Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-03-28
The Fall of Jerusalem.

Wv was super Hdt vi dl' ut ucStIuC-
ton of the conquered was against the
first principle of the Roman policy;
aud, to the last hour of our national
existence, Rome held out offers of
peace, and lamented our frantic dispo-
sition to be undone. But the decree
was gone forth from mightier throne
During the latter days of the siege,
hostility, to which that of man was as
a grain of sand to the tempest that
drives it on, overpowered our strength
and senses; fearful shapes and voices
in the air-visions starting us from our
short and troublesome sleep--lunacy in
its hideous forms-sudden death in the
midst of vigor the fury of the elem
ents let loose upon our heads We had
evely terror and evil that could beset
human natu e, but pestilence; the most
probable of all, in city crowded with
the famishing, the diseased, the wound
ed, and the dead. Yet, though the
streets were covered with unbaried,
though every well and trench was
teeming, though six hundred thousand
corpses were flung over the ramparts,
and lay naked to The sun, pesti'ence
came not for If it had come, the enc
my would have been scared away. But
the abomination of desolation,' the
Pagan standard, was fixed where it
was to remain until the plough had
passed over the ruins o. Jerusalem.
On this fatal night no man laid his
head upon the pillow. Heaven and
earth were in conflict. Meteors burn
d over us-the ground shook under
our feet-the volcanoes blazed--the
wind burst forth in irresistible blasts,
and swept the living and the dead in
whirlwlnds far into the desert. We
heard the belowings of the distant Me-
diterranean, as if its waters were at
our sides, swelled by the deluge The
lakes and rivers roared and inundated
the land The fiery sword shot out
teulold 6re-showers of blood fell
thunder pealed from every quarter of
the heavens--lightning, in immense
sheets, of an intensity and duration
that turned the darkness into more
than day, wilhering eye and soul, burn
ed from the zenith to the ground, and
marked its track by forsts of fame.
and shattered the SUBMITS of the hills.
Defence was unthought of, for the NOR
tai enemy had passed from the mind.
Our hearts quaked with fear; but it
was to see the pewers of heaven shak-
en-. All cast away shield and spear,
and crouched before the descending
judgment.
We were conscience-s smitten. Our
cries of remorse, anguish. and horror.
were heard through the uproar of the
storm. We howled to caverns to hide
us. We plunged into the sepuchres,
to escape the wrath that consumed the
living. We would have buried our
selves under the mountains. | knew
the cause.-The unspeakable cause, and
knew that the last hour of crime was at
hand. A few tugitives, astonlshed to
see one man amongst them not sunk
into the lowest feebleness Of fear, came
around me, and besought me to lead
them to some place Of safety, if such
pere to be found on earth. l told them
openly that they were to die, and coun-
selled them to die in the hallowed
ground of the Temple: They followed,
and | led them through streets encum-
bered with every shape of human suf-
fering, to the foot of Mount Morlah
but beyond that, we found advance
impossible. Piles of clouds, whose
darkness was palpable even in the mid
night in which we stood, covered tie
noly hill. Impatient, and not to be
daunted by anything that man could
overcome, l cheered my disheartened
band, and ATTEMPTED to lead the way
up the ascents; but had scarcely en-
tered the cloud, when | was swept
down by gust that tore the rocks in
a finty shower around me.
Now came the last and most won
derful sign that marked the fate ofre
ircted Israel. While | lay helpless, [
heard the whlrlwiud roar through the
cloudy hill, and vapors began to re-
volye, A pale light, like tlat Of the
rising moon, quivered on the edge of
the horizon, and the clouds rose rapid.
ly, shaping themselves into the forms
= e k...Io,ao,t- auJ touars The eound
of voices was heard with, low and dis
tlnct, yet strangely sweet Still the
lustre frightened, and the airy build
ing rose, tower on tower, and battle
ment on battlement, in awe that held
Us mute. We knelt and gazed on this
more than mortal architecture, tnat
continued rising and spreading, and
glowing with a serener light, still soft
aud silvery, yet to which the broadert
moonlight was dim. At last, it stood
forth to earth and heaven, the colossal
image of the first Tempie-of the build
ing raised by the wisest of all men, and
consecrated by the Visible Glory.
All Jerusalem saw the Image, and
the shout that, in the midst OF their
despair, ascended from the thousands
and tens of thousands, told that proud
rem entrances were there. But a
hymn was heard, that might have hush
ed the world beside. Never fell on
my ears, never on the human sense, a
sound 50 majestic, yet so subduing; So
| full of melancholy, vet Of grandeur