they employed. They wore this under their garments, and, mingling in a crowd, would dispatch their victim, and conceal themselves among the multitude. In this manner they not only disposed of their own enemies, but were quite ready, for pay, to perform the same atrocious service for any other persons who thought proper to employ them. And they were employed even by Roman governors, on the one hand, and Jewish high priests on the other.

After this general statement we may return to the progress of the revolt.

In the year 66 A.D., an edict from the emperor was received at Cæsarea, by which the Greek and Syrian inhabitants were gratified by heing placed in the first rank of citizens, above the Jews, who had hitherto enjoyed that privilege. This was followed by gross insults, from the favored parties, upon the religion of the Jewish inhabitants. Then ensued commotions, quelled by the Roman troops: and the result was, that the Jews withdrew their sacred books from the synagogue and carried them to Narbata, a place about two miles from Cæsarea. For this decided measure, Florus threw into prison several of the principal Jews who had gone to Sebaste (Samaria) to lay their grievances before him. This oppressive act created a great sensation throughout Judea, and particularly at Jerusalem; in the midst of which a demand was received from the procurator for seventeen talents from the treasury of the Temple. This raised a tumult in the city, in which reproaches and imprecations were publicly heaped upon the tyrannical governor. Florus himself arrived to enforce his demand, and hearing of what had happened, demanded that the persons who had joined in the reproaches cast upon him should be delivered up to him. He would listen to no explanations; and, in revenge, gave his soldiers permission to plunder the upper market. They not only did this, but pillaged many private houses, and slew their inhabitants. Many of the best citizens were also dragged before the procurator, and, by his orders, scourged and crucified. Under all this the chief priests and principal citizens exerted themselves to keep the people quiet; and they succeeded for the time but the crisis came when Florus attempted to enter the temple with his soldiers. The people could not bear this profanation, and resisted with such bravery and success, that the Romans retired to the royal castle for refuge. Florus, having kindled the flame of rebellion, withdrew from the city, and sent notice of what had occurred to his superior, Cestius Gallus, prefect of Syria, who thereupon set his army in motion against the revolters.

In the mean time king Agrippa (the "almost Christian") arrived at Jerusalem, and successfully exerted himself in pa

cifying the people, and persuading them to remain subject to the Romans. But soon after, when he advised them to continue obedient to Florus, until another procurator should be appointed, they assaulted him with stones, and drove him from the city. The inhabitants then divided themselves into two great factions, the one being for continued obedience and submission to the Romans, and the other determined to persist in rebellion. The former took possession of the upper city, while the latter held the lower city and the Temple. The two factions often fought desperately against each other, and with varying success. The revolters were soon headed by Menahem, a son of the notorious Judas of Galilee, who came with a band of well-armed robbers and others. He assumed the title of king, and took the direction of the siege

of the royal castle, in which the Romans were shut up; and

this with such success, that the latter surrendered, on condition of being allowed to depart in peace. This was very readily granted on oath; but no sooner did the Romans lay down their arms than they were all massacred, except their commander Metilius, who became a Jew to save his life. This, and some other of the more atrocious transactions of the war, took place on the sabbath; and on the very same day there was a general massacre of the Jews at Cæsarea. This last event enraged the provincial Jews beyond endurance, and the war became general throughout the country, which presented one scene of bloodshed and confusion. The Jews assembled in great numbers, and pillaged and devastated the towns chiefly occupied by the Syrians, on both sides of the Jordan; in revenge for which the Syrians massacred those Jews who dwelt in their cities, sparing only the proselytes to the Jewish faith, whom they did not yet venture to attack, and who remained the objects of their hatred and fear. Thus every city was divided against itself-the whole country streamed with blood, and was rent by the most savage commotions nor was the flame confined to the Jewish provinces, but extended to Syria, Egypt, and other neighboring countries, in whose towns Jews were settled in considerable numbers. Although this general provincial rising was not primarily against the Romans, they were necessarily mixed

up with the general strife, particularly from the part they took, and the transactions which had recently occurred. The Jewish insurgents cut to pieces the Roman garrison at Cypros, near Jericho; and obliged the soldiers stationed at Macharus to yield up that strong fortress.

Thus the land was pervaded by the "wars and rumors of wars" to which our Saviour appears to refer in Matt. xxiv.; but, as he adds, "the end was not yet."

(To be continued.)

Hymn to the Saviour.

MILMAN.

OH! Thou didst die for me, thou Son of God! By thee the throbbing flesh of man was worn; Thy naked feet the thorns of sorrow trod,

And tempests beat thy houseless head forlorn.
Thou, that wert wont to stand

Alone, on God's right hand,
Before the ages were, the Eternal, eldest born.

Thy birthright in the world was pain and grief,
Thy love's return ingratitude and hate;
The limbs thou healedst brought thee no relief,
The eyes thou openedst calmly viewed thy fate:
Thou that wert wont to dwell

In peace, tongue cannot tell,

No heart conceive the bliss of thy celestial state.
They dragged thee to the Roman's solemn hall,
Where the proud judge in purple splendor sate;
Thou stood'st a meek and patient criminal,

Thy doom of death from human lips to wait;
Whose throne shall be the world

In final ruin hurl'd,

With all mankind to hear their everlasting fate.

