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The Book of LOGOS

The Visible Chief Representative

1. Christ designates this His servant and representative as His steward who gives meat to the household in due time. He has this to say concerning it:

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods." (Mat. 24: 44-47.)

Among the many who claim to be the Lord's servant at the time the Son of man commences His great work of elevation on the earth, there is one who, through the fact that he gives the spiritual food to the people which the time and circumstances demand, makes himself known to be controlled by the Son of man. He has the promise to be placed over everything pertaining to the work of the Son of man. Like Joseph, who in advance of the Egyptian distress had attracted attention to himself by predicting it, and was as a result elevated by the king over the whole country as the most faithful and prudent, so also will this one be placed over everything to be controlled by the Logos-power through the elevation of the Son of man.

2. The angel coming down from heaven, "lighting the whole earth with his glory" (Rev. 18:1), represents the same messenger or ambassador. His descension from heaven indicates the transformation of the condition on the earth by Logos, by means of which heaven and earth shall be reunited, i. e., be restored to the condition that existed previous to the breaking of the Logos-link through the fall. Heaven again inclines to the earth in order through the Logos-union in the completion of the Son of man to unite heaven with the earth and that which is upon it.

The result of this consolidating work will be the fall of Babylon (the work of men) . All that has arisen on the earth as a result of the fall, which by men today is called "the civil and the ecclesiastical order," will be removed from the earth by the Son of man's final act of development. Hence the heavenly messenger distinguishes himself by crying aloud to the honor of his Lord and King, saying: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." (Rev. 18:2.) He is then elevated above the powers of Babylon or the works of men.

3. Isaiah is pointing out this the Lord's representative as conqueror of kings, calling him Cyrus. Cyrus, the general of the Median king, who conquered the Babylonian power and who himself at last became king in Babylon, prefigured the one of whom the prophet speaks.

In the prefiguring work the honor was given Cyrus to issue the command that the holy temple and city (laid waste for God's people by the Babylonian power) were to be rebuilt, but in the completing work he will not only be the one who issues the command concerning a corresponding restoration of the temple and the city, he will be the principal director of the work mentioned.

The prophet, after first having shown that the slaving Jacob family is to be redeemed from the Babylonian yoke in order to be restored by virtue of God's promises, quotes the Lord's Logos in confirmation of the truthfulness thereof. It says:

"That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers." Saying to Jerusalem (the new) : "Thou shalt be built; and to the temple (the living), Thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel." (Isaiah 44: 27, 28; 45: 1-3.)

When this as yet unfulfilled Logos takes shape in a completing work, then the servant of the Lord is elevated as a King over the kings and his body-guard as Lords over the lords. It is then that the lords will be "called lords without land," for then the earth with all there is upon it will be the Lord's, and the whole kingdom will then be given "to the people of the saints of the most High."

4. It is very essential to have a clear, scriptural conception as to where the sphere is where the visible chief representative will commence his work of transformation. Many will lay claim to this heavenly calling. "General" Booth calls himself "the new Moses," meaning that Heaven has called him to save the world. Cyrus Teed of Chicago claims to be "Cyrus," and he now orders that Jerusalem shall be built in Florida.

In order to be certain as to where the work is to begin, we ask: Will it begin in the East or in the West? This question is answered by the Lord through the prophet: "I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay." (Is. 41:25.)

This shows that instead of the West, he will come with the power of the movement from the North. There it will strike firm roots and then move eastward. He will begin in the North to trample down the mighty, then proceed towards the East and the West.

When Jeremiah was instructed as to how God was to complete His Word, it was shown him "a seething pot toward the north," and the following explanation was given him: "Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land." (Jer. 1: 13, 14. See also Zech., chap. 2.)

Luther and the Long Pen

The Completed Scene of the Future

The Reformation came to a halt and the ravine created between it and Catholicism has since been bridged, as the 13th chapter of Revelations indicates. But the battle will be joined again and the long pen of the Reformation will be put in motion with lively force and will not cease until the day of judgment comes with its known activities.

