of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof."* These words imply, as is otherwise declared without a metaphor, that a small remnant would be left-that though Judea should become poor like a field that has been reaped, or like a vine stripped of its fruits, its desolation would not be so complete but that some vestige of its former abundance would be still visible, like the few grains that are left by the reaper when the harvest is past, or the little remaining fruit that hangs on the uppermost branch, or on a neglected bough, after the full crop has been gathered, and the vine and the olive have been shaken. And is there yet a gleaning left of all the glory of Israel? There is; and there could not be any simile more natural, or more expressive of the fact. Napolose (the ancient Sychar or Sichem) is luxuriantly imbosomed in the most delightful and fragrant bowers, half-concealed by rich gardens and by stately trees, collected into groves all around the beautiful valley in which it stands. The garden of Geddin, situated on the borders of Mount Sharon, and protected by its chief, extends several miles in a spacious valley, abounding with excellent fruits, such as olives, almonds, peaches, apricots, and figs. A number of streams that fall from the mountains traverse it, and water the cottonplants that thrive well in this fertile soil. The scenery in the plain of Zabulon is, to the full, as delightful as in the rich vale upon the south of the Crimea;-it reminds the traveller of the finest part of Kent and Surrey.§ The soil, although stony, is exceedingly rich, but now entirely neglected. But the delightful vale of Zabulon appears everywhere covered with spontaneous vegetation, flourishing in the wildest exuberance. Even along the mountains of Gilead, the land, possessing extraor

* Isaiah xvii. 5, 6.

+ Clarke, vol. ii. 506. The remark may be interesting to the Christian reader, that, while Capernaum, the capital of Galilee, which was "exalted unto heaven," or the highest prosperity, when Jesus and his apostles preached there in vain, is brought down to hell (to hades), to death, or entire destruction, being nothing now but shapeless ruins, as Chorazin and Bethsaida also are, and while Samaria, the capital of the country which bore its name, is cast down into the valley,--Sychar, then one of its inferior cities, from which the inhabitants came forth to meet Jesus, and in which many believed in him as the Saviour when they heard his word, is ranked by every traveller who describes it among the most striking exceptions to the general desolation which has otherwise left but a remembrance of the cities of Judah, of Samaria, and Galilee.

Mariti's Travels, vol. ii. 151.

Clarke, vol. ii. 400.

dinary riches, abounds with the most beautiful prospects, is clothed with rich forests, varied with verdant slopes; and extensive plains of a fine red soil are now covered with thistles, as the best proof of its fertility.* The valley of St. John's, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, is crowned to the top with olives and vines, while the lower part of the valley bears the milder fig and almond.† Whenever any spot is fixed on as the residence, and seized as the property, either of a Turkish aga or of an Arab sheikh, it enjoys his protection, is made to administer to his wants, or to his luxury, and the exuberance and beauty of the land of Canaan soon reappear. But such spots are, in the words of an eyewitness, only "mere sprinklings" in the midst of extensive desolation. And how could it ever have been foreseen that the same cause, viz. the residence of despotic spoliators, was to operate in so strange a manner as to spread a wide wasting desolation over the face of the country, and to be, at the same time, the very means of preserving the thin gleanings of its ancient glory; or that a few berries on the outmost bough would be saved by the same hand that was to shake the olive.

Among such a multiplicity of prophecies, where the prediction and the fulfilment of each is a miracle, it is almost impossible to select any as more amazing than the rest. But that concerning Samaria is not the least remarkable. That city was, for a long period, the capital of the ten tribes of Israel. Herod the Great enlarged and adorned it, and, in honour of Augustus Cæsar, gave it the name of Sebaste. There are many ancient medals which were struck there. It was the seat of a bishopric, as the subscription of some of its bishops to the acts of ancient councils attest. Its history is thus brought down to a period unquestionably far remote from the time of the prediction; and the narrative of a traveller, which alludes not to the prophecy, and which has even been unnoticed by commentators, shows its complete fulfilment. Besides other passages which speak of its extinction as a city, the word of the Lord which Micah saw concerning Samaria is, "I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley: and I will

* Buckingham's Travels p. 322.

† General Straton's MS. Travels.

Calmet's Dictionary. Relandi Palest. p. 981.

discover the foundations thereof." And this great city is now wholly converted into gardens; and all the tokens that remain to testify that there has ever been such a place are only on the north side-a large square piazza, encompassed with pillars,—and on the east some poor remains of a great church. Such was the first notice of that ancient capital given by Maundrell in 1696, and it is confirmed by Mr. Buckingham in 1816. The relative distance, local position, and unaltered name of Sebaste leave no doubt as to the identity of its site; and he adds, its local features are equally seen in the threat of Micah.*

