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Once more, my dear father, I address a letter to you from
this holy city. This morning when I awoke at the
sound of the silver trumpets of the priests, ringing melodiously
from the top of Mount Moriah, I experienced anew
that profound devotion which the children of Abraham
must always feel in the city of God, and in the presence
of His very Temple. As I ascended the roof of the house
to prayer, the gorgeous pile of the Temple towered heavenward
from the summit of Moriah, in all the magnificence
of its celestial beauty. The azure wreaths of incense
were already curling upward into the still skies, while the
murky cloud sent up by the burnt sacrifice rolled darkly
above the pinnacle, casting an awful shade over all the
Temple. As it sailed slowly onward, and hung above the
valley of Kedron, the sun rose and gilded its massive edges
as if they had been turned out with gold. Louder and
clearer rang the trumpets, and every house-top soon had
its group of worshipers, while along the streets rolled the
tide of people, some leading lambs, others driving goats
before them, others carrying doves in their bosom, to be
offered to the Lord by the priest. It was a joyous morning
to me dear father, for Æmilius, the noble Roman Prefect,
was this day voluntarily to present himself at the

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Temple to be made a proselyte to the holy faith of Israel. I
will not now detain you by recording the arguments by
which he was led to renounce idolatry and become a Jew!
Pilate, the Procurator, favored, instead of opposing it, believing
that it would conciliate the Jews in favor of the
Romans; he resolved, therefore, to grace the rite with his
presence. I could see him proudly rolling onward towards
the Temple in his gilded chariot, escorted by a score of
guards, blazing in their Grecian cuirasses. I sought in
vain the form of Æmilius; but he reached the Temple by
another street. The morning was, therefore, additionally
lovely to me. I thought I had never seen the olive groves,
on the hill-side beyond the king's gardens, so green, nor
the harvest so yellow, as they undulated in the soft breeze
of the opening morn. The lofty palms every where appeared
to bend and wave their verdant fans with joyous
motion. The birds in the palace gardens sang sweeter and
louder; and Jerusalem itself seemed more beautiful than
ever. While I was gazing upon the scene, and adoring
God, and thanking him for the conversion of Æmilius,
Rabbi Amos came and said that he would take us to the
Temple, for he was at leisure on that morning. We were
soon on our way climbing the paved pathway to Moriah.
Oh, how sublimely towered the divine Temple above our
heads, seemingly lost in the blue of the far heaven! The
great gates opening North and South to the East and
West were thronged with the multitude pressing through;
while from the galleries above each seat pealed forth the
clear-voiced trumpets of God in ceaseless reverberation.
My uncle pointed out to me the massive doors, all overlaid
with sheets of beaten gold, and the floor of green marble

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on which we trode. He bade me notice the costly entablature
of colored stones, exquisitely worked with the
Grecian's chisel; and especially the roof of fretted silver,
set with precious stones, the onyx, beryl, sapphire, carbuncle,
and jasper. I was dazzled by the magnificence,
and awed by the vast extent of the space of splendor surrounding
me; while ten thousands of people were to be
seen moving towards the altar of sacrifice. From that
superb court I was led into a hall nearly a hundred cubits
in length, its ceiling of pure gold sustained by a thousand
and one columns of porphyry and white marble, ranged
alternately. Such richness I had never conceived of, or
thought possible on earth. But when Rabbi Amos explained
that they all were made after patterns of heavenly
things, I ceased to marvel, and only wished I might one
day dwell in those celestial abodes, where, the holy Jesus
teaches us, are mansions not made with hands, of endless
duration, reserved for all the good and virtuous.

I was not permitted to approach the sacred chamber,
where stood the four thousand vessels of gold of Ophir,
used in the sacrifices on great days; and this being a
high day, I saw no less than six hundred priests standing
about the altar, each with a golden censer in his hand.
Beyond was the holy ark of the covenant, over which the
cherubim hovered, their wings meeting, and between them
is the mercy-seat! As this was the Holy of Holies I was
not permitted to see it; but its position was pointed out
to me within the veil, which conceals from all eyes but
that of the High Priest once a year, the seat of God's
throne on the earth, alas, now left vacant since the glory
of the Shechinah departed from the Holy of Holies!

