THE UNFOLDING OF THE NEWLY-APPLIED PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH, AND THE
PROOFS OF THEIR FULFILMENT.
THE END OF CANAAN-TYRUS AS A NATION IN ASIA--CHARACTER AND DEATH
OF ALEXANDER--REFLECTIONS UPON CONQUERORS AND PEACEMAKERS.
Upon the accomplishment of the horrid massacre by Alexander, Tyrus was
indeed "utterly emptied and utterly spoiled,"--for the King, Azelmic,
was the only human being having life and liberty of all the Tyrian
Kingdom,--excepting the "remnant" rescued by the Sidonians. ISAIAH in
his Prophecy _foretold those two facts_; and although we are aware
that these new truths of ancient history have never been applied to
that celebrated Prophecy, yet they are brought forward--even if for
the first time--with full and assured conviction of the correctness of
the present application. We write with conscientious humility, yet
with that boldness arising from truth, founded upon a newly-discovered
fulfilment of a Scriptural Prophecy.
ISAIAH distinctly infers from the wording of his vision, concerning
the _second_, and final fall of Tyrus, that the _King_ should not be
slain, or even be a prisoner,--but that all the rest of the Nation
(except the "gleanings") should be swept away. These predictions were
actually accomplished, as shewn in the previous chapter. Of the first
two points, The Prophet says,--
"And it shall be, as with the _people_, so with the _priest_ [KING, is
not mentioned]; as with the servant, so with the master; as with the
maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as
with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so
with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be _utterly emptied_,
and _utterly spoiled_: for the LORD hath spoken this word." [xxiv.]
Now in EZEKIEL'S Prophecy of the Siege of Tyrus by Nebuchadnezzar, he
not only foretels the fall of the mainland City, but, also, of the
"Prince" and "King of Tyrus." Of, and to, the impious heir-apparent he
is authorized to exclaim,--
"Son of Man say unto the _Prince_ of Tyrus, &c. Wilt thou yet say
before him that _slayeth_ thee, 'I am a God?' but thou shalt be a man,
and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the
death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers, for I have spoken
it saith the LORD GOD."
Of the reigning Monarch, Ithobalus the Second, he uttered as follows:
viz.--
"Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man take
up a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith
the LORD GOD: * * * I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee
before Kings that they may behold thee. * * * All they that know thee
among the people shall be astonished at thee, thou shalt be a terror,
and never shalt thou be any more." [xxviii.]
The two last quotations from EZEKIEL belong to the _first_ Tyrian
Siege. [485--472 B. C.] ISAIAH prophesied that after _that_
destruction, the remaining People should be forgotten as a Nation for
70 years,--they were so; that they should then recover their strength,
and have commerce with every Country, and even Jerusalem should be
benefited by their merchandise. This latter part is proved by the
Judæan Prophet, NEHEMIAH [xxiii.], to have been fulfilled, while the
former portion is firmly established by authenticated history.
If the patriotic King, Azelmic, had been ordained to die at the _last_
Siege of Tyrus, it is almost certain that the manner of the Prophets
would have been adhered to by ISAIAH, as it was subsequently by
EZEKIEL, who mentions that both "King" and "Prince" at the first Siege
should be destroyed, and they were so:--therefore, the silence of
ISAIAH upon the subject of Azelmic's death, may certainly be viewed as
prophetical of its _not_ taking place at, or during, the final
Siege;--but, rather that he should survive his country's fall,--a
doom, to a pure patriot, more terrible than death. Truly to feel that
curse, the reader must peruse--if the tearful eye will permit him--the
Lamentations of JEREMIAH upon the Destruction of Jerusalem. The same
curse was endured by Azelmic.
