which the New City stood, and a part of the west, is now left out of the walls of Jerusalem."

Josephus has described at large the splendid temple, which rose in the place of the decaying structure built by the Jews under Zerubbabel. It was in this edifice, which took forty-six years in building, that our Lord taught, and which, by the beauty of its appearance, moved the Roman conqueror to lament that Jerusalem must fall beneath his arm. The palace of Herod, who, with all his vices, seems to have given almost unparalleled magnificence to his capital, the strong towers and walls also which he raised, are particularly mentioned by the historian; and from. the whole tenour of his description, Jerusalem appears to have been, in the time of our Saviour, as proud and luxurious in its appearance, as were its inhabitants in their minds and habits.

STATE OF JERUSALEM FROM ITS DESTRUC TION BY THE ROMANS.

TILL the time of the Emperor Hadrian, the hill of Sion remained strewed with the ruins of the ancient city. Finding that the recollections of their former liberty still animated the Jews, who continued to inhabit different parts of the country, that monarch resolved upon building a new town on the mountain, which should serve the double purpose of defending his conquests, and obliterating all dangerous associations in the minds of the people. The town thus erected, was called Ælia Capitolina; but, on the conversion of Constantine, the sacred name of Jerusalem was restored. The empress Helena herself, though greatly advanced in age, visited the city, and many of the buildings which mark the most remarkable of its quarters, had their origin in her pious munificence. It was among the designs of the apostate emperor Julian to rebuild the temple, a work by which he trusted to aim a fatal blow at the validity of the Christian prophecies. He accordingly made vast preparations for the commencement of the structure, but either by the miraculous interference of the Almighty, by the occurrence of natural phenomena, or that of events which he could not control, his attempt proved abortive, and the truth of Christ's words remained still more palpably esta

blished.

Through the whole of this period, pilgrims from all parts of the world continued to flock to the scene of the Redeemer's sufferings, a custom which no doubt derived its commencement from a natural feeling of mingled curiosity and reverence, but which, as the purity of the faith, and scriptural knowledge declined, became the source of numerous and most hurtful superstitions. For several centuries Jerusalem was unassailed by any enemy to the religion which led these worshippers to the sepulchre of Christ. In the reign of Heraclius it was for a short period subjected to the Persians under Chosroes; but the arms of the emperor Heraclius again triumphed, and the Christians found themselves in their former state of peaceful security. Their tranquillity, however, was not to be of long continuance. In the seventh century, it fell into the hands of Omar, the victorious successor of Mahomet, and for above four hundred years, the Christian world saw the birth-place of its faith desecrated by the unresisted power and superstitions of the Moslem. The unfortunate inhabitants, who had, till the period of the Mahometan conquest, enjoyed so happy an asylum in this distant quarter of the world, were thenceforward exposed not only to the ordinary evils of oppression, but to those which resulted from the perpetual changes which took place in the Turkish dynasties. At length, the chivalry of Europe roused itself at the cry of Peter the Hermit. The vast design was undertaken, of leading an armament, composed of the flower of Christian warriors, and of the most devout of believers, to the delivery of the sacred Sepulchre, and the relief of the oppressed worshippers at its shrines. Jerusalem was in the end taken, and a Christian king, Godfrey of Bouillon, sat on the throne of the Holy City.

Óf the kingdom of Jerusalem, a very particular account has been drawn up by the learned Abbé Gulnée. "This state," says he, " had two chief lords, the one spiritual, the other temporal; the patriarch was the spiritual head, the king the temporal ruler. The jurisdiction of the patriarch extended over the four archbishoprics of Tyre, Cæsarea, Nazareth, and Krak. He had for suffragans the bishops of Lydda and Hebron: on him were dependent also the six abbeys of Mount Sion, of the Latin Church, the Temple, Mount Olivet, Jehoshaphat, and St. Samuel; the

prior of the Holy Sepulchre, and the three abbesses of Our Lady the Great, St. Ann and St. Ladre. The archbishops had for their suffragans the following bishops; that is, the bishops of Tyre, of Berith, Sidon, Paneas, and Ptolemais: of Caesarea, Sebaste, Nazareth, and Tiberias: the priors of Mount Tabor and Krak, and the bishop of Mount Sinai. The bishops of St. George, Lydda and Acre, had under their jurisdiction the former, the two abbeys of St. Joseph of Arimathea, and St. Habakkuk, the two priors of St. John the Evangelist, and St. Catherine of Mount Gisart, with the abbess of the three shades: the latter, the Trinity and the penitents. All these bishoprics, abbeys, chapters, and convents of monks and nuns, appear to have enjoyed very large possessions, if we may judge from the number of troops which they were obliged to furnish for the service of the state. These orders in particular, at the same time military and religious, were distinguished for their opulence; and had in the country extensive lands, castles, and towns.

