the Jewish people out of their captivity in Egypt into the promised land
of Palestine.

We can follow out the history of the kingdom of Israel through its years
of prosperity under David and Solomon; we can read how the Jews again
became a conquered people, and fell under the rule of the Assyrians, the
Babylonians, the Persians, and how under the leadership of Maccabeus
they once more became a nation, only to fall into the hands of the
Romans.

History tells us how they revolted again and again under the Roman rule,
and how at last, in the year 135 A.D., Jerusalem was taken by the Roman
Emperor, and the Jews, driven from their country, ceased to be a nation,
and were scattered over the face of the earth.

From the year 135 Palestine remained in the hands of the Romans, and
when they became converted to Christianity this land was regarded by
them with great veneration. Bethlehem of Judea, where Jesus Christ was
born, is in Palestine, and Jerusalem, where He suffered death on the
cross, was the capital of Judea.

In the sixth century Palestine fell into the hands of the Mohammedans,
and it was to rescue the Holy City from the hands of unbelievers that
the Christians of Europe first undertook those long and terrible wars
which are known in history as the Crusades.

The Christians finally conquered Jerusalem, and established a Christian
kingdom there which lasted for eighty years, when the celebrated
Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, reconquered the Holy City.