After devoting Perisabor to the flames, the magazines of corn, arms, and splendid furniture, were partly distributed among the troops, and partly reserved for the public service; the useless stores were destroyed by fire, or thrown into the Euphrates. At this time, also, he rewarded his army with a hundred pieces of silver, and when the enemy was afterwards conquered, the spoil, says Gibbon, was such as might be expected from the riches and luxury of an oriental camp: large quantities of silver and gold, splendid arms and trappings, and beds and tables of precious metal fell into the hands of the conquerors.

A more emphatic illustration of the prediction, that "A sword is upon her treasures," took place when the Mohammedan, Omar, destroyed Ctesiphon. This city was taken by assault, and the disorderly resistance of the people gave a keener edge to the sabres of the Moslems, who shouted with religious transport, "This is the white palace of Chosroes; this is the promise of the apostle of God." These naked robbers were suddenly enriched beyond all expectation. Each chamber revealed a new treasure, secreted with art, or ostentatiously displayed. The gold and silver, the various wardrobes, and precious furniture, surpassed the estimate of fancy or numbers. An ancient historian defines the untold and vast mass, by the fabulous computation of three thousands of thousands of thousands of pieces of gold. One of the apartments of the palace was decorated with a carpet of silk sixty cubits in length, and as many in breadth. A paradise, or garden, was depicted on the ground of this carpet; the flowers, fruits, and shrubs, were imitated by the figures of gold embroidery, and the colours of precious stones, while the ample square was enriched by a variegated and verdant border. Omar divided this prize among his brethren of Medina, and the picture was destroyed; but such was the value thereof, that the share of Ali alone was sold for 20,000 drachms, or nearly 700l. sterling.

This prophecy receives an accomplishment at the present day. A sword may still be said to be upon her treasures. Malte Brun, in his geography, says: "On the west of Hillah there are two towns, which, in the eyes of the Persians, and all the Shiites, are rendered sacred by the memory of two of the greatest martyrs of that sect. These are Meshid Ali and Meshed Housein, lately filled with riches, accumulated by the devotion of the Persians, but carried off by the ferocious Wahabees to the middle of their deserts." A more recent proof, that the treasures of Chaldea are still sought after, is found in Captain Mignan's travels: "Amidst the ruins of Ctesiphon," he says, "the natives often pick up coins of gold, silver, and copper, for which they always find a ready sale in Bagdad. Indeed, some of the wealthy Turks and Armenians, who are collecting for several French and German consuls, hire people to go and search for coins, medals, and antique gems; and, I am assured, they never return to their employers empty-handed."

The predictions against the fertility of the land of Chaldea have no less been verified than those against her treasures and her cities.

"Behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be
A wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
Cut off the sower from Babylon,

And him that handleth the sickle in the time of har-
vest."
Jer. 1. 12. 16.

"The land shall tremble and sorrow:

For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon,

To make the land of Babylon a desolation
Without an inhabitant.

The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor,
It is time to thresh her :

Yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall

come.

Her cities are a desolation,

A dry land, and a wilderness,

A land wherein no man dwelleth,

Neither doth any son of man pass thereby."

Jer. li. 29. 33. 43.

The accounts of the Babylonian lands yielding crops of grain two and three hundred fold, compared with the present aspect of the country, afford a remarkable proof of the desolation to which it has been subjected. And its ancient cities, where are they? The site of many cannot now be discovered, and those that can, embrace the dust. Even the more modern cities, which flourished under the empire of the khalifs, are "all in ruins." Desolation prevails over the breadth and length of the whole country. The site of Babylon, and of all the other towns in this region, and the level plain itself, are marked by an appearance of utter barrenness and blast, as if from the curse of God; which gives an intense and mournful corroboration to the denunciations of Scripture.

