also formed; for many centuries the people of Sidon being naval carriers for the neighbouring states:

A ruler of the waters, and their powers:

And such she was;-her daughters had their dowers From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East Poured in her lap all gems in sparkling showers. In purple was she robed, and of her feast Monarchs partook, and deemed their dignity increased. "The Sidonians, under which denomination we comprehend the Phoenicians in general, were a people of most happy genius. They were, from the beginning, addicted to philosophical exercises of the mind; inasmuch that a Sidonian, by name Moschus, taught the doctrine of atoms before the Trojan war, and Abomenus of Tyre puzzled Solomon by the subtilty of his questions. Phoenice continued to be one of the seats of learning, and in later times both Tyre and Sidon produced their respective philosophers; namely, Boethus and Diodatus of Sidon, Antipater of Tyre, and Apollonius of the same place, who gave an account of the writings and disciples of Zeno. As to their manufactures, the glass of Sidon, the purple of Tyre, and the fine linen they wove, were the products of their own country, and their own invention; and for their extraordinary skill in working metals, in hewing timber and stone, and their perfect knowledge of what was solid, great, and ornamental in architecture, we need only remind the reader of the large share which they had in erecting and decorating the Temple at Jerusalem, under their king Hiram. Their fame for taste and design, and ingenious invention was such, that whatever was elegant, or great, or pleasing, whether in apparel, in vessels, or in toys, was distinguished by way of excellence by the epithet of Sidonian." Phoenicia, Encyc. Brit.

The praises of Sidon are celebrated by Homer, Virgil, and other poets; the names of Tyre and Sidon being generally associated together. Isaiah alludes to the inhabitants of Tyre as those "whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished;" and designates the Tyrian city "the virgin daughter of Zidon;" Sidon being the stock from whence she derived her greatness. The prophet Ezekiel, B.C. cir. 588, denounced fearful judgments against Sidon: "Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of Man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, and

say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord; when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. For I will send unto her pestilence and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the Lord."

This prophecy was fearfully accomplished B.C. 351. A Persian army under Ochus, consisting of three hundred thousand foot and thirty thousand horse soldiers, invested the city. The Sidonian garrison immediately set fire to their ships, in order that, by taking away the hope of escape, the people should make a more desperate defence. Zeunes, king of Sidon, being appalled, however, by the magnitude of the offensive preparations, and bribed by the Persians, betrayed the place into the hands of Ochus. The inhabitants were filled with despair when they saw the enemy in their streets. The walls of Sidon were encompassed by Persian troops, eager for the plunder of the place; there was no possibility of retreat by means of the sea. In this extremity the Sidonians shut themselves up in their houses and fired the city; forty thousand men, beside women and children, perishing in the conflagration. Thus were the judgments of God executed in her. After this catastrophe, those merchants and citizens of Sidon who were absent from it, pursuing their traffic in foreign countries, returned and rebuilt the city, which 'continued for eighteen years afterwards subject to the Persians. On the march of Alexander the Great into Syria, however, anxious to escape the detested Persian yoke, they opened their gates and welcomed the Macedonians. The luxury and wickedness of the people of Tyre and Sidon were still proverbial in the days of Christ, by whom reference was frequently made to them, in speaking of the unbelief and sin of Jewish cities. The preaching of the Saviour in their coasts was not, however, altogether ineffectual; for soon after his resurrection we find a Christian church in Sidon, who were visited by Paul, when the vessel in which he was going as a prisoner to Rome touched there.

Modern Sidon (Saida, as it is called by the Turks,) presents a melancholy scene; its ruins lying on an open and unprotected shore, where, we are assured, scarcely

a fisherman's boat can roll in safety. Its palaces are in the dust; its harbour, where once so many fleets rode in safety, is now utterly blocked up,-statio male fida

carinis.

