knew – but such tears are of a higher kind. He threw himself upon the grave, and long remained there praying and weeping. Elisama too gave free vent to his tears. "Arise,"

he said, at length, to Helon, "and let us repeat together the 90th psalm. Thy father will answer thee in this song of Moses, and bless thee in the words of the man of God." Helon arose, and they both sang as proposed. When they had finished, "Does not this psalm,” said Elisama, “seem to have been composed to suit our circumstances; beginning with lamentation on account of death, and confession of sin : yet even in the midst of these, calling on Jehovah, on him who has been our refuge from generation to generation? Yes, Helon, such has he been to the whole series of our ancestors even to him who, with the prophet Jeremiah, was compelled to flee into Egypt; and on this we found our prayer, Return to us O Jehovah! The Lord has heard thee, happy youth! Thou shalt behold the works of Jehovah ! And from the sepulchre of thy father, from beneath these primeval cedars, his spirit blesses thee and says, The favor of the Lord thy God be upon thee. May he prosper all the work of thy hands, yea, the work of thy hands may his goodness prosper. And now let us go. We will return home by Zion and by the spring of Siloah.”

At the southeast corner of Jerusalem, near the termination of the Kedron, lies the valley of Hinnom, where once sacrifices were offered to Moloch on Tophet. They bent their course around the Water-gate and went through this valley which lies on the southern side, along the aqueduct of Siloah, which had been erected by Solomon. They came first to the lower pool, then to the remains of a noble garden, and at last, opposite to the southwest side of the city, to the upper pool, near which was the highly-prized fountain of Siloah, which Manasseh on his return, had connected with the city by means of a well. Isaiah describes the waters of Siloah as "flowing softly."

Passing by the Fuller's Field,* as it was called from ancient

* 2 Kings xviii. 17. Isaiah vii. 3.

times, and bending round the western side of the city, by the ruins of the aqueduct of Hezekiah, they entered the valley of Siloah. Between the gate of the Fountain and the Valley they saw the tower of Zion, formerly called the tower of the Jebusites, and now the city of David, rising in the midst of the Higher City which had been built around it. The Higher and Lower City were separated by a valley, which was called the Tyropoon (valley of the cheese-makers.) They entered by the gate of the Valley and thus reached again the house of Iddo, in the Higher City, and in the Broad-street.

How did Iddo sympathize in the joy with which Elisama announced to him the determination of Helon! He was standing in the outer court, and had just taken leave of some acquaintance, when they entered. Leading them with exclamations of joy to the inner court, he called his wife from the apartment of the women, made the slaves place cushions around the fountain, and repeatedly exclaimed, “What a happiness for a family! The priest is indeed an angel of Jehoval of Hosts."

The day was spent in domestic festivity, but Helon could not be present at the evening sacrifice, because he had made himself unclean by contact with a grave.* It seemed somewhat strange to him, that he should have been defiled by a visit to his father's tomb and be unfit to appear in the temple of Jehovah, because he had shed there tears not of earthly sorrow but of heavenly hope. But he consoled himself with the thought that the priest was more secure even in this respect.

Helon purified himself in the evening, by the prescribed ablutions. Still he was not permitted to enter the temple for seven days to come; for so long the uncleanness lasted which was produced by touching a sepulchre. But the prohibition applied only to the temple.

The following day was a sabbath. Elisama took the presents which he had designed for the high-priest, and Helon

*Numb. xix. 16.

and he went together to the castle of Baris. It was a stately edifice erected by Hyrcanus. It stood at the northeast corner of the temple, on a steep rock fifty cubits high, and formed a quadrangle, in the midst of which stood a splendid palace. Besides a court, it was surrounded with a wall, on the four corners of which were towers, that on the southeast side being the highest, for the purpose of commanding the temple from it.