And let us be assured, that if they were thus verified to the letter, as to the desolation of proud and wicked nations, they will not be less truly marked as to their fulfilment in the case of the unbelieving and sinful rejecter of the offers of the gospel of Christ. Such shall assuredly die in his sins; and having slighted mercy, shall feel the rod of offended justice.

Thus, with the progressive decline of Chaldea, Babylon the Great sunk into utter ruin, so that now her habitations are not to be found; and the worm is spread over her. When it became wholly deserted, however, is not satisfactorily determined. Strabo says, that in his time a great part of it was a mere desert; that the Persians had partially destroyed it; and that time and the neglect of the Macedonians had nearly completed its destruction. Pliny, who wrote in the reigns of the emperors Vespasian and Titus, describes its site as a desert, and the city as "dead.” A few years after, Pausanius writes: "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 ;" and Jerome, in the fourth century, informs us, that Babylon was then in ruins, and that the walls served only for the enclosure of a park, for the pleasures of the chase; and that it was used as such by the Persian court.

providence in the wonderful event, let a solemn fear pervade thy breast, lest thou also provoke his righteous indignation. Think not that the crimes of an individual escape his notice, while he marks those of a nation. "Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad," Luke viii. 17. He marks thy crimes; and unless thou hidest thyself in the clefts of the "Rock of ages," or, in other words, unless thou takest refuge in Christ, unless thou believest in Him who died to save sinners, thou also must perish, and that everlastingly. As it was said of Babylon, so the whole tenor of the word of God pronounces to the world at large,

"And he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Isa. xiii. 9.

Oh, then, flee from the wrath to come! It has been well observed, that, though Babylon should be vast as the whole world, yet being a wicked world, it shall not go unpunished; and sin brings desolation on the world of the ungodly.

NINEVEH.

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Like Babylon, the celebrated city of Nineveh could boast of very remote antiquity. Who founded it does not appear to be clearly ascertained. The sacred historian relates: "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city," Gen. x. 11, 12. The marginal reading, however, runs thus, Out of that land he [Nimrod] went forth into Assyria," etc.; and as the form of expression in the Hebrew gives equal authority to the marginal as to the textual reading, opinions are equally divided as to which of the senses is to be preferred. But there is one consideration in favour of the latter, which seems to be more weighty than all the arguments adduced in favour of the former by the learned. There can be no doubt that Assur, or Assyria, derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem; hence, it is reasonable to suppose, that he (Asshur) went forth out of that land, (Shinar,) and builded Nineveh. Nothing, indeed, can be more natural than to understand the text of Asshur's migration; and therefore none is so likely to have founded Nineveh as Asshur himself, except it be supposed that Nimrod conquered the country of Assyria, before Asshur had firmly settled himself therein. But this is not probable, for the land would then, we may suppose, have been denominated Nimrodia, from Nimrod, rather than Assyria, from Asshur. In the prophecies of Isaiah, moreover, we read that Asshur founded Babel, Isa. xxiii. 13; but in no part of Scripture is it intimated that Nimrod went into Assyria and built Nineveh.

But whether Nimrod or Asshur founded this city, it does not appear to have been of much importance for many centuries afterward. The passage pointed out, indeed, would lead us to conclude that Resen was in its origin a more important city than Nineveh. Like other cities in the east, and like our own mighty metropolis, it rose gradually to the enormous magnitude recorded by historians, when the empire of which it was the capital attained its highest state of

prosperity. Perhaps the commencement of its greatness may be dated about 1230 B. C., when it was enlarged by Ninus, its second founder, and became the greatest city of the world, and mistress of the east.

