The language of modern travelers illustrates the fulfillment of the prediction. Layard says, "Owls start from the scanty thickets, and the foul jackal stalks among the furrows." "It is a naked and hideous waste." Dr. Plumptre says, "The work was, however, accompanied by slow degrees, and was not, like the destruction of Nineveh, the result of a single overthrow. Darius dismantled its walls, Xerxes pulled down the temple of Belus. Alexander contemplated its restoration, but his designs were frustrated by his early death. Susa and Ecbatana, Seleucia and Antioch, Ctesiphon and Bagdad, became successively the centers of commerce and of government." By the time of Strabo ( B.C. 20) the work was accomplished, and the "vast city" had become a "vast desolation." In illustrating the literal fulfillment of this prophecy, the dean further says, "The Bedouins themselves, partly because the place is desolate, partly from a superstitious horror, shrink from encamping on the sites of the ancient temples and palaces, and they are left to lions, and other beasts of prey. On the other hand, Joseph Wolff, the missionary, describes a strange weird scene - pilgrims of the Yezidis, or devil-worshippers, dancing and howling like dervishes amid the ruins of Babylon." It is interesting to note the following passage from the Itinerary of Benjamin Bar-ions, given by Matthew Henry. "This is that Babel which was of old thirty miles in breadth; it is now laid waste. There are yet to be seen the ruins of a palace of Nebuchadnezzar, but the sons of men dare not enter in, for fear of serpents and scorpions, which possess the place." For further indications of the precision of fulfillment, encyclopedias and books of Eastern travel should be studied. We point out here that prophecy is usually poetic, and, rather, vaguely descriptive and suggestive, than precise or minute. Sometimes, however, for the verifying of all prophecies, some portions are made precise, and are literally fulfilled, as in the case el Baby]on; and the two following points may be usefully illustrated: -

I. LITERAL FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY CONFIRMING THE DIVINE WORD.

II. GENERAL FULFILMENTS THEREBY SHOWN TO BE EQUALLY CONFIRMATORY. When once the principle is established, we are freed from all bondage to demands for exact and minute agreements, and can freely read Scripture prophecy as full of poetical figure and imagery. - R.T.

All this we may say is historical and local. On the other hand, all this is moral and suggestive. This process may take place in the Babylon of the mind. The greatest mind is only safe whilst it worships. The most magnificent intellectual temple is only secure from the judgment and whirlwind of heaven in proportion as its altar is defended from the approach of every unworthy suppliant. If we hand over God's altar, whether mental or ecclesiastical, to wrong custodians, or devote either to forbidden purposes, then make way for God's judgments: wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and the houses that were full of beauty and colour and charm shall be full of doleful creatures; and the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces. This may happen to any one of us. Beware of arrogancy, pride, worldliness, self-sufficiency; beware of the betrayal of trusts: nature will re-enter if we be unfaithful. We speak of our wisdom in putting cautionary covenants into all our legal documents, and especially a man assures himself that he is doubly safe when he has secured the right of re-entry under certain breaches of agreement; he says to himself with complacency, That is justifiable; I have arranged that in the event of certain things failing I shall re-enter. Nature always puts that clause into her covenants. She re-enters in a moment. If the gardener is too late by one day with his spade or seed or other attention, nature begins to re-enter; and if he tarry for a week he will find that nature has made great advances into the property. It is so with education, with the keeping up of intelligence, with the maintenance of healthy discipline; relax a month, and nature re-enters, and nature plays the spoiler. Nature is not a thrifty, careful husbandman. Nature has a function of desolation; she will grow weeds in your richest flower beds if you neglect them for a day. God re-enters by the spirit of judgment and by the visitations of anger. Herein His providence is but in harmony with the kingdom which He has instituted within the sphere which we call husbandry, and even within the sphere which we denominate by education or discipline. It is one government. Neglect your music for a month, and you will find at the end that nature has re-entered, and you are not wanted; you have not brought with you the wedding garment of preparation up to date. There must be no intermission; the last line must be filled in. Nature will not have things done in the bulk, in the gross: nature will not allow us simply to write the name; she will weave her web work all round the garment if we have neglected the borders, and paid attention to only the middle parts.

(J. Parker, D. D.)