affair took place in Jerusalem, which filled the inhabitants with consternation and despair; and the Romans with horror and indignation. 21. A Jewess, eminent for birth and opulence, rendered frantic with her sufferings, was reduced to the dreadful extremity of killing and feeding upon her infant. Titus, being apprized of this inhuman deed, swore the total extirpation of the accursed city and people; and called heaven to witness, that he was not the author of their calamity. LESSON LXXVI. Destruction of Jerusalem-concluded. 1. THE Romans having pursued the attack with the utmost rigor, advanced their last engines against the walls, after having converted into a desert, for wood to construct them, a country well planted, and interspersed with gardens, for more than eleven miles round the city. They scaled the inner wall, and after a sanguinary encounter, made themselves masters of the fortress of Antonia. 2. Still, however, not only the zealots, but many of the people, were yet so blinded, that though nothing was now left but the temple, and the Romans were making formidable preparation to batter it down, they could not persuade themselves that God would suffer that holy place to be taken by the heathens; but still expected a miraculous deliverance. And though the war was advancing towards the temple, they themselves burnt the portico, which joined it to Antonia; which occasioned Titus to remark, that they began to destroy, with their own hands, that magnificent edifice, which he had preserved. 3. The Roman commander had determined in council not to burn the temple, considering the existence of so proud a structure an honor to himself. He therefore attempted to batter down one of the galleries of the precinct; but as the strength of the wall eluded the force of all his engines, the troops next endeavored to scale it, but were repulsed with considerable loss. 4. When Titus found, that his desire of saving the sacred building was likely to cost many lives, he set fire to the gates of the outer temple, which being plated with silver, burnt all night, and the flame rapidly communicated to the adjacent galleries and porticoes. Titus, who was still desirous of preserving the temple, caused the flames to be extinguished; and appeased the clamors of his troops, who vehemently insisted on the necessity of razing it to the ground. The following day was therefore fixed upon, for a general assault upon that magni ficent structure. 5. The utmost exertions of Titus to save the temple were, however, ineffectual. Our Saviour had foretold its total destruction; and his awful prediction was about to be accomplished. "And now," says Josephus, "the fatal day approached in the revolution of ages, the 10th of August, emphatically called the day of vengeance, in which the first temple had been destroyed by the king of Babylon.”* 6. While Titus was reposing himself in his pavilion, a Ro man soldier, without receiving any command, but urged as it were by a divine impulse, seized some of the blazing materials, and with the assistance of another soldier, who raised him from the ground, threw them through a window into one of the apartments that surrounded the sanctuary. 7. The whole north side, up to the third story, was immediately enveloped in flames. The Jews, who now began to suppose that Heaven had forsaken them, rushed in with violent lamentations, and spared no effort, not even life itself, to preserve the sacred edifice on which they had rested their security. 8. Titus, being awakened by the outcry, hastened to the spot and commanded his soldiers to exert themselves to the utmost to extinguish the fire. He called, prayed, and threatened his men. But so great was the clamor and tumult, that his entreaties and menaces were alike disregarded. 9. The exasperated Romans, who resorted thither from the camp, were engaged either in increasing the conflagration, or killing the Jews; the dead were heaped about the altar, and a stream of blood flowed at its steps. 10. Still, as the flames had not reached the inner part of the temple, Titus, with some of his chief officers, entered the sanctuary and most holy place, which excited his astonishment and admiration. After having in vain repeated his attempts to prevent its destruction, he saved the golden candlestick, and * Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem-destroyed the temple-and carried the Jews into captivity, B. C. 606. After they had been kept in bondage 70 years, Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, took Babylon, and set them at liberty, B. C. 536. The Jews then returned to Jerusalem, and built the second temple. The first temple was finished and dedicated by Solomon, B. C. 1004,-the second temple was finished and dedicated B. C. 515. table of shew bread, the altar of perfumes, which were all of pure gold; and the volume of the law, wrapped up in a rich golden tissue. Upon his leaving the sacred place, some other soldiers set fire to it, after tearing off the golden plating from the gates and timber work. 11. A horrid massacre soon followed, in which prodigious multitudes perished; while others rushed, in a kind of frenzy, into the midst of the flames, and precipitated themselves from the battlements of their falling temple. Six thousand persons, who, deluded by a false prophet with the hopes of a miraculous deliverance, had fled to a gallery yet standing without the temple, perished at once, by the relentless barbarity of the soldiers, who set it on fire, and suffered none to escape. 