It appears that the city of Nineveh extended its length along the eastern banks of the Tigris, while its breadth reached from the river to the eastern hills. According to Diodorus, it was of an oblong form, fifteen miles long, and nine broad, and consequently forty-eight miles in circuit. Its walls were 100 feet high, and so broad, that three chariots could drive on them abreast, and on the walls were 1,500 towers, each 200 feet high. The reader must not imagine, however, that all this vast enclosure was built upon. Like Babylon, it contained parks, fields, and detached houses and buildings, such as may be seen in the east at the present day.

neveh corresponds with the notice given of the This representation of the greatness of Nicity in Holy Writ. In the days of the prophet Jonah, about B. c. 800, it is said to have been

66

an exceeding great city of three days' journey," Jonah i. 2; iii. 3; which most probably refers to its circuit; for sixteen miles is, according to Rennell, an ordinary day's journey for a caravan. The population of Nineveh, also, is represented as being very great; it contained more than six score thousand persons that could "not discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle," Jonah iv. 11. This statement is generally understood to include young children, who are usually reckoned to form one-fifth of the entire population, which would thereby give 600,000 persons as the population of Nineveh, which is by no means extraordinary for a town of such extent. Pliny assigns the same number for the population of Seleucia, on the decline of Babylon; and London, in 1831, contained not less than 1,776,500 persons, within a circle, with a radius of eight British miles from St. Paul's cathedral.

It was while the city of Nineveh enjoyed this high state of prosperity, that the prophet Jonah was commissioned to proclaim to the inhabitants this startling message, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," Jonah iii. 4. The monarch and the people believed his word, and warned by it, by a general repentance and humiliation, averted the blow. The king of Nineveh "arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not," Jonah iii. 6-10.

How long the inhabitants of Nineveh continued repentant is not recorded. It is probable that

when they saw the danger past, they returned every one to his evil ways-that their goodness vanished as the morning cloud that passeth away. It is certain, indeed, that the generation that followed them were notorious for their wickedness. Hence, the prophet Nahum, about fourscore years after, or B. c. 721, was commissioned with "the burden," or "doom," of Nineveh.

But still mercy kept the sword of justice sheathed one hundred and fifteen years before the catastrophe occurred. Another prophet, indeed, foretold its doom before its downfall. See Zeph. ii. 13-15. But these warnings were unheeded; the people went on sinning with a high hand against the Majesty of heaven. How great their iniquities were, may be inferred from the advice given by Tobit to his son Tobias, shortly before his death, and which is here offered to the notice of the reader, as illustrating an historical fact, and not as an inspired record.

"Go into Media, my son, for I surely believe those things which Jonas the prophet spake of Nineveh, that it shall be overthrown; and that for a time peace shall rather be in Media.-And now, my son, depart out of Nineveh, because that those things which the prophet Jonas spake shall surely come to pass," Tobit xiv. 4. 8.

The sword that had been thus long hovering over Nineveh, at length fell upon the devoted city. It was taken by the Medes and Babylonians under Arbaces, about B. c. 606, in consequence of the river demolishing part of the wall, where it is said to have been destroyed. Like the city of Babylon, however, the utter ruin of Nineveh was the work of ages, and successive spoliators were engaged in its demolition. And here, again, it may be profitable to trace how beautifully the predictions concerning Nineveh harmonize with historical facts, and the testimony of travellers. The prophet says,

"But with an overrunning flood

He will make an utter end of the place thereof,
And darkness shall pursue his enemies."-Nah. i. 8.
"The gates of the rivers shall be opened,
And the palace shall be dissolved.

But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water."

Nah. ii. 6. 8.

Diodorus Siculus relates, that the king of Assyria, after the discomfiture of his army, confided in an ancient prophecy, "that Nineveh should never be taken until the river became its enemy;" but that after the allied revolters had besieged the city for two years without effect, there occurred a prodigious inundation of the Tigris, which inundated part of the city, and threw down the wall for the space of twenty furlongs. The king then, he adds, deeming the prediction accomplished, despaired of safety, and erecting an immense funeral pile, on which he heaped his wealth, which with himself, his household, and palace were consumed.

The prophet says—

"For while they be folden together as thorns, And while they are drunken as drunkards, They shall be devoured as stubble fully dry."

"Woe to the bloody city!

Nah. i. 10.

