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of hid treasure. A small bush, now seen growing out of the dome, may ultimately become a striking feature of the monument. Close to the pillar of Absalom, on the north-east, is the reputed

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perpendicular face of the stone; but the sepulchre is wholly subterranean, and in no way remarkable.

I examined these monuments with special pleasure and interest, not because they really had any connection with the individuals

whose names they bear, but because they remain, I suppose, very much as they were at the time of our Saviour. I know not whether there is a single edifice, or part of one, in Jerusalem, upon which his eye of compassion rested, when from Olivet he beheld the city and wept over it; but those sepulchral monuments appear now much as they did then to him, and he must have often seen and spoken of them.

The entire face of Olivet above those tombs is crowded with the graves of the Jews, each one covered by a rough limestone slab, and many bearing brief inscriptions in Hebrew. They are quite plain, and destitute of emblem or symbol; but the lesson suggested by their utter dreariness is sad and affecting.

While watching the Jews-men, women, and children-who came to weep and to pray over the ruins of their Sanctuary, and the dispersion of their nation, a train of reflection somewhat in sympathy with their circumstances occurred to me.

To account for those venerable foundations-where they are, what they are, and what they imply-we must transport ourselves, by a supreme effort, nineteen hundred years back, to the time of Herod the Great. But he did not originate the Temple nor its service. He merely restored to the Jews that built by Nehemiah; and this requires another retrogression of six hundred years. But Nehemiah only reconstructed the Temple erected by Solomon, to reach whose day and generation another backward step of five centuries is again necessary. To account for the erection of the first Temple by Solomon himself the previous existence of the Tabernacle must be borne in mind, and that carries us farther back five hundred years, to the time of Moses and the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Again, the presence of the Hebrew nation at Sinai implies the bondage in Egypt, and that refers to the previous history of the patriarchs, and they to the age of Abraham.

Thus those massive and time - worn foundations lead us, by a chain of great links, from the current hour to the Father of the Faithful himself, and the inauguration of God's visible kingdom on earth. These links bind together the whole Bible history; nor can the chain be broken. It is impossible to account for one of the links without admitting the rest in the chain. Those weather

SYMBOLIC ALLUSIONS TO THE TEMPLE.

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beaten stones, therefore, are witnesses, silent, solemn, and unimpeachable, to the great historic facts upon which our faith depends, and on which it has its foundations. There they stand, questioned and cross-questioned by friend and foe; but who can overthrow their testimony? In respect of these there is no other spot so interesting and important to Jew and Gentile as this Temple Mount, and the old foundation-stones of the Holy Sanctuary now found upon it.

You should not stop with the visible and the material. To reach their true significance they must be glorified by a spiritual transfiguration. This mount is symbolic; the Temple is typical.

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Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," said Jesus to the captious Jews; "but he spake of the temple of his body." He is the true Temple; or, to vary the figure, he is the true Foundation-stone of the corner upon which the whole spiritual edifice is erected. Herein is the true import and importance of this entire series of material things. Apart from this typical significance, those old foundations have no special value for the world of mankind over any other ancient walls.

Isaiah, in prophetic vision, understood this, and proclaimed it to the people in his day: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste," or be confounded. In the one hundred and eighteenth Psalm it is written, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Our Lord quotes this passage, and applies it to himself; and "Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

Paul, writing to the Ephesians, says, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints,

1 John ii. 19-21.

2 Isa. xxviii. 16.

4 Matt. xxi. 42-44; Mark xii. 10, 11; Luke xx. 17, 18.

3 Psa. cxviii. 22, 23.

5 Acts iv. 8, 11, 12.

and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation. of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit." And the Apostle Peter, addressing the Church universal, further expands and spiritualizes the same Scripture."

There can be no mistake, therefore, in associating those venerable foundations of the material Temple, which the providence of God has preserved for us to see and reverently study, with that high spiritual import culminating in the Saviour himself.

1 Eph. ii. 19-22.

9 I Pet. ii. 4-8.

BÂB EL KHULÎL-THE JAFFA GATE.

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XVII.

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES.

The Jaffa Gate.-Tower of David.-Major Wilson's Description of the Tower.-Hippicus. -Phasaëlus.-Kŭl'at el Jâlûd.-Josephus's Description of Phasaëlus and Hippicus.Kŭl'at el Jâlûd, Psephinus.-Artificial Foundations of the Turkish Barracks and the English Church.-Armenian Convent.-Church of St. James.-Zion Gate.-Village of the Lepers.-Lepers and Leprosy.-Regulations of Moses regarding Leprosy.—Account of Leprosy amongst the Jews given by Tacitus.-Obscure Nature of Leprosy.— Naaman the Syrian.-Action of Leprosy on the Human Body.-Moral Significance of Leprosy.-Healing of the Ten Lepers by Jesus.-House of Caiaphas.—Tomb of David. -The Conaculum.-The Sop.-Ancient Chapel near the Tomb of David.-Miss Barclay's Description of the Tomb of David.-Biblical and Historical References to the Tomb of David.-Plunder of the Tomb by Hyrcanus and Herod the Great.-Mount Zion. Cemeteries on Zion.-Ananias and Sapphira.—Custom of Burial immediately after Death.-Large Size of Rock-cut Tombs at Jerusalem.-Jews' Quarter.-Synagogues.-The Jews in Jerusalem.-Pool of Hezekiah.-Shops and Streets.-Manufacture of Relics and Trinkets.-Saracenic Fountains.-The Cotton Grotto.-Grotto of Jeremiah.-The Damascus Gate.-Captain Warren's Excavations at the Damascus Gate. -St. Stephen's Gate.-Martyrdom of Stephen.-The Mount of Olives and Road to Bethany. Population of Modern Jerusalem.-Population of Ancient Jerusalem.-Jerusalem during the Great Feasts.-Early History of Jerusalem.-Melchizedek, Salem, Shem.-Incidents in the History of Jerusalem.-El Kuds, the Holy.

May 1st. Evening.

MOST of this morning was devoted to Zion, both that part within the walls and the southern portion now outside of them. The rest of the day I spent in visiting localities in and around the city. I longed to penetrate the mysteries of the so-called Tower of David, near the Jaffa Gate; but, without a permit from the governor, strangers are not admitted.

The Jaffa Gate is called Bâb el Khŭlîl-the Gate of Hebron -because the road to that place leads out of it. Its position is well chosen, being directly below the citadel, the only castle of Jerusalem.

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