the bittern, and pools of water." The abundance of the country is gone as clean away, as if the besom of destruction had swept it from north to south, Isa. xiv. 23. There are, on the ruins of Bers Nemroud, or the temple of Belus, large fragments of brick-work that have been "completely molten,' which must not only have been subjected to a heat "equal to that of the strongest furnace," but which, being vitrified all around, "bear evident proof" that the ruin resembles what the Scriptures prophesied it should become, a burnt mountain, Jer. li. 25.* It is still a relic of Babylon the great, for, though a mass of ruins, it is still 235 feet high. From the summit is a distinct view of the heaps which constitute all that now remains of ancient Babylon; a more complete picture of desolation could not well be imagined. The eye wandered over a barren desert, in which the ruins were nearly the only indication that it had ever been inhabited. It was impossible not to be reminded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled, even in the appearance Babylon was to present, that she should become heaps; that her cities should be a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness. The walls of Babylon were so broad, that, as ancient historians relate, six chariots could be driven on them abreast. They existed for more than a thousand years after the prophecy was delivered. They were numbered among "the seven wonders of the world ;" but now it can scarcely be determined with certainty that even a vestige of them remains. Modern travellers have totally failed in discovering any trace of the city walls, and say, that "the Divine predictions against Babylon have been so literally fulfilled in the appearance of the ruins, as to give the fullest signification to the words of Jeremiah, 'The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken,' Jer. li. 58." And when we see the proudest works of man thus brought to the dust, where is the human strength, or wisdom, or beauty, or greatness, in which any ought to glory, and whose name alone is it that ought ever to be feared, and that shall be exalted for ever, but that of the Lord, who hath performed his every purpose against Babylon? And seeing that the glory of kingdoms is thus fallen, what earthly possession or privilege deserves to be prized like the citizenship of that kingdom which alone can never be moved; and how worthless in comparison shall they all at last prove, even as the dust of fallen Babylon! And what other stay need the true Christian seek, or what human fear need he dread, while he puts his trust in that God according to whose word the broad walls of Babylon have been utterly broken? And if the life on their lips, and the breath in their nostrils, and the graves of their brethren and forefathers, cannot teach the worldly, the careless, and the nominal Christian, that pride was not made for man, let them go and look for the walls of Babylon, and look on the blasted ruins of the temple of Belus. There they may learn, visibly illustrated, the truth of that word of God, "All that is in the world, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passeth away, and the fashion thereof." O that all such would remember, "He that doth the will of God abideth for ever." And now, Christian reader, on a careful review of all the prophecies relative to PETRA, NINEVEH, BABYLON, and all the adjoining territories, is it not a certain fact, which can admit of no disputation, and which needs no argument to support it, but which rests on the testimony of unbelievers, no less than that of Christians, that the fate of all these cities and countries, in reference to their past history and present state, demonstrates the TRUTH of the prophecies concerning them, and that all these prophecies, ratified by the events, give the most decisive proof that those holy men of old, who all testified of JESUS, "spoke as they were moved by the HOLY GHOST." No word can be more sure, in regard to past and present things, than theirs in regard to the future. The desolations were the work of men, and were all effected by the enemies of Christianity. The prediction of these literal facts, in all their particulars and minuteness, infinitely surpasses human foresight. The ruin of empires, while it proves the truth of every tittle of these predictions, is thus a miraculous confirmation and proof of the INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. JOURNEYINGS AND ENCAMPMENTS OF THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS. ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. THE Country which lay in the route of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan stretches, in the form of a peninsula, between the two gulfs of the Red sea-that of Suez, and that of Akaba. It is 70 leagues in length, and 30 at its greatest breadth. This space is covered by barren mountains, consisting like those of Syria, with which they are connected, of calcareous stone, which becomes granite toward the south-Sinai and Horeb being enormous masses of that material: hence the name of the country, Arabia Petra. The products of the soil, which is of a dry gravel, are acacias, tamarisks, firs, and a few scattered shrubs. There are but few springs, and of those some are sulphureous and thermal, as at Hamman-Faroun; and others brackish and nauseous, as at El-Naba opposite Suez. The whole country partakes of this saline property, and in the north are mines of fossil-salt. In some of the vales, as that of Gerandel, in which there are groves of trees, the soil, though scanty, is capable of cultivation. |