The failure is in the handiwork of man alone.
The sun dealt more kindly by the west side of Olivet than by the east, and men were certainly more loving towards it.

The vines with which it was partially clad, and the sprinkling of trees, chiefly figs and old wild olives, were comparatively green.

Down to the dry bed of the Cedron the verdure extended, a refreshment to the vision; there Olivet ceased and Moriah began--a wall of bluff boldness, white as snow, founded by Solomon, completed by Herod.

Up, up the wall the eye climbed course by course of the ponderous rocks composing it--up to Solomon's Porch, which was as the pedestal of the monument, the hill being the plinth.

Lingering there a moment, the eye resumed its climbing, going next to the Gentiles' Court, then to the Israelites' Court, then to the Women's Court, then to the Court of the Priests, each a pillared tier of white marble, one above the other in terraced retrocession; over them all a crown of crowns infinitely sacred, infinitely beautiful, majestic in proportions, effulgent with beaten gold--lo! the Tent, the Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies.