File:The gems of masonry - emblematic and descriptive (1859) (14746416342).jpg

Identifier: gemsofmasonryemb00sher (find matches)
Title: The gems of masonry : emblematic and descriptive
Year: 1859 (1850s)
Authors: Sherer, John
Subjects: Freemasonry
Publisher: Cincinnati : The Author
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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esented a hillside nottoo steep for dwellings; and soon the residences of the inhab^itants began to make their way toward its summit. The extent of the city in the time of Solom.on is doubtful,though we may be probably right in supposing that the Hillof Acra, on the north of Zion, was in his time inclosed by afortified wall. We know that the sterile environs of Jeru-salem were at this period converted by labor and irrigation,into a scene of comparative fertility and beauty. The highlypoetical account given by Solomon himself, in the Book ofUcclesiastes, confirms this conclusion. He says : I made me great works : I builded me houses : I plantedme vineyards; I made me gardens, and orchards, and I planted trees inthem of all kinds of fruits> I made me pools of water, to water therewith the woodthat bringeth forth trees — The next sketch brings us to a view of Jerusalem, as appa-rent at the present time ; and enables us at a glance, to tracethe topographical changes it has undergone*
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I in describiiig the present appearance of Jerusalem we aremo longer left to conjecture; the concurrent testimony ofthousands of travelers, has established the facts as presentedin this sketch. And first we observe, by comparison with thelast sketch, that since the earlier days of Jerusalem, the entirecity has removed east and north; there are now but few hab-itations on the hill Sion, formerly the Royal City of Davidand Solomon. The portion of the city at the present timeoccupied by the Jews, is upon the space once the valley orravine between Sion and Moriah, now filled up, and almostdirectly west of the Temple. But a small portion, in fact, ofthe ancient Sion is now within the walls that inclose the city;and that which David desired so greatly for a possession, andfor which the blood of his bravest was so cheerfully pouredout, is now a waste place, incumbered with ruins, the abode ofthe jackal. The spot on which so many of the deathlessPsalms were composed, resounds now at night wit

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