rusalem. The Jews shut the gates of
their city, and so began the awful siege of Jerusalem.

'_And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that
the desolation thereof is nigh._' (Luke xxi. 20.)

Forty years before, Jesus Christ Himself had spoken these words, and
now there began for Jerusalem days filled with horror and woe, '_such
as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto
this time._' (Mark xiii. 19.)

The story of these days has been written for us by a wise Jew named
Josephus. He was a prisoner in the Roman camp during the siege of
Jerusalem, and he watched with dismay the great battering-rams and war
engines crashing through the walls of the Holy City. His ears rang
with the cries of rage and despair which broke from the Jews within, as
one by one their defences fell, and the end drew near!

Then food failed in the city; men fought like demons in the streets for
a tiny loaf of barley-bread; so frantic were the people with hunger
that mothers even snatched the bread from their own children's mouths!

'Look over the walls, O people of Jerusalem; the Roman soldiers are
crucifying all the prisoners they have taken, and the line of crosses
is as long as our city is wide!'

Hard, merciless as was the Roman general, even he grew sick with horror
at last, and he sent his Jewish prisoner, Josephus, to the Jews,
promising them their lives if they would give up the city. But a
furious madness had possessed the people, and they refused to yield.

Josephus pleaded in vain. He was not a Christian, but he could see
plainly enough that God was no longer with His people.

'Ah, my countrymen,' he cried, 'we did nothing without God in the past,
but now you are fighting against Him. Had God judged you worthy of
freedom, He would have punished the Romans as He did the Assyrians long
ago. God is fled out of your holy place, and stands on the side of
those against whom you fight!'[1]

It is strange and wonderful to read these words in the old history.
Even a Jew who had no faith in Jesus Christ could see plainly that the
ancient power and glory of his nation had gone.

At last the end came. The first wall fell, then the second and the
third, until the Roman soldiers, now as mad as the Jews themselves,
burst into the Holy City, hewing down the defenceless people at every
step.

And so they came to the Temple--that beautiful Temple of white marble
and gold, which still glit