But the predicted fate of Jerusalem has been more conspicuously displayed and more fully illustrated than that of the capital of the ten tribes of Israel. It formed the theme of prophecy from the deathbed of Jacob-and, as the seat of government of the children of Judah, the sceptre departed not from it till the Messiah appeared, on the expiration of seventeen hundred years after the death of the patriarch, and till the period of its desolation, prophesied of by Daniel, had arrived. A destiny diametrically opposite to the former then awaited it, even for a longer duration; and ere its greatness was gone, even at the very time when it was crowded with Jews from all quarters, resorting to the feast, and when it was inhabited by a numerous population dwelling in security and peace, its doom was denounced-that it was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. The time of the Gentiles is not yet fulfilled, and Jerusalem is still trodden down of the Gentiles. The Jews have often attempted to recover it. No distance of space or of time can separate it from their affections-they perform their devotions with their faces towards it, as if it were the object of their worship as well as of their love; and although their desire to return be so strong, indelible, and innate that every Jew, in every generation, counts himself an exile-yet they have never been able to rebuild their temple, nor to recover Jerusalem from the hands of the Gentiles. But greater power than that of a proscribed and exiled race

* Buckingham's Travels, p. 511, 512. It has also been described in similar terms by other travellers. The stones are poured down into the valley, the foundations discovered, and there is now only to be seen "the hill where once stood Samaria." Napolose has been mistaken by one traveller for the ancient Samaria.

has been added to their own, in attempting to frustrate the counsel that professed to be of God. Julian, the emperor of the Romans, not only permitted but invited the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and their temple; and promised to re-establish them in their paternal city. By that single act, more than by all his writings, he might have destroyed the credibility of the gospel, and restored his beloved but deserted paganism. The zeal of the Jews was equal to his own-and the work was begun by laying again the foundations of the temple. In the space of three days, Titus had formerly encompassed that city with a wall when it was crowded with his enemies; and, instead of being obstructed, that great work, when it was confirmatory of an express prediction of Jesus, was completed with an astonishing celerity:-and what could hinder the emperor of Rome from building a temple at Jerusalem when every Jew was zealous for the work? Nothing appeared against it but a single sentence, uttered some centuries before by one who had been crucified. If that word had been of man, would all the power of the monarch of the world have been thwarted in opposing it? And why did not Julian, with all his inveterate enmity and laborious opposition to Christianity, execute a work so easy and desirable? A heathen historian relates, that fearful balls of fire, bursting from the earth, sometimes burned the workmen, rendered the place inaccessible, and caused them to desist from the undertaking.* The same narrative is attested by others. Chrysostom, who was a living witness, appealed to the existing state of the foundations, and to the universal testimony which was given of the fact. And an eminent modern traveller, who visited, and who minutely examined the spot, testifies that "there seems every reason for believing that, in the reticulated remains still visible on the site of the temple is seen a standing memorial of

* Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare, ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam templum, quod, post multa et interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano, posteaque Tito, ægre est expugnatum, instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis; negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Brittannias curaverat pro præfectis. Cum itaque rei eidem instaret Alypius, juvaretque provinciæ rector, metuendi globi flam marum, prope fundamenta, crebris assultibus erumpentes, fecere locum ex ustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum; hocque modo, elemento destinatius repellente, cessavit inceptum.-Ammian Marcell. lib. xxiii. cap. 1, 2, 3. Rufini Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 37, Socrat. lib. iii. c. 17. Theodorit. l. iii. c. 17. Sozomin, 1. v. c. 21. Cassiod. Hist. Tripart. 1. vi. c. 43. Nicephor. Callis. lib. x. 32. Greg. Nazianz. in Julian. Orat. 2. Chrysos. de lan. Bab. Mart. et contra Judeos, iii. p. 491. Lind.-Vide Am. Mar. tom. iii. p. 2.

Julian's discomfiture."* While destitute of this additional confirmation of its truth, the historical evidence was too strong even for the skepticism of Gibbon altogether to gainsay; and brought him to the acknowledgment_that such authority must astonish an incredulous mind. Even independent of the miraculous interposition, the fulfilment is the same. The attempt was made avowedly, and it was abandoned without any apparent cause. It was never accomplished-and the prophecy stands fulfilled. But, even if the attempt of Julian had never been made, the truth of the prophecy itself is unassailable. The Jews have never been reinstated in Judea. Jerusalem has ever been trodden down of the Gentiles. The edict of Adrian was renewed by the successors of Julian-and no Jews could approach unto Jerusalem but by bribery or by stealth. It was a spot unlawful for them to touch. In the crusades, all the power of Europe was employed to rescue Jerusalem from the heathens, but equally in vain. It has been trodden down for nearly eighteen centuries by its successive masters-by Romans, Grecians, Persians, Saracens, Mamelouks, Turks, Christians and again by the worst of rulers, the Arabs and the Turks. And could any thing be more improbable to have happened, or more impossible to have been foreseen by man, than that any people should be banished from their own capital and country, and remain expelled and expatriated for nearly eighteen hundred years? Did the same fate ever befall any nation, though no prophecy existed respecting it? Is there any doctrine in Scripture so hard to be believed as was this single fact at the period of its prediction? And even with the example of the Jews before us, is it likely, or is it credible, or who can foretel-that the present inhabitants of any country upon earth shall be banished into all nations-retain their distinctive character-meet with an unparalleled fate-continue a people-without a government and without a country-and remain for an indefinite period, exceeding seventeen hundred years, till the fulfilment of a prescribed event which has yet to be accomplished? Must not the knowledge of such truths be derived from that prescience alone which scans alike the will and the ways of mortals, the actions of future nations, and the history of the latest generations.

* Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. note 1, at the end of the volume.