It is full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels,

And of the prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear:

And there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases;

And there is none end of their corpses-they stumble upon their corpses."-Nah. iii. 1-3.

Diodorus Siculus says, the king of Assyria, elated with his former victories, and ignorant of the revolt of the Bactrians, had abandoned himself to 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 the whole of them were fearlessly giving way to indulgence, destroyed great part of them, and drove the rest into the city.

The prophet says—

"He will make an utter end of the place thereof.
What do ye imagine against the Lord?
He will make an utter end:

Affliction shall not rise up the second time." Nah. i. 8, 9. "She is empty, and void, and waste."—Nah. ii. 10. "And he will stretch out his hand against the north, And destroy Assyria;

And will make Nineveh a desolation,

And dry like a wilderness.

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her,

All the beasts of the nations:

Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the
upper lintels of it;

Their voice shall sing in the windows;
Desolation shall be in the thresholds:
For he shall uncover the cedar work.

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly,
That said in her heart, I am, and there is none
beside me :

How is she become a desolation,

A place for beasts to lie down in !"-Zeph. ii. 13-15.

In the second century, Lucian, a native of a city on the banks of the Euphrates, testified that no vestige of Nineveh was then remaining, and that none could tell where it was once situated. According to Abulfaray, and the general testimony of Oriental tradition, most modern writers suppose Nineveh to have been situated on the left, or east bank of the Tigris, opposite Mosul, and partly on the site of the modern village of Nunia, or Nebbe Yunus, which contains about 300 houses.

The utter ruin of Nineveh was expressed by the prophet Nahum, under this emphatic figure: "Make thyself many as the cankerworm, Make thyself many as the locusts.

Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven;

The cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.

Thy crowned are as the locusts,

And thy captains as the great grasshoppers,
Which camp in the hedges in the cold day,
But when the sun ariseth they flee away,
And their place is not known where they are."
Nah. iii. 15-17.

The extent of the desolation here denounced will be better understood if the figure is explained. It is supposed, that by the "great grasshoppers here mentioned, are to be understood locusts before they are in a condition for flight; and, certainly, the insect in this state of its existence could not fail to have been matter of sad experience to the Hebrews. The description, indeed, is perfectly analogous to the habits of these devouring insects. The female lays her eggs in the autumn, amounting, some say, to 200 or 300, and she makes choice of a light earth, under the shelter of a bush or hedge, wherein to deposit them. In such a situation, they are defended from the winter's blast, and, having escaped the rigour of the cold, they are hatched early in the season by the heat of the sun, at which time the hedges and the ridges swarm with them. Their ravages begin before they can fly, consuming, even in their larva state, the roots of herbage which spread around them. When they leave their native hedges, they march along, as it were, in battalions, devouring every leaf and bud as they pass; till, at length, when the sun has waxed warm, about the middle of June, their wings are developed, and they flee away, to inflict on other places that utter desolation to which they reduced the place of their birth.

This figure, therefore, implies that the desolation of Nineveh should be so complete, that its site would in future ages be uncertain or unknown; and that every vestige of the palace of its monarchs, of the greatness of its nobles, and the wealth of its merchants, would wholly dis

appear.

The supposed remains of ancient Nineveh have been examined and illustrated by Rich, in his "Second Memoir of the Ruins of Babylon." He says: "Opposite Mosul is an enclosure of a rectangular form, corresponding with the cardinal points of the compass, the eastern and western sides being the longest, the latter facing the river. The area, which is now cultivated, and offers no vestiges of building, is too small to have contained a place larger than Mosul, but it may be supposed to answer to the palace of Nineveh. The boundary, which may be traced all round, now looks like an embankment of earth or rubbish of small elevation, and has attached to it, and in its line, at several places, mounds of greater size and solidity. The first of these forms the S.W. angle, and on it is built the village of Nebbe Yunus, (described and delineated by Niebuhr as Nimia,) where they show the tomb of the prophet Jonah, much revered by the Mohammedans. The next, and largest of all, is the one which may be supposed to be the monument of Ninus. It is situated near the centre of the western face of the enclosure, and is joined, like the others, by the boundary wall. The natives call it 'Koyonjuk-Tepe.' Its form is that of a truncated pyramid, with regular steep sides, and a flat top. It is composed, as I ascertained

