While thus discussing their priestly pedigree, Zachary and Samuel reach the lower part of Mount Olivet.

The first impression Jerusalem makes on one coming from the north, west, or south, may be summed up in the simple expression of a modern traveler: "I am strangely affected, but greatly disappointed." But the approach to Jerusalem from the east is really grand. By this way came sixty years before the period now under consideration, the first western army that ever confronted the Holy City, under the leadership of Pompey; by this way too Jesus will enter in triumph on that celebrated tenth day of Nisan, some thirty years from now. "Great is the Lord," breaks out Zachary, "and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion; on the sides of the north, the city of the great king" (Psa 48:1,2). "Let Mount Zion be glad, let the daughters of Jerusalem rejoice," responds Samuel; "walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following. For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death" (Psa 48:11-14). "I was glad when they said unto me," re-echoed Zachary, "let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem, thou art builded as a city that is compact together: whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, for a testimony unto Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord" (Psa 122:1-4). "Mar," says Samuel, "how do these thy words apply to the Holy City?" "How canst thou fail to understand their meaning, when their practical application is before thy very eyes? Thou seest the deep ravines of Hinnom and of the Kedron encircling the city on three sides, like a natural fosse. Only over yonder, at its northwestern side, is the city bound as it were to the mainland. Thou seest also the four hills on which Jerusalem is built: the deep Tyropoeon, first runs from south to north, separating Mount Zion to the west, from Mount Moriah to the east; then turning sharply westward, it separates Mount Zion to the south from Mount Acra to the north;

the Hasmonaean valley similarly divides Mount Acra to the west from Bezetha to the east, while an artificial fosse separates Mount Moriah to the south from Bezetha to the north. Truly then might the royal prophet sing: 'Jerusalem, thou art builded as a city joined companion-like together.'" Zachary might equally well have referred the words "mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces" to Jerusalem alone. Though the whole city is only about thirty-three stadia, or nearly four miles, in circumference, it has the appearance of an immense natural fortress. The deep valleys form so many natural moats, making of the four hills a series of fortress islands. Besides all this, there are at the time we now speak of, two city walls: the first runs from the western colonnade of the Temple on Mount Moriah along the northern brow of Zion, to the tower Hippicus, then along the west and south of Zion, and continues eastward till it merges into the southeastern angle of the Temple. Thus it defends Zion, Ophel, and together with the Temple walls, also Moriah. The second wall runs from the gate Genath, first north, then east, and terminates at the tower Antonia, at the northwest corner of the Temple. The first wall is further defended by sixty towers, the second wall by forty. Hippicus, Phasaelus and Mariamne have been named already as being situated on the northwestern side of Zion. The L-shaped tower of Antonia, seventy cubits high, is placed on a rocky elevation of fifty cubits, at the northwestern angle of the Temple. It communicates with the castle of Antonia by a double set of cloisters, with the Temple itself by a subterranean passage and also by stairs descending into the western porches of the Court of Gentiles. By this way, the chief captain Lysias, will rush to the rescue of St. Paul in order to save him from the infuriated multitude of Jewish zealots. But Jerusalem is not merely a fortress, but also a city of palaces. In the whole civilized world there is no city like Jerusalem for architectural splendor. Syrian Antioch, imperial Rome and classic Athens have to yield in this respect to Zion and Moriah. High up, on the northwestern side of Mount Zion, which itself rises more than seventy cubits above Mount Moriah, though it is about sixtysix cubits lower than the summit of Mount Olivet, stands the royal palace of Herod, on the ancient site of the castle of David. The high priest's palace crowns the opposite or north eastern height of Mount Zion. On the eastern brow, south of the high priest's

palace, is the immense Xystus, extending deep into the Tyropoeon valley. Surrounded by a covered colonnade, it serves as a place of public meeting, whenever great numbers are to be addressed. Near by is David's ancient palace; here the Maccabees have held their sway, and soon Agrippa will be master. Again, in its rear, stands Bernice's palace. On the southern slope of Mount Acra is the Repository of the Archives, and opposite it, on the other side of the cleft, probably abutting on the Temple, we see the council chamber of the Sanhedrin. Palaces of foreign princes, especially of such as have become Jewish proselytes, cover the heights of Mount Acra. The Hippodrome, south of the Temple on Mount Moriah, and the great sheep market, on the southeastern corner of the Temple, the Amphitheater, in the far northwestern part of the city, and the four hundred and eighty synagogues built in various quarters throughout Jerusalem, the magnificent pillars and monuments, the pools of Siloam and Bethesda, and finally the innumerable public buildings that adorn every street and thoroughfare, are too well known to need description. "Mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell the generation following."