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THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION.

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in full sight of Jerusalem! The whole city, as seen in the accompanying cut, like a great panorama, lay before us, seemingly but a few rods distant. It must have been just at this point, and as the multitude that went before and followed after were crying, "Hosanna, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" that the city all at once burst upon the view of Jesus, awakening the emotions, and stirring the profoundest depths of his sympathizing heart. He saw the city and wept over it. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. 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 lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave thee one stone upon another." The applauding multitude had acclamations of praise for the King of Zion; that honored king in his meekness and humility had tears of compassion for the doomed city that lay in glory and beauty at his feet. And well did he know how fickle the honors of that multitude would prove. "To-day," he might say, "they lead me in honor and triumph, crying, Hosanna, and shouting blessings on my head; scarce ten days will pass away before this same multitude will cry, Crucify him! crucify him!" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how terribly the prophetic declarations of that Savior have been fulfilled! Those walls upon which he then looked have been demolished, and strangers come and dispute about the lines upon which their foundations were laid; thy children perished within thee, and thy palaces were laid even with the ground; that wonderful and costly temple has been utterly annihilated, and the devotees of a strange religion have built their shrine upon its site! Whose record is this but the Handwriting of an omniscient and Omnipotent God, so legible, all may read; so plain, none can misunderstand.

A JEWISH PASSOVER.

Thursday evening of this week was the anniversary of the

great Jewish Feast of the Passover. A German merchant of the city, whose acquaintance we had made, kindly offered to accompany us to the residence of a Jewish family, where we could witness their mode of celebrating the feast. His kind of fer was gladly accepted, and about 9 o'clock we made our way along the dark, crooked lanes of the Jewish quarter, and were ushered into an upper room. Here we found a family consisting of father, mother, mother's sister, four sons and a daughter, and with them one of the neighboring women. Their exercises had already commenced. They no longer kill the paschal lamb, all their sacrifices having ceased; the other accompaniments of the feast, so far as circumstances would allow, were provided. A common dining-table was spread with a cloth, a plate and common drinking-glass for each person; in the center of the table was a large, flat, open dish, a bottle of wine, a thin cake of unleavened bread, and a plate of bitter herbs, which I thought were the stumps or bitter ends of lettuce stalks. Around this table the family were seated, the women with their bonnets and shawls on, the men with their overcoats and hats, all in readiness to travel in accordance with the original design of the institution. They were provided with Hebrew books, from which they read aloud, all reading at once. Оссаsionally the reading was interrupted, and one of the boys would entertain them by the recital of some incident of Jewish history connected with their former bondage, and God's favor towards them.

After reading in this way for some time, the father took the bottle, and poured a small quantity of wine into each one's glass. An interval of reading followed, when at a proper time each took a swallow of wine, and then all simultaneously poured a portion into the large open dish that stood in the center of the table, accompanying the act with an imprecation that God would so pour out his indignation upon their enemies. Another season of reading and conversation followed, when the father broke the cake and passed a portion to each member of the household, also extending the compliment to us. We staid an hour or two, and then took our leave, assured by our

A JEWISH PASSOVER.

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friend the exercises of the family would be kept up in this way nearly or quite till daybreak.

We were highly gratified with this opportunity of witnessing the mode in which the Jews at the present day celebrate this feast. It is now, as it ever has been, a standing memorial of God's interposition for the deliverance of this ancient people. The very tenacity with which this people adhere to these hoary customs of antiquity is a striking evidence of the truth of the written narrative. But how changed the scene from the days of their former prosperity and glory. Their altar has been demolished, their temple destroyed, and their sacrifices have ceased. They have left to them only the unsubstantial bread and the bitter herbs. Would to God their eyes might be opened, that they might see in Christ the true Passover, sacrificed alike for Jew and Gentile!

GOOD FRIDAY IN JERUSALEM.

This is a great day among the Catholic population of the city. Many strangers have taken lodgings at our "Terra Santa," among them some high dignitaries of the church, and between fifty and sixty French military officers from Beirut. This week, however, is rather a severe one to the Epicurian portion of our boarders. Being the close of Lent, and the anniversary of some of the most solemn religious events celebrated here, the rigidness of the fast was greatly increased. On Tuesday morning it was announced that no more meat would be served during the week. Not only were we deprived of meat, but the omnipresent olive oil, always much used here, and which but few in our far western country have learned to relish, as a constant reminder I suppose of the grace of consecration, was mingled with our soup, poured over our fish, and fried into our vegetables. It might have been a week of severe penance had we had no other resources. But not having the fear of the sovereign Pontiff before our eyes, we, of course, were not overscrupulous if any fortune threw a good joint in our way. Had we been put upon the confessional, as I suppose some of our associates were, the damaging fact might have been disclosed, that we did, contrary to the laws of the church,