to the grave, and the noise of the seat of luxury and vice; thy viols, Isa. xiv., 11. now abandoned to decay," &c. -Mignan's Travels, p. 172.

The worm is spread under thee; and the worms cover thee, Isa. xiv., 11.

Thou art cast out of thy an abominable grave like branch, Isa. xiv., 19.

And as the raiment of them that are slain, thrust through with a sword,

That go down to the stones of the pit;

As a carcass trodden under feet, Isa. xiv., 19.

"The base is greatly injured by time and the elements." -Ibid., p. 166. "The summit is covered with heaps of rubbish."-Rich's Memoir, p. 29. "The mound was full of large holes, strewed with the carcasses and skeletons of animals recently killed."-Keppel's Narrative, p. 179. In the warm climate of Chaldea, wherever these are strewed, worms cannot be wanting.

"Several deep excavations have been made in different places." Sir R. K. Porter's Travels, vol. ii., 342. After being brought down to the grave, it is cast out of it again, for " many of the excavations have been dug by the rapacity of the Turks, tearing up its bowels in search of hidden treasures."-Ibid.

Several of the large holes, whereof it is full, "penetrate very far into the body of the structure."-Ibid., p. 342. Keppel's Narrative, p. 179. Mignan's Travels, p. 171, &c.

els, p. 258. From the least to the greatest of the heaps, they are all trodden on. "The ruins of Babylon are trodden under foot of men."-Volney's Ruins, c. iv.

Her idols are confounded, "Engraved marbles, idols her images are broken in of clay," "small figures of pieces; all the graven images brass and copper," "bronze of her gods he hath broken unto the ground, Jer. 1., 2.

The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, Jer. li., 58.

Babylon shall be an astonishment. Every one that goeth by shall be astonished, Jer. 1., 13; li., 37, 41.

figures of men and animals are found among the ruins." -Rennell's Geography of Herodotus, p. 368. Rich, Porter, Mignan.

"Where are the walls of Babylon ?" asks Volney, Ruins, c. ii. "In common with other travellers," says Major Keppel, "we totally failed in discovering any trace of the city walls."-Keppel's Narrative, vol. i., p. 175. Bombay Literary Transactions, Captain Frederick on the Ruins of Babylon, vol. i., p. 130, 131. Rich's Memoirs, p. 43, 44.

"I cannot portray," says Captain Mignan, "the overpowering sensation of reverential awe that possessed my mind while contemplating the extent and magnitude of ruin and devastation on every side."-Mignan's Travels, p. 117. Sir R. K. Porter, Rich, &c.

The Lord will do his pleas- "It was impossible to behold ure in Babylon, Isa. xlviii., 14. this scene, and not to be reEvery purpose of the Lord minded of how exactly the shall be performed against predictions of Isaiah and JereBabylon, Jer. 1., 29. I will miah have been fulfilled, even bring upon that land all my in the appearance Babylon words which I have pro- was doomed to present; that nounced against it, even all she should never be inhabitthat is written in this book, ed; that the Arabian should 13.

Jer. XXV.,

not pitch his tent there; that she should become heaps; that her cities should be a desolation, a dry land, and a

wilderness!" - Keppel's Narrative, p. 197. Rich, Porter, Mignan, Buckingham, &c.

A single fact, as Fox has said, is worth a thousand arguments; and to set about a proof of the inspiration of the Jewish prophets, after having placed these predictions and facts before the reader, would be an impeachment of his understanding, as incapable of comprehending the plainest truth; and of his heart, as seared and hardened in unbelief, beyond the possibility of conviction. Adopting again, in the conclusion as at the commencement, the definition given by an enemy, we would say, "if by a prophet we are to suppose a man to whom the Almighty communicated some event that would take place in future, either there were such men or there were not." And if any truth be so clear that it cannot be misunderstood, and so evident that it cannot be denied, it is a truth that there were such men, and that manifold events, which may now be known of all men, were communicated to them, which God alone could have revealed. The prophecies of Scripture bear no similitude whatever to any random conjectures of future events, such as short-sighted mortals could form. They are most distinct and definite; and the events which they marked, with all the accuracy which the closest inspection could enable an eyewitness to portray, are the most marvellous that have ever been recorded in the history of the world. They have proved independent of a thousand contingences, any one of which might, humanly speaking, have rendered each of them abortive; and their fulfilment is the result of a countless number and variety of causes, which, in a long succession of ages, have all successively conspired to further, and ultimately to perfect, the very end that was declared from the beginning.

