refute the reckless denials, upon their own chosen ground, giving them even the advantage of the latest date claimed by them,-viz., 456 B. C., the latest period in which Ezra wrote.

Before we refute their pseudo-reasoning upon the Prophecies, we will shew that Scriptural authority is not rejected by them; that it is distinctly allowed by them, although unconsciously. It must be apparent that they admit the authority of the Bible, and the existence of the Jews as a Nation (which they deny), for they accredit Ezra and his companions as writers and compilers of The Volume, "after their return as Captives from Babylon." Here then is a direct admission (though unwittingly) that the Jews were a Nation, and of sufficient importance to have been made captive by so powerful a Monarch as the King of Babylon; and that they returned at all, is only obtainable from the Bible, and they admit "their return;" therefore they admit the record of the Scripture!

Again: they say with apparent triumph, in regard to the Bible being in the letters of Babylon, and not in the Jewish characters (and thence they deduce that the Jews were not a Nation),—viz., “As all these men (Ezra and his followers) had been captives in Babylon, and could no where else be taught to write, how could these Books (i. e. of the Bible) be cOMPOSED in any other than the Chaldæan characters?" i. e. letters.

We grant that the Bible was TRANSLATED by Ezra, and his Scribes, into the Chaldee, which was the language of the learned among the Babylonians, and acquired by the Jews during their captivity; and is now

at this day, the language (i. e. letters) of our present Hebrew Bible;-but, 36 years before the Captivity, viz., 624 B.C., the Mosaical Books of the Laws, (i. e. the Pentateuch and others) were found in the Old Temple, and they were read by Shaphan to King Josiah, and of course in the original language of ISRAEL (not Hebrew), which we will prove in the next Volume to have been nearly identical with those of ancient Phoenicia and Egypt. Therefore, that the Book or Books were now written by Ezra in the Chaldee-or right-angular letter-is a conclusive proof that it was a Translation, and being so, as a necessity, it must have been from an original Book or Bible, and consequently, of antecedent date to the period of Ezra.

Even in the Apocryphal Book of Esdras (2d) (and quoted from as authority by atheists), and who is identical from date with Ezra,-there is a sentence proving the previous existence of the Bible, which he is about to rewrite, or translate.-Esdras (i. e. Ezra) says, in his address to The Deity,

"But if I have found grace before thee, send the Holy-Ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath been done in the World since the beginning [i. e. the Creation] WHICH WERE WRITTEN IN THE LAW [i. e. Original Books of MOSES] that men may find thy path, and that they which will live in latter days, may live." [i. e. eternally.]

Now the capitalized line distinctly proves the existence of a previous Book of "the Law," and in the original language; and the preceding line defines that it

contained "all that had been done in the World" from the Creation; therefore, the Books of Moses (and others) as we read them at this day.

The first translation of the Bible was by Ezra, 536 B. C., from the original language of Israel, into the Chaldee characters; (i. e. incorrectly called Hebrew by us at this day) the second translation was from the Chaldee into the Greek letters, in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 277 B. C., when 72 learned Jews (Chaldee and Greek Scholars) were employed upon the subject; consequently the Bible remained in the Chaldæan language untranslated for 259 years. In the period of THE SAVIOUR the Bible was read, not only in the ChaldeeHebrew, but in the Greek language; and that being the prevailing tongue (as before stated) in Phoenicia, consequent upon the invasion by Alexander; as, also, at Jerusalem and in Egypt, the precepts of the Old Testament were, therefore, understood by the Jews and the Gentiles, who were thus prepared to receive a MESSIAH, through the intelligence derived only from the Sacred Prophets. CHRIST visited the coasts of Tyrus and Sidon, and was addressed by the Woman of Faith (without doubt) in the Greek language. [Mathew xv. 21-28.]

The New Testament was originally written in the Greek language, for that was the language of the learned at the period of the Apostles, and consequently the Gospel was quickly promulgated-both by writing and preaching-to the nations surrounding Jerusalem: thus the invasion of Alexander,-by establishing in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, one language,

(i. e. the Greek) became an instrument, (although from a pagan,) for the promulgation of the true Faith, -thence fulfilling that "from evil cometh good."

The latest date of Ezra is 456 B. C., and sceptics boldly assert "That no Prophecy previously announced [as to date] in the Bible, can be proved from history to have been fulfilled after that date!"

The first refutation (apart from THE REDEEMER'S prophesied birth) is from the Prophet DANIEL. From his vision he foretold that the fall of the Medes and Persians should be caused by a Grecian monarch (i. e. Alexander of Macedon), the former were portrayed as the horns of a Ram, and the latter as a brutal Goat. "And the Ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia,-and the rough goat is the king of Grecia." The cause for Alexander's invasion of his enemy's territory is then given: "Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth [Darius] shall be far richer than they all, and by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece."

The Prophecy then actually foretells what shall happen upon the death of Alexander, whereby his identity as the "king of Grecia" is absolute,-viz.,

"His (king of Grecia) kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided towards the four winds of Heaven, and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion (Macedonia) which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides those [i. e. his posterity]. Now that (Alexander's dominion) being broken, whereas four stood up for it,-four kingdoms

shall stand up out of the nation-and in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressions are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences shall stand up."

Now every classic reader knows that Alexander conquered Darius, monarch of the Medes and Persians, and that upon the death of the Macedonian, that his kingdom was " divided," and that it did not descend "to his posterity," that "four kingdoms did stand up out of the nation"—[i. e. of Macedonia]-viz., Asia was taken by Antigonus as his share ;-Seleucus had Babylon and the surrounding provinces, Lysimachus the cities of the Hellespont, and Ptolemeus possessed Egypt-thus were the four new kings created,-Macedonia the original "nation," was given to Cassander. Here then is the direct fulfilment of Prophecy, and upon the authority of acknowledged History, which is the authority desired by sceptics. Now for the data. -DANIEL prophesied 553 years B. C., Ezra translated the Bible from the original tongue [536 B. c.], therefore ninety-seven years after DANIEL; but, following out the atheistical assertion,-viz.,-no fulfilment is proved from History (not Scriptural) after Ezra,-here then is a conclusive refutation, for Alexander died, and his kingdom was divided in 323 B. C., consequently 213 years AFTER the translation of the Bible by Ezra; and the historic facts are firmly established upon the time-honoured authority of Arrian, Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, and Josephus.

EZEKIEL'S Prophecy of the first fall, and of the general fate of Tyrus, was in the year 588 B. C., three