The most sceptical upon the truths of Sacred Prophecy, will be
enforced to cast their doubts aside upon contemplating the fulfilment
of those by ISAIAH, and especially in regard to Tyrus,--for History
has recorded the fact that the King, Azelmic, was the only being not
slain, or sold to slavery (with the exception stated), and even that
"remnant" will be found to be contemplated by ISAIAH, upon a full
investigation of the great prediction. Every Christian reader,
therefore, will not doubt that any portion of the entire Prophecy
respecting Tyrus was fulfilled. The first two parts of this
newly-applied prediction have been given,--viz., that the Metropolis
should, at the _second_ Siege "_be utterly emptied and utterly
spoiled_," but that _the King should not perish_. In the next chapter,
the Prophecy will be followed out to its full accomplishment, and the
Refugees in the Sidonian Galleys traced to their final resting-place.
The history of Tyrus, as a nation of its own people, in Asia, ceased
upon the annihilation by Alexander. He repopulated the site from the
surrounding and Grecian countries, and constituted as tributary
monarch the brave but unfortunate Azelmic. The Macedonian having
commanded that the Statue of Apollo should be unchained from the
Altar, he thereupon expressed his gratitude to the golden Idol, for
having sided with him in his Conquest, by making the walls defenceless
upon the day of festival! After kneeling to the Statue of the Tyrian
Deity, he styled himself the _Founder of Tyrus_! From thence he
continued his march towards Judæa, to punish the Jews for a supposed
assistance to the Tyrians; but, being flattered by his reception as he
approached the Capital, he at once spared the city. He then received
the celebrated Prophecy of DANIEL concerning the "King of Grecia,"
from Jaddus, the High Priest of Jerusalem, upon whose suggestion he
offered a sacrifice in The Temple to the LIVING GOD! From the
Holy-House of Judæa he entered Egypt, and worshipped Jupiter-Ammon
both as Father and Deity! Such were the Religious inconsistencies of
the "Macedonian Madman," and nothing but actual Insanity can reconcile
such contrarieties, and cruelties, in human character.
In the Nation of the Nile he was truly the Founder of Alexandria (the
name and site preserved to this day), which city in progress of time
outrivalled in commercial prosperity the antecedent Capitals of Sidon,
Tyrus, and Carthage,--the triple and ill-fated sisters from the Parent
house of Canaan.
After his invasions and victories in India Alexander was so much the
victim of flattery, that he could even deceive himself,--for it is
recorded that he sighed or wept for another world to conquer!--yet his
torch and war-spear were never thrown into the land of Italy,--and the
gates of Rome remained unseen and untouched by the Macedonian Phalanx!
From that Circean goblet,--flattery,--when presented by Cassander, the
Conqueror little dreamed that it could contain the subtle and his
deadly poison;--but the agony of his own death-struggle was but the
emblem of that which he had caused millions of human beings to
endure,--and whose only crime in the eyes of the invader was, that
they had defended their native lands!
Why should Historians condemn an Attila or a Cortez, and yet applaud
their great Original? They pass by the Tyrian Hiram or Azelmic
unhonoured, yet style an Alexander,--"the Great!" One Mediator for
Peace must be, in the eyes of GOD,--upon His great principle of love
and good-will to all,--more acceptable at the Final Day, than all the
Legions of unrepenting Conquerors of the past, the present, or the
future.
The false fame of Alexander, or of Cortez will not, in the estimation
of posterity, be even compared in true value with the practical
disciples of Peace; who, like an Ashburton and Daniel Webster, have
created a new æra in policy and civilization, and that too without
tarnishing their radiant National honour,--but rather increasing its
already dazzling splendour, and with it--elevating the Religious and
moral dignity of humanity!
In the sacred words of CHRIST, "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they
shall be called the children of GOD!"
For the continued glory and character of the British Throne, and the
Curule Chair of the Anglo-Saxon Republic;--as an enviable example to
posterity;--and for the increasing Amity between the two great
Nations represented by the Treaty of Washington, may that Document,
founded in the highest principles of Christianity, be sealed and
mottoed by the hand of GOD Himself,--ESTO PERPETUA!
Treaties of amity between nations
Should be regarded as living fountains,
Pure and purifying from their very source;--
From whence flow many streams,--in each of which
The present age (the ancestral of the future),
And its many million human atoms,
Have a direct property; and founded
In humanity,--forbearance and faith alone,
Can sustain them as blessings to posterity!
_Tragedy of "Tecumseh."_ (MS.)