after all that Josephus and Tacitus and others have said about it, I will not attempt to decide. The Bible says of the Israelites, when they sin, 'Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.' Deut. xxxii, 32, 33. This is figurative language, and means that the Israelites should reap bitter fruits from their sinful practices, as the inhabitants of Sodom had done. May not all that is said of the apple of Sodom have originated from a similar metaphor?

"One of our Arabs was named Nasar Allah; I asked him where he liked best to live, in the desert or in the city? He replied, 'In the desert.' I asked why? His answer was striking and characteristic; 'I am a son of the desert, I am not a son of the city."

During a number of days from the last date, Mr. Fisk was employed in reading the Scriptures, and conversing with Jews, Rabbies, Abyssinian, and Syrian bishops, Greeks, and Catholics. As these discussions were all of a similar character with some which have been introduced, it will not be profitable or interesting to continue to detail all that his journal contains. These portions will now be passed over with brief notice.

"In the afternoon we made a visit to the Greek metropolitans, and then went into the library of their convent. Among the manuscripts we found an ancient copy of the New Testament, which we spent some time in examining. The disputed passage, 1 John v, 7, is entirely wanting. The 7th and 8th verses stand thus: "For there are three that bear record, the spirit, and the water, and the blood,' &c. Acts xx, 28, reads thus; 'the Church of the Lord and God, ( Kopic nào (cu,) which he hath purchased,’ &c. 1 Tim. iii. 16, and Rom. ix, 5, are as in the common copies now in use.

"17. We went to the nunnery of St. Mary the Great. There are twenty-eight or thirty nuns. Several of their rooms are well furnished, and they received us with much civility. We conversed with them a long time on religious subjects. They remembered the visit of our dear brother Parsons, and spoke of it with pleasure."

The whole number of Greek convents in Jerusalem, Mr. Fisk states to be fourteen, of which he has given a brief notice. They are occupied with but -very few monks and nuns, and most of them are appropriated to the accommodation of pilgrims.

"20. A little past noon we walked down to the west wall of the temple on Mount Moriah, where the Jews go on Friday to lament over the destruction of the temple. The wall where we saw them appeared to be fifty or sixty feet high; in the lower part of it were nine rows of stones, each about three feet and a half thick; and then sixteen rows of smaller ones. These two parts of the wall appear to have been built at different times. Probably the lower stones were employed in the second temple; for though its walls were thrown down, there is no reason to suppose that all the stones were removed. The Jews themselves say that no part of the wall of the second temple now exists. The Jews pay annually a certain sum to the Turks for the privilege of visiting this place. We found about thirty of them sitting on the ground near the wall, and reading from their Hebrew books. It was deeply affecting to see these lineal descendants of Abraham, most of them poor and ragged, sitting in the dust, and paying for the privilege of weeping, where their fathers sung and rejoiced and triumphed; miserable slaves on the very spot where their fathers were mighty kings! A Jew accompanied us. In the market a Turk, too lazy to light his own pipe, called on the Jew to do it for him. The Jew refused, and the Turk was rising in a rage to pursue him, when,

perceiving that the Jew was accompanying us, he desisted. Soon after this a Turkish peasant, who was carrying a sack of water, called to the Jew in a very domîneering manner, to assist in emptying the water into a vessel. We interfered, and nothing more was said. Poor Jews! when will they learn the true cause of their oppression, and repent, and turn to God?

"Sabbath, June 22. This is the Pentecost of the oriental Christians. We arose soon after day break, and went out to Mount Zion. Without the city, on the summit of the mount is the burying place of the Christians. The Greeks hold one part, the Armenians another, and the Catholics a third, all in the same plat of ground. The Greeks resort this morning to that place to pray for the dead. One of the bishops and a great number of priests were present. The multitude stood up while prayers were read, and sat on the ground to hear lessons from the Scriptures. During this service three priests, with censers in their hands, walked about among the tombs, and said short prayers whenever requested to do so by surviving friends, from whom they received fees on the occasion. The Greeks do not believe in purgatory, yet they pray for the dead, and have a confused idea that the dead may, in some way or other, be benefitted by their prayers.

"South-east of this burying-ground is a small Turkish village which the Jews call 'the city of Zion.' It is surrounded by a wall, and contains several houses and a mosque. Here according to tradition are the tombs of David and his successors. See 1 Kings ii, 10, and xi, 43, and xiv, 31. Christians also believe that in this place Christ instituted the Holy Supper; but neither are the Jews now permitted to enter the tombs of their kings, nor the Christians the room where they believe their Lord instituted the holy sacrament. Just before the Greeks concluded their -service, the Armenian patriarch, with a considerable

number of priests and people, came out of a convent and went in procession, preceded by a janizary, as is common on such occasions, to their burying ground to pray for their deceased friends. We went into the Armenian convent. Its chapel is small, but richly ornamented.

"From the burying place the Greeks returned to the city and went to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The archbishop of Lydda presided. The priests who were to assist him in the service came out from behind the altar, and bowed before it with their faces to the floor, and then in the same manner before the archbishop, kissed his hands, bowed again, and then prepared to commence their unintelligible repetition of prayers. But I am tired of describing, and even of witnessing this endless round of ceremonies.

"26. Busy in preparing to leave Jerusalem.During two months that we have been here, we have sold eighty-four copies of the Scriptures and given away fifty-two, and 770 Tracts. Mr. Wolff remains to labor a little longer among the Jews, and after that he proposes to rejoin us on Mount Lebanon."

TO ONE OF HIS MISSIONARY BRETHREN.

"How my soul would rejoice, my dear Brother, if instead of writing you, I could have you here this evening in my room. We would kneel together on Mount Calvary, and adore that Saviour who here shed his blood to redeem us from sin. O what amazing events have taken place on this ground. But now the daughter of Zion sits solitary-the wrath of God burns hot against Jerusalem. It seems to me that if there is a city on earth, that is peculiarly abandoned, and devoted to sin, it is this very city, where the blood of redemption flowed. True there is no Juggernaut here, but there is idol

atry almost as gross as that of India. Why does not the earth again quake, and the rocks again rend, and Mount Calvary open to swallow up those who dare thus profane this sacred spot? We have wept and prayed, as we have cast our eyes over the desolations of Zion. I think I never felt so strongly in any situation before, the necessity of trusting directly and entirely in God. I hope and trust he will cause our work to prosper.

*

"I wish, dear Brother, you could go with us once to Mount Zion and to Gethsemane-take a few turns with me on the flat roof of the convent, and survey the places around us. But you are engaged in your work. You must * * *. And I must study' Italian and Greek, and Arabic with its thirteen congregations, and twenty ways of forming the plural, and thirty three ways of forming the infinitive; with its consonants without vowels, and its unnumbered dialects. And then I must sell Bibles, give away Tracts, translate Tracts to be printed, preach the Gospel to a Greek to-day, a Catholic tomorrow, an Armenian the third day, and a Jew the day after, and the next day give a Testament to some learned Turk who calls to see me. Then I must pack up my baggage, and mount a camel, or a dromedary, or a horse, or a mule, or an ass, as the case may be, and make a journey to Hebron, or to the Jordan, or to Mount Lebanon.

"I am glad, that amidst all your cares, you find time to think of me; and that I have a quiet moment this evening to write to you. All is dark and silent around me. I am in my little room alone. The holy Sabbath is approaching. On Calvary it seems to have more than an ordinary sacredness. It was here that Christ made the first day of the week holy, by triumphing on that eventful morning over death and the grave. O that many on the morrow may rise to newness of life in Him."