above row, all in white dresses, and the sights, the shouts, the music, and the freshness of the morning breeze, tended to raise the spirits into gladness, and give animation to the otherwise desolate rocks: but a single stumble of the horse's foot soon dissipated the illusion, for it had struck upon a lettered stone, and we were passing over the graves of the dead. The thoughts were carried back at once to the olden time, and after all, what was this to the spectacle the same site must then have presented, when the sound of the silver trumpets swelled to the sky, and Jerusalem poured forth a free and happy people from her gates, and the destroyer's hand was far away from her terraces and towers, and the mercy of God rested upon her tribes. The guard observed no kind of order, nor were they distinguished by any particular costume. They fired their muskets without ceasing, which rendered them dangerous, even to their friends, as they always fire with ball, and are among the most careless fellows in existence. I observed one of the groups of women thrown suddenly into confusion, and smiled at what I supposed were needless fears but one of them had been shot dead upon the spot by accident, and I was the next individual to the man who had committed the deed. When we had proceeded a little distance, the guard waited for the rest of the pilgrims, but we thought it better to push onwards, that we might avoid the general confusion. We passed through Bethany, from whence we descended into a narrow valley, at the entrance of which is a fountain, where it is probable our Saviour and his disciples often refreshed themselves on their way to and from Jericho. The scenery is wilder, the hills are more precipitous, and the ravines are deeper, than in the road by which we approached Jerusalem from Jaffa, but there is here more cultivation, and the rocks are covered with richer verdure. As we proceeded, the dangers of the road gradually opened upon us, and we were soon surrounded by desolation. It has been well observed, that a more appropriate place could not have been chosen as the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan, compared with which, as to simplicity, and beauty, and power, all the far-famed allegories of the east appear only like stories to amuse children, whilst the moral of this is divine. It is easy to talk about mercy and compassion, but in what shaster, in what chapter of the Koran, is the duty to our neighbor exhibited in a light that strikes upon the soul with equal force? It makes the best of us, when reading it, feel ashamed that this sacred law has been broken by us in so many instances. The hearts of the Levite and priest must indeed have been callous, that they could refuse the offices of charity under circumstances so distressing; and the piety of the good Samaritan seems here to shine with a more beautiful lustre, as he was at a distance from his own city, among strangers, seen by no one who could tell it in the circles from whence alone applause was grateful, and the wounded man belonged to a people who regarded every individual of his own nation with the bitterest scorn. About three hours from the city there are the ruins of a convent and khan, erected upon the spot where it is said the inn of the parable formerly stood. The monks have taken it for granted that the facts actually occurred, which is not improbable, though to the probabilities of the case they pay little regard, as in some place not far from this, they show the tomb of Moses, though he was not permitted to enter the promised land, and "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." The neighborhood is still infested with thieves, and had we been alone, or had we stepped but a little way out of the common path, it would soon have been said of each of us; "a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead." There would I fear have been this difference, that no Samaritan would have passed that way; to have compassion and bind up the wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and to set us on his own beast, and bring us to an inn, and on the morrow when he departed, to take out two pence, and give them to the host, saying Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. From this place the rocks are principally calcareous, with scarcely any vegetation, though the rains had only just ceased. The precipices along which we travelled were steep and dangerous; in one place the road has been cut through the rock; and in some directions the hills were above us threatening the traveller with destruction by their projecting cliffs. In two hours more we saw beneath us the plain of Jordan, nearly the whole of it barren, and on the opposite side the mountains of Moab. The question was asked, almost unvoluntarily, Can this be the same scene that Moses saw from the top of yon Pisgah, which the imagination paints as all that is fair, and lovely, and luxuriant, and which was showed him expressly by the Lord as a last privilege upon earth before he entered heaven? The sins of the Jews have changed the scene; and every rock and every vale seems to be possessed by a spirit that year after year and century after century mutters aloud one fearful lamentation, an echo of the words of God: "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field: cursed shall be thy basket and thy store: cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep: cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out.' We soon reached Jericho, where we sheltered ourselves under the leaves of a spreading fig-tree, near a tower said to be built over the spot where the house of Zaccheus formerly stood. The present town does not consist of more than thirty houses, of most miserable appearance, each of which is defended by a barrier of dried thorns, and a stranger might easily suppose of the whole town, that it is merely a heap of sticks and dead branches of trees collected out of the plain to be burnt. The Elisha, the passage of the Israelites, the cure of season was here far advanced, and the heat Naaman, the baptism of Christ, and the preaching many degrees greater than at Jerusalem. There are one or two palms, the only representatives of the large forests that formerly existed. I purchased a