Prophecies Relating to Nineveh, Babylon, and Tyre

The walls of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, are said to have been a hundred fee in height, six:j)i miles in compass, and defended by fifteen hundred ‘owers, each two hundred feet high. Diodorus Sicuus relates, that the king of Assyria after the complete liscomfiturc of his army, confided in an old prophecy

EVIDENCES OF CHKlSn i.39

llial Nineveh would not be taken unless the river shou d become the enemy of the city; that after ar ineffectual siege of two years, the river, swollen with long continued and tempestuous torrents, inundateO part of the city, and threw down the wall for the space of twenty furlongs; and that the king, deeming that the prediction was accomplished, despaired ol his safety, and erected an immense funeral pile, on which he heaped his wealth, and with which himself, his household, and palace were consumed.* The book of Nahum was avowedly prophetic of the destruction of Nineveh; and it is there foretold, “that the gates of the river shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved — Nineveh of old, Uke a pool of water — with an overflowing flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof.” The other predictions of the prophet are as literally described by the historian. He relates, that the king of Assyria, elated with his former victories, and ignorant of the revolt of the Bactrians, had abandoned himself to scandalous inaction; had appointed a time of festivity; and supplied his soldiers with abundance of wine; and that the general of the enemy apprized by deserters, of their negligence and drunkenness attacked the Assyrian army while abandoned to revelling, destroyed a’ great part of them, and drove the rest into the city. The words of the prophet were hereby verified. “While they were foldeu togethei as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.” Much spoil was promised to the enemy, “Take the spofl of silver, take the spoil of gold; for there is no end of the store and glory, out of all the pleasant furniture.” Accordingly the historian affirms, that many talents of gold and silver preserved from the fire, were carried to Ecbatana. The prophet declares, that the city was not only to be destroyed by an overflowing flood, but the fire was also to devour it; which exactly agrees with the account of the historian The utter an’^ perpetual destruction of tl e city was

Diod. Sic. Lib. ii. p. 32, 33.

I 40 KlinEN(ES F CHRiSTI iMir.

distinctly jiredicted, “The Lord will mae an utter end of the place thereof. Affliction shall not rise up the second time, she is empty, void and waste. The Lord will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness. How is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in.” In the second century, Lucian, who was born on the banks of the Euphrates, testified, that Nineveh was utterly perished — that there was no vestige of it remaining — and that none could tell where it was once situated. A late traveller who has visited that country, testifies, “that neither bricks, stones, nor other materials of building,” are now to be seen; but the ground is, in many places, grown over with grass, and such elevations are observable, as resemble the mounds left by the intrenchments and fortifications of ancient Roman camps; and the appearances of other mounds and ruins less marked than even these extending for ten miles and widely spread, and seeming to be the wreck of former buildings, show that Nineveh is left without any monument of royalty, without any token whatever of its splendour oi wealth; that it is indeed a desolation, “empty, void, and waste;” its very ruins perished, and less than the wreck of what it was. “Such an utter ruin,” says JBisho]* Newton, “has been made of it: and such is the truth of the divine predictions.”

BABYLON.

The prophecies respecting the taking o! Baoyion, Its utter destruction, and the complete desolation which should reign where this proud city once stood, have been remarkably fulfilled. Our limits will only admit of the selection of a few particulars out of many; but for more minute and extended information on this interesting subject, the reader is referred to the works of ]3isliop Newton, and the Rev. Alexander Keith, on Prophecy, where he will meet will, full satisfaction, and to which we acknowledge our selves indebted for the substance of wh;” is here ‘Jitrodiiced.

The very nations by whom Babylon was to be taken and destroyed, are predicted by name by the prophet Jeremiah.” Go up, 0 Elam, (this was the ancient name of Persia,) besiege, 0 Media. The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes; for his device is* against Babylon to destroy it.’**

And Isaiah says, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. “t Thus saith the Lord “that saith unto the deep. Be dry; and I will dry up thy rivers: that saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure. And I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates — and the gates shall not be shut.”t “Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus his anointed, to subdue nations before him.” This prediction of Isaiah, in which Cyrus is named, must have been uttered at least two hundred years before he was born, and when the Persians were an obscure and inconsiderable nation.

