THE

YOUTHS' MAGAZINE;

OR

Evangelical Miscellany.

MAY, 1836.

EGYPTIAN SOROS.

WE this month present our readers with a representation of one of the most interesting relics to be found in our national collection-" the Sarcophagus in which the embalmed body of Alexander the Great was deposited by Ptolemy; taken from the ruins of the Soma in Alexandria."

In the vision of the ram and he-goat, revealed to Daniel, the fall of Darius, and the rise of Alexander, were distinctly intimated. "The ram which thou sawest, having two horns," says the Spirit of God addressing the prophet, "are the kings of Media and Persia; and the rough goat is the king of Grecia; and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." (Dan. viii. 20, 21.)

The Bible, in whatever light we view it, is a wonderful book; and the literal fulfilment of its predictions, even in minute particulars, is a most astonishing proof of its divine origin. "The Macedonians," says Wemyss, in his valuable Clavis Symbolica,' "were called Egeades, from Arys—a VOL. IX. 3rd SERIES. N

goat;" (see Justin, 1-7;) and from the same author we learn, that the goat, since their king Caranus, was the arms of Macedon. Bishop Chandler (in his Vindication, p. 154) observes, "that princes and nations being of old painted by their symbols, they came afterwards to be distinguished by writers with the names of their symbols as by their proper appellations. Yet Alexander derived himself from Jupiter Ammon, and he and his successors had two ram's horns on their coins, the very description of the former beast; but this happened not till after he had subdued Egypt, when, being lord of Persia, he might adopt her arms or ensigns for his own." Dr. Newton observes, "that Alexander's son, by Roxana, was named Ægus, or the son of the goat, and that some of his successors are represented on their coins with goat's horns."*

So circumstantial and accurate, indeed, are these prophecies of Daniel, and those which refer to a period considerably more recent, that we are by no means surprised to find the opponents of revelation reduced to a new mode of evading the potency of their claims to deep and grateful consideration; and making the statement that they could not have been written till after the accomplishment of the events which they describe. But it is notorious that not only the scriptures generally, but these identical prophecies were translated into Greek before many of their announcements were realized; and that our Saviour himself actually quoted this very version whilst as yet some part of it was unfulfilled.

We have not time to trace the astonishing career of Alexander, or to dwell upon the number or extent of his conquests. But in presenting our readers with a view of his coffin, (now, as we have

This little work belongs to a class which we are glad to see multiplying daily. It is only of late years that the true value of the scriptures has become apparent to the world at large; for whilst authors were every where to be found who could write well on the theology of Nature, there were until recently very few who appeared rightly to appreciate the more majestic volume of the grace of God. But we now see men of eminence in every department of literature growing sick of the fallacies, contradictions, absurdities, and pretensions of heathen writers, and turning their attention to the pure well-spring of truth, under the influence of a spirit in some degree accordant to its paramount importance. We hail with much pleasure the publication of a Pictorial Bible, intended to make the objects referred to in the Holy Scriptures familiar to the eye of the general reader, and are much gratified to find its conductors so decidedly opposing the fashionable German heresy of nibbling down the miracles to suit the tastes of those who make their own ignorance the measure of infinite wisdom.

stated, in the British Museum,) we shall enter at some length into the arguments which, in our opinion, prove as far as the question will admit, that the original of our engraving did actually contain, at one time, all that was mortal of this monarch.

Alexander the Great died at Babylon, B. C. 323, and after two years spent there, in making preparations for his funeral, the body began to move towards Damascus, on its way to Egypt. By his will he had ordered it to be taken to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, in the deserts of Lybia. Perdiccas conducted the solemn procession. The chariot in which it was conveyed exceeded in magnificence all that the world had then seen. The sight of this gorgeous car, and the prodigious pageant by which it was accompanied, brought together immense multitudes from all the cities near which the procession moved. As soon as Ptolemy received intelligence of its approach, he went in person to meet it, accompanied by an army, as far as Syria. Under pretence of rendering funeral honours to the body, he prevented its being carried agreeably to its original destination, and conveyed it to Memphis, where it remained until the sepulchre was finished in Alexandria, in which he intended to place it.

Diodorus and Strabo both expressly state, that Ptolemy brought the body of Alexander to Alexandria, and "there," says Strabo, "it still lies, though not in its original coffin, a case of glass having been substituted for the gold covering, which a later Ptolemy had removed." Neither this case of glass, nor the gold covering spoken of, are to be confounded with the soros represented in our cut, which formed the outer receptacle, or conditory.

