"But do not early prophets foretell the restoration of Israel," said Rutilius; "and does not your Apostle St. Paul say, that the whole nation will one day become Christian?"

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"Yes, he does," said the other; "but he no where says, that when converted it will retain its national distinction. On the contrary, he says that the birthright of the Israelites, as heirs of Abraham, passed to that portion of the nation which, in his own days, joined the Church of Christ. I, for instance, am myself descended by the female line from such a Jewish family. Now it is clear that the Prophets speak of Israel as though it were the chief and first of nations, and as though it inherited some peculiar privilege, which no other people in the world enjoyed. If this was designed to belong to that portion of the Israelites which still held together as a nation, then my family, and all which, like mine, have melted into the body of the Church, has lost its part of that pre-eminence which is promised by the ancient Prophets. For the vast mass of Jewish converts is no longer to be distinguished from Christians of other origin. This notion, then, would make that portion of the Jewish nation which St. Paul asserts to have exclusively inherited the promises of Abraham, to have been the only one which lost it. The error is very injurious; for the opinion that the prophecies will still be fulfilled to their nation as a separate body, and that by holding together they will share in the promised grandeur of their

people, is what, more than aught besides, retains the Jews in their impenitence."

"What is the meaning, then, of those predictions," asked Rutilius," which speak of the prosperity of Israel ?”

"St. Paul has given us the interpretation of them," said his companion, "when he tells us that Jerusalem means the Church of God. And since the Jewish system has been overthrown by their exile from this land, in which only they could properly maintain it, his interpretation has been understood not only to be the true, but to be the only true meaning of that glorious name. It is but of late that our people have begun to bestow the name of Jerusalem at all upon this place, which, as you know, is commonly called Elia. If the Jewish people had accepted our Lord's teaching, this city might perhaps have borne a different part in the new dispensation; the Jews might have been taught that their law had passed away in some manner less awful than by the destruction of their city and temple. Yet I have heard one learned man observe that there was a sort of providential order in the ruin which befel this city; for had it lasted, the natural honour paid to our Lord's earthly home might have produced for it a superstitious veneration. At present the metropolis of the Christian world is felt to be above, and no one city pretends to bear sway over her sister Churches."

While his companion spoke, they were looking

back upon the city-portal through which they had lately passed; and Rutilius asked the meaning of a projection on the gate, which presented the unattractive figure of a vast sow.

"Its object," replied his companion, "I can hardly tell you. The Roman founders of this city placed it there; but whether as an insult to the former inhabitants of the place, or in connexion with their own superstition, I know not. They have certainly shewn, in many instances, that they took pleasure in testifying their contempt for what we consider sacred. I shewed you yesterday how they had crowned the hill of Calvary; and the village of Bethlehem, by which we travel, where the Virginborn saw the light, they have in like manner devoted to the impure rites of Adonis."

Rutilius was glad to learn the remarkable circumstances of the places by which they passed. At Bethlehem he made some pause; he saw the tomb of Rachel on the right hand, half way between it and Jerusalem; and his companion did not leave him till evening, when he rested near Mamre, where the patriarch Abraham had so long sojourned of this he saw a remarkable memoriala tree of great age, and near it a painting of three persons, the central one the most distinguished, to which the inhabitants of the adjoining country were accustomed to offer sacrifices. At this place, his companion told him, numbers of persons from all the adjoining regions were accustomed to assemble, as well with a reli

gious object, as for purposes of merchandise; and the figures were no doubt the remains of an ancient tradition respecting the supernatural visitants of the patriarch.

Rutilius, now left to himself, accomplished his journey to Joppa as speedily as he could, and thence took ship for Alexandria.

T

CHAPTER XV.

The Meeting with Marcellus. The Discovery.
The Confession.

And on his brest a bloody crosse he bore,

The dear remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead as living ever Him ador'd:

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,

For soveraigne hope which in His helpe he had.
Right, faithful, true, he was in deed and word;
But of his cheere did seem too solemn sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.

Faery Queen.

THOUGH the letter given by Zambda had contained but few particulars, yet Rutilius could not repress the conviction that it implied much more than it expressed. What could be the secret which his uncle designed to convey? During the leisure of his voyage his mind was actively engaged in scanning the different hypotheses which presented themselves to his imagination. Was it only his uncle's marriage to Flavia? Why should he, of all men, be summoned to attend it? Why had it been so long delayed? Did it connect itself with the apprehensions which the Christians began unceasingly to entertain from the well-known violence of Galerius ?

Such thoughts chased one another through his mind as he came in view of the lofty pillar which had lately been erected at Alexandria in honour of Dioclesian (now called Pompey's Pillar). At ano