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 THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM. By Rev. C. A. Scott, B. A. 
 
 THE HISTORICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN THE OLD 
 AND NEW TESTAMENTS. By Rev. Professor John 
 Skinner, M.A. 
 
 THE LIFE OF CHRIST. By Rev. Professor Salmond, 
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 THE SHORTER CATECHISM. By Rev. Professor Sal¬ 
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 OUTLINES OF EARLY CHURCH HISTORY. By the late 
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 THE CITY OF 
 
 JERUSALEM 
 
 (MOHEMsT) 
 
 Birketes 6 
 
 Keiereace 
 
 7 JhuofJIosprofStJohn. 
 
 8 Uiglish Sospital 
 
 9 Jews Place. of Wailing 
 
 1 Ch.ofmeSoly Sepulchre 
 
 2 Protestant Church. 
 
 3 Church of S^Anne 
 
 * Ch. of Mary Magdalen 10 Pool of&ezekiah 
 
 Scale of*4Jbfile 
 
 5 Latin. Convent. 
 0jLmienJan. df 
 
 11 Pool ofBethesda 
 
 12 Mbsoue es Sahhra {Dome ofthe Pock/ 
 
 £\(pA¥I 
 
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 Bible (Hass primers. 
 
 EDITED BY PROFESSOR'SALMOND, D.D., ABERDEEN. 
 
 THE 
 
 STORY OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. HUGH CALLAN, M.A., 
 
 GLASGOW. 
 
 (Bbtnbttrgh; 
 
 T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. The Land ; 2. The History ; 3. Dimensions ; 4. Nat¬ 
 ural Characteristics ; 5. Geographical Position ; 6. 
 
 The Site 9-12 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 7. The Name; 8. Historical Summary; 9. General 
 Topography of Jerusalem ; 10. View from Olivet; 
 
 11. Attractions of Jerusalem . . . 12-18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 12. Beginnings ; 13. Abraham and Mount Moriah; 14. 
 Interval of Silence ; 15. Era of David’s Reign ; 16. 
 David’s Reign ; 17. The Ark ; 18. The Temple ; 
 
 19. The Dedication . . 18-25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 20. The People and the Law ; 21. Apostasy ; 22. 1 ho 
 Period of the Revolt; 23. The City in the Time ot 
 Division ; 24. Egypt ; 25. Time of Ahaz ; 26. 
 Time of Hezekiah; 27. Time of Hezekiah’s Suc¬ 
 cessors ; 28. Time of Josiah ; 29. Sufferings of 
 Jerusalem; 30. Nebuchadnezzar; 31. Jeremiah 25-34 
 
 CPIAPTER V. 
 
 32. Survivals; 33. The Return ; 34. The New Temple ; 
 
 35. Under Ezra ; 36. Under Nehemiah ; 37. Greece 
 in Jerusalem ; 38. Syro-Grecian Period ; 39. After 
 Alexander ; 40. Antiochus ; 41. The Maccabees ; 
 
 42. Judas Maccabseus; 43. Jonathan and Simon ; 
 
 44. The Asmonean Succession; 45. Under Rome; 
 
 46. Herod the Great; 47. Herod’s Character; 48. 
 Herod and the City ; 49. Period of Trouble 34-48 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VT. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 50. Tokens of Decline ; 51. Causes'of Fall; 52. Under 
 Caligula ; 53. Under Claudius and Nero; 54. Al- 
 binus and Florus ; 55. Eleazar ; 56. Cestius Gallus; 
 
 57. Vespasian ; 58. John of Gischala and the Zea¬ 
 lots ; 59. Factions ; 60. Misery of the City; 61. 
 Portents; 62. The Warning of Christ; 63. The 
 Siege Begun ; 64. Defences of the City ; 65. Grand¬ 
 eur of the Scene ; 66. Mercy Spurned ; 67. Horrors 
 of the Siege ; 68. Delays; 69. The End ; 70. De¬ 
 struction of the Temple ; 71. Defences Abandoned ; 
 
 72. Losses.48-64 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 73. The Jewish Spirit; 74. Revolt; 75. Barcocheba; 
 
 76. The Name Lost; 77. Recovery of the Sepulchre; 
 
 78. Julian ; 79. Ecclesiastical Interest; 80. Chos- 
 roes; 81. The Koran; 82. The Mosque and its 
 Faith ; 83. Under the Moslems ; 84. Hakem ; 85. 
 
 The Turks ; 86. Pilgrimage ; 87. Notable Pilgrims ; 
 
 88. Preparation for Crusades . . . 65-77 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 89. First Crusade ; 90. Godfrey ; 91. Again in Siege ; 
 
 92. Atrocities in the Temple ; 93. Godfrey King; 
 
 94. The Christian Throne ; 95. The Second Cru¬ 
 sade ; 96. The Military Orders ; 97. Saladin; 98. 
 
 The Fourth Crusade ; 99. Christian Withdrawal; 
 
 100. Later History.77-85 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 101. Change in the City; 102. Antiquities; 103. Walls 
 and Streets ; 104. Contrasts ; 105. Historic Build¬ 
 ings ; 106. Associations of the Haram ; 107. The 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; 108. Associations 
 of the Sepulchre Church; 109. The Future ; 110. 
 
 The Jerusalem which is Above. . . . 85-93 
 
 Points for Further Inquiry. 
 
 94-96 
 
THE STORY OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 -:o:- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 VARIED INTEREST OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 1. THE LAND. —The interest which men take, 
 and will probably never cease to take, in Jerusalem, 
 is due primarily to its religious associations, but 
 not to these alone. 
 
 There is, in the first place, the land in which it 
 lies. It is a land with very distinct and noticeable 
 features. The Jordan and the Dead Sea are alto¬ 
 gether singular; the sands of the desert come sweep¬ 
 ing up to its southern frontier ; beyond its eastern 
 mountains stretch the immense plains of the Tigris 
 and Euphrates ; to the north, dominating all the 
 land, tower the outmost sentinels of the snowy giants 
 of Asia. Thus surrounded, it partakes of the char¬ 
 acter of its surroundings; for sea-coast and moun¬ 
 tain, desert and fertile plain, are all found within its 
 narrow compass. In the midst of it all Jerusalem 
 sits upon her cloven hills, a mountain city, without 
 river or sea to make her great, yet illustrious beyond 
 most cities by her own peculiar grace, and her own 
 wonderful story. 
 
 2. THE HISTORY. —Jerusalem, too, is one of the 
 few ancient cities which still occupy their original 
 sites. Taken and retaken, destroyed and rebuilt 
 time after time, fought for as a prize by friend and 
 foe alike so long as the region of empire lay in the 
 East, it was always the theatre of some struggle 
 which was not confined in significance and results 
 
10 
 
 to itself, to its own land, or to its own people. Its 
 possession marked an epoch in the onward march of 
 the great empires of the world. Were it for nothing 
 else than this, Jerusalem is for ever memorable in 
 the annals of the nations, in that, when all others 
 had fallen before the resistless might of Rome, it 
 dared rear a head of defiance, and “ make the last 
 desperate resistance to the universal dominion of the 
 Caesars.” Later on, when the tide of civilisation had 
 rolled westward, and left the old lands barren of 
 vital force, it was the only one of all the cities of the 
 old East able to attract men out of the West, and 
 make them fight and die for it in crusade after 
 crusade. Woven in with the history of every con¬ 
 spicuous race, Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Greek, 
 Roman, Saracen, Norman, and Turk, down almost 
 to our own days, it is woven in more deeply with the 
 history of another race, more enduring than any of 
 them—the Jews, who though dwelling far apart in 
 other lands, still subsist the most, perhaps the only, 
 unmingled race, and still look with earnest eyes 
 towards the Holy Height. 
 
 3. DIMENSIONS. —The land is only 180 miles 
 long, from Han to Beersheba, and only 68 miles 
 broad at the most, from the Jordan to the sea; so 
 that it is a land straitly confined, and from every 
 high hill the whole breadth can be taken in at once. 
 And as is the land, so is the city—small in area, and 
 perhaps always small in population also. “ But the 
 measurements of the realm of matter afford no clue 
 whatever to the measurements of the realm of spirit; 
 and elect souls will go on crying to the end of time 
 with an ever-deepening meaning in the words, ‘Our 
 feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem’” 
 (Canon Liddon). 
 
 4. NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS.—The land 
 
 has an extraordinary variety of structure and tempera¬ 
 ture. It has been said that no district on the face of 
 the earth contains so many and such sudden transi- 
 
11 
 
 tions—affording thereby the natural theatre for a 
 history and a literature which should be apt for 
 nations accustomed to the most various climates and 
 conditions. There we have the roving life of the 
 Bedouin, the settled life of the husbandman, the 
 busy life of the seafaring class ; aspects of sea, plain, 
 and mountain—ascent and descent, wild hills, and 
 valleys interspersed with rich level fields ; heats and 
 snows — degrees of tropical, eastern, and almost 
 northern climate : all making themselves felt in the 
 life and habits of the capital, and “going into the 
 expression of a literature which comes home to the 
 hearts of universal races.” The land, too, is one by 
 itself. Palestine was a land set apart, as Israel was 
 a people set apart. For centuries it was spared while 
 strife and change went on all about it; surrounded 
 by the six great nations of antiquity—Babylonians, 
 Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Phoenicians— 
 it was kept apart to develop its monotheistic religion, 
 its polity, and its independence. This isolation 
 worked along with Time to make the peculiar char¬ 
 acter of the people. 
 
 5. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.— It may safely 
 be said that the geographical position of Jerusalem 
 brought it to the front (and would have done 
 so, no matter what race possessed it), and kept 
 it there till the throb of history beat farther west. 
 “Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: 
 I have set it in the midst of the nations and 
 countries that are round about her” (Ezek. v. 5). 
 In its earlier period Palestine was the vanguard 
 of the East, and midway between the two great 
 seats of ancient empire, Babylon and Egypt, the 
 highroad and the battlefield, “ the high bridge over 
 which the nations ascended and descended into 
 the deep basins of the Nile and the Euphrates;” 
 at a later time, from the Captivity to the Chris¬ 
 tian era, its whole history is a contest between 
 “ the kings of the north and the kings of the south” 
 
12 
 
 (Syria and Egypt) for possession; and later still, 
 Rome fought there for final supremacy in the East. 
 As its highest destiny was to be the watch-tower 
 hailing the dawn of Christ’s day, how could it have 
 been better situated in relation to the three great 
 continents and seas, so that the good news should 
 descend and spread to the ends of the earth ? 
 
 6. THE SITE. —“From a mountain sanctuary 
 Israel looked over the world.” Indeed it was her 
 mountain site that m^de Jerusalem a sanctuary. 
 Had it been built on a plain or in a valley we 
 should have heard less about it. Hills, not plains, 
 have been the scene of the world’s greatest move¬ 
 ments, especially in religion. The situation of hill- 
 set cities appeals to the senses and holds the memory. 
 As the Roman loves “the Eternal City,” the Athenian 
 “the city of the violet crown,” the Swiss and the 
 Tyrolese their Alpine homes, so did the Jew love 
 Jerusalem. We look on a certain man’s face and 
 note the strongly-marked features and lines of in¬ 
 dividuality, and say, “This man has a character, a 
 spirit distinctive of him.” So, there are certain 
 places where we instinctively feel, “ This place is 
 made for great events, a battle deciding empires, a 
 revolution turning old history on its hinges, or a 
 revelation uplifting mankind some degrees nearer 
 heaven.” Jerusalem is one of these. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NAME, GENERAL HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, AND 
 ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 7. THE NAME. —This is a much controverted 
 point. And it is one of some importance in settling 
 the antiquity of the city. All authorities seem to 
 
13 
 
 agree about the latter component of the word, 
 that it is the Hebrew word meaning peace; but 
 all sorts of derivations are given for the first 
 (Jeru -). It might have been thought that there could 
 be no difficulty in identifying with the Jerusalem 
 of after days the Salem whose king Melchizedek 
 met Abraham. But many think otherwise. It is 
 argued that the event took place at a town further 
 north, at Shalim or Salim (1 Sam. ix. 4, and John 
 iii. 23). However, Jerusalem is the more generally 
 accepted scene of the meeting. 
 
 If Salem was the shorter name of the city—as 
 in Ps. lxxvi., “ In Judah is God known : in Salem 
 also is His tabernacle”—whence comes the larger 
 and more familiar form ? (1.) According to some, 
 from Je&ws-Salem. Jehus or Jehusi was the name of 
 the place while it remained in the hands of the 
 Jebusites long after the Israelites were settled in 
 Canaan, as we know from Josh. xv. 8 ; xviii. 28; 
 and Judges xix. 10-12. It may be that the Canaanites 
 had their own name (Jebus) for it, while the Israel¬ 
 ites had another (Jerusalem), which had been handed 
 down to them from the time of Abraham’s connection 
 with it. We are told in Gen. xxii. 14, that when 
 Abraham had offered Isaac on the mount of Moriah 
 (the temple hill) he “ called the name of the place 
 Jehovah-jireh ” (“the Lord will see, or provide”). 
 Hence others (2) take the latter part of the above 
 name ( jireh ) and prefix it to the old name Salem , 
 and so get the name Jireh-salem, Jerusalem —that 
 is, “ the Salem where 1 the Lord will provide.’ ” 
 Some of the best scholars derive it from two words 
 meaning “ the vision of peace ” or “ the abode of peace J 
 But all is uncertain. 
 
 8. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. —A rapid sketch 
 of the history will facilitate the study of our subject. 
 As the chief interest in Jerusalem attaches to the 
 Jews, we may divide its history into three periods 
 according to the extent of their dominion over it. 
 
14 
 
 (1.) From its foundation to the Babylonish Captivity 
 —a period during which the Jews gained and kept 
 full possession of it, without responsibility to any 
 other government. (2.) From the Captivity to the 
 Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under 
 Titus—a period during which the Jews held it 
 mainly as tributary to one or other of the great 
 empires, while they were allowed a certain measure 
 of self-government. (3.) From the great Siege down 
 to the present day—a period during which the Jews 
 have had no part whatever in the government of 
 their ancient country. The whole period, or the age 
 of Jerusalem, is reckoned to be nearly four thousand 
 years." The First of the above three periods (from 
 circa 2000 to 587 b.c.) comprises the meeting of 
 Abraham and Melchizedek, the offering up of Isaac, 
 the capture and fortification of the place by David, 
 its adornment and the building of the Temple by 
 Solomon, the various encounters with the eastern 
 empires and with Egypt, and finally the destruction 
 of the Temple and the city, followed by the great 
 Captivity. The Second period (from 587 b.c. to 71 
 a.d.) comprises the rebuilding of the Temple by 
 Zerubbabel, and of the walls by Nehemiali, the 
 Grecian and the Syrian dominion, the patriotic wars 
 and the rule of the Maccabees or Asmonean dynasty, 
 the arrival of the Romans, the Roman governors, 
 and the vassal kings of Judsea, the Crucifixion of 
 Jesus Christ, the revolt of the Jews against Rome, 
 and the final fall of the city. The Third period com¬ 
 prises a multitude of events of minor importance, 
 and only one or two of the first moment—the 
 final revolt of the Jews under Barcocheba, the 
 (presumable) recovery of the Cross and Sepulchre 
 of Christ, the city under Christian Caesars and 
 
 a This is according to the computation of the old chronologist 
 Ussher (which is that given in our reference Bibles); although, accord¬ 
 ing to the most recent and soundest of the two hundred systems of 
 chronology said to have been framed, we must add several centuries 
 more. 
 
15 
 
 Patriarchs, the sack by the Persians, and the restora¬ 
 tion by the emperor Heraclius, the conquest by 
 the Saracens, the various Crusades by the Franks 
 or Christians of the West, and the establishment of 
 their kingdom in Jerusalem, the reconquest by the 
 Turks under Saladin, and the Turkish treatment of 
 it for seven hundred years since. 
 
 9. GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY OF JERU¬ 
 SALEM.—There is a hill or ridge on the east of 
 Jerusalem, separated from the city by a deep ravine. 
 This overtops the other heights, as well as the city, 
 with all its walls and buildings. It is the Mount 
 of Olives. No other object on earth has been wit¬ 
 ness to such a long line of notable events, or echoed 
 with the cries of so many victories and defeats. 
 There, then, let us take our stand, and endeavour 
 to pass before our mind’s eye the long and awful 
 diorama which the silent mount could unfold—a 
 diorama showing the story of 4000 years, of race 
 following race, of great figure after great figure, 
 war after war, and glory after glory sinking into 
 decline, and into downfall after decline—from the 
 young days of the world till now, when the city has 
 rest in ruin. This hill is one of the “ mountains 
 round Jerusalem,” the mountains of Judsea, which, 
 however, are not what we call mountains, but rather 
 round swelling domes, or at most sloping ridges. 
 The city itself is built mainly on two of these hills, 
 Mount Sion (the larger, called the Upper City) on 
 the S., and Acra (called the Lower City) on the N., 
 with a long valley, “like the moon when she is in 
 horn,” called the Tyropceon or Cheesemonger’s 
 Valley, running between them and another hill on 
 the E. called Mount Moriah (the Temple Hill). But 
 besides these three there are other two, Bezetha 
 (New City) on the N. of Moriah and now partly 
 without the modern city, and Ophel on the S. of 
 Moriah, and now quite outside of the city. 
 
 10. VIEW FROM OLIVET.—As we look around 
 
16 
 
 from our height on Olivet, our eyes light on natural 
 features, than which earth has none more remarkable 
 to show. Within the short distance of 14 miles to 
 the E. we look down over a blank wilderness of 
 rocks and ravines to the world’s most wonderful 
 water, the Dead Sea, 3700 feet below us, and 1300 
 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, which 
 rolls against the coast ocly 40 miles to the W. 
 of us; high over the sleeping azure water rise the 
 Mountains of Moab, an iron barrier to the vast 
 continent beyond. That thin fringe of verdure in 
 the broad deep valley to the left (as we face the east) 
 indicates the precipitous course of the world’s most 
 wonderful river—the Jordan. Turning westward, 
 we note one by one in the circle of hills that overtop 
 the city and seclude it from the rest of the world— 
 bleak rugged crowns they are, of limestone, with 
 openings of deep ravines between, where the rocks 
 show white and brown : there are the Mount of 
 Offence and the Hill of Evil Counsel on the S.; Neby 
 Samwil, or Mizpeh, on the N.-W.j Scopus, or Pro¬ 
 spect Hill, on the N.; and here, on the E., is Olivet. 
 Between these hills and the city are long deep 
 valleys with steep sides : from W. to S.-E. runs the 
 Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, and from the N. 
 the Valley of Jehoshaphat runs round E. into the 
 Valley of the brook Kedron, which joins at the 
 S.-E. with that of Hinnom and the Tyropoeon (from 
 the midst of the city). On the other side of these 
 wadies , in some cases sheer up from the precipice, 
 rise the walls and gates of the city, massive still, 
 but merely a poor remnant or replacement of the 
 gigantic masonry of former days. 
 
 Not even the most unobservant spectator could 
 pass by Jerusalem without a second long look, nor 
 help feeling, “ This place has a character given by 
 nature.” In order, then, that we may the better be 
 able to understand why at one time she became so 
 dear to all men, and why she remains so still to 
 
17 
 
 millions, let us, by the aid of history, and that 
 spiritual appreciation without which we cannot hope 
 to understand any great subject, trace the gradual 
 unfolding of that second character of hers, which 
 centuries of throbbing life have given to her, which 
 has made her the place of most sacred memories to 
 three great religions of the world—the Jewish, the 
 Christian, and the Mohammedan. 
 
 11. ATTRACTIONS OF JERUSALEM.—From 
 our outlook (on Olivet) we can watch all ends of the 
 earth coming up to Jerusalem—the solitary pilgrim 
 and the stately procession, the armies of conquerors 
 and the relics of defeat: crowding from the N. 
 and E., Assyrians, Persians, and Turks; from the 
 S., Egyptians and Arabs ; from the W., Greeks, and 
 Romans, and Franks; all conquering, only to be 
 conquered in turn. Spectators, deeply interested, 
 but not, thanks to the long lapse of time, entirely 
 engrossed by any side, we see at our feet the city 
 growing often into splendour and often burned and 
 desolate, often filled with the rites and songs of 
 joyful worship, and often ringing with the shrieks 
 of massacre and murder, while spear and lance, 
 sword and scimitar, turban and helmet and coat- 
 of-mail mingle strangely with mitre and holy robe, as 
 fortune varies for the people of the Shechinah or for 
 those of Baal, for the Eagles, the Crescent, or the Cross. 
 From first to last it is “ a strange eventful history,” 
 intensely human, and none the less so because it is 
 religious. Of no other place can it be said so truly, 
 “ its history is the history of religion.” For its civic 
 and its religious life are one throughout, to a degree 
 found nowhere else, nor likely to be found again 
 till men need no longer to pray, “ Thy Kingdom 
 come.” The divine drama has been played in tragic 
 earnest here. All the changes of the historic world 
 have been felt here. The mysteries of Egypt, in 
 art, and science, and law; the magnificence and 
 marvels of the East, of Persia, Arabia, and Baby- 
 
18 
 
 Ion; the refinement and subtlety of Grecian arts 
 and luxury; the merciless machinery of Roman 
 arms; the mixed manners of modern nations of 
 Europe—all have swept over her, but have not 
 diverted her from religion, nor dissociated her from 
 the worship of the one Eternal Creator of the 
 Universe. 
 
