Jerusalem;

ITS HISTORY FROM THE TIME OF CHRIST,

AND ITS PRESENT CONDITION.

Passing over some intermediate circumstances, we have only to state, that the Upper city, on Mount Zion, the last refuge of the factions, was taken by the Romans on Sunday, September 2nd. Even the Zealots had now despaired; the fall of the Temple assured them that they were indeed abandoned by God. Many therefore, convinced that the upper city would be taken, went to hide themselves in the cellars, vaults, and sewers; others retired to the castle; and but few were left to offer a feeble resistance to the Romans. A breach was soon made, and the Jews fled; but, instead of hastening to the towers, which were very strong, and in which nothing but famine could have reduced them, they ran to the valley of Siloam, with the design of forcing their way into the open country, through the Roman wall. In this desperate undertaking they were joined even by the men already in the towers, which they had hastily abandoned to join their flying comrades. But they were all repulsed by the Roman guards at the wall, and obliged to hasten for shelter to the vaults, caverns, sinks, and common sewers, hoping, as those who had resorted to such shelter in the first instance, that they should be able to preserve existence till the Roman forces were withdrawn from the desolated city. All the rest, whom the Romans could find, were put to death, with the exception of the most vigorous and beautiful, who were reserved, as captives, for future calamities worse than present death. The city was set on fire; but so great was the slaughter that the flames were kept under by the blood of the slain, and it was not till night that the conflagration became general.

After Titus had accomplished his mission of vengeance against a guilty people, he departed for Cæsarea, leaving however forces, under Terentius Rufus, to complete the work of devastation, and to explore the retreats of those who had hid themselves with much treasure. Great numbers were found and slain; and others came forth of their own accord, being no longer able to endure the extremity of famine. Among these were John and Simon. The former appeared first, and begged his life, which was granted. Simon, whose retreat was better stored with provisions, held out till the end of October, when he was seen upon the ruins of the Temple, arrayed in a white robe and purple mantle. The Romans were astonished at this apparition, but learning who he was, they took him and sent him in chains to Titus. He and John were reserved to adorn the triumphal pageant with which the

NO. V.]

conqueror entered Rome, and in which they appeared at the head of seven hundred captives, selected from the rest for the beauty of their personal appearance. After which, Simon was dragged through the imperial city with a rope around his neck, scourged severely, and then put to death, with some other Jewish leaders. John, whose life had been granted to him, was sent into perpetual imprisonment.

At Jerusalem, when there was no more blood to shed, and when the fire had done its work, the soldiers proceeded with the work of demolition, razing even to the ground all its noble structures, its walls and fortresses, its palaces, and towers. Nothing was left save a piece of the western wall, to serve as a rampart to the tenth legion, and the towers of Hippicos, Phasael, and Mariamne, to perpetuate the glory of the conqueror by evincing the strength and splendor of the city he had overthrown. That conqueror visited the spot on his return from Cæsarea, to embark for Rome at Alexandria; and when he saw that utter ruin of the city which he had always been anxious to preserve, and to the destruction of which he had been compelled by a power and by circumstances which he could not resist, he could not refrain from tears, cursing the wretches who had made him the unwilling author of the ruin which he witnessed. The Saviour of the world had wept there long before, foreknowing and foretelling the ruin which had now come to pass. And of His word not one jot nor one tittle fell to the ground. All was accomplished.

We may now add a few particulars concerning the distress within the city of Jerusalem, while besieged by Titus. We have already noticed, that the stored provisions of the city having been very wantonly wasted and consumed, in the previous rage of the factions against each other, and the town being full with the multitudes that had come to celebrate the Passover, the miseries of famine began to be experienced very soon after the Romans appeared before the walls. At the very first, many of the wealthier and more peaceable citizens endeavored to escape from the place, foreseeing the miseries which too surely followed. They sold their property to any purchaser, at any price; and some swallowed their money, that they might not be plundered by the robbers. Such as succeeded in making their escape out of the town were permitted by the Romans to pass through their camp and proceed where they pleased. But although John and Simon had the most pressing reasons to make them glad to get rid of useless hands and mouths, they slew without mercy, as friends to the Romans, all whom they detected in the attempt to escape.