from some excavations, of stones and earth, the latter predominating sufficiently to admit of the summit being cultivated by the inhabitants of the village of Koyonjuk, which is built on it at the N.E. extremity. The only means I had, at the time I visited it, of ascertaining its dimensions, was by a cord, which I procured from Mosul. This gave 178 feet for the greatest height, 1,850 feet for the length of the summit E. and W., and 1,147 for its breadth, N. and S. Out of a mound, in the north face of the boundary, was dug, a short time ago, an immense block of stone, on which were sculptured the figures of men and animals. So remarkable was this fragment of antiquity, that even Turkish apathy was roused, and the pasha, and most of the principal people in Mosul, came out to see it. One of the spectators particularly recollected, among the sculptures of this stone, the figure of a man on horseback, with a long lance in his hand, followed by a great many others on foot. The stone was afterwards cut into small pieces, for repairing the buildings of Mosul, and this inestimable specimen of the arts and manners of the earliest ages irrecoverably lost. To this day, stones of the largest dimensions, which clearly attest their high antiquity, are found in or near the foot of the mound."

Thus the reader will perceive, that Nineveh is left without any monuments of royalty, and without any tokens of its splendour or its wealth; that their place is not known where they were; that it is, indeed, a desolation, "empty, and void, and waste," and an utter ruin, according to the Divine predictions.

"Her walls are gone; her palaces are dust:
The desert is around her, and within
Like shadows have the mighty passed away!
Whence, and how came the ruin? By the hand
Of the oppressor were the nations bowed.
They rose against him, and prevailed; for he,
The haughty monarch, who the earth could rule,
By his own furious passions was o'er-ruled.
With pride his understanding was made dark,
That he the truth knew not; and by his lusts,
And by the fierceness of his wrath, the hearts
Of men he turned from him. So to kings
Be he example, that the tyrannous
And iron rod breaks down at length the hand
That wields it strongest; that by virtue alone
And justice, monarchs sway the hearts of men;
For there hath God implanted love of these,
And hatred of oppression, which, unseen
And noiseless though it work, yet, in the end,
Even like the viewless elements of the storm,
Brooding in silence, will in thunder burst!
So let the nations learn, that not in wealth,
Nor in the grosser pleasures of the sense,
Nor in the glare of conquest, nor the pomp
Of vassal kings, and tributary lands,
Do happiness and lasting power abide;
That virtue unto man's best glory is,
His strength, and truest wisdom: and that guilt,
Though for a season it the heart delight,
Or to worst deeds the bad man do make strong,
Brings misery yet, and terror, and remorse;
And weakness and destruction in the end.
So if the nations learn, then not in vain
The mighty one hath been, and is no more!"
ATHERSTONE.

RESEN.

The site of Resen is indicated in the sacred text (Gen. x. 12) with more than ordinary precision; but we have no evidence to show where it stood. Most writers agree in stating that it

to this day, call Tel Nemroud; and the Turks, Nemroud Tepasse: both which appellations signify, the "Hill of Nimrod." This hill is sur

CALAH.

The best authorities concur in placing Calah on the Great Zab, before it enters the Tigris. From this city, the country on the north-east of the Tigris, and south of the Gordian mountains of Armenia, was called Callachene, or Calacine. It was one of those cities founded by Asshur, as recorded Gen. x. 11, but it has long since perished from off the earth. Bochart conceives that this is the same city with Halah, where the king of Assyria placed the captive Israelites, 2 Kings xvii. 6.

REHOBOTH.