 FIRST PERIOD. 
 
 About 2000 b.c. to 587 b.c. 
 
 From the Foundation of the City to the Babylonish 
 
 Captivity. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 
 
 12. BEGINNINGS. —What may be called the 
 Opening Scene in this diorama shows the colour of all 
 those that are to follow, having both a civil and a 
 religious character, and moreover warlike. “ In the 
 valley of Shaveh, which is the King’s dale ” (probably 
 the valley of Jehoshaphat), Abraham returning from 
 his work of rescue was met by Melchizedek, King of 
 Salem, “ first being by interpretation .King of Right¬ 
 eousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is 
 king of Peace .” a Thus from out of the dim un¬ 
 written ages we see Jerusalem emerge as already a 
 holy city and the seat of a high order of religion. Be¬ 
 neath the shadow of the cliffs whereon was to dwell 
 the glory of his posterity, the patriarch received 
 the blessing of this King, who was also “ the priest 
 of the most high God,” 6 foreshadowing thus that 
 greater blessing to be given by Him to whom the 
 Lord hath sworn, “ Thou art a priest for ever, after 
 
 b Gen. xiv. 17-20 
 
 fflHeb. vli 2. 
 
19 
 
 the order of Melchizedek.” Who this mysterious 
 personage was by descent we are not told. There is 
 an ancient tradition which identifies him with Shem, 
 the son of Noah. Men like Luther and Melanchthon 
 have accepted this view. But most take him to 
 have been the representative of a pure faith which 
 held its place for a time alongside the idolatries of 
 Phoenicia or Canaan. At all events, here we have at 
 Jerusalem, before the Law and the Ritual appeared, 
 a priest who had received his ordination direct from 
 God, and who from the unrestricted scope of his office 
 was a pattern of another Priest who should by a 
 supreme act in the same place make men of all 
 nations “ kings and priests unto God.” 
 
 13. ABRAHAM AND MOUNT MORIAH.— Some 
 years later on, we see a group coming up from the 
 south, an old man carrying a knife and a lighted 
 torch, and a lad with faggots on his back. “ Then 
 Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar 
 off,” a Moriah, the mount “ visible of the Lord,”—on 
 which the temples afterwards stood and on which the 
 greatest glory of Jerusalem still stands—chosen (as 
 Euskin puts it) to fulfil to the seed of Abraham far- 
 off and near the inner meaning of the promise 
 regarded in that vow, “ I will lift up mine eyes unto 
 the hills from whence cometh my help.” The child 
 of the promise, Isaac, is bound to the altar, the knife 
 is raised, and the father is about to deprive himself 
 of his dearest joy and hope, when God, satisfied that 
 His chosen understood the central secret of life on 
 earth, as put thereafter in the doctrine of Jesus, “ He 
 that loseth his life shall save it,” not only spared the 
 sacrifice, but renewed the promise, the blessing most 
 precious to the patriarch’s mind. & 
 
 The ram that God provided gave a name to the 
 place, a new name, Jehovah-jireh , “ the Lord will 
 provide,” thus prefiguring, surely in a wonderful 
 clearness of manner, the oblation some eighteen 
 
 a Gen. xxii. 4. b Gen. xxii. 17,18. 
 
 B 
 
20 
 
 centuries after, near that very spot, of “ the Lamb of 
 God which taketh away the sins of the world.” 
 
 14. INTERVAL OF SILENCE.— For over 500 
 years there is no mention of the city, from Abraham 
 to Joshua. The first actual naming of it as Jeru¬ 
 salem occurs in Joshua x. The Israelites from 
 Egypt had won the promised land ; and we find 
 Adonizedec, King of Jerusalem, leaguing with other 
 four kings of the Amorites to try and expel them. 
 The league was shattered ; but it is not clear that 
 Joshua took Jerusalem. If he did, it was only a 
 partial conquest. For we read that at the partition 
 of the land among the tribes the northern border 
 of Judah “ went up unto the south side of the 
 Jebusite; the same is Jerusalem,” and “ Jebusi , which 
 is Jerusalem” was among the lot of Benjamin.® 
 Likewise some 50 years later in the time of the 
 Judges we find it still called a Jebusite city and 
 unfriendly. 6 But there is one point we should 
 note here, namely, that the name Adonizedec, mean¬ 
 ing “ Lord of Bighteousness ” and so strikingly like 
 Melchizedec, goes far to shew that the city had still 
 its sacred character. If that is so, then from first 
 to last, both before it became Jewish and since, 
 Jerusalem has never been without that character. 
 
 15. ERA OF DAVID’S REIGN.— It remained 
 practically a Jebusite City for 500 years more, till 
 David became, by the death of Abner and Ishbosh- 
 eth, King of the united nation (of Israel as well as 
 of Judah). He took the Lower City (Acra) by 
 assault; but the citadel or Upper City (Sion) held 
 out, being strong by nature and defences. The 
 Jebusites defied him, and in derision placed their 
 blind and lame on the walls, as sufficient to man them 
 and keep David out. But David called out to his 
 men to storm the ditch or “ gutter,” promising the 
 captaincy of the hosts to the first man who should 
 strike a blow at the garrison inside. Joab won that 
 
 a Josh. xv. 8, and xviii. 28. b Judges xix. 12. 
 
21 
 
 honour. The citadel fell, and David thenceforth 
 reigned there, calling it the “ City of David .” a 
 Thus Jerusalem became the capital of all Israel, and 
 by the bringing up of the Ark of God, which 
 David presently effected, it became also the most 
 sacred city. 
 
 16. DAVID’S REIGN. —We witness two remarkable 
 scenes in David’s reign. First, the Removal of the 
 Ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence, 
 from Kirjath-jearim (10 miles N.-W.) where, after 
 many striking vicissitudes, it had remained for over 
 twenty years. After one fatal mishap, they brought 
 it up over the hills to Jerusalem, escorting it with 
 great pomp and gladness. 6 David with 30,000 
 of his warriors attended it; and, in a simple linen 
 dress, he mingled with the people in the rejoicings, 
 as, with music, and singing, and dancing, the pre¬ 
 cious heirloom of the nation was conducted to the 
 pavilion prepared for it on Mount Sion. This, the 
 supreme day of David’s life, is perhaps commemorated 
 in the xxiv. and other Psalms : c “ Lift up your 
 heads, O ye gates,” “ O worship the Lord in the 
 beauty of holiness.” 
 
 17. THE ARK. —But the Ark was not to stay on 
 Sion. A holier place had been chosen of old, and 
 was now to be strangely signalised again. This was 
 done in another remarkable scene in David’s life. 
 When David had extended his realm far and wide, 
 he was tempted to commit an invidious act—pro¬ 
 bably with a view to establishing a standing army— 
 namely, the numbering of the peopled As the sign 
 of God’s displeasure at this, a pestilence raging three 
 days had already mowed down 70,000 of Israel, and 
 was fast advancing through Jerusalem itself, when 
 it was stayed by the Thresliing-jloor of Araunah the 
 Jebusite. Here the angel of the Lord was seen 
 “ standing between the earth and the heaven, having 
 
 a Antiq. of Josephus, vii. 3., and 2 Sam. v. 6. 
 
 b 2 Sam. vi. cl Chron. xvi. 
 
 d 1 Clirou. xxi. 
 
22 
 
 a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jeru- 
 salem.” And here David, having honourably ac¬ 
 quired the ground, not like Mt. Sion by violent 
 seizure and bloodshed, but by a peaceful bargain, 
 built an altar and sacrificed. The Lord answered 
 him by fire from heaven upon his offering, and the 
 pestilence ceased. a Now this place, where mercy 
 was thus shown from God and honour between men, 
 was none other than Moriah, 6 the site of the Temple. 
 Here was the Ark to rest. This is even to this day 
 the only undisputed site in Jerusalem. For none 
 has ever doubted that this is “ the mountain of the 
 Lord’s house,” even this which to-day is surmounted 
 by the beautiful dome of the Mosque of Omar. 
 And through thousands upon thousands of panes of 
 brilliantly-coloured glass the light of to-day which 
 you and I enjoy breaks in upon the ancient thresh¬ 
 ing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, rough and bare 
 as it was in the days when his oxen trod out the 
 corn upon it and his sons tossed up the chaff to the 
 autumn winds. 
 
 18. THE TEMPLE. —Hence sprang the idea of a 
 tabernacle to contain the Ark. The old tabernacle 
 made by Moses was still down at Gibeon, but here 
 on the site God Himself had chosen for a propi¬ 
 tiatory altar, David conceived the design of the 
 Temple c which Solomon builded. But though he 
 might ask regretfully, “ Shall I dwell in a house of 
 cedar, while the ark of God dwelleth within 
 curtains ?” yet, his hands being stained with blood 
 and many wars, he dared not raise the holy structure. 
 That was reserved for his son Solomon , “ the Man of 
 Rest” Peace came at last to the chosen people, the 
 only time of real peace the nation ever has known 
 In Solomon’s reign, it may be said that all the old 
 promises of outward prosperity were fulfilled : 
 “ Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is 
 
 a 1 Chron. xxi. 14-30. 2 Sam. xxiv. b 2 Cluon. iii. 1 
 
 c Joseph. Antiq. vii. 13. 
 
23 
 
 by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and 
 making merry,” “ and dwelt safely, every man under 
 his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to 
 Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” a 
 
 Wisdom and justice dwelt in Jerusalem; all 
 kings of the earth bowed down before her, the 
 kings of Tarshish and of the isles and of Sheba 
 bringing gifts. Wealth poured in from every 
 land, the fleets of Tyre bringing the gold of Ophir 
 and the rich produce of distant shores, till “ silver 
 was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar-trees as syca¬ 
 mores for abundance.” b Sumptuous palaces crown¬ 
 ing the rugged hills in profusion of gold and splen¬ 
 dour of design, lofty gates and porches, corridors, 
 public halls, bridges, cisterns, aqueducts, and 
 luxurious gardens, transformed the plain mountain 
 stronghold into a city of oriental magnificence. 
 And above all in glory is the shining Temple of the 
 Lord , on Moriah, the Mount of Vision, “ seen from 
 afar.” To give foundation for it, broad platforms 
 were formed up to the level of the summit of 
 Moriah by raising banks of enormous stones from 
 the deep valleys to the east and south. From 
 the esplanade or outer court, platform rose above 
 platform to the inner court on which the building 
 itself stood. Built after the model of the wilderness 
 tabernacle, which again was after the model of 
 Egyptian temples, the temple of Solomon consisted 
 of three parts, a propylaeon or porch, a temple 
 or Holy Place, and a sanctuary or the Holy of 
 Holies. Fronting the east, the porch in form of a 
 tower rose to the height of 210 feet. Behind that 
 the main building was 105 feet long, 35 wide, and 
 52£ high. c Small dimensions these are, but the 
 glory lay not in size but in quality, in the solidity, 
 the beauty, and richness of the materials. Its. chief 
 
 a 1 Kings iv. 20, 25. 6 2 Chron. i. 15, and ix. 
 
 c This is as near as can be computed, though Josephus and others 
 following him and Ezekiel’s vision make it much grander. 
 
feature was the gold with which everything was 
 plated, the floor, the ceiling, the sides, the walls, 
 within and without. Complete it stood the wonder 
 of the world ; and it is said that the burnished walls 
 could be seen glowing like a fire from the heights 
 of Moab away over Jordan. For seven years we 
 watch the fabric rising from the rock, as by an en¬ 
 chanter’s wand, in silence, without sound of hammer 
 or axe or any tool of iron. All the stones and 
 timbers were hewn and fitted beforehand." 
 
 “ Then tower’d the palace, then in awful state 
 The temple reared its everlasting gate, 
 
 No workman’s steel, no ponderous axes rung : 
 
 Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung.”* 
 
 19. THE DEDICATION.—And now the day of 
 the solemn Dedication of the Temple c has come. 
 “ The elders of Israel, the heads of all the tribes ” are 
 there ; the priests and the Levites themselves num¬ 
 bering 38,000, all “ arrayed in white linen,” occupy 
 the inner court. The whole nation, “ a very great 
 congregation,” fills the spacious courts in front. The 
 king sits high on “ a brasen scaffold,” a throne of 
 brass. The ark has been brought i( up out of the 
 city of David, which is Zion,” and the fittings and 
 furniture of “ the tabernacle which Moses pitched ” 
 are there from Gibeon. The signal falls ; and as the 
 ark, borne by Levites, moves towards the gates, 
 thousands of appointed singers break forth in a 
 psalm : “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye 
 lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory 
 shall come in.” The gates fly open, the veil before 
 the shrine is drawn back, and the ark is laid in its 
 place beneath the wings of the cherubim. What a 
 scene then ensues—of material magnificence, of moral 
 grandeur ! One united sound is “ heard in praising 
 
 a Joseph. Antiq. viii. 2 and 3, and 1 Kings vi., and 2 Chron. iii., iv. 
 
 b Heber’s Palestine. 
 
 c See 1 Kings viii.; and 2 Chron. v., vi., vii.; and Joseph. Antiq. 
 viii. 4. 
 
25 
 
 and thanking the Lord, lifting up the voice with the 
 trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick ; ” 
 “ and the house was filled with a cloud, so that the 
 priests could not stand to minister : for the glory of 
 the Lord had filled the house of God.” “ Turning his 
 face to the multitude, the king blessed all the con¬ 
 gregation of Israel as they stood. Then, with his 
 face again towards the altar, <c he kneeled down upon 
 his knees, and spread forth his hands towards heaven” 
 in prayer : “ But will God in very deed dwell with 
 men on the earth ? Behold, heaven and the heaven 
 of heavens cannot contain thee , how much less this 
 house which I have built ! ” And as he concluded : 
 “ Now, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into thy resting- 
 place, thou, and the ark of thy strength,” “ there 
 came a fire running out of the air and rushed with 
 violence upon the altar, in the sight of all, and con¬ 
 sumed the sacrifices.” b The priests stood awestruck, 
 and the whole people falling on their faces worshipped 
 and praised the Lord : “ For he is good, for his 
 mercy endureth for ever.” 
 
 And so the ark of God dwelt once more with the 
 tabernacle as in the days of the wilderness, and the 
 glory of the Lord with His people. Henceforth 
 Jerusalem is the centre of all Hebrew life, civil and 
 religious. These two were one, more vitally so than 
 in any other state in history. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 FROM SOLOMON TO THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM BY 
 THE BABYLONIANS. 
 
 20. THE PEOPLE AND THE LAW. —The 
 
 Jewish people had long ago accepted their National 
 
 a 2 Clir. v. 13,14. b Joseph. Antiq., viii. 4. 
 
26 
 
 Constitution as drawn out by Mioses, and that 
 too with its inseparable conditions of blessing and 
 of cursing. Five hundred years before this con¬ 
 solidation at Jerusalem (b.c. 1004) under Solomon, 
 as the tribes stood in deep solemnity, half on 
 Mount Ebal, half on Mount Gerizim — Ebal 
 barren and stony, Gerizim lovely and fertile— 
 Joshua had read over the law and all the words of 
 Moses, both the blessings and the cursings ; and the 
 people as a nation had pledged themselves, “We are 
 witnesses.” a And all their history proved Moses 
 true. When they kept the Law they had peace and 
 prosperity; when they violated it, strife and ad¬ 
 versity ; when they repented and reformed, pros¬ 
 perity smiled again. But ah ! how much more of 
 cursing than of blessing was their due ! As the 
 prophetic mind of Moses uttered cursings far grander 
 than the blessings—and how else could he, knowing 
 the people as he did ?—so the Jews in their infatua¬ 
 tion drew down upon their heads disasters and 
 miseries before which in intensity their times of 
 glory fade into nothingness. That curse of Moses, 
 “ wherein nature is exhausted for terrific images,” 
 “ a sublimer curse than ever rang through the pas¬ 
 sionate wrath of prophecycame most terribly and 
 minutely true in the real horrors of Jewish history. 
 Read the words in Deut. xxviii., “The Lord shall 
 smite thee,” &c. Are they not like a commentary 
 on facts occurred rather than a foreboding of what 
 was to occur 1 Point by point how true came all 
 this ! 
 
 21. APOSTASY.—The pulse that would tell how 
 far the heart of the people kept loyal and true to 
 God and the Law beat in Jerusalem : and there let 
 us watch it again. How woefully significant is the 
 fact that the first apostate should be Solomon 
 himself, he in whom wisdom and worship dwelt 
 above the reach of other men. But indeed he had 
 
 a Josh. viii. 32, and xxiv. 22. b De Quincey. 
 
27 
 
 acted as an autocratic despot in affairs religious as 
 well as civil. His foreign connection, his many 
 heathen wives, his army of cavalry, were all against 
 the principles of the Hebrew law. Worse than 
 that. On yonder hill, over against the very Temple 
 of Jehovah, the one and only God, altars are 
 reeking, and strange priests performing obscene and 
 barbarous rites, and in the name of the king the 
 people are falling down before the accursed idols of 
 Egypt and Edom, Sid on and Ammon ! a That is the 
 first stroke in the knell of Jerusalem. 
 
 For 400 years the city continues in high career, 
 united still religiously with all the Hebrews, 
 though divided civilly, until her iniquity is full, 
 and the sceptre is torn for ever from the line of 
 David. During this period we witness the same 
 strange conflict of vice and virtue in high places ; 
 vicious princes alternating with virtuous, and the 
 vicious predominating. 
 
 22. THE PERIOD OF THE REVOLT.—No 
 
 sooner had Rehoboam , Solomon’s son, begun his reign 
 than his violence alienated from him at Jerusalem 
 all the tribes but Judah and Benjamin. This Revolt 
 of the Ten Tribes caused the separation of the two 
 kingdoms. 6 Samaria became the capital of the 
 kingdom of Israel, with Jeroboam as first king. 
 We cannot stay to narrate the fortunes of that 
 kingdom. It lasted only 250 years in all, with 
 a succession of vicious and impious kings from 
 Jeroboam to Hoshea. The infamous names of 
 Ahab and Jezebel stand out therein pre-eminent 
 for impiety, cruelty, and blood - guiltiness. Two 
 great prophets, Elijah and Elisha, were chiefly con¬ 
 cerned in the welfare of the seceded kingdom, and 
 did most of their mighty or merciful acts within its 
 bounds. But though thus highly favoured by these 
 interpreters of God, the northern kingdom was less 
 attached to the worship of Jehovah than it was prone 
 
 a 1 Kings xi., and Josephus viii. 7. 6 2 Chron. x. 
 
28 
 
 to that of Baal, the Sun-god, so assiduously served 
 by the neighbouring Phoenician peoples. This fact 
 laid it open to disintegration as a Hebrew state, 
 divorcing it more completely from the southern 
 kingdom ; and finally made it fall an easy prey to 
 the young Assyrian monarchy, when that first began 
 to sprout westward. In three captivities the people 
 were completely withdrawn and lost in Assyria." 
 Hence the expression, “The Lost Ten Tribes of 
 Israel.” Their place in Samaria was largely filled up 
 by strange nations not at all of the house or kinship 
 of Isifctol 
 
 23. THE CITY IN THE TIME OF DIVISION.— 
 
 To return to Jerusalem : just so far as they of Judah 
 realised the proverb of Solomon, “ Kighteousness 
 exaltetli a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any 
 people,” to that extent did they prosper beyond 
 those of their sister kingdom of Israel. Their royal 
 names were not all wicked like those of Israel, 
 neither was their kingdom without peace and pros¬ 
 perity at times. All the longer reigns were good 
 and fortunate. All the rest either “ did right, but 
 not with a perfect heart,” or, with more mournful 
 frequency, “ did that which was evil in the sight of 
 the Lord.” And still throughout the whole record b 
 we hear ever this sad refrain of the chroniclers, 
 “Nevertheless the high places were not taken 
 away.” c With an astonishing perverseness the 
 Hebrew people obeyed that idolatrous tendency to 
 connect the worship of the Invisible God with the 
 tops of hills and the groves unholy planted there, 
 which we know was a chief feature of pagan life 
 in the old times when our own hill-tops of Britain 
 glared with the fires of Baal. This unfaithfulness 
 to Jehovah and the Law was never more open and 
 audacious than in the troublous times that preceded 
 
 a 2 Kings, xv., xvi., xvii. 
 
 b 2 Chr. xi.-xxxvi.; and 2 Kings i -xxiv. 
 
 c Read Jer. vii. 31-32. 
 
29 
 
 the captivities. Just when, for the political reason 
 which we shall have to state, the whole vital energies 
 of the Hebrew constitution, civil and religious, 
 required to be concentrated against foreign encroach¬ 
 ments, “ the house,” within and without, “ was 
 divided against itself.” 
 
 24. EGYPT. —Palestine was then the block of 
 separation between the old power of Egypt and the 
 new and rising power of Assyria, and each tried 
 to overstep it in order to strike at the other. 
 Within three years after the death of Solomon, and 
 coincident with the general apostasy of Judah, a 
 descent was made upon that kingdom, as a scourge 
 from the hand of the Lord, by ShishaJc , King of 
 Egypt, with a numerous army." Jerusalem was 
 taken and the temple despoiled of its treasures. 
 This was the First Capture of Jewish Jerusalem , and 
 the precursor of many more. Strange that the first 
 blow should thus be given by Egypt, the old slave¬ 
 holder ! 
 
