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mer; and that in her expiring hour she seems more dear than ever before? Her rich verdure, balmy air, beautiful flowers, sunny skies, her scenes of joy and gladness, are treasures we cannot resign without at least a sigh.

A better acquaintance now with the new sovereign, a careful, an impartial study of his real politics, and what the result? Why, Autumn indeed ruleth in kindness and in love; he scanneth every department of nature, and carefully prepareth each to sustain Winter's rude shocks; he sealeth up her fountains of life, that life may be safely preserved in those fountains for another year. His ample hands, too, are full of blessings; the rich harvest season, the full storehouse and crowded garner, the abundant fruits and choice nuts, the long evenings with their happy social gatherings, confirm this assertion. Let us learu not to judge hastily, or from mere externals: blessings are often found where least expected. Yea, through all our life, the darkest clouds oft break upon us in the most fertilizing showers; the heaviest trials we endure, and the most adverse scenes which weigh us to the very earth, oft prove to our spirits their choicest blessings. Let us learn to trust the wise government of God in all its phases; let us find smiles in frowns, treasures iu losses, joys in crosses, serenity in storms, sunshine in darkness, blessings in afflictions, and ever feel that true goodness and perfect, holy love sway the sceptre of the universe.

FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY.

BY REV. JOHN S. Ō. ABBOTT.

Bur few persons are aware of the minute accuracy with which many of the prophecies of the Old Testament have been fulfilled. The researches of travellers and the progress of science are continually bringing to light new evidences or illustrations of the truth of the predictions contained in the inspired volume. The attention of Christians has been more frequently directed to the prophecies respecting the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem, than to any others. We will therefore waive these more familiar topics, and present some facts of modern development respecting Edom, or Idumea. And in investigating this subject, we will pursue the following order:

1. The state of Edom at the time the prophecies were uttered.

2. The prophetic denunciation against it.
3. The fulfilment of the prophecies.

Edom, or Idumea, as it was also called, was an extensive country east of Palestine. Some thousand years before the birth of our Saviour, it was inhabited by the most powerful nation on the globe. Moses speaks of it, in his day, as "rich with the fatness of the earth and the dews of heaven;" as filled with fields, and vineyards, and wells; as abounding with flocks and herds, and all the richest treasures which inexhaustible fertility and extensive commerce could pour into it. Even Virgil celebrates the luxuriance of its vegetation; and Lucan, another pagan poet, who wrote about the time of our Saviour, speaks of it as one of the most wealthy and powerful of states. As it lay on the direct route between the great cities which led the shores of the Mediterranean, and the wealth of the Indies, two important Roman roads had been constructed throughout the territory. It was, in fact, the great thoroughfare of the world's commerce, ever traversed by companies of merchants and long lines of caravans. The ruins of its cities, which have now survived the lapse of two thousand years, prove that it claimed preeminence over all the East, in its massive and splendid architecture.

Such was the state of ancient Edom. While in this state of fertility, prosperity, and high civilization, and while causes were in operation to render its downfall apparently impossible, the prophets of God announced to Edom and the world the following denunciations: "Because Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah, therefore, saith the Lord, I shall stretch forth my hand against Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it, and will make it desolate from Teman; and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. I will make thy cities desolate. Thou shalt be desolate, 0 Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it. From generation to generation it shall lie waste, and none shall pass through it for ever and ever. But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it, and the owl also, and the raven, and there shall the vulture be gathered. And he shall stretch forth upon it the lines of confusion and the stones of emptiness. They shall call forth the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. And there shall come up in her palaces nettles, and brambles in the fortresses thereof,

and it shall be a habitation for dragons and a court for owls. Lo, I will make thee, Edom, small among the heathen, and despised among men. Thy terribleness has deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou who dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high. Though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. Edom shall be a desolation, and every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and no man shall abide there."

Such were the prophetic denunciations against Edom, when no human foresight could have predicted its downfall. Let us now see how the lapse of time has wrought out the fulfilment of this prophecy. For many ages Idumea had been in such a state that no traveller had visited it. Even as late as the time when Bishop Newton wrote his dissertation upon the prophecies, no information could be obtained respecting that country. But the-enterprise of modern travellers has penetrated this region, and brought to the view of the world the most astonishing developments of the minute truth of the prophecy.