"Besides the domains which were the property of the king, as Jerusalem, Naplusia, Acre, Tyre, and their dependencies, the kingdom contained four great_baronies. The first of these comprised the counties of Jaffa, and Ascalon, with the lordships of Ramah, Mirabel, and Ybelin; the second, the principality of Galilee; the third, the lordships of Sidon, Cæsarea, and Bethsan; the fourth the lordships of Krak, Montreal, and Hebron. The county of Tripoli formed a separate principality, depen dent on the kingdom of Jerusalem, but distinct from it. One of the first cares of the kings was to give their sub jects a code of laws. Wise men were commissioned to collect the principal laws of the different countries from which the Crusaders came, and to form them into a body of legislation, according to which, all matters, civil and criminal, should be decided. Two courts of justice were established; the upper for the nobles, and the lower for the commonalty. The Syrians obtained the privilege of being judged by their own laws. The different lords had their courts of justice, as also had the principal cities, as Jerusalem, Jaffa, Hebron &c. The baronies and their dependencies were obliged to furnish two-thousand horse; and the cities of Jerusalem, Acre, and Naplusia, six hundred and sixty horse, and one hundred and thirteen foot; the towns of Ascalon, Tyre, Cæsarea, and Tiberias, a thousand foot. The churches, bishoprics, abbeys, chapters, &c., had to find about seven thousand; that is to say, the patriarch, the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Bishop of Tiberias, and the Abbot of Mount Tabor, five hundred each; the Archbishop of Tyre, and the Bishop of Tiberias, five hundred and fifty each; the Bishops of Lydda and Bethlehem, two hundred each; and the others in proportion to their domains. The troops of the state altogether, formed at first an army amounting to ten or twelve thousand men; the number was afterwards increased to fifteen thousand; and when Lusignan was defeated by Saladin, his army comprehended near twenty-two thousand men, all troops of the kingdom.'

The kingdom, thus established on the principles of feudalism, was preserved by the Christians with various reverses and changes, till the close of the thirteenth century, when it was conquered by the Sultan of Egypt; and at last became the permanent possession of the Moslem, under whose government it has continued to languish through a long period of degradation and poverty.

PRESENT APPEARANCE AND CONDITION OF THE CITY.

ON looking from the summit of Mount Moriah, the spectator beholds an amphitheatre of rocks, stretching before and on either side of him, not a point of which is without some claim to his veneration, or can be viewed without awakening the most solemn recollections. On the east, stretching for about a mile from north to south, rises the rocky ridge of Olivet; and on the central pinnacle of whose three peaks, stands the little chapel said to mark the spot of our Lord's ascension. Between this mountain and the city, once flowed the brook Kedron, a broad torrent, the annual birth of the winter snows and tempests. Towards the west, appears the stern and gloomy mountain of Calvary, divided from the city by the melancholy Gol gotha; and on the south, rises the Mount of Corruption, the scene of the abominations by which Israel and its kings stored up for themselves so much tribulation against the day of wrath. At the foot of this mountain, so fraught with dismal associations, lies the valley of Hinnom,

the Jewish Gehenna, one of the Scripture names of hell; and the traveller, as he views the dark and sterile precipices by which it is enclosed, may still imagine that he hears the shrieks of the innocent victims, who were there made to pass through the fire to Moloch.

