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Article COLLECTANEA. ← Page 4 of 6 →
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Collectanea.
THE PLACE OF SOLOMON ' TEMPLE . —Descending again to the ruined monastery , at the place where our Saviour , more than eighteen hundred years ago , wept over the city and predicted its eternal ruin , I sat down on a rough stone to survey and muse over the favoured and fallen Jerusalem . The whole city lay extended before me like a map . I could see and distinguish the streets , and the whole interior to the inner side of the further walland oh ! how different from the city of our
; Saviour ' s love . Though even then but a mere appendage of Imperial Rome , it retained the magnificent wonders of its Jewish kings , and , pre-eminent even among the splendid fanes of heathen worship , rose the proud temple of the great king Solomon . Solomon and all his glory have departed ; centuries ago the great temple which he built , the " glory of the whole earth , " was a heap of ruins ; in the prophetic words of our Saviournot one stone was left anotheranclin the
, upon , , wanton spirit of triumph , a conquering general drove his plough over its site . For years its very site lay buried in ruins , till the Saracen came with his terrible war-cry , " The Koran or the sword ; " and the great mosque of Omar , the holy of holies in the eyes of all true believers , now rears its lofty dome upon the foundation of the temple of Solomon .
From the place where I sat the mosque of Omar was the only object that relieved the general dulness of the city , and all the rest was dark , monotonous , and gloomy ; no spires reared their tapering points to the skies , nor domes , nor minarets , the pride and ornament of other Turkish cities . All was as still as death ; and the only sign of fife I could see was the straggling figure of a Mussulman , with his slippers in his hand , stealing up the long courtyard to the threshold of the mosque . The
mosque of Omar , like the great mosque of Mecca , the birthplace of the prophet , is regarded with far more veneration than even that of St . Sophia or any other edifice of the Mahommedan worship ; and to this day the Koran or the sword is the doom of any bold intruder within its sacred precincts . At the northern extremity of the mosque is the Golden Gate , for many years closed and flanked with a tower , in which a Mussulman soldier is constantlon guardfor the Turks believe that
y ; , by that gate , the Christians will one day enter and obtain possession of the city—city of mystery and wonder , and still to be the scene of miracles ! " It shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled ; " and the time shall come when the crescent shall no longer glitter over its battlements , nor the banner of the prophet wave over its walls . — Travels in the Holy Land , by an American .
DEATH AND THE FUTURE STATE . —( Extract from " Attila , King ofthe Huns : " an Epic Poem . B y the Hon . and Rev . William Herbert . ) How oft , at midnight , have I fix'd my gaze Upon the blue , unclouded firmament , With thousand spheres illumin'd—each perchance The powerful centre of revolving worlds ! Untilby strange excitement stirr'dthe mind
, , Hath long'd for dissolution , so it might bring Knowledge , for which the spirit is athirst , Open the darkling stores of hidden Time , And show the marvel of eternal things , Which , in the bosom of immensity ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Collectanea.
THE PLACE OF SOLOMON ' TEMPLE . —Descending again to the ruined monastery , at the place where our Saviour , more than eighteen hundred years ago , wept over the city and predicted its eternal ruin , I sat down on a rough stone to survey and muse over the favoured and fallen Jerusalem . The whole city lay extended before me like a map . I could see and distinguish the streets , and the whole interior to the inner side of the further walland oh ! how different from the city of our
; Saviour ' s love . Though even then but a mere appendage of Imperial Rome , it retained the magnificent wonders of its Jewish kings , and , pre-eminent even among the splendid fanes of heathen worship , rose the proud temple of the great king Solomon . Solomon and all his glory have departed ; centuries ago the great temple which he built , the " glory of the whole earth , " was a heap of ruins ; in the prophetic words of our Saviournot one stone was left anotheranclin the
, upon , , wanton spirit of triumph , a conquering general drove his plough over its site . For years its very site lay buried in ruins , till the Saracen came with his terrible war-cry , " The Koran or the sword ; " and the great mosque of Omar , the holy of holies in the eyes of all true believers , now rears its lofty dome upon the foundation of the temple of Solomon .
From the place where I sat the mosque of Omar was the only object that relieved the general dulness of the city , and all the rest was dark , monotonous , and gloomy ; no spires reared their tapering points to the skies , nor domes , nor minarets , the pride and ornament of other Turkish cities . All was as still as death ; and the only sign of fife I could see was the straggling figure of a Mussulman , with his slippers in his hand , stealing up the long courtyard to the threshold of the mosque . The
mosque of Omar , like the great mosque of Mecca , the birthplace of the prophet , is regarded with far more veneration than even that of St . Sophia or any other edifice of the Mahommedan worship ; and to this day the Koran or the sword is the doom of any bold intruder within its sacred precincts . At the northern extremity of the mosque is the Golden Gate , for many years closed and flanked with a tower , in which a Mussulman soldier is constantlon guardfor the Turks believe that
y ; , by that gate , the Christians will one day enter and obtain possession of the city—city of mystery and wonder , and still to be the scene of miracles ! " It shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled ; " and the time shall come when the crescent shall no longer glitter over its battlements , nor the banner of the prophet wave over its walls . — Travels in the Holy Land , by an American .
DEATH AND THE FUTURE STATE . —( Extract from " Attila , King ofthe Huns : " an Epic Poem . B y the Hon . and Rev . William Herbert . ) How oft , at midnight , have I fix'd my gaze Upon the blue , unclouded firmament , With thousand spheres illumin'd—each perchance The powerful centre of revolving worlds ! Untilby strange excitement stirr'dthe mind
, , Hath long'd for dissolution , so it might bring Knowledge , for which the spirit is athirst , Open the darkling stores of hidden Time , And show the marvel of eternal things , Which , in the bosom of immensity ,