A confederacy having been formed between the Medes and Persians, and Cyrus having in person taken the command of the Persians, and having disciplined them with consummate skill, and inspired them with heroic courage, joined his uncle Cyaxares, (by Daniel called Darius the Mede,) and their united forces having conquered the Armenians, the Hyrcanians, the Lydians, the Cappadocians, and other allies of the king of Babylon; and having so treated all these conquered nations as to conciliate their friendship, and add their forces to their own, they marched towards the city of Babylon.

Although Cyrus commenced his military career with a small arnty of Persians, yet by conquest and wise policy, his army had become exceedingly numerous before he reached the famous city. But what could be done by courage or military skill against a rity so defended oi every side? This consummate Jcr li. Isa. xxi. 9. t Isa. xliv. 27, 23.

142 E> IDENCES 01 CHK.Sl ANITY.

gen(;.lil, as so)r as lie had arrived on the ground with his army, made it his first business, in company with some of his chief officers, to ride entirely round the walls, and to ascertain whether there was any weak point where an assault might successfully be made. But he found every part fully secured, so that there seemed no possibility of taking the city but by a long siege. He therefore sat down before it, and dug a trench entirely around the walls, and towers were erected, and every other preparation made for a regular siege. Thus, in the prophecy, it is said, “They camped against it round about. They put themselves in array against Babylon around about. They set themselves in array against Babylon, every man put in array.”

Another important circumstance distinctly noticed in the prophecy, is, the cowardice of the Babylonians. Formerly, her armies were a terror to the whole earth, and nothing could withstand their fierce courage. But now, faint-heartedness had come over them. “The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight. They have remained in their holds. Their might hath failed, they became as women.”* Their timidity was manifest in their shutting themselves up; and all the challenges of their enemies could not provoke them to come out and meet them in the open field. Xenophon relates, that Cyrus challenged the king of Babylon to decide the contest by single combat, which he declined. The people within the walls though very numerous, made no sallies from their gates; nor did they use any efforts to disperse or annoy the besiegers. Literally, “they remained in their hold, and the hands of the king of Babylon waxed feeble.”

Cyrus, as we have said, found every thing secure against assault; for what could battering rams, or other engines of war accomplish against walls which were thirty, or, as some assert, fifty feet in thickness? He was. therefore, not a little perplexed intil the thought occurred, that an entrance might possibly

Jcrciiiiah i,

6e oblaiiieii by turning out of its channel the rivei Euphrates, which flowed through the city. This hazardous enterprise as a last resort was determined “pn, and the work was commenced, but the design was carefully concealed from the besieged; for, as Herodotus observes, if they had had the least intimation of the device, or if they had discovered the Persians while passing through, they could not only have prevented its execution, but have destroyed the whole army of Cyrus while pent up within the chan« nel of the river. All that was necessary to prevent the Persians from entering was, to close the gates Nvhich gave entrance to the city through the embankment built upon both sides of the river. To guard against the danger of discovery, Cyrus selected for the execution of this important but dangerous enterprise, the season of a great Babylonish festival, on which occasion he knew the whole population gave themselves up to revelling and drunkenness. The river was a full quarter of a mile wide, and twelve feet deep, but there was an artificial lake in the neighbourhood, prepared to receive the surplus waters, when it overflowed its banks, or when for any other reason it was desirable to dimmish the waters of the river. The entrance of this canal was enarged, and the great trench dug round the walls by the army of Cyrus, was so connected With the river above the town, that this also was capable of containing a large body of water. Moreover, the country was exceedingly low and flat; stp -.hat the water, if it could once be diverted from its usual channel, would readily spread itself in all directions. The scheme succeeded to their most sanguine expectation. The channel of the river was left nearly dry by the subsiding of the water, and the army of Cyrus entered by night. One detachment was placed w here the river entered the city, and another where it left it; and the Persian army entered so silently, and the inhabitants were so completely drowned in tneir drunken revels, that no alarm was sounded, ana no care had been taken t: close the gate.s leading to the

