Jerusalem, and did everything in his power to provoke the Jews to revolt.

The confusion in Jerusalem at the arrival of Florus was tremendous, and his cruelties so excessive, that in one day upwards of three thousand of the populace were slain. Meanwhile, the conduct of the Jews was not unstained by treachery to the Romans, particularly in their slaughter of the Roman guards in the Castle of Antonio, after having laid down their arms on terms of peace. This outrage brought up Cestius from Syria with an immense army, who besieged Jerusalem; and certainly, had he continued the siege at that time, the Jews had sooner met the fate that had hung over them. However, he raised the siege, and fled from Jerusalem, pursued and discomfited by the Jews; and having thus tarnished the glory of the Roman arms, prepared for the unhappy Jews all the horrors which yet awaited them.

On this state of affairs being reported to Nero, the Roman emperor, he appointed Vespasian, one of his most able and experienced generals, to go into Judea to take command of the army there, to punish the refractory Jews, and restore the tarnished honour of the Roman legions.

Vespasian having sent his son Titus to Alexandria, in Egypt, to bring up two of the Roman legions which were in that country, proceeded himself into Syria. From Antioch he went to Ptolemais, a city in Palestine, where Titus joined him with his soldiers.

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While Vespasian was in Judea, he besieged the different cities there and in Galilee, and, after various vicissitudes, succeeded in making himself master of the whole country. ing this part of the war the Roman emperors who succeeded Nero were deposed and slain, and the army of Vespasian proclaimed him emperor. Upon this occasion Vespasian went to Rome, and the command of the army, as well as the whole conduct of the war, devolved on Titus his son.

At this time, among the Jews 'there were three captains,' says Tacitus, and as many armies.' Simon had the remotest and largest parts of the wall under him; John had the middle parts of the city under him; and Eleazar had fortified the temple itself. Battles, factions, and burnings, were common to them all, but war abroad produced peace between those that were at home.

THE SIEGE, A.D. 70.- Against this city and nation, Titus resolved to fight by ramparts and ditches, since the situation of the place did not admit of taking it either by storm or surprise. When the Romans had finished their works, they brought

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their engines to bear on the walls of the city. factions then cried out that they were acting as if in concert with their common enemy, and said, that if they could not enter into a lasting concord, they ought at least to unite, in their present circumstances, against the Romans. A volume longer than this altogether would not be sufficient to contain a detailed account of the manner and consequences of this SIEGE. Suffice it to say, that all means of escape, and all means of relief, being cut off from the Jews, the city exhibited a spectacle of horror, misery, and woe, such as had never before been seen under the light of the sun. Then was fulfilled those words of the Divine Redeemer :-'The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee.' The famine, in its resistless progress, devoured whole houses at once. The upper rooms were full of women and children, who were dying; the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged. When Titus, in going his rounds, saw the valleys full of the dead, and the putrefaction running among them, he groaned, and, spreading forth his hands to heaven, called the gods to witness that this was no act of his. As Titus advanced his works the Jews set fire to the north-west cloister, and thereby made a beginning to the burning of the sanctuary. When Titus saw that all the efforts he made to preserve a foreign temple only tended to the destruction of his own troops, he gave orders to set the gates on fire. At last, the flames burst from the holy house itself, and it was burnt down, notwithstanding all that Titus desired and all that he attempted to do to save it.

Thus the most admirable of all the works on earth was destroyed. The decree, inevitable and unalterable, which had gone forth against it, brought it to the dust! and that on the same day of the same month on which it was burned by the Babylonians. The number of the years from its first foundation by Solomon to this destruction in the second year of Vespasian, are one thousand one hundred and thirty years, seven months, and fifteen days; and from the period of its second building by Haggai—in the second year of Cyrus the king-to this its second destruction, were six hundred and thirty-nine years and forty-five days.

We have now seen, that 'the black cloud of woes foretold by the Saviour of men had burst at once upon the devoted land which had rejected and crucified the Son of God. (Had the fighting armies of the historian descended from the sky, they could not have wrought more woe upon Palestine.) Then

arose the voice of wailing, when the four sore judgments of God-fire and sword, famine and pestilence-were poured out together upon His disobedient children. Who can call to mind that fearful epitome of misery, captivity, and blood, in the history of ploughing up the Holy City by the myrmidons of Titus, without exclaiming with Him who wept over it, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets!" Once brought under the yoke of the Romans, Jerusalem was ever after, and is still, "trodden down of the Gentiles." The Cross is yet in the dust, and the Crescent waves proudly to-day above the battlements of Jerusalem.

Shall there be no restoration?

