To all the nations. Ample was the boon COWPER. But has man obeyed his high commands? Ask of history, and of observation, and they will answer, No! The same restless ambition has been displayed by man in all ages of the world; and many, full many, are the Babel builders of our own day. But what availeth their devices and designs? Opposed by the powerful arm of Omnipotence, they are quickly brought to nought; and men are taught to experience the truth of the wise man's words, that "There is no wisdom nor understanding Nor counsel against the Lord."-Prov. xxi. 30. He sits in the heavens, and defeats the impotent attempts of those who oppose his will; and though the whole world should confederate against him, the rebuke of the prophet might be applied to them with beautiful propriety. "Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; And give ear, all ye of far countries: Gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; It is the wisdom of man to bow at the footstool of his Creator, to ask of him wisdom to know, and strength to perform his holy will; it is his happiness to lay down his arms of rebellion, and to seek his mercy through Christ. The building of a lofty tower is applicable, in the most remarkable manner, to the wide and level plains of Babylonia. In that plain no object exists, different to another, to guide the stranger in his journeying; and which, in those days, as in the present, was a sea of land, the compass of which was unknown. The effect of these high places remains as striking as ever. "Chaldean beacons over the drear land Seen faintly from thick tower'd Babylon as the pile of Akkerkoof, the memorable Birs, and the still more colossal mounds of Urchoe, Teredon, and Irak, although they deceive the traveller as to distance, yet still faithfully guide him to one point in his destination. There is no statement that this great work sustained any damage at the confusion: it is simply stated that the erection ceased. What were its precise dimensions, it is not possible to state: different writers make it range from a furlong to five thousand miles in height! As there was no stone to be found in the alluvial tract washed and produced by the floods of the Euphrates and Tigris, all the building, of whatever kind, must have been built of brick, and cemented in the manner mentioned in Scripture. "And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar," Gen. xi. 3. It is generally supposed, that this fabric was in a considerable state of forwardness at the confusion, and that it could have sustained no considerable damage, when the building of Babylon was recommenced. From hence, it is not improbable that the original Tower of Babel formed the nucleus of that amazing tower which, in the time of the early authors of classical antiquity, stood in the midst of the temple which was built by Nebuchadnezzar, in honour of the idol god Belus. This was called the TOWER OF BELUS. It would appear that Nebuchadnezzar, whose reign commenced about 605 years B.C., took the idea of making this ancient pile the principal ornament of the city, which it was his delight to render famous. The earliest authentic information concerning this tower, in common history, is derived from the pages of Herodotus. This author did not inspect it, however, till thirty years after it had been damaged by Xerxes, king of Persia, who did so in his indignation against associated. He describes the spot as a sacred the form of idolatry with which it had become inclosure, dedicated to Jupiter Belus, consisting of a regular square, of 1,000 feet on each side, and adorned with gates of brass. In the midst of this area arose a tower, whose length, breadth, and altitude, was 500 feet. The structure consisted of eight towers, one above another, and on the outside, steps were formed, winding up to each tower, and in the middle of every flight seats were provided as resting places. In the topmost tower there was a magnificent chamber, sacred to Belus. This chamber was furnished with a splendid couch, near which was a table of gold. There was no statue there when Herodotus visited Babylon, whence some have concluded that the Assyrians imagined the deity frequented his temple when he pleased. Diodorus, however, states, that there was originally a statue of Belus, forty feet high, erected on its summit; and Herodotus himself was informed by the Chaldeans, that there formerly stood in the temple of Belus, a statue of solid gold, twelve cubits high, which was spared by Darius Hystaspes, but afterwards was taken away by Xerxes, who slew the priest that forbade its removal. But this latter statue is supposed by Dr. Hales to be the "golden image," made by Nebuchadnezzar, in all the pride of conquest, which he set up as an object of idolatrous worship to his subjects, as recorded by the prophet Daniel. Dan. iii. 1. It was evidently, he says, distinct from the statue of Jupiter Belus, noticed by Diodorus, and was designed to represent Nebuchadnezzar himself, or the genius of his empire, according