The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-05-11
From The London Quarterly Reriew.
STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS.

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE JEWS.
Our lot is cast in very wonderful tines
| We have reached, as it were, Mount Pisgah
in our march; and we may discern from its
summit the dim though certain outlines OF
coming events. The Tide OF action seems to
BIO rolling back from The west to the east; a
spirit. akin TO that of Moses, when he beheld
the Land OF Promise in faith and joy, is rising
up among the nation ;--whatever concerns
the Holy Land is heard and read with
lively interest its scenery, its antiquities, lis
past history and future glories engage alike
the traveller and the divine--hundreds Of
strangers now tread the sacred soil for one
that visited il in former days; jerusalem is
once more centre of attraction; the curious
and the deyout flock annually thither from all
parts of America and Europe, accomplishing
IN their landable pursuit the promise Of God
10 the beloved City, whereas thou hast
been forsaken and hated SO that no man went
through thee, will make thee an eternal
exceiency, The joy of many generations
II would indeed be surprising il the wide
diffusion OF knowledge among all classes Of
the civilized world did not create wider
diffusion OF interest for the history and locali-
ties Of Palestine. All that can delight the
eye, and feed the imagination is lavshed over
It's surfacc; the lovers Of scenery can find
there every form and variety of landscape
The snowy heights of Lebanon with its cedars,
me valley OF Jordan, the mountains Of Car
mel, Tabor, and Hermon, and the waters Of
| Galllee. are as beautiful as in the DAYS when
David sang their praise and far more int.
resting by the accumulation Of "reminiscences.
| The land, unbroken by the tolls Of the hus-
bandman, yet enjoys her Sabba,hs but
Eshcol, Bashan, Sharon, and Giead are still
there, and await but the appointed hour $50
we may gather from every narrative) to sus-
tain their millions 10 flow, as of old, with
milk and honey; to become once more a
land Of brooks Of water Of fountains, aud
depths that spring out Of valleys and hills; a
land OF wheat, and barley. and vines, and fig
trees, and pomegranites, olive-oil and honey
and TO resume their ancient and rightful titles,
the garden of the Lord and the glory of
all lands What numherless recollections
are crowded upon every footstep Of the sa-
cred soil Since the battle of the five kings
against four, recorded in the 4th chapter of
Genesis, nearly two thousand years before
the time of our Savior, until the wars of Ma
poleon, eighteen hundred years after it, this
narrow but wonderful region has never ceas-
ed 10 be the stage Of remarkable events. IT,,
for the sake of breviiy, we omit the enumera-
ton Of spots signalzed by The exploits Of the
/ children Of Israel, 10 which, however, a
traveller may be guided by Holy Writ with
all the minuteness aud accuracy of 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 10 fourteen in its
breadth: yet more recolecions are called up
here than suffice for the annals of many ma
lions. Here by the banks of that ancient
river, the river Kishon, the stars in their
courses fought against Sisera, the object of
| the immortal song Of Deborah and l,arak !;
and here too is Megiddo. signalsed by the
death of the good Josiah Each year, in
long succession Of time, brought fresh events;
the armies Of Anlioe hus and Of Rome, Egyp-
| tians, Persans, Turks, and Arabs, the fury Of
the Saracens, and the mistaken pietv Of the
| Crusaders. have found, in their turn, the land
as the garden of Eden before them, and
have left il desolate Wilderness Nor did
il escape the ferocious grippe of revolution
airy war; the archdestroyer of mankind sent
his armies thither under the command of Ge-
neral Kleber, and in l799 gave the last me-
mortal of blood 10 those devoted plains.
But how small and transitory are all such
"reminiscences to those which must rivet the
attention and feelings of the pious believer!
Ii Johnson could regard that man as little to
be envied, who could stand unmoved on Iona,
or Marathon, or any spot dignifed by wisdom,
bravery, or virtue, what must we say Of
one who cared not to tread Mount Zion or
Calvary, or could behold with unmoistened
eye,
those holy fields, ....
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet,
Which eighteen hundred years ago nald
For our advantage, on the bitter cross 7
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 land they not especially serious on ar
irving within sight Of its walls and mountains,
struck by the rcheio loci. How dreadful is
this place this is none other than the house
Of God, and this is the gate of Heaven slip
ped involunlarily from their camels, and fell
into an attitude Of alteration.
MS interest IS not conifned 10 inc Nhris-
tians-it is shared and ayowed by the whole
body Of the Jews, who no longer conceal their
hope and belief that the time is not Ear 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, and from Pathros, and from
Cush, and from Elan, and from Shnar, and
from Klamath, 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