continued to defend the city by every method which stratagem, courage, and despair, could suggest. 17. In order to accelerate the destined ruin of Jerusalem, Titus, discouraged and exasperated by the repeated destruction of his engines and towers, undertook the arduous task of enclosing the city with a strong wall, in order to prevent the inhabitants from receiving any succor from the adjacent country, or eluding his vengeance by flight. 18. Such was the persevering spirit of the soldiers, that in three days they enclosed the city by a wall nearly five miles in circuit. Thus was the prophecy of our Saviour accomplished: "The days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side." 19. Upon this, the famine raged with augmented violence, and destroyed whole families; while Jerusalem exhibited a horrid spectacle of emaciated invalids and putrescent bodies. The dead were too numerous to be interred; and many expired in the performance of this office. The public calamity was too great for lamentation, and the silence of unutterable wo overspread the city. 20. The zealots, at this awful period, endeavored to encourage the obstinacy of the people, by hiring a set of wretches, pretenders to prophecy, to go about the city, and declare the near approach of a speedy and miraculous deliverance. This impious stratagem for a while afforded delusive hopes to the miserable remains of the Jewish nation. But at length an affair took place in Jerusalem, which filled the inhabitants with consternation and despair; and the Romans with horror and indignation. 21. A Jewess, eminent for birth and opulence, rendered frantic with her sufferings, was reduced to the dreadful extremity of killing and feeding upon her infant. Titus, being apprized of this inhuman deed, swore the total extirpation of the accursed city and people; and called heaven to witness, that he was not the author of their calamity. LESSON LXXVI. Destruction of Jerusalem-concluded. 1. THE Romans having pursued the attack with the utmost rigor, advanced their last engines against the walls, after having converted into a desert, for wood to construct them, a country well planted, and interspersed with gardens, for more than eleven miles round the city. They scaled the inner wall, and after a sanguinary encounter, made themselves masters of the fortress of Antonia. 2. Still, however, not only the zealots, but many of the people, were yet so blinded, that, though nothing was now left but the temple, and the Romans were making formidable preparation to batter it down, they could not persuade themselves that God would suffer that holy place to be taken by heathens; but still expected a miraculous deliverance. And though the war was advancing towards the temple, they themselves burnt the portico, which joined it to Antonia; which occasioned Titus to remark, that they began to destroy, with their own hands, that magnificent edifice, which he had preserved. 3. The Roman commander had determined in council not to burn the temple, considering the existence of so proud a structure an honor to himself. He therefore attempted to batter down one of the galleries of the precinct; but as the strength of the wall eluded the force of all his engines, his troops next endeavored to scale it, but were repulsed with considerable loss. 4. When Titus found, that his desire of saving the sacred building was likely to cost many lives, he set fire to the gates of the outer temple, which, being plaited with silver, burnt all night, and the flame rapidly communicated to the adjacent galleries and porticoes. Titus, who was still desirous of preserving the temple, caused the flames to be extinguished; and appeased the clamors of his troops, who vehemently insisted on the necessity of razing it to the ground. The following day was therefore fixed upon, for a general assault upon that magnificent structure. 5. The utmost exertions of Titus to save the temple were, however, ineffectual. Our Saviour had foretold its total destruction; and his awful prediction was about to be accomplished. "And now," says Josephus, "the fatal day approached in the revolution of ages, the 10th of August, emphatically called the day of vengeance, in which the first temple had been destroyed by the king of Babylon."* Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem,-destroyed the temple,-aud carried the Jews into captivity, B. C. 606. After they had been kept in bondage 70 years, Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, took Babylon, and set them at liberty, B. C. 536. The Jews then returned to Jerusa lem, and built the second temple. The first temple was finished and dedicated by Solomon, B. C. 1004,-the second temple was finished and dedicated B. C. 515. strength and courage from above, shall find danger and difficulty give way before him. Go now, my son, to thy repose; commit thyself to the care of Omnipotence; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life." LESSON LXXII. The Mummy.*-SMITH. 1. And thou hast walk'd about (how strange a story!) 2. Speak! for thou long enough hast acted Dummy, Not like thin ghosts or disembodied creatures, But with thy bones and flesh, and limbs and features. 3. Tell us -for doubtless thou canst recollect, To whom should we assign the sphinx's fame? Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect Of either Pyramid† that bears his name? Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer? Had Thebest a hundred gates, as sung by Homer ? || Mummy, a dead human body embalmed, and wrapped up in linen cloths impregnated with gums, wax, &c. to prevent its decaying. The Mummies are found in Egypt, a short distance from Cairo, in vaulted rooms under ground, cut in quarries of white stone, with a hole like the mouth of a well to descend into them. They are deposited, some in stone tombs, others in chests or coffins made of sicamore wood, which are often adorned with many hi-ero-glyphics, representing the qualities and brave actions of the deceased. They are supposed to have been embalmed more than 3,000 years. † Pyr-a-mid, a large, solid body, or edifice, standing on a square or trian. gular base, and terminating in a point at the top. The Pyramids of Egypt have been the wonder of all ages of the world. The largest of them is that of Cheops, near Cairo. It is 500 feet high, and covers more than 11 acres. When, and for what purpose they were built, is unknown. Some suppose they were built by the children of Israel while in bondage, for sepulchres for the kings of Egypt. Thebes, an ancient city of Egypt, situated on both sides of the Nile, about 260 miles south of Cairo. Homer speaks of it as the city of an hundred | Homer, a celebrated Grecian poet, who lived about 907 B. C. 4. Perhaps thou wert a Mason, and forbidden In Memnon's statue which at sunrise played? Has hob-a-nobb'd with Pharaoh glass to glass; Or doffed thine own to let Queen Dido* pass, 6. I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Long after thy primeval race was run. 7. Since first thy form was in this box extended, We have, above ground, seen some strange mutations; The Roman empire has begun and ended; New worlds have risen- -we have lost old nations, 8. Didst thou not hear the pother o'er thy head When the great Persian conqueror, Cambyses,‡ And shook the Pyramids with fear and wonder, gates; and Strabo, a writer of the first century, states that its length was then 10 miles. It was the theme of ancient poets,—the admiration of historians, and the wonder of travellers. But the glory of Thebes, belongs to a period prior to the commencement of authentic history. Some suppose it to have been built by Osiris, and others, by Busiris, while others think it more ancient. It is now inhabited by about 3,000 Arabs, who have taken up their abode among its magnificent ruins. • Dido, founder of the Carthaginian Empire, 869 B. C. † Romulus and Remus, founders of the Roman Empire, 752 B. C. Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, was king of Persia, B. C. 529. He made war against the Egyptians, and overran their country in the most barbarous manner. He was cruel and vindictive in the extreme. He died in the eighth year of his reign, B. C. 521. An Egyptian god. 9. If the tomb's secrets may not be confessed, The nature of thy private life unfold : A heart has throbb'd beneath that leathern breast, And tears adown that dusky cheek have rolled :Have children climb'd those knees, and kiss'd that face ? What was thy name and station, age and race? 10. Statue of flesh-immortal of the dead! Imperishable type of evanescence ! Posthumous man, who quitt'st thy narrow bed, And standest undecayed within our presence, Thou wilt hear nothing till the Judgment morning, When the great trump shall thrill thee with its warning. 11. Why should this worthless tegument endure, If its undying guest be lost for ever? O let us keep the soul embalmed and pure LESSON LXXIII. The Negro's Complaint.-Cowper. 1. FORC'D from home and al! its pleasures, To increase a stranger's treasures, 2. Still in thought as free as ever, What are England's rights I ask, Dwells in white and black the same. 3. Why did all-creating nature Make the plant for which we toil? |