to Jerome, supported by Daniel:"Thou art this head of gold," Dan. ii. 38. See : Ac The riches of the temple of Belus, in statues, tables, censers, cups, and other sacred vessels, were immense. All were of massy gold. cording to Diodorus, the sum total amounted to 6,300 Babylonish talents of gold, or rather more than 21,000,000l. sterling. About two centuries after the devastations committed by Xerxes, Alexander, among other projects, conceived an idea of restoring this celebrated tower to its pristine splendour. As a preparatory step to this undertaking, he employed 10,000 men to remove the rubbish which had fallen from the dilapidated structure; but, after they had laboured therein two months, Alexander died, and the work ceased. From this it may be inferred by the reader, that but faint traces of the original structure can remain at the present day. Such is the case; and hence it is that some identify it with the Mujelibe, about 950 yards east of the Euphrates, and five miles above the modern tower of Hillah; others with the Birs Nemroud, to the west of that river, and about six miles to the south-west of Hillah; and others with Nimrod's tower at Akkerkoof. THE MUJELIBE. The Mujelibe was first supposed by Pietro Della Velle to be the Tower of Belus. This traveller examined its ruins A.D. 1616, and he characterizes the mass as "a mountain of ruins," and again, as a "huge mountain." He is supported in his opinion by D'Anville, Rennell, and other high names; but none of them, except Kenneir, possessed any distinct information concerning the Birs Nemroud. The Mujelibe, or, "overturned," is one of the most enormous masses of brick-formed earth, raised by the art and labour of man. According to Rich, the mound is of an oblong shape, irregular in its height, with its sides facing the cardinal points. The measurement of the northern side being 200 yards in length; the southern 219; the eastern 182; and the western 136. The elevation of the south-east, or highest angle, he says, is 141 feet. The western face of the building is most interesting, on account of the appearance which it presents. It is a straight wall, that seems to have cased and parapeted this side of the magnificent pile. The southwest angle is rounded off; but whether it was so formed, or it has been thus worn by the hand of time, cannot be stated. On the summit, it is crowned with something like a turret, or lantern. The other angles are not so perfect, but it is probable, they were originally thus ornamented. The western face is the easiest, and the northern the most difficult of access. Every portion of this mighty structure, though erected as if it would resist the utmost shock of time, has been torn by the rains, which here fall in torrents, with the force and body of water-spouts, in a terrific manner. The eastern face, particularly, is worn into a deep channel, from the summit to the base. The summit is covered with heaps of rubbish; in digging into which, layers of broken burned brick, cemented with mortar, are discovered, and whole bricks, with antique inscriptions on them, are not unfrequently found. whole is covered with fragments of pottery, brick, bitumen, pebbles, vitrified scoriæ, and even shells, bits of glass, and mother of pearl. Dens of wild beasts (in one of which Rich found the bones of sheep and other animals) are very numerous among this ruin; and in most of the ravines are numbers of bats and owls. Yes, these mighty buildings, which were once, perhaps, the chambers of royalty, are now the haunts of jackals, and other ferocious animals; reminding us of the awful prediction of the prophet : "Wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; And their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; And satyrs shall dance there. The And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, And dragons in their pleasant palaces."-Isa. xiii. 21, 22. It may be mentioned that the Hebrew word Sheirim, rendered "satyr" here, is translated by Dr. Henderson "wild goats," and it literally signifies "hairy ones;" a signification still preserved in the Vulgate. In Gen. xxvii. 11. 23, in Lev. iv. 24, xvi. 9, it is applied to the goat; and in Lev. xvii. 7, 2 Chron. xi. 15, to objects of idolatrous worship, perhaps in the form of goats, and translated "devils." It is probable, that in the verse quoted, and in Isa. xxxiv. 