The Temple on Fire. the understanding, that if possible the temple itself should be spared. But the word had gone forth from a greater than Cæsar, Verily I say unto you there shall not be left here, one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down!' The following day the Jews being weary kept themselves comparatively quiet, but on the next they gathered together all their strength, and fought fiercely with those who guarded the great court of the temple. Titus witnessed the conflict from Fort Antonia, and seeing his soldiers giving way sent a reinforcement which succeeded in taking the outer court. The Jews now re treated into the second or inner court. Caesar retired to rest, intending to storm the temple the next day. The sun had set for the last time on the beauty and glory of the city. The area of the temple was occupied, not with worshippers, but with warriors. Revenge was enthroned in one court, and despair brooded in the other. For a time there was a gloomy sullen silence, only broken by the groan of some dying one, or the lamentation of some despairing one. At length the Jews let loose their fury at those who surrounded them, and fought fiercely with those who were trying to quench the flames. The Romans forced their way into the inner court, and the most fearful fight followed. 177 miscuously, and heaps of dead, weltering in blood were round about the altar. As the fire spread Titus went into the holy place and gazed upon its splendour. The sight filled him with astonishment, and still hoping that it might be spared, he gave orders that all were to be beaten who did not obey his injunctions. But the soldiers saw the gold, and hoping to find money and treasures within, pressed forward, and one of them threw a fire-brand between the hinges of a gate within, whereby the flame burst out in the holy house itself, and the entire building was soon enveloped with sheets of flame and smoke. What had formerly looked like a mountain of gold was now a mountain of fire. It burnt like a volcano. The country all around was lighted up with the flames. The timbers fell in with a tremendous crash. The roaring of the flames with the shrieks and screams of the people made such a noise, that the echo was returned from the adjacent hills. The brightness of the fire threw a lurid glare over Mount Zion, and vast groups of people could be seen gazing at the fearful spectacle, and expecting soon to be involved in the same dreadful doom. And thus fell the glorious temple of Jerusalem on the tenth day of August, the very same day of the month on which the temple of Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Although the greater part of the Jews were slain, John and Simon, the leaders of revolt, effected their retreat over the bridge which connected Moriah with Zion. The Romans broke down all the remaining cloisters-burnt the treasury chambers, and completed the work of destruction. It was at this time that one of the soldiers being lifted on the shoulders of another, and hurried on by excited feeling, set fire to a golden window which communicated in some way with the holy house. The flames ascended and spread. The Jews sent up a wail of lamentation, the consternation being great, some one went and informed Titus that the holy house was on fire. He arose in great The Jewish historian takes occasion haste and proceeded to the spot, and after at this period of his history to give a him the commanders, and after them detailed account of those strange and the legions. They rushed into the wonderful prodigies which were obtemple. Blood and fire and smoke, servable in the last days of Jerusalem. with groaning and cursing, made up The reality of these signs and wonders, the horrible spectacle. Titus gave I say nothing about. Probably a guilty orders to quench the flames, but the conscience and an excited imagination din of arms, and clang, and clamour of may have had something to do in creatthe people, rose above his voice. All ing them. He says a star resembling a was confusion, and madness seized sword hung over the city, and a comet upon the people. They fought pro-was observed for a whole year; that at the feast of unleavened bread, in the middle of the night a great light was seen round about the altar and holy house which made it as light as day; that a heifer as she was led forth to be sacrificed brought forth a lamb; that the eastern gate of the inner court of the temple, being exceedingly massive so that twenty men were required to open it, opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night; and that on the twenty-first of May, chariots and troops were seen careering along the clouds over the city. At the Feast of Pentecost when the priests were offering up the sacrifice they felt a quaking and heard a voice saying, 'Let us remove hence.' It is said that Jesus the Son of Ananus went about for four years, crying, 'Woe to Jerusalem,' Woe to Jerusalem,' and when he was whipped till his bones were laid bare he still cried, 'Woe to Jerusalem,' Woe to Jerusalem,' and the day that the siege ended as he was going round the city wall, crying, Woe to the City again, and to the people, and to the Holy House,' there came a stone from one of the engines and struck him on the head, when he cried, Woe to my. self also,' and fell down and died. Titus having by destroying the temple removed the last refuge of hope for the Jews, brought his ensigns, within the once sacred but now desolated enclosures, and having set them up against the eastern gate, offered sacrifices to them. Then was fulfilled the language of prophecy concerning the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place,' The capture of the Upper