conception. At first, the dead were buried at the public expense; but after a while the dead bodies were thrown over the wall, as it was found impossible to bury them all. And all parties within were so much weakened by the famine, that they could make no more sallies to obstruct the besiegers.

Titus pitying the wretched condition of those pent up in the inner city, determined once more to renew his attack on the castle of Antonia; and for that purpose brought wood, which could no longer be had near the city, from a distance of ninety furlongs. But the distress of the famine produced no effect on the tyranny of Simon. He now put to death Matthias the high-priest, who had let him in the city; and also his three sons, besides the high-priest Ananias, and fifteen others of the first distinction.

Judas, an officer who had the command of a tower, with ten other men of distinction, had, on account of the intolerable cruelty of Simon, resolved to surrender the city to the Romans; but while they delayed through distrust of the enemy's sincerity, Simon came upon the conspirators and cut them all off.

Titus being still unwilling to abandon the hope of preserving the city, and especially the temple, sent Josephus a third time, to endeavour to persuade his countrymen to make peace. But he was now more roughly handled than on any former occasion; for as he was going round the walls, he was wounded in the head with a stone, by which he was knocked down senseless to the ground; nor was it without great difficulty that the Romans could rescue him from the Jews, who made a great effort to seize, and drag him into the city. As it was found that some of the Jews, to conceal their gold, had swallowed it, the Syrians and Arabs cut open in one night two thousand living deserters, to search for money in their bowels. This cruel practice Titus prohibited on pain of death, as its continuance would have stopped entirely all desertions from the city.

The number of dead bodies carried through a single gate, in one month, was declared by Manneus, who fled to the Romans, to be one hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight; besides those buried by their relatives. The whole number of dead bodies carried out during the siege, was stated by some deserters to be six hundred thousand. The number buried elsewhere could not be ascertained. After the famine came to the worst, however, they were not carried out at all, but were heaped up in ditches and corners, which produced an intolerable stench.

On the third day of July, a part of the wall of the town of Antonia was thrown down by the battering rams; but the Jews had constructed an interior wall, in an attempt to scale which, the Romans were repulsed. About three o'clock in the night, however, the guards marched up to the town in silence, slew

the Jewish sentinels, and immediately blew their trumpets; on which, the Jewish guard fled, supposing that the whole Roman army was upon them.

Titus brought up his army as soon as possible, and entered into the court of the temple, when an obstinate battle was fought, which continued from three o'clock till noon next day. But the Romans were at length compelled to withdraw from the temple, and be contented, for the present, with the conquest of Antonia. Orders were now given by the Roman general for the complete demolition of this castle, that he might have the more room to station his army, in their assault upon the temple. When Titus heard that the daily service of the altar had ceased, he sent Josephus again to hold a conference with John, and ascertain whether he would be willing to agree to some terms which might preserve the temple from destruction, offering to permit the daily service to be continued. by men of his own selection. But John declared that the temple could never be taken, and would enter into no accommodation. Titus, himself, now most earnestly addressed the Jews, entreating them to preserve their beautiful temple-Josephus acting as interpreter-but it was all ineffectual. The Zealots. attributed this moderation to mere cowardice. Titus, therefore, brought up his army, and at three o'clock in the morning the temple was attacked. The Jewish guards were found at their posts, and soon sounded an alarm; but the night was so dark that the Jews were unable to distinguish friends from foes, and actually slew many of their own men. This the Romans avoided by their watchword. The battle, thus commenced, lasted till noon, without any decisive advantage on either side. In seven days the castle of Antonia was demolished, and on the space where it had stood, four mounts were reared before the temple. These mounts were designed to bring the battering rams to bear upon the buildings on the northern side of the temple, to which buildings the Jews themselves set fire. The sufferings, by the famine, were extreme. The people devoured any thing which they could lay hold of; even their girdles, shoes, and the leather of their shields.

A woman, whose name was Mary, of a respectable family in the country, having been often plundered by the robbers, had taken refuge in Jerusalem. Being destitute of food, and without means of obtaining any, she roasted her own infant child, and having eaten part of it, reserved the remainder for another occasion, when the soldiers, allured by the smell, rushed into the house and demanded food. She boldly declared what she had done, and showed them the half of the child which was left. This horrid transaction was soon known through the city and in the camp of Titus, who protested that these miseries were not owing to him.

Early in August the battering rams were brought to bear upon the temple, and were plied for several days, without making any sensible impression. Next an attempt was made to undermine the northern gate of the temple, but it was unsuccessful, as was also the attempt to scale the cloisters with ladders; for the Jews fought so bravely that they repulsed the Romans, and got possession of one of their standards. Titus, having relinguished the hope of preserving the temple, now gave orders to set the gates on fire. By this means the flames spread into some of the contiguous buildings. The fire continued to rage the whole day, for the Jews made no effort to extinguish it. On the next day, however, it was extinguished by the order of Titus.