14, some kind of wild goat is intended; but it may be interesting to observe, that Rich, who explored these masses A.D. 1812, heard the oriental account of satyrs while thus employed. He had always imagined the belief of the existence of such creatures to be confined to the mythology of the west, but a Tehohadar who accompanied him accidentally mentioned that, in this desert, there is an animal resembling a man from the head to the waist, and having the thighs and the legs of a goat and a sheep. He also informed him that the Arabs hunt it with dogs, and eat the lower parts, abstaining from the upper, on account of their resemblance to the human species. The belief of the existence of such creatures, however ideal, is by no means rare in the vicinity of the Babylonian wilds. BIRS NEMROUD. It has been observed, that every one who sees the Birs Nemroud feels at once, that of all the masses of ruin found in this region, there is not one which so nearly corresponds with his previous notions of the Tower of Babel; and he will decide that it could be no other, if he is not discouraged by the apparent difficulty of reconciling the statements of the ancient writers concerning the Temple of Belus with the situation of this ruin on the western bank, and its distance from the river and the other ruins. This difficulty is not insuperable; but without identifying the Birs Nemroud with the Temple of Belus, we prefer giving the reader a description of it, leaving him to draw his own conclusions. This sublime ruin stands in the midst of a solitary waste, like the awful figure of Prophecy herself, pointing to the complete fulfilment of her thrilling denunciations. Just, says Rich, as we were within the proper distance, so necessary to the production of grandeur of view, the Birs at once burst upon our view in the midst of rolling masses of black thick clouds, partially obscured by that kind of haze, whose indistinctness is one great cause of sublimity; while a few catches of stormy light, thrown on the desert, in the back ground, served to give some idea of the immense extent and dreary solitude of the waste surrounding the venerable pile. The Birs Nemroud is a mound of an oblong form, the total circumference of which is 762 yards. At the eastern side, it is cloven by a deep furrow, and is not more than fifty or sixty feet high; but on the western side, it rises in a conical figure, to the elevation of 198 feet; and on its summit is a solid pile of brick, thirty-seven feet high by twenty-eight in breadth, diminishing in thickness to the top, which is broken and irregular, and rent by a large fissure, extending through a third of its height. It is perforated by small square holes, disposed in rhomboids. The fire-burned bricks of which it is built have inscriptions on them, and so excellent is the cement, which appears to be lime-mortar, that it is nearly impossible to extract one whole. The other parts of the summit of this hill are occupied by immense fragments of brick-work, of no determinate figure, tumbled together and converted into solid vitrified masses, as if they had undergone the action of the fiercest fire, or had been blown up with gunpowder, the layers of brick being perfectly discernible. The ruins stand on a prodigious mound, the whole of which is itself in ruins, channelled by the weather, and strewed with fragments of blackstone, sandstone, and marble. In the eastern part, layers of unburned brick, but no reeds, are discernible. In the north side, may be seen traces of building, exactly similar to the brick pile. At the foot of the mound, a step may be traced, scarcely elevated above the plain, exceeding in extent, by several feet each way, the true, or measured base; and there is a quadrangular enclosure around the whole, as at the Mujelibe, but more distinct, and of greater dimensions. Within the quadrangle of two miles and a half, stood the mound and the temple itself, with a large open area expanding on all sides; but on the north side, from the top of the mound, at the distance of 400 feet, mounds of various elevation are descried. Clustering ranges appear to continue curving round to the west, where a vacuum occurs, after which they recommence running eastward. Other chains, of apparently greater magnitude, rise to the west, at 200 yards from the Birs, and these are connected with others to the north and south; so that the whole quadrangle seems to have been filled with variously erected structures. These were doubtless erected for the protection of the various animals worshipped according to the Sabian ritual, the officers in attendance, and the many occasional residents of the place; for the inhabitants regarded the Birs Nemroud as a temple, a college, a royal sanctuary, and even a fortress, in the days of extremity. NIMROD'S TOWER. This pyramidal mass, which many travellers have taken for the ruined Tower of Babel, stands about ten miles to the north-west of Bagdad. By the Arabs, who refer every thing ancient to Nimrod, it is denominated Tel Nemroud; and by the Turks, Nemroud Tepasse: which appellations some translate "The Tower of Nimrod," but This stupendous structure is believed, both by Rich and Ker Porter, to be the remains of the celebrated Temple and Tower of Belus, completed, if not commenced by Nebuchadnezzar. Porter seems to show that three, and part of the fourth original stages of the tower, as described by Diodorus, may be traced in the existing ruins of Birs Nemroud; and with regard to the intense vitrifying heat, to which the summit has evident-nify the ground around it; and the word having ly been subjected, he says, that he has no doubt that the fire acted from above, and was probably lightning. This