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The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn,
Standing afar off, for terror of her torments,

And cry, Alas! alas! great Babylon!

What city was like thee,

Thou mighty city!' Then upon their heads

Shall they cast dust, and weep, and wail, and cry,
Alas! for that great city, whereby all

That traded on the sea in ships grew rich
By reason of her costliness. Alas!

For in one hour is she made desolate.""

AFTER the overthrow of Nineveh, Babylon became the queen of Western Asia, and for a long time was justly regarded as the most famous city in the world. The great and mighty ones of the earth here lived, and nature and art combined in no ordinary degree to elevate its population in the social and political scale. The map of Asiatic Turkey will show how the Babylonian plain loses itself in the interminable deserts of Singar and Arabia, but the marshes and lakes of Lower Mesopotamia and Chaldea make a large deduction from its soil; while, as if to neutralize the natural advantages of the city, many of the Babylonian monarchs threw a variety of obstacles in the way of commercial enterprise.

The whole country is represented, in both sacred and profane history, as immensely fertile. According to Herodotus, its fertility was to be credited only by eye-witnesses, seldom producing less than two hundredfold, and in some cases three hundredfold, while the grain itself was of prodigious size. Pliny and Strabo bear testimony to the same fact. Gibbon, in his history, informs us that the pasture lands surrounding Babylon were covered with flocks and herds. "The parks adjacent to the royal palace," he furthermore adds, "were replenished with pheasants, peacocks, ostriches, roebucks, and wild boars, and lions and tigers were sometimes turned loose for the golden pleasures of the chase. Nine hundred and sixty elephants were maintained for the use and splendour of the great king; his tents and baggage were carried into the field by 12,000 great camels and 8,000 of a smaller size, and the royal stables were filled with 6,000 mules and horses; 6,000 guards were successively mounted before the palace gate, and the service of the interior apartments was performed by 12,000 slaves. The various treasures of gold and silver, gems, silks, and aromatics were deposited in 100 subterraneous vaults."

In sacred Scripture the epithets of "great Babylon," the "glory of kingdoms," the "beauty of the Chaldees' excellency," "the golden city," the "lady of kingdoms," "abundant in treasures," "the praise of the whole earth," amply sustain the glowing descriptions which heathen and profane authors have thus given as to the pomp and magnificence of this ancient city. Perhaps the fullest and the best information relating to the former greatness of Babylon is to be met with in Dr. Prideaux's "Connection," and to the second book of that very valuable and useful work we must refer the reader for further information.

The magnitude of the city, as stated by ancient historians, almost staggers belief. At the very lowest computation, the area within the walls was seventy-two square miles, or more than that of London

with all its suburbs; while, if the highest computation be adopted, the area within the walls was 180 square miles, or several times that of London. The population, however, does not seem to have borne any proportion to the extent of area occupied as compared with the closely filled and densely peopled interior of our modern cities; for Rennel supposes that, in its most flourishing state, Babylon never contained a population of more than 1,200,000 inhabitants.

It was under Nebuchadnezzar, the second sovereign of the Chaldæo-Babylonian empire, whose reign commenced B.c. 604, that Babylon gained its highest distinction and attained its greatest brilliancy. The vast treasures at his command, derived from the spoils of conquered countries, were unsparingly employed upon its aggrandisement, and with such success that the pride of the already arrogant monarch was inflamed by the grandeur of his works, and he uttered the boasting exclamation, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" But, while the word of boasting was yet in the king's mouth, we are told, "There fell a voice from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field." And the sacred historian adds, "The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws" (Dan. iv. 31–33). Never was a check given to human presumption more prompt and overwhelming, or a warning held forth to the vain and impious more impressive.

Manifold are the prophecies relating to Babylon, and almost every step in the fall and subsequent reverses of this great city only served to confirm the words which were uttered against her when as yet she was in the meridian of her glory. We shall place some of these prophecies before you in the first place, and then proceed to show, from the evidence of history and modern research, how minutely and circumstantially they have received their accomplishment.

The

I. The first of these predictions is that uttered by Isaiah more than a century before the city attained to the meridian of its glory; at a time, therefore, when human forethought would have foretold her increasing greatness rather than her complete desolation. "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people ; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 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, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces" (Isa. xiii. 1, 4, 5, 17-22).

"I will make it (Babylon) a possession for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts" (Isa. xiv. 23).

"Thus saith the Lord, that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure. I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel" (Isa. xlv. 1, 3).

"The word that the Lord spake against Babylon, and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded. For out of the north there cometh up a nation against her which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein; they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast" (Jer. 1. 1-3).

"Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord (Jer. 1. 13, 15).

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"Babylon is suddenly fallen. The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon to destroy it. Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause her horses to come up as the rough caterpillars. One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end, and that the passages are stopped, and the men of war are affrighted. Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her" (Jer. li. 8, 11, 27, 31, 32, 64).

Such are some of the many prophecies respecting Babylon, uttered against her when as yet she had scarcely attained the meridian of her glory as "the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency;" and from these utterances we deduce the following facts:

1. That more than a century previous to the overthrow of the city, the enemies who were to besiege Babylon, with the name of the victorious commander, were distinctly made known.