144 EVinKNCKS OF CHKISTIAMTr.

river, no danger being apprehended on that side So completely were the Babylonians surprised, thai Cyrus had reached the royal palace before a messenger arrived to tell the king that the city was talcen. The noise of the invading army, at first, was not distinguished from the mad tumult of the rioters. Even the guards stationed around the palace were found intoxicated, and slain; when the Persians rushed into the splendid hall, where Belshazzar and his thousand lords, and wives, and concubines, had been drinking out of the sacred vessels of the Lord’s house, which had been impiously brought forth on this occasion. But their profane mirth had already been arrested before the arrival of the victorious Persians, by the appearance of a hand, writing certain words in a strange character on the wall. This had produced the utmost consternation in all the assembly, although none could decipher the writing, until Daniel was brought in, who quickly denounced the fatal destiny of the monarch, and the overthrow of his kingdom; “And in that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain.”’

How exactly the events, described above, were predicted, will be at once seen by the following quotations from the prophets.

“I will dry up thy sea, and make thy springs dry — that saith to the deep. Be dry, I will dry up thy

RIVERS.”

“And one post did run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at the end, and that the passages are shut.”

“But a snare was laid for Babylon. It was taken, and it was not aware. How is the praise of the whole earth surprised! For thou hast trusted in t[ly wickedness, and in thy wisdom, and thy knowledge It hath perverted thee; therefon; shall evil come upon thee, and thou shalt not know whence it ariseth; and mischief shall come upon thee, and ihou shalt not be able to put it off — none shall save thee.”

“Tu their heat I will make their leasts, and I will

KVIDENCF-) OF CIiniSTIANITY. 115

rtiake them drunken, that Ihcy may rejoice, and sleep a perpofual sleep, and not wake, saith the Loid. I will make drmiKen her princes and her wise men, her captains and her rulers, and her mighty men, nd thoy shall sleep a perpetual sleep.*’

“The gates (/. e. those from the river to the city) were not shut. The loins of kings were loosed to ?l)pn before Cyrus the two-leaved gates.”*

The king hearing a noise and tumult without, sent some to see whence it arose: but no sooner were the gates of the palace opened, than the Persians rushed in. “The king of Babylon heard the report of them. Anguish took hold of him.” He and all about him perished. God had “numbered his kingdom and finished it.” It was “divided and given to the ISIedes and Persians.”

The multitude of soldiers who now entered the city, and the slaughter of the citizens in the streets, are exactly foretold. “I will fill thee with men as with caterpillars. Her young men shall fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut otf in that day.”

The number of the Persian army, which was reviewed immediately after the capture of the city, is said by Herodotus to have amounted to one hundred md twenty thousand horse, six thousand chariots of war, and six hundred thousand infantry.

Cyrus issued a proclamation that the people should remain in their houses, with strict orders to slay every person who should be found in “the streets.”

Cyrus now became master of all the hidden treasures of Babylon. “The treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places being given into his hand;” that he might know “that the Lord, whicn had called him by his name, was the God of Israel.”

From the time of the first capture of this famous city by Cyrus, her glory began to fade. God had predicted her downfall, and his word never fails. After its first concuest it was, according to Herodotus, reduced from an imperial to a tributary city; * Jeremiah IL which seems to be foretold by the prophet, when he says — “Come down and sit in the dust, 0 virgin daughter of Babylon — sit on the ground, there is no throne, 0 daughter of the Chaldeans.”

The next step towards the downfall of this famous city was after the rebellion against Darius. When he captured the city, he ordered the height of the walls to be reduced, and all the gates to be destroyed. To which the prophet alludes, in express terms: — “The wall of Babylon shall fall — her walls shall be thrown down.”

Xerxes, after his return from his unfortunate Gre cian expedition, entered the city and rifled its most valuable and sacred treasures, laid up in the temple of Bel us. This the prophet Jeremiah had foretold. “I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. I will do judgment on the graven images of Babylon.”

