grave like an abominable branch;—from the many nations and great kings from the coasts of the earth that have so often come up against Babylon, to the workmen that still cast her up as heaps and add to the number of pools in the ruins ;-from the immense artificial lake, many miles in circumference, by means of which the annual rising of the Euphrates was regulated and restrained, to these pools of water, a few yards round, dug by the workmen, and filled by the river;-from the first and greatest of temples to a burnt mountain desolate for ever; from the golden image, forty feet in height, which stood on the top of the temple of Belus, to all the graven images of her gods, that are broken unto the ground and mingled with the dust;—from the splendid and luxuriant festivals of Babylonian monarchs, the noise of the viols, the pomp of Belshazzar's feast, and the godless revelry of a thousand lords drinking out of the golden vessels that had been taken from Zion, to the cry of wild beasts, the creeping of doleful creatures of which their desolate houses and pleasant palaces are full, the nestling of owls in cavities, the dancing of wild goats on the ruinous mound as on a rock, and the dwelling-place of dragons and of venomous reptiles;—from arch upon arch, and terrace upon terrace, till the hanging gardens of Babylon rose like a mountain, down to the stones of the pit now disclosed to view;-from the palaces of princes who sat on the mount of the congregation, and thought in the pride of their hearts to exalt themselves above the stars of God, to heaps cut down to the ground, perforated as the raiment of those that are slain, and as a carcass trodden under feet;-from the broad walls of Babylon, in all their height, as Cyrus camped against them round about, seeking in vain a single point where congregated nations could scale the walls or force an opening, to the untraceable spot on which they stood, when there is nothing left to turn aside, or impede in their course, the worms that cover it;-and finally, from Babylon the great, the wonder of the world, to fallen Babylon, the astonishment of all who go by it;-in extremes like these, whatever changes they involve, and by whatever instrumentality they may have been wrought out, there is not to this hour, in this most marvellous history of Babylon, a single fact that may not most appropriately be ranked under a prediction, and that does not tally entirely with its express and precise fulfilment, while at the same time they

all united show, as may now be seen,-reading the judgments to the very letter, and looking to the facts as they are, the destruction which has come from the Almighty upon Babylon.

Has not every purpose of the Lord been performed against Babylon? And having so clear illustrations of the facts before us, what mortal shall give a negative answer to the questions, subjoined by their Omniscient Author to these very prophecies ?" Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? and there is no god beside me ;-declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet donesaying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Is it possible that there can be any attestation of the truth of prophecy, if it be not witnessed here? Is there any spot on earth which has undergone a more complete transformation? "The records of the human race," it has been said with truth, "do not present a contrast more striking than that between the primeval magnificence of Babylon and its long desolation.”* Its ruins have of late been carefully and scrupulously examined by different natives of Britain, of unimpeached veracity, and the result of every research is a more striking demonstration of the literal accomplishment of every prediction. How few spots are there on earth of which we have so clear and faithful a picture as prophecy gave of fallen Babylon, at a time when no spot on earth resembled it less than its present desolate solitary site! Or could any prophecies respecting any single place have been more precise, or wonderful, or numerous, or true, -or more gradually accomplished throughout many generations? And when they look at what Babylon was, and what it is, and perceive the minute realization of them all-may not nations learn wisdom, may not tyrants tremble, and may not skeptics think?

TYRE.

TYRE was the most celebrated city of Phoenicia, and the ancient emporium of the world. Its colonies were numerous and extensive. "It was the theatre of an immense commerce and navigation—the nursery of arts

* Edinburgh Review, No. I. p. 439.

and science, and the city of perhaps the most industrious and active people ever known."* The kingdom of Carthage, the rival of Rome, was one of the colonies of Tyre. While this mart of nations was in the height of its opulence and power, and at least one hundred and twenty-five years before the destruction of old Tyre, Isaiah pronounced its irrevocable fall. Tyre on the island succeeded to the more ancient city on the continent; and-being inhabited by the same people, retaining the same name, being removed but a little space, and, perhaps, occupying in part the same ground-the fate of both is included in the prophecy. The pride and the wickedness of the Tyrians, their exultation over the calamities of the Israelites, and their cruelty in selling them to slavery are assigned as the reasons of the judgments that were to overtake them, or as the causes of the revelation of the destiny of their city. And the whole fate of Tyre was foretold.

Bishop Newton shows, at length, how the following prophecies were all exactly fulfilled, as well as clearly foretold, viz. that Tyre was to be taken and destroyed by the Chaldeans, who were, at the time of the delivery of the prophecy, an inconsiderable people, and particularly by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;-that the inhabitants should fly over the Mediterranean into the islands and countries adjoining, and even then should not find a quiet settlement ;-that the city should be restored after seventy years, and return to her gain and merchandise; that the people should in time forsake their idolatry, and become converts to the true religion and worship of God; and, finally, that the city should be totally destroyed, and become a place only for fishers to spread their nets upon.

