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CIRCUIT OF MODERN JERUSALEM.

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that such was the line marked out to me on by a close examination of the ground.

The modern town occupies not quite two-thirds of the ancient, and is two and a-half miles in circumference.* Its eastern wall is that which I already described as belonging to the ancient city; and contains the Bab es-Subat. The southern proceeds from Ophel, over the summit of Mount Sion, where it turns to the north, and joins the castle of David, the ancient Hippicus. In this we find the modern gate of Sion, or, as it is called by the Mohammadans, the Bab en-Neby Daud, the gate of the prophet David. From this, the western wall is very irregular, and completely devoid of any of the natural ravines that fence the city in other parts; it is probably that built by the Emperor Elianus Adrianus, hence called Elia Capitolina; in it, he laboured to confound and obliterate the ancient topography, and hence perhaps its present irregular form. It includes Calvary, and at the western angle a part of the elevation of Goath; it then slopes downward to the Damascus gate, where it becomes the northern boundary, and proceeding along the brow of Acra, it joins the eastern wall at the place that is assigned to the tower of Hananeel. In it, are the gates leading to Jaffa and Damascus, the former called in the Arabic Bab el-Kulil, from its being the way to Hebron also, and the latter the gate of the pilgrims, Bal el-Amud. William of Tyre tells us that the walls erected by Adrian were so placed, "that the scene of our Lord's passion and resurrection, which had before been without the walls was now included within their circuit." It is also stated by the same celebrated historian, that "the Golgotha, and the place where the cross was discovered, as well as the place where the body was anointed, were formerly small oratories without the church." These walls, renewed by the Saracens and Crusaders, are still in good preservation, and for the greater part of their circuit are from forty to sixty feet high.

*The last measurement, that taken by Dr. Robinson, makes it 4326 yards; but he says it was done "without regarding the short angles and smaller zig-zags;" under these circumstances our measurements nearly correspond.

CHAPTER XX.

JERUSALEM.

Promise of a New city-The Labours of Mr. Fry-Prophecies-Lines of the Prophetic CityTower of Hananeel-The Eastern Wall-The Northern Boundary-Goath-The Southern and Western Walls-The Prophet Ezekiel-His vision-The City-like Temple-Its Measurements-Its Supposed Symbolical Meaning-Reference to Solomon's Temple-The Eastern Gate-Its Architecture-Traditions-Its station in the Millennial City-Remarkable Predictions concerning it-Mohammadan Traditions of Jerusalem-The Manuscript of JalalAddin-Prophecy of Mahadi-Expected Return of Messiah-Dr. Clarke's Topography-His alleged Discoveries-Position of Mount Sion-Objections of Mr. Buckingham-Their Fallacy -His Map-Refutation of Clarke's Objections-Sepulchres of David-Proofs from the Book of Joshua-Clarke's Knowledge of the Holy City-Authority of the Apostles-Calvary-Vulgar Errors-Golgotha-Identity of the Holy Sepulchre-Opinions of Dr. RobinsonGrotto of Jeremiah-The Royal Sepulchres-Tombs of the Judges-Their Manner of Construction-The Valley of Jehoshaphat-Tomb of the Virgin-Gethsemane-Mount of Olives -Sepulchres of the Patriarchs-Siloam-Valley of Hinnom-The Aceldama-Discoveries of the Author-The races of Mankind-Opinion of Dr. Prichard.

IN the foregoing description I have endeavoured to trace the situation and precise locality of the several cities of Jerusalem that have been; from that of Salem, occupying Mount Acra alone; then Mount Sion added; afterwards Moriah, taken in for the site of the temple; Bezetha included in later times, as the population grew more numerous, and finally, the walls of the present city. But there is still a topography of Jerusalem to be considered, without which any treatise upon that subject would be incomplete.

We are informed by the inspired writers, in language such as cannot possibly be mistaken, that at the restoration of Israel "Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited—and men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction of it.”—(Zech. xiv. 11.) See also chapter ii., and this cheering promise is again and again repeated in other prophecies. But the inspired writers go further, and not only inform us of the rebuilding of the city,

PROMISE OF A NEW CITY.

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according to a precise plan, but they lay down the position of its walls and gates with such accuracy as to preclude the possibility of error or mistake; so that he who takes the Scriptures in his hand and goes over the ground may, even now, measure every cubit of the space it is hereafter to occupy. Mr. Fry, in his highly interesting and learned work upon the "Second Advent," has already taken up this subject, and the few errors that he has fallen into, are those merely arising from the defective maps which he consulted, and from his not having visited the places he describes. The quadrangular space marked by the YELLOW coloured line in the map defines the ground to be occupied by the future city.