"The city as it exists at present rises immediately from the strand, and seen from a slight distance presents a rather imposing appearance. The interior, however, is most wretched and gloomy; a melancholy contrast to the gaiety of the gardens and mulberry grounds adjoining the walls. The gate had been closed a short time before our arrival, in consequence of some religious ceremony, and we were detained nearly half an hour till the necessary explanations had taken place. The portal is very massive, and has an air of military importance; but the instant it is unbarred the delusion vanishes. Some faint traces are still discoverable of the ancient lustre of Sidon, in the broken columns and architectural ornaments, which lie neglected at a little distance from the modern walls; and in one of the neighbouring gardens there is a reputed relic of antiquity, which the Jews affect to hold in extraordinary veneration. This object of their regard is alleged to be the tomb of Zebulon: the monument, if such it may be called, is extremely simple, consisting solely of two stones, which are supposed to have been placed at each extremity of the body; a conjecture, by the bye, which is somewhat extravagant, unless the patriarch was of gigantic stature, for the blocks are more than three yards distant from each other. Pliny attributes the invention of glass, or, at least, the original manufacture of it, to the artisans of this city, as it was here only that the sand brought from the coast of Tyre was believed to be susceptible of fusion. The modern proprietors have either lost the art, or do not any longer find it a lucrative branch of trade." Letters from Palestine.

Mr. Jowett observes, "About halfway between Sayde and Sour (Sidon and Tyre) are very extensive ruins, which once connected these two cities; but of the ruins there is scarcely one stone left upon another. They consist chiefly of lines which show, razed even with the soil, the foundations of houses, many stones irregularly scattered, a few cisterns, with half-defaced sculpture on them; and, at a considerable distance from the path, there are at one spot several low columns, either mutilated or considerably shrunk in the earth. These relics show, what indeed needed no such proof, that in peaceful and flourishing times, over this road, between such considerable cities as Tyre and Sidon, there must have been many smaller towns for pleasure, business, and agriculture, delightfully situated by the sea side."

The following additional particulars relative to fallen Sidon are given by Dr. E. Hogg, who made a journey to Damascus in 1835: "We soon came in sight of Saida, shorn of its ancient glory, looking from hence, as if it stretched on a tongue of land far into the sea. Large waves everywhere beat upon the lonely shore, clustering orchards fringed one side of the town, and long lines of sterile declivities seemed to forbid the possibility of approach. By a narrow path, sometimes shelving the brinks of precipices, or winding among masses of protruding rock, we at length descended; threaded a deep water course, bordered by fruit trees, and crossing a bridge, skirted for more than an hour a loose sandy beach amidst a foaming surf, to the height of our horses' fetlocks."

Speaking of the present condition of the city, he says, "Of its original splendour not a vestige remains. An insecure wall, with here and there the indication of a tower, or an occasional breach filled up with regularlypiled baskets of earth, encircles the town. Winding bazaars, of considerable length, but so narrow as with difficulty to be passed on horseback, exhibit a tolerable

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supply of commodities, and of respectably dressed passengers. The mean unpaved streets beyond, are disfigured by houses, sometimes large and well constructed, that, extending on arches across them, form damp and sombre passages. An aqueduct furnishes abundant water, and the surrounding district is well cultivated. The gothic windows and heavy buttresses of a mosque near the shore, with masses of broken columns, arches, and doorways, in the same direction, would seem to indicate the site of an ancient and spacious church. Along the margin of the sea, a broad rocky surface, nearly covered by the waves, is everywhere wrought into square excavations. The port remains encumbered and useless; and the roadstead, protected by a ridge of rocks, displays no shipping, although, as the residence of European consuls, some foreign trade must have existed before the war. The public baths, clean and well served, are fitted up like those at Beit e' Deen, although on a less costly scale."

According to official returns made to the British government, the population of the district of Saida is at present 66,660 souls; of which 28,944 are Turks, and 36,716 Christians and Hebrews. It produces about one hundred cantars of silk in a year; its revenues, in the year 1835-6, being as follows:-capitation tax, in purses, of 500 piastres each, 788; customs, 975; toleration tax, 81; excise duties, 1,183; different other duties, 290: total revenue of the district of Saida, 3317.

