The 9th Day Of Ab.

of it as food . Do not believe this , my Brethren . No Jewish mother would sustain life at the sacrifice of her own offspring . The renegade Josephus lied . What is however indisputable is that when even herbs were cut off from their reach by the trench , and those who could not afford extravagant prices for wheat , the measure of which , described as a medimus—what measure that denoted , I have been

unable to discover—sold as high as a Talent of gold , according to our money ^ 648—those , I say , who could afford no such price , consumed strips of leather off their shields and girdles . Many were forced to search in the common sewers and dunghills of cattle , and eat the dung they found there . The masses of rotting bodies thrown over the walls testified to the extremity of their distress .

The city had become a pestilential charnel house ; and yet the Antonia ., the temple , and the upper city remained untaken . When the repeated attacks failed , 'i nus strove to rekindle the failing courage of his troops . He made a very energetic appeal to them , and , as a forlorn hope , he asked for volunteers to scale the walls . A gigantic Macedonian volunteered , and , with ladders he scaled the

walls . He was followed by about a dozen more , the bravest of the brave . The Macedonian was taken by the Jews , his throat cut on the wall—in sight of the legions—and the body was thrown at them . Titus was asked whether he had any more to send—or , perchance , would come himself , and they , or he , would be treated thus likewise . Again and again they threw defiance at him and his hosts . Still the

fort was breached , and was crumbling . One night , after being worn out with incessant exertion , and lying asleep on their arms , the trumpet sounded , and the Romans poured through the breach into the ruinous bulwark . A terrible conflict ensued ; friend and foe were indiscriminately hewn down in the darkness . The Jews took shelter in the temple court below , and when this was taken , they retreated within the second court .

Rallying around the temple , hemmed in by burning cloistersthe Romans had set fire to them—they determined to die rather than submit . Nor was it long before their fatal hour drew near . Titus Was struck with admiration at the splendour of the temple , and wished to save it from the flames , by seizing the cloisters and driving out the Jews .

He , however , retired to the Antonia for the night , intending on the morrow a general assault . The Jews , in the meanwhile , ventured forth from their burning hold , and the Romans , driving them back , burst with them through the gates , and reached the temple . A sudden impulse seized them ; Titus being asleep and discipline somewhat lax , a soldier mounted on the shoulders of one of

his comrades and threw a blazing brand into the sacred edifice . As the flame sprang up , the Jews uttered a cry of despair and vengeance , and madly rushed upon the swords of the Romans ; thus preferring a voluntary death rather than see their sacred shrine violated and then destroyed . The rage of the soldiery , irritated by the long protracted defence of the city , now found vent ; the carnage at the

foot of the blazing building was horrible . In the midst of the tumult , Titus and his officers burst into the court , crying to the soldiers to extinguish the flames ; but all efforts were in vain . To the rage of vengeance was added the thirst of plunder , inflamed by the sight of the rich linterior of the Temple . If the spectacle Was appalling to the Romans , what was it to the Jews ? The whole summit of the hill

which commanded the city blazed like a volcano . One after another the buildings fell in with a tremendous crash , and were swallowed up in the fiery abyss . The roofs of cedar were like sheets of flames , the gilded pinnacles shone like pikes of red light , the gate towers sent up tall columns of flame and smoke . The neighbouring hills were lighted up , and groups of people might be seen watching ,

with horrible anxiety , the progress of the destruction . The walls and heights of the upper city were crowded with faces blanched with agony and despair ; some , however , scowled vengeance . The shouts of the Roman soldiery as they -ran to and fro , and the bowlings of the Jews , who were perishing in the flames , mingled with the roaring of the conflagration , and the thundering sound of the

falling timbers ; the echoes of the mountains replied or brought back the shrieks of the people on the heights ; all along the walls resounded screams and wailings , men who , expiring with famine , rallied their remaining strength to utter a cry of anguish and desolation . Jerusalem had now fallen—the temple was destroyed . Yet the upper city—the royal city of David , Zion—remained untaken .

Weary of the slaughter , Titus addressed the defenders across the bridge communicating with it ; , —you do not forget , my Brethren , that the temple was connected by a bridge at the south-west corner with Zion , the upper city . Titus pointed out the utter hopelessness of their holding out any longer . " The Germans , " said he " Those

powerful , tall men , could not stand before the Roman legions ; the sea-begirt Britons , likewise tremble at the name of Roman , and yet you persist in defying me ! " Defiance was the only answer vouchsafed him . Some time elapsed before banks could be raised against the wall on the steep edge of the Tyropeon—a wall separated the upper city from the temple .

I he Romans perceived that it was not defended with the wonted Jewish courage , so they joyfully burst into this—the last strongholdand found to their astonishment little but silent streets , and houses filled with dead bodies . The chief authors of the war , Simon and John , baffled all search for awhile ; John , at length , surrendered , and was spared and sent to Italy . ' Simon lurked for some time in the temple vaults , and was reserved to grace the triumph of the Roman conqueror .