2. The completeness of the desolation which should mark its history was very circumstantially described; and

3. The manner in which the city should be taken, the time of its overthrow, and all the remarkable circumstances of the siege, are here set forth just as the facts are represented as having occurred in the histories of Xenophon, Rollin, and others.

II. To the further exposition and confirmation of these facts we now invite your serious and earnest attention.

1. The enemies by whom the doomed city was to be besieged and overtaken are thus referred to:-" Go up, O Elam (or Persia) : besiege, O Media. The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes for his device is against Babylon to destroy it. Prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz. For thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him. He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure." Such, according to prophecy, were the enemies by whom the city would be besieged and taken. And what are the actual facts of history? Are they found to accord with these prophetic utterances? On the testimony of the most credible ancient historians, the kings of Persia and Media, prompted by a common interest, freely entered into a league against Babylon, and with one accord entrusted Cyrus with the command of their united forces. This Cyrus was a Persian by birth, and nephew and son-in-law of the King of the Medes. It is somewhat remarkable, also, that not only was Babylon thus taken by the united armies of the Medes and Persians, but, just as Isaiah had predicted, the city was taken by one Cyrus, the victorious commander of the united forces. Thus even the name of the victor was foretold more than a century before he was born. Νο mere human wit or wisdom could account for such marvellous coincidences.

From prophetic statements we further infer that other nations were combined under the general command of Cyrus, in thus accomplishing the Divine displeasure against Babylon. "Prepare the nations against her," said the prophet; "call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz." Mark how this prophecy also was fulfilled. Ancient historians inform us that, as the result of previous conquests, the armies of other nations had been incorporated with the combined armies of the Medes and Persians. Ararat, for example, or the Armenians, who had previously revolted against Media, but whom Cyrus had succeeded in binding over anew to their allegiance; the Lydians also, who were formerly combined with Babylon; the Phrygians and the Cappadocians, and the armies of other nations, all were added to his accumulating forces. And thus, in the enemies by whom Babylon was actually besieged, and in the victorious general under whose dictation these combined forces were led on to the work of terrible retribution, we have a literal fulfilment of those very predictions which, more than one hundred years before, were uttered against her. Is it possible to conceive that the prophets wrote at random? Is it possible to conceive that it was by mere accident that they thus spake respecting Babylon, and the enemies by whom she would be besieged and captured? Nay, does it not rather indicate the greatest amount of common sense, as well as the soundest philosophy, to conclude that the prophets, when they thus predicted, spake and wrote as they were guided and directed by the Spirit of God? We could just as soon believe that creation itself was the work of accident, as that the revelation of these minute and marvellous coincidences were conjectures.

2. The completeness of the desolation which should overtake

the city, and mark its subsequent history, is very circumstantially described. "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 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 folds there but wild beasts of the desert," &c. (Isa. xiii. 19, 20, 22). "I will make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts." "It shall not be inhabited, it shall be wholly desolate; every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished and hiss at all her plagues. Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the vengeance of the Lord." How vast the contrast betwixt Babylon as thus sketched by prophetic inspiration, compared with the magnificence which made Nebuchadnezzar forget he was a man, with Belshazzar's feast prepared for a thousand lords, and with the known wealth, and power, and population of the empire, at the time when these predictions were uttered! The contrast is thus finely expressed by a Christian poet―

"The kings thy sword had slain, the mighty dead
Start from their thrones at thy descending tread;
They ask in scorn, Destroyer, is it thus?
Art thou-thou, too! become like one of us?
Turn from the feast of music, wine, and mirth,
The worm thy covering, and thy couch the earth!
How art thou fall'n from thine ethereal height,
Son of the morning, sunk in endless night!
How art thou fall'n, who saidst, in pride of soul,
I will ascend above the starry pole,
Thence rule the adoring nations with my rod,
And set my throne above the throne of God!
Spilt in the dust, thy blood pollutes the ground,
Sought by the eyes that feared thee, yet not found.
Thy chieftains pause, they turn thy relics o'er;
Then pass thee by-for thou art now no more."

Montgomery.

At the commencement of the Christian era, Babylon is represented as in ruins. Strabo, the geographer, who died A.D. 25, states that time and neglect had nearly completed the work of destruction, and he applies to the then site of Babylon the saying of an ancient poet in relation to a ruined Arcadian city, that it was "one vast wilderness." Pliny, who died A.D. 116, describes it as lying waste and unpeopled, and shortly afterwards Pausanias thus refers to it-" Of Babylon, a greater city than which the sun did not formerly behold, all that now remains is the temple of Belus and the walls of the city."

The dilapidated character of the ruins makes it extremely difficult to state to which of the ancient buildings the existing ruins are to be ascribed. The principal of them are the Kasr, or the palace, the Mujellibe, or the overturned, and the Birs Nimroud, or Tower of Nimrod, all of which are of great magnitude, and at very considerable distances from each other. The last-mentioned is the largest, and is a mound of an oblong figure, 762 yards in circumference. On its west side it rises to an elevation of nearly 200 feet, and on its summit is a solid pile of brick, 37 feet high. It consists entirely

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