thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee." In the following chapter he speaks like Isaiah, as if the threats of God were executed"How is Sheshach taken ! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans. Because the Lord hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice, when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered. Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken, for the Lord God of recompences will surely requite." All this made not the least impression on the minds of the wicked Babylonians, they trusted in their own might, and in that of their city, and defied the word of the God of Israel, adding thus, to their numerous and heinous transgressions.

Having gone thus far, it is now requisite to give an account of the fulfilment of these prophecies, by the destruction of this mighty city. The immortal Cyrus, who was predicted more than a century before he came into being, having conquered many of the provinces sub

ject to Babylonia, directed his attention to the capital, and having arrived before the walls, by one of the most daring contrivances ever known, completely made himself master of it. On that ever-memorable night so aptly described in Daniel chap. v, when impious Belshazzar and the whole of the Babylonians were feasting and carousing, and had forgotten Cyrus and his immense army, the hero, by turning the Euphrates from its regular course (viz. through the city) into a lake which had been formed by Nebuchadnezzar, and into the various canals, which were dug to prevent the overflowing of the waters from various sources, was enabled to drain it sufficiently dry for his army to enter with safety; which was done, the men being separated into two companies, who marched in north and south, and consequently met about the middle of the river. Cyrus then ordered his army into the midst of the city, and such was the haste and secrecy which which it was done, that it is generally said and believed, they had taken possession before the people who dwelt in the middle and farther parts knew any thing of what was going on. Being thus successful, they imme

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diately hastened to the royal residence, and " in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain." To this capture of Babylon, nearly all historians agree: the time it happened, however, is variously computed. Dean Prideaux places it at 539 B. C.

But this was not all; the prophecies were not fulfilled by merely the taking of Babylon:1st. It was to be conquered by the Medes and Persians under Cyrus-this was actually the case, and so the prophetic words were here accomplished:-2nd. The river was to be dried up, as may be seen in Jeremiah li. v.36. "I will dry up her sea"-this also was done by the astounding design of the "anointed" Cyrus-3rd. It was to be taken during a night of feasting and mirth, to be taken as in a snare, Isaiah xxist and Jeremiah Ith and 24th-this too came to pass exactly according to the prophecy-4th. " God promised to go before the Medes and open the gates of brass."— Cyrus would have been defeated in his plan, "had the gates which closed the avenues leading to the river been shut, as was always the custom at night. But so was it ordered by providence, that on this night of riot and

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confusion, with unparalleled negligence, they were left open!"*—so that in this instance also, the unerring prophecy was accomplished :yet, in the last place, what has demonstrated the truth of prophecy as much as any thing, is, the present state of Babylon. Her "broad walls and her high gates," were to be destroyed, and the "great city," was to be made a desolation, a land for none to dwell in, save the wild beasts of the field, and all manner of venomous creatures. This, all this, has been the fate of the "Lady of Kingdoms”—her walls were destroyed by Cyrus, soon after he gained his victory; and though Babylon revolted some time after against Darius, she was again conquered, and many, very many of the inhabitants slain. Different Emperors, and Governors of Persia repeatedly depopulated her, destroyed all the temples worth notice, and every thing of value, that decorated this surprising city; so that at last, in the course of some few years, Babylon dwindled away into nothing. The Euphrates by being turned from its course, constantly overflowed the place, and it soon became a monstrous heap

* Vide, "Encyclopaedia Metropolitana."

of ruins, a wilderness, and a desolation. Several travellers of note have visited, as they thought, the scite of Babylon, and in their description of which, are many things to induce one to believe it to be the scite; but it is a real fact, that the ruins and local position of this once great metropolis, cannot now be distinctly ascertained: as far however as is thought to be the spot, is said to be infested so by serpents and scorpions, and a kind of reptile like a lizard, that it is dangerous to explore it, except in the winter season: to be brief, every thing so accords with the prophecy, that it would be needless to enter into any farther details about its present appear

ance.

"Thus this city, that with great tyranny had triumphed over the nations of the earth for the space of one thousand six hundred years, (being so plentifully furnished with all things necessary for the maintenance of life, that the inhabitants thereof contemned all other people) was by God's permission, for their pride and presumption wasted and consumed. Where then O world is thy prosperity? or riches, thy glory? since in the one thou art consumed, in