Volney, an infidel writer, unaware of the support he was giving to revealed religion, was the first who called public attention to Edom. He endeavored in vain to enter the country; for this great thoroughfare of the world's travel, these paved roads, which for ages had been thronged with merchants and travellers, and richly freighted caravans, were so utterly closed up by desolation and dangers, that he could not advance even upon its borders. How striking the fulfilment of the prediction, "from generation to generation it shall lie waste, and none shall pass through it for ever and ever."

"No traveller," says Volney, "has yet visited Edom. But it well merits such an attention; for, from the report of the Arabs, there are, to the south-east of the Red Sea, within three days' journey, upwards of thirty towns absolutely deserted." "Thy cities," said the prophecy, written a thousand years before, "shall be desolate." "The Arabs," he continued, "sometimes make use of the ruins to fold their cattle, but in general avoid them, on account of the enormous scorpions or dragons." The prophecy says, "it shall be a habitation for dragons."

It is with extreme difficulty and danger that any traveller now enters this region. Many have attempted it in vain. Others have just entered, and fled precipitately from its accumulated dangers. Burkhardt and Seetzew have explored this wonderful region, perhaps more

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thoroughly than any others, and the account they give of it corroborates the words of the prophecy down even to the minutest particulars. The whole region they found to be a scene of entire desolation, with but one place of a few straggling inhabitants. That place was Teman. The prophecy says, "I will make thee desolate from Teman." They found here the ruins, the magnificent ruins of perhaps the most wonderful city known in the world; the ancient Petra, the once renowned metropolis of this populous and powerful empire. It is a narrow valley, surrounded by enormous perpendicular rocks. They found the remains of this city, with houses, temples and palaces actually hewn out of the solid rock. There were halls, and chambers, and corridors, with every variety of architectural ornament, with statuary, and columns, and gorgeous carvings at all heights, from the level of the valley up to an elevation in the clefts of the rock which appeared utterly inaccessible. A theatre was found, cut out of the solid rock, capable of containing three thousand spectators. In one of the excavated residences, there was found a chamber sixty feet in length, and of proportionate breadth. How strikingly do these facts illustrate the otherwise obscure prophecy, "O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill, though thou shouldest build thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down."

In the account given by Irby and Mangle of their visit to this wonderful capital of desolate Edom, they state that the base of these precipitous cliffs was wrought out in all the symmetry and regularity of art, with colonnades, and pedestals, and ranges of corridors adhering to the perpendicular surface; flights of steps chiselled out of the rock; some excavated residences of large dimensions; many other dwellings of inferior note. The rocks were hollowed out into innumerable chambers of different dimensions, whose entrances were variously, richly, and often fantastically decorated with every imaginable order of architecture.

Thus stand these deserted halls, without a single human being in them, or near them. Three thousand years ago, opulence and fashion filled those dwellings, and the world's loud gayety resounded through those streets. In those halls, thus gorgeously furnished, young men and maidens met, with sanguine hopes, and bright imaginings, and throbbing hearts. God had said, "Edom shall be a desolation; no man shall abide there." Centuries have rolled

But

Thou art to my spirit

Like breath of the rose,

When, glistening with dew drops, Its petals unclose;

Thy blue eyes' soft love-light,

The sound of thy voice

Doth solace my sadness

And heighten my joys.

I love thee, sweet Lulic-
A thrill of delight
Through every nerve trembles

When thy form greets my sight;

Thy blue eyes outgushing
With love and with joy,
'Tis a rill full of pleasure
Unmixed with alloy.

My soul drinketh ever

A full draught of bliss,

When thy fond arms embrace me,
And I feel thy soft kiss:
No wealth of the Orient,
No gems of the mine,
No Araby's fragrance
Yields joy so divine.
'Tis not thy sweet beauty,
Though spring-like its glow,
Nor the fairy-like softness

On thy clear, lofty brow,
That entrances my being,
Enchained by a spell,
As I gaze on thy image,

And in thy love dwell.

