was accomplished in the one case, and an estimate furnished in the other; but so wild a project would never have crossed the imagination of either pasha as that of erecting a city or constructing a port, if Askelon and Seleucia, fallen as they are, had not existed as they lie, ready to be raised or to be restored. Faccardine, a prince of the Druses, filled up the ports of Syria that he might shut out from them the ships of the sultan. He was the unconscious instrument, at last, in fully accomplishing the word of the Lord: I will destroy the remnant of the seacoast.* But, according to the same infallible word, the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah. And no exception is made of its cities when the work of restoration shall be. begun. For that of the once magnificent port of Seleucia, "trifling repairs in some places," and the "clearing out" of the harbour, now an easy task, alone suffice. If the time were come, let but a word be spoken, and the work would be done. So slight would be the expenditure, that many thousands of individuals now would scarcely boast of the restoration, at such a price, of the once magnificent port of Seleucia: and there are not a few of the tribe of Judah who would not be impoverished by the restoration, if effected thus, of many harbours in Syria. May it not be that Faccardine's mode of rendering useless for a season the Syrian harbours, has proved a mean of preserving them? And how easily might it be done away, as it was easily effected, and at how trifling a cost, were other estimates given, compared to the heavy tax which Herod the Great laid on a kingdom, to construct, in so marvellous a manner, the port and city of Casarea, or Seleucus that of Seleucia. But till the Lord willeth-in whose hands are the times and the seasons, as Jesus said when the time of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel was the question put to him who alone could answer it--till the Lord willeth, even the attempted restoration will be in vain. It is not by might, nor by strength, far less by money, the love of which has been the stumbling-block of their iniquity, that the covenant of promise shall meet with its accomplishment. But we have seen an instance, like many others which may be marked in passing, that national works, as they might seem, may be the device of a moment, and, like Israel's own restoration, the work of a day. The city of Seleucia was worthy of a Ezek., xxv., 16. + Zeph., ii., 7. great king, of whom it was written in the Scripture of Truth, he shall have dominion, his kingdom shall be a great dominion."* He was the first of the Seleucidæ, a stranger, but the conqueror of Syria, renowned, like Herod, for the noble cities that he built. The work respectively assigned them by Israel's God, which strangers began, though long retarded and seemingly reversed for centuries past, the sons of strangers, who of late have prematurely tried it, shall yet timely finish. Antioch, the seat of many kings, the chief patriarchate of the East, whose walls and bulwarks were ranked among the strongest, and its numerous churches were the finest in the world, often shattered and destroyed by earthquakes, more than by all the fiercest ravages of war, has still some tokens to show with what facility, were the days of its restoration come, it would be a great city again, but not a proud city as before, the seat of despotic and priestly domination. The capital of a province or tribedom in Israel shall not be like the capital of a Roman province or a patriarchal see, where sin reigned and ruin followed. A single sentence, and the view of a single gate (see Plate), as drawn by Las Casas, towards the close of last century, may show that a city without walls, as those of Israel shall be, might be built from those which anciently were raised for its defence. The ancient walls (as now to be seen), which appear to have enclosed a space of nearly four miles in circuit, are generally from thirty to fifty feet in height in their extremes, and fifteen feet thick throughout, having also square towers from fifty to eighty feet high, at intervals of from fifty to eighty yards apart. The stones of which these walls are constructed are not large, but the masonry is solid and good. In the S.W. quarter, the walls and towers (of hewn stone) are in one portion perfect, and in another close by much destroyed, until they disappear altogether, leaving a wide space between their last fragment here, and the portion that continues along the banks of the river." Pliny states that it was divided by the Orontes ; but now the present town, which is a miserable one, does not occupy more than one eighth part of the space included by the old walls, which are all on its southern side. northern portion within the ancient walls is now filled with Dan.. vi., 5. + Isa., Ix., 10. # Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 560, 561. The rael shall of a single gate (see :wards it close of last import walls, as those or Je. bulk tom those which aucienty leed for its deuce. The ancient wads pas tost which apnea, to have enclosed a space o generally from thiry ei d fifteen feet thick thropy perfect, and n disappear al last fragment long the banks of the river Pliny states that it was divided by . Oro iles bi now, the falesit town, which is a serable one, des not secury Lore than one eighth part of the space-niad i by the old well when are all on its sou hern side. northern portion within the ancient walls is now filled with The |