lon, which plainly evinces that some of the royal blood must have been carried captives thither.

Tyre, therefore, according to the prophecies, was subdued, and taken by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans; and after this, we hear little more of that part of the city which stood upon the continent. Isaiah plainly signified that the inhabitants should pass over the Mediterranean into the islands and countries adjoining, and even there should find no quiet settlement: "Pass ye over to Tarshish," that is, Tartessus in Spain, "howl ye inhabitants of the isle ;" chap. xxiii, 6; and again verse 12: "Arise, pass over to Chittim," that is the isles and countries bordering on the sea, "there also shalt thou have no rest." It is well known that the Phenicians were the great navigators of antiquity, and sent forth colonies into several parts of the world. And of all the Phoenicians, the Tyrians were the most celebrated for their shipping and colonies. Tyre exceeded Sidon in this respect, as Strabo testifies, and sent forth colonies into Africa and Spain; and Quintus Curtius says, that her colonies were diffused almost over the whole world. It was very natural for them then, when they were pressed with dangers at home, to fly to their colonies and settlements abroad. That they really did so, Jerome asserts upon the authority of Assyrian

histories. He saith, that when the Tyrians were besieged, and saw no hope of escaping, they went on board their ships, and fled to Carthage, or some islands of the Ionian or Egean sea. And in another place he saith, that when the Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, and the foundations of the walls were shaken, by the battering of the rams, whatsoever precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture the nobility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried them to the islands; so that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his

labour.

It must have been grievous to Nebuchadnezzar, after so long and laborious a siege, to be disappointed of the spoil of so rich a city; and therefore Ezekiel was commissioned to promise him the conquest of Egypt for his reward, xxix. 18 and 19: "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it." "Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold! I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitudes,

and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army."

But though the Tyrians should pass over to Tarshish, and to Chittim, yet even there they should find no quiet settlement ! "There also shalt thou have no rest." Megasthenes, who lived about 300 years before Christ, and was employed by Seleucus Nicator in an embassy to the king of India, wrote afterwards a history of India. He is cited by Strabo and Josephus, for saying, that Nebuchadnezzar surpassed Hercules in great exploits; that he subdued great part of Africa, and Spain, and proceeded as far as to the pillars of Hercules. If he proceeded so far, the Tyrians might well be said to have no rest; their conqueror pursuing them from one country to another. But besides this, and after this, the Carthaginians and other colonies of the Tyrians lived in a very unsettled state. Their history is made up of little but wars and tumults, even before their three ruinous wars with the Romans, in every one of which their affairs grew worse and worse.

Sicily and Spain, Europe and Africa, the land, and their own element, the sea, were theatres of their calamities and miseries; till at last, not only the new, but old Carthage too, was utterly destroyed. As the Carthaginians sprung from the

Tyrians, and the Tyrians from the Sidonians, and Sidon was the first born of Canaan, Genesis x. 15; so, the curse upon Canaan seemeth to have pursued them to the most distant parts of the earth.

But the prophet Isaiah expressly foretold that after seventy years the city should return to her gain and her merchandise. Chap. xxiii. verses 15. 17: "And it shall come to pass in that day, Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king," or kingdom, meaning the Babylonian, which was to continue seventy years; "after the end of seventy years, shall Tyre sing as a harlot. Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot, that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs that thou mayst be remembered."

"And it shall come to pass, after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth." Tyre is represented as a harlot, and from thence these figures are borrowed; the plain meaning of which is, that she should lie neglected of traders and merchants for seventy years, which was as long as the Babylonian empire lasted; and after that she should recover her liberties, and her trade, and draw in

several of all nations to deal with her, and particularly the kings of the earth to buy her purples, which were worn chiefly by emperors, and kings; Tyre being famous for purples above all places in the world.

Seventy years was the time prefixed for the duration of the Babylonian empire; so long the nations were to groan under that tyrannical yoke. Jer. xxv. 11, 12; "These nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years; and it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and will make it perpetual desolations ;" and accordingly, at the end of seventy years, Cyrus and the Persians subverted the Babylonian empire, and restored the conquered nations to their liberties. Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar in the thirtysecond year of his reign, and in the year 573 before Christ.

Seventy years from thence will bring us down to the year 503 before Christ, and the 19th of Darius Hystaspes. At that time, it appears from history, they rebelled against Darius, and that the Phoenicians assisted them with their fleets; and consequently we inay conclude they were now restored to their former privileges.