God;"-" And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it." "And he said unto them, Go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. "And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made."*

And is not God plaguing us, and is not every man's hand set against his brother, in this free and fierce competition, with which every one is striking down his neighbour, and establishing himself upon his neighbour's ruin; to be mown down in turn himself, among the thousands that are preparing for the next sacrifice? The following is a characteristic anecdote of the spirit and operation of money-getting. Among the histories of the mines of South America, "Dr. Walsh mentions, that at a very early period, two parties meeting on the banks of the river, where San José was afterwards built, instead of agreeing in their objects, and pursuing their operations together, they set upon each other like famished tigers, impelled by a hunger still more fiercethe cursed lust of gold. A bloody encounter ensued, in which many were killed on both sides; and the river was from that time called Rio das Mortes, or the River of Death."+

This is but an analogous picture of the spirit of hostility and opposition which the competition of trade is

* Exod. xxxii.

Sat. Mag. May 28, 1842.

engendering in all quarters. In the mean time, the manufacturing system is crippling the bodies and minds of the vast labouring population. Hecatombs of children are the sacrifices. Witnesses to the effects of our system of trade as now carried on, "do not hesitate to affirm, that it is the cause of utter ruin, temporal and spiritual, to eight out of every ten children that are employed in it." With respect to the bodily frame, the report of the Baron Dupin, to the Chamber of Peers in France,* states, that in the manufacturing departments only 70 men in 10,000 were found fit for military service, but in the agricultural nearly half the population.†

The demoralizing system of our trade is so destructive and so extensive, that the Mahometan Sultan of Turkey has been compelled to issue an edict against the enormities of the Christian traffic. It proceeds in these

terms:

"God is great and omnipotent, and has appointed bounds to all things. It being a matter of public notoriety, that the infidel traders of Pera have increased in number, and stored their ships with various tempting articles, the offspring of Satan's inventions, whereby the wives and handmaids of the faithful are excited to acts of most mischievous extravagance, thereby injuring their domestic felicity, and entailing great pecuniary inflictions upon their husbands and lords; it also being observed that, not content with filling their shops with these luring creations of Eblis, the aforesaid breeders of mischief place behind their counters youths of comely * February, 1840.

Lord Ashley's Speech, July 4th, 1841.

appearance, hoping still further to captivate and intoxicate the senses of true believing women, and thence endangering their souls as well as their purses,it is therefore ordained, in the name of the Avenger of all evils, that caution and discretion be inculcated by husbands and male relatives, and that the pernicious practice of frequenting these infidel traps of destruction be put an end to. Let this serve as a warning, or all parties will have abundance of filth for their portion in this world and the next."

These are the arts, and tastes, and practices, which it is our principle to diffuse, and by which we operate to extend our commercial empire; and in proportion as we have persuaded any people to adopt our habits and system, we congratulate them and ourselves upon their being the more highly civilized. As it has been truly said, "They desire and seek for the blessings of civilization, and then it proves their ruin.”*

A writer already quoted gives the following vivid description of this existing empire of money:--

"Gold is the only power which receives universal homage. It is worshipped in all lands without a single temple, and by all classes without a single hypocrite ; and often has it been able to boast of having armies for its priesthood, and hecatombs of human victims for its sacrifices. Where war has slain its thousands, gain has slaughtered its millions; for while the former operates only with the local and fitful terrors of an earthquake, the destructive influence of the latter is universal and unceasing. Indeed, war itself—what has it often been but the art * Gray's Australia. Letter by Laing, p. 235.

of gain practised on the largest scale? the covetousness of a nation resolved on gain, impatient of delay, and leading on its subjects to deeds of rapine and blood? Its history is the history of slavery and oppression in all ages. For centuries, Africa-one quarter of the globe-has been set apart to supply the monster with victims-thousands at a meal. And at this moment, what a populous and gigantic empire can it boast! the mine, with its unnatural drudgery; the manufactory, with its swarms of squalid misery; the plantation, with its imbruted gangs; and the market and the exchange, with their furrowed and careworn countenances,-these are only specimens of its more menial offices and subjects. Titles and honours are among its rewards, and thrones at its disposal. Among its counsellors are kings; and many of the great and mighty of the earth are enrolled among its subjects. Where are the waters not ploughed by its navies? What imperial element is not yoked to its car? Philosophy itself is become a mercenary in its pay; and science, a votary at its shrine, brings all its noblest discoveries as offerings to its feet. What part of the globe's surface is not rapidly yielding up its last stores of hidden treasure to the spirit of gain? or retains more than a few miles of unexplored and unvanquished territory? Scorning the childish dream of the philosopher's stone, it aspires to turn the Globe itself into Gold."*

* Mammon, p. 78.

ESSAY XV.

THE PROPHETIC HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE OF

COMMERCE.

THE TYPICAL EMPIRE OF TYRE-THE KING OF TYRE A TYPE OF ANTICHRIST-THE TYPICAL EMPIRE OF BABYLON-THE EPHAH OF WICKEDNESS OF ZECHARIAH-COMMERCIAL WICKEDNESS-THE JUDGMENT OF TYPICAL BABYLON-OF TYPICAL TYRE-THE MYSTICAL BABYLON OF REVELATIONS-THE DOOM OF AVARICE-OF THE COMMERCIAL EMPIRE.

THE prophecies of the Old and New Testaments are fraught with descriptions of the rise, and power, and destruction, in the last days, of the great commercial empire. Tyrus and Babylon seem to be the prototypes of this vain-glorious and tyrannical power. The descriptions of their acts and pretensions are alike; and the prophetic circumstances of their final destruction also are parallel.

Of Tyrus it was said,

"The crowning city: whose merchants are princes." "He stretched forth his hand over the sea: he shook the kingdoms." *

Say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which are a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty." + * Isai. xxiii. 8, 11. + Ezek. xxvii. 3, 4.