it was fituated upon the river Tigris; but yet no less authors than (4) Ctefias and Diodorus Siculus reprefent it as fituated upon the river Euphrates. Nay authors differ not only from one another, but alfo from themfelves. For the learned (5) Bochart hath shown that Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Ammianus Marcellinus, all three fpeak differently of it, fometimes as if it was fituated upon the river Tigris, and sometimes as if it was fituated upon the river Euphrates. So that to reconcile thefe authors with themselves and with others, it is fuppofed by (6) Bochart that there were two Ninevehs, and by Sir (7) John Marsham that there were three; the Syrian upon the river Euphrates, the Affyrian upon the river Tigris, and a third built afterwards upon the Tigris by the Perfians, who fucceeded the Parthians in the empire of the eaft in the third century, and were fubdued by the Saracens in the feventh century after Christ: but whether this later Nineveh was built in the fame place as old Nineveh is a question that cannot be decided. Lucian, (8) who florifhed

in the second century after Chrift, affirms that Nineveh was utterly perished, and there was no footstep of it remaining, nor could you tell where once it was fituated: and the greater regard is to be paid to Lucian's teftimony, as he was a native of Samofata, a city upon the river Euphrates, and coming from a neighbouring country he must in all likelihood have known whether there had been any remains of Nineveh or not. There is at this time a city called Moful, fituate upon the western fide of the river Tigris, and on the oppofite eastern shore are ruins of a great extent, which are said to be the ruins of Nineveh. Benjamin of Tudela, (9) who wrote his Itinerary in the year of Christ 1173, informs us, that there is only a bridge between Mosul and Nineveh; this latter is laid waste, yet hath it many streets and caftles. But another, who wrote in 1300, afferts that Nineveh at prefent is totally laid waste, but by the ruins which are ftill to be feen there, we may firmly believe that it was one of

(9) Benjamin Tudelenfis (qui fcripfit Itinerarium anno Xti 1173) Inter Almozal, ait (p. 62.) &Nineven pons tantum intercedit: Hac devaftata eft: attamen multos pagos et arces habet. At vero Haiton Armenius (De Tartar.

the

C. 11. P. 406.) (anno 1300) Ifta civitas (Nineve) ad præfens eft totaliter devaftata. Marfhami Chron. Sæc. XVIII. p. 558. Sed per ea, quæ adhuc funt apparentia in eadem, firmiter credi poteft quod fuerit una ex majoribus

the greatest cities in the world. The fame thing is attefted by later travelers, and particularly by (1) Thevenot, upon whofe authority Prideaux relates that "Moful is fituated on the " weft fide of the river Tigris, where was "anciently only a fuburb of the old Nineveh, "for the city itself stood on the east-side of the

river, where are to be feen fome of its ruins

"of great extent even to this day." Tavernier likewife (2) affirms, that "cross the Tigris, "which hath a swift ftream and whitish water, "whereas Euphrates runs flow and is reddish,

you come to the ancient city Nineveh, which " is now an heap of rubbish only, for a league along the river, full of vaults and caverns." Mr. (3) Salmon, who is an induftrious collector and compiler from others, faith in his account of Affyria, "In this country the famous "city of Nineveh once ftood, on the eastern "bank of the river Tigris, oppofite to the

place where Moful now ftands-There is "nothing now to be feen but heaps of rub"bish,

civitatibus hujus mundi. Idem apud Bochart. Phaleg. Lib. 4. Cap. 20. Col. 255.

(1) Thevenot's Travels. Part 2. Book 1. Chap. 11. p. 50. Prideaux's Connect. Part 1.

VOL. I.

T

Book 1. Anno. 612. Jofiah 29. (2) Tavernier in Harris. Vol. 2. Book 2. Chap. 4.

(3) Salmon's Modern Hift. Vol. 1. Chap. 12. Prefent State of the Turkish Empire. Quarto.

(1) Wig

bish, almost a league along the river Tigris, "over against Moful, which people imagin to "be the remains of this vaft city." But it is more than probable that these ruins are the remains of the Perfian Nineveh, and not of the Affyrian. Even the ruins of old Nineveh have been, as I may fay, long ago ruined and deftroyed: fuch an utter end hath been made of it, and fuch is the truth of the divine pre

dictions!

This perhaps may ftrike us the more strongly by fuppofing only a parallel inftance. Let us then fuppofe, that a perfon fhould come in the name of a prophet, preaching repentance to the people of this kingdom, or otherwise denouncing the deftruction of the capital city within a few years; with an over-running flood will God make an utter end of the place thereof, he will make an utter end; its place may be fought, but it fhall never be found. I prefume we should look upon fuch a prophet as a madman, and show no farther attention to his meffage than to deride and defpife it: and yet such an event would not be more ftrange and incredible than the deftruction and devaftation of Nineveh. For Nineveh was much the larger, and much the stronger, and older city of the two; and the Affyrian empire had subsisted and florished

more ages than any form of government in this country; fo that you cannot object the inftability of the eastern monarchies in this cafe. Let us then, fince this event would not be more improbable and extraordinary than the other, fuppofe again, that things fhould fucceed according to the prediction, the floods fhould arife, and the enemy fhould come, the city should be overflown and broken down, be taken and pillaged, and deftroyed so totally, that even the learned could not agree about the place where it was fituated. What would be faid or thought in fuch a cafe? Whoever of pofterity should read and compare the prophecy and event together, muft they not by fuch an illuftrious inftance be thoroughly convinced of the providence of God, and of the truth of his prophet, and be ready to acknowlege, Verily this is the word that the Lord hath spoken, Verily there is a God who judgeth the earth!