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name to the city of David,' to signify the importance of the conquest, and to perpetuate the memory of the event. Having chosen Jerusalem for the place of his residence and the capital of his kingdom, he adorned the fortress with a royal palace for his own accommodation, and a variety of other buildings; which, from the continual additions made to them in succeeding reigns, increased to the size of a considerable city, and covered nearly the whole of mount Zion. [The city in the height of its glory was spread over four hills, viz. Moriah on the east, Acra on the north-west, Zion on the south-west, and Bezetha on the north-east; or, to be more particular, it was originally built,' to use

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the words of Josephus, on two hills, Moriah and Zion, which are opposite to each other, having a valley to divide them asunder; at which valley the corresponding rows of houses on both hills terminate. Of these hills, that which contains the upper city is much higher, and in length more direct. Accordingly, it was called 'the citadel' by David; but by us it is called the upper market place.' But the other hill, which is called Acra, and sustains the lower city, is of the shape of the moon when she is horned; over against this, there was a third hill, but naturally lower than Acra, and parted formerly from the other by a broad valley. In the time when the Asmoneans reigned they filled up that valley with earth, and had a mind to join the city to the temple. Now, the valley of the cheesemongers, as it was called, was that which distinguished the hill of the upper city from that of the lower, and extended as far as Siloam. On the outside, these hills are surrounded by deep valleys, and by reason of the precipices belonging to them on both sides, are every where impassable. As the city grew more populous, it gradually extended beyond its old limits, and those parts of it that stood northward of the temple and joined that hill to the city, made it considerably larger, and occasioned that hill, which is in number the fourth

and called Bezetha, to be inhabited also. It lies over against the Antonia, but is divided from it by a deep valley, which was dug on purpose.'] The largeness of the city of David may be inferred from the expression of the sacred historian :- David built round about, from Millo and inward.'*

[For beauty and splendour this city was the wonder and admiration of the world. It would require volumes to describe the magnificent buildings and works with which from the time of Solomon downwards Jerusalem was enlarged and ornamented, as well as to narrate the strangely checquered story of her prosperity and numerous disasters, extending over so many centuries.

[But what gives to this city its chief interest and importance in the eyes of Christians, is neither the beauty and spaciousness of its streets, the splendour of its buildings, nor the greatness of its vicissitudes; but its being the asylum of the true religion when it was banished from every other spot on the earth; the place which the Lord himself chose to put his name there;' where some of the most memorable communications from heaven were made to man; which was honoured as the residence of prophets and apostles; above all, which was hallowed by the footsteps, and associated with the ministry, of the Saviour of men; and the name of which, in short, for a long succession of ages, is inter

* Millo seems to have been a senate-house, in one of whose apartments the council of state met to deliberate upon public affairs, and another portion of which was occupied as an armoury. The language of the sacred historian must be understood as used proleptically, for Millo was built not by David but Solomon. It stood on the north-east side of mount Zion, at the upper end of the noble and magnificent causeway and terraces, which led down to Silla and the royal palace on the opposite side. When, therefore, the sacred historian says, David built round about from Millo and inward, or, as the original words may be rendered from Millo to the house,' he seems to intimate that David built round about from the place where the senate-house stood to his own house; in other words, that David built from one side of mount Zion quite round to the opposite point. 2 Samuel v. 9; 1 Kings ix. 15; x. 4, 5; 2 Kings xii. 20; 1 Chron. xxvi. 16; 2 Chron. ix. 11; xxxii. 5.

woven with the history of human redemption. The unrivalled privileges it enjoyed were equalled only by what even their own historian characterizes as the unparalleled wickedness of its inhabitants. Their superstitions, their gross corruptions in religious principle and moral practice; their sad decline from the purity of faith and worship transmitted to them through the institutions of Moses, and of which, by their selection as the people of God, they were the appointed guardians; above all, their enormous crime in rejecting and crucifying the Messiah, led to the overthrow of this famous but guilty city in the seventieth year of the christian era. Its protracted siege, the frantic conduct of the people, and the miseries they experienced, both within and without the walls, comprise a tale of misfortune which forms one of the saddest chapters in the history of man, and in which are seen written in indelible characters, at once the righteous judgment of God, and the evidences of Christ's veracity as a prophet.

