Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1889-08-05
IN WEST HAVEN.

e.
IN WEST HAVEN.
Rev. Mr.. Archibald, OF Davenport,
Iowa, Mt the Congregational Church |
An Eloquent Discourse ON zine
Golden City.0
The pulpit of the West Haven Congrega-
tional church was occupied yesterday morning
by Rev. A. w. Archibald, pastor of large
and Hourishing church In Davenport, Iowa,
and graduate of Yale Theological seminary
a number of years ago. Mr.. Archibald has
already won a very enviable position as pas
tor and preacher in his section of the West.
His sermon was listened to by a large AUDI
fence. The discourse was In substance as
follows:
Isaiah 14:4-"The golden city ceased y
The reference is to Babylon, which we will
consider in the light of prophecy and of his
tory. The former glory of the city and its
present desolation can hardly be overstated.
Isaiah well calls 1t golden" and Herodotus,
800 years later, says: 'Tts extent, Its beauty,
and Its magni6cence surpass all that has
come within my knowledge" 1t contained
1872, and New York forty-one. Chicago It.
self, with its recent annexations making 1t
the largest city in area in the world, has
only ia. But what specially added to- the
glory of Babylon was that nine-tenths of all
the enclosed space consisted of gardens, and
meadows, and parks. The political suprem-
acy Of the city WAS once such that Jeremiah
could call 1t the 'hammer of the whole
earth" to "break in pieces" whatever nation
it smote. The hero, who, in the eighth
century dealt the Mohammedans such sturdy
blows in Spain as to save Christian Europe
from Saracen conquest was named Charles
Martel, which being interpreted is Charles
"the Hammer" but the proud title had been
won centuries before by Babylon. What now
was to be the destiny of this strong and
beautiful but wicked city? jeremiah answers
"Babylon shall become heaps, dwelling
place of jackals;" and Isaiah says: "Neither
shall it be dwelt in from generation to gene
ration; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent
there" Has this utter forsakenness over
taken the golden citya AS early as 20 B. O.,
| Strabo speaks of the site of Babylon as
"vast desolation." Jerome, in the fourth
century of our own era, declares that 1t was
the hunting ground of the Persian mons
archs. Rswlinson, in his Ancient Monarch
les, says: "Vast heaps or mounds, shapeless
and unsightly, are scattered at intervals over
the entire region where 1t is certain that
Dapyiou anciently stoou. 1nat etnlueut
orchaeologist, Layard, testi6ss: "Owls start
from the scanty thickets, and the foul jackal
stalks through the burrows"
Note some details. 1. As to the fine sys-
| tenn of irrigation. Through the center of the
| city flowed the Euphrates, and canals, broad
| and sometimes navigable, were cut in every
| direction. To the west Of the city was dug
| an immense artificial lake, into which the
| whole river could be turned if dry bed
| were desired for mechanical constructions.
Very properly was the city thus addressed
l by jeremiah: 30 thou that dwellest upon
many waters" But what said Jehovah of
l all this, which Xenophon pronounced a
| "better defense" than the walls. These are
the words of the inspired prophet: 81 will
| dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry"
| Long ago, Diodorus, of the age of the first
Caesars, referred to the canals being filed
| with alluvial deposits, while what had been
| fertile garden was converted into marsh,
and to this day 1t remains, according to the
modern traveller, dessert" no longer bios
soming as the rose.
2. Consider also those walls which Her
! odotus says were over 800 feet high and
more than so feet wide, and those hundred
gates of brass which the father of historians
| mentions. Surely such substantial walls
would endured Nay, Jeremiah exclaimed,
"The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly
overthrown, and her high gates shall be
burned with are." Have these beautiful
| Notifications survived In spite of Heavens
malediction' Our very Bible dictionary
| says: Babylon has been q quarry from
which all the tribes In the vicinity have per-
petually derived the bricks with which they
built their cities" The Notifications are all
gone.
8. But there was massive temple in the
city. Has IL, like the Pantheon of Rome,
come down to the presenta It is Herodotls
who tells US of temple of the god Bel which
Sums biblical scholar Identifies with the tower
of Babel. This latter was to "reach unto
Heaven" and the temple of Bel may have
been an attempt consequent to failure at the
confusion of tongues on the part of Babylon
to carry out the original project, for Isaiah
represents the city as saying: 81 will ascend
into heaven; I will exslt my throne above
the stars of God" Certainly the temple, with
its eight stories and its winding staircase
running around the outside clear to the top
was most ambitious structure. The father
of historians makes it rise to the height of 600
feet, which Is higher than st. Peters at Rome
GAS feet, or st. Paul's at London (404 feet)
or the cathedral at Strasburg (461 feet, or
the Washington Monument on the Potomac
$3.50 feet). 1t 10 surpassed only by the Eiffel
1000 feet. What says prophecy concerning
this imposing temple Of old, devoted to the
degrading and licentious worship of the god
Belt Jeremiah says: II will do Judgment
upon Bel in Babylon and will bring out of
his mouth that which be hath swallowed up"
This receiver of six hundred millions of
treasures did have to disgorge when
xsrxes pluundered the temple, and
deposited there at the time of the Babylon
ian captivity were restored to Jerusalem at
the command of Cyrus. Well did Isaiah
rrophesy: "Bel boweth down." while Jere-
miah declared: Though Babylon should
mount up to heaven, and though she should
fortify the height of her strength, yet from
me shall spoilers come, saith the Lord"
Even 30 has II been, for the traveller of to-
day sees the probable temple, in the mound,
Birs Nimroud, "rising suddenly out of the
desert plain, riven, fragmentsry, blasted
pile" So utter was the ruin, that Alexander
the Great, after employing $1,000 men two
tory to rebuilding, abandoned the task
while yet beginning had scarcely been
made.
a. The palace of ACKNOWLEDGMENT (the
modern Kasx) has Jared NO better. The
outer circumference of this palace was ak
miles, aud its inner walls were of colored
bricks upon which were depicted hunting
scenes. Within IL were the famous Hanging
Gardens, covering three and a half acres,
erected by the king for his homesick queen,
who had come from q mountainous country
and who longed for the hills of her native
land. She had an artificial hill made for
her, with o succession of terraces, each water.
ed by machinery drawing the supply up from
the Euphrates and distributing it to delicate
| flowers and to enormous trees rooted in hol-
lows filed with mold. By marble steps
the queen could ascend this mountain, which
lowered most picturesquely even above
the high walls, and she could recline
| during the heat of the day in romantic arbors
on this hillside. Like Nero's Golden House,
which contained corn fields, woods and a
lake, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS palace contained a
mountain. Here he ia believed to have
| walked and viewed the city, when he said SO
proudly, SIS not this great Babylon which I
have built for the royal dwelling place by the
mighty of my power and for the glory of my
majestyP' It was for his impiety here that
he was stricken with insanity, to wander for
| a while lunatic, perhaps on tn is very noun
tain, his body wet with the dew of heaven,
his hair grown like eagles feathers, his nails
like birds claws, while he ate grass as oxen.
| 1t was in this paloce with its Hanging Gar
dens that Belshazzar Toasted q Thousand of
his lords, and saw on the wall, not hunting
scene, but mysterious hand meeting his
death sentence. 1t was here that Daniel
faced both these great monarchs, and told
them boldly of their sins. Grander
than the temple of Bel was this palace until
| Its artificial mountain which the Greeks
! called one of the seven wonders of the world.
And did prophecy doom this destructionl It