t Moriah did Mahomet, as his followers believe, miraculously
ascend to heaven. And so did Jerusalem become, and has ever since
remained, no less a sacred city of the Mahomedan.

Thus it will be seen that Jerusalem, the sacred city of three mighty
religions, became the most holy city in the world, the poetical
prototype of heaven.

Jerusalem, situate away on the hills and far from the main trading and
military route, was of but little commercial or strategical importance.
Yet we readily understand how its religious value caused it so often to
become the goal and prize of contending creeds and armies. Sometimes the
motive was religious antagonism, as with Antiochus Epiphanes and Titus;
sometimes it was religious devotion, as with the Maccabees and
Crusaders. Pitiful though it be, yet, throughout the ages, the City of
the Prince of Peace has been associated with the most terrible scenes,
the most savage excesses, in the whole dreadful drama of war.

Not once nor twice in the reigns of the Kings of Judah and Israel, did
Jerusalem resound with the clash of arms. Although, after the fall of
the northern kingdom, it was delivered by divine intervention from the
invasion of Sennacherib, yet its submersion by the rising tide of
Babylon could not long be averted. The evil day had only been postponed
and, in 607 B.C., Jerusalem fell before Nebuchadnezzar, before that
power which, like Turkey of yesterday, dominated the whole stretch of
country from the Persian Gulf to the border of Egypt. Twenty years
later, Jerusalem, with the Temple of Solomon, was destroyed, the city,
palaces and temple being levelled in one, and the population were put to
death or led away captive to Babylon.

When, some years later, the capital of the Babylonians was captured by
the Persians and their empire annexed, the Jews were permitted to return
to Jerusalem. In the sixth and fifth centuries B.C. the temple and walls
were rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah, and Jerusalem took a fresh lease
of life as a Jewish city.

In the fourth century B.C., when Alexander the Great marched southwards
through Syria to Egypt, securing the Mediterranean littoral before
embarking on his expedition into Asia, overthrowing Tyre in his march
and totally destroying Gaza, the Jews no doubt made their submission,
and their city thus escaped destruction.

After the death of Alexander, Judaea did not escape the anarchy which
ensued during the internecine warfare waged by his g