named from their becoming horsemen in the time of Cyrus, the same word signifying both a Persian and a horseman. Or if by Elam we understand the province strictly so called, it is no less true that this also, though subject to Babylon, rose up against it, and upon the following occasion: Abradates* was viceroy or governor of Susa or Shushan, and Shushan was the capital of the province of Elam,-Dan. viii. 2. His wife Panthea, a lady of exquisite beauty, happened to be taken prisoner by the Persians. Cyrus treated her with such generosity, and preserved her with such strict honor, safe and inviolate, for her husband, as won the heart of the prince, so that he and his forces revolted to Cyrus, and fought in his army against the Babylonians.

It was foretold that various nations should unite against Babylon, Is. xiii. 4,- The 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;' and particularly it was foretold, that the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz,' that is, the Armenians,† Phrygians, and other nations should compose a part of his army: Jer. li. 27,- 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:' and accordingly Cyrus's army consisted of various nations and among them were these very people, whom he had conquered before, and now obliged to attend him in this expedition.‡

It was foretold, that the Babylonians should be terrified, and hide themselves within their walls: Jer. li. 30,- The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds, their might hath failed, they became as women.' And accordingly the Babylonians, after the loss of a battle or two, never recovered their courage to face the enemy in the field again; they retired within their walls, and the first time that Cyrus came with his army before the place, he could not provoke them to venture forth and

Persians by Moses, the books of Kings, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, or any author who lived before Cyrus. But in Daniel and Ezekiel, who were contemporary with Cyrus, and in the books of Chronicles, Esdras, Nehemiah, Esther, &c. which were written after Cyrus, there is frequent mention of them. Antecedent to this, it is very probable that the Hebrew words n Chut and y Elam, included a great part of Persia.] Bocharti Phaleg. lib. 4, cap. 10, col. 224.

* Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. 4, 5, 6, 7.

+ Vide Bocharti Phaleg. lib. 1, cap. 3, col. 16, et col. 20; lib. 3, cap. 9, col. 174 Xenoph Cyropæd. lib. 5, p. 77; lib. 7, p. 111, Edit. Henr. Steph. 1581.

try the fortune of arms, even though he sent a challenge to the king to fight a duel with him;* and the last time that he came, he consulted with his officers about the best method of carrying on the siege," since, saith he, they do not come forth and fight."+

It was foretold, that the river should be dried up, before the city should be taken; which was very unlikely ever to happen, "the river being more than two furlongs broad, and deeper than two men standing one upon another; so that the city was thought to be stronger and better fortified by the river than by the walls;" but yet the prophets predicted that the waters should be dried up, Is. xliv. 27,-'That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers ;' Jer. 1. 38,- A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; Jer. li. 36,-'I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry and accordingly Cyrus§ turned the course of the river Euphrates, which ran though the midst of Babylon, and by means of deep trenches, and the canals and lake before mentioned, so drained the waters, that the river became easily fordable for his soldiers to enter the city; and by these means Babylon was taken, which was otherwise impregnable, and " was supplied with provision for very many years," saith Herodotus; "for more than twenty years," saith Xenophon ;|| or, as Herodotus saith "if the Babylonians had but known what the Persians were dog, by shutting the gates which opened to the river, and by stand.ng upon the walls which were built as banks, they might have taken and destroyed the Persians as in a net or cage."¶

• Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. 5, p. 75, Edit. Henr. Steph. 1581.

† Ib. lib. 7, imusmes ¿ μaxovтou džiovтes. quia ad pugnandum non exeunt. p. 112. [Translated in the text.]

† Xenophon. Cyropæd. lib. 7. Πλατος έχων πλειον ή ἐπι δυο σκδ α' και βαθος γε ὡς δ ̓ ἀν δυο άνδρες ὁ ἑτερος ἐπὶ τῇ ἑτερο έςηκως το ὕδατος ὑπερεχοιεν· ὡςε τω ποταμω ἔτι ισχυρότερα ἐσιν ἡ πόλις ή τοις τείχεσι [Fluminis] latitudo est plus quam ad duo stadia: et profunditas tanta ut ne duo quidem viri valter super alterum stantes supra aquam emineant. Itaque urbs validior est flumine quam muris.-Ibid. [Translated in the text.]

Herod. lib. 1, cap, 191, p. 79, edit. Gale. Xenophon. Cyropæd. lib. 7, p. 113, Edit. Steph.

|| Herod. lib. 1. cap. 190. Προσαξαντο σίτια έτεων καρτα άλλων. Comportaverant Der multorum annorum commeatus. p. 79, edit. Gale. Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. 7. Έχοντες τα ἐπιτηδεια πλεον ἡ εἰκοσιν έτων. Ut qui res necessarias haberent plus quam viginti annorum. -p. 113, edit. Steph. [Translated in the text.]

* Ib. lib. 1, cap. 191. Ει' μεν νυν προεπυθοντο ἡ ἔμαθον οἱ Βαβυλωνιοι το ἐκ τε Κύρω στο εύμενον, 38' ἂν περιίδοντες της Πέρσας εσελθεῖν εἰς την πόλιν, διέφθειραν κακιςα. Κατακληίσαντες γὰρ ἂν πασας τας ἐς τον ποταμον αυλιδας έχεσας, και αύτοι ἐπι τας αιμασιας ἀναβαντες τας παρα τα χειλεα το που τάμε ἐληλαμένας, ἔλαβον ἂν σφεας ὡς ἐν κυρτη. Quos Babylonii, si factum Cyri prius aut audissent, aut sensissent, ingredi non pormisissent, sed pessimo exitio affecissent. Nam obseratis

J.

