chap, v.] ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM. 345

Mountains of Judea. On reaching the walls ofJerusalem, he employed five days in examiningthem ;' next he harangued his emirs—“ That ifGod should give them the grace to chase the enemyfrom the Holy house, what felicity, what gratitudewe should owe Him! That, behold, the holy cityhas been in the hands of infidels for eighty years,during which the Creator receives but impious praisethere ; that the Moslem Princes had often desired todeliver it, but nevertheless this high honour wasreserved for the Ayoubides, to gain them the heartsof all Mahometans. That their entire thoughts shouldthen be directed to the conquest of Jerusalem; thatthere is Omar’s Mosque, choicest fabric of Islam;that Jerusalem is the dwelling of the prophets, wherethe saints repose, which the angels of heavenvisit in pilgrimage, where shall be the generalresurrection and the last judgment; that it is therethe elect of the Lord resort; that it contains thestone of untouched beauty, whence Mahometascended to Paradise; that it is there the lightningflashed, the night of mystery shone forth, and thattruth beamed which has illuminated every part ofthe world; that one of its gates is that of mercy,

1 Arab. Chron., 205.

VOL. I.

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