This was the day that Luther awaited, thinking, as he said, that it was 300 years in the future. To us who have reached a point beyond the time that he envisaged, this im­portant matter now appears in a much clearer light. Now we look at it in the light of prophecy and from that viewpoint the Reformation extends to the stage where the kingdom of Christ takes hold and completes the whole development.

Looking at the Reformation as a whole, it not only includes the religious development within the kingdom of the world, but also the whole of the great Babel including all its component parts. This Babel, the world creation of the Chaldeans, has enveloped the entire earth. And because of its amalgamation with the Christian religions, it has con­founded, as the prophecy shows, the people of the whole world. (See Rev. 17:1-5; 18:1-4.) It is therefore necessary that the movement incidental to the judgment of God break into the scene in order to turn the hearts of the people and their interests away from this Babel.

Luther prophesied this when he said, "If we dispel the Turks the prophecy of Daniel will be fulfilled, and thereupon, you can be sure, the day of judgment will be at hand."

When Luther burned the papal bull in the year 1520, Europe feared that the Turks and the Arabs would break forth and conquer Christendom, their avowed goal. They mobilized at the borders of Austria and threatened to begin their campaign. Karl V, then kaiser of Austria, and the King of Spain appealed to the heads of the German government to send their forces and combine them with their armies so they could dispel the Turks. But Luther and the Reformation put hindrances in their way. Luther said, "The biggest dog of a Turk is in Rome," meaning that he was the one they should first dispel. After this the Turkish movement came to a halt.

Where do the Turks and the Arabs stand with respect to the movements having to do with the judgment of God? This is a question of considerable import. Commonly known by the name of Islamites :) or Mohammedans, these people come from Ishmael, the son of Abraham with Hagar. It tells about this son in Gen. 16:11, 12; 17:20, 21; 21:8-10. He was to develop into a great people but was to be a ferocious man and live east of his brothers. He was not included in the Abrahamitic covenant, but he was to develop into twelve tribes like the chosen seed of Abraham.

When we look for this Ishmael in his future development, the prophecies indicate that Babel will meet its downfall through him. Read Isaiah 21:1-10. There a battle movement is described which originates in the desert (Arabia), whose goal is to cause "all the sighing ... to cease" which the great Babel, with its terrible oppression, causes. Finally the prophet heard the proclamation: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground."

This is the same Ishmael that made it possible for the Reformation to take place. About 500 years after Christ, at the same time as the pope was beginning to make his appear­ance, Mohammed also appeared among the Ishmaelitic hordes and led them on the warpath against the mighty kingdom of the world in various places. Finally tinder Osman (Ottoman) who organized theist under one civil authority, they went to battle against the Constantinian kingdom, conquered their armies and Constantinople, as we all now know, and made it their headquarters.

The political power of Rome, which tip to that time had held the people in serfdom and placed all mankind under the flag of the great eagle, was broken, which made it possible for the Reformation to get under way. Despite the fact that the armies of Ishmael were later contained and their war operations brought to a standstill, they nevertheless have not completed their mission, which, as before mentioned, includes the fall of Babel.

If we proceed to follow the guidance given by prophecy we find the continuation in the 9th chapter of Revelations. In the last verse of the 8th chapter it states: "And I saw, and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe! Woe! Woe! to those who dwell on the earth, from the remaining blasts of the trumpet of those three angels who are about to sound." (Emphatic Diaglott.) This flying eagle (the Roman flag with the eagle) cries "Woe" three times. The first Woe ended with the fall of the Constantinian king­doen, and the fettering-time, as we have shown, took place when the Reformation broke out. The hordes were confined totheir respective centers, and the great powers of Europe have since held their mailed fists over them.