 25. TIME OF AHAZ. —But in spite of many 
 such warnings and many timely deliverances, in spite 
 of the exertions of the good kings to reform and 
 strengthen the state, iniquity and idolatry increased, 
 and the corruption of people, priests, and princes 
 grew deeper year by year. The end was seen 
 approaching during the reign of Ahaz, the most 
 profligate in an age of profligacy. Sin ran riot 
 in the land : in the heavy words of the prophet, 
 “they drew iniquity with cords of vanity, and 
 sin as it were with a cart-rope.” 6 The voices of 
 the prophets (Hosea and Amos for Israel, and Joel 
 and Isaiah for Judah) rose shriller and higher, giving 
 warning of approaching judgments: “Alas for the 
 day ! Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an 
 alarm; for the day of the Lord cometh, a day of 
 darkness and of gloom.” c Judgment followed 
 judgment, till there was no room, no whole spot, to 
 
 a 2 Chron. xii. b Isaiali v. 18. c Joel i. and ii. 
 
30 
 
 smite any more with the rod of chastisement." 
 The country was desolated by earthquakes, famine, 
 and drought; cities were burned and the land 
 ravaged by enemies from near and far, and a small 
 remnant of faithful souls seemed Jerusalem’s only 
 security against the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 That small remnant, however, averted the ruin yet 
 a little while. 
 
 26. TIME OF HEZEKIAH. —Under good King 
 Rezekiah we find the influence of the pious remnant 
 strongly at work. “There was great joy in Jeru¬ 
 salem ; for since the time of Solomon there was not 
 the like in Jerusalem.” b A signal mark of divine 
 favour was then granted, one which could not but 
 recall the time when the Arm of the Lord was re¬ 
 vealed in the destruction of Pharaoh’s pursuing 
 hosts. In 710 b.c. a vast Assyrian army,, finder 
 their king Sennacherib, marched into Judaea on their 
 road to conquer Egypt, and threatened Jerusalem. 
 But a sudden plague, “the angel of the Lord,” averted 
 the attack; for one morning 185,000 corpses lay in 
 the camp of the Assyrians. 0 
 
 27. TIME OF HEZEKIAH’S SUCCESSORS.—If 
 you would understand the spirit of Hezekiah, study 
 him as he appears in his dangerous illness, when 
 the shadow “ in the sun dial of Ahaz ” receded ten 
 degrees as a sign to him of longer life. 6 * 
 
 After Hezekiah there were seven reigns before the 
 great Captivity, but all were evil, except Josiah’s. 
 None exceeded Manasseh in irreligion and tyranny. 
 Among the many vile deeds for which the Jews 
 still execrate his name, tradition places the martyr¬ 
 dom of the prophet Isaiah, who is said to have been 
 “ sawn asunder.” e He was at length carried in 
 chains to Babylon, and there in the dungeon re¬ 
 pented, and was restored to his kingdom. “ And 
 
 a Isaiah i. 6 2 Chr. xxx. 26. c 2 Kings xix. 
 
 d Isaiah xxxviii. and 2 Kings xx. e See Joseph, x. iii. 2. 
 
31 
 
 then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God ; ” * 
 and lived a holier and a wiser life. . But he could 
 do little to retrieve the evil consequences of his 
 former character. 
 
 28. TIME OF JOSIAH.—It was a noble but a 
 most discouraging task that Josicth, the hoy-king , set 
 himself to when he came to the throne. Devasta¬ 
 tion had spread over the land ; the temple was in 
 ruins ; the high-places were filled with idol-altars. 
 To destroy the evil and repair the good was his life¬ 
 long endeavour. The old faith had died out; the 
 old Mosaic Law and righteousness along with it 
 were forgotten : to what utter extent we can see by 
 the incident of the finding of an original copy of 
 the Law among the debris of the temple. h Josiah 
 repaired the temple and restored the Law. In a 
 solemn scene, which recalled the old days of fidelity, 
 the covenant was renewed before the Lord in the 
 temple: “and all the people, great and small,” 
 were “ caused to stand to it.” c But alas ! the day 
 of reform had come too late. The busy sounds of 
 the workmen repairing the temple, the acclamations 
 of the multitude at the splendid Feast of the Pass- 
 over which the king kept in his eighteenth year—as 
 if piety and peace were again to dwell in Jerusalem 
 —were but the prelude to the shouts of the invad¬ 
 ing armies already on the march ; and contrasted 
 strangely with the dirge which Jeremiah, the poet- 
 prophet , was already raising, wherein he sang by 
 anticipation the fate and fall of his beloved city, the 
 last of her kings, the people captive, and the temple 
 burned. Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, going up against 
 Assyria,* 7 was opposed by Josiah as a vassal of the 
 “ Great King; 5 ’ and Josiah was slain on the historic 
 plain of Esdraelon. 
 
 29. SUFFERINGS OF J ERUSALEM.—Then 
 began a succession of terrors in which the unhappy 
 
 a 2 Chron. xxxiii. b 2 Chron. xxxiv. 
 
 c Ibid. vv. 30-32. d 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. 
 
32 
 
 city was torn and tried by friend and foe, and tossed 
 from hand to hand. Her rulers were mere “ shadows 
 of kings,” siding now with the power on the Tigris 
 and Euphrates, now with that on the Nile, and 
 chastised now by the one and again by the other. 
 Necho of Egypt took Jerusalem and carried Jehoahaz, 
 the king, a captive to Egypt.® And now the 
 mighty monarch arose in the East who was 
 to put an end to what remained of the glory of 
 Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar, the Great King. As the 
 burden of Isaiah had been the approach of Senna¬ 
 cherib, so the burden of Jeremiah was the approach 
 of Nebuchadnezzar. He stormed the city, and 
 carried the King Jehoiakim , with many of the princes, 
 including Daniel and his three comrades, into bond¬ 
 age in Babylon. 6 Jehoiakim was restored again to 
 his kingdom, but only to plunge deeper into folly 
 and excess, and end at last in being “ buried with 
 the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond 
 the gates of Jerusalem.” c & d 
 
 30. NEBUCHADNEZZAR .—Young King Jelioia- 
 chin had reigned only three and a half months when 
 Nebuchadnezzar came again and carried off the 
 king, the treasures of the temple, “ all the men of 
 might,” the army and nobility, and all the skilled 
 artizans to that vast country of captivity that now 
 had swallowed up the fairest of the Hebrew race. 6 
 Untaught by all these misfortunes, and unheedful 
 of the predictions and counsels of the prophet Jere¬ 
 miah, who for his persistent boldness was thrown 
 into a foul dungeon full of mire/ the new King 
 Zedekiah provoked again the wrath and vengeance 
 of the mighty monarch of the East. And this time 
 all was over. What Nebuchadnezzar had left un¬ 
 done his captain Nebuzaradan relentlessly com¬ 
 pleted. The city was taken after a considerable 
 
 a 2 Chron. xxxvi. 3-5. b 2 Cliron. xxxvi. 6, and Dan. i. 1. 
 
 c Jeremiah xxii. 19, and Josephus Antiq. x. 6, 3. 
 
 cl Such is an ass’s burial at Jerusalem and other eastern towns still. 
 
 e 2 Kings xxiv. 10. / Jeremiah xxxviii. 
 
33 
 
 siege, and left a mass of ruins ; and the remainder 
 of the people led captive into Babylon (b.c. 587). 
 The wretched king himself, in an attempt to escape, 
 was caught near Jericho, and carried to Riblah in 
 Syria before Nebuchadnezzar. After beholding the 
 fearful sight of his children and his officers being 
 slain before his face, his eyes were put out; and then, 
 blind and childless, he was led away, a melancholy 
 spectacle, this, the last of David’s royal line, to his 
 far foreign prison, there to die. “Weep ye not for 
 the dead ; but weep sore for him that goeth away ; 
 for he shall return no more, nor see his native 
 country.” « And that fabric of strength and beauty, 
 the Temple of the Lord, with all its spacious courts, 
 its roofs of cedar and walls of gold, was torn down 
 and wrapt in flames. The walls and towers and 
 palaces of the royal city were levelled with the 
 earth or burned, all in one common blackened ruin. 
 
 31. JEREMIAH. —Zion’s temple was no more! 
 The Lord had hid His face. 
 
 Well might the captive Jews, thinking of the 
 glory that had been, as they sat “ by the rivers of 
 Babylon,” “ weep when they remembered Zion.” 
 “ They required of us a song, saying, Sing us one 
 of the songs of Zion.” 6 Ah ! sing, when no more 
 the temple rings with joyous praises as of yore 1 — 
 “Our holy and our beautiful house, where our 
 fathers praised Thee, is burned up with fire : and 
 all our pleasant things are laid waste .” b “ How, 
 then, shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange 
 land % If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 
 hand forget her cunning.” c 
 
 But there was one who remained behind in Jeru¬ 
 salem to sing her sad fate, a song of a new sort, but 
 surely also of the Lord. He had lived through all 
 the horrors of siege and famine, had seen her fall, 
 and at one stroke lost his home and the dwelling of 
 
 a Jeremiah xxii. 10. b Isaiah ixiv. 11. 
 
 c Psahn cxxxvii. 
 
34 
 
 his God. But though greatly tempted to leave, he 
 chose to stay among the miserable remains of his 
 country, and mourn over the ashes of the fallen 
 queen of cities. If never bad city such a miserable 
 fall, never had fallen city such a swan-song poured 
 over it as were the passionate and pathetic words of 
 Jeremiah. The whole soul of Jerusalem seems to 
 gush forth in his dirges. “ Oh that my head were 
 waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I 
 might weep day and night for the slain of the 
 daughter of my people !” a 
 
 SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 b.c. 587 to a.d. 71. 
 
 From the Babylonish Captivity to the Destruction of 
 Jerusalem by the Romans. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Restoration.—Struggles against Foreign 
 Domination.—Roman Ascendency. 
 
 32. SURVIVALS. —But had the race melted away 
 for ever l Other nations similarly treated have 
 faded away and perished from the page of history. 
 But the Jews had in their possession an eternal 
 truth which saved them — the knowledge of the 
 One living and true God. In no ambiguous or 
 parabolic sense the name of the Lord was their 
 salvation. Their temple and their city were fallen ; 
 the ark of the Lord was lost ; but the sublime idea 
 of Jehovah had sunk into the life and consciousness 
 of the people, and wherever beat a Jewish heart—by 
 the banks of the mighty Tigris or Euphrates, far 
 away amid the interminable plains of Babylon, or 
 
 a Jev. ix. 1; and see Lamentations, passim. 
 
35 
 
 beneath the shadow of the pyramids, or along the 
 valleys and the hills of the desolate homeland —there 
 dwelt the invisible ark of God 0 
 
 33. THE RETURN.—For a little over half a 
 century the city lay silent and desolate. Then the 
 Lord brought back the captivity of Zion. Seventy 
 years is the complete term of captivity, reckoning 
 from the first great detachment to the Edict of 
 Return.® 
 
 In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, 6 about 
 50,000 patriotic Jews, with their beasts of burden 
 and some of the sacred vessels, returned, under the 
 leadership of Zerubbabel, to the ruins of Jerusalem. 0 
 A new temple, less magnificent by far than Solo¬ 
 mon’s, but slightly larger, was at once begun. Once 
 again the altar smoked with sacrifice, and the wor¬ 
 ship of the Lord was renewed upon the holy place. 
 But what a contrast with the former grandeur there! 
 More like a battle, where the victors shout and the 
 vanquished weep, was the scene when the founda¬ 
 tion of this temple was laid — one of mourning 
 mingled with rejoicing. While the people shouted 
 aloud for joy, “ the ancient men that had seen the 
 first house, when the foundation of this house was 
 laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice.” 6 * 
 
 34. THE NEW TEMPLE.—Tardily through 
 twenty-one years the new temple rose : for enemies 
 hindered the work. The Samaritans had offered their 
 aid at first; but, being rejected, not only on account 
 of being half idolatrous but also as being alien in 
 race, they used all possible influence at the Persian 
 court, and by obstruction at home, to prevent the 
 restoration. But at last, in the reign of Darius 
 Hystaspes, under the stimulus of the prophets Hag- 
 gai and Zechariah, the temple was completed, such as 
 
 a The Jews were so well settled in their exile that only the poorer 
 portion availed themselves of this edict. 
 
 b Successor to that Darius the Median who had ended the daj s and 
 kingdom of Belshazzar the Chaldean, 
 c Ezra i. d Ezra iii. 11-13. 
 
 0 
 
36 
 
 it was. These were the men who raised the drooping 
 spirits of the people by showing to them the greater 
 glory that was yet to come. “ The glory of this 
 latter house shall be greater than of the former, 
 saith the Lord of Hosts.” a Though material gran¬ 
 deur be lacking, yet there shall be “ Holiness unto 
 the Lord.” Better the wooden altar and the bare 
 walls ungarnished, where God is served with an 
 undivided allegiance, than the gorgeous golden 
 House of Solomon and the magnificence of his 
 regal line with all their wickedness and apostasy ! 
 Hence manifold more hope for the redemption of 
 Israel ! 6 
 
 35. UNDER EZRA. —About eighty years after 
 the Return another accession of strength came from 
 Babylon (b.c. 450 to 445) in the persons of Ezra 
 .and Nehemiali. They were both needed in their 
 respective capacities. Ezra was, as he calls himself, 
 “ a ready scribe,” and of priestly descent. Nehemiah 
 was a man of action. Ezra came first, leading 
 another band of pilgrims, including many of the 
 priesthood. 0 He found so little progress made even 
 in eighty years, and so many abuses prevalent, that, 
 as he tells us, he “ sat down astonied ” amid the ruins 
 “until the time of the evening sacrifice,” over¬ 
 whelmed with the misery of the place. His first 
 effort was to reform “the strange marriages” of 
 Jews with heathen wives ; and he did it so effectually 
 that such a thing has ever since been practically 
 unknown among the Jews. His next was to re¬ 
 store the Law. rf Ezra, “ the priest, a scribe of the 
 law of the God of heaven,” gathered all together 
 the Sacred Books in order, so that the people might 
 always know the revealed mind of the Lord. The 
 covenant was renewed by the taking of an oath; 
 and idolatry (at least in the old sense) was known 
 no more in Israel. 
 
 a llaggai ii. 9. 
 c Ezia vii. and viii. 
 
 b See Zech. iv. 6 and 10. 
 cl Neli. viii. 
 
37 
 
 36. UNDER NEHEMIAH.— Thus did Ezra en¬ 
 gage in the social and internal economy] of the city. 
 But a strong man was wanted to control its civil 
 affairs. Nehemiah proved to be the man. He was 
 cup-bearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes. But, 
 moved by the distressing reports of the bad state of 
 affairs at Jerusalem, he applied for and obtained 
 full authority to return to “ the city of his fathers’ 
 sepulchres, that he ] might build it .” a His great 
 act was the rebuilding of the walls, and fortifying 
 the city as a stronghold. This was a politic stroke 
 on the part of the Persian court; for its power was 
 no longer supreme. A new empire, that of Greece, 
 had been aroused in the West, and was driving 
 Persia back into the East. The knowledge of this 
 fact will explain at once the caution and secrecy 
 with which Nehemiah (albeit armed with the king’s 
 authority) proceeded on his mission, and also the 
 boldness with which the neighbouring tribes, Sa¬ 
 maritans, Ammonites, and Arabians, opposed the 
 restoration. He went out by night and took a 
 survey of the ruins. In his simple but vivid nar¬ 
 rative we fancy we can see him, perhaps by the 
 spectral shine of an eastern moon, groping stealthily 
 about among the fallen blocks of masonry, re¬ 
 tracing the plan of the walls and gates, while all 
 within the city lie sleeping. In spite of the jeers 
 of Sanballat and the rest of their jealous neighbours, 
 Nehemiah and the people set to work. And now a 
 sight was seen, terribly symbolical of the after¬ 
 history of these same walls. So open and defence¬ 
 less was the city, and so numerous and troublesome 
 were the enemies, that the very labourers were 
 armed while they worked ; all ranks and orders took 
 their turn of labour, one half working while the 
 other half watched, day and night, like soldiers 
 fortifying a camp in the midst of foes : “ every one 
 with one of his hands wrought in the work and with 
 
 a Neh. ii. 
 
38 
 
 the other hand held a weapon.” « Never were city 
 walls so strangely builded. Yet in the incredibly 
 short space of fifty-two days, & the old blocks had been 
 heaved up again, and once again the city stood girt 
 round with an impregnable line of battlements as 
 in the olden time. Once more Jerusalem raised her 
 head, a queen among the cities, ready to start on 
 another long career of splendid interest and mar¬ 
 vellously varying fortunes, to end again in a series 
 of convulsions and disasters. 
 
 37. GREECE IN JERUSALEM.- All the great 
 empires that sprang up as the world went on came 
 to Jerusalem ; and it may truly be said that when¬ 
 ever they lost paramount influence over it their 
 power was on the wane. Egypt, Babylon, and Persia 
 had come, and would come again at intervals when 
 their power received temporary revival. 
 
 But the strangest coming of all to Jerusalem was 
 certainly when Greece first appeared. Alexander the 
 Great, having overthrown Darius and with him the 
 supremacy of Persia at the battle of Issus (b.c. 333), 
 was now in full career rapidly adding all the pro¬ 
 vinces of the world to his dominion. The Jews, who 
 had long sided with Persia, had everything to fear 
 from his approach. Consternation reigned at Jeru¬ 
 salem. The youthful conqueror stood with his army 
 on yonder hill to the south, looking down on the 
 city and temple. But behold ! a strange procession 
 winds up the valley to meet him—the whole multitude 
 of the people clad in white ; and in front of them 
 the priests in their sacred vestments, headed by the 
 high priest in his robes of purple and scarlet, and on 
 his head the mitre with the name of God emblazoned 
 there in characters of gold. Prostrate the monarch 
 fell and worshipped. “ Why do you worship this 
 man ? ” his generals remonstrated, “ you whom all 
 men worship, the conqueror of the world 1 ” “I wor- 
 
 aNeh. iv. 
 
 b Neh. vi. 15. Josephus xi. ~>. 8, gives two years four mouths. 
 
39 
 
 ship,” he answered, “not the high priest, but his 
 God ; ” and entered the holy city not to strike but 
 to preserve. a 
 
 38. SYRO-GRECIAN PERIOD.— Greece herself 
 never harmed Jerusalem with fire or sword. But an 
 offshoot of hers—the Syro-Grecian kingdom—did so 
 most cruelly. And while the Grecian domination 
 lasted, for over 150 years after Alexander’s conquest, 
 a more deadly harm than fire or sword could do 
 was inflicted in the subtle influence of Grecian 
 culture, philosophy, and modes of life, Grecian vices 
 and idolatry silently supplanting the native Jewish 
 law and religion. Nor was this surprising. The 
 whole world was smitten with the desire to imitate 
 Greece, to Hellenize , as it was called,—there was 
 something at once so pleasing and so human in the 
 Greek civilization. 
 
 39. AFTER ALEXANDER. —The world received a 
 shock by the early death of Alexander, and anarchy 
 everywhere prevailed. 
 
 On the partition of Alexander’s dominions, two 
 famous dynasties sprang up,—'the Seleucidae, whose 
 capital was Antioch, and the Ptolemies, whose capital 
 was Alexandria. Judaea lay between ; and both for 
 politic reasons favoured its independence. But it 
 suffered much between them, and was frequently 
 taken and retaken in their mutual conflicts. But on 
 the whole there was no sheer cruelty, only the misery 
 incidental to the situation, as Josephus says, “ like 
 to a ship in a storm, which is tessed by the waves on 
 both sides.” As usual they brought the chastise¬ 
 ment on themselves. Their rulers quarrelled, chiefly 
 about the tenure of the high-priesthood, which by 
 bribery was sold and resold at the court of Antioch. 
 Onias, a godly man, was superseded thus by Joshua, 
 and murdered. Joshua was in turn superseded by 
 another Onias. They aped Grecian manners, and did 
 
 a Joseph. Ant. xi. 8. Milman calls this episode “ a romantic and 
 picturesque story ; ” hut he narrates it all the same in his History. 
 
40 
 
 all they could to undermine the national Jewish char¬ 
 acter and institutions. They assumed Greek names 
 —Onias calling himself Menelaus, and Joshua, Jason. 
 All this was to curry favour with the Syro-Grecian 
 court. a Jason was the most infamous; he neglected 
 the temple rites, and corrupted the youth of the city 
 by instituting a complete course of Grecian games 
 and pursuits. “Jason, that ungodly wretch, and no 
 high-priest,” exclaims the Second Book of the 
 Maccabees. 
 