No efforts made by the conquerors of Babylon to restore her glory, or even to prevent her decay, were at all successful. Cyrus made Babylon his usual place of residence, but his successors preferred other cities: and when Alexander conquered Babylon, it was fully his purpose to restore Babylon to her pristine glory; but the counsel of Jehovah was adverse. The prophet had long before signified that all such attempts would prove ineffectual. “Take balm f{»r her pain, if so be that she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed.” The proximate cause of the rapid decline of Babylon was twofold; first, the turning of the river inundated the surrounding country and filled it with stagnant pools; secondly, the building of another city in the neighbourhood, drew off multitudes of inhabitants, who transferred their residence and wealth from tli? old to the new city. Babylon also was op|)ressed with some of the most cruel tyrants that ever ruled over any city. One of these, named Humerus, who lived about one hundred and thirty years before Christ, reduced many of the inhabitants to slavery on the slightest pretext?, binned the forum and some of tlx* temples, and banis led many of the people into Media. In foresight of such scenes, the prophet says, “They shall remove, they shall depart both man ana h>^ast.”

The cruelty of the conquerors of Babylon is strongly portrayed Dy the inspired pen, “They are cruel both in anger and fierce wrath, to lay the land desolate.” This has been in an eminent degree verified, in the Persians and Medes, the Macedonians, the Parthians, the Syrians, the Romans, and the Saracens; all of whom, in their turn, by their cruel anger and fierce wrath, assisted to render desolate thi.”? oice “golden city,” and these once beaulifid and feiv*.^- regions.

“A sword is upon the Chaldeans, A sound of battle is in the land and great destruction. I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall burn all round about him. And Chaldea shall be a spoil, all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord. A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed. 0 thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come.”

The prophet’s description of the utter desolation of Babylon could scarcely have been more vivid and exact if he had been present to view the scne. “I will punish the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations; cut off the sower fiom Babylon and him that handleth the sickle in time of harvest. A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up. Behold the hindermost of the nations, a dry land and a desert. Her cities are a desolation, a dry land and a wilderness; a land where no man dwelleth; neither doth the son of man pass by there. I will send unto Babylon far ners that will fan her, and empty her land. The land shall tremble and sorrow; for every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the ‘and of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.”*

The decUie oi this famous city was gradual but

Jerepiiah li.

48 EVIDt>’CES OK CHIUSTIANITY

instant In he second century of the Christian era nothing remained but the walls, and in the fourth century, these were repaired to serve as an enclosure or park for wild beasts, and Babylon became a hunting ground for the kings of Persia. Under the Saracens the desolation became complete, ar.d for nany ages past the following prediction has been iterally fulfilled. “No man dwelleth there, and no son of man passeth by. Neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their folds there.” The only remains of the former city are heaps of ruins and mounds of half decayea bricks; in exact conformity with the prediction of Jeremiah. “Babylon shall become heaps. Cast her up as heaps. Let nothing of her be left. Babylon is fallen — is cut down to the ground. Her foundations are fallen. It shall never be inhabited from generation to generation.”

The following are statements made by recent tra vellcrs. “Our path,” says Mignan, “lay through the great mass of ruined heaps on the site of ’ shrunken Babylon.’ And I am perfectly incapable of conveying an adequate idea of the dreary lonely nakedness, that appeared before us.” Porter remarks, “that a silence profound as the grave, reigns throughout the ruins. Babylon is now a silent scene, a sublime solitude.” According to Rauwolf, even as early as the sixteenth century, there was not within the limits of ancient Babylon a single human habilatba, “The eye,” says he, “’ wanders over a barren desert in which the ruins are nearly the only indication, that it ever has been inhabited.” “It is impossible,” says Keppel, “to behold the scene, and not be reminded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled.” As the wild Arabs inhabit the wilderness, and often visit this region il may seem strange and imi)robablc that they should never pitc i their tents on the ruinous site of Babylon; but Mignan informs us that nothing will induce them to remain all night near the principal mound, as they have a superstitious belief that evil spirits rtwell ihere. H? informs iis, that lie was accompanied by six Arabs, well armed, and accistomed to the desert, but no inducement could have prevailed on them to remain on the ground after night.

