Jerusalem*, otherwise called the holy city, and the city of the great King. Before the building of the temple, the Jewish religion and worship were not fixed to any one particular place, the tabernacle having been several times removed from one place to another, for the space of 479 years, according to the calculation of some of their writers. After that time Jerusalem became the centre and seat of their religion. As this capital of the holy land is very remarkable, upon the account of the many wonderful works which God wrought therein; and especially for the preaching, the miracles, and the death of our Saviour JESUS CHRIST, it therefore deserves a very particular consideration. It is, besides, worth while to have some idea of a city, which was the figure of that heavenly Jerusalem, of which we have so noble a description in the Revelations". Jerusalem (which, according to the Jewish notions, stood in the middle of the world) was formerly called Jebus, from one of the sons of Canaan. Some authors imagine that it was the ancient Salem, mentioned in the scriptures, of which Melchizedek was king; but this is uncertain. Neither is it well known who was the first founder of it. After the taking of it by Joshuas, it was jointly inhabited both by Jews and Jebusites", for the space of about 400 years, that is, till the time of king David. This prince having driven the Jebusites out of it, made it the place of his residence', built therein a noble palace, and several other magnificent buildings, so that he made it one of the finest cities in the world. Upon which account it is sometimes called the city of David'. Josephus gives us a full and elegant description of it, * Authors are divided about the etymology of the word Jerusalem, some imagine it signifies Fear Salem, because the city was very strong; others, They shall see peace. But others with a greater probability, say it means, The inheritance of peace. (c) Matt. v. 35. (d) Rev. xxi. (e) Joshua xviii. 28. (f) Gen. xiv. 18. (g) Josh. x. See Joseph. Antiq. 1. vii. c. 3. † Or 515. xv. 63. (h) Ibid. (i) 2 Sam. (m) Jos. wherein he represents it as a very large strong place, and divides it into the upper and lower city. The upper was built on mount Sion, and the lower on the hill Acra. The learned are divided in their opinions about the situation of these two cities, and of the hills on which they stood, in respect one of another; some placing the upper city and mount Sion on the north, and others, on the south. We have embraced the latter opinion, judging it to be the most probable. This city was not always of the same bigness, for at first it took up no more than mount Sion. But in Josephus's time it was thirty-three stadia in compass, that is, between four and five Italian miles. cisely tell how many gates it had. in Nehemiah's time. We find some of the gates of Jerusalem mentioned in scripture under other names than what Nehemiah gave them"; whether they were the same under different names, or not, we cannot easily determine. It is probable the city had twelve gates, since the heavenly Jerusalem, spoken of in the Revelations, had so many. We cannot preThere were eleven As Jerusalem was situated in a dry soil, they took care to make a great number of ponds, or conservatories of water within the city, for washing the sacrifices, and purifying the people; among others, the pools of Bethesda and Siloam, mentioned by St. John', though some are of opinion these were one and the same. There is no need of taking notice here of the several palaces in Jerusalem, as David's, Herod's, Agrippa's, the house of the Asmonæans, and many other noble edifices, which are placed differently by the learned, and described by Josephus. The Jews reckon up a prodigious number of Synagogues, in this city, of which I shall treat hereafter. They likewise ascribe to Jerusalem several privileges, which the other cities of Judea had not. These last belonged to some tribe or other, (n) Neh. iii. v. 2. ix. 7. (0) Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 1. vi. c. 12. (p) John whereas Jerusalem was common to all the Israelites in general, though it was situated partly in the tribe of Judah, and partly in that of Benjamin. This was the reason why the houses were not let, and that all strangers of the Jewish nation had the liberty of lodging there gratis, and by right of hospitality. Of this custom we find some traces in the New Testament, as in Matthew xxvi. 17, &c. It was unlawful to leave a dead body within the city, even for one night, or to bring in the bones of any dead person. Proselytes of the gate, that is, such as were uncircumcised, were not permitted to dwell there. There were no sepulchres in the city, except those of the family of David, and of Huldah the prophetess. These they took care to whiten from time to time, that people might avoid coming near them, and so polluting themselves. No one had the liberty of planting or sowing within the