The City Of Jerusalem.—Origin Of The Templars.

THE CITY OF JERUSALEM . —ORIGIN OF THE TEMPLARS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JULY 21 , 1866 .

By SIE WILLIAM S . GAEDNEE . [ From cm . address before Jerusalem -Encampment at Fitchburg , Mass . ] The city of Jerusalem for thousands of years has been distinguished ; and in every age sines its

foundation-stones were laid has attracted pilgrims to its holy shrines . Thither the ancient Israelites repaired from' Egypt and Greece , and from wherever else they might be sojourning , to witness the glory of its temple , and , at the passover , to

participate in the solemn ceremonies of that commemorative festival . In the days of the wisest of kings , the nations of the earth came from afar to behold the beauty and glory of that vast temple , which has made the name of its builder immortal .

The proud Queen of Sheba , Avith a numerous retinue , came up from the southernmost land of Ethiopia to pay homage to King Solomon , and behold for herself the truth of the wonderful stories which she had heard of the riches and splendour

of this little city among the mountains of Judea . Perhaps she had been informed of that splendid description which Tobit , of the tribe of Naphtali gave , while an exile at Nineveh , AVIIO confessed that he alone of his family went often to Jerusalem at the feasts , as it was ordained unto all the people .

" 0 Jerusalem , the Holy City ! Many nations shall come from afar , to the name of the Lord God , with gifts in their hands . " ... " All generations shall praise thee with great joy . " ... " For Jerusalem shall be built up with sapphires , and

emeralds , and precious stone ; thy walls and towers and battlements Avith pure gold ; and the streets of Jerusalem shall be paved with beryl , and carbuncle , and stones of Ophir . " The wonderful trees of Lebanon , the gold and

silver from the " Golden Sofala , " the jewels and precious stones from the ports of Tarshish and Ophir paid their tribute to the genius and pious zeal of Solomon ; and were lavished upon that Holy Temple , which Josephus calls " a work the

most admirable of any that had ever been seen or heard of , both for its curious structure and its magnitude , and also for the vast wealth expended upon it , as well as for the universal reputation of its sanctity . " It was covered on every side with plates of gold ;

and to the distant pilgrim , as he gained the ascent of one of the numerous hills about the city , ii reflected so strong and dazzling an effulgence , that his eye was obliged to turn away , being no more able to sustain its radiance than the splendour of

the sun . As its beauty and glory burst upon him , after wandering months in his journey to this consecrated place , —as the high ivhite Avails of the Holy City cast a gleam across the valley , and Zion with its palaces arose , and the smoke of the offering

upon Mount Moriah ascended to heaven , —he ivould with his companions chant the psalm of David : — "Great is the Lord ; and greatly to be praised The mountain of his holiness in the city of our God . Beautiful for situation , the joy of the whole land Is Mount Zion , on the north of the city of the Great

King . Walk about Zion , go round about her ! Tell her towers ! Mark well her bulwarks ! Consider her palaces ! That ye may tell ifc to the generations following . "

There dwelt the haughty people who believed themselves especially favoured of God ; and there they had erected the temple so renowned , Avithin which was the Shekinah which the ancient Jew

contemplated with the most reverential awe . Thus , before the Christian era , Jerusalem was celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the Avorld accessible to the Jews . It impressed itself upon the nations in a marvellous manner . It

was situated in the midst of a desert country . The valleys had no Avater , and the soil was parched and stony . Nothing but its connection with the religion of the Jews gave it any prominence or character in the days of Jewish prosperity .

Jerusalem , however , became a more celebrated city than the Jewish nation in the days of its greatest renoAvn ever dreamed of ; and attracted to its gates pilgrims of a livelier faith , and brighter hope , and more transcendent charity , than was

ever known to the Jew . The tragedy upon Calvary was the doom of Judaism . Henceforth these unbelievers became outcasts from the city of their devotion . Scattered over the face of the earth they have ever since hoped for restoration ;

a hope which , deferred for more than eighteen hundred years , has not yet sickened the heart of a single one of this peculiar people . In AA'hatever clime they roam they still turn to Jerusalem as the city of their promised rest . " They take pleasure

in her ruins , and would kiss the very dust for her sake . Jerusalem is the centre around which the exiled sons of Judah build , in imagination , the