'Tis the beauty of spirit

That breathes from thy thought, The rare wealth of innocence, Treasure unboughtThy mildness angelic, Thy infantile grace, The gentleness, dove-like, That dwells on thy face.

*Composed on her dying-bed,

As the years of the future
Rise dimly to view,

I tremble lest earth-winds
Their blighting may strew
On thy sweet cherub spirit,
Like the heaven-light now,
And dim its rich glory

With base things below. O holy Immanuel,

Shepherd divine,

Take this lamb to thy bosom,
In love make her thine.
Oh let not earth tarnish
This beauteous gem,

But in glory reset her

In thy diadem.

What joy and what blessing,
What rapture of bliss, 1

In the bright world to meet her
Translated from this!

Oh! vision of beauty,

That bright cherub throng,
As in heaven's green bowers
Jesus leads them along;

Where the soft light of heaven
The balmy air fills,

And o'er the bright plains
Flow the clear sparkling rills;
Where flowers waft their perfume
O'er beauty-crowned fields;
Where each thought is gladness,
Life's tree only yields;

Where the pearl gates are open

By night and by day;
Where the zephyrs of heaven

O'er the dewy hills play;
Where the cooing dove nestles
In each shady tree,
And Eden's bright birds

Tune their sweet minstrelsy;

Where the trees with their leaves
For the healing of woe
Shade all the green banks

Of Life's river below;

Where the little ones bask not

In sunbeamings bright,

For God is their glory,

The Lamb is their light;

Where the trees with their leaves

For the healing of woe

Shade all the green banks
Of Life's river below;
Where the viny bowers open
The long winding way,
And each dimpled hand

Bears the rich fruit away;

Where on green mossy knoll,
Or in deep quiet dell,
Where the soft-gushing springs,
Dreaming melodies tell;
There in holy reposing

They slumber serene,
Fanned by hovering angels

In silvery sheen;

Where eye hath not witnessed,

Nor ear ever heard

The joy that surrounds them, The saved of the Lord; Where no blighting shadows Nor sorrows e'er come, But peace, high and holy, Pavilions their home.

My soul pants with ardor,*
And longs to be gone,

That vision of sweetness

To view round the throne;
With radiant glory,

And love in each eye-
With lily wreaths crowned,
And their palms waving by;

With beauty seraphic

Enstamped on each brow; With white robes celestial Defiled never now

Oh! to see those bright myriads,
With praise sounding high
Through the clear arch of heaven,
It were blessed to die!

Fond mother! weep never,
Though thy darling should be
From thy yearning heart severed
In her sweet infancy.
With transports of pleasure

That jubilant throng
Shall greet thy loved nestling
Their bright ranks among.

And the sweet bud of beauty
That lay on my breast,
But far o'er the ocean
Was borne to her rest-
My sore-stricken spirit

Shall leap in its joy,

As she mingles her warblings
In their blest employ !

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THIS is not the judgment of the world. That is decidedly against the declaration. They say that gold is decidedly the best of the two, and feel and act accordingly. For gold they thirst, for gold they labor, for gold they part with home, friends, and kindred, for gold they expose themselves to perils on sea and land, and for gold they often sacrifice their lives. But RELIGION-that is accounted of minor consideration, is neglected and rejected. It is superior to gold, nevertheless. See if it is not verily so.

Gold cannot procure the favor of God,-religion can.

That there is a God, none can doubt;-nor can any doubt that it is extremely desirable to have his favor. If it is desirable to his favor, on whom we are dependent for every temporal. blessing;-to have his favor, on whose will our eternal destinies are suspended, who can elevate us to the possession of the highest enjoyment or plunge us into the deepest sorrows; then is it desirable to be on terms of friendship with God! But how is this friendship secured? Can gold buy it No. His favor, whose are "the cattle upon a thousand hills,"--who said, "Were I hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine and the fulness thereof,"-is not to be so purchased. If it could be, Dives might have purchased it with his wealth. But it cannot be thus obtained. It can be obtained only by becoming reconciled to him in the gospel mode,--by being "brought nigh through the blood of Christ,"-by exercising repentance towards God and faith in that blood,-by "acquainting curselves with God and being at peace." But this is religion,-the commencement of it in the soul. He who is, as all mankind are, alienated from Jehovah by the apostasy, a stranger to Him and unreconciled to him; by seeing, acknowledging and mourning over his own guilty position, and relying on the alone merits of Christ for salvation, is in this way, and only in this way, restored to his Maker's favor. Religion, then, does this great thing-a thing utterly beyond the province and power of gold to effect. Hence it is "better than gold!"