Then we read in chapter 9:12-15 that the second woe front the flying eagle (signifying war movements) is connected with the release of the battle hordes represented by the symbol "the four angels" who have been prepared, waiting for the time and the opportunity to surge forth and conquer the world — their goal. They have been bound, or hindered, for a period of 391 years, according to the prophetic chronology, in which a (day signifies a year and a year, with the moon as the measuring medium, 360 days. If we reckon the com­mencement of the 391 years from the beginning of the Reformation, when the papal bull was burned — an event which shook the whole world — in the year 1520, the liberating process should have started in 1911.

What happened then in Tripoli and in parts of Turkey? Wasn't it the old Roman flag with the eagle that flew over the land? The second woe had therefore started. Now read the 11th chapter of Revelations and see what is destined to take place before this woe ceases. It terminates with the death and resurrection of the two witnesses of Jesus, after which comes the proclamation (the third woe) that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of the Lord and His Anointed. The great Babylon will then have fallen.

What caused its fall? The great river Euphrates — the Ishmaelitic stream of people which has flowed into the Christianized Babel from the Arabian desert. Jacob's multi­tudes are also to be released during the drought connected with the temple mission of the two witnesses(Cyrus). When they are offered, the gospel activities cease in a manner similar to the activities of the Israelites in Egypt when they ate the Passover lamb and prepared themselves for travel. The angel of death passed their doors and slew the firstborn in every Egyptian household. This time Ishmael will carry out the duties of the angel of death, according to the definite declarations of prophecy.

The official leaders of the Turks are called "pasha," which signifies that the great "Pasch" related to the termination of the gospel age has to do with their war movements. The work of the death angel, which "Pasch" refers to, will be carried out this time by the Ishmaelitic multitudes.

The foreshadows of this wonderful event are first observed in the exodus of the family of Jacob from Egypt and later in the departure of the Jews from Babylon after their 70-year captivity. In the last-mentioned act, led by Cyrus, the Euphrates River, which flowed through the great city of the world, was the means by which the city was conquered; lie marched through the stream bed under the walls of the city and overcame it. This is the reason why the prophecy states that the four angels which are to be released in the final gospel act are "bound in the great river Euphrates."

The great powers of Europe are in constant watch over this Arabian multitude — France in Morocco, England over Egypt, England and Russia over the countries bordering on the Persian Gulf, and all the great powers over Turkey. The predetermined period of drought will take place during the second "woe," and this stage of the judgment act will alter the course of the river Euphrates so that the great fall of Babel will take place and the mighty armies of the great powers of the earth will be dried up as a result. A change will take place on both land and sea and the consequences are impos­sible to contemplate. At this time the family of Jacob will be released front its long serfdom in the Christianized Babel, since Babel will fall never to rise again.

Dual Plan

The Great Babel in the Light of Prophecy

2. "After thee shall rise another kingdom, inferior to thee."

That settles it that the organization of Nebuchadnezzar as a whole (the people and their inventions from the time of Nimrod) constituted the head of the image. Now the great people had to be remoulded- into another and inferior monarchy. The golden head flourished about 100 years. About 538 B. C., king Darius of Medio-Persia sent his general, Cyrus, with his armies to Babylon, and according to the predictions of the prophet Isaiah, he con­(luered it. Down dropped the people into the Medio-Persian mould of monarchy, and the breast with two arms, Media and Persia, appeared in the prophetic light. The laws defending the human works in Babylon, were subjected to a new mould, and the law­makers of the new monarchy put still more value on the works that were heaped upon the earth; hence the value of the people themselves became inferior—they were lowered beneath the works of their own hands.

XXV. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS

6. "The sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the angel which had the trumpet: Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men." This makes 391 years and 15 days. The natural River Euphrates flowed through old Babylon and was the very means by which Cyrus entered that great city when he conquered it. It constituted a foreshadow to the Mohammedan stream running through the mystical Babylon.

The four angels represent the four divisions into which the Mohammedan people were divided. Their headquarters were at Damascus, Aleppo, Iconium and Bagdad. When the sixth trumpet called to battle, the religious ties that held the divided people to those posts burst, and the warrior, Mohammed II., started the whole stream of people flowing towards Constantinople. With their powerful firearms, they finally conquered that old stronghold of the Coesars and made it their own capital.