Thou wert alone in that fierce multitude,

When Crucify him!' yelled the general shout; No hand to guard thee 'mid those insults rude, Nor lips to bless thee in that frantic rout; Whose lightest whisper'd word

The Seraphim had heard,

And adamantine arms from all the heavens broke out.

They bound thy temples with the twisted thorn,
Thy bruised feet went languid on with pain;
The blood from all thy flesh with scourges torn,
Deepen'd thy robe of mockery's crimson grain;
Whose native vesture bright
Was the unapproached light,
The sandal of whose foot the rapid hurricane.
They smote thy cheek with many a ruthless palm,

With the cold spear thy shuddering side they pierc'd;

The draught of bitterest gall was all the balm.

They gave, t' enhance thy unslaked, burning thirst:

Thou, at whose words of peace

Did pain and anguish cease,

And the long buried dead their bonds of slumber burst.

Jerusalem;

ITS HISTORY FROM THE TIME OF CHRIST,

AND ITS PRESENT CONDITION.

When Cestius, the prefect of Syria, was apprised of this revolt, and of the sanguinary commotions which distracted the country, he marched to restore order, having under his command one legion of Roman soldiers, with a number of auxiliaries from the neighboring kings, attended by king Agrippa. After having, with great bloodshed, restored comparative quiet in the provinces, he advanced upon Jerusalem, at the time when the city was full of people who had arrived to celebrate the feast of tabe rnacles. Confiding in their numbers, they seized their weapons and rushed out to meet the army when they heard of its approach. So overpowering were their numbers, and so impetuous their assault, that the Romans were obliged to give way, with the loss of 515 men, whereas the Jews lost only twenty-one. This was on the sabbath. After this Agrippa, at the instance of the prefect, sent ambassadors, exhorting the revolters to lay down their arms, and promising forgiveness for what had passed. But, elated by their recent success they rejected the overture with scorn, and, falling upon the ambassadors, slew one of them and wounded the other. Let it be observed, that all these transactions were strongly in opposition to the wish of the more respectable citizens, who desired nothing more earnestly than peace; for whatever might be their desire for the glory and independence of their nation, they felt assured that, without the special interposition of God, they could not possibly withstand the power of imperial Rome, and that the very attempt was calculated to bring down unheard of calamities upon them. These formed, at the present time, a very powerful body; but the seditious were far more powerful; augmented, as their number were at this time, by the concourse from those provinces which had hitherto been far more disturbed than Jerusalem itself.

Cestius returned to the assault of the city, animated with a desire to wipe out the disgrace which the Roman arms had incurred. He took the two northern quarters of the town, driving the rebels into the inner city and the Temple. The Romans then advanced against the upper town, and spent five days in vainly attempting to gain the walls; nor was their success better, when on the sixth day they assaulted the Temple itself on the north side. Their next step was to form a testudo, under cover of which they undermined the walls, and advanced to set the gates on fire. On this the rebels were seized with a panic, and fled from the city; and the peaceable people joyfully prepared to open their gates to the

NO. II.]

Romans; when Cestius, being as little aware of the terror of the one party as he was of the friendly disposition of the other, suddenly gave up his undertaking in despair, and withdrew his forces from the city. The spirit of the discouraged revolters revived at his retreat; and they pressed upon him with so much vigor, that the retreat became a flight, attended with great loss. The Romans, constantly harassed in their march, and waylaid in the defiles, sought to facilitate their retreat by burning all their dispensable baggage, and destroying their baggage-cattle, excepting such as were necessary to convey their arms and military engines. In the end they were obliged to abandon even the latter, which were carefully collected by the Jews for future occasions. The Romans lost in this disastrous flight not less than 5300 foot and 380 horse.

The more peaceable inhabitants of Jerusalem lamented this success as a calamity; and anticipating the consequences which must follow, many of them fled from the city, which they began to consider as devoted to destruction. Among these were many Christians, who having seen the "abomination of desolation (the Roman army with its engines) standing where it ought not," remembered the injunction of their Lord, that they should then flee to the mountains. This, in short, appears to be the period referred to in verses 14-18 of the xiii. of Mark. Those that still remained departed before the avenging army, under Titus, advanced upon Jerusalem; and thus, through our Lord's care for his church, it does not appear that a single Christian partook in that "affliction such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, neither shall be." They retired, for the most part, to Pella beyond Jordan, where they enjoyed comparative peace during all the final horrors of the

war.

On their return to Jerusalem, the revolters by argument and compulsion induced the mass of the more peaceably disposed people to join in their rebellion, and proceeded to organize a civil and military government. Eleazar, the son of Simeon, by whom the usurping king Mehanem had been slain in the temple with most of his followers, and who from that time took the leading part in the rebellion, and who had greatly enriched himself from the public treasury and the spoil of the Romans, was, on account of his arbitrary disposition, passed over in the appointments made on this occasion; though he continued to possess very great influence with the people, whom he courted by large gifts, and larger professions and promises. Some of those who now took the direction of affairs, were persons who had been anxious to preserve peace; but who now, seeing war inevitable, determined to take an

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