 40. ANTIOCHUS. — Antiochus , surnamed Epi- 
 phanes , the Illustrious (and also Epimanes , the Mad¬ 
 man), one of the Seleucidae, king of Syro-Phcenicia, 
 after subjugating Egypt, marched against Jerusalem 
 in its state of distraction, and made sure work of it 
 * (b.c. 170). He seized the pretext of putting down a 
 revolt Jason had raised ; took the city, massacred 
 within the space of three days 40,000 young and old, 
 demolished the walls, burned the finest buildings, 
 pillaged the temple, and desecrated every holy thing 
 and place in the city. Worst crime of all in the 
 eyes of pious Jews, “he built an idol altar upon 
 God’s altar, and slew swine upon it.” He dedicated 
 the temple itself to Jupiter Olympius, and compelled 
 the people throughout the land to worship the Greek 
 gods or die. So great was his madness, that he 
 seemed minded to exterminate the Jewish race and 
 religion. One Sabbath day, when the streets were 
 thronged with those going to the celebration of the 
 Sabbath, his officer, “that detestable ringleader 
 Apollonius,” let loose his army, and slew great 
 multitudes. All Jewish rites, such as circumcision, 
 were forbidden. Many and conspicuous were the 
 martyrdoms, such as the seven brothers and their 
 mother, who one by one were cut and mangled to 
 death; the aged scribe Eleazar, ninety years old, 
 who, rather than “ go to a strange religion,” went to 
 
 a See the whole miserable story in 2 Maccabees, ch. iii. to v. and 
 Josephus Ant. xii. 4 and 5 ch. 
 
41 . 
 
 the torture, and left, as he said, “ a notable example, 
 to die willingly and courageously for the honourable 
 and holy laws.”" 
 
 Hunted, hanged, burned, flayed, sawn asunder, 
 tormented, and tortured in the most fiendish ways, 
 never was the Hebrew people so near extinction— 
 and with them the worship of the true God—as at 
 the hands of Antiochus, this monster of cruelty. 
 
 41. THE MACCABEES. —“And there was very 
 great wrath upon Israel.” But there is an old 
 Hebrew proverb, “ When Israel is in the brick¬ 
 kiln, then cometh Moses.” A Moses did come at 
 this juncture, in the person of Judas Maccabaeus. He 
 broke up the power of the oppressors, cleared the 
 land of the Syrians, and with his equally valiant 
 brothers, Jonathan and Simon, after him, made it 
 once again free and prosperous. They were to 
 Palestine what Wallace and Bruce were to Scot¬ 
 land ; never were truer patriots, and never better 
 cause than theirs. 
 
 42. JUDAS MACCAB/EUS. —The father of the 
 Maccabees, Mattathias, a priest, had retired in rage 
 and horror from Jerusalem, and abode with his five 
 sons among the mountains. He was then an old 
 man ; but he incited his sons to free their country, 
 and gave the command to J udas, as being the boldest. 
 Speedily the news of a revolt ran through the land; 
 and the bravest and most desperate took arms, and 
 flocked to the standard Judas had raised. Antiochus 
 sent general after general, with large armies 
 against him, only to meet with disaster at the 
 hands of Judas and his small but devoted band 
 of Jewish warriors. At Beth-horon, at Emmaus, 
 and in Idumaea crushing defeats were inflicted on 
 the Syrian hosts. Triumphant everywhere, at last 
 the heroes who had thus nobly dared and done for 
 God and country, regained their holy capital—to 
 praise God for his help, and to lament the defile- 
 
 u See 1 Macc. i., and 2 Macc. v. to viii. 
 
42 
 
 ment and the wild disorder they saw therein. 
 A fter another great victory, Jndas strengthened his 
 cause by a treaty of alliance with the rising power 
 of Rome (b.c. 161). He was elected high-priest by 
 the choice of the people ; and thus it was in the 
 united capacity of high-priest and general that he 
 met his end on the field of battle, gloriously; as he 
 had lived, so he died, the champion of his country’s 
 freedom. 
 
 43. JONATHAN AND SIMON.— Jonathan, his 
 brother, succeeded him in the offices of high-priest 
 and leader ; and established himself so strongly as 
 prince of Judsea that he was courted by the rival 
 claimants to the throne of Antioch and by the 
 Egyptian court. After a brilliant and prosperous 
 career, he was taken prisoner by treachery and basely 
 put to death by Tryphon, a general, who usurped 
 the Syrian kingship, Simon, another brother, next as¬ 
 sumed the leadership, with the acclamation of all the 
 people. He entered into his dead brothers’ labours, 
 and the land had rest under his rule, enjoying im¬ 
 munity from the Macedonian yoke that had so long 
 galled it on both sides, from Egypt and from Antioch. 
 Halcyon days those were in Israel, when “ the 
 ancient men sat all in the streets, communing to¬ 
 gether of good things ; and the young men put on 
 glorious and warlike apparel. ” a 
 
 44. THE ASMONEAN SUCCESSION.— When 
 he was now old, Simon was treacherously murdered 
 at a banquet in Jericho, along with his elder son. 
 But another son, John Hyrcanus, escaped, to main¬ 
 tain the prosperity and the glory of the Asmonean 
 race of rulers for thirty-one years. His descendants, 
 however, proved unworthy of their noble origin. 
 Crime and misery wore them away, till at length a 
 new dynasty, the Herodian, superseded them in the 
 regal function. Aristobulus, son and successor of J ohn 
 Hyrcanus, died of remorse for murdering his brother. 
 
 0 /1 Macc. xiy. 9-12, 
 
43 
 
 Alexander Jannaeus, the next, died after a reign 
 of atrocities and wars. His widow, Alexandra, 
 reigned for eight years. Their two sons then dis¬ 
 puted the sovereignty, the elder, Hyrcanus, and the 
 younger, Aristobulus. And now it was that a new 
 element moved on to the troubled arena of Jewish 
 politics. An Idumaean of noble birth, named 
 Antipater, became chief minister of Hyrcanus, 
 and used him simply as a tool to further his own 
 ambitious views. He fomented the brothers’ quarrel. 
 The indolent Hyrcanus had yielded the sovereignty 
 to Aristobulus. But Antipater schemed the recovery 
 of it. At this time Pompey, the great Roman, was 
 at Damascus, and both parties sent to conciliate his 
 favour. Aristobulus prevailed, but so vacillated 
 and prevaricated that Pompey came down to punish 
 him. Thus it was a civil feud, nay more, a family 
 feud, that again brought in the oppressor. By means 
 of this, Antipater managed to get his own family 
 into power. Herod, his son, became king by the 
 nomination of the Romans. Aristobulus and his 
 sons, as well as another Aristobulus who united the 
 blood of both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, still 
 struggled for their position. And at last Antigonus, 
 the last Asmonean prince, after a vain but desperate 
 resistance to Herod and the Romans, died under the 
 Roman lash. The noble line of the Asmoneans was 
 extinguished. But this great service they had 
 rendered : for more than a century and a quarter they 
 had kept the Jewish nationality apart, so that it was 
 neither absorbed on the one hand in Egypt nor lost 
 on the other in Syria. Then came Rome, and hence¬ 
 forth Judaea was independent no more. 
 
 45. UNDER ROME.—The beginning of the end 
 dates from Rome's Arrival (b.c. 63). Rome was the 
 hammer that was to break in pieces the devoted city 
 and people. Rome was the iron sceptre, the fourth 
 beast, “ with great iron teeth,” of Daniel’s visions. 
 Judaea became a Roman province, and merely the 
 
44 
 
 show of independence remained to it with its 
 Herodian line of puppet kings. 
 
 Calamity after calamity now ensued. Pompey, the 
 supreme man of the time, arrived at Jerusalem, 
 but met with resistance for three months. Aris- 
 tobulus with his solders stood at bay within the 
 fortress - temple. There fell 12,000 Jews ; and 
 then “ the abomination of desolation ” was set up in 
 the holy place. Into the Holy of Holies (where even 
 the high-priest might enter only once a year) strode 
 the heathen conqueror, lifted aside the purple veil, 
 looked on the empty space, and retired in wonder 
 and scorn at such an absurd shrine of Divinity ! 
 
 Next came (b.c. 54) another Roman triumvir, the 
 rapacious Crassus , and stripped the temple treasury 
 of 10,000 talents, in value estimated at two million 
 pounds sterling. His memorable fate at the hands 
 of the wild Parthians overtook him almost im¬ 
 mediately, a judgment, said the pious Jews, for his 
 villainous sacrilege ! 
 
 46. HEROD THE GREAT.— After many bold 
 intrigues and daring strokes of policy, Herod (son of 
 Antipater) won the Roman favour and had the crown 
 of Judsea conferred on him by Antony and Augustus 
 (surviving triumvirs, after the murder of Julius 
 Caesar). He then proceeded to overcome the Jewish 
 prejudice against him because of his alien Idu- 
 maean origin. He married the Asmonean princess, 
 the beautiful Mariamne, sister of the last Aristo- 
 bulus. He besieged Jerusalem with a Roman army 
 and general (Sozius). After a siege of half a year, 
 the city fell, a prey to atrocious cruelty and rapine. 
 The whole city would have been destroyed had not 
 Herod expostulated that he must not be left “ king 
 of a desert.” 05 
 
 Herod ruled with a firm hand and in great magni¬ 
 ficence. He built citadels, and fortified strongholds 
 throughout the land. He built the splendid city of 
 
 a All this period is given at great detail in Jos. Ant., Bks. xiv. and xv. 
 
45 
 
 Caesarea by the shore, in compliment to Caesar 
 (Augustus). He filled Jerusalem with palaces and 
 public places of recreation, with all sorts of games 
 and spectacles,” after the Greek and Roman fashion. 
 All this was done to please the emperor, but it 
 caused his subjects to mistrust him more and more. 
 They, especially the priesthood, could not regard 
 the establishment of foreign customs and rites as 
 other than impiety. So conspiracies were ever 
 being formed against him, in spite of his many acts 
 of beneficence and all his splendour of state. He 
 lived all his life in constant fear of treachery; and 
 all his most sanguinary acts have this excuse, that 
 he imagined they were in safeguard of his throne. 
 He was only half a Jew, and a usurper. Therefore 
 he ruthlessly made away with all who had any pre¬ 
 tensions to royal Jewish blood, even within his own 
 family. And nearly his latest act, the “ Massacre of 
 the Innocents ” at Bethlehem, on the rumour of the 
 birth of “a King of the Jews,’’ will be better under¬ 
 stood in the light of this, the ruling sentiment of his 
 life. 
 
 47. HEROD’S CHARACTER.— Herod the Great! 
 —we must think of him as a “ splendid monster.’ 
 Never since Solomon had there been so magnificent a 
 king, so mighty in success, of so capacious an intel¬ 
 lect : but never was mortal so miserable in his home. 
 Tragedy dark and bloody dogged his every step. 
 Through jealous suspicion, which was utterly ground¬ 
 less, but prompted by his evil genius, his sister Salome, 
 he murdered the very light of his life, his beloved 
 wife, “ his incomparable Mariamne.” An awful re¬ 
 morse seized him, “ as looked like divine vengeance 
 for the taking away her life: ” he sought to drown 
 her memory now in excess of revelry, now in melan¬ 
 choly solitude, till he became mad, for a time. A 
 gloom settled on him for the rest of his life, as 
 though his dark spirit brooded over the past, echoing 
 “ Mariamne, Mariamne ! ” Three of his sons also 
 
46 
 
 fell victims to their father’s fury. Strife, mourn¬ 
 ing, and murder resounded in Herod’s sumptuous 
 palaces, and massacre in his streets—blood, more 
 blood ! to quench his remorse and fury ! And while 
 his own dark spirit was expiring, the pure souls of 
 little children lately slain by his orders in Bethlehem 
 were before the eternal Tribunal: and the new-born 
 “ King of the Jews,” king in the eternal sense, was 
 safe with His mother in Egypt. 
 
 48. HEROD ANDTHE CITY. —Nevertheless, one 
 thing Herod was to Jerusalem, which may not be 
 forgotten. He was the man chosen by God to re¬ 
 novate and prepare the holy city for the greatest 
 Coming that ever signalised either it or earth. The 
 Jerusalem of our Lord was what Herod had made 
 it. He made it the most beautiful of cities, adorned 
 it with palaces unrivalled in wealth and splendour, 
 and fortified it with impregnable towers." He re¬ 
 placed the old structure of Zerubbabel, which had 
 lasted 500 years, with another temple (the third or 
 Herod’s temple), outrivalling Solomon’s in extent 
 and richness—a peerless fabric, “crowning the brow 
 of Moriah with its glittering masses of white marble 
 and pinnacles of gold,” and surrounded by beautiful 
 terraces and cloisters. 
 
 It is indeed as if Jerusalem had been then adorned 
 for a double event—“as a bride for the bridegroom,” 
 and as a victim garlanded for the funeral pyre. 
 The bridegroom soon came, as we know, the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. An obscure event, as it seemed, lost 
 in the blaze of this world’s show ; a little stir and 
 flutter among the Jewish magnates, stickling for 
 religious authority, since they had lost even the 
 semblance of civil; an official entry of an execution 
 in Rome’s huge records : and, so it seemed, one of 
 the many impostors that arose at that time perplex¬ 
 ing the Jewish mind was got rid of. Yet people 
 
 a Called Hippicus, Phasaelis, Mariamne, over the walls, as well as 
 the fortress tower of Antonia, over against the temple. 
 
47 
 
 remembered afterwards that He had foretold and 
 wept that other event when Jerusalem should fall as 
 if for ever. And His name it is, more than all her 
 other memories, that ever since has drawn all nations 
 in thought to Jerusalem. 
 
 49. PERIOD OF TROUBLE. —It was a much 
 troubled period, one of incessant change and con¬ 
 tention, that lay between the death of Herod the 
 Great and the closing scene of the Jewish common¬ 
 wealth. In the middle of that period our Lord’s work 
 was consummated (a.d. 29, most probably). With 
 Archelaus (Herod’s successor), who reigned for nine 
 years (b.c. 3 to a.d. 7), with great injustice, 
 passed away the last semblance of independence. 
 It is true that Herod Agrippa (whose fearful 
 death is recorded in Acts xii.), and his son 
 Agrippa (before whom Paul spoke, Acts xxv. 
 xxvi.) were kings with considerable influence and 
 state ; but the real ruler was the Roman procur¬ 
 ator or governor, resident in Judeea. Hence you 
 will appreciate the deference paid to Felix and 
 Festus. When our Lord suffered there was not 
 even a nominal king, for Herod (Antipas) was 
 merely Tetrarch of GaHlee. Pontius Pilate was but 
 one of the many governors who ruled Judsea for 
 Rome, being responsible in the first place to the 
 Prefect of Syria, and supremely to the Csesar. The 
 people resented such deep subjection to the Romans 
 as they were under, and ever bore it impatiently. 
 When the first procurator was appointed (Coponius), 
 and an assessment of property, with a view to taxa¬ 
 tion, was being carried out, the proud spirit of the 
 Jews showed itself in an insurrection (b.c. 10), 
 headed by Judas the Galilean, with the war-cry, 
 “We have no lord and master but God.” He failed, 
 but not before he had inspired the multitude with a 
 sort of galvanic energy, which broke out in subse¬ 
 quent disturbances, and contributed, through the 
 parties called the Zealots and the Assassins, to the 
 
48 
 
 final ruin of the nation. Henceforth the whole Jew¬ 
 ish atmosphere was highly inflammable. Everywhere 
 the people expected the Messiah to set up a new 
 kingdom, and while they fought and died for the 
 hope of it with desperation and violence, the “ king¬ 
 dom not of this world,” albeit unheeded by them, 
 was already begun in their midst. 
 
 The destinies of Jerusalem were gathering to a 
 close. But ere they fell the genius of all her pro¬ 
 phets, priests, and kings had centred in One who 
 outshone them all, and by the infinite mercy of God 
 became Prophet, Priest, and King for all mankind. 
 Then, as if exhausted with that world-struggle and 
 that world-sacrifice then made, Israel sank from out 
 the nations, and the star of Israel set in blood. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE GREAT SIEGE, AND THE PRECEDING AND 
 CONTRIBUTORY COMMOTIONS. 
 
 50. TOKENS OF DECLINE.—All things now 
 rushed headlong towards the setting. All that was 
 strong and noble in Jewish character seemed to con¬ 
 spire to drive the nation to ruin. Their wealth, 
 their pride, their intense patriotism, their unyielding 
 fanaticism which made them cling to their temple 
 and ritual, their stubborn patience under miseries, 
 their daring bravery, all, were fatal to them. Re¬ 
 ligious pride was the prime cause of their fall. This 
 set them against the Roman rule. “We be Abra¬ 
 ham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any 
 man,” « they boasted even then. This made them 
 obnoxious to every other race. This same delusion 
 of pride, which had made them “the betrayers and 
 
 a John viii. 33. 
 
49 
 
 murderers of the Just One,” aggravated and compli¬ 
 cated by the teaching of the various sects of Phari¬ 
 sees, Sadducees, and Essen£s, now hastened on the 
 doom of their race. Yet there is something admirable 
 too in their strong belief in their destiny and stern 
 fidelity to their traditional faith. At this period 
 the whole world was against them; hated and 
 oppressed by the sovereign race—the Romans, who 
 alone could protect them—they were a constant prey 
 to their enemies of other nations; in Babylon and 
 Syria and Egypt they were robbed and murdered 
 on the slenderest pretext, wantonly, by tens of 
 thousands. Still they believed that they alone were 
 the soldiers of God, and that He would again make 
 bare His mighty arm to help them. In such a soil, 
 it can well be understood, the wildest projects, pro¬ 
 vided they were in the line of Jewish aspirations, 
 would take firm hold. 
 
 51. CAUSES OF FALL.— The immediate causes 
 that brought on the final fall of the nation are these 
 two. First, their incessant outcry against Rome* 
 Second, and chiefly, their terrible dissensions among 
 themselves. As to the latter, they precluded all 
 hope either of success or a fair settlement with the 
 Romans. As to the former, it grew only stronger 
 after the suppression of Judas the Galilean, and was 
 openly instigated by the party called the Zealots who 
 adopted 'his tenets and whose banner of defiance, 
 “We have no lord and master but God,” could not 
 be tolerated by imperial Rome. What could one 
 city, one small people, do against the mistress of the 
 world ? It was sheer folly, of the same nature, but 
 greater, as that which prompted resistance to Baby¬ 
 lon of yore. It was the very means to court further 
 oppression. 
 
 So outrage followed outrage , as their impatience of 
 Rome increased. Every sacred right of theirs was 
 violated one after another. Insults and injuries 
 were heaped upon them, which goaded them to tur- 
 
 # 
 
50 
 
 bulent protestations; but instead of redress they 
 received only more violent chastisements. When 
 open war broke out the mass of the people welcomed 
 it with exultation. 
 
 52. UNDER CALIGULA. —They suffered much 
 from the mad vanity of Caligula , the emperor (a.d. 
 37 to 41). He took it into his head that he was the 
 equal of “the immortal gods,” and had himself 
 honoured as divine throughout the empire. The 
 extreme of affront was reached when Caligula issued 
 an edict that a colossal bronze statue of himself, as 
 Jupiter the younger, should be set up for worship 
 within the Holy of Holies in the temple at Jerusalem. 
 Legions were ordered up to enforce the edict. But 
 the whole nation, in horror at such utter violation, left 
 their occupations and made a passionate protest. It 
 was evident they would resist to the death. By the 
 brave intervention of Herod Agrippa, the king, and 
 also by the humane policy of Petronius, the Prefect 
 of Syria, the execution of the fatal edict was sus¬ 
 pended. But so great were his rage and resentment, 
 and so wild his passions, that had not death timely 
 removed the mad tyrant, a massacre unprecedented 
 in magnitude must have been the result of his 
 impious determination. 
 
 53. UNDER CLAUDIUS AND NERO.— Under 
 the succeeding emperors, Claudius and Nero (a.d. 
 41 to 68), cruel, rapacious governors were sent, each 
 worse than his predecessor. 
 
 Cumanus needlessly intensified the animosity of 
 the populace against the Roman soldiery. By his 
 menacing attitude on the occasion of a festival a 
 panic ensued, and, in escaping from the soldiers, 
 20,000 of the people were crushed to death in the 
 narrow streets. 
 
 Felix , a man of servile birth, but ambitious, be¬ 
 came notorious for his profligacy and daring crimes. 
 It was Felix who introduced the most terrible scourge 
 the city ever had even in her deepest woes, namely, 
 
51 
 
 the Sicarii, 05 or Assassins. This infamous band was 
 made up of robbers and fanatics, who, under the pre¬ 
 tence of carrying out the Mosaic precepts, secretly 
 murdered all whom they chose to suspect as hostile to 
 their views, or whom they had been paid to remove. 
 Their first victim was the good high-priest Jonathan, 
 whom they struck dead as he went to worship. 
 Doubtless it was part of the same crew that con¬ 
 spired to kill St Paul. 6 Henceforth such a con¬ 
 venient tool was not neglected ; ail parties employed 
 them to get rid of rivals and even private enemies. 
 No one was secure from the secret dagger. 
 
 54. ALBINUS AND F LOR US. —After the brief 
 but upright administration of Festus, Albiuus 
 arrived. His rapacity was excessive, and his exac¬ 
 tions ground down the wasted country. Bribery 
 purchased immunity from him for any crime, even 
 of the blackest dye. Bobbers and malefactors who 
 were caught bought their pardon, and those who 
 crowded the prisons were liberated on payment of 
 ransom. Thus the prisons were emptied. The rival 
 or deposed high-priests, who had wealth enough to 
 secure the mercenary governor’s favour, were allowed 
 to maintain each a band of armed retainers, and 
 kept the city in perpetual commotion. 
 