XXVII. THE FALL AND DESTRUCTION OF BABYLON

The destiny of mystical Babylon is plainly foretold in the prophecies. The threats which were applicable to old Babylon, are also applicable to her daughter. The overthrow of that great city was a shadow of the final overthrow of the mystical Babylon.

When the time was up for the prophetic declaration to be fulfilled on old Babylon, Cyrus, the chief commander of the Medes and the Persians, gathered his armies about the walls of Babylon which was well fortified. The wall is described as having been about 320 feet high and so wide that teams driven on the top of it could pass one another. Hence, the Babylonians felt very safe inside. But the River Euphrates, which flowed through the city, attracted the attention of Cyrus. He had his men dig a large canal with a deep ditch leading from it to the river. A great feast-day was celebrated in Babylon about the same time that Cyrus had completed the canal; the Babylonians were having the grandest time, eating and drinking. King Belshazzar (Bel's protected) had gathered about him "a thousand of his lords" and his "wives and concubines," and they drank wine out of the gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem. When the wine had affected them and made them joyous, the following occurred.

"In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the King's palace: and the King saw the part of the hand that wrote. And the King's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another."

The wise men of, Babylon were called in to explain the mystical writing. But Bel's wise ones could not explain Elohim's writing; hence, Daniel was called. He read it thus:

"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin"

Then comes the interpretation.

Mene—measurer; Tekel—reckoner and weigher; Upharsin—troops and conquerers. In other words: the kingdom of Bel limited, weighed and delivered into the hands of conquering troops.

While the astonishment over the handwriting kept the feasting company at the kingly court spell-bound, Cyrus, who had previously tapped the river so that the water flowed into his canal, marched his men under the wall, hurried to the court and took the whole company captive—a terrible foreshadow.

The historians, in describing the destruction of Babylon, give us an account of the historic fulfillment of all the prophecies speaking of its overthrow and ruin. Only piles of stones and pieces of walls remain here and there, and the whole thing constitutes a home for wild animals. Herdsmen cannot under any circumstances be induced to stay there over night.

It is well worth the time spent for every, sensible being to read the prophetic declaration of God—concerning the end of all the great nations which have followed their natural inclinations in building oppressive cities and institutions which in turn have caused a violation of the law of equity—and compare history therewith. The final judgment of God will bring total destruction over the Babylonian creation now existing. The great cities, Nineveh, Tyre, Sidon, Samaria—piled up in honor and for the ease of some, and for the oppression and slavery of others—have met the same fate as Babylon. Total ruin has been the end thereof at a time when the height of glory was reached.

Look at Jerusalem, called the "holy city," the "city of God !" Christ, whom they drove out from it as a "seducer" and a "leader" of a revolutionary mob, says, "The days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee around, and keep thee on every side. And shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation." Compare the history of the Jews as written by Josephus and see what a terrible time the Jews had when these few words were fulfilled. Famine caused them to eat their own children. Their dead ones filled houses and streets, and there was no one to bury them. The Roman soldiers cut out the bowels of their living captives in search of gold which they thought the Jews had swallowed.

Now, if Elohim's chosen people met such a terrible fate on account of turning their hearts to things created by man, what then will happen to the mystical Babylon, whose record of iniquity, oppression and murder dates from the earliest time and has continued down to the present period?

And now comes the test to stir up all the evil elements and ripen all the people for the harvest.

Rev. 18: 6-24 gives a direct prophetic description of its fate. The Revelator has placed the prophetic telescope before you; look through it, and you will see a terrible smoke coiling up toward heaven. You can see great ships coming to the cities.; but the merchants stand there crying; they throw ashes on their heads because no one "buys their merchandise any more"—hence, they cannot sell the merchandise brought by the ships. Sorrow and pain follow the glory of "the mistress of the world." In her last oppressive acts, she "boycotts" Elohim's people in that they are not allowed to buy or sell. Yes, she prescribes her own judgment and fills her own cup with deadly poison.