During my visit to Rome , I have frequently gazed , with an aching heart , upon the Arch , of Titus , with the golden candlestick depicted upon it , and , among the captive Jews near it , I tried in vain to distinguish the features of that 'very Simon . For hours I would stand , in a sort of trance , and gaze upon that monument of our downfall , 'and the unflinching heroism of my ancestors , Besides the

The 9th Day Of Ab.

regular Jewish forces at Jerusalem , the number of which I do not know , there were 23 , 400 volunteers . Thus , Simon had 10 , 000 ; John , 6 , 000 ; the Idumeans , 5 , 000 ; and the Zealots , 2 , 400 . Tired of slaughter , a vast number of Jews were driven into the woman ' s court . Titus placed over them a freed slave , named Fonto , and gave him carte blanche to do with them what he seemed fit . The old and

infirm were slain , the tallest and handsomest of the young men were reserved for the triumphal entry . The rest , above seventeen years old , were sent to the mines of Egypt , younger ones and others were sold as slaves . The great Roman leader was magnanimous ; he made a gift of a large number to the Provincial amphitheatres , to be destroyed by the sword of the gladiator , or torn to pieces bv the wild

beasts in the arena . His good people required a little amusement , and who could begrudge it ; surelv not the Jew ! n , ooo in the temple courts died of hunger—starved themselves voluntarily . According to- Josephus , Manneus , a Roman officer in charge of one of the gates , reported to Titus that 11 , 5 88 dead bodies had been carried out for burial . This Officer was paid a public stipend for

each body , so that he was obliged to number them . Of other bodies , belonging to the very poor , it is computed that no less than 600 , 000 were thrown over different parts of the walls . You must not forget , my Brethren , that a vast number of refugees from the whole of Palestine , escaping before the Romans , took refuge within its walls . 97 , 000 were carried away captive to Italy . The whole

number that perished during the siege amounted to 1 , 100 , . The whole number destroyed during the previous seven years —continual warfare—amounted to 1 , 337 , 490 , making a . total of 2 , 437 , 490 thus destroyed by the Pagan Moloch . It was 1130 years after the building of King Solomon ' s temple , and 6 39 since the ' second temple was built by Hag . a-i ; both , most singularly , were destroyed on the 9 th clay of Ab .

The Romans subsequently gave- Jerusalem the name of Aeha Capitolina . A temple of Jupiter was built on the site of the Temple , and another to Venus , on the supposed site of the Crucifiction . Constantino , at the beginning of the fourth century , after having introduced Christianity into the Roman Empire , had the heathen

temples destroved . His mother , the empress Helena , had a church built , which is called the church of the Holy Sepulchre . When I visited Jerusalem during the holy week , some years ago , I visited that church . A mislt comes unbidden over my eyes when I recall that memorable visit . I will sketch to you a few of the scenes I witnessed there .

On Palm Sunday I first visited the church . The two great schisms , the Latin iand the Greek orthodox , chiefly occupv the building ; a . few Copts , here and there , may be met with . The Protestants , on the other hand , take little or no interest in the doings therein . The different choral services in the different sections of

the church , with deep voiced priests and mtmks , as it were in opposition to each other , make a singular impression . In the gallery there is a spot covered by a silver . plate . You raise it and a square excavation invites you to insert your hand . It is supposed to be the pinnacle of Golgotha , and the excavation was the receptacle of the Cross . A little chapel , occupying the place of honour in the

very centre of the building , admits you through an opening—so low that you have to stoop almost to the ground in order to enter . A marble sarcophagus , a lamp dimly lighted , and a priest , make up the sum total of the little chapel . The priest , a Greek , chants dolefully , and you are glad to make vour exit from the close stifling place . On Good Friday , the edifice was crammed by the faithful

from all parts of the world , pilgrims who journey thousands of miles in order to witness a miracle , a miracle which repeats itself every Good Friday . At 3 o ' clock a flame may be seen to issue from a circular hole in the wall of the little chapel ; it is the sacred fire which by miraculous means denotes the exact moment when Jesus of Nazareth was sent to his Maker . A mob of frantic men and women

will rush towards the sacred flame , some walk literally over the heads of others in order to reach it the sooner , there to light little wax tapers with which they burn their breasts . Faint and almost suffocated , I and a friend with difficulty made our way into God ' s pure air . In the vestibule I saw a slab of marble lying flat on a

pedestal . It is on that the anointment of Jesus took place . It was surrounded by people kneeling and fervently kissing it . The slab of marble was literallv dripping with saliva . I gazed at the spectacle with an oppressed feeling which became more intensified every second , until finally I was scarcelv master of myself .

A phantasmagorical kaleidoscope passed / before my vision . Whole phalanxes of martyrs , hecatombs of dead , whose blood flowed in streams , the auto-da-fe's , the wood from which they were kindled , must have consumed whole forests ; the noble men anl women , Gentiles as well as Jews , who laid down their valuable lives on the altar , under the wheels of that Juggernaut ; I could have screamed

with pain , I became almost frantic . Were -it not that I fear to wound the susceptibilities of some of you , my Brethren , I would tell you what I did .. .. And yet I see no reason why I should not do so . If my emotion is visible now , what must it have been then I I repeat , I lost all control of myself , and I might have paid with my life for my temeritv . My friend , the Superintendent of the Hospital

of St . John , where I lodged , saw what was passing within me and tried to drag me away . I spat upon the slab , as if it were the incarnation of all the sufferings my people had undergone , the myriads slaughtered in cold blood on the Continent ; even in this country , at York , Norwich and other places , where so many of the children of Israel were burnt , presumably because they clung to the

commandment given them on Sinai , " Thou shalt serve but one God and no other , " aye ; not only my people , but those closer interwoven with yours , my Brethren . Only yesterday , I read the tablet at Smithfield —imbedded in the wall of Bartholomew ' s Hospital ; a few weeks ago at Stratford , I contemplated the spot upon which now stands St . John's Church , On 27 th June 1556 , eleven men and two women