Old Testament, the famous Gibbon says, scoffingly and deridingly, that the Egyptian king gathered it from the villages of Judea. But the king of Egypt, of whom he speaks, lived three hundred years before the Saviour was crucified. Then, if you do not fear to receive the account from this champion in unbelief; if you do not fear he was too partial to the Bible, the events we are now about to call to view, occurred from three to seven, nine, eleven, or twenty-one hundred years after the Old Testament was translated into Greek. We can only say to the young reader, with an immortal soul, that if no more could be said on this point than even the little we have now told you, we think you might doubt the security of your refuge. But if you are determined to seek a flimsy hiding place, where even the infidel arrows will pierce you, then you must go there, and there remain.

The first prophecy noticed shall be that which was cited by the able politician, to show that little was proved by its alleged fulfilment, viz: the fall of ancient Babylon. Here the reader is invited to turn to different books of the Old Testament, and there note how the event was mentioned by different prophets. The name of the General who should lead the army, (150 years before his birth,) the manner of the assault, the condition and conduct of the besieged, where the victors were to find the treasures, &c. are all declared. But at pres

ent, it is our plan to hold up to view, only that part of these predictions which has come to pass since the Old Testament was translated into the Greek language.

Isaiah, Chapter xiii.-"It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there; but wild beasts of

the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, satyrs shall dance there, and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces," &c.

1. Let it be noted that it was very unlikely that this particular kind of desolation should have happened to any city. We should never conjecture concerning London or Paris, (should these cities come to ruin,) that they would be deserted by man, whilst lofty palaces or stately dwellings were there, inviting the houseless wanderer at least under their friendly shelter. Centuries rolled by after these threatenings were written. Baby. lon received another and another overthrow. Still these did not unpeople her streets. After a time, history informs us, Seleucia and Ctesiphon were built: the luxu rious and sensual nobles of Babylon must follow their monarch and his court: they left their palaces, and their splendid abodes were deserted in a singular and unexampled manner. The servants and the dependants of these wealthy sons of revelry and authority, followed their lords to gaze at or participate in their feasting. Those who lived by selling their merchandise to the opulent, followed; and the streets were in fact abandoned to unbroken silence.

2. Must it follow of course that the ferocious beasts of the islands shall inhabit dwellings, more splendid in some repects than any we have ever seen? By no means. This was not the natural result; for still enough of the indigent remained to rule the brutal creation that have not reason for their guide. But continue to watch the progress of events. The Lord has spoken, and shall he fail to make it good? After a time a despotic potentate

craves a more splendid hunting-ground: he repairs the wall of the ancient city and makes it the area of his chase. Their houses are then full of doleful creatures; owls dwell there, and dragons in their pleasant palaces.

always the huntingBabylon had stood Will not the shepherd

3. But it was not to be expected that these houses could stand always, and they did not. It was not to be expected that Babylon could continue ground of a king, and it did not. on a fertile and extensive plain. drive his flock wherever vegetation springs to sustain them, if man's dominion does not forbid him? Assuredly he will, if God has not said nay. But when the towering edifices of brick had fallen in, the under cellars and vaults afforded such dens and lairs for tigers, wolves, lions, and hyenas, that travellers inform us it was too hazardous for the approach of a shepherd and his flock.

4. But the Arabians move in bands; they delight to wield the javelin; they tremble not at the lion's growl. The Arab will surely pitch his tent there, as he traverses all the deserts of the eastern continent. And he would have done so in defiance of the most ferocious of the forest tribes; but under the extended and unparalleled rubbish of that spot, denounced of heaven, were concealed scorpions, serpents, and reptiles, so numerous, and of fangs so envenomed and deadly, that no one could close his eyes in safety under the shelter of his friendly

tent.

5. But time will obliterate these dens and hiding places; these heaps will dissolve and this rubbish will decay. Babylon was in the midst of a rich plain that could not be washed like the hills of Palestine into nudity and barrenness. Will it not be repeopled? Who shall

venture to say "it shall never be inhabited from generation to generation ?" Answer-God. He said so, and so it has been.

6. But the Bible goes on to say that it should be inhabited by the bittern, a water-fowl; nay, the book declares that it should become pools of water. When did this happen? Answer-In comparatively modern days. Some singularly spontaneous obstruction of the Euphrates caused its overflowing, and travellers tell us that two-thirds or more of Babylon is now "pools of water for the bittern to cry in."

We have not exhibited half the items of history foretold concerning Babylon; but we have noticed enough to remind us of the difference between a vague prediction and a prophecy whose particulars are minutely mentioned. The man of great mind, and in other respects extensive information, who spake against this prophecy, had acquainted himself with none of these particulars, nor with any of a similar character abound. ing in the book of God; he only knew enough to make him doubt, to raise difficulties in his mind. Thus far his religious information extended, and no further. This is unquestionably the fact with many of the orators, statesmen, and leading characters of the present day. They have been pressingly engaged in their worldly pursuits. It seemed to them as though they had no time for such research. They indeed had but little love for this kind of labour; but of this last truth, perhaps they are unconscious. Yet many, it is to be feared, are influenced by them, as was a female of the state of Tennessee. Her husband kept a public house of much resort. Her friends were much surprisd to hear her avow that she had cast away the Bible. When asked

her reasons, she said that those of the brightest minds and highest attainments the land contained, spoke even deridingly of it as they sat at her table. She considered them much abler to judge in such cases than she was, and refused all further love or reverence for the Man of Gethsemane! We quit for a time the history of Babylon, but we have not done with it. We must proceed to notice other cities and their fate, and then to call these different cases up severally, as so many steps by which we ascend to the summit of an interesting consideration.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SUBJECT CONTINUED.

ITEM III.-The city of Tyre.—If the reader will consult the prophets of the Old Testament, he will find the overthrow of this city foretold, the manner of the siege, the name of the conqueror, the number of years before it should resume its former splendor, and its second fall. But these things we will not dwell upon; we attend to those particulars which belong to more modern times, or which took place as it were but yesterday.

1. When a city subsisting by commerce is overthrown, if the many streams of her lucrative trade shall cause a speedy elevation to more than ancient magnificence, the mind of calculating shrewdness might conjecture that if spoiled again, the winds of traffic might blow wealth and power once more into her ports. The ships of Tyre floated over the seas, and her second growth almost resembled magic. The Lord said she should be destroyed