The famine soon raged with terrible effect; and, as often

[Price Twopence.

happens under such circumstances, was soon attended by a grievous pestilence. Having ourselves some experience of famine and pestilence in a besieged Eastern city, we can feel the full force of the statement made by Josephus, as to the conduct of the Zealots and robbers towards the citizens and strangers, whom they regarded with hatred and contempt as useless incumbrances, who had no right to the common blessings of life, and whose enjoyment of which was deemed a sort of fraud upon the active defenders of the place. Their atrocities against the people surpassed all bounds, as soon as they began themselves to feel or to dread the approaches of that scarcity which themselves had occasioned. They broke into the houses of the people in search of food. If they found none, as very generally was the case, they alleged that the inhabitants had provisions concealed, and scourged them severely to extort a disclosure: and if provisions were ultimately discovered, after the inmates had denied there were any, they were slain or tortured to punish their deception. While therefore those who had no food died of starvation, those who had a little, ate their morsel in agony and fear. The man who looked in good health, or who kept his doors shut, was suspected of having provisions; his house was forcibly entered, and the inmates shamefully treated, without regard to age or sex, by the human wolves who were masters of the city, and who went about seeking what they might de

vour.

The most wealthy inhabitants shared in the common calamity. The Zealots sought pretences against them, to cut them off; and pretences were easily found. They were dragged before the tyrants, and charged with an intention to betray the city, or to desert to the Romans: false witnesses appeared against them, and they were put to death. Others gave half, or the whole of their possessions for a measure of wheat, and those of a middling rank for one of barley; and this they were obliged to convey by stealth to the most private place in their house, where many ate it without any preparation, not daring to grind or dress it, lest the noise or smell should bring the rapacious Zealots to tear it from them. The few who did venture to some preparation seldom had patience to await its completion, but snatched the scarcely warm bread from the fire, and devoured it with greediness. Such a thing as a regular distinct meal was not known at Jerusalem.

As the time passed on, these miseries increased. Every thing that could be tortured into a means of subsistencesuch as vermin, grass, and old leather-was held a luxury and sold at a high price. The eye of the tender and delicate women began to be evil towards the fruit of her womb. There was one lady, called Miriam, who had taken refuge in

the city at the beginning of the war. The factious Zealots, who lived now on the plunder of the helpless, had often visited her house, and carried off such provisions as she had been able to procure. Reduced to utter desperation, she entreated or endeavored to provoke the mercy of death at their hands; but they refused it. In the madness of her despair and the agony of her famine, she took the child which clung to her bosom, slew him, and roasted the corpse. Having satiated her present hunger, she hid the remainder for future use. But the Zealots being attracted by the scent, rushed into her house, and threatened death unless she produced her store. She did produce it. She placed the remains of the child before them, and bade them eat and be satisfied. Even they were horrified at this: seized with sudden dread, they departed, trembling from the house, leaving the mother in full possession of her horrid fare. The news of this awful transaction spread horror and consternation through the city; and the most sanguine began to despair of that deliverance from heaven which they had so long and vainly expected. Titus also heard of it, and called Heaven to witness, that he was innocent of the miseries suffered, and the atrocities committed, in the city to which he had so often offered peace in vain.

Immense multitudes of persons died of famine. The robbers on breaking into the houses in search of provision or spoil, found numbers of the inmates lying dead or dying of hunger. hunger. They pillaged the corpses, and tore the last fragment of covering from both the dying and the dead. Nothing could move their savage hearts: they pierced the dead bodies, and goaded those who were expiring with their swords; but when some unhappy wretch, in the last languishings of famine, entreated death at their hands as a mercy, him they refused.

At first, those who died were interred by the public; but when the dead multiplied beyond measure, they were taken and thrown over the walls. Titus, on riding round the city, and observing the defiles filled with dead bodies, was struck with compassion, and called God to witness that the Jews were themselves the authors of their calamities. Even this last service to the dead and the living was at last neglected; and the dead were left to corruption in the chambers and the streets. In the latter were seen heaps of corpses, in different stages of decay; numbers of persons dying unheeded by the wayside; and the living crawling along like walking skeletons. When the Romans took the upper city, they were shocked to find numbers who had perished with hunger, lying in the upper chambers of every house they entered. But there was no wailing for the dead, no lamentations in the city. Jose

phus observes, with great force and truth, that famine confounded all natural feeling. Those who were about to die, looked with dry eyes and open mouths upon those who had departed before them. There was dead silence throughout the city.

Some idea of the dreadful mortality in the city may be derived from the circumstance related to the Romans by Manneus, a deserter from the city, that from the middle of April, to the first of July, no less than 115,880 dead bodies were carried out from one gate of the city, where he had been stationed, besides those who were buried by their relatives. The number of those carried through the gates was subsequently stated by some deserters at 600,000 ; and the number of those disposed of in other ways could not be estimated.