It

If, on the other hand, he cross the valley of Kedron, and ascend Mount Olivet, he commands a full view of the whole of the space occupied by Jerusalem itself. Sion rises before him, deprived of its glory, but still venerable, as once sacred to the Almighty's presence; the city of David has left no trace of its splendour, but the bold rocks which held it up, as it were, a spectacle to the earth, still rest on their everlasting foundations. is not a feeling of solitude or desertion which takes possession of the mind, as the eye contemplates this impressive scene: it is rather that which arises on finding some spot, long familiar to the thoughts as the habitation of hallowed friends, become the possession of the stranger. On the site of Solomon's Temple now stands the Mosque of Omar, the most conspicuous object in the scene: contrasted with this temple of Mahometan worship, appears the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; while the spacious Armenian Convent, the Gate of Saint Stephen, numerous pillars, and the crowded round-topped houses, serve at once to fill up the view, and characterize it as the most interesting in the world.

The city itself, which thus affords from its higher quarters so striking a prospect, and which becomes in its turn so impressive a spectacle, is found, on entering its streets, to be badly built, and to present all those signs of poverty which mark the united reign of tyranny and superstition. Unaided by the presence of devotional feelings, and the powerful assistance of the associations which they call up, the prevailing sentiment, on traversing its narrow, ill-paved avenues, would be that of indifference, which would only give way to disgust, produced by the frequent proofs of the misery and degradation of its population. But it is not with the city, as it now exists, that the observer has any real concern; and had it rows of marble palaces, wherewith to attract his notice, he would only be forgetting the main object of his inquiry, and weakening the impressions he would render permanent, by stopping to admire them.

The immediate object of a traveller's attention, on en tering the city, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is thither the pilgrims of all ages have first directed their steps, and there that they have offered up their first prayers to the Author of their salvation, amid the scenes of his labours and his sufferings. This sacred edifice is of great antiquity. A church is said to have been built on the spot about forty-six years after the destruction of the city, but historians agree that as early as the reign of Constantine, that is, in the first part of the fourth century, a noble edifice was erected on the site; and it is generally stated that the projection of the design was owing to the piety of the emperor's mother, Helena. Though repeatedly subjected to the attacks of hostile infidels, the building is supposed by many travellers of eminence to retain much of its primitive appearance; and the concurrent testimony of ages may well subdue, in ingenuous minds, the petty cavils of cold-hearted scepticism. From the numerous descriptions given of the church by modern travellers, we select that of Maundrell, who visited Jerusalem in 1697, and that of the French traveller, Chateaubriand.

of this church, and are all distinguished and adorned with so many several altars. In galleries round about the church, and also in little buildings annexed to it on the outside, are certain apartments, for the reception of friars and pilgrims, and in these places almost every Christian nation anciently maintained a small society of monks, each society having its proper quarter assigned to it, by the appointment of the Turks; such as the Latins, Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Abyssinians, Georgians, Nestorians, Cophtites, Maronites, &c., all which had anciently their several apartments in the church. But these have all, except four, forsaken their quarters, not being able to sustain the severe rents and extortions which their Turkish landlords impose upon them. The Latins, Greeks, Armenians, and Cophtites keep their footing still; but of these four, the Cophtites have now only one poor representative of their nation left; and the Armenians have run so much in debt, that it is supposed they are hastening apace to follow the example of their brethren, who have deserted before them, Besides their several apartments, each fraternity have their altars and sanctuary, properly and distinctly allotted to their own use; at which places they have a peculiar right to perform their own divine service, and to exclude other nations from them.

But that which has always been the great prize contended for by the several sects, is the command and appropriation of the Holy Sepulchre, a privilege contested with so much unchristian fury and animosity, especially between the Greeks and Latins, that in disputing which parties should go into it, to celebrate their mass, they have sometimes proceded to blows and wounds, even at the very door of the Sepulchre, mingling their own blood with their sacrifices; an evidence of which fury the fatherguardian shewed us, in a great scar upon his arm, which, he told us, was the mark of a wound given him by a sturdy Greek priest, in one of these unholy wars. The daily employment of the recluses inhabiting this edifice is, to trim the lamps, and to make devotional visits and processions to the several sanctuaries in the church. Thus they spend their time, many of them for four or six years together; nay, so far are some transported with the pleasing contemplation in which they here entertain themselves, that they will never come out, to their dying day, burying themselves, as it were, alive, in our Lord's grave." The body of the building which Maundrell has thus described was destroyed by fire in the early part of the pre sent century; but it was re-erected with such scrupulous attention to the original plan and appearance of the edifice, that the description holds good in almost every particular. With respect to the localities which are so precisely pointed out by the monkish inhabitants of the cloisters, it may be observed, that while, on the one hand, we should refuse to sacrifice our judgment to the inventions of interested superstition, care must be taken, on the other, that we do not undervalue the testimony of tradition, which, however it may err in transmitting opinions or doctrines, is often a clear and faithful, as well as the only, recorder of circumstances, which history, neither sacred nor general, finds it within its province to record. Thus, while it is highly improbable that it should be known exactly where the soldiers sat, when they parted our Lord's garments, or in what precise spot the foot of the cross was placed, it is by no means unlikely that the piety of the first disciples led them to mark particularly the situation in general, where the awful event of their Redeemer's death took place.