city; accordingly there were no gardens; but without the walls there were great numbers. In short, whatever could occasion the least uncleanness was carefully banished thence. But the main glory, and chief ornament of Jerusalem, and the true source of its holiness, was the temple Solomon built there by the command of God", on mount Moriah, which was part of mount Sion. It was upon the account of the choice God made of this place, that the temple is frequently called in scripture the house of the Lord, or the house, by way of eminence. It is a difficult task to give an exact description of this temple of Solomon, because, on the one hand, the accounts which we have of it in the first book of Kings, and the second of Chronicles, are so lame and imperfect, that they do not give us a true notion of the several parts of it; and, on the other, because we are in the dark, at this distance of time, about the meaning of most of the Hebrew terms of architecture. Some learned authors however, are of opinion, that one might frame a full and complete idea of it, by joining the description given by Ezekiel', (9) Matt. xxiii. 27. (r) Chron. xxviii. 12. 2 Chron. iii. 1. (s) Ezek. xl. xli. to that which we have in the first book of Kings, and the second of Chronicles. But to enter into a particular examination of this matter, would be foreign to our present design, which is to make some few remarks on the temple of Jerusalem, as it was in the time of JESUS CHRIST. I have therefore only this one observation to make, with regard to the first and second temple. That they were the only places God had chosen and appointed for the performance of his worship, which was one of the chief and most essential parts of the ceremonial law. This the supreme Law-giver did, not only for the sake of preserving unity in the common-wealth, but more especially to prevent the Israelites from falling into superstition, idolatry, and the foolish and impure worship which the heathens paid to their Deities in the high places, that is, in chapels or temples built on hills and eminences. The words of our Saviour to the woman of Samaria, The time is coming when God shall no longer be worshipped either in Jerusalem, or on Gerizim only, but shall be adored in spirit and in truth every where alike by his true worshippers, are a clear evidence that the fixing of the worship of God to the temple of Jerusalem alone, was a ceremonial institution designed merely for the preserving the unity and purity of the Jewish religion. The temple of Zerubbabel, (which we have had occasion to mention, when speaking of Herod,) was built in the very place where Solomon's stood before, that is on mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David", and where this prince was ordered by God to erect an altar, in order to have a stop put to the plague. This temple was afterwards very much improved and beautified by Herod; who added exceedingly to the magnificence of it. But notwithstanding all the expence he bestowed upon it, it still came far short of Solomon's; which deserved indeed much better to be ranked among (t) And upon the very same foundations, saith Dr. Prideaux, Connect. p. 1. b. iii. sub. ann. 534. (u) 2 Chron. iii. 1. (x) 2 Sam. xxiv. 18. the wonders of the world, than some ancient buildings that have been honoured with that title. By the temple is to be understood, not only the temple strictly so called, viz. the holy of holies, the sanctuary, and the several courts, both of the Priests and Israelites; but also all the apartments and outbuildings in general that belonged to it. This is necessary to be observed, lest we should imagine, that whatever is said in scripture to have happened in the temple, was actually done in the inner part of that sacred edifice, whose several parts we are now going to take a view of. Each of them had its respective degree of holiness, which increased in proportion, as they lay nearer the holy of holies. The I. Let us then begin our survey of the temple, with considering all that outward enclosure, Of the mount which went by the name of the mount of the of the temple. temple, or of the house". This was a square of 500 cubits every way, which contained several buildings, appointed for different uses. All round it there were piazzas or cloisters, supported by marble pillars. piazza on the south side had four rows of pillars, and all the rest but three. Solomon's porch, or rather piazza, was on the eastern side. Here it was, that Our Saviour was walking at the feast of the dedication ", that the lame man, when healed, glorified God before all the people', and that the apostles were used to assemble together. On the top of this portico is also placed the pinnacle, from whence the devil tempted our Saviour to cast himself down"; because according to Josephus, there was at the bottom of this portico a valley so prodigiously deep, that the looking down made any one giddy. In the four corners of these piazzas stood a |