XXVIII. THE GREAT PASSOVER OF THE FUTURE

The Mohammedans are the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham with Hagar, of whom the Lord prophetically said that he should be "a wild man; his hand against every man and every man's hand against him, and he shall dwell among his brethren," the scattered tribes of the seed of Abraham. The Mohammedans have been a beam in the eye of the Christian nations, and it will finally be to them what the great River Euphrates was to mother Babylon when Cyrus marched his men through its channel under the walls and conquered that great and well fortified city.

The word translated "the daily sacrifice" in Dan. 8: 12,13; 11: 31 and 12: 11, is Hatamid and signifies continuance or that which is determined. It has direct reference to the Passover. It points to a passover-act similar to the one that the Egyptians realized on the dreadful night when Israel stood ready to sever their bonds of servitude from them.

The Gospel of the Kingdom to Come

PRESENT TRUTH

After seventy years Zerubbabel stepped forth, gathered the noble children of the captivity, and rebuilt the temple. But then even a great number of Jews were opposed to the fulfillment of prophecy. Babylon had then fallen—by virtue of the prophecy which testified against it. Cyrus, the king of Persia at that time, had humbled the crown of the proud empire; and we are greatly surprised over the decree he sent out to the advantage of the de­spised prisoners Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the land of Judah. He wrote, "Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth . . Who is there among you of all his people'? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (he is the God), which is in Jeru­salem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem."—See Ezra 1:2-11.

The Messiah and the Anti-Messiah, or The Two Rivals

The Warfare Between the Messiah and the Anti-Messiah

When we follow up the prophetic chain, we find that the Messianic development—signifying a removal of the throne from heaven to earth—constitutes, from its beginning to its end, the very object about which all the prophecies speak. In the old dispensation, the kingdom, the power, and the glory constituted the objects which kept the children of Israel together as a distinguished nation. There the names of Moses and Joshua represented the power of the Life and the Word; in their official positions, Moses and Joshua typified the transportation of God's throne from heaven to earth.

The prophets describe the subjugation and the final triumph of the Messianic power and show how the rivalry between the Messiah and the Anti-Messiah is carried on in the course of time. It is a war between the powers of light and life on one side and darkness and death on the other that hereby becomes known to us. Here we will cite some of the prophetic declarations concerning this warfare. We shall begin with Dan. 9: 22-27, because that shows its continuance unto the end.

"0 Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

It is Gabriel, the angel who brought the message to Mary regarding the birth of the Messiah, who speaks the words cited above. They embrace the evangelic dispensation from its beginning to its end and connect it with the typical dispensation. This prophecy contains the following important points:

(1) the seventy weeks, which measure off the time set apart for the antichristian development;

(2) the personal meeting of the two anointed ones;

(3) the division of the 70th week of the covenant;

(4) the overspreading of the abomination and

(5) the anointing of the most holy.

First. As a prisoner in Babylon, Daniel, to whom the angel delivered the prophecy, was in himself a sign or a symbol of the beginning of that period. The prophecy, as we see, concerns principally Jerusalem, the sanctuary and its Anointed. The captivity of Jerusalem commenced when the king of Babylon made the land of Palestine tributary to his own power, because that was the first step which led to the captivity. Jerusalem and Judaea became tributary to King Nebuchadnezzar 606 B. C. and were depressed under the power of Babylon; thus began 70 years. These were first fulfilled in so many solar years. At the end thereof the Jews returned to their country and built the city, although in "troublous times," as the angel had said.

Second. The personal meeting of the two anointed ones. The angel Gabriel said that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, there should be 69 weeks—7x69 or 483 years. This Prince is the true Anointed, and the time appointed for his appearance on the scene as the Anointed was when he gathered his disciples about him and began his mission. The Scripture says that he was about thirty years when he called the disciples. About 456-7 B. C., King Artaxerxes gave the command that the Jews should return and build Jerusalem. Cyrus, some time previous to that, had given command that the temple should be rebuilt, but the angel directs Daniel's attention to the command concerning the city, that it should mark the beginning of the 69 weeks. When we add the misplaced 4 years, it becomes very plain that the end of the 69 weeks took place at the same time that the Lord began the proclamation of the gospel concerning the kingdom of heaven.