It is necessary to add a few words concerning those who escaped from the city, or deserted to the Romans, or were made prisoners of war. Great numbers of the besieged, particularly of the poorer sort, were willing to run all hazards to escape from the miserable town; so strongly was this desire manifested, that many finding no other way of escape, leaped down from the walls; and others, under pretence of making an assault, went out and joined the Romans. The real deserters were not ill treated; but many of them were reduced to such a state by famine, that they perished from taking more food than their weak frames could bear. It being also at one time suspected by the soldiers that the deserters had swallowed their gold, they ripped open two thousand living deserters in one night, in search of money : Titus, whose policy it was to encourage such desertions, prohibited the repetition of this inhuman act on pain of death: but it was still secretly practised, although very little gold was found. Those who attempted to escape to the open country, or who wandered out in search of herbs for their sustenance, were scourged and crucified if they resisted. The same was the fate of all who were taken prisoners, as well to terrify the besieged, as to glut the rage and hatred of the besiegers. A most horrid spectacle was exhibited around the city, by the numbers who hung dead, and those who still writhed under the protracted tortures of the cross. And so many were they that, as Josephus reports, room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.

recollect the vast concourse which, at the commencement of the siege, had assembled in the city to celebrate the Passover. Josephus shows, by calculation from the number of lambs consumed, that about two millions and a half of people were usually present on such occasions. As this institution was so peculiar, it was scarcely possible for the seige and destruction of any single city in the world to have been equally a national calamily, or attended with equal destruction of life. Hence, Josephus is justified in his belief, that the destruction at Jerusalem exceeded all the destructions which God or man ever brought upon the world.

The number of Jews taken by the Romans during the war amounted to about 97,000 besides 11,000 who were either starved through neglect, or starved themselves through sullenness and despair. Some of the yougest and handsomest were sent to Rome, to adorn the Triumph of Titus; many were distributed to the several cities of Syria, where they perished in the theatres, being compelled to fight with wild beasts, and to engage in mortal combats with each other. The remainder of those above seventeen years of age were sent to labor in the Egyptian mines; and those under that age were sold for slaves. Besides this, and before the upper city was taken, there was a great mulitude of deserters, who having not come over till the last extremity, and after Titus had declared that he would receive no more, were treated as captives. A great number of these, including many persons of consideration, were sold at the most trifling prices; but the remainder, consisting of 40,000 persons, chiefly of the lower orders, were liberated, because no one would take them at any price. Thus, at once, was fulfilled the prediction of our Saviour, as in this text, and that which Moses delivered about sixteen hundred years before-" "Ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you." There also, and in other passages of prophecy, this second bondage in Egypt was foretold. Indeed it is impossible to trace throughout the minute fulfilment of ancient and recent prophecy, in the awful transactions and crimes of this season, and yet resist the conviction that, in all these things, there was the hand of God punishing a most guilty people, and requiring from them all the righteous blood which had been shed from the foundation of the world-and more especially that most righteous blood of Christ, the weight of which they had invoked upon their own heads when they cried "His blood be on us and on our children!" And from them and from their children that blood was most fearfully re

Not a fair look, but thou dost call it foul; Not a sweet dish, but thou dost call it sour; Music to thee doth howl.

By list'ning to thy chatting fears

I have both lost mine eyes and ears.

Prattler, no more, I say,

My thoughts must work, but like a noiseless sphere;
Harmonious peace must rock them all the day:

No room for prattlers there.
If thou persistest, I will tell thee,
That I have physic to expel thee.

And the receipt shall be

My Saviour's blood, Whenever at his board,
I do but taste it, straight it cleanseth me;
And leaves thee not a word,

No, not a tooth or nail to scratch,
And at my actions carp, or catch.

Yet, if thou talkest still,

Besides my physic, know, there's some for thee;
Some wood or nails, to make a staff or bill

For those that trouble me.
The bloody cross of my dear Lord
Is both my physic and my sword.

I'll own that thou art eloquent, And press thee to my heart.

I cannot call thee fortunate, E'en though I see thee count Thy worldly treasure o'er and o'er And boast of the amount; But if the friendless of thy store May claim an ample part, I'll own that thou art fortunate, And press thee to my heart.

The Sweetness of Anticipation.

DODDRIDGE.

WHEN languor and disease invade

This trembling house of clay, 'Tis sweet to look beyond our cage, And long to fly away.

Sweet to look inward and attend

The whispers of his love;
Sweet to look upward to the place

Where Jesus pleads above.

Sweet to look back, and see my name

In life's fair book set down:
Sweet to look forward, and behold
Eternal joys my own.
Sweet to reflect, how grace
My sins on Jesus laid:
Sweet to remember that his blood

divine

My debt of suffering paid.
Sweet in his righteousness to stand,
Which saves from second death;
Sweet to experience day by day
His spirit's quick'ning breath.
Sweet on his faithfulness to rest,

Whose love can never end;
Sweet on his covenant of grace

For all things to depend.
Sweet in the confidence of faith
To trust his firm decrees;
Sweet to lie passive in his hands,
And know no will but his.

If such the sweetness of the streams,
What must the fountain be,

Where saints and angels draw their bliss
Immediately from thee!