On the 26th September, 1840, the town, which was then held by the troops of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, was taken by storm by the combined British, Austrian, and Turkish squadron, commanded by Commodore Napier. modore Napier. It had been strongly fortified by the Egyptians, who kept there large supplies of arms, ammunition, and provisions; but the defences were dismantled, and the town seriously injured by the bombardment. Our notice of the great Sidon must conclude here; we shall only add that the condition of the modern Sidonians is most deplorable,-alternately the slaves of Egyptian and Turkish masters, distracted by the bloody contentions of the tribes that now hold possession of Lebanon. P.

SIGN. This word is frequently used in Scripture for a miraculous appearance, which would attest the divine authority of a prophet or teacher. The Jews asked Our Lord for "the sign from heaven," not a sign, as in our translation, meaning thereby the appearance of the Messiah coming in the clouds of heaven, which Daniel had foretold, and which "the traditions of the elders," as appears from the Talmud, had declared to be the only certain sign of the advent of the promised

SILK, meshi. This substance is first mentioned in the Book of Proverbs, (31. 22,) and was probably unknown to the Hebrews before the time of Solo

mon.

It was originally produced in China, and was exported from thence, chiefly in a raw state, to be manufactured in Babylon, Tyre, Berytus, and the islands of the Greek archipelago. On account of the great distance from which it was brought, silk was frequently sold for its weight in gold both in Greece and Italy. At length in the reign of the Emperor Justinian, (A.D. 560,) two Nestorian monks brought the eggs of the silkworm from China to Constantinople, and instructed the Byzantines in the art of rearing the worm and preparing the silk. From Constantinople the silk-trade gradually spread over the south of Europe. C.

SILVER, 70 keseph. The word is very frequently used in Scripture for money generally. The "silver cord" mentioned in Ecclesiasticus 12. 6, is understood to mean the spinal marrow." C.

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SIMEON. The son of Jacob and Leah; his father, when dying, showed his indignation against Simeon and his uterine brother, Levi, for their cruelty to the Shechemites, prophesying, "I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." (Gen. 49. 5.) The prediction was fulfilled, for the tribe of Levi never had any fixed lot or portion, and Simeon received only a canton which was dismembered from the tribe of Judah. (Josh.

19. 1.) In ecclesiastical history, a monk named Simeon Stylites ("resident of the pillar") is remarkable for the severity of his austerities; he took up his abode on the top of a pillar, and is said to have continued in this singular position for forty years. C.

SIMON. I. Maccabæus, the son of Mattathias, and brother of the heroic Judas and Jonathan; he was

chief-priest and pontiff of the Jews from AM. 3860 to A.M. 3869, when he was succeeded by his son John Hyrcanus.

II. Simon the Zealot, so named because he belonged to the sect of the Jews which bore the designation of Zealots; he is also named the Canaanite, not from the place of his birth, but from the Hebrew word Np kana, which signifies "to be zealous."

III. Simon, surnamed Peter: which see.

IV. Simon, the brother, or rather the cousin-german, of Our Lord; he was the son of Mary, the sister of the Blessed Virgin. Some commentators identify him with Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem and son of Cleopas.

V. Simon, surnamed Magus, "the wizard," because he deceived men by his juggling arts and pretensions to sorcery. He wanted to purchase the power of conferring the Holy Spirit, for which he was severely rebuked by St. Peter. Ecclesiastical historians inform us that he was one of the Gnostic heresy; but the accounts given of his doctrines are so obscure and inconsistent, that it is not easy to discover the nature of the errors which he taught. C.