circumstance is assuredly most remarkable, in connexion with the tradition of the Arabs, that the original Tower of Babel was rent and overthrown by fire from heaven. The same author conceives that the works of the Babylonish kings concealed, for a season, the marks of the original devastation, and that now, the destruction of time and man have reduced it to nearly the same condition in which it appeared after the confusion. As it exists, it reminds the beholder of the emphatic words of the prophet: "Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, Which destroyest all the earth: And I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, And roll thee down from the rocks. And will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, But thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord." Scarcely half this elevation now stands. In the piece of brick wall, now surmounting the pile, 270 feet from the eastern face of the Birs, is a great mound, equal to the Kasr in elevation, and 1,242 feet broad by 1,935 feet in length. The whole of its summit and sides are furrowed into hollows and traversing channels, the effect of time, violence, and accident, and all are imbedded with fragments of the same nature as the other mounds. It is supposed that this mound contained the minor temples of the attendant gods of the chief divinity, and also the abodes of the priesthood, with their attendants. which signifies "The hill." The term Akkerkoof, given it by the Arabs, is intended to sig no distinct meaning, it is supposed by some that it was probably the name of some ancient city of the Babylonians, now buried in the dust. Thus Rennell thinks it to be the ancient Agrani ; D'Anville, the ancient Sitace; and Ker Porter, the city of Accad, mentioned Gen. x. 10, as one of the principal cities of Nimrod's kingdom. The ruined mass of the Tower of Nimrod rises 180 feet above the level of the plain, and 126 feet above the mound whereon it is erected. Its circumference at the base of the upper structure is 300 feet, and 900 feet within ten feet of the base on the mound. The whole mass is computed at 300,000 cubical feet. It is composed of the same materials as the structures before described, and seems to be solid, except certain square perforations, resembling those of the turret of the Birs Nemroud. Like that of the Birs, there is reason to believe that this pile, as well as the lofty conical mounds of Al Hymer, were the temples and mansions of the Sabian priesthood, and dedicated to the worship of the host of heaven. A number of relics of Babylonish idolatry have been dug out of the ruins of the Kasr, and the hill of Amzam; and it is probable many more might be discovered on a close investigation. CITY OF BABYLON. There can be no doubt that this famous metropolis of the Assyrian empire was erected upon the site of that first post-diluvian city of which there is any record, and which was built by Nimrod, Babel. See Gen. x. 10. The town founded by Nimrod could have been but of little importance; but its greatness, after it had been enlarged and improved by Belus, Semiramis, Nebuchadnezzar, and his queen, whom Herodotus calls Nitocris, is shown by the writings of ancient historians, and the ruins now found on the site. Herodotus, with whom Pliny and Solinus agree, says that Babylon was a perfect square, each side of which was about twelve miles, and its circuit forty-eight, and that it was so magnificent, that no city could be comThe walls were about 350 pared with it. feet high, and eighty wide, and it was encompassed with a wide ditch, deep, and full of water. On the top were erected small watch towers, of one story high, leaving a space between them through which a chariot and four horses might pass and turn. In the circumference of the wall, at stated intervals, were a hundred massy gates of brass, whose hinges and frames were of the same metal. The Euphrates ran through the city, and divided it into two parts. Each wall formed an elbow, or angle on the river, at which point a wall of baked brick commenced, and the two sides of the river were lined with similar walls. The houses were built of three and four stories. The streets were straight, and intersected by others, which opened at the side of the river. Opposite the end of the streets, small gates of brass were formed in the walls which lined the river; and there were as many gates as there were transverse streets. The external wall served for defence, and there was also an internal wall, narrower, but still very strong. A bridge was built by Nitocris, queen of Babylon, to connect the two parts of the city divided by the Euphrates. The piers of this bridge were formed of large hewn stones, and in order to fix them in the river, the waters of the Euphrates were turned, leaving the bed of the river dry. It was at this time that the banks of the river were lined with the walls, and the descents to the river from the smaller gates were made. The bridge was built about the middle of the city, and the masonry connected