A still richer source of interest, however, than any which can arise from the natural beauties of the district, may be found in the identity of the customs of the inhabitants of SHECHEM, with those described in HOLY SCRIPTURE as anciently common in the same vicinity; and in the monuments of sacred antiquity with which the neighbourhood abounds. The traveller already mentioned, relates, that he met, in the valley of SHECHEM, "a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, just as in the days of Reuben and Judah;" and that upon the hills around, flocks and herds were feeding as of old, when "Israel said unto Joseph, 'do not thy brethren feed the flock in SHECHEM?'" With reference to the ancient sepulchres near Shechem, as lasting as the rocks in which they are hewn, he thus gives utterance to his excited feelings; "These are monuments on which a lapse of ages effects no change: they have defied, and will defy, the attacks of time, and continue as perfect at this hour, as they were in the first moment of their completion." "If any thing connected with the memory of past ages be calculated to awaken local enthusiasm, the land around this city is pre-eminently entitled to that distinction. The sacred story of events transacted in the fields of SHECHEM, is, from our earliest years, remembered with delight; but having the territory where those events took place, actually before our eyes, and beholding objects as they were described above three thousand years ago, the grateful impression kindles into ecstacy." NAPOLOSE or SHECHEM may be justly considered as one of the finest cities in Palestine; though, in the eyes of Europeans, the narrowness of its streets detracts much from its beauty. It possesses a fine bazaar, fitted up with broad counters, and about two hundred yards in length; with a foot-way through the centre for passengers and camels. The principal trade of the inhabitants arises from the manufacture of soap, for which the place is famous; and cotton is extensively grown in the surrounding fields. Amid the Turkish population of the ancient SHECHEM, there are some Jewish families; and a few Samaritans still resident there, retain the faith of their fathers, "worshipping God" worshipping God" on the same "mountain," and still expecting the Messiah. Surely it must be the prayer of every Christian, that these branches of the stock of Abraham should be speedily graffed again into their own olive-tree, in anticipation of that "fulness of the Gentiles" which we are instructed by the Sacred Oracles to anticipate. The Vicarage, Appleby, Westmoreland. PALESTINE. No. IX. THE following graphic description of the desolations of the modern City of Jerusalem is from the pen of Dr. Macgowan.-" Whole ranges of streets in the Turkish Quarter are in a state of utter dilapidation. All Jerusalem may be called a city of ruins-built upon ruins the ruins of forty centuries—the accumulated dust of countless generations; and yet there is a majesty and grandeur in this scene of desolation which have no parallel upon earth. The massive remains of ancient architecture, the huge blocks of stone in the walls and streets; the half-buried column and the broken arch, which neither time nor violence have been able utterly to destroy, still attest the magnificence of former days. But there is a living monument more striking than all the rest-An inhabitant of these ruins-One whose features, dress, and language bespeak the descendant of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and who still cleaves, with prophetic hope, to the city of his fathers, though in desolation, and trodden down of the Gentiles. The very existence of the Jew within these walls, speaks not only of past but of future glory; when the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established on the top of the mountains, and Jerusalem again be the joy of the whole earth." PSALM CII. 13., &c. Surely the time, the long-wished time The heathen, Lord, shall fear thy name An interesting account is given by the same writer, of a Sicilian, who has recently joined the little company of believers in Jerusalem. "The history of this individual, Pietro Angelo by name, is interesting in many respects. He is a Sicilian by birth; he has received a good education, and his scientific acquirements are very respectable. His occupation in his own country was that of engineer in the Sulphur works, and in addition to his own branch, he possesses a very competent knowledge of chemistry and mineralogy. His object in coming to Jerusalem was to make himself more fully acquainted with the principles of the Anglican Church; having heard of the arrival of an English Bishop in the Holy City, he hoped that he would be able to gain the instruction he is in search of. On his arrival he made himself known to Mr. Ewald, who presented him to the Bishop. After having received Mr. Ewald's instructions, and given satisfaction both to Mr. E. and the Bishop, he joined our little flock, and is now a reguar attendant of the services of our Church on Mount Zion." PSALM LXXXVII. 'Tis His foundation firm and sure Than Jacob's dwelling all beside By his high presence from above. God will himself establish her; While of our Zion shall be said, The Lord, when numbering up his own, Thy vocal choirs, O Zion, thine, Shall join with music's sweetest sound, And shout, responsive to the lyre, |