ments which constitute the kingdom of God and distinguish it from that of the world; next followed the apostles and primitive Christians. Love to the souls of men, in spite of the fiercest persecutions, was seen to be the distinguishing feature. It quenched those fires. On their tongues was the law of kindness, which, like oil, calmed the troubled waves of human passion. Men saw the beauty of holiness, and were convinced. Thus the kingdom of God was spreading, until the Church became corrupted through its union with the State in the days of Constantine. Its lustre was then dimmed; the infusion of worldly principles weakened its moral power, until the dark ages cast the pall of night over the professsedly Christian world; and, though we have had Reformations, we have not yet put on the pristine vigour of the primitive Church. There must be a revival of those days before much can be done. And to whom must we look but to the young? But if they fail, we must be prepared to expect that the sun of evangelical Christendom will set, and error be permitted to ravage those fair regions now peopled by the Truth's freemen. May Heaven avert such a calamity! Yes, it will, if you are true to yourselves. May the coming year be fraught with every blessing to each and every one of us. Farewell!

Your old friend,

PHILIP SAMBELL.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED.

THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY IN THE HISTORY OF NINEVEH.

NINEVEH was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and situated on the river Tigris, in Mesopotamia, the country in which Abraham dwelt when God called him to sojourn in the land of Canaan. The antiquity of Nineveh is very great. In Genesis x. 11., we have the following account of its origin :— "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and built Nineveh." So that this celebrated city must have been founded not more than fifty years after the Deluge, and before the building of the Tower of Babel. Undoubtedly it would be small in its beginning, but in process of time it grew to an amazing extent in size, in population and wealth, became the capital of a mighty empire, and flourished for many ages. In the Scriptures it is called a great city; and some idea of its magnitude may be gathered from its being said in the Book of Jonah to be a city of three days' journey: Now, Nineveh was an

exceeding great city of three days' journey;" probably meaning that it would occupy a man three days to walk round the city. Allowing twenty miles for each day, it would be sixty miles in circumference-almost as large as a small county. It is recorded in history that the city was surrounded by walls 100 feet high, and so broad as to admit of three carriages running abreast. On the walls were built 1,500 towers, each 200 feet high. We are not, however, to imagine that this vast inclosure was wholly occupied by buildings, for it contained parks, fields, and much open ground for various purposes; yet it possessed a great population. In the Book of Jonah we read that there were in Nineveh more than six-score thousand persons that could not discern their right hand from their left that is, so many infants and young children—and very much cattle. From which we may suppose that the population amounted to five or six hundred thousand persons.

But Nineveh was great not only in riches, in power, in extent, and the number of its inhabitants, but also in sin. While the inhabitants abounded in wealth they revelled in luxury, in idolatry, oppression and pride. Alas! how seldom do we find worldly prosperity and wealth united with humble obedience and a proper regard to the concerns of the immortal soul! The soil of poverty and affliction is indeed more congenial to the plants of heavenly growth than that of wealth.

In the former, how often we see them bloom and flourish with celestial fragrance and beauty; in the latter, how often they languish and die. Let the rich and the prosperous be admonished of their danger; let the poor and the afflicted put their trust in the Lord; and let each aspire with holy ambition for the imperishable riches of grace.

The sins of Nineveh at length cried aloud for vengeance. God, who had long borne with their abominations, now resolved to visit them in judgment; and thus he will at length visit every one that doeth evil. Sin of every description is hateful, infinitely and eternally hateful, to God; and those who persevere therein will finally meet a vengeful day: "Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." But before the thunder of divine wrath falls, Jonab is sent to announce the approaching ruin. His message is short, but solemn and awful, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." See the prophet enter the gate of the city, not, indeed, to traffic with her busy throng, not to join in their luxury and mirth, but as a minister of wrath, as the harbinger of death. Behold him move with solemn step and mournful look, while the awful burden falls from his lips, 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." He proceeds a little farther, and again exclaims, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." Imagine the result. Astonishment seizes the guilty inhabitants. They throng around the stranger, wondering at the message he utters; and at first, perhaps, account him mad. They follow on, and the crowd increases; again and again they hear the denunciation of wrath, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed." Now consternation and dismay mark every countenance. The dreadful tidings spread, and general alarm prevails. Business is suspended, and universal confusion takes place; the king on his throne is seized with terror, and all see themselves on the point of ruin and death. Now the voice of singing and the sound of music are exchanged for lamentation and woe. The monarch throws aside his robes, covers himself with sackcloth, and becomes a penitent. An universal fast is proclaimed, and sin is forsaken and abhorred. Though no offer of mercy is made, yet they humbly expect and earnestly pray for it. "Who can tell," said they, God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?" This is the genuine language of sincere penitents. They knew that God, on account of their sins, had denounced the sentence, and that it was just; and they rightly inferred that on their sincere repentance he would be gracious unto them, pardon their sin, and save them from ruin. God did hear their prayers, and averted his wrath. It is said,

