The constitutional union., 1861-01-25
CLOSING SCENE or THE FALL OF
 JERTS4LEH
FROM SAIATHIAL.

of the Roman policy, and to the last hour of our national existence, Rome held out offers of peace, and lamented our frantic determi- nation 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 the grain of sand to the tempest that it drives on, overpowered our strength and senses. Fearful shapes and voices in the air-visions startling us from our short and troubled sleep-lunacy in its most hideous forms-sudden death in the midst of vigor-the fury of the elements let loose upon our unshetered heads-we had every terror and evil that could beset human nature, but pestlence; the most probable of all in city crowded with the famishing, the deceased the wounded, and the dead~ Yet, though the streets were covered with the un- buried-thOugh every well and trench was teeming- though six hundred thousand corpsos lay flung over the ramparts and naked to the sun-pestilence came not; if 1t had come, the enemy would have been scared away But the " abominaton of desolation, :" the pagan standard, was fixed, where 1t was to remain until the blow passed over the ruins of Jerusalem
 On this night, this fatal night, no man laid his head on the pillow Heaven and earth were in confict-meteors burned above us the ground shook under our feet the volcano blazed the wind burst forth in ire sistible blasts, and swept the living and the dead, in whirlwinds, far into the desert We heard the believing of the distant Mediterra- mean, as if its waters were at our side, sweled by new deluge. The lakes and wa ters roared and inundated the land The fiery sword shot tenfold fire Showers of blood fell. Thunder pealed from every quar- ter of the heavens. Lightnings, immense sheets, of an intensity of duration that turned darkness into noon-day, withered eye and soul, burned from the zenith to the ground, and marked its track by the forests on flame and the shattered summits of the hills
 Defense was unthought of, for the mortal enemy had passed from the mind Our hearts quaked for fear; but 1t was to see the "powers of heaven shaken" All cast away the shield and spear, and crouched before the descending judgment. We were conscious smitten. Our cries of remorse, anguish and horror, were heard through the roar of the storm We howled to the earth to hide us we plunged into the sepulchres to escape the wrath that consumed the living-we would have buried ourselves under the mountains
 1 knew the cause, the unspeakable, and knew that the last hour of crime was at hand
 A few fugitives, astonished to see one man among them not sunk in the lowest feeble ness of fear, came around me, and besought me to lead them to some place of safety, if such was now to be found on earth. 1 told them openly that they were to die, and coun- selcd them to die on the hallowed ground of the Temple. They followed, and I led them through the streets encountered with every shape of human suffering to the foot of Mount Moriah But beyoud that, we found advance impossible. Piles of cloud, whose darkness was palpable even in the midnight in which we stood, covered the Holy Hill Inpatient and not to be daunted by anything that man could overcome, 1 cheered my dis heartened band, and attempted to lead the way up the ascent. But 1 had scarcely en- tered the cloud wien I was swept downward by gust that tore the rocks in finty showers around me. Now came the last and most wondrous sign that marked the fate of re- jected Israel
 While I lay helpless, I heard the whirl- wind roar through the cloudy hill, and the vapOrs began to reyolve. A pale light that of the rising moon, quivered on their edges, and the clouds rose, and rapidly shaped themselves into forms, and battements, and towers. The sound of voices was heard within, low and distant, yet strangely sweet Still the lustre frightened, and the airy buildings rose, tower on tower, and battle ment ou battlement. In awe, that held us mute, we knelt and gazed on this more than mortal architecture, that continued rising and spreading, and glowing with a serener light, still soft and silyery, yet to which the broadest moonbeam was dim At last it stood forth to earth and heaven, the colossal image of the first Temple, of the buildings raised by the wisest of men, and consecrated by the visible glory All Jerusalem saw the image and the shout, that in the midst of their despair, ascended from its thousand and tens of thou sands, told what proud remembrance were there But hymn was heard, that might have hushed the world beside Never fell on my ear, never on human sense, sound so majestic yet so subduing so full of melan- choly, yet of grandeur and command. The vast portal opened, and from it marched a host, such as man shall never see but once again-the guardian angels of the city of David They came forth glorious, but with woe in all their steps; the stars upon their helmets dim; their robes stained; tears flow ing from their celestial beauty" Let us go hence" was their song of sorrow. " Let us go hence" was answered by the sad echoes of the mountains. < Let us go hence swelled upon the night to the farthest limits of the land. The procession fingered on the summit of the hill. The thunder pealed, and rose over the expanse of heaven Their chorus was heard still, magnificent and melancholy, when their splendor was diminished by the brightness of a star. Then the thunder roared again-the cloudy temple was scattered on the wind and darkness, the omen of her grave, settled upon Jerusalem.
 AN INFANTS SLEEP.-Dr. James Wilson, in paper upon Affections of the Heart, ? read before the Royal College of Physicians, in london, indulged in the following sweet strain, in speaking of an infant sleep: " So motionless is its sweet slumbers, that, in
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