 The fatal crisis came at last, and it was the next 
 governor, Gessius Florus, who brought it on. If 
 Albinus had chastised the people with whips, Florus 
 chastised them with scorpions. By his wholesale 
 plunder, by his refusal to redress their just griev¬ 
 ances, and by his unrelenting persecution, Florus 
 drove the people into open revolt. As they them¬ 
 selves protested, it was a revolt against Florus rather 
 than against Borne. The spark that kindled the con¬ 
 flagration fell at Csesarea—the old feud between the 
 Greeks and the Jews, who were in equal numbers 
 
 a So named from sica, a dagger, which they concealed beneath their 
 cloaks. 
 
 f»Acts ixiii. 12-21. 
 
 D 
 
52 
 
 there. Florus refused justice, but demanded a large 
 sum from the sacred treasury, for which he was re¬ 
 viled by the citizens at Jerusalem. He marched 
 thither in great fury, poured in his troops to kill and 
 plunder, and did not desist until by the sword and 
 by crucifixion there had fallen that day 3600, with¬ 
 out distinction of rank, sex, or age. His covetous 
 eye was towards the temple, where he knew great 
 masses of treasure lay ; but his attempts to force his 
 way to it even by massacre were foiled by the vio¬ 
 lence of the crowds. He retired to Caesarea, leaving 
 the city boiling with rage. 
 
 55. ELEAZAR. —Meantime leaders appeared for 
 the insurrection. The entreaties of Agrippa, the 
 tears of his sister Berenice the beautiful, the in¬ 
 fluence of all the higher classes were of no avail. 
 The war faction was strongest. Eleazar , son of 
 Ananias the high-priest, put himself early at the 
 head of the insurgents, and occupied the temple. 
 The moderate or peace party, which included all 
 the wealthy classes, supported by the royal troops 
 (sent by Agrippa as a last forlorn hope), occupied 
 the Upper City, but were evicted thence by 
 Eleazar. 
 
 Manahem , a son of the too well-remembered Judas 
 the Galilean, having plundered Herod’s armoury in 
 the fortress of Masada above the Dead Sea (where the 
 first hostile move had been made by the slaughter of 
 the Boman garrison), came “in the state of a king” to 
 Jerusalem, completed the discomfiture of the royal 
 party, and besieged the remains of the Roman cohort 
 in the three great towers of Herod into which they 
 had been forced to retreat. But Eleazar, jealous, 
 took and slew him. 
 
 The insurgents pressed on the siege of the towers, 
 and the Romans surrendered on condition of life. 
 But no sooner had they laid down their arms than 
 Eleazar’s partizans fell upon them and slew them, in 
 spite of the solemn treaty, and that, too, on a Sabbath- 
 
53 
 
 day. This atrocious deed cast a gloom of melancholy 
 and foreboding over the whole city. 
 
 On that self-same day and hour, says Josephus, as 
 if by the direction of Providence, the Greeks up in 
 Caesarea, emboldened by the connivance of Florus, 
 suddenly rose against the Jews, and “in one hour’s 
 time above 20,000 Jews were killed, and all Caesarea 
 was emptied of its Jewish inhabitants.” 
 
 56. CESTIUS GALL US. —This act inflamed the 
 whole nation to madness. There was now no going 
 back. The violent actions of the seditious among 
 them had already compromised them with Rome. 
 Their own hands were imbrued with blood. Their 
 brethren everywhere seemed proscribed for slaughter. 
 They fell by the thousands and tens of thousands in 
 almost every Syrian town and village. In Alex¬ 
 andria their rashness was visited with a terrible car¬ 
 nage—the whole Jewish quarter overflowed with 
 blood, and 50,000 of them lay dead in heaps. If 
 mankind had thus declared war against them, they 
 dared to rise in arms even against all mankind. Say, 
 was there ever greater spirit shown by any race in 
 the annals of history ? 
 
 Cestius Galius, the Prefect of Syria, came down 
 from Antioch against Jerusalem, with an army 
 to suppress the rebellion. But for some reason 
 or other, he retreated, when the city was really 
 within his grasp. This came about, Josephus thinks, 
 “ owing to the aversion God had already to the city 
 and the sanctuary.” Wild multitudes poured out after 
 the retreating legions, and turned the retreat into a 
 flight. In the ofttime fatal pass of Bethhoron (6 
 miles west) the army of Cestius was completely 
 routed—nearly 6000 fell, of foot and horse—and re¬ 
 ceived the most disgraceful defeat ever experienced 
 by the Roman arms in the East. (Nov. a.d. 66). 
 
 57. VESPASIAN. —Nothing more was wanting 
 than this unexpected success to complete the infatua¬ 
 tion of the common mass of the people. Resist! 
 
resist! was the cry everywhere. The fury, the 
 enthusiasm, the wild hopes of the nation at large 
 were now all for war. At that time the rest of the 
 world was at peace, and therefore Rome was free to 
 send to Palestine her finest troops. Rome seldom 
 had an abler general than Vespasian, now chosen for 
 this war. Never was a finer army put into the field 
 than that which he now led against the Jews, and 
 never had army harder work to do. By the spring 
 of 67 Vespasian was on the march. Forces were 
 organized to oppose him. 
 
 The Jewish command in Galilee had been en¬ 
 trusted to the celebrated Josephus , the historian, a 
 man of high priestly and also of Asmonean descent. 
 He fortified all the defensible towns, raised an army 
 of 100,000 men, and thoroughly disciplined them. 
 An obstinate resistance was made in place after 
 place, and the war dragged slowly but fiercely on 
 for two years. What tales to tell of heroism, of 
 romance, of horror, as step by step the Jews were 
 driven down—how Jotapata was betrayed and its 
 gallant commander, Josephus, was caught; how the 
 blue waves of Galilee grew red with blood ; how 
 Gamala fought and Gischala fell; and how the 
 tide of war surged up at length to the walls of 
 
 58. JOHN OF GISCHALA AND THE ZEALOTS. 
 
 —Meanwhile fugitives from the war and malcontents 
 of all sorts filled the city to overflowing. For many 
 months before the Romans came up the city was a 
 a scene of continual carnage, resulting from the 
 furious collision of factions. To wish for peace was 
 to be a Romani zer, and that was to be marked for 
 plunder and destruction, as a traitor to country. 
 Matters came to such a pass under the sway of 
 these Zealot robbers that when they began to defile 
 the sanctuary with their unhallowed violence, and 
 had made a mock of the high-priesthood by electing 
 to that office a mere clown, the citizens in mass 
 
rose against them, and a fierce civil war was waged. 
 The Zealots were driven into the outer temple and 
 besieged there. But through the subtle duplicity of 
 one John of Gischala (already infamous in the war), 
 an army of 20,000 Idumseans, men of fierce habits, 
 came to the relief of the beleaguered Zealots, and, 
 in a night of awful storm, surprised the city, took 
 the temple, and in the morning 8500 dead bodies 
 lay piled on the sacred court. Two aged high-priests, 
 Ananus and Jesus, the last good counsellors of the 
 people, were slain and cast forth unburied to the 
 dogs. Day and night the ruffian fanatics glutted 
 their vengeance with blood, and thus perished 
 12,000 of the noblest in Jerusalem. The moderate 
 party, the only remaining hope of the nation, was 
 thus exterminated. 
 
 59. FACTIONS. —Then the war party split and 
 turned their arms against each other. The city was 
 divided between three hostile factions which thus 
 arose. John of Gischala, supported by his wild 
 Galileans and his own crafty yet masterful spirit, 
 soon drew after him the most of the Zealots, and 
 became virtual tyrant of Jerusalem. Eleazar, in¬ 
 censed at this superiority, seceded, and seized the 
 lofty position of the inner court of the temple, where 
 was abundance of provisions. And now a third able 
 villain appeared, Simon, son of Gioras, at the head of 
 the Sicarii, or Assassins, and the Idumseans, and, 
 despite his being infamous for a long series of enor¬ 
 mities, was hailed as a deliverer from John’s cruel 
 tyranny. Thus, cooped up in the inner temple, 
 Eleazar was besieged by John, who in turn, holding 
 the Lower and Middle City, was besieged by Simon 
 from the Upper City : and so, day and night, in 
 assaults and sorties and counter-assaults, the fero¬ 
 cious triple contest raged more and more fiercely. 
 “The people of the city were like a great body torn 
 in pieces,” and the streets never ceased to run with 
 blood. All factions, however, combined to plunder 
 
56 
 
 and murder the defenceless people. Glutted with 
 blood and rapine, the ruffian bands roamed through 
 the city, drunken and dressed in fantastic or female 
 garb, committing unutterable impurities and stab¬ 
 bing without mercy all they met. 
 
 60. MISERY OF THE CITY.— Still the Romans 
 delayed. “For,” to put the argument of Vespasian 
 in brief—he was now emperor (a.d. 69), and had 
 resigned the military command to his worthy son 
 Titus—“ let the wild beasts tear each other to 
 pieces in their dens; there will be less work for 
 the Romans.” 
 
 War, tyranny, dissension, three great evils, raged, 
 and now a fourth stalked in, gaunt famine—surer 
 conqueror than the Romans. For, in the fight 
 between John and Simon, the immense granaries 
 of corn were set on fire, and wasted. 
 
 The city was at once a living grave and a howl¬ 
 ing Inferno. No regard was held for life ; none 
 buried the dead ; none cared for the living, nor 
 indeed to live ; and “ men went trampling over dead 
 bodies as over the common pavement.” No place 
 was secure, not even the temple, where, in the 
 very act of worship, priests and people indiscrimin¬ 
 ately were struck down beside the sacrifices. For, 
 “ notwithstanding these men were mad, with all sorts 
 of impiety,” they permitted free ingress and egress to 
 the usual religious ceremonies that (awful to think !) 
 still went on in the midst of crime and butchery. 
 There was no escape from suspicion, for the villain 
 guards watched everywhere : ay, even the involun¬ 
 tary groan of misery or mourning, interpreted as 
 wishing well to the Romans, was stifled in the 
 blood of the heart. 
 
 61. PORTENTS.— Dreadful signs and portents 
 had already occurred, foreshowing the ruin of the 
 city and temple. But the people were blinded, and 
 did not heed or misinterpreted them. Some of these 
 are so extraordinary as to appear fabulous. But, as 
 
57 
 
 Josephus says, they are well attested, and—a point 
 of deep significance—the subsequent events were of 
 such magnitude and gravity “ as to deserve such 
 signals.” Moreover, both he and Tacitus, the 
 Roman annalist, record them with all solemnity.« 
 
 Forty years before the Siege (about the time of 
 our Lord’s Passion), the Talmud and the Rabbis 
 assure us, such strange things happened day after 
 day in the temple, that a famous Rabbi thus apos¬ 
 trophised it : “ O temple, temple, what moves thee 
 so, and why makest thyself to fear ? ” 
 
 A star or comet, in shape like a sword, hung for 
 a whole year over the city. Late one night a 
 sudden light, bright as day, burst forth, and shone 
 about the altar for half an hour. The great brass 
 gate of the temple, which required twenty men to 
 move, suddenly flew open of itself at dead of night. 
 Once, before sunset, embattled armies were seen 
 careering in the heavens, and cities being taken. 
 One night at Pentecost the priests at ministration 
 “ felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and the 
 sound as of a great host, saying, ‘ Let us depart 
 hence!’ as if superior beings were actually rushing 
 forth.” More terrible still, “ a prodigy, the like of 
 which no other people ever saw,” b four years before 
 the war began at all a cry was heard in the lanes of 
 the city, the voice of a poor countryman, named Jesus, 
 the son of Ananus, and never ceased day and night 
 for years. “ A voice from the east! a voice from 
 the west! a voice from the four winds!—Woe, 
 woe to Jerusalem!” Questioned, coaxed, threat¬ 
 ened, scourged, it was all the same : at each stroke 
 of the whip his answer was only a more lamentable 
 “ Woe, woe to Jerusalem ! ” 
 
 62. THE WARNING OF C H RI ST.—This prophet 
 of evil, with the singular coincidence of name, re¬ 
 minds us of Him who was more than prophet, and of 
 His pitying cry, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that 
 
 a Tacitus, History, Blc. v. 13; Jos. Wars, vi. b. b Bossiut. 
 
58 
 
 killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto 
 thee.” a The rejection of Jeremiah and his presages 
 too bitterly true was the doom of Jerusalem then, 
 and the rejection of Jesus Christ was the doom of 
 the later Jerusalem, only with far deeper and eternal 
 consequences for all mankind. With what other 
 feeling than awe can we contemplate His warning 
 words in the truth of history 1 And now the hour 
 
 WCIS COTYIC • 
 
 63. THE SIEGE BEGUN.—At last the Roman 
 army appeared, in the spring of the year 70. The 
 Siege began, and lasted six months. It went on with 
 unexampled ferocity. The city never once rested 
 from strife and bloodshed all those months. When 
 the Homans withdrew for a respite, the Jews, taking 
 up their feuds which the common danger from the 
 enemy had led them to forego for a time, turned 
 their arms against each other. It would be tedious 
 even to enumerate the many startling incidents of 
 the siege, the stratagems and plots, the surprises and 
 successes, the hazards and escapes, the horrors of 
 starvation, death, and barbarity. They may all be 
 read in detail in the pages of Josephus. There we 
 learn how on his first appearance Titus himself was all 
 but taken in a tumultuous rush, to the great jubila¬ 
 tion of the Jews; how at the Passover the wily John 
 stole in to the temple with his braves, in the guise of 
 harmless worshippers, but with weapons concealed, 
 fell upon the peaceful multitude, and absorbed the 
 party as well as the position of Eleazar, thus reducing 
 the faction camps from three to two ; how again and 
 again the Romans were thrown into panic by the 
 wild impetuous sallies and charges of the Jews ; how 
 these burned the engines and undermined the huge 
 besieging towers, and drove the Roman soldiery to 
 exasperation by their wiles and furious resistance ; 
 how a great review of the splendid legions was held 
 before the walls, filling the besieged with despair; 
 
 a Read Matt, xxiii., Luke xix. 41, 48, and Matt. xxiv. 7-34. 
 
59 
 
 how wall after wall was taken, and the battle raged 
 hand-to-hand in the narrow streets ; and how, after 
 three months’ labour all but lost, the Romans, wearied 
 and dispirited, built in three days a wall of circum- 
 vallation, five miles round, to starve the city out. 
 
 64. DEFENCES OF THE CITY.— The city had 
 three walls, all starting from or about a point in the 
 west side, called the Tower of David or Hippicus. 
 There was the Old or Inner or First Wall, going 
 round Zion and the Upper City ; the Middle or 
 Second Wall, going north round Acra (Lower City), 
 and east to the north side of the temple ; and the 
 Outer or Third, Agrippa’s Wall, going in a wide 
 compass, north, east, and south, enclosing the suburbs 
 and Bezetha, to the north-east corner of the temple. 
 These walls divided the city, as it were, into four 
 distinct towns, each requiring a separate siege. a 
 Round all the walls at intervals were strong towers, 
 to the number of 164, varying in height, according 
 to the ground, from 60 to 120 feet and besides 
 these there were four immense towers—Psephina, on 
 the Outer Wall, an octagon in form, and grandest of 
 all ; Hippicus, at the junction, a square, and 140 feet 
 high; Phasaelis, 167 feet high, and Mariamne, 77 
 feet high, both on the Old Wall. Rising above all 
 these was the huge fortress Antonia, 90 feet high, on 
 a rock, at the north-western corner of the temple. 
 The temple itself had both the position and the 
 strength of a citadel. 
 
 Such, with the native ruggedness of the site, were 
 the material defences of the Jewish capital which 
 Titus had to overcome. 
 
 65. GRANDEUR OF THE SC ENE.— What awful 
 sights Olivet looked down on then ! What a scene 
 of dread splendour lay below ! Myriads 0 of men, in 
 
 a Milman. b Tacitus, 
 
 c Tacitus gives 600,000 besieged; Josephus, just double that as 
 dead or enslaved. The numbers given by Josephus, however, are 
 held by many to be overstated. 
 
60 
 
 the midst of natural and architectural grandeur 
 unmatched, cooped up as in the foulest den of 
 butchery, contending for life and bread. Farthest 
 out extended in circuit the blockading wall that 
 Titus had reared ; within that moved solid masses of 
 soldiers, 80,000 of Rome’s best veterans ; above these 
 frowned the rugged cliffs and declivities, topped 
 by the battlements and stupendous towers ; within 
 these again, citywards, lay the Palace of the Kings 
 on Zion, matchless in magnificence ; and the huge 
 Antonia, a palace and a fortress, impregnable on its 
 precipice ; beneath, in the streets and courts and 
 houses, and swarming on the walls, hundreds of 
 thousands of people surged to and fro, while high 
 above the whole city rose the temple-citadel, with its 
 marble courts, its lofty ranges of cloisters, and its 
 gateways; and over all the Holy House itself, with 
 its golden gate, its marble pillars and golden 
 pinnacles, white blocks amid the yellow gold. 
 
 66. MERCY SPURNED. — No wonder if the 
 Roman thought of mercy. “ It must be so, and yet 
 it moves me, Romans,” was the gist of Titus’ musing, 
 and indeed of his attitude all through the operations. 
 But, no ! Mercy the Jews would not have. 
 Treachery, deceit, and mockery were the returns they 
 gave to all appeals. Jerusalem was doomed : the 
 measure of her iniquity was full. Never had she 
 been so beautiful outwardly, and never so foul and 
 impious within. So the thunderclaps of the Almighty 
 smote her to the earth in her glory and her guilt. 
 Not one of the old fearful curses for national guilt 
 but fell on her people, not any pain body can feel or 
 horror mind can know. The natural and the super¬ 
 natural fought against them. At the very outset a 
 frightful omen appeared. The man Jesus, who for 
 seven years had uttered no other sound than “Woe, 
 woe to Jerusalem ! ” went round the walls in the 
 thick of the assault, howling “ his melancholy ditty,” 
 ‘ Woe, woe to the city ! Woe to the people ! Woe 
 
61 
 
 to the Holy House ! ” and with one last shriek, 
 “ Woe, woe to myself ! ” fell down dead. 
 
 67. HORRORS OF THE SIEGE. —Terrible were 
 the scenes daily enacted. The double war went on 
 incessantly. At the walls the noise of the siege was 
 deafening—the war-shouts ; the flying missiles ; the 
 crashing of timbers; the thunder of the battering 
 rams ; the yells and shrieks of the defenders as they 
 poured forth in many a sortie, tore down the Korn an 
 embankments, and burned the engines. Inside, 
 blood, blood, dead and dying everywhere ! not a 
 spot without its heap of rotting corpses—no room, no 
 time, no care to bury them—the valleys were filled 
 with those thrown over the walls and out of the 
 gates ; and “ they laid the dead bodies in heaps in 
 very large houses and shut them up.” Starvation 
 absolute seized the city—“ a deep silence also, and a 
 kind of deadly night.” For the miserablest morsel 
 of loathsome food men fought even their dearest 
 friends, children stole it from parents, and mothers 
 from children ; one woman slew her babe, and de¬ 
 voured it! Even the robber-soldiers, with the whole 
 city at their mercy, went prowling about like mad 
 dogs, searching the dead for food, and squeezing it 
 out of the throats of the living; and, deepest misery 
 of all, the fiendish “madness of the seditious increased 
 with the famine.” “Was not this an image of hell, 
 where the damned hate one another no less than 
 they hate the demons who are their common enemies, 
 and where all is pride, confusion, and rage ? ” a 
 
 Thousands who stole down by night into the 
 ravines to pick up herbs or roots were caught by the 
 Romans, and crucified, sometimes 500 in a morning, 
 before the walls ; this, until “ room was wanting for 
 the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.” 
 Deserters flocked to the Roman lines ; and one night 
 2000 of these were seized by the fierce Syrian and 
 
 a Bossuet. Univ. History. 
 
62 
 
 Arabian allies and dissected for the gold they had 
 swallowed. 
 
 68. DELAYS.—And so the months wore on. Two 
 of the walls had fallen, and the fortress Antonia; 
 and now the Roman legionaries were thundering at 
 the doors of the temple in the very heart of the city. 
 They set fire to the outer gates and the cloisters. 
 Inside, the Jews were crammed together in tens of 
 thousands—the blazing cloisters hemming them in 
 “ in a circle of fire like wild beasts in a burning 
 forest,the flames glaring on a sea of faces wild 
 with rage and despair, and in their midst the temple 
 flashing back the fire from its golden roofs. What a 
 fearful sight! whole hecatombs, not of bullocks but 
 of human beings, going to be sacrificed as a last and 
 awful offering at the altar there, where altar and 
 offering and temple and all should be consumed, 
 and cease for ever ! 
 
 They extinguished the fire, for a time. Titus 
 decreed that the temple should be spared. God 
 decreed otherwise. 
 
 69. THE END.—The Final Day arrived , the fatal 
 10th of August. 6 It was the very day on which, six 
 centuries before, Nebuchadnezzar had burned the 
 temple of Solomon. “ For the last time the setting 
 sun shone on the snow-white walls and glistening 
 pinnacles ” c — the temple our Lord had loved ! 
 Suddenly a wild cry arose in the gathering night. 
 The temple itself, the Holy House, was on fire ! 
 Driven furious by long pent-up revenge, by the 
 treachery and diabolical savagery of the Jews, the 
 Roman soldiery broke through all discipline—smitten 
 by the same boundless madness that impelled the 
 Jews—set fire to every part of the sacred edifice, 
 and slaughtered the poor wretches, mostly defence¬ 
 less, in thousands : till “ the ground nowhere ap¬ 
 peared visible for the dead bodies that lay on it,” 
 
 a Milman. 6 The Jews commemorate the day on the 9th. 
 
 c Milman. 
 