The site of Rehoboth has been fixed at many parts of Assyria. Thus some place it below Nineveh, others below Calah, and others fix it on the western banks of the Tigris, opposite Resen. By some, again, it is considered to be the Oroba of Pliny, while others translate it to signify the streets of Nineveh. In the English translation, it is spoken of as one of the cities built by Asshur. See Gen. x. 11.

ERECH.

The rabbins say, that Erech, mentioned Gen. x. 10, as one of the cities built by Nimrod, is the same as Ur, the seat of the nativity of Abraham, and the death of Haran, and which is to the present day denominated by the Syrians, Urhoi, and by the Arabs, Urfah, or Orfah. But this is an unreasonable distance from Babel, in the vicinity of which it was erected; and it would, likewise, give too great an extent to the kingdom of Nimrod. It is generally believed to have been a city of Chaldea, from whence the present name of Irak is derived. Herodotus, Ptolemy, and Ammianus Marcellinus mention cities, the names of which are evidently also formed from Erech. There was a city distinguished as And-Erech, in Susiana, near some fiery and bituminous pools; and there was another, denominated Ard-Erech, on the Euphrates, below Babylon. This latter city, perhaps, occupied the site of the original Erech.

ACCAD.

This city is considered by the most able geographers to be the Sittace of the Greeks, and the Akkerkoof of the present time; both of which names retain some elements of its ancient denomination. It is situated about nine miles west of the Tigris, at the place where that river makes its nearest approach to the Euphrates. The opinion that this was the site of the original Accad, is founded, not only upon the circumstances of its situation and name being favourable to its identity, but also, because there is a remarkable monument there, which the Arabs,

appearance of a tower, or an irregular pyramid, according to the point from which it is viewed. It is 300 feet in circumference at the bottom, and rises 125 or 130 feet above the inclined elevation on which it stands. The foundation of the structure is composed of a mass of rubbish, formed by the decay of the superstructure. The different layers of sun-dried bricks, of which it is composed, may be traced very distinctly in the tower itself. These bricks are cemented together by lime or bitumen, and are divided into courses, varying from fifteen to twenty feet in height, and separated by layers of reeds, such as grow in the marshy parts of the country. These reeds are in a state of wonderful preservation. It is supposed, from the solidity and loftiness of the pile, as well as the difficulty of discovering any other use for it, that it was one of those towers which were consecrated by the ancient heathen to the worship of the heavenly bodies, and which served at once as temples and observatories. Piles of this nature have been found in all the primitive cities of this region : the Tel Nemroud, therefore, sufficiently indicates the site of a primitive town; and, consequently, may have been Accad.

it

CALNEH.

Both ancient and modern, European and Oriental authorities, concur in fixing the site of this city at what was the great city of Ctesiphon, upon the eastern bank of the river Tigris, about eighteen miles below Bagdad. On the opposite side of the river stood Seleucia, which was built by the Greeks for the express purpose of draining Babylon of its inhabitants, and which was made the capital of their empire, east of the Euphrates. After the lapse of several ages, Ctesiphon, which appears to have been in existence as a small town, (which small town was ancient Calneh, built by Nimrod,) began to assume an importance as a rival to Seleucia, in the hands of the Parthians, those inveterate and fierce foes of the Greeks.

SITTACE.

There is a diversity of opinion among authors concerning the situation of this city. By Ptolemy and Pliny it is placed at a great distance from the Tigris; but Xenophon, who traversed the whole country, and had himself been at Sittace, says, that it stood only about a mile and a half from that river. In the days of this historian, it was a large and populous city.

APOLLONIA.

This city is placed by Ptolemy between the rivers Gorgus and Silla. It is mentioned by Polybius and Stephanus, who reckon it the twentieth town between Babylon and Susa.

ARTEMIA.

According to Strabo, this city was anciently of great note, and stood about fifty miles east of Seleucia. It is noticed by Tacitus, Isidore, Characenus, Stephanus, Pliny, Ptolemy, and