riod from the time of Zerubbabel to the destruction of the city by the Romans.

THE COURT OF THE GENTILES.

THE top of Moriah, the Mountain of the Lord's House, (which, as already noticed, was so extended by art, as to measure about half a mile in compass, or a furlong square,) was enclosed by a wall, five and twenty cubits high, built around upon each side. This was the outer wall; in some parts, perhaps pretty generally all the way round, it took its start, properly, from the base of the mountain, being nothing else than the wall that was built, as we have seen, from the valleys below, in order to increase the surface above, carried upward twenty-five cubits higher than the summit of the hill. Prodigious, then, we may well conceive, was the distance directly downward, in many places, from the top of this wall on the outside, to its deep bottom in the valley beneath.

This outer wall, which was built of stone, beautiful and strong, was furnished with several gates. They were all large, and costly in their workmanship; having each two great folds, covered over with precious metal, and so heavy that they could not be opened or shut without considerable effort. The most stately and costly one of all, was on the east side-if that was, indeed, as some suppose, the magnificent Eastern Gate, noticed by the Jewish historian, Josephus. It was covered with Corinthian brass, exceedingly splendid, and more precious than silver and gold. A flight of many steps rose to its entrance, from the deep valley of Cedron, below. A causeway, also, lifted high upon arches, stretched in front of it, across the valley, making a straight and level way over to the Mount of Olives, on the other side. This gate was not situated in the middle of the eastern wall, but considerably farther along towards the north end, in order that it might directly face the porch of the sanctuary, or sacred house of the temple, which was fixed, by divine direction, to the northern part of the enclosed square. It was called the King's Gate, because all the eastern side of the hill to which it belonged, had been formed, originally, by king

Solomon, with great labour and expense, by means of a wall raised in the way that has been already noticed, from the bottom of the valley beneath. It was called, also, it seems, the Gate of Shushan, and had pictured upon it a representation of the city of Shushan, the royal capital of Persia; in memory, according to some, of the great captivity, and so for a warning against idolatry, which was the cause of it; or, as others say, to keep up the recollection of the wonderful deliverance from the malice of Haman, which the nation had experienced in the days of Esther, and to bring to mind, year after year, the feast of Purim, or of Lots, which was then established in that city, to be a memorial from generation to generation of the happy event. (Est. iii. viii. ix.) On the south side of the square, there were two gates, which were called the Gates of Huldah. On the west side there were as many as four: one situated well toward the north, directly opposite to the gate Shushan on the east side, which had the name of Coponius, and answered to the gate called, in the time of the first temple, Shallecheth, to which that royal causeway already noticed led from the dwelling place of the kings on Mount Zion; another not far south of this, toward the middle, called Parbar: and the two gates of Asuppim, still farther toward the south. These last three had the names just mentioned, in the first state of the temple. The outer wall, on the north side, also, was provided, it is said, with a gate, situated exactly in the middle of it.

All these gates had towers erected above them. An open space of several cubits in extent, was left around each, where the people were accustomed to assemble. On either side of them within, there were buildings or houses, standing close against the wall, two stories high, for the porters and others to lodge in, and for depositories or stores in which were kept various treasures, utensils, and articles for service, that belonged to the temple.

All around, along the inward side of this outer wall, stretching from gate to gate, there were piazzas, or covered walks, most beautiful and stately to behold. These were called Porches. Along the eastern, northern, and western sides, they were merely double, that is, they consisted of two broad covered walks, one adjoining the wall,