SIN, WILDERNESS OF. When the children of Israel had miraculously passed through the Red Sea, they celebrated their deliverance and the discomfiture of Pharaoh and his host with a song of thanksgiving, accompanied by timbrels and dances on the Arabian shore. From thence they were conducted by Moses into the Wilderness of Shur. After a lapse of three days they found no water; at length, however, they discovered a fountain at Marah; but it being one of the sulphurous or medicinal springs, known to exist in this region, the people, murmuring against Moses on account of the bitterness of its waters, cried, "What shall we drink?" By miraculous agency the waters were made sweet; God a second time directly assuring to those that diligently hearkened unto his commandments, the constant exertion of his Almighty power for their special protection. They next came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water, and three score and ten palm-trees, a number which probably was meant to express a large and shady grove of those noble trees, affording an inviting position for an encampment. At the present moment nine of the wells of Elim remain; the number of the palm-trees is above two thousand; the place being situated in the valley of Gharondel, at a short distance from the Arabian shore of the Red Sea. We have been thus particular in describing the approach to the Wilderness of Sin and Sinai, to avoid the confusion which sometimes is found to arise from the mention of the city of Sin,-supposed to be Pelusium, a port on the Mediterranean Sea, at the confines of Egypt, which is termed by Ezekiel, chap. 30. 15,16, "the strength of Egypt,"-as well as the city and wilderness of Zin, lying at the base of Mount Seir, in Idumea. After resting at Elim for several days, the Israelites prepared to resume their march: "And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt." (Exod. 16. 1.) The period of the year, coll

sequently, at which they entered the wilderness of Sin, corresponded to the end of April, according to our modes of computing time. Here, forgetful of the wonderful interpositions of God, already experienced in their behalf, the wanderers broke into open mutiny against their leaders. Addressing Moses and Aaron they said, "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." The desert refused subsistence to so great a number of men, women, and children; the utmost difficulty having been experienced in providing a scanty supply of provender for their cattle. A signal miracle was therefore wrought by the Omnipotent for their relief at this crisis: he rained bread from heaven in the shape of manna, and sent abundance of quails around the camp; the supply of the former continuing for forty years, till they came to the borders of Canaan. "He rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven. Man did eat angels' food: he sent them meat to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven; and by his power he brought in the south wind. He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like the sand of the sea; and he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations." It deserves to be remarked as a confirmation of the genuineness and historical accuracy of the Pentateuch, that the quail, of the genus Perdix, is yet to be found in the desert of Sin and the neighbourhood of Sinai. "It has been observed that in the progress of quails, from the northern regions up the Mediterranean, they uniformly, and on a day so exact as to be remarked in the almanacs of the island, stop at Malta. Here they descend so exhausted by fatigue, and in such prodigious multitudes, that the inhabitants pick them up with facility and in the greatest abundance. After resting one night, those that escape proceed to Syria and Arabia, and spread over Asia and Africa." (Maunder.)

The Wilderness of Sin is also remarkable for a divine injunction delivered there relative to the Sabbath; which shows that that institution existed as an established custom before the law was given on Sinai; consequently, that the abrogation of the Mosaic code does not render

it void, nor discharge any one from the obligation of keeping holy a day, which God blessed and sanctified at the dawn of Creation, "because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." The Israelites were instructed to gather every morning manna sufficient for the day's consumption, and no more. When they attempted to keep a surplus till the ensuing day, they found that it perished. On the sixth day, however, they were commanded to collect a double portion; no manna fell on the seventh; and the provisions saved for that day were not found to corrupt: "See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore, he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days." From the wilderness of Sin the children of Israel moved toward Rephidim, in the neighbourhood of Horeb and Sinai. P.

SIN. Sin is the transgression of the law, or want of conformity to the will of God. (1John 3. 4.) Theologians usually reckon eight kinds of sin. 1. Original sin, or the innate depravity which since the Fall has disordered human nature, and rendered our inclinations contrary to the law of God. 2. Actual sin, or a direct violation, with prepense purpose, of the divine laws; idiots and children, not having the right use of their mental powers, are held incapable of this species of transgression. 3. Sins of omission, leaving undone those things which we ought to have done. 4. Sins of commission, doing the things which we ought not to have done. 5. Sins of infirmity, arising from the weakness of our nature. 6. Secret sins, not merely those. committed in secret, but those of which we are unconscious, either through ignorance or weakness. 7. Presumptuous sins, those which are perpetrated against light and conviction; and 8. Unpardonable sin, which consists in ascribing the operations of the Holy Spirit to the influence of Satan. "The reason why this sin is never forgiven," says Archbishop King, "is not because of any want of sufficiency in the blood of Christ, nor in the pardoning mercy of God, but because such as commit it despise and reject the only remedy, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit, applying the redemption of the Gospel to the souls of men." C.