In the prophecy of Jeremiah, we find the first description of the topography of this city. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord, from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuringline shall yet go over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kedron, unto the corner of the Horse-gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; IT shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more for ever."—(Jer. ch. xxxi. v. 38-40.) Here the prophet makes use of the different land-marks of the ancient city, which can be easily recognized, and which (although the ground may be raised up, and altered in appearance, as it is said in another prophecy, that it shall be) must remain to point out the circuit of its walls, such as they existed in that city, which I have already laid down. Their sites can now be distinguished, and every Jew in Jerusalem is perfectly well acquainted with many of them.

The prophet Zechariah thus describes the future city. "It shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the King's wine-presses.”—(Zech. xiv. 10.) Let us now see how this description corresponds with the topography of the ancient city. The tower of Hananeel, which is introduced as a conspicuous point, was situated between the tower of Meah, and the Fish-gate, in the north-east angle of the wall. From it, the line runs southward to the corner of the Horse-gate, at the south-east angle of Moriah, and in the outer enclosure of the temple; but it goes still farther, and encloses a

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LINES OF THE PROPHETIC CITY.

part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, till it arrives at the King's wine-presses, or the King's gardens, which are placed by all topographers between the fountain of Siloam and the lower pool of that name. Here then, we have an accurate plan laid down of the east wall; and it is very remarkable that from the tower to the Horse-gate, the greater portion of the ancient wall of the city is still in existence, so that, as I before remarked, it is the same in the modern, and also in that of the prophetic or millennial cities. Nay, it is still more curious and extraordinary that Mr. Fry, totally unacquainted, at the time he wrote, with the existence of this wall, says, "along this line the point of the temple was extended; the prophecy does not notice this; we are to take for granted that the line is restored !”

We now turn to the northern boundary, and here we read that the measuring line is to extend from the tower of Hananeel to the Corner-gate. This gate I have marked in the wall of Nehemiah, near to the place called the grotto of Jeremiah, and beside the Tower of the Corner. From that, it proceeds still farther, and crosses over the hill Gareb, which is a slight elevation north-west of the present city. But where are we to stop here? This is answered by Mr. Fry's explanation of the passages in Zechariah. "I conceive," says he, "that we are to understand the Hebrew particle with which the sentence begins in its comparative sense. The land shall be elevated and built upon as from the gate of Benjamin to the place of the old gate, so also to the corner-gate;' that is, in the same proportional distance shall the wall be built up to the corner-gate from an opposite point, as from the gate of Benjamin, to the place of the former gate." (Fry on the Second Advent, vol. i. page 564.)

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In the map used by the author from whom I have just quoted, the gate of Benjamin is placed in the north-east angle, and therefore the measure is incorrect. But, having established this gate to be situated on Mount Moriah, corresponding to that which is now called the Golden-gate, and in the times of Jeremiah, the High-gate-and also the first, or former gate to be in the northern wall of Nehemiah, about midway between the Fish-gate, and the tower of the corner-a line equal in length to the distance from the old gate to that of Benjamin, and carried straight forward from the Corner-gate over the hill of Gareb,

THE VISION OF EZEKIEL.

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will give us the circuit of the city wall in that direction which exactly corresponds in length with that of the eastern side. Having now formed two sides of a city, which we read elsewhere in the inspired volume is to be a square, it is easy to extend the line so as to complete the other two sides. From the hill Gareb it is to compass about Goath, or Goatha, a place which many readers suppose to be Golgotha. The western line then passes through part of the upper pool of Gihon, and reaches the northern extremity of Mount Gihon. Having completed the east, north, and western walls, the line then turns to encompass the southern side of the city, and passing through the lower pool of Gihon, crosses over the summit of Mount Sion, and joins the eastern wall at the King's gardens. "The valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kedron," I conceive to refer to that part of the valley of Jehoshaphat, along the eastern boundary, in which are several corn fields, the brook Kedron, and which is in some places literally paved with tomb-stones. Now that these prophecies relate to a future city, there can be no manner of doubt, for the city rebuilt by permission of Cyrus, after the captivity, has been long since destroyed.

Let us now look into another prophecy that bears upon this restored city. While the captive Israelites mourned over their condition, and wept for the destruction of their temple, their city, their country, and their homes, as exiles in a strange and distant land, whither they had been banished for their iniquities and rebellions against God, a young and highly favoured Hebrew was endowed with the spirit of prophecy, and uttered many predictions concerning extraordinary events, which were to take place in the world; some of which have been already fulfilled, and others yet remain to be accomplished. He foretold the ruin of many kingdoms; he threatened cities, and lived to see his predictions fulfilled; he warned kings and nations of their approaching doom, and though he predicted many fearful visitations and judgments which were to come upon the Jewish people, no prophetic historian is more full and explicit in the cheering promises of restoration to the ancient people of the Lord, or the temporal prosperity and power, together with the spiritual blessings that are in store for them under the THEOCRACY that is yet to flourish in the country of their forefathers.

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