has been added to their own, in attempting to frustrate the counsel that professed to be of God. Julian, the emperor of the Romans, not only permitted but invited the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and their temple; and promised to re-establish them in their paternal city. By that single act, more than by all his writings, he might have destroyed the credibility of the gospel, and restored his beloved but deserted paganism. The zeal of the Jews was equal to his own-and the work was begun by laying again the foundations of the temple. In the space of three days, Titus had formerly encompassed that city with a wall when it was crowded with his enemies; and, instead of being obstructed, that great work, when it was confirmatory of an express prediction of Jesus, was completed with an astonishing celerity:-and what could hinder the emperor of Rome from building a temple at Jerusalem when every Jew was zealous for the work? Nothing appeared against it but a single sentence, uttered some centuries before by one who had been crucified. If that word had been of man, would all the power of the monarch of the world have been thwarted in opposing it? And why did not Julian, with all his inveterate enmity and laborious opposition to Christianity, execute a work so easy and desirable? A heathen historian relates, that fearful balls of fire, bursting from the earth, sometimes burned the workmen, rendered the place inaccessible, and caused them to desist from the undertaking.* The same narrative is attested by others. Chrysostom, who was a living witness, appealed to the existing state of the foundations, and to the universal testimony which was given of the fact. And an eminent modern traveller, who visited, and who minutely examined the spot, testifies that "there seems every reason for believing that, in the reticulated remains still visible on the site of the temple is seen a standing memorial of * Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare, ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam templum, quod, post multa et interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano, posteaque Tito, ægre est expugnatum, instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis; negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Brittannias curaverat pro præfectis. Cum itaque rei eidem instaret Alypius, juvaretque provinciæ rector, metuendi globi flam marum, prope fundamenta, crebris assultibus erumpentes, fecere locum ex ustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum; hocque modo, elemento destinatius repellente, cessavit inceptum.-Ammian Marcell. lib. xxiii. cap. 1, §2,3. Rufini Hist. Eccles. lib. i. c. 37. Socrat. lib. iii. c. 17. Theodorit. 1. iii. c. 17. Sozomin, 1. v. c. 21. Cassiod. Hist. Tripart. 1. vi. c. 43. Nicephor. Callis. lib. x. 32. Greg. Nazianz. in Julian. Qrat. 2. Chrysos. de lan. Bab. Mart. et contra Judeos, iii. p. 491. Lind.-Vide Am. Mar. tom. iii. p. 2. Julian's discomfiture."* While destitute of this additional confirmation of its truth, the historical evidence was too strong even for the skepticism of Gibbon altogether to gainsay; and brought him to the acknowledgment that such authority must astonish an incredulous mind. Even independent of the miraculous interposition, the fulfilment is the same. The attempt was made avowedly, and it was abandoned without any apparent cause. It was never accomplished-and the prophecy stands fulfilled. But, even if the attempt of Julian had never been made, the truth of the prophecy itself is unassailable. The Jews have never been reinstated in Judea. Jerusalem has ever been trodden down of the Gentiles. The edict of Adrian was renewed by the successors of Julian-and no Jews could approach unto Jerusalem but by bribery or by stealth. It was a spot unlawful for them to touch. In the crusades, all the power of Europe was employed to rescue Jerusalem from the heathens, but equally in vain. It has been trodden down for nearly eighteen centuries by its successive masters-by Romans, Grecians, Persians, Saracens, Mamelouks, Turks, Christians and again by the worst of rulers, the Arabs and the Turks. And could any thing be more improbable to have happened, or more impossible to have been foreseen by man, than that any people should be banished from their own capital and country, and remain expelled and expatriated for nearly eighteen hundred years? Did the same fate ever befall any nation, though no prophecy existed respecting it? Is there any doctrine in Scripture so hard to be believed as was this single fact at the period of its prediction? And even with the example of the Jews before us, is it likely, or is it credible, or who can foretel-that the present inhabitants of any country upon earth shall be banished into all nations-retain their distinctive character-meet with an unparalleled fate-continue a people-without a government and without a country-and remain for an indefinite period, exceeding seventeen hundred years, till the fulfilment of a prescribed event which has yet to be accomplished? Must not the knowledge of such truths be derived from that prescience alone which scans alike the will and the ways of mortals, the actions of future nations, and the history of the latest generations. * Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. note 1, at the end of the volume. But the prophecies are not confined to the land of Judea, they are equally unlimited in their range over space as over time. After a lapse of many ages, the countries around Judea are now beginning to be known. And each succeeding traveller, in the communication of new discoveries concerning them, is gradually unfolding the very description which the prophets gave of their poverty and desolation, at the time of their great prosperity and luxuriance. The countries of the Ammonites of the Moabites-of the Edomites, or inhabitants of Idumea-and of the Philistines, all bordered with Judea, and each is the theme of prophecy. The relative positions of them all are distinctly defined in Scripture, and have been clearly ascertained.