Gold cannot procure peace of mind—religion can. The word peace, as found in the Bible,and it is in this sense that we use it,-is a most expressive word. It expresses more than mirth, hilarity, merriment, or pleasure. It is something deeper and more substantial. It is what the

332

immortal nature of man demands to make him truly happy, and what this immortal nature must have, or feel an aching void to be supplied. Now gold cannot fill this void. It is not adapted to fill it. Gold is material, but the soul is spiritual; and all that gold can purchase, is like itself material-capable, therefore, of reaching only what is outward, of providing only for the animal senses, leaving the heart without any satisfying good. The wealth of Croesus did not impart peace to Croesus, nor the wealth of Solomon-"the silver and gold, the peculiar treasure of kings and provinces," which he said he gathered-peace to Solomon. And if observation proves any thing, it proves that the most opulent are not the most happy. Indeed, the possessor of a bare competency is often happier than he who rolls in riches.

But these boundless desires of an immortal mind, which gold cannot fill, religion can. Religion brings to the soul a God for its portion! an ever-living fountain of bliss, that never deceives, and never fails. In his existence, perfections, government, plans and works; in his numerous and precious promises of good; in those communications of light and joy which he makes to the soul, and in those hopes which he kindles up in the bosom, of dwelling with Him, and beholding His glory for ever, the weary, longing heart of man finds peace, pure, substan tial, inexhaustible peace. While "he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase," and while, without such satisfaction, there can be no true happiness; "the work of righteousness," which is religion, "is peace, and the effects of righteousness," which are the fruits of religion, "quietness and assurance for ever." Hence is religion to be preferred.

Gold cannot sustain the soul under afflictive dispensations of providence; religion can.

Such dispensations of providence may be expected to come. We cannot escape them. -"Though a man live many years and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they are many." Now when these days of darkness come upon us, we shall need something to support us under them. And what shall that something be? If it be something that shall effectually do it, it must be something besides gold! Gold cannot ward off disease; gold cannot buy off from the clutch of the King of Terrors, a partner, a parent or child, nor, when we stand over their mortal remains, can it infuse again into those remains the breath of life, or

dry those tears, or stanch that tide of anguish which the departure of that breath causes to flow. A miserable comforter is gold, in circumstances like these! It has no power over the spirit, to retain it or recall it, and no power over the gushes of grief which burst from the smitten heart. Not so religion. That then comes in, and gives ease to the tortured affections. In these "days of darkness," this is a star on which the eye may fix, and which flashes its genial, cheering light across the soul. I appeal to the records made when disappointments, sadness, and woes have come, when couches have been spread for the sick, and the earth opened its bosom to furnish graves; I appeal to the records which have been made in times like these, whether they are not an impressive commentary on the truth, that "wisdom is better than gold !"

Who was it that said, "The Lord is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid!” A Christian. Who was it that said—“ God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the depth of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof!" A Christian. Who was it that said "Though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine; though the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, yet will I joy in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!" One who possessed religion: one who "sanctified the Lord God in his heart," found sources of consolation and support in him, and through him—his grace—triumphed over trials. Has gold such records to show! Then produce them, or if you cannot, admit that "religion is better than gold."

Gold cannot avail aught in the hour of death: religion can.

See that mortal on a bed of pain, panting away his breath: what are his possessions worth to him? Wealth he may have; a magnificent mansion he may have, a gorgeous retinue of servants he may have, a splendid equipage he may have; but what are these all now worth to him? Which of them, separately or combined, can close the gate of the sepulchre, that he may not pass through it! or, compelled to pass through it, which of these can he carry with him! "Thou fool," was one told, who boasted himself in the abundance of his possessions; "thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and then whose