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The air of the vast Temple was delicious with the fragrance
of burning frankincense. As the victims bled, and
the smoke ascended, the people fell on their faces and worshiped
God. It was an impressive scene, and made my
heart stand still. I seemed to expect to hear the voice of
Jehovah breaking the stillness that followed. But after
a few moments' silence, a sudden trumpet note thrilled
every soul in the countless multitude. It was followed
by a peal of music that shook the air from a choir of two
thousand singers, male and female, of the sons and
daughters of Levi, who served in the Temple. Entering
from the southern court, they advanced in long procession,
singing sacred chants, and playing on sacbut and harp,
psalter and nebble, chinna and tympana. As they ascended
to the choir, their voices, mingling with the instruments,
filled all the Temple. I never heard before such
sublime harmony; especially when, on reaching the elevated
choir, a thousand Levites, with manly voices, joined
them, and the whole company chanted one of the sublimest
of the Psalms of David. I was overcome—my senses
dissolved in a sea of seraphic sounds; my heart swelled
as if it would break, and I found relief only in a flood
of tears.

When the chant was concluded, the whole multitude
responded, “Amen, and Amen,” like the deep voice of an
earthquake suddenly shaking the foundations of the Temple.

At length I beheld a train of priests following the High
Priest as he marched thrice around the altar. In that procession
I discovered a company of proselytes, escorted by
twelve aged priests, with long snowy beards, and in

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vestments of the purest white. Among the proselytes, which
numbered full a score of men, from almost every nation, I
detected the tall and noble figure of the Roman Æmilius.
He was robed in a black garment from head to foot. But
upon approaching the baptismal basin, two young priests
removed this sable dress, and robed him in white. I then
saw him baptized into the family of Abraham, and a new
name given him, that of Eleazer. I heard the silver trumpets
proclaim the conversion, and the multitudes shouting
their joy!

Of the rest of the ceremony I have no recollection, as,
after the baptism of Æmilius, I was too happy to see or
think of any one else. There stands now, dear father, no
further bar to our union. Æmilius is become a Jew,
and henceforth will worship the God of our fathers! I
know you said in your last letter to me that you feared
the noble young Roman was led by his attachment to me
to renounce his religion, and not from honest conviction
of its truth and of its falsehood. But I am assured, dear
father, that he acts from conviction. The conversations he
has had with me, and with Rabbi Amos, and other of the
learned doctors of our nation, whom he has met at our
house, with the careful reading of the Scriptures of the
Prophets, have not only convinced him that the Lord God
of Israel is the only God of the whole earth, but that the
worshipers of idols are the worshipers of Satan, who hath
set up that religion in opposition to that of the true God.

While I was lifting up my heart in gratitude for the
happy conversion of Æmilius, and while the Jews were
crowding about him to extend to him the hand of fellowship,
rejoicing that so noted a person should embrace our

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faith, uncle Amos drew my attention by exclaiming with
gladness:

“Behold! there is Jesus!”

“Where?” I cried, trying to discover the divine Prophet
among the multitude.

“Standing by yonder pillar of porphyry. John is on
one side of him and Peter on the other. He is pointing
to the altar, and explaining or teaching them something.
Let us try and approach him!”

We at once made our way, but with difficulty, towards
the spot where we had discovered him. The rumor that
the Christ was in the Temple rapidly spread, and the whole
multitude pressed towards the same point. At length,
we attained our object so as to get with in a few feet of
him. Here a tall, richly attired Greek addressed Rabbi
Amos, saying:

“Sir, tell me who that youthful Jew is, whose countenance
is stamped with firmness and benevolence, so
finely combined in its expression; whose air possesses
such dignity and wisdom; whose noble eye seems filled
with a holy sadness, and whose glance is full of innocence
and sweetness. He seems born to love men and to
command them. All seek to approach him. Pray, sir
who is he?”

“That, O stranger, is Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish
Prophet,” uncle Amos, delighted to point him out to a
foreigner.

“Then am I well rewarded for my journey in turning
aside to Jerusalem,” answered the Grecian. “I have
even heard of his fame in Macedonia, and am rejoiced
to behold him. Think you he will do some great miracle?”