if

"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil that he said that he would do unto them, and he did it not." Now, from this we see that the threatenings of Divine punishment, though positive in their form, are conditional in their meaning.

Although the threatening denounced against Nineveh was apparently absolute, yet a condition was implied; and that condition was that, if the Ninevites repented, divine mercy should be bestowed and the city should be saved. Truly is it said that "the Lord delighteth in mercy, while judgment is his strange work." "He hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent and live." The repentance of the Ninevites will be witness against those who, while favoured with greater privileges, remain impenitent. Our blessed Lord, addressing the Jewish nation, declared that the men of Nineveh should rise up in judgment against them; for the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, but they, while favoured with the presence and ministry of the Son of God, remained impenitent. But with how much greater force will those words apply to our guilty nation in general, favoured as we are with light divine and the offers of

salvation!

It is a lamentable fact that the inhabitants of Nineveh did afterwards apostatize from God and return to their idols and their sins; and in consequence thereof Jehovah resolved to punish the city with utter destruction. "Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts. and I will make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing-stock. And it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste, who will bemoan her?" (Nahum iii. 5, 6, 7.)

1. Now, here is a general prophecy that Nineveh should be destroyed. At this time there was no human probability that such an event would soon take place, for the city was in the height of its prosperity and glory. But did the event transpire as God had foretold? Most certainly it did. Not many years afterwards, the combined powers of the Medes and Babylonians came against Nineveh, and not only put to death many of the inhabitants, but completely destroyed the city and levelled it with the ground. With the destruction of Nineveh there was an end to the ancient empire of the Assyrians, which had existed about 1600 years.

But not only was the destruction of Niveveh foretold in general terms, there were several special and remarkable circumstances in connexion with its destruction very clearly predicted. Let us notice some of them.

2. The prophet Nahum foretold that the Assyrians should be taken while they were drunken: "For while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry." (Nahum i. 10.) Exactly so did it take place. Diodorus, a heathen historian, relates, that while all the Assyrian army were feasting on account of their former victories, the enemy being informed of their disorders and drunkenness, fell upon them by night, took possession of the camp, slew many of them with the sword, and drove the rest into the city.

3. It was foretold that an overrunning flood should contribute to the destruction of Nineveh. The prophet says, " But with an overrunning flood he will make an end of the place" (i. 8). Again: "The gates of the rivers shall be opened and the palace shall be dissolved" (ii. 6). Now observe the fulfilment of this prophecy. It is a very remarkable fact that Diodorus informs us that "there was an old prophecy that Nineveh should not be taken till the river (that is, the river Tigris, on which Nineveh stood) should become an enemy to the city; and, in the third year of the siege, that river being swoln with continual rains, overflowed part of the city and broke down the walls for twenty furlongs. Then the king, thinking that the oracle was fulfilled and the river become an enemy to the city, he built a large funeral-pile in the palace, and collecting together all his wealth, and his concubines and eunuchs, burnt himself with the palace and them all. Then the enemy entered at the breach that the waters had made and took the city." Thus the prophecy was fulfilled: "With an overrunning flood he will make an end. The gate of the river shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved."

4. It was foretold that fire should contribute to the destruction of Nineveh. “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions." (Nahum ii. 13.) "The fire shall devour thy bars. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off" (iii. 15.) We have already seen how the overrunning flood, the bursting river, overwhelmed part of the city; how the king set fire to his own palace, and burned himself, his concubines and his treasures; and how the devouring sword of the Medes and Babylonians had cut off the inhabitants; but who would have thought that, above 2000 years after the city had been destroyed, there would be the clearest evidence of its destruction by a conflagration? Yet so it is. When Mr. Layard's discoveries revealed the interior of the palaces of Nineveh, there were on every side the proofs that fire had been the destroying agent which had reduced those huge and splendid buildings to a state of desolation. When