* And the territories of the ancient enemies of the Jews, long overrun by the enemies of Christianity, present many a proof of the inspiration of the Jewish Scriptures, and of the truth of the Christian religion. AMMON. The country anciently peopled by the Ammonites is situated to the east of Palestine, and is now possessed partly by the Arabs and by the Turks. It is naturally one of the most fertile provinces of Syria, and it was for many ages one of the most populous. The Ammonites often invaded the land of Israel, and at one period, united with the Moabites, they retained possession of a great part of it, and grievously oppressed the Israelites for the space of eighteen years. Jephthah repulsed them and took twenty of their cities; but they continued afterward to harass the borders of Israel-and their capital was besieged by the forces of David, and their country rendered tributary. They regained and long maintained their independence, till Jotham the king of Judah subdued them, and exacted from them an annual tribute of a hundred talents, and thirty thousand quarters of wheat and barley; yet they soon contested again with their ancient enemies, and exulted in the miseries that befell them when Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem and carried its inhabitants into captivity. In after-times, though successively oppressed by the Chaldeans (when some of the Relandi Palestina Illustrata; D'Anville's Map; Maps in Volney's, Burckhardt's, and Buckingham's Travels; Well's Scripture Geography; Gibbon's History; Shaw's Travels, &c. earliest prophecies respecting it were fulfilled), and by the Egyptians and Syrians, Ammon was a highly produc tive and populous country when the Romans became masters of all the provinces of Syria; and several of the ten allied cities which gave name to the celebrated Decapolis were included within its boundaries. Even “when first invaded by the Saracens, this country” (including Moab) "was enriched by the various benefits of trade, was covered with a line of forts, and possessed some strong and populous cities."* Volney bears witness, "that in the immense plains of the Hauran ruins are continually to be met with, and that what is said of its actual fertility perfectly corresponds with the idea given of it in the Hebrew writings." The fact of its natural fertility is corroborated by every traveller who has visited it. And "it is evident," says Burckhardt, "that the whole country must have been extremely well cultivated, in order to have afforded subsistence to the inhabitants of so many towns," as are now visible only in their ruins. While the fruitfulness of the land of Ammon, and the high degree of prosperity and power in which it subsisted, long prior and long subsequent to the date of the predictions, are thus indisputably established by historical evidence and by existing proofs, the researches of recent travellers (who were actuated by the * Gibbon's History, vol. v. p. 240, c. 51. † Volney's Travels, vol. ii. p. 299. Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 357. Having frequent occasion in the subsequent pages to refer to the authority of the celebrated and lamented traveller J. Lewis Burckhardt, the following ample testimonies to his talents, perseverance, and veracity will show with what perfect confidence his statements may be relied on, especially as the subject of the fulfilment of prophecy, being never once alluded to in all his writings, seems to have been wholly foreign to his view.-"He was a traveller of no ordinary description, a gentleman by birth, and a scholar by education; he added to the ordinary acquirements of a traveller accomplishments which fitted him for any society. His descriptions of the countries through which he passed, his narrative of incidents, his transactions with the natives, are all placed before us with equal clearness and simplicity. In every page they will find that ardour of research,-that patience of investigation,-that passionate pursuit after truth for which he was eminently distinguished."-Quarterly Review, Vol. XXII. p. 437. "He appears from his books and letters to have been a modest, laborious, learned, and sensible man; exempt from prejudice, unattached to systems; detailing what he saw plainly and correctly, and of very prudent and discreet conduct."-Edinburgh Review, No. LXVII. p. 109. The following extract from General Straton's manuscript Travels was written at Cairo, and is the more valuable as containing the result of personal knowledge and observation:-"Burckhardt speaks Arabic perfectly, has adopted the costume, and goes to the religious places of worship, has been at Mecca; in short, follows in every thing the Turkish manners and customs, and he is not to be distinguished from a Mussulman. With what advantage must he travel! He is by birth a Swiss, but having been educated in England,speaks our language perfectly." mere desire of exploring these regions and obtaining geographical information) have made known its present aspect; and testimony the most clear, unexceptionable, and conclusive has been borne to the state of dire desolation to which it is and has long been reduced. It was prophesied concerning AMMON," Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them. I will make Rabbah of the Ammonites a stable for camels and a couching-place for flocks. Behold I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; I will cut thee off from the people, and cause thee to perish out of the countries; I will destroy thee. The Ammonites shall not be remembered among the nations. Rabbah (the chief city) of the Ammonites shall be a desolate heap. Ammon shall be a perpetual desolation."* Ammon was to be delivered to be a spoil to the heathento be destroyed, and to be a perpetual desolation. "All this country, formerly so populous and flourishing, is now changed into a vast desert." Ruins are seen in every direction. The country is divided between the Turks and the Arabs, but chiefly possessed by the latter. The extortions of the one and the depredations of the other keep it in perpetual desolation, and make it a spoil to the heathen. "The far greater part of the country is uninhabited, being abandoned to the wandering Arabs, and the towns and villages are in a state of total_ruin."‡ "At every step are to be found the vestiges of ancient cities, the remains of many temples, public edifices, and Greek churches." The cities are desolate. 66 Many of the ruins present no objects of any interest. They consist of a few walls of dwelling-houses, heaps of stones, the foundations of some public edifices, and a few cisterns filled up; there is nothing entire, but it appears that the mode of building was very solid, all the remains being formed of large stones.-In the vicinity of Animon there is a fertile plain interspersed with low hills, which for the greater part are covered with ruins."|| While the country is thus despoiled and desolate, there are valleys and tracts throughout it which " are covered with a fine coat of verdant pasture, and are places of re * Ezek. xxv. 2, 5, 7, 10; xxi. 32. Jerem. xix. 2. Zeph. ii. 9. Ibid. p. 37. Burckhardt's Travels in Nubia, Introd. p. 37, 38, 44. |