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The land on which they stand, and around them, is sandy and stony, and it appears like a forsaken place. On entering this garden I requested the two men with me to sit down under one of the olives, which they did, and I went a little distance from them to another olive, and read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and also in the four gospels, the scenes of that sorrowful night when the Son of man was betrayed into the hands of sinners. During this, some dark, fierce-looking Bedouins, armed with long spears and swords, advanced on horseback, and I was not without some fear that they would think me alone and attack me. After looking at me very attentively, and at the two men under the olives, at a little distance from me, they passed by. The momentary fear which this excited, brought to my mind more impressively the scene when Jesus was betrayed and taken by a multitude, who came out against him with swords and staves.""

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Here Mr. Anderson closed, reserving the account of the visit to Mount Olivet to the next week. They then united in singing the following hymn :

""Tis midnight-and on Olive's brow
The star is dimmed that lately shone ;
"Tis midnight-in the garden now
The suff'ring Saviour prays alone.

"Tis midnight-and from all removed,
Immanuel wrestles lone with fears;
E'en the disciple that he loved

Heeds not his master's grief and tears.

"Tis midnight-and for other's guilt
The man of sorrow weeps in blood;
Yet he that hath in anguish knelt,
Is not forsaken by his God.

"Tis midnight-and from ether plains
Is borne the song that angels know;
Unheard by mortals are the strains
That sweetly soothe the Saviour's wo."

CHAPTER VIII.

MOUNT OF OLIVES.

"TO-DAY," said Mr. Anderson, as he resumed his narrative the next week, "to-day we will ascend the Mount of Olives, which is hallowed by so many sacred associations. I hope to be able to take you in imagination to that spot from whence Jesus beheld the city,

and wept over it;' from which, too, when the ' work of man's redemption was complete,' he ascended to God. And as we stand upon that sacred spot, so holy, so near to heaven, may we in spirit mount up on wings as eagles,' and be raised nearer and nearer to it in temper and disposition.

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A short walk from the garden of Gethsemane brought our travellers to the top of the middle summit of Mount Olivet. As I have already told you, this mountain range is divided into three principal peaks running north and south. It was clothed with olives, palms, and other oriental trees, to its very summit. The ascent was rugged and abrupt, though a tolerably smooth path had been formed to the very top by art and frequent use. In some of the steepest parts of the ascent artificial steps had been cut in the rocks to accommodate the multitudes of visiters who resorted to it for the splendour of the views from the top. Arrived at the open plat of ground upon the summit,. the sight that burst upon them on every side was most enchanting.

"See," exclaimed Simon, "see, Jonathan, we can look right down into the city.

How small the men seem in the streets! We can see the whole wall and count all its towers. Is it not a most beautiful sight?" But Jonathan, who loved nature better than art, was too busy with other parts of the view to pay much attention to the raptures of his brother. The whole valley of the Jordan, in all the luxuriance of an eastern summer, lay stretched out before them on the east. Green forests, verdant dales, and swelling hills by turns relieved the eye. In some parts the surface was broken by abrupt and ragged precipices; in others gently diversified and undulating; and in others still, particularly along the banks of the Jordan, it spread out into wide and luxuriant plains and meadows.

Selumiel directed their attention to the most interesting points of view. Standing with their faces to the north-east, the whole of the plains of Jericho on the west, and the plains of Moab on the east of the Jordan lay spread out before them like a picture. In the distance rose Mount Nebo, like a purple pyramid. "There," said Selumiel, pointing to the mountain, "there, on that commanding summit, stood once the lawgiver' of Israel, to survey,

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as we do now, this lovely landscape. Beneath him, in the plains of Moab, lay encamped the hosts of Israel, stationed by tribes around the ark of the covenant,' three tribes on either side, and covering an area of twelve miles square. From the highest summit of Nebo, even Pisgah, the man of God surveyed all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar.' And when he had viewed all this goodly country, then flowing with milk and honey,' to gain possession of which he had patiently wandered in the wilderness forty years, for one sin he was required to die on Nebo. Surely Jehovah is a jealous God, when for one offence the meek' and faithful Moses, he that had been permitted to enter within the clouds of Sinai and talk with God as a man with his friend, must be excluded from the land of promise. Remember this,

and fear to sin.

"Gilgal, which you see on the left of Mount Nebo, is the place where the host passed the

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