trious dead as was the case with the earlier heathens, or with the Christians of later times.

"Let me bury my dead out of my sight," "No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day,"* express, if not the general feeling of the Jewish nation, at least the general spirit of the Old Testament. Every one knows the most remarkable instance in which this indifference was manifested. Somewhere, doubtless near the walls of the old Jerusalem, or buried under its ruins, is the "new sepulchre hewn in the rock," where "the body of Jesus was laid," but the exact spot was probably unknown to the generation succeeding the Evangelists, and will, in all likelihood, remain a matter of doubt always.

The origin of these sepulchres may be seen in the numberless holes and caves, partly natural and partly artificial, which still remain in the rocky walls of the Judæan valleys; the long line of tombs, beginning with the Cave of Machpelah and ending with the grave of Lazarus-which was "a cave, and a stone lay upon it "-and "the sepulchre hewn in a wall, wherein never man before was laid." We see in them the shelter of the people of the land, in the terrible visitations of old, as when "Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain,-for he feared to dwell in Zoar, and dwelt in a cave; "+ or as when, "in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah, they fled before the earthquake to the ravines' or hollows of the mountains," safer in the holes and caves of the

rocks, than in the habitations of man.

"Enter into

the rock," so wrote Isaiah, "and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty. They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, and the clefts of the cliffs, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His Majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth."

* Isa. ii. 10, 19, 21.

THE "hill country,"-" the mountain country," as it is called, of Judæa-is the part of Palestine which contains most of the remarkable features of its scenery; the rounded hills, the broad valleys, the scanty vegetation, the villages or fortresses, sometimes standing, more frequently in ruins, on the hill tops; the wells in every valley, the remains of terraces, whether for corn or wine. Here, in this wide tract of country the "Lion of Judah" entrenched himself, to guard the southern frontier of the Chosen Land, with Simeon, Dan, and Benjamin nestled around him. Well might he be so named in this wild country, more than half a wilderness, the lair of the savage beasts, of which the traces gradually disappear as we advance into the interior. Fixed there, and never dislodged except by the ruin of the whole nation, "he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion-who shall rouse him up?" Throughout the troubled period of the Judges, from Othniel to Samson, Judah dwelt undisturbed within those mountain fastnesses. In these gray hills, and in their spacious caverns, David hid himself when he fled to the mountains like one of their own native partridges and with his hand of

followers, defended himself against the whole force of his enemy. The tribes of the east and of the north were swept away by the Assyrian kings, Galilee and Samaria fell before the Roman conquerors, whilst Judah still remained erect; the last, because the most impregnable, of the tribes of Israel.

On these mountain tops were gathered all the cities and villages of Judah and Benjamin; in this respect contrasted, as we shall see, with the situation of the towns of the more northern tribes. The position of each is so like the other, that it is difficult to distinguish them when seen; useless to characterise them in description.

But amid this host of "fenced cities of Judah," one may be specially selected, not only on account of its surpassing interest, but because its very claim to notice is founded on the fact that it was but the common type of a Judæan village, not distinguished by size or situation from any amongst "the thousands of Judah." All the characteristics of BETHLEHEM are essentially of this nature. Its confined position on the narrow ridge of the long gray hill would leave 66 no room" for the crowded travellers to find shelter. Its elevation would naturally lead the early Christians to connect it with the words of Isaiah, "He shall dwell on high, in a lofty cave of the strong rock."t "By Bethlehem" in ancient times‡ was the caravanseri, or resting-place, of Chimham, son of Barzillai,