with iron and lead. During the day, pieces of squared wood were laid from pier to pier, which were removed at night, lest the inhabitants on each side should rob one another. When the whole was completed, the waters of the Euphrates were turned back into their ancient course. Among the curiosities of Babylon, the most celebrated were, the temple and tower of Belus, which ran through the centre of the city, from north to south; the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, which formed the citadel; and the spacious hanging gardens, contiguous to the royal palace, which were built by Nebuchadnezzar, to gratify his wife, who was a native of Media, a mountainous country, with the resemblance of her own, in the level country of Babylon. The magnificence of this renowned city, after its enlargement and improvement by Nebuchadnezzar, when it became one of the wonders of the world, is strongly expressed by the arrogant boast of that haughty monarch: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" Dan. iv. 30. But where now is all its greatness? Reader, while in the plenitude of its power, and, according to | the most accurate chronologers, one hundred and sixty years before the foot of an enemy entered its gates, the voice of prophecy pronounced its doom, and a succession of ages has brought it | gradually to the dust. "The kings thy sword had slain, the mighty dead, It is a common opinion, that the destruction of Babylon has been so complete, that its site cannot now be discovered, not even by the investigation of the most scientific geographers, and learned antiquarians. This opinion is founded upon the declaration of the prophet, that the Almighty would "cut off from Babylon the name and remnant," and that he would perform this by making it "pools of water," Isa. xiv. 22, 23. This prediction, however, does not mean that every vestige of Babylon should be annihilated, but, that it should cease to exist as a city so called; and that every remnant of it, as an inhabited city, should be cut off, that no human being should make it his abode. Nor does it mean that the whole space including the city, should become a pool of water, for if it did, that very circumstance would point out to the traveller its ancient site. That such was never intended, is distinctly demonstrated by the present aspect of the remains, pointed out as those of Babylon, which answers in a remarkable manner to the recorded predictions of Holy Writ. These predictions will be noticed, after describing briefly the site and the ruins of that once "golden city." The best authorities place Babylon near Hillah, a town situated on the Euphrates, which was erected out of the ruins in its vicinity, A.D. 1101, and which is about forty-eight miles south of Bagdad. This opinion is founded on, 1. The latitude of the place, as given by the best oriental geographers, compared with the situation of Babylon, as recorded by classical writers; 2. The stupendous magnitude and extent of the adjacent ruins; 3. Its vicinity to the bituminous fountains of Hit, mentioned by Herodotus, as being eight days' journey above Babylon, upon a stream of the same name, which falls into the Euphrates; and, 4. From the circumstance that the whole surrounding district has been distinguished by the name of Babel, from the remotest ages to the present hour. The author of "Critical Geography," after ably analyzing the opinions of ancient and modern geographers, concludes by saying, that, taking all these authorities together, the site of old Babylon is clearly pointed out to be at, or in the direction of Hillah; and he thus determines its geographical position : As the longitude of Bagdad is, according to Rich, 44° 45′ 45′′ E. of Greenwich, and N. latitude 33° 19′ 40′′; and as the longitude of Hillah, by the same authority, is 44° 33′ 9′′, or 12° 36′ of Bagdad, and its latitude 32° 31′ 18" N., or 38 geographical miles s. of the parallel of Bagdad, and its general bearing from that place is s. 13° w., and the road distant 50 geographical, or rather more than 57 English miles; we may fix | the southern limit of the ruins indicating its site, in 32° 33' N. latitude, and E. longitude 44° 32' E. of Greenwich, two miles w. of Hillah. It is not possible to determine precisely the extent and circumference of ancient Babylon, so as to decide which of the various statements of Herodotus, Pliny, Strabo, Solinus, Ctesias, Diodorus, Clitarchus, and Curtius, are correct. The broad walls of Babylon are broken down, and neither wall nor ditch exists within the area to point out where they stood. Untraceable, however, as the walls now are, some traces of the ancient city commence at two canals, rising east and west, immediately to the south of the village of Mahowil, and a little east of the eastern bank of the Euphrates. One of these canals is crossed by a brick bridge, and as soon as the traveller has gained the opposite side, the vestiges of the fallen city present themselves to his view in awful grandeur. For the distance of twelve miles