The high-priest received the strangers sitting in the inner court, by the fountain, and bade them welcome. Elisama had been known to him before, and Hyrcanus rejoiced to see him after an interval of many years. With lofty panegyrics of his government, and the heroic deeds of himself and his progenitors, Elisama laid his Egyptian presents at his feet, consisting of valuable or curious productions of nature and art from that country, and then made application for Helon's admission into the priesthood. The high-priest lent a favorable ear to the request, but observed, that as the triumphal entry of his sons was to take place on the approaching new moon, he could not before that time adınit Helon to the temple service, and he recommended it to Elisama to employ the interval in examining the genealogical table of the young candidate. Having promised them all necessary aid in carrying their purpose into effect, he dismissed them.

The first step had now been taken. Helon left the castle, full of exultation, and congratulating Israel that such a hero as Hyrcanus sat upon its throne. On their return home, Elisama announced to Iddo his intention of making a journey with Helon to Joppa, where the keeper of the genealogical register of their family dwelt. "Since you are now to be an inhabitant of the Promised Land," said he to Helon, "it is right that you should become acquainted with it, and with your kinsmen who dwell in it. We shall return in time to witness the triumphal entry." Helon requested that they inight take Anathoth in their way, a place which he felt an indescribable longing to see, as being the native town of his

prophet Jeremiah. Elisama agreed, and as soon as the sabbath was ended, preparations for the journey were hastily made.

THE

CHAPTER XVI.

JOURNEY то JOPPA.

THE Crowing of the cock had already announced the near approach of morning, yet all was still in the streets of Jerusalem and in the temple, when Elisama, Helon, and the faithful Sallu, their upper garments girt short around them, with sandals on their feet, and staves in their hands, passed through the gate of Ephraim, and took the road to Anathoth.

They entered the territory of the tribe of Benjamin as soon as they had passed the gate. Jerusalem lay on the confines of Judah and Benjamin, as the metropolis of the whole people, and not belonging to any one tribe exclusively. Since the return from the captivity, the distinction of the tribes had been obliterated, with the exception of that of Levi, and, strictly speaking, only the name remained in the case of the others, as a cherished memorial of former times.

A beautiful and fruitful plain, yet with something of declivity, lay before them, the ouly level ground in the immediate vicinity of the city. On whichever side you quit Jerusalem, the ground falls, for Jerusalem stands elevated and conspicuous on the surface of the earth, as it does in the history of the world. It was growing light when they came into the King's valley, so called because it was here that Melchisedec, priest of the Most High God and King of Salem had met Abram,* returning triumphant from his battle with Chedorlaomer and his confederate kings, and brought wine and bread to the

* Gen. xiv. 18.

patriarch and blessed him. Here too the king of Sodom came to meet Abram. They passed along this beautiful valley, which was beginning to be brightened by the first beams of the sun; the sickle of the reapers was heard on every side, and they congratulated themselves on being permitted to visit scenes where holy men had walked. "These," said Elisama, "are truly consecrated spots; the memory of the events which passed here lives from generation to generation, and has outlasted the pillar which Absalom raised yonder, hoping to perpetuate his name by this monument, when he had no son to preserve it.* He had no son, because he had shown that he could not teach him to honor a father; his monument has disappeared; no man mentions the pillar of Absalom; but the friendly meeting of the kings will be handed down to the latest posterity, in the name which this valley bears."

Helon was silent; for he perceived that his uncle had involuntarily awakened a thought in his own mind, which never failed to give him pain. Elisama had no children, and he regarded this as a grievous punishment from heaven, for some unknown sin which he had committed. With an

agitated voice he turned to Helon and gave him his hand; "Be thou," he said, "my son! Like Absalom I have sinned. I did indeed honor my father to his dying day; but the ways of the Lord are unsearchable; he is righteous, and it becomes me to say with David, 'Who can tell how often he transgresseth! Cleanse thou me from secret faults.'”

"I am thy son," replied Helon, and pressed Elisama's hand. "But here while Israel rejoices around us, in this lovely valley, in the blessing of the harvest, let joy and thankfulness alone occupy our minds."

They proceeded on their way. The fields of barley stood, golden ripe, on either side of the road; troops of reapers were on their way to the harvest, and the sound of the sickle, the song of the laborer, and the rolling of the threshing-wain

*2 Sam. xviii. 18.