A counsel was now called to deliberate whether the temple should be destroyed. Some were in favour of its destruction, in order to guard against future rebellions of the Jews; but Titus persisted in his resolution to preserve this splendid edifice. He accordingly issued an order that the sanctuary should not be injured. Titus now resolved to storm the temple with his whole army; but while he was preparing for the assault, the Jews made several sallies from the eastern gate. The Romans, in driving them back on one of these occasions, penetrated, after them, into the interior of the temple, when a Roman soldier seized a fire-brand and threw it through a window or small door into a passage, which led to the apartments on the north side of the sanctuary. From this place the flames soon burst out. When Titus heard of it, he hastened to arrest the progress of the flames, but could not command the attention of his men, who were engaged in conflict with the Jews; and even the soldiers who followed him disregarded his commands, and instead of extinguishing, did what they could to increase the conflagration. The battle now raged around the altar, streams of blood flowed into the outer court, and the surrounding space was covered with dead bodies. Titus now went, with his chief officers, into the sanctuary, and into the most holy place, and then made one more attempt to have the fire extinguished, but with as small success as before. The soldiers appeared to be actuated by a sort of fury, and applied firebrands to every combustible part. Finding it impossible to save the temple, Titus retired from the scene. The chambers of the inner court were now consumed, and all the rest of the edifice, except the buildings on the east and south, which were afterwards destroyed.

About six thousand persons, mostly women and children, were burnt in the temple, who, trusting to the predictions of a false prophet, that God would work a miracle for their deliverance, went into the temple, and there remained until it was destroyed. According to the testimony of Josephus, there

were then many false prophets employed by the leaders, to deceive the people.

The gold taken by the Roman soldiers, in and about the temple, was in such abundance, that its value, for a time, was not more than one-half of what it had previously been. The lower city was now fully in possession of the Romans, by whom it was burnt as far as the pool of Siloam. The Zealots, therefore, were compelled to retreat to the upper city, where they were closely besieged, and whence they had no opportunity of making their escape. New mounts were now raised, and the machines of war were brought into play; and early in the month of September, the upper city, after a feeble but desperate resistance, fell into the hands of the Romans. Very little mercy was shown to the vanquished. They were slaughtered in heaps in every street and house, and multitudes of dead bodies were found in the houses of those who had died with famine, as well as in the vaults and common sewers. When Titus surveyed the city, he expressed great astonishment at the strength of its fortifications, and exclaimed, that it was surely God himself who expelled the Jews from fortifications from which they never could have been driven by man. The captives were very numerous. The handsomest were selected for the triumph. A large number were presented by Titus to the theatres of the provinces, but the majority were sent into Egypt, to be sold as slaves. John, the leader of the Zealots, was found almost dead with hunger, in one of the vaults. He begged for his life, which was granted, but he was kept in chains until his death.

The Romans now set themselves to destroy the walls, and all that remained of the city. Josephus says, expressly, that the ground was levelled, as though no buildings had ever stood upon it. Three of the highest of the towers and a part of the western wall were kept standing, as a monument to future ages of the ancient splendour of the city. The tenth legion was left as a garrison, and the other soldiers were all sent away.

The obstinacy of the resistance of the Jews has been sometimes attributed to an expectation of assistance from their brethren in Babylonia, but was really owing to fanatical infatuation. During the siege, ninety-seven thousand became captives, and eleven hundred thousand perished. For the siege took place at a time when the city was full of strangers, in attendance on the passover, and of refugees from the surrounding country.

Titus proceeded from Jerusalem to Cesarea, on the coast, where he left part of his army. He then visited Cesarea Philippi, where he celebrated games; and, for the amusement of the people, caused many of the Jewish captives to be cast to the wild beasts, and many more to kill one another, in the

show of gladiators. He exhibited the same cruel spectacle at Cesarea, on the sea-coast, and at Berytus; at the former of which places he celebrated the birth-day of his brother, and at the latter, that of his father.

The fate of John, the leader of the Zealots, has been mentioned. At the close of the siege Simon was not found, but after the removal of the Roman army, he came forth like a spectre from one of the vaults, where he had concealed himself until his provisions were exhausted. Having surrendered himself to the governor of the place, he was sent in chains to Titus, at Cesarea, who directed him to be reserved to grace his triumph.

The same infatuation which brought destruction on the Jews of Palestine, seems to have infatuated those who dwelt in other countries. In Egypt and Cyrene, particularly, they exposed themselves, by their madness, to the same destruction which had so awfully overtaken their brethren in Judea. Their temple in Egypt was destroyed, by order of Vespasian, after it had stood three hundred and forty-three years.

The same reckless fury seems to have actuated the relics of this nation for several ages. In the reign of Trajan, and of Adrian, they were guilty of great disorders, and rose in insurrection against the Roman government, which occasioned the destruction of multitudes of this devoted people. Nor was this all. To this very day, they have been driven from country to country, everywhere oppressed and persecuted-no where finding rest, and never able to collect into a body, or to gain any permanent residence of their own-yet preserved in existence as a distinct people, retaining their national characteristics and their own religious customs, without mingling with the people among whom they dwell.

Thus do they stand, a monument of God's displeasure against their nation's sin, in rejecting and crucifying the SON OF GOD, the promised Messiah, and of the truth of divine revelation, by the fulfilment of numerous prophecies, which foretold their future condition. Still, however, they are preserved in mercy, as well as judgment. For it is clear from prophecy, that, as a nation, they will be restored to the privileges of the Church from which for so long a time they have been cut off by unbelief. For a season, until the time appointed, God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that in the day of visitation, he may have mercy on all. "SO ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED."

THE END.