63 
 
 » 
 
 and the blood seeming “ larger in quantity than the 
 fire,” washed away the bodies like a river. In the 
 great royal cloister—Solomon’s Porch, where our 
 Lord had loved to walk«—6000 women and children 
 and unarmed people, led by a false prophet, had 
 gathered that very day for safety, waiting to see the 
 arm of the Lord awake—as once against Sennacherib. 
 They perished, every soul, in the flames! 
 
 70. DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLE. —Not the 
 green hill of Olivet, not any hill on earth, not the 
 stars of heaven, ever looked down on a more appalling- 
 spectacle of grandeur, ruin, rage, and horror ! The 
 whole temple-hill “ was seething-hot, as full of fire 
 in every part,” and “ one would have thought the 
 whole city had been on fire.” Building after build¬ 
 ing fell in with tremendous reports, revealing the 
 interiors where the gold was shining dazzlingly; 
 round about the city the hills above were lighted 
 up ; on the walls and heights of Zion (still untaken) 
 faces pale with terror or rage crowded, and watched 
 the fearful progress of fire and sword. The war- 
 shouts of the Romans, the sad clamour and moans of 
 those who were perishing, the screams and lamenta¬ 
 tions along the upper walls and heights, the crash of 
 falling timbers and masonry, and the roaring of the 
 flames, mingling all together, were echoed back by 
 the mountains : so that, above and below, on the 
 ground and in the air, the heavens seemed to join 
 the earth in sending out one universal shriek—the 
 knell of the Jewish race ! 
 
 So fell the golden temple. So many years in 
 building, one single night did it all away; solid as 
 if built for eternity, behold “ not one stone left upon 
 ftnotliGr i ^ 
 
 71. DEFENCES ABANDONED. — The rest is 
 soon told. The Upper City—whither John of 
 Gischala had escaped, still to carry on with Simon 
 the insane feud of blood—held out for a month yet. 
 
 a John x. 22, and c/, Acts v. 12. 
 
64 
 
 Titus, when his terms were again rejected, burned 
 the Lower City. At last, in a sort ofipanic, the Jews 
 abandoned their defences; and their ringleaders 
 crept down into the subterranean vaults with which 
 Jerusalem was everywhere honeycombed. The 
 Roman soldiers rushed through the streets, slaying 
 all that remained alive, and burning houses and 
 people together, and made the whole city run down 
 with blood, to such a degree that the fire of the 
 houses was quenched with the blood of the slaughtered 
 thousands. The plunder began : but the houses were 
 filled with putrefying corpses, “ entire families of 
 dead men ; ” and the soldiers ran out sickened at the 
 horror of the thing. Below, in the subterranean 
 chambers and passages, the last fitful struggles 
 lingered on and died away — where the soldiers 
 pursuing the fugitives expected to find treasures, 
 but found only pestilential corpses. 
 
 72. LOSSES.—The prodigious number of 1,100,000 
 are said to have perished in the course of the siege, 
 while 97,000 were carried into slavery. 
 
 Of the dauntless pair of insurgent leaders, John 
 remained a prisoner for life, and Simon, who played 
 the last scene of all by rising clad like a spectre in 
 the temple area from underground and frightening 
 the soldiers, was executed in the triumph of Titus 
 at Rome. 
 
 “ Thus fell, and for ever, the metropolis of the 
 Jewish state. Other cities have risen on its ruins ; ” 
 but the greatness has never come back. Strange 
 symbol of human fate ! that that which is most 
 sacred, when perverted, has the surest curse. But 
 for patriotism and courage unequalled we must 
 award its sons and defenders, cruel and fanatic 
 though they were, the meed of praise. In all history 
 no siege has been more bloody and tragic, but also 
 none so fiercely and stubbornly resisted, stone by 
 stone, till the fairest city of earth was a black heap 
 of ruins, and the strongest-souled race perhaps of 
 earth was all but annihilated. 
 
65 
 
 THIRD PERIOD. 
 
 From the Great Siege down to the Present Time. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ROMAN, CHRISTIAN, AND MOSLEM JERUSALEM, TILL 
 THE CRUSADES. 
 
 73. THE JEWISH SPIRIT.—With the city in ruins, 
 the temple destroyed, and the land depopulated, the 
 Roman world concluded all was over with Jerusalem. 
 But the spirit of the Jews was not utterly broken. 
 Phoenix-like it rose again from its ashes, and made one 
 more desperate bid for independence. The destruc¬ 
 tion of the temple only caused the Jews to be more 
 scrupulous with regard to the Law and its details. 
 The schools and tribunals of the Rabbis usurped the 
 place and rule the priesthood had formerly held, and 
 became a strong bond of national union, which they 
 are to this day. So it came about that not many 
 years after the siege, when the Jews had gradually 
 returned to the city^, while all the world believed 
 them thus absorbed in legal and scholastic triflings, 
 about unclean meats, new moons, and Sabbaths, 
 suddenly in sixty years they broke out again in a 
 revolt, the last but the wildest and most bloodthirsty 
 of all. 
 
 74. REVOLT.—It is difficult to ascertain what 
 precisely was the exciting cause of this revolt, but 
 probably it was much the same as in the former case, 
 viz., oppression and religious differences. But cer¬ 
 tain it is that in the reign of Trajan (a.d. 115-117) 
 the Jews began hostilities, but rather against the 
 Greeks, at first, than the Romans. The Greeks had 
 massacred the whole colony of Jews in Alexandria. 
 In retaliation, the Jews rose and murdered 240,000 
 of their non-Jewish fellow-citizens in the island of 
 
66 
 
 Cyprus, and almost as many in Lower Egypt. When 
 Hadrian became emperor, with the memory of the 
 horrible scenes he had witnessed as general in these 
 Jewish commotions, he designed the total suppression 
 of Judaism, and as a fatal blow gave decree that 
 Jerusalem should be colonized with Romans. In¬ 
 stantly, on this intelligence, throughout the world 
 the Jews rose in defiance (a.d. 131). 
 
 75. BARCOCHEBA. —A Messiah appeared, named 
 Barcocheba (meaning the Son of a Star), and was 
 supported in his pretensions by the greatest authority 
 living, the learned and courageous, and altogether 
 remarkable character, Rabbi Akiba. By many 
 marvellous exploits and daring procedures he caused 
 the people to believe that he was indeed “ the Star 
 to arise out of Jacob” that Balaam had prophesied." 
 For three years of terrible suffering the city held 
 out. But Jerusalem fell again, and this time “the 
 plough was passed over where it had stood.” On the 
 fatal 9th of August the last stronghold of the in¬ 
 surgents, Bether, 6 fell, amid the same horrors of 
 famine, blood and fire, as at the great siege of 
 Jerusalem. The whole land was left a desert, and 
 wolves and hyenas prowled in the desolate cities. 
 Not to speak of those who perished otherwise, it is 
 stated that 580,000 fell by the sword alone during 
 the war. c In the bitterness of disappointed hopes 
 the survivors changed the false Messiah’s name into 
 Barcosba, the Son of a Lie. 
 
 76. THE NAME LOST. —For more than a hun¬ 
 dred years at this period the name Jerusalem was 
 forgotten , being transformed into the Roman Aelia 
 Cajntohna, in honour of the emperor and of Jupiter. 
 Never since have the Jews ruled in it one single 
 day. But, dispersed and vagabond, they wandered 
 
 «Num. xxiv. 17. 
 
 ft The modern Beitir among the wadies not far from Jerusalem, 
 Cf. Canticles ii. 17, “the mountains of Bether.” 
 cDio Cassius. 
 
67 
 
 over the face of the earth, without a king, without 
 a country; and for many a long generation then 
 they were forbidden on pain of death to set foot 
 even within sight of “the city of their fathers’ 
 sepulchres.” a 
 
 Henceforth the fruits of that dark day when three 
 crosses stood on a little hill without the city walls 
 are to appear. Christians, not Jews, become the 
 chief actors, and, with the Moslems, continue to dye 
 the blood-stained stage of Jerusalem. Another new 
 phase has begun, but, alas ! the old evil cause re¬ 
 mains, fanaticism. 
 
 The Jewish Christians had early learned, by the 
 example of apostles and by many solemn decisions, 
 to dissociate themselves in matters of conduct as 
 well as of creed from their rigidly Judaistic country¬ 
 men. We are told that, shortly before the taking 
 of Jerusalem by Titus, they retired for security to 
 Pella, among the mountains east of Jordan, and 
 again, that they returned from thence shortly after 
 his withdrawal. The Church was duly formed, and 
 became a social power; it was merely a matter of 
 time when it should become also a power political. 
 Eusebius, the ancient Church historian, informs us 
 that there was a regular succession of fifteen bishops 
 in the Church at Jerusalem, from St James the 
 Just 6 to the reign of Hadrian. 
 
 But so little was the city regarded as the sacred 
 Centre of the new faith, and so entirely had its 
 Jewish character and name been merged in the 
 Roman, that, during the persecution (a.d. 305) under 
 Diocletian, an Egyptian Christian was not under¬ 
 stood when he declared “Jerusalem is my country” 
 (meaning the heavenly city), and was put to death 
 for obstinacy in not divulging where Jerusalem 
 was ! 
 
 a Tertullian and Eusebius. 
 
 b Brother of our Lord, martyr, and writer of the general epistle 
 bearing his name, 
 
 £ 
 
68 
 
 77. RECOVERY OF THE SEPULCHRE.— Ere 
 
 long, however, an event occurred which once more 
 brought Jerusalem before the eyes of the world 
 conspicuously, and invested it with an interest which 
 has never since been lost, namely, the Recovery a of the 
 Holy Sepulchre of Christ. 
 
 By the fourth century the faith of the Crucified 
 had mounted the throne of the Caesars. The em¬ 
 peror Constantine was a Christian, whatever were 
 his motives for becoming so. The Cross henceforth 
 overshadows the courts of this world’s kingdoms. 
 The Empress Helena, his mother, a woman of great 
 benevolence and devotion, came in her sorrow to 
 visit the holy places where the Saviour had been, 
 and made Jerusalem a Christian city. Beneath a 
 temple which the heathen had reared to Venus, the 
 holy Cave was discovered on the hill of Calvary, and 
 it is said also that three crosses were found near 
 by, among which the true cross was distinguished. 
 On this site the imperial family built the Basilica 
 (Royal House) of the Resurrection, being the first 
 Church of the Holy Sepulchre; and they arrayed 
 the holy city with such splendour that men ex¬ 
 claimed, “Behold the New Jerusalem of the pro¬ 
 phets ! ” Christian pilgrims now crowded up, and 
 bishops and prelates ruled there. 
 
 78. JULIAN.—Then there came a blow to the 
 rising hopes of the Christian cause. It was the 
 accession of Julian the Apostate to the empire. He 
 resolved on the overthrow of the faith he had 
 repudiated, and to that end conciliated the Jews, the 
 inveterate enemies of the Cross. He issued an edict 
 for the rebuilding of the temple on Mount Moriah 
 for Jewish worship. The Jews were in raptures, 
 evincing extraordinary enthusiasm. They flocked in 
 large numbers to the scene, and poured in their 
 wealth, which had already become proverbial, to help 
 
 a Or the Discovery. Sea Robinson’s “ Biblical Researches.” 
 
69 
 
 in this grand work of restoration. Bat Heaven’s 
 face was set against them. For now there happened 
 one of those strange and apparently preternatural 
 incidents which are set so thick in the annals of 
 Jerusalem. This one is beyond doubt, and is per¬ 
 haps the strangest of all. When the old foundations of 
 the temple were laid bare, suddenly there burst forth 
 from underground, with loud explosions, terrible 
 flames and globes of fire, and scorched and terrified 
 the workmen so much that the enterprise had to 
 cease. Was this a miracle, a trick, or merely foul 
 air become inflammable by having been pent-up for 
 centuries, and now accidentally ignited ] At any 
 rate, the extraordinary fact is undoubted, as it rests 
 on the authority not only of ecclesiastical writers 
 but of one unimpeachable pagan historian.® The 
 temple was not to be rebuilt. But it is significant 
 to note that he who made the bold attempt, the 
 great apostate, never returned to his throne, but 
 fell soon after this at a siege, with this utterance, 
 it is told, on his lips, “ Thou hast vanquished me, 
 Gr9.lilG9.Il t ^ 
 
 79. ECCLESIASTICAL INTEREST. — “ The 
 temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord ! ” was 
 never again to be. Instead of that, Christian 
 Churches, monasteries, and hermitages covered the 
 land ; and a magnificent Church, built by Justinian, 
 and dedicated to the Virgin, stood on the very temple- 
 hill. For 300 years now the interest at Jerusalem 
 is purely ecclesiastical. While asceticism increased 
 in extent and in morbid excess, so also did religious 
 disputes and heresies. While such conspicuous ex¬ 
 amples as Simon Stylites at Antioch, and his imita¬ 
 tors, passed their lives on lofty pillars in order to 
 be nearer heaven and farther from the world ; while 
 the air was heavy with the groans of innumerable 
 self-tormentors all over the sacred soil, at Jerusalem 
 a host of errors in belief, Arian, Pelagian, Eutychian, 
 
 a Ammianus Marcellinus, Bk. xxiii. 1. 
 
70 
 
 Monophysite, and others, kept the Church in a con¬ 
 stant turmoil most unchristian. Eelics, bones of 
 saints, and bits of the Holy Cross multiplied mira¬ 
 culously, and so also did dissensions, quarrels, and 
 corruptions within the Church of Jerusalem. Simony 
 prevailed: ordination and promotion were procured 
 by bribery. There was crying need for a scourge 
 and a cleansing. 
 
 80. CHOSROES. —Then God sent the first Avenger 
 against Christian Jerusalem —to rebuke and chastise 
 the breaking of the New Covenant as He had that of 
 the old. This was the first of the waves from out of 
 the mighty East that eventually swept away the 
 entire Eastern Church. Out of Persia he came, 
 Chosroes (the Second), and having overrun all the 
 East to the Hellespont and the Nile, he took 
 Jerusalem, sacked it, and burned all its magnificent 
 churches, including the stately building over the 
 Holy Sepulchre. “The devout offerings of 300 
 years were rifled in one sacrilegious day.” a The 
 Jews gladly joined him, and with their barbarian 
 allies glutted their hatred in the blood of 90,000 
 Christians. The conqueror withdrew, carrying with 
 him numerous captives of high degree, and the sacred 
 treasures, and, most sacred of all, the wood of the 
 true Cross, (a.d. 614.) 
 
 But this cloud soon passed away. Fifteen years 
 later, here is another wonderful arrival. The Emperor 
 Heraclius , having driven back the Persians in 
 glorious triumph, is coming up the valley, he, the 
 Emperor of the East, barefoot, and meanly clad, 
 bearing on his shoulder the Cross he had rescued, 
 visibly bowing his neck to the yoke of the Crucified 
 in the very scene of the Passion. The Church was 
 restored to its former eminence, but, alas ! not with¬ 
 out the usual sanguinary retaliation on the Jews. 
 
 81. THE KORAN. —While this imperial homage 
 was being done to the lowly Name, a new war-cry 
 
 o Gibbon. 
 
71 
 
 enforcing a new faith had burst upon the ears of the 
 affrighted world—“ Ullah-il- UUah ! ” “the Koran 
 or death ! ” The cross had taken up the sword, and 
 lo ! as if by divine remonstrance, a sword came out 
 of the desert flaming against the cross. No religious 
 phenomenon can equal in rapidity of progress and 
 intensity of zeal the outburst of Mahommedanism 
 which then swept like a deluge over Christendom. 
 The year 622 a.d. was the date of the Hegira, and 
 the year 632, in which Mahommed died, saw the old 
 Sabean fetish religion completely discarded in Arabia. 
 Abu Bekr, the first Caliph,® coped successfully with 
 the Romans in Syria. By the end of the century 
 this martial faith had spread over a wide zone 
 stretching from India through Asia and Africa to 
 the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 In a.d. 640, after having discomfited the imperial 
 troops time after time, and taken Damascus and all 
 the principal cities of the land, the Moslem Arabs 
 swept up to the walls of Jerusalem. Its Christian 
 Patriarch was at length compelled to capitulate. 
 A plain man is the conqueror, mounted on a camel, 
 in simple Bedouin costume, a sheepskin cloak and 
 a coarse cotton shirt, with a leathern bottle and a 
 wooden platter for meals slung behind him—yet it 
 is the great Caliph ’Omar , “the Servant of God, 
 Commander of the Faithful,” he who had already 
 shaken the thrones of Rome and Persia. “ Lead me 
 to the Mosque of David,” said he, meaning the site 
 of the temple. But the Christian population, in 
 derision of the Jewish veneration for the place, had 
 long used it as a dunghill, and the memory of it had 
 well-nigh perished. They took him to church after 
 church, while in each he curtly answered, “ Thou 
 best: this is not the Mosque described by the 
 Apostle of God,” till they came to a place filled with 
 dung—it was the old temple court. “Ullah Ach- 
 
 a Caliph means successor , i. e. , Khalif-Resul-Ullali, “ Successor of the 
 Prophet of God.” 
 
72 
 
 bar! * he cried out, “ God is great! This is the 
 Mosque of David.” And there he and his followers 
 prayed. 
 
 82. THE MOSQUE AND ITS FAITH.—So on 
 
 that spot, over the Sakhrah or Holy Rock of Moriah, 
 they built the Mosque of 7 Omar a —the magnificent 
 structure that stands to this day, the chief glory of 
 Jerusalem, and one of the glories of the earth. 
 Henceforth Jerusalem becomes almost as dear to 
 the Moslems as to the Jews and Christians. Why 
 is it dear to the Jews ? Because their fathers lived 
 and died there, because it is the centre of their faith, 
 their national hopes, their noblest traditions. Why 
 is it dear to the Christians ? Because the Cross of 
 the world’s Redemption was lifted there, because 
 the Holy Sepulchre is there. Why is it dear to the 
 Moslems! Because Mahommedanism is intrinsically 
 an offshoot of Judaism and Christianity, and what 
 interests them cannot be indifferent to it, and be¬ 
 cause to it Jerusalem is, after Mecca and Medina, 
 the holiest of earth. 
 
 Hence to these three dominant religions Jeru¬ 
 salem became the object of continual pilgrimages, 
 the chief or exclusive right to make which has 
 caused all the strife and all the story of it ever since. 
 
 83. UNDER THE MOSLEMS.—For over four 
 and a half centuries Jerusalem passed from hand to 
 hand among the Moslem ruling races. 
 
 The first Caliphs ruled from Damascus as their 
 seat of government. These were murderously dis¬ 
 placed by the house of Abbas, the Abasside Caliphs , 
 who ruled from the city of Baghdad. They treated 
 the Christians with great harshness. But there was 
 one exception, — the hero of the Arabian nights, 
 Haroun-al-Raschid y i.e ., Haroun the Just. Under 
 Haroun, thanks to that wonderful friendship which 
 
 a’Omar’s mosque was a wooden erection. The true builder of the 
 “Mosque of Omar,” or present “Dome of the Rock,” was another 
 Caliph, Abd-el-Melik (a.d. 691), as can be seen from the Cufic in¬ 
 scription round the base of the dome. 
 
73 
 
 he and Charlemagne, the Frank emperor, conceived 
 for each other, and maintained, though at the great 
 distance separating Baghdad and Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 Jerusalem had peace and honour, and by the bounty 
 of the latter its churches were restored and hospices 
 founded. 
 
 84. HAKEM.—After his death numerous religious 
 and political heresies rent the unity of the Moslem 
 power. Sects and dynasties arose in all parts, with 
 high claims. 
 
 The sovereignty of the Abassides tottered for 
 nigh a century before it fell at last before the for¬ 
 midable dynasty of the Fatemites of Egypt, the 
 Caliphs who ruled from Cairo. Of these the most 
 fanatic and terrible to the Christians was Hakem, 
 who proclaimed himself the latest incarnation of 
 the Deity. For 800 years, the hardy Druses of 
 Lebanon, in a religion probably the strangest in the 
 world, have acknowledged him as god/ who was 
 u one of the maddest monsters the world has ever 
 produced.” It were tedious even to indicate his 
 extravagant follies, his crimes, and his excessive 
 hatred of the Jews and Christians. Suffice to say 
 that within two years 30,000 Christian churches 
 were razed to the ground. Of these the Church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre incurred the first and severest 
 fate (a.d. 1010). This was the greatest despite ever 
 done to the Christians’ most sacred place, the Church 
 of El-Caiyamah (or .Resurrection). Only the cave 
 itself was preserved, providentially, or, as some say, 
 miraculously. 
 
 85. THE TURKS.—The old Moslem dynasties were 
 being enfeebled by luxurious ease and inaction 
 when a new race out of the farther East brought a 
 fresh infusion of ferocity. The Turks, having estab- 
 
 a The Moslems termed it by the opprobrious and punning epithet 
 El-Camamah (or Church of the Dung), as a reminder of how the 
 Christians had treated the temple site; and by Caiyamah and Ca- 
 mamah it is still known to the natives according as they are Christian 
 or Mussulman. 
 