along the banks of the Euphrates, his eye wanders over mounds of temples, palaces, and human habitations of every kind, now buried in shapeless heaps; and he travels onward amidst a silence, profound as that which presides over the abodes of the dead. The first object surveyed, after crossing the bridge, is a mound of considerable elevation, about five hundred yards from the second canal. The sloping sides of this mound are covered with broken bricks and other fragments of buildings, while the ground around its base presents a nitrous surface. A few hundred yards in the advance, is another mound of still greater elevation, from which other elevations project in several directions. Two miles from the bridge are the remains of a larger and higher embankment than that of a simple watercourse, and which seems to be the remnant of some interior boundary. The road from this embankment, for the space of four miles, though somewhat even, is nevertheless broken by several mounds, detached portions of canal embankments, and other indications of a place in ruin. These are mingled with large marshy hollows in the ground, and large nitrous spots, which arise from the deposits of accumulated rubbish. At the end of this tract of four miles, a spacious canal is encountered, beyond which, eastward, is a vast uninterrupted flat. At the distance of half an hour's ride from this canal, the eastern face of the Mujelibe is descried. After a further ride of an hour and a quarter in the same direction, the Euphrates appears in sight; the view of its northeastern bank being hitherto totally excluded by the long intervening lines of ruin, which in the ear of reason reiterates the words of the prophet: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," Isa. xxi. 9. From this point to the base of the Mujelibe, large masses of ancient foundations spread on the right, more resembling natural hills than mounds, and concealing the ruins of splendid edifices. Amid these ruins, the majestic Euphrates flows in peaceful solitude; and although the glory of that river is also departed, it is still a noble feature of the waste scenery. The ruins which claim most attention are comprised within an area of rather more than two miles, from east to west, and about the same distance from south to north. This space is bounded by the river along its western limits, and contains a great number of small mounds, and three immense masses of ruins, denominated the Amram Hills, the Kasr, or palace, and the Mujelibe. This latter mound is five miles north of Hillah. To the north-west of this mound commences a magnificent rampart, which, running along its northern and eastern sides, takes its course southward, till intersected by the Nil canal. At this point it makes a curve, stretching away direct for rather more than two miles, at the end of which is an opening of three hundred feet, which is supposed to have been once intended for a majestic gateway. The rampart recommences on the southern side of this opening, and runs in an answering and expanding direction south-west, for a mile and a half, where it unites with a clustre of low mounds, connected with the great mass of ruins south of the hill of Amram. whole of this rampart is broad and elevated, and along its summits and slopes are traces of ancient buildings; but no moat has been discovered. This space has been compared to a drawn bow from whence the arrow has just been discharged; the river forming the bow, and the two lines of the rampart the string. It is intersected by another ridge of mounds, commencing seven hundred yards south of the Nil canal, and running direct across the area to the opposite side of the rampart. The A little to the west of this, another mound commences, which appears rather low till an opening occurs, when is seen again rising in high elevations, covered with the wreck of ancient buildings. At the north end of this ridge of mound another commences, striking off nearly at an angle from that point, and running direct west to the river, where it terminates in an elevated mass; the shore being there extremely steep and high, forming an admirable defence against the river, and the sudden invasion of an enemy. This is supposed to be the river embankment built by Nebuchadnezzar, who fortified it with brick and bitumen fortifications, and over against every street leading to its banks placed a brazen gate, with stairs leading down to the water. Diodorus and Ctesias say, that these embankments were formed of sun-dried bricks in courses; and such may yet be found in regular layers along the steep shore, from north to south, and huge fragments of the exterior walls are discerned both on the margin of and beneath the stream. From this point, the river bulwark runs north-west to the mouth of the Nil canal; and from the same point it runs south along the bending course of the river for three quarters of a mile, till it arrives at a point where the river has changed its channel westward. Beyond this deviation, the bulwark commences in a rapid |