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pulchre still. Messrs. Fisk and King visited it in 1823, from whose journal I will read a short description of it. South of this valley (of Jehoshaphat) rises a mountain of huge ragged cliffs of rocks, between which are little spots of cultivated ground. One of the most rude and rugged spots, and which is close to the valley of Tophet, is pointed out as the field purchased with the money for which Judas betrayed his Master, and which is called the Potter's field, or the field of blood. Here Judas is said to have been buried, and perhaps it was here he hanged himself. There are trees standing near the brink of huge cliffs and precipices, and if he hung himself in one of these trees and fell, it is very easy to see why he should have burst asunder, and all his bowels have gushed out. There are many tombs in it hewn out of the solid rock, and it looks desolate, and is uninhabited. From the valley of Jehoshaphat we turned west into the valley of Hinnom, or "the valley of Slaughter," called also Tophet, where the children of Israel caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. In R

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this valley we pursued our way towards the west at the foot of Mount Zion, and returned to our lodgings.'

"Thus," said Mr. Anderson, when he had read this extract, "are the mountains still round about Jerusalem,' but Jehovah is no more 'round about his people.' Jerusalem, changed in all, and yet in all the same,' stands the perpetual monument of God's When the Jews had forsaken vengeance. God, he forsook them; but he still calls to them, saying, 'Return unto me, and I will return unto you.' O, that they may hear, in their dispersions, the voice of his mercy, and return unto the angel of the covenant,' the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

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They then united in singing the following hymn:

I.

"Oh, Zion! sacred city,

Abode of God, the blest,

It moves my heart to pity,

To see thee spoiled and waste!

Thy holy temple levelled,

Thy stones laid low in dust,

And impious gentiles scoffing

Where once taught God, the just.

II.

Oh, holy land! once glorious,
Now silent, waste, forlorn;
Where tower'd thy palms victorious
Thy daughters sit and mourn.
Oh, Israel! exiled, captive,
Dispersed on foreign strand,
Forsaken, fall'n, neglected,
Oh! think on Zion's land.

III.

Oh! think on that Messiah
Who once thy cities trod;
In him, slain, scoffed, rejected,
In him, behold thy God!
Behold! he whom ye pierced
Stands waiting to forgive;
Return, repentant Zion,

Kiss ye the Son, and live."

CHAPTER X.

MOUNT ZION.

Mr. Anderson. WELL, boys, I hope to be able to finish the story of Selumiel and his scholars next week, and as little boys are fond of variety, I suppose you will not be sorry to change the subject.

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"O, Mr. Anderson," cried William, "we

are not weary of this story yet. I do not want to come to the end of it. There is something new, I find, every week, and then it explains so many interesting stories in the Bible. I think I never can forget what you have told us about Gethsemane and Mount Olivet, and Gehenna, and the other interesting places. I hope you will not cut this story short for fear

we shall be tired of it. I am sure we shall not."

Mr. Anderson. Ono, William. I intend to give you the whole story; but I did not know whether you might not think that there might be too much even of a good thing. I am happy to find, however, that I have succeeded in interesting you so much. Next week I shall be able to finish the narrative. To-day I shall describe to you their visit to Mount Zion, the place, next to the temple, which was the object of a Jew's regard. I have already mentioned to you a hasty morning ramble which they took over Mount Zion the next morning after their arrival in Jerusalem. I am now to describe to you a more formal visit, which they made for the purpose of examining all the particular objects of interest in the "city of David."

It was with no common feelings that Jonathan and Simon received the summons, "Come, let us go up to Mount Zion." They remembered the words of the children of Korah, in the eighty-seventh psalm:

"Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion,

Whose foundation is in the holy mountains,
More than all the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious is it to speak of thee,

O city of God."

This had been the residence of their greatest and also of their wisest king. David had made it his "citadel," and Solomon had erected on it his most splendid palace.

With cheerful hearts and light steps, they followed Selumiel as he led the way through Zion gate up the ascent of the mountain.

"You speak of a city on a mountain," said George Homer. "Were those mountains like our mountains in America? I should not think they could have built cities on them, if they had been."

"They were not, George," replied Mr. Anderson. "The Jews, as I have remarked before, called every considerable hill a mountain; and though Zion and Moriah were very

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