Men may cavil at the word of God and deride his judgments; but from the high places of infidelity, witnesses must come forth to prove that his word is true, and that his judgments are sure. The undesigned and conclusive testimony of the talented academician, who, without a pilgrim's spirit, sojourned long in the land of Palestine, is worth that of many pilgrims. The facts which he adduced and accumulated, instead of showing, as he thought, that all revelation is false, and that belief in it is the cause of desolation, give direct evidence of inspiration, and show what ruin the rejection of the everlasting covenant has wrought. And they need but to be placed, as above, side by side with the words of the prophets, in order that the author of the Ruins of Cities and Revolutions of Empires may be set up against all men beside, who would gainsay the proved truths, that the God of Israel is the Lord, and that the prophets spake by

the inspiration of his Spirit. And the infidel chief not only contends like an indomitable hero in our cause, but thus irrefutably reasons, like a philosopher, in our behalf.

"How long will man importune the heavens with unjust complaint? How long with vain clamours will he accuse Fate as the author of his calamities? Will he then never open his eyes to the light, and his heart to the insinuations of truth and reason? This truth everywhere presents itself in radiant brightness, and he does not see it! The voice of reason strikes his ear, and he does not hear it! Unjust man! if you can for a moment suspend the delusion which fascinates your senses; if your heart be capable of comprehending the language of argumentation, interrogate these ruins! read the lessons which they present to you! And yon sacred temples! venerable tombs! walls once glorious! the witnesses of twenty different ages appear in the cause of nature herself! come to the tribunal of sound understanding, to bear testimony against an unjust accusation, to confound the declamations of false wisdom or hypocritical piety, and avenge the heavens and the earth of the man who calumniates them!" "For myself, I swear by all laws, human and divine, by the laws of the human heart, that the hypocrite and the deceiver shall be themselves deceived; the unjust man shall perish in his rapacity, and the tyrant in his usurpation; the sun shall change its course before folly shall prevail over wisdom and science, before stupidity shall surpass prudence in the delicate art of procuring to man his true enjoyments, and of building his happiness upon a solid foundation. Thus spoke the apparition."

Believers in Jesus, swear not at all. But an oath for confirmation is not needful to show-nor need a spirit be evoked to tell-that the "truth presents itself in radiant brightness;" that if the voice of reason were heard, and the delusion which fascinates the senses of the skeptic were suspended for a moment, the truth would be clearly seen and infallibly believed the declamations of a false philosophy would be confounded, and the heavens and the earth, and the word of Him that made them, "be avenged of the man who calumniates them;" that the deceiver is himself deceived, and that of Volney and of each of his compeers it may be said, Thou art the man; and that "the sun shall change its course before folly shall prevail over wisdom;" before infidelity shall triumph over faith; before the happiness of man shall be built on any other foundation than that which the Lord hath laid; and before any or all the gates of hell shall prevail

* Volney's Ruins, c. 3. English Translation. The original, which is still better, is inserted in the Appendix, No. 1.

against the word of the living God, or that word return unto him void, or fail to fulfil the purpose for which he sent it.

What, then, but lighter than air, are all the vapouring declamations of ungodly men against the inspiration of the Jewish prophets, when weighed in the balance of right reason, against facts so luminous and argumentation so convincing? And how clearly, so that the dimmest eye may see, how loudly, so that the dullest ear may hear, do all these events show and proclaim that they were "communicated by the Almighty;" and that the seers of Israel were the prophets of the Lord? And when a man like Paine, or Volney, or Voltaire, is heard to declaim against the inspiration of the prophets, and to stigmatize them as impostors and liars, may not every man who has eyes to see clearly discern that he is one of those false teachers, and presumptuous and self-willed scoffers, who, as also foretold in Scripture, were to arise in the last days, and have now arisen, WHO SPEAK EVIL OF THE THINGS THAT THEY UNDERSTAND NOT; who speak great swelling words of vanity to allure others, promising them LIBERTY, while they themselves are the children of corruption, and foaming out their own shame? And may we not look on such a man as furnishing, by his words and the ignorance they display, by his acts and the impiety they show forth, as plain a proof, even in his derision against it, of the inspiration he denies, as if we were to stand on any of the ruins of Babylon, and hear the cry of a wild beast, the hissing of a serpent, or the hooting of an owl, or as if we saw in Petra the vultures gathered every one with her mate, and heard the screechowl scream in the midst of the city devoted to perpetual desolation? Without convincing himself of a love of darkness, akin to that of the bird of night, no man can shut his eyes against the light, or his ear against the voice of reason." If asked a reason of our faith in the inspiration of the Prophets, an answer may be given to every question, and an event may be shown for every prediction. Invoking ruined cities by their names, Volney exclaims, "Oh names, for ever glorious! celebrated fields! famous countries! how replete is your aspect with sublime instruction! How many profound truths are written on the surface of this earth! Ye places that have witnessed the life of man in so many different ages, unveil the causes of his misfortunes, teach him true wisdom, and let the experience of past ages become a mirror of instruction, and a germe of happiness to present and future generations!"* Let skeptics, then, at the bidding of their master, and let all practical as well as professed unbelievers, if their hearts be capable of comprehending the language of argumentation or the evidence of facts, interrogate these ruins.

* Volney's Ruins.

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