The interval between the Second and Third Punic Wars, Hannibal undertakes and completes the reformation of the Courts of 3. The Lake, Ditches and Canals, made for the draining of the river, 278 The History of Cyrus, from his Infancy to the Siege of Babylon, -II. Journey of Cyrus to his Grandfather Astyages, and his return The History of the Besieging and Taking of Babylon by Cyrus, Sect. 1. Predictions of the Principal Circumstances relating to the Siege and the Taking of Babylon, as they are set down in different 3. The Decree pronounced against Babylon. Prediction of the calami- ties that were to fall upon her, and of her utter Destruction, 4. Cyrus called to destroy Babylon, and to deliver the Jews, 5. God gives the Signal to the Commanders, and to the Troops, to Sect. II. A description of the Taking of Babylon, Sect. III. The Completion of the Prophecy which foretold the total The History of Cyrus, from the taking of Babylon to the time of his Sect. I. Cyrus takes a Journey into Persia. At his Return from thence to Babylon, he forms a Plan of Government for the whole Empire. paid to their Kings. The manner of Educating their Children, Sect. II. The Public Council, wherein the affairs of State were considered, 6. Their manner of Attacking and Defending strong places, 7. The condition of the Persian forces after the time of Cyrus, Art. VI. The Republican form of Government almost generally estab- -VII. The Spartan Government. Laws established by Lycurgus, - Art. VIII. The Government of Athens. The Laws of Solon. The History of that Republic from the time of Solon to the Reign INTRODUCTION. THE UTILITY OF PROFANE HISTORY, ESPECIALLY WITH REGARD TO RELIGION. What is to be observed events and chronology. in history, besides the THE study of profane history would be unworthy of a serious attention, and the great length of time, bestowed upon it, if it were confined to the bare knowledge of ancient transactions, and an unpleasing inquiry into the eras when each of these happened. It little concerns us to know that there were once such men as Alexander, Cæsar, Aristides, or Cato, and that they lived in this or that period; that the empire of the Assyrians made way for that of the Babylonians, and the latter for the empire of the Medes and Persians, who were themselves subjected by the Macedonians, as these were afterwards by the Romans. But it highly concerns us to know by what means those em- 1. The causes of the pires were founded; the steps by which they rose to the rise and fall of empires. exalted pitch of grandeur we so much admire; what it was that constituted their true glory and felicity, and what were the causes of their declension and fall. It is of no less importance to study attentively the manners of different nations; their genius, laws, and customs; and especially to acquaint ourselves with the character governed them. and disposition, the talents, virtues, and even vices, of those men by whom they were governed; and whose good or bad qualities contributed to the grandeur or decay of the states over which they presided. 2. The genius and character of nations, and of the great persons that Such are the great objects which ancient history presents; exhibiting to our view all the kingdoms and empires of the world; and at the same time, all the great men who are any way conspicuous; thereby instructing us, by example rather than precept, in the arts of empire and war, the principles of government, the rules of policy, the maxims of civil society, and the conduct of life that suits all ages and conditions. We acquire, at the same time, another knowledge, 3. The origin and prowhich cannot but excite the attention of all persons who gress of arts and sciences have a taste and inclination for polite learning; I mean, the manner in which arts and sciences were invented, cultivated, and improved; we there discover and trace, as it were with the eye, their origin and progress; and perceive with admiration, that the nearer we approach those countries which were once inhabited by the sons of Noah, in the greater perfection we find the arts and sciences; and that they seem to be either neglected or forgotten, in proportion to the remoteness of nations from them; so that, when men attempted to revive those arts and sciences, they were obliged to go back to the source from whence they originally flowed. 4. The observing, es pecially, the connexion I give only a transient view of these objects, though so very important, in this place; because I have already treated them with some extent elsewhere.* But another object, of infinitely greater importance, claims our attention. For although profane history treats only of nations who had imbibed all the chimeras of a superstitious worship, and abandoned themselves to all which human nature, after the fall of the first man, became capable; it never between sacred and profane history. the irregularities of * Vol. III. and IV. of the method of teaching and studying the Belles Lettres, &c. his theless proclaims universally the greatness of the Almighty, his power, justice, and, above all, the admirable wisdom with which his providence go verns the universe. the flood. If the inherent conviction of this last truth raised, according to Cicero's observation,* the Romans above all other nations; we may, in like manner, affirm, that nothing gives history a greater superiority to many other branches of literature, than to see in a manner imprinted in almost every page of it, the precious footsteps and shining proofs of this great truth, viz. that God disposes all events as supreme Lord and Sovereign; that he alone determines the fate of kings, and the duration of empires; and that he, for reasons inscrutable to all but himself, transfers the government of kingdoms from one nation to another. God presided at the We discover this important truth in going back to the dispersion of men, after most remote antiquity, and the origin of profane history; I mean to the dispersion of the posterity of Noah into the several countries of the earth where they settled. Liberty, chance, views of interest, a love for certain countries, and similar motives, were, in outward appearance, the only causes of the different choice which men made in these various migrations. But the Scriptures inform us, that amidst the trouble and confusion that followed the sudden change in the language of Noah's descendants, God presided invisibly over all their councils and deliberations; that nothing was transacted but by the Almighty's appointment; and that he alone guided and settled all mankindt agreeably to the dictates of his mercy and justice. The Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of the earth. We must therefore consider as an indisputable principle, and as the basis and foundation to the study of profane people and the reign of history, that the providence of the Almighty has, from all eternity, appointed the establishment, duration, and destruction of kingdoms and empires, as well in regard to the general plan of the whole universe, known only to God, who constitutes the order and wonderful harmony of its several parts, as particularly with respect to the people of Israel, and still more with regard to the Messiah, and the establishment of the church, which is his great work, the end and design of all his other works, and ever present to his sight.-Known to the Lord are all his works from the beginning.§ God only has fixed the fate of all empires, both with respect to his own his Son. God has vouchsafed to discover to us in holy Scripture, a part of the relation of the several nations of the earth to his own people; and the little so discovered, diffuses great light over the history of those nations, of whom we shall have but a very imperfect idea, unless we have recourse to the inspired writers. They alone display, and bring to light, the secret thoughts of princes, their incoherent projects, their foolish pride, their impious and cruel ambition; they reveal the true causes and hidden springs of victories and overthrows; of the grandeur and declension of nations; the rise and ruin of states; and teach us what judgment the Almighty forms both of princes and empires, and consequently, what idea we ourselves ought to entertain of them. iect Israel. Powerful kings apNot to mention Egypt, that served at first as the cradle pointed to punish or pro- (if I may be allowed the expression) of the holy nation; and which afterwards was a severe prison, and a fiery furnace to it; and, at last, the scene of the most astonishing miracles that God ever wrought in favour of Israel: not to mention, I say, Egypt, the mighty empires of Nineveh and Babylon furnish a thousand proofs of the truth here advanced. * Pietate ac religione, atque hac una sapientia quod deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernapre perspeximus, omnes gentes nationesque superavimus.-Orat. de Arusp. Resp. n. 19. The ancients themselves, according to Pindar, (Olymp. Od. vii.) retained some idea, that the persion of men was not the effect of chance, but that they had been settled in different countries by the Pppointment of Providence. Gen. xi. 8, 9. Acts, xv. 18. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage. Exod. vi. 6. Out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt. Deut. iv. 20. |