The place is also full of “doleful creatures” and of stagnant pools. Among the ruins, travellers inform us, there are many dens of wild beasts. ‘• In most of the cavities,” says Rich, “are numerous owls and bats.” On the very mound supposed to have been produced by the ruins of the temple of Belus, Porter saw three large lions. The hyena and the jackal nave also their residence here. Who can fail to see, in these circumstances, the exact fulfilment of that prediction — “Wild beasts of the desert shall be there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.” The western bank of the Euphrates has now disappeared, and the river having no barrier freely overflows the adjacent land, so that on this side a large part of the ruins of Babylon are inundated; and for a great distance, even after the river hafsubsided, the whole country is one continued swamf, which is entirely inaccessible to the traveller. To this the prophet seems to have alluded, when he says, “The sea is come upon Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.” But that which at first view appears to be incompatible with this description is nevertheless true. Babylon is described by the prophets as ‘’ a dry land, a wilderness, and a desert.” But the fact is, that while on one side of the river, the site is inundated, on the other, it is exceedingly dry, and a mere arid desert.

As far as the light of history reaches, among all the structures ever reared by the hands of men, the temple of Belus seems to have been the most elevated. This temple was probably built on the foundation of the tower of Babel, and accoraing to the lowest computation, was higher than the greate pt of the Egyptian pyramids. The highest mound now am.ong the ruins is supposed, by discerning travellers, o be on the sito of th s famous temple. This ruin 1. 150 evii)p:ncks ok rnK.sri am i v

covers rrore ground Ihan tin? temple did when stand ing. “It has.” says Migiian, “the appearance ol” £ hill surnioiuited with a castle.” This hill is callec Dy the Arabs Birs Nbnrud. Of this vast ruin, Sii Rol ort Ker Porter has given a very particular and interesting account. “On the summit of the hill are immense fragments of brick-work, of no determinate figures, tumbled together, and converted into vitrified masses.” Some of these huge fragments measure twelve feet in height by twenty-four in circumference; these fragments have been entirely preserved, while every thing else is crumbled to dust, because they have been exposed to the action of the fiercest fire; they are completely molten.

The high gates of the temple of Bolus, which were standing in the time of Herodotus, have been burnt with fire. “Bel boweth down. Bel is confounded. The hand of the Lord has been stretched upon it — it has been rolled down from the rocks — and has been made a burnt mountain.” The noble palaces of Babylon, the larger of which was surrounded by three walls of great extent, have entirely disappeared. Although the strength of the walls seemed to promise durability, and almost to bid defiance to time; yet now, of these palaces, the most splendid ])crhaps that the world ever saw, nothing but the mere vestiges of the walls which surround them, remain. The circumference of this ruin is about half a mile, and its height one Inindred and forty feet; but it is a mass of confusion, the receptacle of wild beasts, and full of dol(iul creatures. Wild beasts cry in the desolate houses, “and dragons in the pleasant palaces.” “Venomous reptiles,” says Mignan, “are very numerous throughout the ruins.” “On pacing over the loose stones,” says the same writer, “and fragments of brick-work, which lay scattered through the immense fabric, and surveying the sublimity of the ruins, I naturally recurred to tlic time when these walls stood proudly in their original s[>lendonr; wlion the halls were the scenes of festive magnilici.Mice, and wutn they resounded to the voices of those w loni rVTDKNCKS OF CH lUSTI AN ITY. 151

death has long since swept from the e.iitn. Thi? very pile was once the seat of luxury and vice, now abandoned t-> decay, and exhibiting a melancholy instance of the retribution of heaven. It stands alone. The solitary habitation of the goat-herd marks not the forsaken site.” “Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of the viols; the worms are spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.”

