ABSTRACT
Modern discoveries have confirmed the Scripture account of the marvellous resources of the ancient dynasties, which held the dominion over the most civilized parts of the world. In early ages, Asia was the quarter of the globe most renowned for political greatness, for martial enterprise, for the achievements of art, and the records of learning. In the royal palace of the illustrious capital of that vast empire, Belshazzar had prepared a banquet for a thousand of his lords. In the providence of God, since the Christian era, the tide of civilization has progressed westward; and while Asia has been deprived of its former supremacy in secular dominion and in religious light, Europe has been blessed, in a far higher degree, with spiritual privileges and temporal advantages.