It was foretold, that the city should be taken by surprise during the time of a feast; Jer. 1. 24,-'I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware, thou art found and also caught:' li. 39,- In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord;' li. 57.- And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men; and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts' And accordingly the city was taken in the night of a great annual festival, while the inhabitants were dancing, drinking, and reveling: and, as Aristotle reports, "it had been taken three days, before some part of the city perceived it;"+ but Herodotus's account is more modest and probable, that "the extreme parts of the city were in the hands of the enemy, before they who dwelt in the middle of it knew any thing of their danger." These were extraordinary occurrences in the taking of the city; and how could any man foresee and foretel such singular events, such remarkable circumstances, without revelation and inspiration of God?

But these events you may possibly think too remote in time to be urged in the present argument: and yet the prophecies were delivered by Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the facts are related by no less historians than Herodotus and Xenophon; and Isaiah lived about 250 years before Herodotus, and near 350 before Xenophon; and Jeremiah lived above 150 years before the one, and near 150 before the other. Cyrus took Babylon, according to Prideaux, in the year 539 before Christ. Isaiah prophesied in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah,'-Is. i. 1, which was at least 160 years before the taking of Babylon, for Hezekiah died in the year 699 before Christ. Jeremiah sent his prophecies concerning Babylon to Babylon, by the hands of Seraiah, in the omnibus quee ad flumen ferunt portulis, conscensisque septis, ipsi pro ripis stantes illos progressos veluti in cavea excepissent. [If the Babylonians had but heard before hand or perceived what Cyrus was doing, they would not have suffered the Persians to enter into the city, but would have miserably destroyed them. For by shutting &c. as in the text.] Ibid.

Herod. lib. 1, cap. 191, p. 79, edit. Gale. Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. 7, p. 113, edit. Steph.

+ Arist. Pol. lib. 3, cap. 3, ὡς γε φασιν ἐαλωκυίας τρίτην ήμεραν ἐκ αἰσθεσθαί τι μepos ons wodews. Qua tertium jam diem capta, partem quandam urbis non sensisse dicunt. [Translated in the text.] P. 341, vol. 2, Edit. Du Val.

* Herod. Ibid. Υπο δε μεγάθεος της πόλιος, ώς λέγεται ύπο των ταύτη οίκημένων, τους περι τα έσχατα της πόλιος εαλωκότων, τως το μεσον οίκεοντας των Βαβυλωνίων, ο μανθάνειν

fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah,'-Jer. li. 59, which was fiftysix years before the taking of Babylon, for the fourth year of Zedekiah coincides with the year 595 before Christ. There is therefore no room for scepticism; but if you are still disposed to doubt and hesitate, what then think you of the present condition of the place? Could the prophets, unless they were prophets indeed, have foreseen and foretold what that would be so many ages afterwards ? And yet they have expressly foretold that it should be reduced to desolation. Isaiah is very strong and poetical: 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; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged,'-xiii. 19, &c. Again: I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and son and nephew,' or rather, son and grandson, saith the Lord: I will also 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,'-xiv. 22, 23. Jeremiah speaketh much in the same strain: 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: How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations? Therefore the wild beasts of the desert, with the wild beasts of the islands, shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein; and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbouring cities thereof, saith the Lord; so no man shall abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein,'-1. 13, 23, 39, 40. Again: 'O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures: thine end is come, and the measure

ixxwxoras. Tantaque urbis erat ma nitudo, ut quemadmodum narrant accola) quum capti essent qui extremas urbis partes incolebant, ii qui mediam urbem incolerent id nescirent. [On account of the greatness of the city (as it is related by the inhabitants) the exteme parts of &c. as in the text.]

of thy covetousness; And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord: And 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: And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing without an inhabitant: The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof: 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,'-li. 13, 26, 29, 37, 42, 43. We shall see how these and other prophecies have by degrees been accomplished; for, in the nature of the things, they could not be fulfilled all at once. But as the prophets often speak of things future as if they were already effected so they speak often of things to be brought about in process of time, as if they were to succeed immediately; past, present, and to come, being all alike known to an infinite mind, and the intermediate time not revealed perhaps to the minds of the prophets.

Isaiah addresseth Babylon by the name of a virgin, as having never before been taken by any enemy: Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground,'—Is. xlvii. 1 and Herodotus saith expressly, that "this was the first time that Babylon was taken."* After this it never more recovered its ancient splendor: from an imperial, it became a tributary city, from being governed by its own kings, and governing strangers, it came itself to be governed by strangers; and the seat of empire being transferred to Shushan, it decayed by degrees, till it was reduced at last to utter desolation. Berosus, in Josephus, saith, that "when Cyrus had taken Babylon, he ordered the outer walls to be pulled down, because the city appeared to him very factious and difficult to be taken."+ And Xenophont informs us, that Cyrus obliged the Babylonians to deliver up all their arms upon pain of death, distributed their best houses among the officers, imposed a

* Και Βαβυλων μεν έτω πρωτον ἀναιρητο. Atque ita primo capta est Babylon.--Herod. lib. 1, cap, 191, p. 79, edit. Gale. [Translated in the text.]

+ Κυρος δε Βαβυλωνα καταλαβόμενος, και συνταξας τα έξω της πόλεως τείχη κατασκαψαι δια το λιαν αύτω πραγματικήν και δυσάλωτον φανηναι την πολιν. Cyrus autem Babylone capta, constitutoque exteriora ejus munimenta diruere, quod civitatem videret ad res novas mobilem, urbem vero expugnatu difficilem.-Contra Apion. lib. 1, sect. 20, p 1344, edit. Hudson. [Translated in the text.]

Xenophon. Cyropæd. lib. 7, p. 114 et 117, Edit. Steph.