City, or Mount Zion, now engaged the entire attention of the destroyers, and while they were making their preparations the Jews caught two of the Romans. One was a footman, the other was a horseman. They cut the throat of the footman and dragged him through the city to satisfy their revenge. Seeing that all their hopes of success were gone; their walls battered down; their fortress demolished; their holy temple burnt; they waited for death to end their miseries. Some who were stronger than the rest fled into the caverns, hoping to make their escape when the Bomans had gone. Titus threw up banks on the west and on the north-east of Zion, and on the seventh of September they brought their engines against the walls, and after much labour and some loss, these were finally reduced. The leaders of the Jews fled to the towers Hippicus, Phasælus, and Mariamne, but afterwards quitted them of their own accord. And when Titus entered the city of Zion, the resistance he met with was comparatively feeble. The dead outnumbered the living. Entire families had died by famine, and the rooms of the houses were full of dead bodies. As Titus gazed upon the massive marble towers, built by Herod the Great, which we have already described; he was astonished at their strength and magnificence, and exclaimed, that it was God who had caused the robbers to leave those citadels, for it would have been impossible for him to have taken them. The army having collected all the living persons discoverable, brought them into the open court of the desolated temple, and disposed of them according to the will of their imperial master. Some were put to death. Some were sold for slaves. Others were reserved to swell the triumphal procession at Rome. The number of captives taken throughout the war was 97,000; and the number of those that perished throughout the whole siege was 1,100,000. Many persons have thought these numbers exaggerated, but it should be borne in mind that the war commenced at the feast of the Passover, when Jews were accustomed to assemble from all parts of the civilized world. As many as 2,000,000 commonly assembled at these great religious festivals. Cæsar set fire to the upper city, and thus on the eighth of September, in the year 70, Jerusalem was entirely destroyed. The tyrant John hid himself in a cavern, but soon surrendered himself to the Romans. They loaded him with chains and confined him in prison. Simon-the indomitable, fierce, and stubborn Simon-was not to be found anywhere. He, in company with some stone cutters, had escaped into the The Temple and City in Ruins. vaults under the temple, with the dreary hope of cutting their way into the light; but provisions failed; and so putting on a white robe and a purple cloak, he rose like a spectre out of the earth, and thus hoped to terrify his opponents. But the features of Simon the assassin were soon identified, and he was seized, and word was sent to Titus, who had lately left Jerusalem and gone to Cæsarea, that the last leader of rebellion was captured. In a short time all the houses were demolished, and the temple walls completely razed to the ground, so that the prophecy of Holy Writ was fulfilled, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.' Before Titus finally left the East, he came to take a farewell look of the city, which was lying desolate and forsaken. It was a melancholy and heart-rending spectacle. What was once all glory was now nothing but gloom. The captive daughter of Judah weeps in her woe and desolation. The poet has pictured the scene,— "Fall'a is thy throne, O Israel! Thy children weep in chains. Thy long-loved olive tree: Where Baal reigned as God.'* Let us dwell in closing, just for a moment, on the great moral lessons this subject has for us. It is an awful illustration of the principle of righteous retribution under the moral government of God. God marked the Jews off as His own peculiar people. He exalted them with special privileges. He condescended to be their theocratic king. He gave them holy laws, and sent them righteous prophets. He was their Sun • Moore. 179 in prosperity, and their Shield in adversity. And as the crowning consummation of Divine goodness, He sent them His only begotten Son, but instead of giving Him a crown, they led Him away to a cross. They returned Him mockery for mercy, and gave Him thorns for His dying pillow. They killed the Prince of Life, and now they were victims to the Prince of Death. The great wheel of Divine Justice had swept round, and rolled its crushing weight across the breast and heart of Zion. So will it be with the man, the city, the nation, which shall spurn the com: passion of God, and reject the mercy of Christ. The stone of judgment shall grind that man, that city, that nation to powder. To trample on the mercy of God and reject the offers of Christ is to run sin up into a climax and invite from the eternal heavens the burning wrath of God. There is just one more point to be noticed. It is probable that the destruction of Jerusalem is a type or figure of the destruction of the world. The prophecies of Christ that relate to these two events are intertwined, and illustrative of each other. The 24th Matthew seems to point to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the end of the world. There is a wheel within a wheel. One fact is the glimmering of the other. One fire is the harbinger of another. The great world on which we live is to roll in fire, and all the elements to melt with fervent heat. As the temple of Jerusalem was like a mountain of flame Even so shall perish, in its own ashes, A more glorious temple, Yea God's own architecture, this vast world, Even thus amid thy pride