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“He performs miracles not to gratify curiosity, but to
bear testimony to the truths he teaches, that they are
delivered to him of God. Hark! He speaks,” cried my
uncle.

Every voice was hushed, as that of Jesus rose clear
and sweet, and thrilling, like a celestial clarion speaking.
And he preached, dear father, a sermon so full of
wisdom, of love to man, of love to God, of knowledge of
our hearts, of divine and convincing power, that thousands
wept; thousands were chained to the spot with awe and
delight, and all were moved as if an angel had addressed
them. They cried, “Never man spake like this man!”
and certainly never human lips dispensed such wisdom.

When he had ended, the priests, seeing that he had
carried the hearts of all the people, were greatly enraged,
and not being able to vent their hatred and fear in any
other way, they hired a vile person by the name of Gazeel,
a robber, to take one of the blood-stained sacrificing knives
from the altar, and creep towards him behind the column,
and assassinate him. The robber drew near, and taking
a favorable position to execute the deed, raised his hand
to strike the Prophet from behind, when Jesus, turning his
head, arrested the hand of the assassin in mid-air, by a
look! Unable to move a muscle, Gazeel stood betrayed
to all eyes in this murderous attitude, like a statue of
stone.

When Jesus had exhibited him to all the vast concourse
in this manner for a few minutes, he said to him:

“Return to those who hired thee. My hour is not yet
come; nor can they have any power over me until my
Father's will be fulfilled concerning me.”

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The assassin bowed his head with deep humility; the
knife dropped from his hand and rang upon the marble
floor; and he sank at Jesus' feet, imploring forgiveness.
The people would have torn Gazeel in pieces, but Jesus
said:

“Let him depart in peace. The day shall come when
he will be willing to lay down his life to save mine. Ye,
priests, go about to kill me,” he added, fixing his clear
gaze upon the group which had sent Gazeel. “For what
do ye seek my life? Because I bear testimony to the
wickedness of your own. Ye lay heavy burdens on the
people, and will not lift them with one of your fingers. I
have come to my own, and to my Temple, and ye receive
me not. The day cometh when this Temple shall be
thrown down, and not one stone left upon another; and
some who hear me shall behold and mourn in that day.
Oh, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have
gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Thou shalt
be left desolate and cast out from among cities, because
thou knewest not the day of thy visitation. But ye, who
would escape these troubles, seek to enter my kingdom,
which shall have no end; fly to the Jerusalem which is
above, and which is above all, whose foundation is eternal,
and whose Temple is the Lord God Almighty, who is also
the light and glory thereof.”

Upon hearing these words, there arose a great cry from
ten thousand voices:

“Hail to Jesus, the king of Israel and Judah!

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Hosanna to the Prince of David! We will have no king but
Jesus.”

At this shout, which was caught and repeated beyond
the four gates of the Temple, the priests cried aloud that
the people were in insurrection.

Pilate, who was, with his guard, just leaving the Court
of the Gentiles, hearing it, turned to ask what it meant.
One of the priests, desirous of having Jesus slain, quickly
answered, “That the people had proclaimed Jesus, the
Nazarene, king,” and that he was already placing himself
at the head of the people.

Hearing this, Pilate sent off messengers to the Castle
of David for soldiers, and with his body-guard turned
back to the Temple gate, charging the people sword in
hand.

The tumult was now fearful, and the bloodshed would
have been great, but Jesus suddenly appeared before
him—none saw how he had reached the place—and
said:

“There is no insurrection, O Roman! I am Jesus. I
seek no kingdom but such as my Father hath given me.
Neither thy power, nor thy master's, is in peril. My kingdom
is not of this world.”

Pilate was seen to bend his proud head with low obeisance
before the Prophet, and said graciously:

“I have no wish to arrest thee. Thy word, O Prophet,
is sufficient for me. Of thee I have hitherto heard much.
Wilt thou come with me to my palace, and let me hear
thee, and see some miracle?”

“Thou shalt see me in thy palace, but not to-day; and
thou shalt behold a miracle, but not now.”

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When Jesus had thus said, he withdrew himself from
Pilate's presence; and those who would have sought him
to make him a king could nowhere discover him.

