whose origin preceded that of these great nations, still remains unmixed among the ruins of its native land. If any thing among nations wears the character of a miracle, that character is here legibly impressed."* In these circumstances of deepest wretchedness, with no eye to pity, no lip to utter in the accents of compassion, "Alas! my brother!" let the Christian church send up her strong supplications, that while Israel ponders that beloved book, and teacheth it to his children, the mystic thaled may be removed from his eyes, and blindness from his heart, and that he may be enabled to behold, even in his own degradation, the last and mightiest link in the chain of argument and of prophecy, that Shiloh is come, and that Jesus Christ, "the crucified and slain," is the alone deliverer! * Chateaubriand's Travels in Palestine, vol. II. p. 183. CHAP. XIV. "Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, THE recent journals of travellers in Palestine, contain little to satisfy the feelings of those who search in such records for information respecting the children of Israel in the land of their fathers; and perhaps nothing could more strongly mark the indifference and apathy with which the Jews are viewed by common observers, or the low state of their political and religious existence, than the total silence preserved regarding them by travellers, otherwise intelligent, classic, and communicative, who have measured every monument and vestige of antiquity in and around Jerusalem,- have traced the windings of the brook Cedron,— the ascent to the Mount of Olives,-the site of the temple of Solomon, the extent and circumference of the new city, without once alluding to the original masters of Judea, except perhaps as a nation which once existed, but of whom all traces have since been lost. It belonged, indeed, to the man of genius to sketch, as we have shewn, with a pencil of fire, the Jew in Jerusalem! and, doubtless, after such a picture, few would be found hardy enough to attempt another. The Christian missionary, however, undeterred by the fear of failure, because unambitious of the glory of success, has given us various details of the circumstances and character of the Hebrews scattered throughout Palestine. And the excellent and euthusiastic Richardson, amid" the interesting scenes, and places of glorious recollection" with which the holy land abounds, has delighted us with many expressions of fine scriptural feeling, if he has not also thrown some light upon the present state of the Jews in Judea. As in this book we pretend to no higher honour than that due to a compiler, we shall endeavour to condense, into as small a compass as possible, the materials we have been enabled to collect, for illustrating the actual condition of the dispersed of Israel now in the Holy Land. We have already related that Jerusalem was rebuilt by Adrian, under the name of Ælia, and it now occupies the same spot as it did then, Mount Calvary being included within the walls. After being transformed into a Pagan city, Helena, the mother of Constantine, overthrew its monuments of idolatry, and erected over the supposed site of the sepulchre of Christ, a magnificent church, which included as many of the scenes of our Saviour's sufferings, as superstition and tradition could conveniently crowd into one spot. The emperor Julian, in the true spirit of an apostate, designing to give the lie to prophecy, assembled the Jews at Jerusalem, and endeavoured in vain to rebuild the temple. In this attempt he was frustrated by an earthquake and fiery eruptions from the earth, which totally destroyed the work, consumed the materials which had been collected, and killed a great number of the workmen.* Jerusalem continued in the power of the eastern emperors till the reign of the caliph Omar,. the third in succession from Mahomet, who reduced it under his subjection. The Saracens continued masters of Jerusalem till the year 1099, when it was taken by the crusaders, under Godfrey of Bouillon. They founded a new kingdom, of which Jerusalem was the capital, and which lasted eighty-eight years, under nine kings, At last this kindgom was utterly ruined by Saladin; and though the Christians once more got possession of the city, they were again obliged to relinquish it. In 1217, the Saracens were expelled by the Turks, who have ever since continued in possession of it. Seventeen times has Jerusalem been taken and pillaged: millions of men have been slaughtered within its walls. No other city has experienced Ammianus Marcellinus and Gregory Nazianzen, quoted in the controversy with Warburton. |