But, instead of reviewing the whole of these, a few of the most striking predictions which were accomplished after the era of the last of the Old Testament prophets, and the fulfilment of which rests on the most unexceptionable testimony, shall be selected.

One of the most singular events in history was the manner in which the siege of Tyre was conducted by Alexander the Great. Irritated that a single city should alone oppose his victorious march, enraged at the murder of some of his soldiers, and fearful for his fame,--even

* Volney's Travels, vol. ii. p. 210. Steph. Dic. p. 2039. Mars, Can. Ch. p. 304, &c.-Strabo.

his army's despairing of success could not deter him from the siege. And Tyre was taken in a manner the success of which was more wonderful than the design was daring; for it was surrounded by a wall one hundred and fifty feet in height, and situated on an island half a mile distant from the shore. A mound was formed from the continent to the island; and the ruins of old Tyre,* two hundred and forty years after its demolition, afforded ready materials for the purpose. Such was the work, that the attempts at first defeated the power of an Alexander. The enemy consumed and the storm destroyed it. But its remains, buried beneath the water, formed a barrier which rendered successful his renewed efforts. A vast mass of additional matter was requisite. The soil and the very rubbish were gathered and heaped. And the mighty conqueror, who afterward failed in raising again any of the ruins of Babylon, cast those of Tyre into the sea, and took her very DUST† from off her. He left not the remnant of a ruin-and the site of ancient Tyre is now unknown.‡ Who then taught the prophets to say of Tyre,-" They shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water-I will also SCRAPE HER DUST from her. I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more. Thou shalt be sought for, yet thou shalt never be found again?"§

After the capture of Tyre, the conqueror ordered it to be set on fire. Fifteen thousand of the Tyrians escaped in ships. And, exclusive of multitudes that were cruelly slain, thirty thousand were sold into slavery. Each of these facts had been announced for centuries :-"Behold the Lord will cast her out-he will smite her power in the sea, and he shall be devoured with fire-I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee-I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth. Pass ye over to Tarshish-pass over to Chittim. The isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.- -Thou shalt die the death of them that are slain in the midst of the sea. The children of Israel also, and the children of Judah, have ye sold. I will return the recompense upon your own head."

But it was also prophesied of the greatest commercial

* Magna vis saxorum ad manum erat, Tyro vetere præbente.-Quint. Cur. lib. iv. cap. 9.

* HUMOS aggerabatur.-Ibid. cap. 11. Arrian. de. Ex. Al. lib. ii. c. 21-24. Quint. Cur. lib. iv. c. 7-19.

+ Volney's Travels, vol. ii. Pococke's Description of the East, b. i. c. 20. Buckingham's Travels, p. 46

Ezek. xxiv. 4, 12, 21.

city of the world, whose merchants were princes,whose traffickers were the honourable of the earth,"I will make thee like the top of a rock. Thou shalt be a

place to spread nets upon.' The same prediction is repeated with an assurance of its truth :-"I will make her like the top of a rock; it shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it."

Tyre, though deprived of its former inhabitants, soon revived as a city, and greatly regained its commerce. It was populous and flourishing at the beginning of the Christian era. It contained many disciples of Jesus, in the days of the apostles. An elegant temple and many churches were afterward built there. It was the see of the first archbishop under the patriarch of Jerusalem. Her merchandise and her hire, according to the prophecy, were holiness to the Lord. In the seventh century Tyre was taken by the Saracens. In the twelfth by the Crusaders-at which period it was a great commercial city. The Mamelukes succeeded as its masters; and it has now remained for three hundred years in the possession of the Turks. But it was not excluded from among the multitude of cities and of countries whose ruin and devastation, as accomplished by the cruelties and ravages of Turkish barbarity and despotism, were foretold nearly two thousand years before the existence of that nation of plunderers. And although it has more lately, by a brief respite from the greatest oppression, risen somewhat from its ruins, the last of the predictions respecting it has been literally fulfilled, according to the testimony of many witnesses. But that of Maundrell, Shaw, Volney, and Bruce may suffice:

"You find here no similitude of that glory for which it was so renowned in ancient times. You see nothing here but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c. Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God hath fulfilled his word concerning Tyre."t "The port of Tyre, small as it is at present, is choked up to that degree with sand and rubbish, that the boats of those fishermen who now and then visit this once re

* Ezek. xxvi. 14, 15.

Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 82.