In this wonderful city there was nothing more wonderful than the heiglU and thickness of the walls. They were so broad that six chariots abreast could be drawn on them, and their original height is said to have been three hundred and fifty feet; or at the lowest computation of the length of the cubit, three hundred feet. Darius, it is true, lowered these walls; but still they were elevated above the height of most walls. Where are they now? Not a vestige of them any where remains. Two travellers, Buckingham and Frederick, have both made diligent search to find some traces of the wall of Babylon. The latter says: “Neither of the wall or of the ditch has been seen the least vestige by any modern traveller. Within twenty-one miles distance along the Euphrates, and twelve miles across it in breadth, I was unable to perceive any thing that could admit of my imagining, that either a wall or ditch had existed withm this extensive area.”

Keppel relates, that he and the party who accompanied him, “in common with other travellers, had totally failed in discovering any trace of the city walls.” And he adds:” The divine predictions against Babylon have been so totally fulfilled in the appearance of the ruins, that I am disposed to give the fullest signification to the words of Jeremiah The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly

BROKEN.”

It was predicted that “Babylon should be an astonishment. Every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished.” How exactly this accords with the feelings of modern travellers, may Ve learned from their f’wn lai guage. Pf rter says,” I could not ha<

152 EVIDENCES OF CHRTsriAMT V.

feel ail indescribable awe, in tlms passing, as it weift into the gates of falJ’^n JJabylon.” “I cannot per troy,” <;ays Mignan, ••’the overpowering sensation of reverential awe that possessed my mind, while contemplating the extent and magnitude of ruin and devastation on every side.” In another place Porter adds the following interesting remarks, expressive of /lis feelings while surveying the scene. “The whole ■^iew was particularly solemn. The majestic stream of the Euphrates, wandering in solitude, like a pilgrim monarch, through the silent ruins of his devastated Kingdom, still appeared a noble river, under all the disadvantages of its desert-tracked course. Its banks were hoary with reeds: and the gray osier willowj were yet there, on which the captives of Israel hung up their harps; and, while Jerusalem was not, rel“used to be comforted. But how is the rest of the scene changed since then! At that time those broken hills were palaces — those long undulating mounds, streets. This vast solitude, filled with the btisy subjects of the proud daughter of the east. Now wasted with misery, her habitations are not to be found, and for herself, ’ the worm is spread over her.’”

The Rev. Alexander Keith, concludes with these pertinent remarks: “Has not every purpose of the Lord been performed against Babylon? What mortal shall give a negative answer to the questions subjoined by the author of 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 time the things that arc not yet done. Saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Is it possible there can be any attestation of the truth of prophecy, if not witnessed here? “The records of the human race, it has been said with truth, do not present u contrast more striking than that between the primeval magnificence of Babylon, and its long desolation. How i’QW spots are there on earth of which vr have so clear and faitliJ’’l a picture rs prophecy

EVIDENCES OP CHRISTIANITr. 153

g&xe of fallen Babylon, when no spot on Scrth lesen.bled it less than its present desolate, solitary site. Or could any prophecies respecting any single place, be more precise, or wonderful, or numerous, or true or more gradually accomplished through many generations?”

TYRE.

Tyre is another famous ancient city, which was the object of some very particular and remarkable prophecies, which have been most exactly fulfilled. Isaiah uttered his prediction concerning Tyre when she was in her glory, and flourishing in all the pride and luxury, which were sustained by the richest commerce in the world, at least a century before any danger threatened the place. The reason which the prophet assigns for God’s judgments was the pride of this wealthy city. “The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth.” (Isaiah xxiii. 9.) Ezekiel employs three whole chapters in describing the luxury, wealth, commerce and destruction of Tyre.*

The following particulars are clearly included in the divine predictions concerning Tyre.