bottle of the oil called by the natives zhaccum, thought to be the famous balsam of the ancients, and the origin of the friar's balsam so inuch used at present. Its virtues have been tried since my return, and the effect was such, that in the strong language of my informant, it was little less than miraculous. It was at one period in so great demand, that it sold for its weight in silver. The neighborhood of Jericho is called by Josephus, "the most fruitful country of Judea, which bears a vast number of palm-trees, besides the balsam tree, whose sprouts they cut with sharp stones, and at the incisions they gather the juice which drops down like tears." The palm-trees were given by Marc Antony, in the extravagance of his love, to Cleopatra, the beautiful queen of Egypt. Jericho is called in Scripture "the city of palms," it was the first place taken from the Canaanites by Joshua on this side of the Jordan, and at one period it was inhabited by 12,000 priests, and was the second city of Judea. It had a royal palace, in which died Herod the Great. There was here a school of the prophets, and it was blessed by a visit from Christ, who healed here two blind men. The governor and some of the more respectable pilgrims had tents pitched upon the plain, and towards evening we joined the multitude for the sake of protection, and slept upon the ground in the open air. A great number of Bedouins were called in from the surrounding country, under the pretence of forming a guard, but in reality to prevent them from becoming our plunderers. They kindled a large fire, and danced round the flame, shouting aloud, and clapping their hands together with great force. It was a beautiful star-light night, without a cloud. The sky was one clear blue, and rested on all sides upon mountains that presented their forms in rugged outline, and of the darkest possible shade, the circle of which was only broken towards the south by an expanse of still water, forming the Dead Sea. When the lights were all put out, the sounds were all silent, and one after another of the pilgrims was stretched upon the ground, as if in the sleep of death, until there was only one solitary being seen wandering about, just to be distinguished in the gloom; he seemed like the last man seeking in vain for a companion that yet had life, and then in his disappointment passing towards the Dead Sea to drink the waters of oblivion, after which the same stillness and darkness were to continue undisturbed for ever. The associations of the plain, independent of its actual appearance, were among the most interesting that could be conceived. The waters to the south brought to the remembrance the visits of the angels to Abraham and Lot, and the burning of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The hills to the west included Nebo, Peor, and Pisgah, and it was impossible to look at them without thinking of the wanderings of the Israel ites, the altars of Barak, the prophecies of Balaam, and the death of Moses. The river Jordan told of the dividing of its waters by Joshua, Elijah, and of John. Upon the near bank was Gilgal, where Joshua set up the twelve stones, the children of Israel were the second time circumcised, the manna ceased, and the people first ate of the old corn of the land; here too the angel of the Lord, in the time of the Judges, came up to speak unto the children of Israel, and they lifted up their voices and wept; and to this place Samuel came from year to year, that he might hold the annual assize of justice. In the plain, the patriarchs had pitched their tents; the battle of the four kings against five was fought, in which Lot was taken prisoner; David smote 18,000 men of the Syrians, Amaziah slew 10,000 men of Edom, and Zedekiah was taken prisoner by the princes of Babylon. Near the miserable village that presented itself, the walls of Jericho had fallen down at the noise of the voices of the people and the trumpets of the priests; there was a school of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha performed many miracles, Zaccheus entertained our Lord, and Bartimeus was restored to sight. It could not be far distant from us that Elisha was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, when he was anointed prophet by Elijah at the command of God. Towards the north, were memorials of the cities of Gibeon, the siege of Ai, the sin and punishment of Achan, and the feeding of Elijah by the ravens, near the brook Cherith. To the mountains at the east it is supposed that Jesus was led up of the Spirit to be tempted of the devil, and that it was from the nearest summit that Satan showed him "all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." The sky above us was not without its share of interest, as from thence was the translation of Elijah to heaven in a chariot of fire; and it was in the same expanse that the heavens were opened, and the Spirit of God descended like a dove, lighting upon Jesus; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." These, and many other circumstances of a similar description, had all taken place within the bound of our vision, and it was no wonder that in such a place one of my companions was unable to sleep during the whole night. The camp was in motion long before day-break, and the pilgrims hurried towards the Jordan. It was quite dark, and there were only eight or ten torches to several thousand people. In this uncertain light we appeared like a multitude that no man could number, wandering among the shados. We could easily imagine how every man's sword might be raised against his fellow, as in case of an attack it would have been impossible to distinguish friend from foe. We arrived on the banks of the river a little before sunrise. The pilgrims immediately rushed into the water, men, women, and children, in the utmost confusion, and the scene was little calculated to produce the hallowed affections of the original institution. The clothes in which they are immersed are afterwards regarded as sacred, not again to be used until they are dressed for the grave. Whilst I was looking on, two men, a Russian and a Greek; were overpowered by the torrent, and as neither of them could swim, they clung to each other, and were soon under the water. The Russian was |