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Judgment, so called because on it, they say, was the house of Caiaphas, whose counsel was taken to put Jesus to death. The Aceldama, or Field of Blood, is on this mountain. The Mount of Offence, so called on account of the idolatry King Solomon committed on it, and the ever memorable Mount of Olivet. The Mount of Offence is really only a lower ridge of Olivet. . . These mountains are separated from the town by steep glens. The narrow valley of Hinnom runs between the mountain of Evil Counsel and that of Zion, whilst Jehoshaphat divides Moriah from Olivet." There is also the hill called Ophel, which ends in a steep rocky point just over the Pool of Siloam.

The city is built upon four distinct hills, Zion, Moriah, Acra, and Bezetha. Bezetha, situated to the north-east, may be called the Mahometan quarter, for it is entirely inhabited by Moslems, and encloses the most ruinous part of the town. They are the lords of the landproud, overbearing, and fanatic. The nine soap manufactories of the city, the oil-presses, and the leatherfactory, are in their hands. They are generally very ignorant. Their boys are taught to read the Koran; their girls do not go to school, nor do their women frequent any kind of public worship.

On Mount Moriah stands the Mosque of Omar, and other Mahometan buildings, covering the spot where once Solomon's temple stood. The Moslem, in the pride of his heart, takes here his evening walk; but Christians and Jews are excluded.

Mount Acra may be called the Christian quarter, for it is chiefly inhabited by Christians. Acra is the highest situation in Jerusalem; the streets are cleaner, and kept in better order than the rest of the town. The chief buildings on Acra are some large convents and nunneries, and the church of the Holy Sepulchre, so, called from its being supposed to cover the Saviour's tomb.1 It is

1 This is a matter of great uncertainty.

situated on the foot of the mount, which part is called Calvary.

The Hill of Zion contains THE CITADEL OF DAVID, so called because this fortification occupies the same position as that of David did. It consists of several buildings joined together, and is surrounded by a deep trench. When it was erected is uncertain. Some irregular troops are stationed here to guard the gates, keep order, &c. A covered wooden bridge over the trench leads into the interior of the castle. This bridge has benches on each side, on which the Pashas of Jerusalem are often seen seated, surrounded by their officers, smoking their pipes and administering justice. Before the castle there is an open square, used as a fruit and vegetable market. Every morning women are collected here from various places, with the produce of their gardens and fields, to be sold to the green-grocers of the town, when an absurd scene The buyer offers a price, the seller says it is not sufficient, they abuse each other, scream, quarrel, and shake each other, till the whole market-place appears in a perfect confusion; yet, in a very short time, the bargain is made, and order restored, and the square is cleared by nine o'clock.

commences.

THE TOWER HIPPICUS is also on Mount Zion. This was one of the three towers built by Herod the Great, and has survived the destructions of ages. THE VILLAGE OF THE LEPERS is near the Zion gate. This unfortunate and pitiable race consist of about one hundred. They are compelled to live separate from all, intermarry, and thus propagate their miseries from one generation to another. The malady appears when they are about twelve or fourteen years old, and increases till they literally lose one limb after the other; as they grow older their sight fails, their throat and lungs become infected, and death ensues. They live upon charity. The other buildings on Mount Zion are TWO CONVENTS, THE ENGLISH HOSPITAL FOR SICK JEWS, THE JEWISH QUARTER, and THE TEMPORARY ENGLISH CHURCH. The Jews rise

at midnight, wrap themselves in their veils, and with dust on their foreheads, prostrate themselves on the ground, repeating some of the lamentations of Jeremiah, and mournful songs on their captivity, &c. One of their prayers is

"In mercy, Lord, thy people's prayer attend;
Grant his desire to mourning Israel;
O Shield of Abraham, our Redeemer send,
And call his glorious name Immanuel."

See Missionary Labours in Jerusalem, pp. 43-60.

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"How doth the city sit solitary, that was once full of people! How is she become as a widow ! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!' None who are acquainted with Jerusalem's history can proceed far in her streets without being reminded of these words. Most of the streets are desolate, badly paved, narrow,

and disgustingly filthy. The houses, with few exceptions, are out of repair, and many are entirely in ruins. The dust-cart is not known here; the rubbish is carried out of town by donkeys, which is rather expensive; to avoid which, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who are for the most part poor, have recourse to a curious expedient. There are a large number of deserted magazines scattered throughout the town, in these all the rubbish is collected, and as often as one of them is filled, they close it in with a stone wall. I have counted more than a hundred of this description. Sometimes it happens that these walls give way, and then the whole neighbourhood is enveloped in the dust of many generations. Others do not even take the trouble of carrying the rubbish out of their houses, they appropriate one room as a common receptacle, and when that is full they take the next. Soon after our arrival we hired a house for the use of the mission, in which there were two large rooms completely choked in the way mentioned. Pickaxes were required to clear them, and it was a work of many days before it was done. Besides these nuisances, there are the shambles, in the Jewish quarter, and the disgusting tan-yard, which infect the air with a pestiferous odour, and create many maladies. These evils might easily be remedied, if the local government cared more for the town, and if the Mahometans were less fanatic."—Missionary Labours, &c. pp. 42, 43.

JERUSALEM SHALL BECOME HEAPS.

Jer. ix. 11; Mic. iii. 12.

In seeking a solid foundation for the Protestant church, "they had dug down about forty feet, and had not yet come to rock. They laid bare heap after heap of rubbish and ancient stones. It is a remarkable fact,

which cannot but strike the traveller, that not only on Mount Zion, but in many parts of the city, the modern town is really built on the rubbish of the old. The heaps of ancient Jerusalem are still remaining; indurated masses of stones and rubbish forty and fifty feet deep in many places. Truly the prophets spoke with a divine accuracy when they said, 'Jerusalem shall become heaps! And if so, shall not the future restoration foretold by the same lips be equally literal, and full? 'The city shall be builded upon her own heap." It is quite possible that some of the ancient gates may be literally buried beneath the feet of the inquiring traveller, fulfilling the words of Jeremiah, Her gates are sunk into the ground.2

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They have since reached the old foundations, after digging fifty feet. It is a striking fact, that the foundations of Jerusalem should be thus hid in the ground, when we contrast it with the case of Samaria, of which it was foretold, I will discover the foundations thereof.' Thus does God point His finger to one spot and say, 'It shall be thus with thee;' and turn to another spot, and say in equal sovereignty, 'It shall be otherwise with thee !'-Narrative of a Mission to the Jews, p. 130.

THE JERUSALEM BISHOPRIC.

Psalm cxxii. 6.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem-they shall prosper that love thee."

In the year 1841 a step of the utmost interest and importance was taken by the Christian Church with reference to Jerusalem. This was nothing less than the appointment of a Protestant Bishop to that city, and the commencement, on Mount Zion, of a Protestant Church. The person selected to fill this high and most

1 Jer. xxx. 18.

2 Lam. ii. 9.

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