The description of the Lord's temptation, found in Matt. 4th chap., unfolds the meeting of the two spiritual rulers—the Prince of the kingdom of heaven and the prince of this world. Both lay claim to the kingdom, the power, and the glory. At this meeting, a definite conclusion was to be arrived at as to which one of the two was the true anointed, and in consequence of that, the heir to the kingdom, the power, and the glory.

In the fallen world, the fallen archangel had made himself the ruler of the kingdom, and had usurped the kingly power, but he knew very well that he was only a created being, not a born being: i. e., brought into existence by a generative act. It is the born king who is the true heir. Hence, the pretender addresses the true Messiah thus: "if-thou be the Son of God." That spiritual ruler of the world knew that if the Being he tempted really was the Son of God—the Representative of the Life and the Word—then He would build the tabernacle in which the Almighty will finally dwell among the children of men.

Hence he took him to the temple of Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle, with the command, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down!" By that he expressed his contempt for the Lord as the Builder of the true tabernacle, of which the temple in Jerusalem was only a foreshadow. His contemptible words contained the following insulting meaning: Thou wilt build the tabernacle of the Almighty in which he shall dwell eternally; if that is the case, then thou, whom I have brought up here to the pinnacle of this temple, try first and see if thou be the one the angels shall worship and minister unto by throwing thyself down and standing up unhurt.

Then followed the temptation concerning the kingdom, the power, and the glory—the real objects of rivalry between these two rulers. From “an exceeding high mountain” the prince of the present age showed the Lord "all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them." By that he impressed his rival with his own greatness, as if to say: Behold, here is the very object which thou art come for, but the power is yet mine; but "all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."

Now this is the direct spiritual side of the question—a warfare of powers, unseen by us, concerning the final realization of the productive power of the eternal Life and the Word. The personification of that Life and. Word in the true Messiah has its duplicate in the personification of the word and the work of the prince of this age, which we shall now consider.

The Revolving Mountain

The Kingdom of Baal

The city of Babylon, being the universal seat of power of both Nimrod and Ashtaroth, was powerfully fortified. Hero­dotus and Deodorus describe it as being built on both sides of the river Euphrates, in the form of a square, and that its circumference was about 120 stadia. It was surrounded by a wall within which there was space enough allowed for the masses of the people to be sheltered in case of war. The walls were 200 cubits (300 feet) high and 50 cubits (75 feet) thick, with many towers of defense. It was furnished with between 100 and 150 brazen gates. A strong bridge crossed the river, and a tunnel passed under it. Artificial lakes and beautiful flower-gardens hanging in the air adorned the city.

Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, enjoyed the greatest glory without the least work of preparing it, when he in com­pany with all the princes and governors from all of the 27 provinces of the universal empire celebrated the grand jubilee, which ever since has been called "the Belshazzar's feast''. The head-general of the Persian army, namely Cyrus, besieged the city at that time, but with such strong walls and gates there was no fear in the minds of the Babylonians that the enemies could do them any harm. The great celebration of their might, skill, and grand productions was the all absorbing theme of their mind.

They never thought, that Cyrus could be inspired to car­ry out his plans against the mighty city, because they believed, that all the godpower was concentrated in the Babylonian throne. But history intimates that Daniel enlightened Cyrus in regard to the prophecies concerning himself as well as Babylon and its overthrow, which Isaiah, the prophet, had foretold.

Cyrus employed his men to dig a canal, so to lead the water out from the river, and in the night of their highest joy he taps the great Euphrates and marches his men under the wall into the city. Ah ! the mountain revolved, the forti­fied city threw open her gates, and in the drunken state the mightily protected Babylonians become weak as women.