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Yes, Salem! thou shalt rise; thy Father's aid

Shall heal the wound His chast'ning hand has made;
Shall judge the proud oppressor's ruthless sway
And burst his brazen bands, and cast his cords away,
Then on your tops shall deathless verdure spring;-
Break forth, ye mountains! and ye valleys sing!
No more your thirsty rocks shall frown forlorn,-
The unbeliever's jest-the heathen's scorn;-
The sultry sands shall tenfold harvests yield,
And a new Eden deck the thorny field.
E'en now, perhaps, wide waving o'er the land,
The mighty angel lifts his golden wand,
Courts the bright vision of descending power,
Tells every gate, and measures every tower,
And chides the tardy seals that yet detain
Thy lion, Judah, from his destin'd reign.

Lo! cherub hands the golden courts prepare,
Lo! thrones are set, and every saint is there;
Earth's utmost bounds confess their awful sway,
The mountains worship, and the isles obey.

Nor sun, nor moon, they need-nor day, nor night,-
God is their temple, and the Lamb their light.
And shall not Israel's sons exulting come,

Hail the glad beam, and claim their ancient home?
On David's throne shall David's offspring reign,
And the dry bones be warm with life again.
Hark! white rob'd crowds the deep Hosannas raise,
And the hoarse floods repeat the sound of praise;
Ten thousand harps attune the mystic song,
Ten thousand thousand saints the strain prolong:
'Worthy the Lamb!-omnipotent to save!-

Who died-who lives-triumphant o'er the grave!'"

In conclusion, let me ask the Christian reader, if he owes nothing to the Jew-nothing to the expatriated, persecuted Hebrew, that should impel him to use such means in his favour, as may, by the blessing of Jehovah, lead to his conversion,

and to his restoration to the promised land? Christian, do you know anything of God? Who instructed you?__Who revealed to you the six days work of Jehovah, when He created this beautiful world, and finished the earth and the heavens, and all the host of them? Was it not a Hebrew? Who told you of the sweet rest of the Sabbath? Was it not a Hebrew? Who detailed to you the history of all the loving-kindness of the Lord to His chosen people amid their oppressions in Egypt? All His wonders when He led them through the wild and trackless wilderness? Was it not a Hebrew? Who related to you the birth of Christ-His teaching and preaching-His exampleHis sufferings and death-His resurrection and ascension? Was it not a Jew? What knowledge have you of the true God, of the Saviour, which you have not derived from the Hebrew lawgiver, from the Jewish prophets, Jewish kings, Jewish evangelists, and Jewish apostles? Do you, then, owe nothing to the Jews in return? If pity, if gratitude, if piety, do not compel you to put forth your endeavours in their behalf, will you venture to resist the demands of justice? Be that far from you. Give them your effectual fervent prayer,-give them of your gold and silver, give them your precious Testament, in the language of their fathers. Christian! you have much to give; and are they not poor indeed who lack your aid? And is there not a Hebrew ready to receive your bounty, and to carry up your alms even to Jerusalem? O, then, defer not the sweet work of mercy! And as you hope to see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, shew pity and kindness to their posterity on earth!"

EXERCISES.

What promises did Christ give to His disciples before He left them? Where did they assemble when they had returned to Jerusalem? What was the number of the Church at that time? What of Pentecost? What of Paul's conversion? What of his trials? Of his journeys? What of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem? What have we received from the Jews? What should we give them now in return?

APPENDIX.

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF NAMES given to the SECOND PERSON of the GLORIOUS TRINITY.

ALPHA; ANOINTED.

BREAD of life; BRANCH.

CHRIST; CHIEFEST among ten thousand; COUNSELLOR; CAPTAIN of Salvation.

DOOR-"I am the door;" DELIVERER.

EMMANUEL; EVERLASTING FATHER.

FIRST-BORN among many brethren; FAITHFUL AND TRUE; FOUNDATION" Other foundation can no man lay," &c.

GOVERNOR; GOOD SHEPHERD.

HOLY ONE of Israel; HE that was dead; HEAD OF THE CORNER. I-"Fear not; it is I."

JESUS-" His name shall be called Jesus."

KING of kings; KING of the Jews.

LAMB of God; LIGHT of the world; LILY of the valleys; LORD of lords; LIFE-"I am the life."

MESSIAH; MEDIATOR; MASTER; MAN-" Behold the man."
NAZARENE.

ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD; OMEGA.

PRINCE OF PEACE; PRINCE of life; PROPHET; PRIEST.

QUICKENING SPIRIT.

REDEEMER; RULER; ROSE of Sharon.

SEED OF THE WOMAN; SAVIOUR; SON OF GOD; SON OF MAN; SON OF DAVID; SON OF THE HIGHEST; SALVATION.

THE WAY; THE TRUTH; THE LIFE.

UNSPEAKABLE GIFT OF GOD.

VINE" I am the true vine."

WONDERFUL" His name shall be called Wonderful." And so it "A name above every name," &c.

is.

Note.—It will be a pleasing and profitable exercise (not a task) for the scholar now and again to search the Scriptures, find out the verses where these names are applied to Christ, and commit them to memory. What is stated in this Note is also applicable to the Alphabetical List of Christian Duties.