1. That this luxurious and populous city should be taken by the Chaldeans; who, at the time of the prophecy, were an inconsiderable people. Ezekiel not only predicts that the ruin of this city should be by the Chaldeans, but names the prince by whom it should be taken: “Thus saith the Lord God, I will bring upon Tyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen. He shall slay thy people with the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go d nvn to the ground.”! Josephus informs us, thai Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years while Ithobal reigned there, and for his authoriti ]iiotes Mcnander the Ephesian. The Phenician ai

E^3k. xxTU xxvii. xxviii. f Ezek. xxvi, 7 — 11

154 EVIDENCES OF CHUIi TIANITY.

nals, as Dr. Prideaux has shown, agree exa tly with this account.

2. It was predicted that the inhabita •♦j shonlc. pass over the Mediterranean sea, lo the islands and countries adjacent. Isaiah says. ‘’ Pass ye over to Tarshish, howl ye inhabitants of the isle.* Arise, pass over to Chittim, there also shalt thou have no rest.” Ezekiel foretells the same thing. “The isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.” Bishop Newton has shown from ancient authors, that the Tyrians planted colonies in many places over sea, and among them were the cities of Carthage in Africa, and Tartessus in Spain, which last is the Tarshish of the prophets.

3. It was predicted, that after seventy years Tyre should be restored. Isaiah is express in the mention of this period. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years according to the days of one king;”t in which reference is made to the duration of the Chaldean dynasty, which was to continue only seventy years. Jero miah intimates this to be the length of the Babylonish power. “These nations shall serve the king o Babylon seventy years.”J

4. It was foretold that Tyrus, after being restored, should be destroyed again. When Nebuchadnezzar took the city, the people took their effects and went into their ^hips, and escaped, with much ot theii wealth; f that God promised Egypt as a recompense for his hard service and poor reward in besieging Tyre. When the inhabitants returned, they did not build on the old site, but went to an island separated from the main land by a strait of the sea. Hero the new city arose and flourished in commerce and wealth. The prophets not only foretold the ovcrihrow of old Tyre, but of this new chy, built, as it were, “in the midst of the sea.” Isaiah says, “Howl ye inhabitants of the isle.” EzeKiel,” What chy is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of thff

Isa. xxiii. 6. t Jcr. rxv. 11, 12.

t Isa xxiii. iri — 17 sea.* Zechariah, who had hvcd long afier the first desiruction, and must rsfer to the second, says, “And Tyrus dia builv’. himseU’a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire.”t This new city was truly a strong hold, for not only was the sea a defence, but her walls were one hundred and fifty feet in height. Ezekiel also plainly predicts, that the second destruction of Tyre should be by fire. “I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, and it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes on the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” Accordingly, Alexander the Great besieged and took the city, and set it on fire. This is expressly asserted by Quintus Curtius.J

For a while, the insular situation of Tyre and hei command of the sea, hindered the approach of Alexander’s army to the walls; but he took the stones and rubbish of the old city, and made a causeway across the arm of the sea which lay between the island and the continent; thus fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel, “They shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust in the midst of the water.”§ This was a work of immense labour, and occupied his army for seven months. On this occasion also, tb; Tyrians betook themselves to their ships, and fied L.cross the sea. Both Diodorus Siculus, and Quintus Curtius, testify, that during the siege, they sent away their wives and children to Carthage; ana when the city was taKen, the Sidonians contrived to carry off fifteen thousand persons in their ships. And they were happy who thus escaped, for the conqueror exercised unbounded cruelties upon such as remained. Eight thousand were slain in taking the city, two thousand were crucified, and thirty thousand sold for slaves.

Although Tyre was again rebuilt, and for a con siierible time flfirished; yet the unchangeable de

Ezek xxrli. 32 t L. 4. c. 3.

t Zech. -iiL 1 Ezf k. xxvi. 12.

I.>t» evidence:* of chuistiamtt.

cree pf the Almighty had been pubUshed and recorded by the prophets, that this once proud city, thf mistress of llie sea, should become a perfect desolation. Ezekiel, who has given so vivid and so particular a descriy)tion of the wealth and commerce of Tyrus, and of the pride of her kings and merchants, also furnishes the most exact prediction of her ruin and utter desolation.

“Thus saith the Lord God, behold I am against ll;6e, 0 Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come ■jp against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come ap, and they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her as 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 saith the Lord.” And to show the absolute certainty of this total desolation of Tyre, he repeats what was last mentioned in the fourteenth verse. “I will make thee like the top of a rock, thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. And again, 1 will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more, though thou be sought for, thou shalt never be found again, saith the Lord God.”

Now, to show how exactly this is fulfilled, let us hear what account modern travellers give of this tanious city.

Cotovicus, a Dutch traveller, who visited Syria in 1598, writes, “that this city so often restored after being overthrown, now at length appears to be utterly ruined; so that it has ceased to be any longer a city, and only some inconsiderable ““^estiges of her former ruins are now visible. If you except a few arches and baths, and some ruined walls, and collapsed towers, and mere rubbish, there is now nothing of Tyre to be discerned.” And then he refers to the prophecy of Ezekiel.

Dr. Sluiw visited Tyre, but could find nothing ike a port or secure harbour any where in the neighoourl’ood. But Maundrell’s account is the most

* ia.d and striking. “This city, standing in the sea, on a peninsrila, at a distance, promises something very magnificent; but when yon come nearer, you find no simihtu le of that glory for which it was sc renowned in ai cient times, and which the prophet Ezekiel describes in the 26th, 27th, and 28th chap lers of his prophecy. On the north side, it has an old ungarrisoned Turkish castle, besides which you see nothing but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars vaults, &c., there being not so much as one entire no use left; its present inhabitants only a fewpoor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly on fishing, who seem to be presirved in this place, by divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, that it should be ‘as the top of a rock a place for fishers to dry their nets on.’”

And even Volney seems to be constrained to add his testimony to confirm the fulfilment of the divine prediction, respecting Tyre. After contrasting its former glory with its present desolation, he says “The whole village of Tyre contains only fifty or sixty poor families, who live obscurely on the produce of their little ground and a trifling fishery And Bruce describes Tyre, in the very language of the prophet, as “a rock whereon fishers dry their nets.” Several of our missionaries have visited the site of this once populous, refined, and wealthy city, and add their testimony to that of other travellers, of its present desolate condition.

Thus we see how remarkably prophecies, committed to writing above two thousand years ago, are at this day literally fulfilled, in the utter desolation of some of the richest and strongest cities which ever existed in the world

The prophecies recorded in the book of Daniel are very wonderful. There we have described the rise and fall of four successive monarchies or empires, and a prophecy concerning the conquests of Alexander the Great, and concerning his successo’s, embracing so many particulars that it assumes the

lbS EVIDENCES OK CHR.BTIA^ITT.

appearonce of a history of the events wlich it predicts. Por)hyry, an early and learned opposer ol Christianity, was so struck with the conioidepce between the predictions, and the history of the events by which they are fuifilli’d, that lie declared that the prophecy must have been written alter the events occurred. The infidel can make no complaint of obscurity here, as he conniionly does when prophecies are adduced; the objection now is, that the prediction is too explicit and circumstantial. This objection of Porphyry induced Jerome to use the following pertinent language: Cujiis impiignatio tes- ^imorihim veritutis est. Tanta enini dlctorum fides fuit, lit propheta incredulis hominibiis non videatur fiitura dixisse, sed narrasse jyrseterita. The meaning of which is, “This objection is a testimony of the truth; for such is the perspicuity of the language, that the prophet in the opinion of infidci men, seems rather to be narrating past events, than predicting those which are future.”

It will be sufficient to observe, that there is not the least foundation for this opinion of Porphyry, that the book of Daniel was written after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Josephus relates that the prophecies of Daniel were shown to Alexander the Great, when he visited Jerusalem; and that this was the reason of his granting so many privileges to the Jewish people. However this may be, Daniel is spoken of, in the first book cf Maccabees; and Josephus himself reckons him among the greatest of prophets. If this book had been written at that late period, it never could have found a place in the Jewish canon, as the prophecies of Daniel. These prophecies are also recognized and quoted by Jesui Christ as the productions of Daniel.