THE last and most solemn denunciation of Jerusalem had been uttered, the last and

most terrible prediction of judgment upon the Temple spoken, and Jesus was suiting the

action to the word. It was as if He had cast the dust of His Shoes against 'the House'

that was to be 'left desolate.' And so He quitted for ever the Temple and them that held

office in it.

They had left the Sanctuary and the City, had crossed black Kidron, and were slowly

climbing the Mount of Olives. A sudden turn in the road, and the Sacred Building was

once more in full view. Just then the western sun was pouring his golden beams on tops

of marble cloister and on the te rraced courts, and glittering on the golden spikes on the

roof of the Holy Place. In the setting, even more than in the rising sun, must the vast

proportions, the symmetry, and the sparkling sheen of this mass of snowy marble and

gold have stood out gloriously. And across the black valley, and up the slopes of Olivet,

lay the dark shadows of these gigantic walls built of massive stones, some of them

nearly twenty-four feet long. Even the Rabbis, despite their hatred of Herod, grow

enthusiastic, and dream that the very Temple -walls would have been covered with gold,

had not the variegated marble, resembling the waves of the sea, seemed more

beauteous.1 It was probably as they now gazed on all this grandeur and strength, that

they broke the silence imposed on them by gloomy thoughts of the near desolateness of

that House, which the Lord had predicted.2 One and another pointed out to Him those

massive stones and splendid buildings, or speak of the rich offerings with which the

Temple was adorned.3 It was but natural that the contrast between this and the

predicted desolation should have impressed them; natural, also, that they should refer

to it - not as matter of doubt, but rather as of question.4 Then Jesus, probably turning to

one - perhaps to the first, or else the principal - of His questioners,5 spoke fully of that

terrible contrast between the present and the near future, when, as fulfilled with almost

incredible literality,6 not one stone would be left upon another that was not upturned.