In our own day speedily. He will save, He will save, Save Thine Israel speedily. Lord, bring back, Lord, bring back, Bring back Thy people speedily; O restore to their land, To their Salem speedily. Bring back to Thee, bring back to Thee, To their Saviour, speedily. How long the Jews have assembled for lamentation at the Wailing Place cannot be determined with certainty, although there is historical evidence to prove that they have assembled to mourn over their lost glory and desolate Temple since the time of the Apostles. After the merciless destruction of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 A.D., the priestly families fled to Tiberias, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee; and the great men of the Jewish nation found homes in Egypt, Cyprus, and other places, while only the poor and the officiating priests remained in the Holy City. Slowly Jerusalem rose from her ashes, and for sixty years enjoyed such peace as comes after the maddened din of warfare. During that period the Jews bewailed their downfall, and nobody interfered with the poor inhabitants of the city. At length, after sixty years' freedom from accursed warfare, a mighty insurrection arose among the Jews against the oppressive yoke of Rome. The insurgents were headed by Bar Cochaba, the Son of a Star, the last and greatest of the false Messiahs. After three years of warfare and butchery, Bar Cochaba, with sword in hand, fell down slain on the walls of Beth-er, near Bethlehem, and forthwith the domination of the Romans was restored. The Emperor Hadrian, filled with wrath at the insurrection, again destroyed Jerusalem, and drove the Jews from their hallowed city. He fixed a Roman colony on Zion, built a heathen temple on Moriah, on the site of the sacred edifice of the Jews, and dedicated it to Capitoline Jupiter. When the colony had increased in size, he bestowed upon the new city the name of Ælia Capitolina, combining with his own family title of Ælius the name of Jupiter of the Capitol, the guardian deity of the colony. Christians and pagans were permitted to reside there, but the Jews were forbidden to enter the city on pain of death; and this stern decree remained in force in the days of Tertullian, about a century afterwards. About the middle of the fourth century, however, the Jews were permitted to dwell in the neighbourhood, and once a year—on the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem-they were allowed to enter the Temple enclosure, that they might approach the lapis pertusus, or perforated stone, and anoint it with oil. "There," says an ancient, writer "they make lamentations with groans, and rend their garments, and so retire." Jerome, the eminent Latin Father, who founded a convent at Bethlehem, and for thirty years led an ascetic life in the Holy Land, when commenting, about 400 A.D., on Zephaniah i. 14, "The mighty man shall cry there bitterly," draws a vivid picture of the wretched crowds of Jews who in his day assembled at the Wailing Place, by the west wall of the Temple, to bemoan the loss of their ancestral greatness. On the ninth of the month Ab, might be seen the aged and decrepit of both sexes, with tattered garments and dishevelled hair, who met to weep over the downfall of Jerusalem, and purchased permission of the soldiery to prolong their lamentations, et miles mercedem postulat ut illis flere plus liceat. The perforated stone, called lapis pertusus, is probably the Sakkra or sacred rock of Moriah, originally the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and now covered with the elegant sanctuary called Kubbet es-Sakhra, or Dome of the Rock. After the Moslem occupation of Jerusalem in the seventh century, the lapis pertusus, or sacred rock of Moriah, was invested with a sanctity second only to the Kaaba of Mecca. This sanctity was afterwards extended to the whole of the top of Moriah, and, consequently, the heretic Jews were driven outside the Temple enclosure. In course of time, however, they approached the outer walls, and there continued to celebrate their lamentation service. Thus for above twelve centuries have the Jews assembled outside the walls of their ancient Temple; but it would be difficult, with our present knowledge, to prove that the present Wailing Place has been the identical spot of lamentation throughout the many generations that have lived and died since the Moslem occupation of Jerusalem under Khalif Omar in 637 A.D. iii. The West Wall of the Haram, north of the Wailing Place. This ancient wall, extending north of the Wailing Place for a length of one hundred feet, is hidden by modern houses. Here stands the Council House, or House of Judgment, where the Cadi or Judge tries the several cases brought before him. It appears that the Council House occupied the same spot in the days of Josephus, when the first wall of the city terminated at the western cloisters of the Sanctuary. North of the Council House is the principal entrance to the Haram Area, namely, the Bab es-Silsilah, or Gate of the Chain. According to a Moslem tradition, a chain was once stretched across this entrance by King Solomon. This chain could be grasped by a truthful witness with impunity, but a link dropped if perchance it was touched by a perjurer. The elegant little dome-shaped structure in the Haram opposite this entrance is still known as David's Place of Judgment. The present Gate of the Chain is double, ornamented with twisted marble columns, while in front of it is a pretty fountain surmounted by a traceried wheel taken from some old church. I Starting from the Gate of the Chain, a great causeway ran across the Tyropoon Valley in ancient times; and on the top of this causeway now runs the modern David Street, from the Temple wall westwards to the Jaffa Gate. In front of the gateway and outside the Haram, Dr. Titus Tobler discovered a large underground arch, now known as Wilson's Arch, and so named after Captain Wilson, the Director of the English Survey at Jerusalem. Josephus tells us that in the time of our Lord Jerusalem was completely honeycombed with underground galleries and subterranean passages, used not so much for drainage or sepulture, as for purposes of war. Every stronghold had its secret passage for escape in time of danger; so much so, that Titus and his Roman legions, after fighting their way from the Temple Hill to Mount Zion, killing and capturing their foes in the open, found that so many fugitives had taken refuge in subterranean chambers, that it was necessary to burrow underground in search of the enemy. "The Roman soldiers laid down sword and spear, and seizing pick and spade began to burrow in the ground. A hundred fights took place in the very bowels of the earth. Two thousand dead bodies were found in these tunnels, sewers, and secret chambers, all of whom had fallen either by their own hands, the poniards of their companions, or from want of food. A poisonous stench came up from every trap and vent, so that the air of |