462 DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN. [1842. 



a statue : she no longer followed in the footsteps of her fleeing 

 companions, but, transfixed to the spot — a pillar of salt — she 

 stood there, where her feet had been planted, a lasting monu- 

 ment of the indignation of her Maker, and a continual warn- 

 in^ asrainst disobedience. 



And now the fire and brimstone descended out of heaven, 

 and " the garden of the Lord," the cities and their inhabitants, 

 and the plain and everything it contained, sank beneath the 

 burning and hissing waves, that surged up to the valley of 

 El-Ghor; Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zcboim — the 

 people in the midst of their crimes— the substance which they had 

 hoarded — their flocks and their herds — the fields and gardens- 

 teeming with the products of the earth, the fruits and the 

 flowers, the noble groves of palms and sycamores, and the vine 

 and the olive with their load of blushing honors, — all disap- 

 peared forever — "and, lo! the smoke of the country went up 

 as the smoke of a furnace !" 



For thousands of years, sacred and profane history have 

 preserved the traditions connected with this event. The 

 chosen people of God were driven from the homes of their 

 fathers by the legions of Rome ; the latter was deprived of 

 her conquests by the Saracen ; and he, in his turn, was suc- 

 ceeded by the Turk. But ever since Titus planted his eagles 

 in triumph on the crumbling ramparts of Jerusalem, and from 

 the hour in which the edict of Adrian made the Jew an out- 

 cast and a wanderer,* whithersoever he has gone, wherever 

 he has sought an abiding-place — whether amid the snows and 

 frosts of northern Europe, or the soft and voluptuous climes 

 alon<* the classic shores of the Mediterranean — whether in the 

 crowded capitals of the Old World, or the expanding cities of 

 the New — he has clung, in every trial and vicissitude, through 

 every peril and persecution, to the memories that time has 

 hallowed, and which his religion has sanctified. 



During all this period, too, Palestine herself has not been 

 without witnesses. Though the Infidel is in possession of 



* Jerusalem was taken by Titus in the 70th year of the Christian Era ; but 

 the Jews were not banished from Judea until A. D 136. 



