On a review of the prophecies relative to Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, and Egypt, may we not, by the plainest induction from indisputable facts, conclude that the fate of these cities and countries, as well as of the land of Judea and the adjoining territories, demonstrates the truth of all the prophecies respecting them? And that these prophecies, ratified by the events, give the most powerful of testimonies to the truth of the Christian religion? The desolation was the work of man, and was effected by the enemies of Christianity; and would have been the same as it is, though not a single prophecy had been uttered. It is the prediction of these facts, in all their particulars infinitely surpassing human foresight, which is the word of God alone. And the ruin of these empires, while it substantiates the truth of every iota of these predictions, is thus a miraculous confirmation and proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures. By what fatality is it, then, that infidels should have chosen for the display of their power this very field, where, without conjuring, as they have done, a lying spirit from the ruins, they might have read the fulfilment of the prophecies on every spot ?-Instead of disproving the truth of every religion, the greater these ruins are, the more strongly do they authenticate the Scriptural prophecies; and it is not, at least, on this stronghold of the faith that the standard of infidelity can be erected. Every fact related by Volney is a witness against all his speculation-and out of his own mouth is he condemned. Can any purposed deception be more glaring or great than to overlook all these prophecies, and to raise an argument against the truth of Christianity from the very facts by which they have been fulfilled? Or can any evidence of divine inspiration be more convincing and clear, than to view, in conjunction, all these marvellous predictions and their perfect completion? ficient to be looked to for aid or protection, even at the time of the restoration of the Jews to Judea, who will seek "to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and trust in the shadow of Egypt." Other prophecies respecting it await their fulfilment. Yet, whatever its present apparent strength may be, it is still but "the shadow of Egypt."-Isa. xxx. 2; xxxi. 1. The whole earth shall yet rejoice; and Egypt shall not be for ever base. The Lord shall smite Egypt; he shall smite and heal it; and they shall return to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land, &c.-Isa. xix. 19-25. CHAPTER VII. THE ARABS. THE history of the Arabs, so opposite, in many respects, to that of the Jews, but as singular as theirs, was concisely and clearly foretold. It was prophesied concerning Ishmael :-"He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand will be against him: and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. I will make him fruitful, and multiply him exceedingly; and I will make him a great, nation."* The fate of Ishmael is here identified with that of his descendants: and the same character is common to them both. The historical evidence of the fact,' the universal tradition, and constant boast of the Arabs themselves, their language, and the preservation for many ages of an original rite, derived from him as their primogenitor,-confirm the truth of their descent from Ishmael. The fulfilment of the prediction is obvious. Even Gibbon, while he attempts, from the exceptions which he specifies, to evade the force of the fact that the Arabs have maintained a perpetual independence, acknowledges that these exceptions are temporary and local; that the body of the nation has escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies; and that “the arms of Sesostris and Cyrus, of Pompey and Trajan, could never achieve the conquest of Arabia." But even the exceptions which he specifies, though they were justly stated, and though not coupled with such admissions as invalidate them, would not detract from the truth of the prophecy. The independence of the Arabs was proverbial in ancient as well as in modern times; and the present existence, as a free and independent nation, of a people who derive their descent from so high antiquity, demonstrates that they had never been wholly subdued, as all the nations around them have unquestionably been; and that they have ever dwelt in the presence of their brethren. They not only subsist unconquered to † Gib. Hist. vol. v. p. 144 * Genesis xvi. 12; xvii. 20. this day, but the prophesied and primitive wildness of their race, and their hostility to all, remain unsubdued and unaltered. They are a wild people; their hand is against every man, and every man's hand is against them." 66 In the words of Gibbon, which strikingly assimilate with those of the prophecy, they are "armed against mankind." Plundering is their profession. Their alliance is never courted, and can never be obtained; and all that the Turks, or Persians, or any of their neighbours can stipulate for from them is a partial and purchased forbearance. Even the British, who have established a residence in almost every country, have entered the territories of the descendants of Ishmael to accomplish only the premeditated destruction of a fort, and to retire. It cannot be alleged, with truth, that their peculiar character and manner, and its uninterrupted permanency, is the necessary result of the nature of their country. They have continued wild or uncivilized, and have retained their habits of hostility towards all the rest of the human