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tians, and Jews of the latter there are but few, and they are miserably poor, and much oppressed.

The mosques are splendid buildings, especially that of Omar, the finest specimen of Saracenic architecture in the whole world. This splendid building is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient temple of Solomon, which stood on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David, 2 Chron. iii. 1, and where the visible glory appeared. It was erected by the caliph Omar, and is deemed next in sanctity to that of Mecca. At the time of the crusaders it became a Christian church, and when they abandoned the city, Saladin caused the whole building to be washed with rose-water before he would enter it. "It is a regular octagon, each side being seventy feet in width; it is entered by four spacious doors facing the cardinal points, the Bab el Garb on the west ; Bab nebbe Daoud, or of David, on the east; Bab el Kebla, or of Prayer, on the south; and Bab el Djinna, or of Heaven, on the north. Each of these entrances has a porch of timber-work, of considerable height, excepting Bab el Kebla, which has a fine portico, surrounded by eight Corinthian pillars of marble. The lower part of the walls is faced with marble, evidently very ancient; it is white, with a slight tinge of blue, and pieces wholly blue are occasionally introduced with good effect. Each face is panelled, the sides of the panels forming plain pilasters at the angles; the upper part is faced with small glazed tiles, about eight inches square, of various colours, blue being the prevailing, with passages from the Koran on them, forming a singular and beautiful mosaic. The four plain sides have each seven well-proportioned windows of stained-glass;

The roof

the four sides of entrance have only six. gently rises towards the perpendicular part under the dome, which is also covered with coloured tiles, arranged in various elegant devices. The dome, which was built by Solyman 1., is spherical, covered with lead, and crowned by a gilt crescent; the whole is ninety feet in height, and has a light and beautiful effect, the fanciful disposition of the soft colours above, contrasting with the blue and white marble below, is extremely pleasing."

The various convents, the monasteries, the domes, and the minarets, also arrest the attention of the spectator; but it is not to see a representation of these that a visit is paid to the panorama of Jerusalem. What though other buildings now occupy the places where once stood the Temple of Solomon, the castle of David, and the gates of the holy city! what though the Christian visitor be, for a moment, led away by Mohammedan splendour! his thoughts soon return to more interesting inquiries. He feels an affectionate reverence stealing over him; he yearns to gaze upon the spot from whence the Redeemer entered Jerusalem, sitting on the foal of an ass, while the palm-branches were waved to and fro, the garments strown in the way, and the cry of "Hosanna to the Son of David," mounted to the skies.

And is that, yonder, in very 'deed, the same Mount of Olives whereon Jesus and his disciples so often assembled? Yes! the very same. Time, that alters all things, may, in some respects, have changed the appearance of the place; yet, still it is the same, and the olive flourishes there, as of olden time. That rugged road which crosses the Mount, is the dangerous road to

Jericho; and the spot at the foot of the Mount of Olives, is the Garden of Gethsemane.

That hallowed and peculiar place,
Where Christ displayed his love and grace:
Oh, let me gaze again on thee,

Thou garden of Gethsemane !

There Jesus knelt, and felt within

The bitter curse of mortal sin,

While strong compassion brought him low,
And drops of blood bedew'd his brow.

There gladly would I lowly bend,

And supplicate the sinner's Friend;

Keep sacred watch, where watch he kept,
And weep where my Redeemer wept.

On one of these spots before me in the distance, which commands a view of Jerusalem, stood the Saviour when he wept over the city. How affecting were his words! "Seest thou these great buildings; there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." "For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another." This prophecy has been fulfilled to the letter.

In many of these spots stood the Redeemer, when, surrounded by the disciples, he taught, not only them, but numerous disciples, who have read his discourses in subsequent ages.

And there, a little to the right, by the city-walk, lies the valley of Jehoshaphat, with the brook Kidron, as of olden time, flowing through the midst.

It may be that many a visitor to the panorama has had to contend with sceptical reflections. "But how

do I know that the places pointed out to me are the very spots on which the events recorded in Scripture took place ?" "How can I tell that I am not deceived?" The proper reply to these suggestions is, You cannot, with any reason, doubt that Jerusalem stood where Jerusalem stands now: this is proved by authentic records of history, as well as by the situation the city occupies, seeming to be shut up by hills and mountains in the centre of a vast amphitheatre: "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people." The locality of Jerusalem is indisputably proved, whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the situation of some particular places within its walls. These differences of opinion, however, arise from the alterations which take place in the site of a city during a number of successive centuries, more than from any other cause. That the mount, now called the Mount of Olives, is the same as that whereon our Saviour stood; and that the ground occupied by the Mosque of Omar was the site whereon the temple stood, cannot be doubted or disputed, any more than that the Britain we inhabit is the island invaded by Julius Cesar: indeed, many say that this latter fact is far less certainly authenticated than the former.

As I look all around, there are in the panorama a great many beautiful sketches, each of itself deserving attention. Groups of figures, scribes, sheiks, and friars, Turkish soldiers, and Arabs from the borders of the Dead Sea. The aga, mufti, and the sheriff in his green robe, as a descendant of the imposter Mohammed. All these attract the eye; and the sight of the Arabian robber about to receive the bastinado on his bare feet, almost make the soles of my feet to tingle.

In some part of the scene around us was the spot where the holy Jesus had poured upon him the bitter derision of the Roman soldiery, and the rancorous malevolence of the persecuting Jews. Here, after he had been scourged, was he clad in purple, and his sacred temples wounded with a crown of thorns. They mocked him, they spat upon him, and they led him away to be crucified. Let us think of the days when Caiaphas was high priest, and Pilate governor of Jerusalem. Eighteen hundred years have passed away since He was "wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities," laden with his cross, "despised and rejected of men." "He was taken," in the language of the prophet Isaiah, "from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."

There is a charge in Holy Scripture to do some things "in season," and "out of season," setting forth very clearly the important nature of the duty enjoined. Now, though it may appear somewhat "out of season," in a place of public resort like this, to reflect on the way of salvation, yet when I turn my face towards Mount Calvary yonder, the subject is pressed on my thoughts.

It becomes an old man, who has travelled so many stages on his way towards eternity, frequently to require from himself a reason of the hope that is in him What, then, is mine? Humbly, honestly, and heartily do I reply, that I have no hope of life eternal that clings not to the cross of the Redeemer. Old Humphrey, in his younger days, like many more, has tried to scale the inaccessible ramparts of heaven with the poor, crazy ladders of his own doings-and rob, by not entering in

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