and the other running by the side of this one, separated from it simply by a row of pillars; but on the southern side, the porch was triple, consisting of three such piazzas, or walks. The flooring of these walks was, all along, a smooth and solid pavement of marble of different colours; the roof was flat, made of costly cedar, and covered with cement to keep it from being injured by the rain; it rested on rows of pillars, hewn out of white marble, and so large that three men could scarcely stretch their arms so as to meet around them. Where the porches were only double, they were furnished with three such rows of pillars: first, one close up against the wall; then, fifteen cubits over from that, another; and, farther out still from the wall, fif teen cubits more, a third. Thus the two walks formed together a breadth of thirty cubits, divided merely by the middle row of pillars, and overshadowed by a lofty roof. The pillars were about twenty-five cubits high; so that the roof, borne up on the three rows, was lifted to a height equal with the top of the outer wall. Along the south side, as there were three walks, so there were four rows of pillars. The walk that was next to the wall, and the one that was farthest out from it, were just equal in breadth and height with the walks that stretched along the other sides; but the middle one of the three, was twice as high and nearly three times as broad as any of the rest, so that its roof was raised as much as twenty-five cubits above the roofs of the common walks that lay along with it on either side, and spread itself out on high at a distance of fifty cubits from the broad and beautiful pavement beneath. It was a most noble piazza, and could not fail to fill the spectator with the highest admiration, when he walked between its gigantic pillars, and lifted up his eyes to its ceiling of rich cedar, extended in lofty grandeur over his head. When a person stood above, on the roof of this middle walk, he could hardly look down into the valley on the outside of the wall, without becoming dizzy, the distance to the bottom of it was so fearfully great. It is said to have been no less than five hundred cubits, or 750 feet. This roof seems to have been that pinnacle of the temple, to which our Saviour was brought by the Devil, and from which the foul tempter urged him to cast himself down,

over the outer wall, into the tremendous deep below. (Matt. iv. 5-7.)

These covered walks furnished a pleasant retreat for the people, in warm weather, or when it was raining. They were furnished with convenient seats along the wall, for persons to sit upon. All the day, people might be seen moving backwards and forwards along between the rows of stately pillars, or resting themselves on the beautiful benches, underneath the broad and friendly shelter that was here provided. The porch that lay along the east side, was called Solomon's Porch, because, as was stated a short time ago, all this side of the hill had been raised with special labour from the bottom of the valley, by that ancient monarch. (John x. 23. Acts ii. 11. v. 12.)

When a stranger entered the sacred ground, through any of the gates of the outer wall which surrounded the whole, he beheld the House of the temple rising with lofty magnificence, from the north-western part of the hill. But the space was not clear all the way up to it. Going forward a small distance, he came to another wall, enclosing a considerable portion of ground that was deemed more holy than the rest of the hill left on the outside of it. The space between this second wall and the outer wall already noticed, was not by any means of the same breadth on every side. On the west and north sides it was quite narrow, and it was not much wider on the east side; but to the south it took up about half of the whole hill: thus the second wall did not enclose a square with equal sides, but a piece of ground somewhat more than twice as long as it was broad, reaching across from west to east within the northern half of the great square enclosed by the outer one. The space between these two walls round about, was the COURT OF THE GENTILES.

Into this Court all persons had liberty to come, whether they belonged to the Jewish nation or not. It was called the Court of the Gentiles, not because it was given up particularly to the Gentiles, for their use, but because it was the only one to which they were admitted: further than this first court no uncircumcised person was allowed to pass. It was in this Court of the Gentiles, that markets were kept for the sale of incense, oil, wine, doves, lambs, oxen,

and of every thing, in short, that was wanted for the sacrifices of the temple. These markets appear to have had their particular place on the east side of the court, and toward the southern quarter. Here, persons coming from a distance, bought whatever they wished for the purpose of making offerings to the Lord. In the same court the money-changers sat, to receive Greek and Roman money, such as was in common use, in exchange for Jewish halfshekels, with one of which every man was required to pay his yearly tribute to the sanctuary. They took their stations, a short time before the Passover, in the Porches, with tables full of coin before them, ready to accommodate all who wanted to exchange. In doing this, they required a small fee to be allowed to themselves in every instance, which, because there was so much of it to be done, made their business quite profitable. It was very convenient, to have markets at hand, and to have these money-changers to apply to, when persons attended at the temple; but then it was a great abuse to admit this sort of business into the temple-court, for it was mere worldly business after all, and oftentimes was carried on with unjust and avaricious fraud. Yet the unfaithful priests not only suffered this abuse, but encouraged it with their authority. Jesus Christ, however, would not let it pass without chastisement. On two several occasions, at least, as we are informed, he turned the whole company of profane dealers out of the temple, driving their animals out with them, and overthrowing the tables of the money-changers. (John ii. 14-17. Matt. xxii. 12, 13.) When we consider, that quite a number were engaged in this traffic, and that it was carried on according to established usage, and still more, that it was carried on under the approbation and authority of the priests, the rulers of the temple-we must feel, that it was a wonderful miracle which our Saviour wrought in these cases, and that it could only be by a divine power over the hearts of men, to turn them at his pleasure, that a single, poor, and hated individual could accomplish such a measure without resist.

ance.