12. The conquerors carried their fury to such a height as to massacre all they met, without distinction of age, sex,or quality. They also burnt all the treasure houses, containing vast quanti ties of money, plate, and the richest furniture. In a word, they continued to mark their progress with fire and sword, till they had destroyed all, except two of the temple gates, and that part of the court which was destined for the women. 13. In the mean time, many of the zealots, by making the most vigorous exertions, effected their escape from the temple, and retired into the city. But the avenues were so strictly guarded, that it was impossible for them to escape. They therefore fortified themselves, as well as they were able, on the south side of it; from whence John and Simon sent to desire a conference with Titus. 14. They were answered, that though they had caused all this ruin and effusion of blood, yet their lives should be spared, if they would surrender themselves. They replied, that "they had engaged by the most solemn oaths, not to deliver up their persons to him on any condition; and requested permission to retire to the mountains with their wives and children." The Roman General, enraged at this insolence, ordered proclamation to be made, that not one of them should be spared, since they persisted in rejecting his last offers of pardon. 15. The daughter of Zion, or the lower city, was next abandoned to the fury of the Roman soldiers, who plundered, burnt, and massacred, with insatiable rage. The zealots next betook themselves to the royal palace, in the upper and stronger part of Jerusalem, styled also the city of David, on Mount Zion. As many of the Jews had deposited their possessions in the palace for security, they attacked it, killed eight thousand four hundred of their countrymen, and plundered their property. 16. The Roman army spent nearly twenty days in making great preparations for attacking the upper city, especially the royal palace; during which time many came and made their submission to Titus. The warlike engines then played so furiously upon the zealots, that they were seized with a sudden panic, quitted the towers which were deemed impregnable, and ran like mad men towards Shiloah, intending to have attacked the wall of circumvallation, and escaped out of the city. But being vigorously repulsed, they endeavored to conceal themselves in subterraneous passages; and as many as were discovered, were put to death. 17. The compuest of Jerusalem being now completed, the Romans placed their ensigns upon the walls with triumphant joy. They next walked the streets, with swords in their hands, and killed all they met. Amidst the darkness of that awful night, fire was set to the remaining divisions of the city, and Jerusalem, wrapt in flames, and bleeding on every side, sunk in utter ruin and destruction. 18. During the siege, which lasted nearly five months, upwards of eleven hundred thousand Jews perished. John and Simon, the two grand rebels, with seven hundred of the most beautiful and vigorous of the Jewish youth, were reserved, to attend the victor's triumphal chariot. After which, Simon was put to death; and John, who had stooped to beg his life, condemned to perpetual imprisonment. 19. The number who were taken captive, during the fatal contest with the Romans, amounted to ninety-seven thousand; many of whom were sent into Syria, and other provinces, to be exposed on the public theatres, to fight like gladiators, or to be devoured by wild beasts. The number of those destroyed, during the war, which lasted seven years, is computed to have been one million four hundred and sixty-two thousand. 20. When the sword had returned to its scabbard, for want of objects whereon to exercise its fury, and the troops were satisfied with plunder, Titus commanded the whole city and temple to be demolished. Thus were our Saviour's prophecies fulfilled "Thine enemies shall lay thee even with the ground, and there shall not be left one stone upon another." * Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Romans under Titus, thirtyseven years after the crucifixion of our Saviour. 1 LESSON LXXVII. The Warrior's Wreath.-ANONYMOUS. 1. BEHOLD the wreath which decks the warrior's brow, "Tis red-but not with roseate hues ; With human gore! "Tis wet-but not with heavenly dews; 2. 'Tis drench'd in tears by widows, orphans shed. In deep distress, 3. I hear, 'mid dying groans, the cannon's crash, The crystal flood, Heaven's altars, and the verdant plains! 4. Scenes of domestic peace and social bliss Towns sack'd-whole cities wrapt in flame! Is this the bay, Which warriors gain?-is this call'd FAME? LESSON LXXVIII. Elegy written in a Country Church Yard.-GRay. 1. THE curfew tolls-the knell of parting day ;- * Lea, a meadow, or plain. |