74 
 
 lished themselves as the most valiant warriors of Islam, 
 now threw in their lot with the Abasside dynasty of 
 Baghdad. They speedily became the real rulers of 
 all the East. They founded a new order of dynasty, 
 the first members of which were called SeljuJcians 
 (after a renowned chief, Seljuk), and their chief took 
 the name of Sultan, which has ever since been 
 retained. They spread their conquests on the one 
 hand over the Roman Empire as far as the Bosphorus, 
 and on the other over the Fatemite dominion as far 
 as the gates of Cairo. It was they who were in 
 power when the Crusades began. But in Palestine 
 they had always to maintain a dubious conflict with 
 the Egyptians, so that it was by no means a united 
 faith that the warriors of Europe came against. 
 
 86. PILGRIMAGE.— Under the Turkish rule the 
 Christians in the Holy Land were subjected to the 
 most scandalous treatment, and the most grievous 
 bondage they had ever known. But in spite of that, 
 pilgrims flocked thither in ever increasing numbers 
 from all parts of Christendom. The 'passion for pil¬ 
 grimages must have existed from an early period : 
 first to local shrines, such as that of Thomas-k-Becket 
 at Canterbury, 05 and then, when the way became 
 opener, to the holiest shrine of all, at Jerusalem. 
 The motives for going on pilgrimage were many and 
 varied. Some went through piety or to do penance 
 for sins ; others for adventure or honour, or prompted 
 by a romantic curiosity : but all believed that it was 
 an act pleasing to God. It was exaggerated until 
 it became epidemic, and the phrase, “ See Jerusalem 
 and die,” expressed the common belief that that was 
 the road to heaven. 
 
 Things strange and wonderful—such as the finding 
 of countless holy relics, the yearly appearance of the 
 Holy Fire at Easter in the Sepulchre Church, 6 at 
 
 a See Chaucer’s Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. 
 
 b Gibbon.—The Latins have long abjured it, but the Greeks still 
 observe it. 
 
75 
 
 which “ pious fraud the Moslems smiled with indig¬ 
 nation,” the spreading of strange heresies, the 
 multiplication of sects, each, however, uniting in the 
 common temple of their religion over the sacred 
 tomb — brought in a period of intense religious 
 excitement. Greatest incentive of all, an awful 
 whisper ran through Christendom that the end of 
 the world was nigh : a thousand years had gone 
 since Christ had left the earth, and again He would 
 appear to His people in Palestine. Thither ceaseless 
 streams of pilgrims poured, to atone for guilt or to 
 be ready to welcome the Second Advent. Strange 
 mingling of true devotion with rank idolatry; mean, 
 selfish motives with the true pathos of human life ! 
 There, side by side at the Sepulchre, men red- 
 handed with crime and black-hearted with remorse, 
 and men aglow with the pure fire of love for the 
 Blessed Life would join in this prayer : “ Thou who 
 hast died for us, and art buried in this sacred place, 
 take pity on our misery, and withdraw us from this 
 vale of tears.” 
 
 87. NOTABLE PILGRIMS. —Among the more 
 notable pilgrims prior to the Crusades were some 
 egregious sinners of high rank. One such was 
 Frotmond, a nobleman, who had killed a high 
 ecclesiastic. For ten long years of misery he dragged 
 himself, loaded with chains, about the holy places, 
 and died at last, unshriven, in despair. Another 
 such was Fulke the Black, Count of Anjou, a man of 
 many crimes, who was scourged through the streets 
 of Jerusalem, crying, “Lord, have mercy on a per¬ 
 jured Christian, a sinner wandering far from his 
 own country.” At the sepulchre he obtained mir¬ 
 aculous attestation of his pardon. Another was 
 Bobert, Duke of Normandy, who went in penitence 
 along with a large company of Knights and Barons. 
 Then followed the Bishops’ Pilgrimage : the Arch¬ 
 bishop of Mayence, with three Bishops and 7000 
 of every rank, forced their way through Asia Minor, 
 
76 
 
 and after a narrow escape of destruction at the hands 
 of a horde of Arabs, arrived in great state at 
 Jerusalem. These and other similar large bands of 
 armed pilgrims really prepared the way for the 
 hostile Crusades. They came with at least the show 
 of hostility, and thereby invited violence. 
 
 88. PREPARATION FOR CRUSADES.— It was 
 against the genius and the traditions of Christianity 
 to take up the sword. But the time had come when 
 the cruel oppression of the mother church in the 
 Holy Land by the Infidels, and their threatened 
 invasion of Western Christendom, called aloud for 
 violent measures in self-defence. The Moslems had 
 no scruple but rather gloried in using the sword in 
 religion’s cause. The Christians knew too well the 
 use of it as a civil and political compeller. Why not 
 consecrate and unite its force in the highest cause 
 of all, the cause of Him whose name they bore in 
 common ? The world was ripe for such an effort, 
 and the immediate effects were to divert all Europe 
 from internecine warfare, to band the diverging na¬ 
 tions together in one great purpose, and to rouse a 
 religious enthusiasm which not only broke through 
 the corruptions that had mantled over the whole 
 Christian Church, but sent the vital stream of faith 
 quicker and warmer on its course down into modern 
 centuries. 
 
 The whole atmosphere was fiery, heavily charged 
 with anger, fears, and wild imaginings : and in due 
 time the spark fell which kindled it. It fell on this 
 wise :—A hermit, who had once been a soldier, came 
 on pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine—the most remark¬ 
 able pilgrim that ever entered Jerusalem —Peter the 
 Hermit. He witnessed the great exactions and in¬ 
 tolerable sufferings inflicted on his fellow-believers : 
 how the infidels insulted, starved, robbed, and slew 
 them; how the churches were outraged, the altars 
 trampled upon, the priests beaten and imprisoned ; 
 how crowds of pilgrims, unable to pay the exorbitant 
 
77 
 
 tax for admission to the city, were left outside the 
 walls to die of starvation or violence. His soul was 
 roused to fiery indignation, and as he knelt at the 
 Holy Sepulchre a divine voice cried to him, “ Arise, 
 Peter. It is time to deliver my people and my holy 
 places.” And Peter arose, convinced that our Lord 
 liad called him to call Europe to arms ; and Europe 
 was obedient to his call. A little hermit moved a 
 whole continent by the magic spell of faith. And so 
 the East and the West again came into collision 
 at Jerusalem, this time over the tomb of One who 
 long ago had been cast out of it and suffered the last 
 indignity. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CRUSADES AND THEIR ISSUES TO MODERN DAYS. 
 
 * 1 As far as to the sepulchre of Christ . . . 
 
 We are impressed and engaged to fight . . . 
 
 To chase these pagans in those holy fields 
 Over whose acres walk’d those blessed feet 
 Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail’d 
 For our advantage to the bitter cross.” 
 
 —Henry IV. 
 
 89. FIRST CRUSADE. —The First Crusade re¬ 
 solved itself into two divisions, one a mere mob, the 
 other princely warriors. Peter the Hermit had 
 done his work well. A little man, but of a mighty 
 spirit, a quick wit, a keen and lively eye, and a 
 tongue of fiery eloquence—he had thundered forth 
 against the infidels in the highways, the palaces, and 
 the courts of Europe, and moved all Europe to its 
 depths. All classes, not the rich and great only, but 
 the common people in crowds ; not the pious only, 
 but also men and women who had sinned, and 
 robbers and murderers even, and priests who had 
 
78 
 
 been unfaithful, with repentant tears and sobs and 
 outbursts of anger, took the Cross, and dedicated 
 themselves to the Holy War. In a great council, 
 after Peter and the Pope Urban had spoken, the 
 whole assemblage shouted “ Dieu le veut! Dieu le 
 veut /” “Yes,” cried the Pontiff, “Cod wills it! 
 Let that be your war-cry : ” and so Dieu le veut! 
 rang through Europe. Mighty hosts mustered, and 
 began to move along the terrible road (a.d. 1096). 
 The first division, consisting of about 100,000 armed 
 men and a vast throng of women, old men, and 
 children, was headed by Peter the Hermit going 
 before on his mule and with a cross in his hand. 
 Whole villages joined them as they went, people, 
 priests, cattle, and all. So gross was their ignorance 
 that at town after town as its walls rose in sight the 
 cry was raised, “ Is this Jerusalem? ” when, alas ! it 
 was thousands of miles away. Frightful disasters 
 and slaughter overtook them even in nominally 
 Christian lands. At last this mighty wave of 
 humanity crossed the Bosphorus—“ as if Europe 
 had been loosened from its foundations and hurled 
 against Asia ! ” exclaims the historian Princess Anna 
 Comnena—and broke against the walls of Nicsea. 
 Here the Sultan routed them, and out of that vast 
 host of at least 250,000 only 3000 escaped. 
 
 90. GODFREY.—But now another sort of Cru¬ 
 saders came up, the chiefs of Europe and their 
 armies. Godfrey of Bouillon was their leader, a man 
 of wisdom and valour. Arrived at Nicsea, the 
 soldiers found bleaching bones of the former division 
 lying in heaps, “pointing with skeleton fingers along 
 the road to Jerusalem, the road of defeat and death.” 
 Wrath added to their zeal. Nicsea fell before them. 
 On they drove through Asia Minor into fair Syria, 
 victory attending them, but also disaster and dis¬ 
 sension and terrible privations. Though divided by 
 manifold interests and languages, one purpose united 
 them, to rescue the Holy Tomb. Fighting as only 
 
79 
 
 religions enthusiasts can fight, in battles at every 
 step, in sieges and counter-sieges, while the infidel 
 armies seemed only to grow the more they were 
 destroyed, at last the remnants of the Great Cru¬ 
 sade halted under the walls of Jerusalem. Out 
 of 600,000 persons who had crossed the Bosphorus 
 with Godfrey only 20,000 fighting men and as many 
 followers reached the goal. And when they beheld 
 the walls and heard the name of Jerusalem, they 
 shed tears, falling on their faces to the ground and 
 adoring God, who had granted them to arrive at the 
 object of all their hopes and sufferings. But where 
 were all the rest % Ah ! on many an arid plain, in 
 many a swollen river, at the foot of precipices, 
 beneath the walls of many a town and city their 
 whitening bones lay unburied, unremembered. For 
 this they had left home and country, for a senti¬ 
 ment about a mere place and name ; but surely not 
 all in vaiu, for human emotion had glorified their 
 object, and dying they shared the glory. 
 
 91. AGAIN IN SIEGE.—Once again the Holy City 
 was in the throes of a terrible siege. But this time 
 it was not the besieged but the besiegers that 
 suffered. Fierce assaults were made incessantly, but 
 ferocity as wild as their own drove the assailants 
 back ; boiling oil and pitch were poured on their 
 heads. The expected miracles did not come. 
 Beneath the fierce heat of a Syrian midsummer 
 sun they had no trees to shade them, no water, and 
 little food : and many threw themselves down to die 
 from very misery, crying, “ Fall, O walls of Jeru¬ 
 salem, upon us ; sacred dust cover at least our 
 bones ! ” A Genoese fleet brought timely reinforce¬ 
 ment and heartenment. Three great towers were 
 now made, and great preparations for the final 
 attack. A great march took place round the City— 
 as the Israelites had marched round Jericho—the 
 priests chanting, the Crusaders bareheaded and bare¬ 
 footed, with banners and the blowiug of clarions. 
 
80 
 
 But again the assault was repulsed ; the towers were 
 ruined, and the princes were in despair. At length 
 the decisive day arrived, Friday, the 15th July, 1099 
 (the day of the Crucifixion). The courage and 
 ferocity of the Saracens were at their height, and 
 baffled all efforts to storm the walls. But lo ! at the 
 moment of crisis a miracle appeared. Godfrey and 
 Baymond shouted that Heaven had come to their 
 aid, for there on the top of the Mount of Olives 
 stood a soldier in shining armour, St George him¬ 
 self ! A whisper ran through the army that it was 
 now three o’clock, the very hour and the very day 
 when our Lord had died a thousand years ago on 
 that very spot. A great shout went up to heaven, 
 “ On, on! Fight for the Cross, for God ! ” Godfrey 
 stood upon the walls, the Saracens fled, and Jeru¬ 
 salem was in the hands of the Christians. 
 
 92. ATROCITIES IN THE TEMPLE.— The car¬ 
 nage that ensued was terrible. In the temple area 
 the knights rode ruthless and red with blood. Neither 
 Christian mercy nor chivalric honour was shewn : 
 neither man, woman, nor child was spared in the 
 first torrent of rage and revenge. It is said 100,000 
 in all were slain. But when the frightful work 
 slackened, the great brawny soldiers, survivors of 
 so many toils and perils and fights, were seized with 
 sudden horror for the crimes of their hands in the 
 Lord’s city, sheathed their swords, and utterly out¬ 
 worn, broke into tears and prayers, sobbing to 
 Christ to have pity on them and forgive ! Thus they 
 rescued the Holy Sepulchre, and thus they paid their 
 vows. 
 
 93. GODFREY KING.— The Cross was master 
 now. A Christian kingdom was established at Jeru¬ 
 salem, and Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lorraine, 
 elected first king. He would not wear the crown 
 nor take the title, but he has always been regarded 
 as king. The constitution was of course modelled 
 on the Feudal System, then obtaining everywhere 
 
81 
 
 in Europe. The Patriarch at Jerusalem was su¬ 
 preme in ecclesiastical matters, and was over the 
 bishops and archbishops assigned to various cities 
 throughout the land. The authority of the Western 
 Pontiff at Rome was but little regarded. 
 
 94. THE CHRISTIAN THRONE. — For eighty- 
 eight years the Christian throne was maintained, but 
 only by continual watchfulness and fighting, with 
 enemies all around, and with kings becoming weaker 
 and weaker till the dynasty practically ended in a 
 leper. All the Mohammedan parties united against 
 them, the Abassides, the Fatemites, and the Turks, 
 suppressing for the time their mutual hatred and 
 strife. Battles after battles were fought with hardly 
 any intermission, in which the intrepid Knights of 
 the Cross were nearly always victorious, against 
 overwhelming odds. The bulk of the Crusaders re¬ 
 turned home to the West carrying palms. But wave 
 after wave of armed pilgrims continued to arrive over 
 the same terrible road, suffering the same woes of dis¬ 
 aster and decimation by the way. After a wise and 
 righteous reign, the valiant Godfrey died, and was 
 buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. His 
 brother Baldwin succeeded him, and proved himself 
 the greatest, the strongest, as well as the wisest of 
 those Christian kings. Twelve other kings followed 
 him, several of whom were noble and brave, but they 
 rapidly declined as the morals of the Frank kingdom 
 grew corrupt, and its supporters weak and effeminate. 
 Through intermarriage of the Crusaders with the 
 natives, a race of semi-Asiatics, weaker and more 
 vicious than either was produced, who were nick¬ 
 named pullani , “anybodies, sons of anybodies.” 
 Church and State together round the Holy Tomb 
 became, instead of a pattern of holiness and justice, 
 a pattern of all kinds of corruption and iniquity. 
 And so again God’s staff of vengeance was raised— 
 this time in the hand of the renowned Saladin, the 
 Saracen Sultan. 
 
82 
 
 95. THE SECOND CRUSADE.— Another Cru¬ 
 sade, undertaken rather for ambition than through 
 piety, did not touch Jerusalem. Its leaders were 
 Conrad, Emperor of Germany, and Louis VII. of 
 France, and its great preacher, Bernard of Clairvaux. 
 In Asia Minor at Dorylseum (now Eskisheher), the 
 scene of Godfrey’s great victory, they suffered a 
 calamitous defeat, out of which only 7000 of their 
 70,000 escaped. At the siege of Damascus, whither 
 they had penetrated, a last defeat was given them, 
 and the miserable remnant returned home in dis¬ 
 grace. 
 
 96. THE MILITARY ORDERS.— But the main 
 stay of the Christian kingdom, more powerful and 
 lasting than the kings, was not such fitful and pre¬ 
 carious help as the Crusades furnished, but the two 
 great Military Orders established in the land—the 
 Knights Templars , and the Knights Hospitallers of 
 St John. The Templars, so named because their 
 headquarters were on the Temple Area, in the 
 Mosk-el-Aksa (Justinian’s Church of the Virgin), 
 wore a white robe with a red cross on the breast, 
 and their special object was to protect pilgrims and 
 defend the Holy Land. The Hospitallers, so named 
 because their original and immediate object was to 
 help the wounded, wore a black robe with a white 
 cross on the left shoulder, and their headquarters 
 were a splendid palace opposite the Church of the 
 Sepulchre, where its extensive ruins still stand. 
 These orders were vowed monks first, and warriors 
 more by necessity than by design ; but the reverse 
 soon became the case. They did not keep their 
 vows of poverty, chastity, and self-denial, but were 
 wealthy, proud, and profligate. Their manners 
 and character degenerated like the rest of the Cru¬ 
 saders settled in Palestine. But they were redeemed 
 by dauntless courage, foremost in every battle, never 
 fleeing from danger or foe, never yielding, but dying 
 instead. These were the most conspicuous figures 
 
83 
 
 in and around Jerusalem for 200 years of continual 
 fighting. 
 
 97. SALADIN. —The Christians were then un¬ 
 worthy ; and a nobler than they appeared, Saladin , 
 just, merciful, and courteous, firm to his plighted 
 word, noble in reverses, moderate in success, as fair 
 a model of the true knight and gentleman as any 
 in Christian annals. He besieged Jerusalem (1187), 
 and the city capitulated to him. His clemency was 
 based on this sentiment of his : “ I know Jerusalem 
 is the house of God, and I would not harm it.” 
 
 Dismay fell upon Christendom at this news. 
 Europe, stirred again, sent forth the Third Crusade , 
 undertaken to recover the lost kingdom. Its 
 preacher was the learned and saintly William of 
 Tyre, and its leaders were King Richard of England 
 (the Lion-Hearted), Philip of France, and Frederick 
 Barbarossa of Germany. The two former went by 
 sea, and met at Acre ; the latter went by the old 
 disastrous route through Asia Minor, and perished, 
 leaving only a twentieth of his army to meet the 
 other contingents. Acre fell before the Christians, 
 and success seemed certain. But Philip could not 
 agree with Richard, and returned home, thus ruining 
 the Crusade. Richard became an awful terror by 
 his almost superhuman valour and ferocity, till the 
 Saracens fled at his very name. Saladin retreated 
 to Jerusalem, the Crusaders following. But when 
 Richard came to a hill overlooking the city, he was 
 strangely, unaccountably affected: this great knight, 
 most stalwart champion of the Cross, rude and 
 furious to excess, yet generous and full of noble 
 impulses, burst into tears, and cried, “ Lord, I am 
 not worthy even to look upon the city of my 
 Saviour ! ” And slowly and sadly the mailed hosts 
 of the Cross retired down the hills to the sea. They 
 embarked again at Acre. “ Oh, Holy Land,” cried 
 Richard, “God grant that I may return to help 
 thee ! ” “ Truly,” said Saladin when he heard of 
 
 F 
 
84 
 
 this vow, “if God wills that Jerusalem pass into 
 other hands, it can fall to none more noble than the 
 brave King Richard of England.” So ended this 
 picturesque Crusade. 
 
 98. THE FOURTH CRUSADE.— The next was 
 an outrage on the name, for it stopped short with 
 the taking of Constantinople from the Greeks, and 
 never went near Jerusalem. A better one followed, 
 the real Fourth Crusade , in 1228, under Frederick 
 II. of Germany. Once again Jerusalem came into 
 Christian hands, peacefully, by treaty. But as 
 Frederick was under the ban of the Pope, the rest 
 of Christendom did not support him on the throne 
 of Jerusalem. 
 
 Then a new enemy appeared, and Jerusalem 
 ceased to be Christian, even until now. A wild and 
 savage race, called Cliarezmians , from the shores of 
 the Caspian Sea, swooped down on the land, 
 mutilated the Holy City, and massacred Christians 
 and Moslems alike. This is the last notable event 
 in the city’s history. They were driven out by the 
 Sultan of Cairo. 
 
 The conflict still lingered in the Holy Land 
 between the rival faiths, and was pursued vigorously 
 by the new dynasty of Turks, the Mameluke Sultans 
 of Egypt. Other Crusades were launched from 
 Europe, notably the Fifth under Louis IX., or Saint 
 Louis of France, and the Sixth under Edward the 
 Black Prince (of Wales), last of the Crusaders ; but 
 they were futile, and came to nought—tiny waves 
 breaking on the shore. The Crusading storm was 
 past. The waves in tempest, which, far out at sea, 
 have wrecked and swallowed mighty fleets, sink at 
 last into tiny ripples on a sunny beach, with little 
 children playing in and out. 
 
 99. CHRISTIAN WITHDRAWAL.— One by one 
 the towns were lost to the Christians, till Acre alone 
 was left, and Acre also fell (a.d. 1291). Amid the 
 thunders of a violent tempest the Frank dominion 
 
85 
 
 in the Holy Land expired. “A mournful and 
 solitary silence prevailed along the coast that had so 
 long resounded with the World’s Debate. ” a No 
 more did the pulpits of Europe thunder forth horror 
 and indignation at the news, no more was heard the 
 cry, Dieu le vent! nor mighty warriors marching. 
 Enthusiasm was dead ; and to the people of Europe 
 Jerusalem became merely a city of memories, and of 
 glorious myths that gathered round the names of 
 Godfrey and Tancred, Eichard and Saladin. 
 
