| 974 the 14th chapter of Genesis, nearly two thousand years before the time of our Savior, until the wars of Napoleon, eighteen hundred years after it, this narrow but wonderful region, has never ceased to be the stage of remarkable events. If for the sake of brevity, we omit the enumeration of spots signalized by the exploits of the children of Israel, to which, however, a traveller [traveler] may be guided by the holy writ, with all the minuteness and accuracy of a road-book, we shall yet be engaged by the scenes of many brilliant and romantic achievements of the ancient and modern world. Take the plain of Esdraelon alone, the ancient valley of Jezreel, a scanty spot of twenty-five miles long, and varying from six to fourteen in its breadth; yet more recollections are called up here than suffice for the annals of many nations. Here oy [on?] the banks of that ancient river Kishon, "the stars in their course fought against Sisera." the object of the immortal song of Deborah and Barak; and here, too, is Megiddo signalized by the death of the good Josiah. Each year, in a long succession of time, brought fresh events; the armies of Antiochus and of Rome, Egyptians, Persians, Turks, and Arabs, the fury of the Saracens, and the mistaken piety of the Crusaders, have found, in their turn, the land, "as the garden of Eden before them, and have left it a desolate wilderness." Nor did it escape the ferocious gripe of a revolutionary. The arch destroyer of mankind sent his armies thither under the command of General Kleber, and in 1799 gave the last memorial of blood to these devoted plains.
But how small and transitory are all such reminiscences to those which must rivet the attention and feelings of the pious believer.-If Johnson could regard that man as little to be envied, who could stand unmoved on Iona or Marathon, or any spot dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue, what we must say of one who cared not to tread Mount Zion or Calvary, or who could behold with unmoistened eye
'Those holy fields,
Over whose acres, walk'd those blessed feet,
Which eighteen hundred years ago were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter cross?"
We have heard, indeed, that few persons can contemplate the holy city for the first time, without emotion; not long ago it was brought to our knowledge that two young men, (and they were not especially serious,) on arriving within sight of its walls and mountains, struck by the religio loci, 'How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven,' slipped involuntarily from their camels and fell into an attitude of adoration.
This interest is not confined to Christians-it is shared and avowed by the whole body of the Jews, who no longer conceal their hope and belief that the time is not far distant when the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, aud [and] from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea: and shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Doubtless, this is no new sentiment among the children of the dispersion. The novelty of the present day does not lie in the indulgence of such a hope by that most venerable people-but in their fearless confession of the hope; and in the approximation of spirit between Christians and Hebrews, to entertain the same belief of the future glories of Israel, to offer up the same prayer, and look forward to the same consummation. In most former periods, a development of religious feeling had been followed by a persecution of the ancient people of God; from the days of Constantine to Leo XII., the disciples of Christ have been stimulated to the oppression of the children of Israel; and heaven only can know that myriads of that suffering race fell beneath the 'piety' of the crusaders, as they marched to recover the sepulchre [sepulcher] of their Savior from the hands of the infidels. But a mighty change has come over the hearts of the Gentiles; they seek now the temporal and eternal peace of the Hebrew people; societies are established in England and Germany to diffuse among them the light of the gospel; and the increasing accessions to the parent institution in London, attest the public estimation of its principles and services.
Encouraged by these proofs of a bettered condition, and of the sympathies of the Gentiles, who so lately despised them; the children of Israel have become far more open to Christian intercourse and reciprocal inquiry.-Both from themselves and their converted brethren we learn much of their doings, much of their hopes and fears, that a few years ago would have remained in secret. One of them who lately, in the true spirit of Moses, went into Poland, 'unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens,' informs us that 'several thousand Jews of that country, and Russia, have recently bound themselves by an oath that as soon as the way is open for them to go up to Jerusalem, they will immediately go thither, and there spend their time in fasting and prayer unto the Lord until he shall send the Messiah
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