[The following are the observations of Pliny Fisk on the modern town:- Jerusalem appears, in a general view, to be situated on the side of a mountain, descending towards the east, where it is divided from Mount Olivet by the valley of Cedron. The south wall passes over Mount Zion, near its summit, so that a great part of the hill is without the city. We have viewed Jerusalem from different stations, have walked around it, and within it, and have stood on the Mount of Olives, with Josephus' description of it in our hands, trying to discover the hills and valleys as laid down by him near 1800 years ago, and after all our research, we compare Jerusalem to a beautiful person, whom we have not seen for many years, and who has passed through a variety of changes and misfortunes, which have caused the rose on her cheek to fade, her flesh to consume away, and her skin to become dry, but who still retains some general features by which we recognise her as the person who used to be the delight of the

circle in which she moved. We measured the city by paces, and found it to be about two miles and twothirds in circumference.

['In regard to the population of Jerusalem, the following estimate seems to us as correct as any one we have heard, viz. Mussulmans, 10,000; Jews, 6000; Greeks, 2000; Catholics, 1500; Armenians, 500; total, 20,000. Some think the Jews more numerous than the Mussulmans, but they occupy a much smaller part of the city than the Turks and Arabs. The Armenians live in and around their convent on Mount Zion; the Greeks and Catholics have their convents and houses on Calvary. The Turks and Arabs occupy Bezetha, and all the eastern part of the city, and have scattered dwellings in every quarter. The Jews live in the dust between Zion and Moriah. The whole area of the ancient Jewish temple on Moriah, which now encloses the mosque of Omar, is walled in, and none but Mussulmans are allowed to enter it on pain of death. In or near it are four minarets. There are two others on Bezetha, one on Acra, one on Zion, and two on Calvary, placed on opposite sides of the holy sepulchre, like the two thieves on the right and left of our Lord. The Jews have a number of synagogues, all connected together in the quarter where they live. The Catholics have one convent on Calvary, the Greeks twelve, and one near Zion gate. The Armenians have three convents on Mount Zion, a large one and a small one in the city, and another without Zion gate. The Copts, Syrians, and Abyssinians, have also each a small convent. The houses are of stone, most of them low and irregular, with flat roofs or terraces, in the middle of which usually rises a small dome. The windows are small, and those toward the street have usually strong iron gates for defence, and thin fine wooden grates, to prevent the women from being seen by those who pass. The streets are narrow, and most of them irregular, and there are but few gardens in the city.'

[4. Perea, or the country beyond Jordan, was subdivided into seven provinces,-Abilene, Trachonitis, Iturea, Gaulonitis, Batanea, Perea, Idumea. The most northerly of these cantons formed a part of ColeSyria, bounded on the east and west by Libanus and Antilibanus. It derived its name from its chief town, Abila, signifying verdant spot. When the Romans,’ says Rosenmüller, made themselves masters of Western Asia, this district also became subject to them; and the Tetrarchs, who had probably attained to independence towards the close of the Syrian dominion, were established as their vassals.' It is mentioned in the gospel history as being under the government of Lysanias the Tetrarch.* Trachonitis was bounded on the north by Damascus, on the south by Iturea, on the east by Arabia Deserta, and on the west by Batanea. This district of country, which Burckhardt calls El Ledja, abounds with rocks, in which are immense excavations, anciently the haunts of numerous banditti. A short time before the commencement of the christian era, it was occupied by Zenodorus, who being convicted of conniving at frequent robberies of caravans, was displaced by the Romans under Varro, and his tributary kingdom, consisting of Trachonitis, Auranitis or the Hauran, and Batauea, conferred on Herod the Great, who was a favourite of the Emperor Augustus; but on the express condition of his extirpating the marauders. The rocky and inaccessible fastnesses in which the robbers concealed themselves, rendered the fulfilment of this condition no easy affair; and accordingly their suppression was the object which occupied the attention of Herod during the whole of his reign. On his decease, Trachonitis and Iturea fell to the share of his younger son, Philip.†

[Iturea, the precise boundaries of which it is difficult to assign, as it is sometimes described as another name for Trachonitis, and at other times as lying to

* Luke iii. 1.

+ Luke iii. 1.