 100. LATER HISTORY. — For 600 years now 
 Jerusalem has little or no place in history. In 
 1517 it changed hands when the new imperial race, 
 the Ottoman Turks, by that time masters of Con¬ 
 stantinople, wrested the Moslem sovereignty from the 
 Mamelukes of Egypt. And with the exception of 
 a few months in 1832, when the illustrious rebel 
 Ibrahim Pasha held it, it has been theirs ever since. 
 The Crescent still gleams over the Cross. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 MODERN JERUSALEM. 
 
 101. CHANGE IN THE CITY. —One can readily 
 judge from this strange and chequered history that 
 Jerusalem as it now stands is little like its former 
 self. Twenty fathoms down now lies the J erusalem 
 of Solomon, crushed and buried. All that is left of 
 it (if anything is left) is some courses of bevelled 
 wall on the east and west of the Haram enclosure 
 (the Temple Area); and to one spot there, called the 
 Jews’ Wailing Place, the Jews still repair weekly 
 to bewail their lost country and glory—“ How long, 
 Lord ? Wilt thou be angry for ever h ” 
 
 a Gibbon, in whose chapters 58 and 59 read the long story of the 
 Crusades and their issues. 
 
86 
 
 102. ANTIQUITIES.—There are numerous tombs, 
 caves, and vaults in and around the city, most of 
 them undoubtedly of great antiquity. These are 
 altered. But otherwise they are much as they must 
 have been in the time of Christ. There is the Tomb 
 of the Kings (or of Helena), the Tomb of the Judges, 
 that of Simon the Just, that of the Sanhedrin, that 
 of Absalom (or of Hezekiah), and the Tomb of David 
 (outside Sion, and doubtless the oldest building 
 there), with many more. But legend and guesswork 
 have made it impossible to get at the truth about 
 these. 
 
 The enormous vaults beneath the Haram (part 
 being known as Solomon’s Stables) may be Solomon’s 
 work, and if not, they are Herod’s. On these, with 
 their arches and piers and walls, repose the vast 
 flagged platform above, and the area constituting 
 nearly one-fourth of the whole city.« Beneath the 
 city are many tanks and cisterns, some of great size, 
 and aqueducts, where the water flows perennially, 
 no doubt from the Higher Pools (of Gihon) and tanks 
 outside the walls ; and beneath the Haram there is 
 a fountain, said to be “ a beautiful subterranean 
 lake,” which, in part at least, was fed by the aque¬ 
 ducts (still existing) from the Pools of Solomon 
 above Bethlehem. 
 
 All this, and much more as yet only half explored, 
 make Jerusalem a fascinating place for the anti¬ 
 quarian. The ruins that are above ground,—here 
 a column, here an ancient stone, here a bit of massive 
 wall peeping through the rubbish, are no older than 
 the Crusades, or have stories connected with them 
 too extravagant to accept. 
 
 103. WALLS AND STREETS.— The present 
 walls and the gates are the work of Sultan Suleiman 
 in 1542. The gates are seven in number. Five of 
 
 a The whole enclosure measures over 500 yards long by 300 broad, 
 and the platform on which stands the Mosque of ’Omar or Dome of 
 the Rock is 200 yards long by less broad. 
 
87 
 
 these are open, viz., Jaffa (on the W.), Damascus (on 
 the N.), St Stephen’s (on the E.), Dung Gate and 
 Sion Gate (on the S.). Two are shut, viz., Herod’s 
 (on the N.) and Golden Gate (on the (E.). On the 
 west, beside the Jaffa Gate, stands the old Citadel 
 or Tower of David (either Hippicus or Psephina) 
 with its moats and massive towers. 
 
 The city seen from without seems an unbroken 
 aggregate of roofs and domes, but within we find it 
 is interwoven with a network of streets branching in 
 all directions, mere lanes, however, between blank 
 walls, mostly without windows, and so narrow that 
 no wheeled conveyance can pass. No street is level, 
 and few are anything but zigzag and tortuous. 
 There are two chief streets, viz., (1) the Street of 
 David, running W. to E. ; (2) the Street of St 
 Stephen, an arcade, running N. to S. 
 
 These divide the city into four quarters :—(1) The 
 Mohammedan, in the N.-E. and E., containing the 
 Serai (palace) and the Haram ; (2) the Jewish, in 
 the S.-E.; (3) the Christian, in the N.-W., containing 
 the Latin and Greek convents, the Holy Sepulchre, 
 and the English Church ; (4) the Armenian, in the 
 S.-W., on Mount Zion. None of these quarters is 
 particularly bright or cheery ; but while the others 
 are certainly romantic, the Jewish quarter is so 
 atrociously mean and filthy that all one’s sense of 
 romance is lost in disgust. Clusters of tottering 
 hovels, black and foul, with great gaps of rotten 
 ruins between ; crooked lanes, where one has to leap 
 from filth-heap to filth-heap, or walk between lines 
 of reeking refuse breast-high, amidst “ the rankest 
 compound of villainous smells that ever offended 
 nostril”— this, on the very site of royal Hebrew 
 palaces ! where Solomon and Herod walked amid 
 gold and marble, now crawls the modern Jew in 
 rags and misery ! “ How are the mighty fallen ! ” 
 
 104. CONTRASTS. —But this is the City of Con¬ 
 trasts. The past never quits you as you tread its 
 
88 
 
 streets. Here are the modern bazaars, the semi- 
 European shops, the pedlars and the marketers in 
 these streets with their holy names; while you 
 jostle with men of every garb and feature—Turks in 
 fez and uniform, swarthy Arabs semi-nude, Russians 
 with their calpaks and shaggy capotes, Armenian 
 priests in black robes and capacious hoods, Greek 
 caloyers and pappas (priests) with turret-caps, Jews 
 with caftan vests and Pharisaic love-locks, and 
 Franks with coats of many cuts and fashions. But 
 you are not thinking of these. You are thinking 
 rather of the awful history buried below—2000 years 
 of ruins accumulated there beneath your tread— 
 every fathom down for twenty fathoms the death¬ 
 bed of armies, kings, heroes, and peoples of every 
 clime, among the stones they fought for. Turk and 
 Tartar, Moslem and Pagan, Christian knight and 
 Arab spearman, Egyptian, Persian, Roman, Greek, 
 and Jew, Jerusalem has gathered them all in in her 
 kindly fold, and on their ashes she has herself risen 
 through suffering nearer to heaven ! 
 
 Who is there even yet so calm as to forget, for¬ 
 give, and pity the wrongs, the errors, and the 
 passions that piled this funeral pyre so high? There 
 is One and only one who can, One who once wept 
 over fair Jerusalem : and somewhere far below, 
 buried beneath burnt altars, fallen crosses, broken 
 swords and scimitars, are the very stones His foot¬ 
 steps trod, anfl for His sake her very dust is dear to 
 us still. 
 
 105. HISTORIC BUILDINGS. —Of the two great 
 historic buildings still left, the Church of the Holy 
 Sepulchre and the Mosque of ’Omar, only the latter 
 is ancient, standing on the place of honour, the Holy 
 Hill, the heir of all the Temples, Kubbet-es-SaJchrah , 
 the Dome of the Rock. Without a doubt the holiest 
 place on earth if forty centuries of almost unbroken 
 worship of the Invisible God can make it so, it is 
 at the same time perhaps the most beautiful picture 
 
89 
 
 that man and nature have left fronting the sky. 
 Well may they call the place Haram-es-Shenf , the 
 Noble Sanctuary ! 
 
 Look at it from Olivet, when the sun paints every 
 object its richest hue. In the background the un¬ 
 dulating buildings, the swelling domes, aspiring 
 minarets, and zigzag battlements of the city ; in the 
 foreground the valley of Jehoshapliat crowned on 
 the farther side with the lofty, massive walls that 
 surround the Haram enclosure ; over and within 
 these walls, a world of rich variety—broad flats of 
 naked yellow stone alternating with green plots of 
 grass, and dotted here and there with dusky olives, 
 tapering cypresses, marble fountains, airy arches, 
 remnants of stately gates, carved pulpits, miniature 
 cupolas; and in and out among these, white veiled 
 figures gliding spectral, and turbanned heads bowed 
 low in prayer at the mihrab niches : and above them 
 all, in the centre, the great Mosque and noble 
 dome glittering like a star transplanted from the 
 firmament, a shining chapter of the Thousand and 
 One Nights preserved in stone, fairyland still visible 
 to modern eyes—all so still and solemn ! 
 
 106. ASSOCIATIONS OF THE HARAM.— Hither 
 pilgrims throng from all the lands of Islam : for after 
 the pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina ranks that to 
 the Haram at Jerusalem. Here every object has 
 some legend connected with it, which, of course, to 
 the Islamite is not legend but truth. Yonder be¬ 
 side the Mosk-el-Aksa (on the S.) is the Bir-el- 
 WareJceh , or Well of the Leaf, leading down to the 
 rose gardens of Paradise. For did not a man once 
 enter there and an angel give him a leaf to take back 
 and encourage the faithful 1 The Holy Rock itself 
 beneath the dome is held to be the centre of the 
 earth, and one of the rocks of Paradise : suspended 
 between heaven and earth, 18 miles nearer heaven 
 than any other part of earth ; and beneath it is the 
 source of every drop of sweet water that ever or any- 
 
/ 
 
 90 
 
 where flows ! And did not the prophet Mahomet 
 halt here on his noctural journey to heaven, and will 
 not the angel Israfil stand here on the Resurrection 
 Day to blow the last trump ? And yonder on the 
 wall, below the Golden Gate, are broken columns of 
 porphyry where Mahomet shall sit on the Judgment 
 Day, when (according to tradition) Christ shall appear 
 to scatter God’s enemies in the Valley of Jehoshaphat 
 —“ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of de¬ 
 cision !”«; and Dajjal or Antichrist shall be slain by 
 Christ, and every stone cry out, “ I have a Jew under 
 me, slay him ”; and, last sign of all, the Kaabah stone 
 of Mecca shall be led as a bride to the SakhrahRock 
 of Jerusalem, and the people and prophets of God 
 be all united ! Such is the Moslem sanctuary, with 
 its associations. 
 
 107. THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPUL¬ 
 CHRE. — How does the Christian one, the Church 
 of the Holy Sepulchre , compare? Very poorly. It has 
 not the beauty, the sublimity, the purity, the quiet of 
 the other. In a narrow sunken lane it stands, shut 
 in on every side, not ‘‘without the gate” now, but 
 considerably within. A church has always stood on 
 the site since the fourth century, when the Cave and 
 Cross were found by Queen Helena: but the present 
 one is merely the survivor of many burnings, great 
 part of it being remains of the Crusaders’ Church, 
 but much of it is as new as this century. Within 
 one building we find a hundred odd different objects 
 of pious tradition, divided among the sects and pre¬ 
 served each one in a chapel, shrine, or cell of its own. 
 Here we have all the details of the Passion of Christ, 
 the prison, the column of Flagellation, the Chapel of 
 the Elevation of the Cross, &c., and chief of all the 
 Holy Cave of Burial and Resurrection. Down in a 
 vault, below the great Rotunda, where forty-two 
 lamps of gold and silver burn day and night, and 
 priests wave incense, any day you can see the pil¬ 
 ot Jotsl iii. 14. 
 
91 
 
 grims crawling on bended knees, sobbing lament¬ 
 ably, and kissing the cold marble in the Cave. 
 
 108. ASSOCIATIONS OF THE SEPULCHRE 
 CHURCH. —Whether it be the true grave or not, 
 in interest it has no equal in the world, for around 
 it for sixteen centuries at least have clustered the 
 hopes and affections of Christendom.® Whether the 
 tradition be right or wrong, surely here we are nearer 
 by those sixteen centuries to the actual historical 
 occurrence on which we trust so much—the'actual 
 place so long held in reverence, giving flesh and 
 bone to the dim memory and intangible form of his¬ 
 tory. Surely this realization of a history whose 
 every word and every act go to the remotest ends 
 of human destiny, is better far than to find here 
 nothing more than a modern life with an ignoble 
 unconcern for the Sacred Past, with other names ahd 
 other interests, and no trace left of the Divine Event, 
 neither whisper of those solemn notes that pierced 
 so many human hearts, nor shadow- of that Cross 
 which since has been borne in triumph over the 
 highroads of all the mighty nations. 
 
 To describe all parts of the Sepulchre Church 
 would be as tedious as to trace the course of the sects 
 of Christendom. It is a congeries of walls and parti¬ 
 tions, angles, corners, and caverns — picturesque 
 indeed, but perplexing — a jumble of the oddest 
 freaks of building : churches within churches, and 
 chapels within these ; grottoes within chapels, and 
 cells within grottoes ; higher platforms and lower 
 platforms; and ever passing hither and thither 
 fantastic garbs of priests and monks, Greek and 
 
 a The present site is the only traditional one. Other sites have 
 been advocated—Dr Kobinson’s on Acra; Fergusson’s on the Haram 
 Area ; another just outside St Stephen’s Gate; and another above the 
 Grotto of Jeremiah, beside Damascus Gate. The identity of this 
 site rests mainly on one question, “ Was it ‘ without the gate ’ at 
 the time of the Crucifixion? ” The arguments for and against have 
 been ably arrayed by many scholars, chiefly by Williams in his “ Holy 
 City,” for the identity, and by Dr Robinson in bis “ Biblical 
 Researches,” against. 
 
92 
 
 Latin, Orthodox and Catholic, Armenian and Coptic 
 and Syrian ; and not least notable of all, Mahomet, 
 present in the persons of the Turkish guards with 
 their guns, looking on not unconcerned at all this 
 show. 
 
 The confusion of the place is as great as its 
 history is eventful, and its associations thrilling : 
 and the spot where, after all, it is more thanfprobable 
 the Prince of Peace died and rose to fulfil peace, 
 “ has become the one great central focus of Christian 
 rancour and hatred.” Sorely has Jerusalem felt this. 
 Most devoted to religion, most devoted also to sword 
 and sorrow ! There is no spot in her on which the 
 foot can tread but has its history, not an old wall 
 but has echoed to the shrieks of the despairing and 
 the groans of the dying, not one stone but has been 
 reddened with human blood, not one of the hills and 
 valleys around her but contains the dust of those 
 who loved her all too well. 
 
 109. THE FUTURE. —Meanwhile what is to be 
 her future ? Shall the Russians through their Greek 
 Church (as they are like to), or shall the Jews, 
 possess her ? This at least is sure, while the rest are 
 strangers, the Jews are still the only patriots there. 
 
 A Moslem tradition relates that once Jerusalem 
 complained to the Almighty that she had been 
 so often destroyed and emptied, and the answer 
 was this : “ Daughter, be comforted, for I will fill 
 thee, instead, with worshippers, who shall flock to 
 thee as vultures to their nests, and yearn for thee as 
 doves for their eggs.” When that shall be, and how, 
 shall be as God shall please. But the World’s 
 Redeemer will not suffer to the end of Time the 
 mournful despair of the “Wandering Jew”—that 
 strange legend so strangely true of the actual race. 
 There shall come the final Jubilee, when the wanderer 
 shall no more go forth from his happy possession, 
 and the Lord with His own hand will lift away 
 the curse, that they may dwell at last “ in Mount 
 
93 
 
 Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru- 
 
 sa l em ^ 
 
 110. THE JERUSALEM WHICH IS ABOVE.— 
 
 Dear to us all is Jerusalem, to Jew and Gentile both, 
 for what she has been, and for the sorrow she has 
 seen. Enshrined for ever in the sad sweet poetry 
 of human life, her name is the name which has been 
 counted fit for the heavenly city, where angels speak. 
 
 “ And throned on her hills sits Jerusalem yet, 
 
 But with dust on her forehead, and chains on her feet: 
 For the crown of her pride to the mocker hath gone, 
 
 And the holy Shechinah is dark where it shone.” 
 
 Yet, “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is 
 the Mother of us all.” And towards that, as the 
 earthly type grows dim and yet more dim, and 
 the heavenly clear and yet more clear, our hearts 
 aspire : “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, 0 
 Jerusalem ! 5 ’ 
 
 There stands a temple high a: d fair, 
 
 And all the pure in heart are there ; 
 
 Who love their kind, and love their God, 
 
 And tread the road our Lord hath trod. 
 
 No spoiler’s rage nor foeman’s strife 
 May vex the calm, or blight the life 
 That blooms perennial and divine, 
 
 Where Love makes every heart a shrine. 
 
 Fairer than man or angel knows, 
 
 With each fair soul that temple grows ; 
 
 Nor shall it ever stand complete, 
 
 Till Earth is laid at Heaven’s feet. 
 
94 
 
 POINTS FOP FURTHER INQUIRY. 
 
 Chapters I. and II. 
 
 “ In Salem also is God's tabernacle and his dwelling- 
 place in Zion.” Contrast this, as an expression of Judaism, 
 with “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God'!” and 
 “ Behold the tabernacle of God is with men.” 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 1. Find other instances besides Jerusalem in which the 
 Canaanitish inhabitants remained in complete or partial 
 possession; and state the particular reasons in each such 
 instance. 
 
 2. How far was the supplanting of the aboriginal tribes 
 by the children of Israel a purpose of God and a service to 
 humanity? Find similar instances in modern history, 
 and compare. 
 
 3. Trace the wanderings of the Ark of the Covenant. 
 
 4. Compare the disposition of Moses ’ tabernacle (Exod. 
 xxv. to xxvii.) with that of Solomon's temple. 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 1. Estimate the causes that contributed to Solomon's 
 decline from God and wisdom. 
 
 2. How may it be said that the endeavour to establish a 
 
95 
 
 temple service of Jehovah at Samaria was at once a falling 
 back on simpler and earlier ideas of worship, and an 
 anticipation of the synagogues ? 
 
 3. Trace out in the books of Hosea and Amos references 
 to the corrupted condition of Israel in Samaria. 
 
 4. Trace out in the book of Isaiah references to an appre¬ 
 hended invasion of Judea and the neighbouring countries 
 by Assyria. 
 
 5. Do the same in Jeremiah ; and state the nature of his 
 advice to the nation. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 1. Collect evidence as to the condition of the Jews in exile 
 from the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Ezra, and Esther. 
 
 2. Estimate the value and significance of Ezra's reforms. 
 
 3. Estimate the dangers and difficulties of the position at 
 Jerusalem when Greek influence was at ivork in politics 
 and morals. 
 
 4. Wherein and to what extent may the Maccabees be 
 said to have given a new lease of life to their nation ? 
 
 5. Why did the Romans prefer Herod to the Asmoneans; 
 and what was Herod's general policy as King of the Jews ? 
 
 6. Show how the state of the times was favourable to the 
 reception of a teacher like Jesus Christ, and how it was 
 unfavourable. 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 1. Exhibit the grounds of the Jeivs' religious pride ; and 
 say ho w far it was legitimate. 
 
 2. Show from Scripture the unhealthy moral and 
 spiritual state of the Jews previous to the WAR. 
 
 3. Josephus maintains that Jerusalem fell so miserably 
 because of the wickedness of that generation, while others 
 say that it was in order to fulfil prophecy. Reconcile these 
 two views. 
 
 4. In one of the speeches that Josephus delivered under 
 the walls in the hearing of his besieged countrymen, ex¬ 
 horting them to surrender and so spare the sanctuary, he 
 remarks, ‘ { And evident it is that God, when he had gone 
 
96 
 
 round the nations with dominion, is now settled in Italy" 
 What great truth, affecting Judaism, does he touch upon ? 
 
 5. Consider it especially in regard to the rise of Chris¬ 
 tianity, and its spread on to our day. 
 
 Chapter YII. 
 
 1. Wherein was our Lord's assertion of Divinity incon¬ 
 sistent with Jewish expectation ? 
 
 2. Account for the continuity of the Jewish creed and 
 ivorship notwithstanding the deprivation of Temple ritual 
 and national unity ; and show in what respects the change 
 was a reversion to the earlier and simpler stages of their 
 religion. 
 
 3. “Thou hast vanquished me, Galilean!" Point out 
 the truth of this saying as applied, first to the Jeivs, and 
 secondly to the Romans, whose capital actually became the 
 seat of the dominant Church. Show how this illustrates the 
 irony of history. 
 
 4. How far is internal corruption followed by external 
 attack and punishment simply cause and affect or a. visita¬ 
 tion of God in mercy ? 
 
 5. In ivhat particulars does the faith of the Koran 
 assimilate to Judaism rather than to Christianity? and, 
 vice versa, to Christianity rather than to Judaism ? 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 1. What was the social state of Europe at the time of 
 the Crusades, and how did they help its improvement ? 
 
 2. What position did the Roman Empire, or what re¬ 
 mained of it, hold towards the Crusades ? 
 
 3. How far is reverence for a place and a name justifi¬ 
 able? Show how patriotism and religion may pass into 
 superstition and idolatry. 
 
 4. Distinguish betiveen the political necessities and the 
 religious principle of the Crusades. 
 
 5. Estimate the good results to Christendom, and to 
 civilization, of the Crusading struggle, in the matter of 
 political union, the spread of learning, interchange of 
 manners and customs, and consolidation of the faith. 
 
$5ibk Class printers. 
 
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 “Every teacher should have it.”—Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. 
 
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