purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations." (Is. xiv. 26.)

Jeremiah and the Revelation alike speak of the suddenness of the blow which is to destroy Babylon. "Babylon is SUDDENLY fallen: howl for her." (Jer. li. 8.) "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in ONE HOUR is thy judgment come. Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought." (Rev. xviii.) Has there been any thing in the past history of Babylon to verify these words?

Its capture by the Persians is recorded in the Scripture thus: "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom." (Dan. v.) It was the quiet transfer of power from one dynasty to another and under this first Median prince, Babylon rested just as securely as it did under the Chaldeans before. Alexander the Great, after conquering Persia, selected it as the intended. capital of his vast dominions, and died there in the midst of a greatness that was making Babylon for a season a kind of metropolitan centre to the earth. This was very unlike sudden desolation. In the following chapter I give a sketch. of its gradual declension. It will be seen that its fall has been any thing rather than sudden.

Its judgments have never come yet in one hour. Slow and almost undiscernible decay has been the characteristic of its decline.

The argument which has principally been relied on to disprove the revival and future fall of Babylon, is its present condition of desolation. Now, supposing that the desolation of Babylon and its Land were ten times greater than it is; suppose that there were removed both man and beast (see Jer. 1. 3), and that no son of man dwelt therein; how would this show that it was either impossible or unlikely for God to permit a temporary revival out of this ruin? Is any extent of desolation too great to be reached by His hand? Even then, if the desolation of Babylon had already attained a point which adequately answered to the predictions of the Scripture respecting it, yet, seeing that the prophecy would not be fulfilled, unless that point of ruin were reached exactly in the mode and at the time predicted, it would be necessary for revival to be permitted in order for Scripture to be accomplished.

But it is not true that that fulness of desolation predicted against Babylon and its Land has ever yet fallen upon either. either. "The LAND of Babylon," so far from being emptied "both of man and beast,” is able to return a princely revenue to its Turkish masters; and even on the very site of Babylon itself, there stand in the midst of its ruins, a

city, several villages, and numberless gardens and date groves, whose fertility is proverbial. The Arabian also still pitches his tent there. Indeed it is anything rather than "as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah." The evidence of this I

reserve for a following chapter.

Nor must we forget the effect produced on minds around us, by our seeking to prove the truth and accuracy of Scripture prediction by appealing to facts which are not capable of being strictly substantiated. When our appeal fails, when ascertained facts contradict our assertions, the sceptical triumph the sincere inquirer is troubled. Truth does not prevail, save when defended by its own weapons. Accordingly, of late, writers on prophecy have been challenged to prove the accordance between their statements and facts. How can it be true, it is asked, that "Damascus is taken away from being a city, and become a ruinous heap," when it is well known to have escaped the desolations which have fallen on so many other of the Eastern cities, and still remains a city, and is even increasing in prosperity. similar question is asked respecting Tyre.* It might

A

"I employed the whole of the 7th instant in examining the town (Tyre) about the miraculous decadence of which so much has been said, and continues to be repeated by travellers. Yet, to an unbiassed observer, it appeared to share only in the general fate of all cities of the coast, and could indeed claim a more prosperous fortune than Gaza, Ascalon, or Cesarea, all famous cities in their time.

" Tyre, therefore, described as SO ruinous by some

be asked equally respecting Egypt or Edom. And how could we reply to this challenge? Shall we

travellers, was now a flourishing town, to which additions were daily making in houses and inhabitants The walls of Tyre, in the state in which I saw them, were a very recent and insignificant work; but in parts might be discerned the remains of a wall of older date . The houses were of stone, and some of them had very handsome upper apartments, commanding an extensive prospect. At this time houses and warehouses were building on the strand to the north, facing the basin . . Pococke, who saw the flourishing state of Tyre even in 1737, not knowing how to reconcile it with the words of Ezekiel xxvi. 14, and xxviii. 19, says that the prophecy must be understood of the ancient city on the continent. He adds, 'It is a place where they export great quantities of corn, and Malta itself is supplied from this place.'-Vol. ii. p. 88, fol. Surely a port which supplies Malta must be a populous and thriving one! I know that evidence contrary to this may be brought from the relations of other travellers, and I believe that the particular bias of a person's mind has much to do with the colouring he gives to objects. It would be well if commentators on prophecy would consider that Antioch, Ascalon, Berytus, Cesarea, Decapolis, Emessa, Famagusta, Gebayl, Heliopolis or Balbec, Laodicea, Palmyra or Tadmûr, and other cities, the rivals in commerce and luxury of Tyre, will be found fallen from their flourishing greatness, many of them lower than it; and yet against the greater part of them there is no denunciation at all in the prophetic writings. On the other hand, we read (Isaiah xvii. 1), 'Behold Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap'; yet in spite of its doom, so emphatically predicted, Damascus has flourished from that time until now. "The editor of the Monthly Review for November, 1822,

boldly deny facts, and argue against realities; or shall we speak the truth, and say that these places have not yet received not yet received their final blow, that their prosperity will revive for a short moment, that their judgment is reserved for the coming of the day of the Lord-the hour when He will forgive and bless Israel?

Nor, because we say that Babylon can only be finally destroyed at the time and under the circumstances specified in the Scripture, and that its desolation must not be one tittle less than that predicted,

looking at the account of Tyre given by Mr. Buckingham, whose travels he is reviewing, and who states that he saw 800 substantial houses, containing full 5,000 inhabitants, is staggered at the assertion, and confronts with it the testimony of Maundrell, Bruce, Joliffe, and some others But, perhaps, a means for settling his doubts may be found, when he is told that the houses of Tyre were equally good with those at Jaffa and Acre, two neighbouring towns, which have not fallen under the prophet's interdict, and that therefore no manifestation of the divine wrath can be said to have descended more on it than on the two others Tyre has two ports. The inner seemed to have been formed by two moles, enclosing a basin perhaps 250 yards The out port or road is considered as one of the best along the coast of Syria. It is formed by a broken ledge of rocks running north from the peninsula. Were the intervals between the rocks filled up, so as to make a continued breakwater, a capacious and nearly a safe port might be formed." (Extract from Travels of Lady Hester Stanhope, &c., narrated by her Physician, vol. iii. p. 196.)

across