The result of this attempt of the people to make the
Prophet their king, and under his direction to overthrow
the Roman power, has been, that the Roman authorities,
instigated by Annas and the priests, begin to look upon
Jesus with eyes of jealousy; and Pilate this morning told
a deputation of priests, who waited on him to petition him
to arrest and imprison the Prophet, that on the first proof
they could bring him of his hostility to Cæsar, he would
send soldiers to take him. To-day Jesus was refreshing
himself in our house, when several Scribes and Pharisees
came in. I saw by their dark looks they meditated evil;
and secretly sent Elec with a message to Æmilius, (now
Eleazer,) asking him to be at hand to protect Jesus; for
Æmilius is devoted to him as we are, and Jesus takes
delight in teaching him the things of the kingdom of
God.

Jesus, knowing the hearts of these bad men, said to
them, after they had seated themselves, and remained
some minutes in silence:

“Wherefore are ye come?”

“Master,” said Jehoram, one of the chief Scribes, “we
know that thou art a Teacher come from God, and fearest
no man, nor regardest the person of any man.”

“Yes,” added Zadoc, a Levite of great fame among the
people, “we have heard how boldly thou speakest at all
times; and that thou shrinkest from no man's power—not
even Pilate, nor Herod, nay, nor Cæsar, could make thee
refrain from what thow willest to utter. Is it lawful

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for us, Jews, the peculiar nation of God, to pay tribute
to Cæsar, who is an idolator? Is it lawful for us to obey
the laws of Pilate, rather than of Moses? We ask this as
Jews, to a Jew. Tell us frankly; for thou fearest not the
face of any man.”

“Let the question rest simply upon the tribute to
the Romans,” answered Jehoram. “Master, ought
we, the holy nation, to give tribute to the Emperor
Cæsar?”

Jesus look fixedly upon them, as if he read their wicked
designs, and said:

“Show me the tribute money.”

Zadoc handed him a penny, the Roman coin sent into
Judea by Cæsar, as our currency, and which we return to
Rome again in tribute. When Jesus had taken the money,
he looked on the head of Augustus stamped upon one side,
and then turning to them, as they waited breathlessly for
his answer, said sternly:

“Whose image and whose name is here impressed?”

“Cæsar's,” eagerly answered the whole party.

“Then render unto Cæsar the things that be Cæsar's,
and unto God the things that be God's,” was his calm
and wonderful answer.

I breathed again; for I feared he would answer openly
that tribute ought not to be paid, which they hoped he
would do, when they would immediately have accused
him to Pilate as teaching that we ought not to pay tribute
to Rome, and so a fomenter of rebellion.

But the divine wisdom of his answer relieved all our
minds; while the Scribes and Levites, his enemies, looked

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upon him with amazement, interchanged glances of conscious
defeat, and left the house.

Such, dear father, is his wisdom, that his enemies cannot
triumph over him. Oh, that you could see him and
hear him. It is worth a visit from Egypt to Jerusalem
to see and listen to him, and behold his miracles,
of which he every day performs one or more;
till disease, deformity, leprosy and sickness, seem to
have disappeared from Jerusalem and all Judea.

When Æmilius arrived, and found Jesus alone with
our family, unharmed, he spoke freely his satisfaction.

“Æmilius,” said Jesus to him, “thou art now become
a Jew. One step more, and thou shalt enter the kingdom
of Heaven.”

“What step, dear master?” he asked, earnestly.

“Thou must be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and
thou shalt be partaker of eternal life.”

“Rabboni,” said Æmilius, “I verily thought that
to be baptized a proselyte of thy people was to be
Moses' disciple, and to have the seal to life eternal.
Have I still more to do?”

“To be my disciple, Æmilius. I am the end of the
Law of Moses. He that believeth in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live. I give eternal life to as
many as believe in me. But thou knowest not now
what I say; thou shalt know hereafter.”

Æmilius would have questioned him further, but
Jesus left him, and went forth into the garden, where
he remained late at night in meditation and prayer.

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I am rejoiced, dear father, that you permit me to
accompany my uncle Amos to Cesarea. We leave
after the new moon. Believing, my dearest father, that
all I have written you touching Jesus has not been in
vain, and that you are, with me and thousands in Israel,
ready to believe him that he is the Christ, the
Deliverer of Jacob,