(6) Persians. But these prosperous days were soon to end. The Persians, who had long har assed the empire of the East, penetrated into Syria in A. D. 614, and after defeating the forces of the Emperor Heraclius, took Jerusalem by storm. Many thousands of the inhabitants were slain, and much of the city destroyed. The damage occasioned by the Persians was speedily repaired.
(7) Caliph Omar. But Arabia soon furnished a more formidable enemy in the Caliph Omar, whose troops appeared before the city in A. D. 636. By his orders the magnificent mosque which still bears his name was built upon Mount Moriah, upon the site of the Jewish temple. Jerusalem remained in possession of the Arabians, and was occasionally visited by Christian pilgrims from Europe till towards the year moo, %vhen a gen eral belief that the second coming of the Savior was near at hand drew pilgrims in unwonted cro%vds to the Holy Land.
(8) The Crusades. The sight, by such large numbers, of the holy place in the hands of in fidels, the exaction of tribute, and the insults to which the pilgrims, often of the highest rank, %vere exposed from the Moslem rabble, excited an extraordinary ferment in Europe, and led fo those remarkable expeditions for recovering the Holy Sepulcher from the Mohammedans which, under the name of the Crusades, will always fill a most important and curious chapter in the history of the %vorld. But by the time the Cru saders, under Godfrey of Bouillon. appeared be fore Jerusalem, on the 17th of June, to99, the Egyptian rulers had recovered possession of Palestine and driven the Saracens beyond the Euphrates. After a siege of forty days, the holy city was taken by storm on the 1.5th day of July; and a dreadful massacre of the Moslem inhabitants followed, without distinction of age or sex. As soon as order was restored, and the city cleared of the dead, a regnlar government was established by the election of Godfrey as king of Jerusalem. The Christians kept possession of Jerusalem eighty-eight years. During this long period they appear to have erected several churches and many convents. Of the latter few, if any, traces remain; and of the former, save one or two ruins, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which they rebuilt, is the only memorial which attests the existence of the Christian kingdom of Jeru salem.
(9) Saladha. In A. D. 1187 the holy city was wrested from the hands of the Christians by the Sultan Saladin. From that time to the present day the holy city has remained, with slight inter ruption, in the hands of the Moslems. On the threatened siege by Richard of England in 1192, Saladin took great pains in strengthening its defenses. But in A. D. 1219, the Sultan Melek el Moaddin of Damascus, who then had possession of Jerusalem, ordered all the walls and towers to be demolished, except the citadel and the en closure of the mosque, lest the Franks should again become masters of the city and find it a place of strength. In this defenseless state Je rusalem continued till it was delivered over to the Christians in consequence of a treaty with the Etnperor Frederick II, in A. D. 1229, with the understanding that the walls should not be re built. Yet ten years later (A. D. 1239) the barons and knights of Jerusalem began to build the walls anew, and to erect a strong fortress on the west of the city.
(10) David of Kerek. But the works were interrupted by the emir, David of Kerek, who seized the city, strangled the Christian inhabitants, and cast down the newly erected walls and for tress. Four years after, however, (A. D. r243). Jerusalem was again made over to the Christians without any restriction, and the works appear to have been restored and completed; for they are mentioned as existing when the city was stormed by the wild Kharismian hordes in the following year; shortly after which the city re verted for the last time into the hands of its Mohammedan masters, who have kept it to the present day.
6. The Early Church. Jerusalem witnessed many scenes connected with the early church. Among them were the day of Pentecost (Acts ) ; the first proclamation of the gospel (Acts i :4) ; the rapid increase of Christian believers (Acts v) ; and the stoning of Stephen (Acts vii). The first ecclesiastical council was held in the citv (Acts xv) under James the Less, bishop of Jeru salem (A. D. 47). Here James was beheaded hy Herod (Acts xii). -Eleven councils were held in the city at different periods from the year A. D. 47-1632.