turned into the seat of iniquity and profaneness. The horrid enormities observed in the temple of Juggernaut scarcely surpassed the impious practices exercised within the Jewish sanctuary. When Titus, the Roman general, approached the walls of the city, it more resembled the court of Mars and Bacchus, than the temple of Jehovah; the drunkard's voice-the clash of arms-the shouts of the victor-the cries of the vanquished-and the groans of the dying, echoed through that magnificent pile; human blood flowed in its courts, and sprinkled its altars and its walls. Jerusalem was a scene of slaughter; but it was not a war to support the glorious cause of freedom; nor were they fighting to repel the foreign foe, or shedding their blood to defend their beloved homes, and the still dearer objects of affection, around which the warm heart clings with fondest thought amidst the scene of danger and of death, and for whose preservation the weakest arm grows desperate, and the feeblest mind resolves to conquer or to die. But theirs was no such glorious contest; no-civil war had reared her hydra head; the horrid yell of intestine discord rang through Salem's courts, and echoed round her walls; that infernal power bursts the bands of brotherhood, severs the closest ties, dissolves the strongest

link of union, and makes the man a monster. The sword of her own sons deluged Jerusalem with Jewish blood; the fire which destroyed her houses was kindled by her own children; death and destruction reigned through all her palaces; the city groaned beneath a three-fold faction, when the Roman legions approached her walls to complete the horrid scene of slaughter. The temple was the head-quarters of Eleazar and the Zealots; they had in their possession the stores of first fruits and offerings, and were frequently in a state of intoxication; but when not drunken with wine, they thirsted for the blood of their countrymen, and issued from their strong hold, to assault John and his party, who lay intrenched in the out-works of the temple. The ruin of Jerusalem is attributed to the horrid enormities of the Zealot faction: surely that was the summit of wickedness, when the priests sold themselves to work iniquity, and the temple of the Lord was the seat of their crimes. That was the overspreading of abomination," and it continued until the sanctuary was consumed, and "ruin was poured upon the desolators." It was the iniquitous practices of the Jews, rather than the Roman eagle, which profaned the courts of the Lord's House: the conquerors did not plant their standard to

insult, but with a wish to preserve, the temple from total ruin and destruction.

CHAPTER LXVI.

For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.-Zechariah xiv. 2.

IMPERIAL Rome, to whom the world once bowed, and whose power could command armies from "all nations," had conquered Judea, and received from her the yearly tribute of her subjection: * but, through the oppression of the Roman governors, and the madness of the people, the standard of revolt was planted, and the Jews attempted to break their yoke of bondage. The Roman legions, inured to war, and accustomed to the shout of victory, hastened to subdue the rebellious Israelites: they passed from city to city, and from province to province; slaughter and death marked their course; the strife was desperate; the conflict bloody; the Jews fought like men determined to conquer or to die two hundred and forty-seven thousand seven

* Luke ii. 1. Matthew xxii. 17.

turned into the seat of iniquity and profaneness. The horrid enormities observed in the temple of Juggernaut scarcely surpassed the impious practices exercised within the Jewish sanctuary. When Titus, the Roman general, approached the walls of the city, it more resembled the court of Mars and Bacchus, than the temple of Jehovah; the drunkard's voice-the clash of arms-the shouts of the victor-the cries of the vanquished—and the groans of the dying, echoed through that magnificent pile; human blood flowed in its courts, and sprinkled its altars and its walls. Jerusalem was a scene of slaughter; but it was not a war to support the glorious cause of freedom; nor were they fighting to repel the foreign foe, or shedding their blood to defend their beloved homes, and the still dearer objects of affection, around which the warm heart clings with fondest thought amidst the scene of danger and of death, and for whose preservation the weakest arm grows desperate, and the feeblest mind resolves to conquer or to die. But theirs was no such glorious contest; no-civil war had reared her hydra head; the horrid yell of intestine discord rang through Salem's courts, and echoed round her walls; that infernal power bursts the bands of brotherhood, severs the closest ties, dissolves the strongest