We select from M. Chateaubriand's narrative, and from that of Dr. Richardson, such particulars as may complete the sketch drawn by Maundrell.

he continues to say, "of those who inhabit the church, are heard at all hours, both of the day and night, from the arches above, where they nestle like pigeons, from the chapels below, and subterranean vaults. The organ of the Latin monks, the cymbals of the Abyssinian priest, the voice of the Greek caloyer, the prayer of the solitary Armenian, the plaintive accents of the Coptic friar, alternately, or all at once, assail the ear. You know not whence these concerts proceed; you inhale the perfume of incense, without perceiving the hand which burns it; while the pontiff, about to celebrate the most awful of mysteries on the very spot where they were accomplished, passes quickly by, glides behind the columns, and vanishes in the gloom of the temple."

Unfortunately, the pomp and ceremonial effect to which the traveller here alludes with so much satisfaction, are the result of gross superstition, as uncalculated to affect the heart aright, or inspire it with any permanent sentiment of devotion, as they are opposed to the simplicity of truth and reason. The ceremonies which take place at Easter, and other festivals of the Church, afford a still more lamentable instance of the decay of pure Christianity, wherever the attempt is made to support its influence on any other foundation than that of sound instruction in the word of God. The account given by Dr. Richardson is somewhat more precise than that of the authors above quoted: "Having passed within these sacred walls," says he, "the attention is first directed to a large flat stone in the floor, a little within the door; it is surrounded by a rail, and several lamps hang suspended over it. The pilgrims approach it on their knees; touch and kiss it, and, prostrating themselves before it, offer up their prayers in holy adoration. This is the stone, it is said, on which the body of our Lord was washed and anointed, and prepared for the tomb. Turning to the left, and proceeding a little forward, we came into a round space immediately under the dome, surrounded with sixteen large columns which support the gallery above. In the centre of this space stands the Holy Sepulchre; it is enclosed in an oblong house, rounded at one end, with small arcades, or chapels for prayer, on the outside of it. These are for the Copts, the Abyssinians, the Syrian Maronites, and other Christians, who are not, like the Roman Catholics, the Greeks, and Armenians, provided with large chapels in the body of the church. At the other end it is squared off, and furnished with a platform in front, which is ascended by a flight of steps, having a small parapet wall of marble on each hand, and floored with the same material. In the middle of this small platform, stands a block of polished marble, about a foot and a half square; on this stone (it is said) sat the angel who announced the blessed tidings of the resurrection to Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James. Advancing, and taking off our shoes and turbans, at the desire of the keeper, he drew aside the curtain, and stepping down, and bending almost to the ground, we entered by a low narrow door into this mansion of victory, where Christ triumphed over the grave, and disarmed Death of all his terrors. Here the mind looks on Him, who, though He knew no sin, yet entered the mansions of the dead to redeem us from death, and the prayers of a grateful heart ascend with a risen Saviour to the presence of God in heaven."

On leaving the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traveller is directed successively to various spots in the neighbourhood, said to be those hallowed by the occurrence of some of the most minute events recorded in the Gospel. Thus a prison in the immediate neighbourhood of the church is pointed out as the identical place of St. Peter's confinement when delivered by the angel, (Acts xii.) A little way further on stands a church, said to have been built on the site of Zebedee's house: other similar edifices distinguish the situation of those of St. Mark and St. Thomas.

