was accomplished; and when the place was, and is now, overrun with venomous and unclean creatures, then indeed are her "houses full of doleful creatures, and dragons cry in her (once) pleasant palaces." All these points are fully established by the concurrent testimony of ancient and modern travellers. And well may we say, "How is the mighty fallen,-how is Babylon become a desolation !" acknowledging the truth, as well as the sublimity1 of the expression, "The Lord of hosts hath swept it with the besom of destruction." What a convincing testimony of the truth and divinity of Holy Writ! Where else can be found such an instance of prescience, from the beginning of the world until now?

'In the xivth chapter of Isaiah, commencing at the 9th verse, there is an Epinikion, or triumphant Ode, upon the fall of Babylon; representing the infernal mansions as moved; and the ghosts of deceased tyrants as rising, to meet the king of Babylon, and congratulate his coming among them! It is considered by eminent scholars, as one of the most spirited, sublime, and perfect compositions of the lyric kind; and superior to any of the productions of Greece or Rome.

DISSERTATION XI.

The Prophecies concerning TYRE.

TYRE was another city inimical to the Jews, whose fall was predicted by the prophets, particularly by Isaiah and Ezekiel. There were two Tyres; one on the continent, and the other on an adjacent island; both of them however seem to be included in these prophecies, and are spoken of as one and the same city; in the same manner as Pliny' speaking of the compass of the city Tyre, reckons both the continental and the insular Tyre together. Both of them were of great antiquity, though the continental was much older. Tyre has been called the daughter of Sidon, which was a celebrated mercantile place, and called the "great Sidon," even in the days of Joshua (Joshua xi. 8.): and it was so called because "the merchants of Sidon replenished

1 Nat. History, Book 5, chap. xvii; where he says, "The circumference, including old Tyre, is nineteen miles."

it." (Is. xxiii. 2.) Tyre however in time, equalled and surpassed her mother, Sidon, and became the most celebrated place in the world for trade, navigation, commerce, and riches: it is therefore called by Isaiah "a mart of nations, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable men of the earth." (Isaiah xxiii. 3. 8.)

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Whilst thus flourishing, the Prophets foretold its destruction; Isaiah, one hundred and twenty five years before it happened; their luxury, pride, and injuries to the Jews, drawing down this punishment upon them; "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 also having described at large its luxury and magnificence, (chap. xxvii.) proceeds thus to predict its fall in consequence of its arrogance. Say unto the prince of Tyrus,-Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas,'-therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of nations; they shall defile thy brightness,—bring thee down to the pit,—and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas." (Ezek. xxviii. 2, &c.) Joel also denounces punishment upon the Tyrians, because they had injured the Jews, and "sold the children of Judah unto the Grecians." (Joel iii. 6. 8.)

Ezekiel alleges, that for the same reason, God would nations to come up against her." (Ezek.

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xxvi. 3.)

By comparing the various prophecies that were delivered against Tyre by different prophets, in consequence of her arrogant pride and ill treatment of God's people, we shall find, 1st. That the city was to be taken by the Chaldeans (i. e. Babylonians,) at that time a people "who were not," i. e. a very inconsiderable people, the slaves and subjects of the Assyrians (Isaiah xxiii. 13.); and, 2nd, particularly by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, whom God would bring upon Tyrus (Ezek. xxvi. 7.), and whose army should "serve a great service against Tyrus, until every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled," during the long continuance thereof. 3rd, That the inhabitants should "pass over to Chittim," or fly over the Mediterranean, into the islands and countries adjoining; but even there "should have no rest" their conquerors pursuing them from one country to another (Isaiah xxiii. 6. 12); 4th. That "after seventy years," she should be restored, and should "turn to her hire," or merchandise. (Isaiah xxiii. 17.)

Thus much for the old applies to the insular one.

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Tyre; the remaining part

This city was also to be

destroyed in the midst of the sea;" the "Lord will

smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire." (Zech. ix. 4.) Afterwards she should forsake her idolatry, and worship the true God; and "her merchandise and her hire shall be for holiness to the Lord." (Isaiah xxiii. 18.) And finally, because "her heart was lifted up on account of her riches," and in consequence of her vanity and corruption and the "iniquity of her traffic," (Ezek. xxviii. 5. &c.) she should be totally destroyed, and become only a place for fishermen: "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;-though thou be sought for, thou never shalt be found again, saith the Lord God." (Ezek. xxvi. 14. 21.)

All these prophecies respecting Tyre were, as the very nature of them evidently points out, to receive their completion by degrees; and they were all eventually fulfilled. The Assyrians, the great monarchs of the east, had besieged Tyre without success; and it was reserved for their slaves the Chaldeans,—who when the prediction was delivered, "were not,"-to subdue and take it under Nebuchadnezzar. He did not succeed, however, till after a long siege of thirteen years, during which his soldiers would necessarily endure many hardships, and fulfil the prediction of "every head being made bald, and every shoulder peeled." The Phoenician annals, moreover, (in which