her destruction, her blackened and charred monuments, and some that the flames had not injured, were unearthed by the adventurous Layard, and men are permitted again to enter the lion-guarded palaces of Sennacherib, and walk the streets trod by the captive Jews. It would be impossible to condense into a few sentences the substance of these wonderful discoveries. Slabs of stone, forming parts of huge edifices, have been removed, covered with alphabetical inscriptions in an ancient cuneiform character, which have been satisfactorily deciphered, and can be read. These are mostly historical statements, chronicles of the doings of the kings; and a few striking confirmations of Scriptural history have been made.

While opening the grand palace of Kouyunjik,* a façade, forming the grand entrance, exhibited ten colossal bulls, with six human figures, of gigantic proportions, and the length of the whole was one hundred and eighty feet. Here was found an inscription, containing one hundred and fifty-two lines, all of which has been translated. It is a description of a campaign of Sennacherib against the surrounding nations ; a part of which is as follows: “ Hezekiah, king of Judah, who had not submitted to my authority, fortysix of his principal cities, and fortresses and villages depending upon them, of which I took no account, I captured, and carried away their spoil.”

“ The next passage," says Layard, “is somewhat defaced; but the substance of it appears to be, that he took from Hezekiah the treasure he had collected in Jerusalem, thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, the treasures of his palace, besides his sons and daughters, and his male and female servants or slaves, and brought them all to Nineveh."

Now turn to Second Kings xviii, 13, 14, and see the same history recorded by the Jewish historian. It is true that the money then stolen by Sennacherib is stated to be less than the robber himself makes it: but that is not the only instance in which a hero has magnified his own exploits. How strange that underneath a burned palace of an old city should have been preserved this duplicate history of the Bible statement twenty-five hundred years ! Have we any reason to doubt any

statement made in the Book of Kings? But indissolubly blended with that history is the truth of that religion which the Bible inculcates.

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Another parallelism, equally remarkable, is the following:

Solomon,” says the inscription at Nimroud, 6 reigned over the kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. He had dominion over all the region on this side of the river, from Tipsah even unto the Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river."*

Compare with this First Kings iv, 21-24: “He reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt.” And also Second Chronicles ix, 21-24: And the kings “brought him every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year."

Inscriptions have been found in the ruins of Nineveh, bearing the names and making some characteristic mention of Jehu, Omri, and Menahem, kings of Israel; of Hazael, Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, kings of Syria, mentioned in the Bible; of the gods Merodach, Nebo, and Dagon, the description of which corresponds with that of the Bible; of Judea, Samaria, Ash

Layard's Second Expedition, page 510.

dod, the Hittites, and forty other places and nations, mentioned in the word of God. Who will dare to say, that it was not by the direct providence of God that these abundant and invaluable testimonials were thus entombed and preserved three thousand years, and finally allowed to be discovered at an appropriate time, just when they could be obtained by an adventurous traveller from a Christian land, and not suffered to be broken in pieces and forever destroyed? Thankful should we be that the history of the Bible is so confirmed that nothing short of insanity, or of that “incredulity” which Sir Walter Raleigh has aptly called “the wit of fools," can doubt it.

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CHAPTER XV.

SPECIFIC PREDICTIONS FULFILLED IN JESUS

CHRIST.

A FULL presentation of the prominent evidences of Christianity would require an examination of the prophecies that relate to various nations, whose history was connected with that of the Israelites. The future desolation of Ammon, Moab, Philistia, and the complete destruction of Edom or Idumea, were foretold, and have been accomplished, and will repay careful study.

In this chapter we propose to examine the most important subject of antiquity,—the prophetic promises and descriptions of the Messiah.

From the foundation of the world the great plan of Jehovah was, in due time, to exhibit his glory in the Messiah among men; and the one prominent character in all the Bible is Christ.

Before presenting particular predictions, one observation is necessary. The prophecies relating to Christ are not found separate and distinct in the Bible, but mingled with other instruction.