race, though they possessed for three hundred years countries the most opposite in their nature from the mountains of Arabia. The greatest part of the temperate zone was included within the limits of the Arabian conquests;* and their empire extended from India to the Atlantic, and embraced a wider range of territory than ever was possessed by the Romans, those boasted masters of the world. The period of their conquest and dominion was sufficient, under such circumstances, to have changed the manners of any people; but whether in the land of Shinar or in the valleys of Spain, on the banks of the Tigris or the Tagus, in Araby the Blessed or Araby the Barren, the posterity of Ishmael have ever maintained their prophetic character: they have remained, under every change of condition, a wild people; their hand has still been against every man, and every man's hand against them. The natural reflection of a recent traveller, on examining the peculiarities of an Arab tribe, of which he was an eyewitness, may suffice, without any art of controversy, for the illustration of this prophecy :-" On the smallest computation, such must have been the manners of those people for more than three thousand years: thus in all things verifying the prediction given of Ish Gibbon, vol. v. p. 226, 317. mael at his birth, that he, in his posterity, should be a wild man, and always continue to be so, though they shall dwell for ever in the presence of their brethren. And that an acute and active people, surrounded for ages by polished and luxuriant nations, should, from their earliest to their latest times, be still found a wild people, dwelling in the presence of all their brethren (as we may call these nations), unsubdued and unchangeable, is, indeed, a standing miracle-one of those mysterious facts which establish the truth of prophecy."* Recent discoveries have also brought to light the miraculous preservation and existence, as a distinct people, of a less numerous, but not less interesting race-" a plant which grew up under the mighty cedar of Israel, but was destined to flourish when that proud tree was levelled to the earth."+ "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever." The Beni Rechab, sons of Rechab, still exist, a "distinct and easily distinguishable" people. They boast of their descent from Rechab, profess pure Judaism, and all know Hebrew. Yet they live in the neighbourhood of Mecca, the chief seat of Mahometanism, and their number is stated to be sixty thousand. The account given of them by Benjamin of Tudela, in the twelfth century, has very recently been confirmed by Mr. Wolff; and, as he witnessed, and heard from an intrepid "Rechabite cavalier," there is not wanting a man to stand up as a son of Rechab. SLAVERY OF THE AFRICANS-EUROPEAN COLONIES IN ASIA. Not only do the different countries and cities which form the subjects of prophecy exhibit to this day their predicted fate, but there is also a prophecy recorded as delivered in an age coeval with the deluge, when the members of a single family included the whole of the human race-the fulfilment of which is conspicuous even at the present time. And while the fate of the Jews and of the Arabs, throughout many ages, has confirmed, in * Sir Robert K. Porter's Travels, p. 304. 142. Jer. xxxv. 19. every instance in which the period of their prediction is already past, the prophecies relative to the descendants of Isaac and of Ishmael-existing facts, which are prominent features in the history of the world, are equally corroborative of the predictions respecting the sons of Noah. The unnatural conduct of Ham, and the dutiful and respectful behaviour of Shem and Japhet towards their aged father, gave rise to the prediction of the future fate of their posterity, without being at all assigned as the cause of that fate. But whatever was the occasion on which it was delivered, the truth of the prophecy must be tried by its completion :-" Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant."* The historical part of Scripture, by its describing so particularly the respective settlements of the descendants of Noah," after their generations in their nations," affords to this day the means of trying the truth of the prediction, and of ascertaining whether the prophetic character, as given by the patriarch of the post-diluvian world, be still applicable to the inhabitants of the different regions of the earth which were peopled by the posterity of Shem, of Ham, and of Japhet. The Isles of the Gentiles,for the countries beyond the Mediterranean, to which they passed by sea, viz. those of Europe, were divided by the sons of Japhet. The descendants of Ham inhabited Africa and the south-western parts of Asia.‡ The families of the Canaanites were spread abroad. border of the Canaanites was from Sidon. The city of Tyre was called the daughter of Sidon; and Carthage, the most celebrated city of Africa, was peopled from Tyre. And the dwellings of the sons of Shem were unto the east, or Asia. The particular allotment, or portion of each, "after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations," is distinctly specified. And although the different nations descended from any one of the sons of Noah have intermingled with each other, and undergone many revolutions, yet the three great divisions of the world have remained distinct, as separately peopled and possessed by the pos terity of each of the sons of Noah. On this subject the * Gen. ix. 25, 26, 27. Ibid. x. 30. The † Ibid. x. 5. Ibid. Ibid. x. 6, 18, 19. Ibid. x. 31, 32.- See Mede. Dic. L. p. 277, &c. |