Augustus visited the tomb nearly three centuries after Alexander's death. About two hundred and thirty years had elapsed from the visit of Augustus, when Septimus Severus came to Alexandria. In this interval, Caligula, although he had not been in Egypt, had eaused the breast-plate of Alexander to be taken from his tomb; and, during his pantomimic triumphs, used occasionally to wear it. Severus, whose thirst of knowledge, and enterprising curiosity, caused him to penetrate into all parts of the country, and to visit whatever might illustrate the policy and literature of Egypt, collected, according to Dio Cassius, the sacred volumes, containing the writings of the priests and the explanation of their hieroglyphics; and having deposited them in the tomb of Alexander, caused the

monument to be shut, that the people might not, through their influence, be excited to sedition; and that for the future no person should have access to the shrine.

Caracalla, whose fondness for the name and ensigns of Alexander is still preserved on the medals of that emperor, made his veneration for him, and his desire to consult a god so much reverenced by the inhabitants, the pretext for his visit to Alexandria. Herodian relates that the magnificent preparations to receive him were greater than for any former emperor. They met him with the liveliest demonstrations of joy, sparing neither expense nor toil to render his reception splendid and honourable. As soon as he arrived within the city he entered the temple, immolating victims, and heaping incense upon the altars. He then visited the monument of Alexander, and placed upon the tomb a purple vest, together with splendid rings set with the most brilliant gems, a rich girdle, and various other costly offerings.

In the fourth century when the idols in Alexandria were for the most part destroyed, this tomb appears to have been converted into a cistern; and it is probably, in allusion to this desecration, that Chrysostom, patriarch of Constantinople, says tauntingly"Where is now the tomb of Alexander? shew me! Tell me the day of his death? But the sepulchres of Christ's servants are so splendid, that they occupy a renowned and regal city; and their days are so illustrious and famous that they are celebrated as festivals over the whole world." For a long period we lose all trace of this interesting monument, which might, perhaps, be that marble sepulchre sculptured with all sorts of birds and other animals, which Benjamim of Tudela saw upon the sea-shore when he visited Alexandria in the twelfth century. But this is not likely, as we find that it occupied a small edifice, built like a chapel, in the year 1491 when Leo Africanus did homage before it. Strabo says, that Alexander and his successors were buried in an enclosure or court, which he calls Soma; and Herodian states distinctly that the body was contained in a soros, sarcophagus, or stone-chest, so that were no history of this relic extant, we should be able pretty well to identify it with the one here spoken of.

From this time we have a continuous chain of evidence bringing us to the period when it was resigned to the British army by the French, who found the Arabs actually worshipping it as "the tomb

of Alexander, the founder of the city," when they discovered it in the mosque of St. Athanasius.

For these particulars we are indebted to Dr. Clarke's brilliant essay on the "Tomb of Alexander," and we have been thus diffuse for a variety of reasons. We wished, in the first place, to give our youthful readers a specimen of clear, beautiful, and, as we think, conclusive argument; as opposed to dogmatism and groundless assumption that they may for themselves learn to “prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." And in order that they may evince, in all cases, a becoming mistrust of their own powers, we may, perhaps, be allowed to state that even these reasonings have been assailed, since the name of Amyrtaus in hieroglyphics was read upon this coffin by Mr. Wilkinson; though that fact, by the way, (allowing it to be such) leaves the argument untouched, as there is no reason why those of all the predecessors of Alexander, whether in Egypt or elsewhere, should not have decorated the tomb of the world's ruler. Again, we are anxious that our readers should be in possession of all the facts relative to a monument which the great majority of them have the opportunity of visiting in person, and with which so many and such important associations are connected, whether considering the short but eventful life of the conqueror it once enshrined, or the dark and debasing rites which constituted his obsequies, and are depicted around it. The moral it involves is indeed by far the most material of these considerations; and our minds should be filled with the liveliest gratitude for the light of the gospel when we thus see how men professing themselves wise became fools, and changing the truth of God into a lie, worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever, Amen!

CONVERSATION.

"Let your conversation be yea, yea; nay, nay."

"RATIONAL Conversation is the means, above all others, calculated to correct our mental errors," says a female writer of the present day. It were well if all conversation had that tendency, or, at least, if it could all bear the name of rational conversation;' that it does not, my young friends will, I think, be disposed candidly to admit.