Chapter I: Preface: TO

THE SEVENTEENTH EDITION.

If when this book was first written the Author could say that the "signs of the times pointed strongly towards the Holy Land and the once glorious city of Jerusalem, and that the eyes of many--both Jews and Gentiles--were turned thither in anxious expectation," how much more emphatically may the same assertion now be made!

The interest felt for God's ancient people, the Jews, has been gradually increasing; and their condition, as a people, has been greatly improved. Many decrees have been passed in their favour in various lands; and in few civilized countries are they now subjected to either persecution or contumely. Moreover, the hearts of multitudes of Christians are awakened to feelings of love and sympathy towards their elder brethren of the Jewish Church: the servants of Christ "think upon the stones of Jerusalem, and it pitieth them to see her in the dust."

All this, combined with many other circumstances to which the attention of the world has been called of late years, leads us to hope that as the threatened _judgments_ of the Lord have been awfully accomplished in the dispersion of his chosen people, his promises for their restoration may ere long be found equally sure. We know that there is a "_tribulation_--the _great one_"--yet to be brought on the land of Israel, and on her gathered population; but that will usher in their final glory and redemption. Then the same Almighty power which has turned the fruitful field into a "desolate wilderness," will cause that "wilderness" to "blossom as the rose;" and the same hand that once scattered the Jews over the face of the world, and made them a proverb and a by-word to the Gentile nations, will "bring them again to their own land," and make them the "joy of the whole earth."

While we contemplate the present fallen condition of the children of Israel, and the desolate state in which their "good land"--once "flowing with milk and honey"--is still lying, our minds naturally revert to their former glory, and the unexampled prosperity with which they were blessed: and we ask _wherefore_ they have thus been degraded from their high position? God's word gives the answer--"Because they rebelled against the Lord, and lightly regarded the judgments of the Most High:" and, believing that such considerations may be both interesting and profitable to young readers, the Author ventured--with a full sense of her own incompetence to do justice to the subject--to attempt a narrative, the scene of which is chiefly laid in Jerusalem; and the period it embraces is one of the most eventful and calamitous that has ever been detailed in history. It may be thought that the circumstances of horror and bloodshed have been dwelt on with too much minuteness; but let it be remembered that all the events here related, and many others far more appalling, did actually take place when God avenged himself on his rebellious people: and let it further be remembered, that these things were intended not only for the chastisement of the Jews, but also for the warning of the Gentiles.

We know, from the declaration of Christ himself, that a _greater tribulation_ is yet to come on the earth. God grant that we may be warned in time, and prepared to meet it! May we be among those blessed servants of the Lord for whom a surer refuge--a more glorious Pella--will be provided in that day, that so we may "escape those things that are coming on the earth, and stand before the Son of Man!"

The Author cannot forbear here expressing her sense of the favour and indulgence with which her attempt to portray "the last days of Jerusalem" has been hitherto received; and her earnest hope that it may have led some of her readers to feel a greater interest in the Jews, and to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Let us pray also for their conversion, and their preparation to meet their expected Messiah: for thus shall we be exercising the highest duties of Christian charity, and repaying in the best manner our obligations to those unto whom the promises of God were first made, and "from whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came."

ILLUSTRATIONS BY BARTLETT.

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

Tombs of the Kings

NAOMI, AND MARY THE SISTER OF LAZARUS

Bethany

Interior of the Golden Gate

Exterior of the Holy Sepulchre

Sculpture on the Arch of Titus

DEATH OF ANANUS

Absalom's Tomb

Bethlehem

SALOME INTERCEDING FOR NAOMI

Fountain of the Virgin

Convent at Santa Saba

Group of Cattle

MARY OF BETHANY INTERRUPTED BY JAVAN

Bedouin Arabs

Tomb of Rachel

Christian Ladies

Tombs of the Kings

Tombs of the Kings

ZADOK AT THE ALTAR

Vaults of the Harem

THE ESCAPE OF TITUS

Attack of the First Wall

FAMINE AND MADNESS

Burning of the Temple

Tombs of the Kings

NAOMI