Of David it is written, he "slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David." The same simple and impressive mention is made of Solomon's death. Monarchs were only men--sinners to be saved by grace, if rescued at all from the power and ruin of sin. It is hoped and believed by Christian people that Solomon, in his declining years, reviewed prayerfully and penitently his career, and found peace with a pardoning God. The sepulchre of royalty in Jerusalem, is well worthy of a visit by travellers in the Holy Land. Some of the stone coffins lean against the solid walls, others lie in massive richness of sculpture on the floor. The Jews called their burial places the house of the living, because of the expected resurrection--a beautiful sentiment, which rebukes the dismal thoughts and mourning of many Christian persons over the newly made graves of their departed friends. The beautiful tomb in the "valley of Jehosaphat," is one of comparatively modern construction, but it shows the admiration felt by the Hebrews for Absalom, with all his waywardness. [Illustration: Joseph Elevated to Power by Pharaoh.] [Illustration: The Israelites Carried into Captivity.] THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY LAND. PATRIARCHS, KINGS AND KINGDOMS. PALESTINE UNDER PAGAN KINGS. The picture which introduces these pages was drawn from a scene under the sceptre of the first monarch mentioned in the Bible. A comparatively unimportant prince, the "King of Sodom," whose small and wicked realm Jehovah destroyed by fire and brimstone, is mentioned. But the empire of the Pharaohs of Egypt, was large, rich, and magnificent. And it is a singular thing, that of this nation, and all others of antiquity, excepting what the Scriptures contain, the early history is little known. A great German historian, Dr. Von Rotteck, truly writes: "The principal trait that distinguishes the first period of the ancient world is its obscurity." The general belief is, that the founders of Egypt went from Ethiopia, and the Ethiopians from East India or South Arabia. "Where did the Indiamen have their origin?" you may ask; but no man can certainly answer. That all races sprang from Adam we have no doubt, but the lines of descent and emigration the wisest student of the past cannot follow. The living oracles, in brief statements, give us nearly all the reliable accounts we have of the early history of the "Land of the Nile," as Egypt was called. In them we learn that while the "chosen people of God," the only nation whose annals of growth in the number of its population and its civilization, has been handed down to us, was no more than a tribe of wandering shepherds under Abraham, Egypt was the home of art, and a garden of agricultural products.