In a street crossing the one in which these buildings are shown, is the scene of our Lord's first appearance to Mary after his resurrection; and in the same street stands an Armenian convent, erected over the spot on which James, the brother of John, was beheaded. This is one of the finest buildings in Jerusalem, and serves as a home to many of the strangers who visit the Holy City. The church is adorned in the most sumptuous manner, and its two altars, in the time of Maundrell, were decked with rich mitres, embroidered copes, crosses, both silver and gold, curious chalices, and other church-utensils without number. In the middle of the aisle, he states, stood a

pulpit made of tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl, with a beautiful canopy, or cupola, over it, of the same precious materials. At a short distance is a small church, said to be erected on the spot where formerly stood the house of the high priest Annas, and a little farther on, near what is termed Sion Gate, another, which marks the site of the house of Caiaphas; while, just beyond the gate, the attention is directed to a mosque, formerly a church, built, it is believed, on the spot where the house stood in which our Lord ate his last supper with his disciples, and on that account called the Conaculum

St. Stephen's Gate, the site of Pilate's palace, and numerous other places to which tradition has given names, are pointed out with similar particularity; but there is one spot on which travellers look with comparative confidence in the truth of its designation: it is the Pool of Bethesda, the scene of one of Christ's most striking miracles, and the ruined foundations of which are supposed to be the only relics existing of ancient Jerusalem. Of this interesting spot we have given an engraving. The Pool is at present dry, and the bed of the healing waters is nearly filled up with earth and rubbish. Wild tamarisk bushes and pomegranate trees spread their foliage around it; but, according to Chateaubriand, the mason-work of the sides, composed of large stones, joined together by iron cramps, may still be traced, marking the measurement of the reservoir to have been a hundred and fifty feet long, and forty wide.

Having thus enumerated the principal objects of Christian curiosity and veneration, we may now take a glance at the splendid temple of Moslem worship, which has for centuries rendered Jerusalem scarcely less sacred in the eyes of the Mahometan devotee, than it is to the feelings of the Christian believer. The Mosque of Omar occupies, it is supposed, the site of Solomon's Temple, and forms a court of about five hundred paces long, and four hundred and sixty broad. The entrances to this court consist of twelve irregular porticoes, composed of arches placed one above the other, so as to produce the appearance of a double aqueduct. In the midst of this court is another, raised six or seven feet above the former, in the manner of a terrace, and ascended on each side by a flight of eight marble steps. It is in the centre of this court that the holy house itself, as the Mahometans term it, is seen rising in the silence and mystery of a temple, open only to the favoured worshippers of the supposed prophet. Octagonal in form, its summit is crowned with a lantern of the same shape, above which rises a noble pinnacle, surmounted by the crescent; the sides of the building, and the windows of the lantern, presenting to the eye of the beholder a continued series of bright arabesque paintings, and inscriptions from the Koran, in letters of gold. Chateaubriand says, that he was strongly tempted to find some mode of penetrating to the interior of the mosque, but was prevented by the fear that he might thereby involve the whele Christian population of Jerusalem in destruction. Dr. Richardson, however, succeeded in gratifying a similar curiosity, which he shared in common with a host of other travellers. Taking advantage of the circumstance of having cured a Mahometan patient, he found means to pass the gate, so strictly guarded against foreign intrusion.

“On our arrival at the door," says he, "a gentle knock brought up the sacristan, who, apprized of our intention, was within, waiting to receive us. He demanded, rather sternly, who we were, and was answered by my black conductor in tones no less consequential than his own. The door immediately edged up to prevent as much as possible the light from shining out, and we squeezed ourselves in with a gentle and noiseless step, although there was no person near who could be alarmed by the loudest sound of our bare feet upon the marble floor. The door was no sooner shut than the sacristan, taking a couple of candles in his hand, showed us all over the interior of the building; pointing, in the pride of his heart, to the elegant marble walls, the beautifully-gilded ceiling, the well where the true worshippers drink and wash, with which we also blessed our palates and moistened our beards; the paltry reading-desk with the ancient Koran, the handsome columns, and the green stone with the wonderful nails. As soon as he had completed this circuit, pulling a key from his girdle, he unlocked the door of the railing that separates the outer from the inner part of the mosque, which, with an elevation of two or three steps, led us into the sacred recess! Here he pointed out the patches of mosaic in the floor, the round flat stone which the prophet carried on his arm in battle, directed us to introduce our hands through the hole in the