THE CHOICE OF A PROFESSION. An Address delivered before the Society of Inquiry in Amherst College, August 21, 1888............ 201 PRACTICAL PREACHING. An Address delivered before the Porter Rhetorical Society, in the Theological Seminary, Andover, Sep- THE LITERATURE AND SCIENCE OF OUR COUNTRY. An Address delivered before the Association of the Alumni of Hamilton College, UNIVERSIT CALIFORNIA ESSAYS AND REVIEWS. IX. [BIBLICAL REPOSITORY, 1840.] The Ancient Commerce of Western Asia. UNDER the general term, Western Asia, we include Palestine and the adjacent regions of ancient Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia; not designing to offer any remarks on what would be itself sufficient for an interesting article-Asia Minor. It There are few persons in the Christian world who do not feel some interest in Palestine, and the adjacent regions. is not indeed a country rich in classic associations; and the feelings with which it is to be trod by the traveller must be different from those which he has who wanders among the ruins of Ionia, or who walks over the plain of Marathon, or who roams over the desolate fields of ancient Troy, or who climbs the side of Parnassus, or who looks upon the Parthenon, and the gently-flowing Ilissus. Yet it has not been without some interesting associations apart from the subject of religion. The reader of ancient history will remember that it was on this land that Alexander of Macedon poured his phalanxes when on his way to the conquests of the East; that it was here that Tyre resisted his arms for eight months before it could be subdued; and that it was here that his chief battles were fought, and his glory achieved. The great kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia also, in their times-not less extended than in subsequent ages was the empire of Rome itself-existed in this portion of the world. Science, too, if it had not its origin, yet made some of its first achievements in Chaldea, on whose plains, perhaps, men first looked out with attention on the stars, and gave names to Orion, to Arcturus, and to the Pleiades. In that region, too, in later times, stood the empire of the Caliphs, in whose capital science received some of its mightiest impulses, and in which the elements of science were originated, which, brought back by the Crusades, exert their wide influence still on mankind. Were it our purpose, we could easily occupy the space for this article in descriptions of battles and sieges; of the conquests, the flames, and the horrors of war; of scenes of ambition and splendour and blood, enacted on the now desolate region which we propose to describe, of as thrilling interest as have occurred on more classic ground. We refer to one single place. On the south of Mount Tabor, in Palestine, there spreads out for some twenty miles in extent, the beautiful plain of Esdraelon—the great battle-ground of the oriental world. It is described as a plain of great beauty; and hither, from different nations, armies have rushed to meet in mortal conflict. Waterloo is celebrated for one great battle; and Leuctra for another;-but many an army from distant climes, with different arms, and complexions, and objects, has been gathered on the plain of Esdraelon, and the bones of warriors, of different ages and nations, have found their last restingplace there. Barak, descending with ten thousand men from Mount Tabor, here discomfited the army of Sisera; and here Josiah, King of Judah, met the King of Egypt, and fell. "It has been a chosen place of encampment in every contest carried on in this country from the early days of the Assyrian history, until the disastrous march of Napoleon from Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Christian Crusaders, and Anti-Christian Frenchmen, Egyptians, Persians, Druses, Turks, and Arabs, warriors out of every nation which is under heaven, have pitched their tents upon the plain of Esdraelon, and have beheld the various banners of their nations wet with the dews of Tabor and of Hermon."* To the Christian we need not say that no part of that land can be trod but with thrilling interest. There is not a hill or vale there; a mountain or a plain; a rivulet or a lake; a cliff or a cavern, which is not rendered sacred by some deeply interesting association. It is the land of the prophets and of the Redeemer the radiating point of what is yet to be the religion of the world. On that land, too, the nations of Europe, roused by the preaching of Peter the Hermit, were poured for conquest;-and there occurred the thrilling and romantic scenes of the Crusades-events so momentous in their reflex influence on Europe, and on the civil laws and the literature of the world. Any one of the points on which we have now touched would furnish materials for an interesting article. But we shall not return to them again. The leading design of this article is, to show that the Scripture prophecies must certainly be accomplished; and that there are causes now rendering their fulfilment certain; causes resulting from changes in the commerce of the world which none but an inspired mind could have foreseen. To illustrate this, I shall show the nature and the extent of the ancient commerce of Western Asia; the influence which that commerce had in giving origin to the cities and towns that are now sunk in ruins; the changes which have occurred in the commercial relations of that portion of the world; the causes, and the inevitable effect of those changes in securing the permanent fulfilment of the prophecies. One reason of *Robinson's Calmet. entering into this discussion is, that while the fact of the fulfilment of the prophecies respecting Babylon, and Petra, and Tyre is now generally admitted, and is indeed undeniable, the causes of their exact fulfilment seem not to be as generally understood, and the reasons which operate to secure the permanent fulfilment of those prophecies seem scarcely to have received any attention. After all that has occurred, an infidel might still be disposed to ask, What evidence is there that Babylon and Tyre will not rise from their ruins, and again be at the head of empire and of commerce? Why may not the deserts of Idumea again be thronged with caravans, and Petra be again a splendid commercial emporium? Our aim will be to show that the great changes which have occurred in the world make it certain that this can never again happen; that their desolation is complete and certain; and that, whatever revolutions may occur again in Western Asia, those places are destined to remain as the prophets said they would. Whoever will cast his eye on the map of the world, will see that the region of which Babylon was the centre, is by nature perhaps better fitted to be the seat of empire than any other portion of the earth; or at least that it possesses extraordinary advantages for being the centre of a wide dominion. It is a central position between Europe and Western Asia on the one hand, and Central Asia and India on the other. Whatever may be said of it now, it was once distinguished for a most fertile soil, and for all that can contribute to the wealth and power of a kingdom. It was in fact the early seat of empire. The kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon rose to the height of power long before Rome had extended its arms beyond Italy; and such was the pride, and power, and extent of those kingdoms, that when Alexander had conquered them, and had reached the Indus, he felt that there was a natural limit to conquest, and that he |