and luxury, The towers and temples, nam'd of men • Milman, G. H.. Notices of Books. THE CHURCH'S POLESTAR. By Silas tian writers ought to avoid-it is FUTURITY: illustrated from the best row. Mr. Welby uses the word mystery in its ordinary and its scriptural sense: to signify, that is, not only the unintelligible and concealed, but also, that which was unknown, and was in due time revealed by the inspiration of God. His volume is a very useful commonplace book of quotations on the subjects enumerated in the title and others connected with them. CATHEDRAL WEALTH AND CATHEDRAL WORK. London: H. J. Tressider, 17, Ave Maria-lane. It will surprise some to hear that these Cathedrals were originally missionary stations or colleges; and that their present total revenue is over £300,000 per year; although perhaps all Englishthe rule connected with Cathedrals, is men will hear, without surprise, that this-a great deal of pay for very little work. Let every Dissenter buy this tract, which may be had for sixpence. The Liberation Society will render good service to their cause by its publication. The book before us gives us very little assistance in satisfying such a reasonable curiosity. That Mr. Henn lives somewhere near Wednesbury; that he A very valuable tract. The history has a family, entailing cares and and constitution of Cathedral establishanxieties; that he is in business; that ments, their enormous wealth, the he often preaches and conducts special mode of spending it, appropriate rectoservices; that he has a large corres-ries, and chapter patronage are given. pondence; that he travels a great deal; and that he has a variety of pressing duties;' is all that is told us in the preface. From the essays we learn that he is a teetotaler, is opposed to war in any shape, hates the Methodists, and believes in entire sanctification, thinks all sects are wrong, and yet considers our own churches pretty nearly right, if they only practice open communion. He has a word of advice for all of usministers, members, teachers, parents, 'wine-bibbers,' and millionaires, though perhaps but few readers of these pages can fairly appropriate the last word as descriptive of themselves. Now and then Mr. H. writes like Poor Richard in canonicles, but too often his really good sense and Christian purpose are marred by their tone, which a little more attention to style would have been certain to soften. If there be one thing more than another which Chris THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND AT THE BAR OF COMMON SENSE. THE CARDROSS CASE. By the author of The Ultimate Principles of Religious Liberty. London: Ward and Co. A clear statement of the now celebrated Cardross Case, the judgment of the civil court thereon, and the author's of separate denominational assemblies Is it wished that our distinctive names should be dropped ?-that our differ To the Editor of the General Baptist ences of opinion should be suppressed? Magazine. DEAR SIR,-This subject having been mooted afresh in your pages, I ask space for some observations upon it. It presents itself to my mind in a threefold form. First, What is the precise nature of the union proposed? Second, How is such union to be effected? Third, What advantages (if any) would it be likely to secure? If this should appear to your readers to be a natural and proper order of inquiry, I may presume on their patience in following me through it. First, The precise nature of the proposed Union needs to be described. Among the various letters which have appeared on the subject, either in this Magazine, or in the Freeman, I do not remember one which has told us in what respect it is wished that the two bodies should become more united than they now are. Vague generalities have been written, but I have seen nothing sufficiently specific and definite. The question as to the exact kind of union to be sought, cannot be discreetly answered without previously considering in what respects we are now distinct. The two bodies have already much in common with each other, and there is a limited kind of present coberence. At the same time they are actually distinct. This distinction lies partly in our respective names, partly in some of our theological beliefs partly in the maintenance of separate institutions, and partly in the holding -that all or any of our institutions should be amalgamated?-and that our quarterly, half-yearly, and annual convocations should be re-arranged? When I say our I do not restrict the pronoun to the General Baptist body. The surrender of what would hinder the union, must be mutual. Voluntary compacts, between parties who differ, involve some compromises. And how the two denominations, whose distinction hitherto has been founded on real differences, can blend into one without compromises I cannot understand. Let him who knows discover the occult method. This brings me to the Second point in the inquiry: How can the Union be effected? The obstacles to its accomplishment pertain to both sections, but I shall confine my attention to those which belong to ourselves. Personally, I have no objection to the dropping of the word 'General.' Coming before the noun Baptist, it ought to qualify that noun, and to express some peculiarity in the individual so denominated, with respect to his baptistic belief and pratice. Failing to do this, it is indefensible on grammatical grounds. But it may be said, there is a well-known ellipsis in the title, and that the General,' as an adjective, belongs to a substantive not expressed, but understood. So construed however it becomes indefinite and deceptive. For some suppose the name omitted to be redemption-others suppose it to be communion. Hence |