The Site Of Solomon's Temple Discovered.

'' "When you go through , these cloisters ( Court of Gentiles ) unto the second Temple , & c . . . for that second Temple was called the Sanctuary . This Court ( Court of Israel ) was four-square . " — " ¦ Wars , " v ., 5 , 2 .

This marked distinction would have no meaning if it were not designed to teach that the Court of Gentiles was not foursquare . This radical error appears to be universal ; it has been overlooked in all the published plans of the Temple Area ,

without a single exception . The Court of Gentiles had no western side whatever ; it was three-sided , and not quadrangular . And this fact , which has never before been even suspected , readily accounts for some remarkable statements of Josephus when describing the attack of the Roman legions under Titus on the western wall of the

Temple Area , He says : " Titus gave orders that the battering-rams should be brought and set over against the western edifice of the inner temple ( or Court of Israel ) . "—" Wars , " vi , 4 , 1 . ' The one bank was overjagainst the north-west corner of the inner temple ( Court of Israel ) . " — "Wars ' vi ., 2 , 7 .

Mr . Beswick , when citing this passage , asks , " How could the battering-rams be placed against the western cloister of the inner temple , or Court of Israel , before a single cloister had been stormed and taken 1 " Of course , if the Court of Gentiles

had extended along the western side of the Temple Area between the wall and Court of Israel then the banks would have been placed against the north-west corner of the Court of Gentiles , and not the inner temple . The first court would have beeu the Court of Gentiles . But Josephus says :

The legions came near the first court , and began to raise their banks . The one bank was over against the north-west corner of the inner temple . " In this passage , the first court is clearly the court of the inner temple , or Court of Israelon the west side of the Inclosure .

, There are a number of such passages in Josephus . This single element in Mr . Beswick ' s discovery will almost revolutionize our illustrated plans of the Temple Area during the life-time of the Saviour .

BEZETHA HILL—SITE OF SECOND AND THIRD WALLS . Mr . Beswick says that the old northern

The Site Of Solomon's Temple Discovered.

wall of the Temple Area was pulled down by Titus to its very foundations in the rocky platform upon which the Temple Courts rested , ancl has never been rebuilt . The old wall was 923 ' 153 ft . in length . In Herod ' s day , there was a northern wall of

352 ft ., inclosing the Antonia with its rocky foundations , which extended some distance eastward beyond the citadel itself . Titus had no wall to destroy , excepting this short stretch which covered the foundations . It was 35 T 24 feet in length

, exactly the width of the Bezetha hill from valley to valley . The entire width of the hill was cut away from the foundations of the Antonia , and the foundation so cut away was of the same width as the base of the hill of which it originally formed the

lowest part . The scarp left a deep ditch 35 T 54 ft . long and 57-6 ft . wide , running east and west between the scarped bottom of the Bezetha hill and the wall of the Antonia foundations .

Sonnet.

SONNET .

( For the Masonic Magazine . ) "AUDI , VIDE , TACE . " 'Tis midnight ' s hour , in air and earth ancl sea—Ancl starsboth fix'd ancl planetary ,

, gleam Countless , and list ' niug and still list ' ning seem . They hear , unheard , the mystic melody Of their own spheres—heav ' n ' s mystic charms they see ;

Yet breathe them not , for silent is their beam , As glass'd in each smooth brook and mountain stream Or woodland lake , they shine so beauteously . They speak from heav ' n , as with a voiceless

voice ; And to each pensive bosom seem to say In warning words—Learn wisdom from our ray ; And in shut lips , and open eyes rejoice , And open ears—belowour Craft the

, same Great truth proclaims ; as these still orbs proclaim . Bro , REV . M . GORDON .