While we contemplate the present fallen condition of the children of Israel, and the desolate state in which their "good land"--once "flowing with milk and honey"--is still lying, our minds naturally revert to their former glory, and the unexampled prosperity with which they were blessed: and we ask _wherefore_ they have thus been degraded from their high position? God's word gives the answer--"Because they rebelled against the Lord, and lightly regarded the judgments of the Most High:" and, believing that such considerations may be both interesting and profitable to young readers, the Author ventured--with a full sense of her own incompetence to do justice to the subject--to attempt a narrative, the scene of which is chiefly laid in Jerusalem; and the period it embraces is one of the most eventful and calamitous that has ever been detailed in history. It may be thought that the circumstances of horror and bloodshed have been dwelt on with too much minuteness; but let it be remembered that all the events here related, and many others far more appalling, did actually take place when God avenged himself on his rebellious people: and let it further be remembered, that these things were intended not only for the chastisement of the Jews, but also for the warning of the Gentiles. We know, from the declaration of Christ himself, that a _greater tribulation_ is yet to come on the earth. God grant that we may be warned in time, and prepared to meet it! May we be among those blessed servants of the Lord for whom a surer refuge--a more glorious Pella--will be provided in that day, that so we may "escape those things that are coming on the earth, and stand before the Son of Man!" The Author cannot forbear here expressing her sense of the favour and indulgence with which her attempt to portray "the last days of Jerusalem" has been hitherto received; and her earnest hope that it may have led some of her readers to feel a greater interest in the Jews, and to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Let us pray also for their conversion, and their preparation to meet their expected Messiah: for thus shall we be exercising the highest duties of Christian charity, and repaying in the best manner our obligations to those unto whom the promises of God were first made, and "from whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came." ILLUSTRATIONS BY BARTLETT. Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives Tombs of the Kings NAOMI, AND MARY THE SISTER OF LAZARUS Bethany Interior of the Golden Gate Exterior of the Holy Sepulchre Sculpture on the Arch of Titus DEATH OF ANANUS Absalom's Tomb Bethlehem SALOME INTERCEDING FOR NAOMI Fountain of the Virgin Convent at Santa Saba Group of Cattle MARY OF BETHANY INTERRUPTED BY JAVAN Bedouin Arabs Tomb of Rachel Christian Ladies Tombs of the Kings Tombs of the Kings ZADOK AT THE ALTAR Vaults of the Harem THE ESCAPE OF TITUS Attack of the First Wall FAMINE AND MADNESS Burning of the Temple Tombs of the Kings