Fear, my brethren, is a ftrong paffion: fo dreadful did it appear to the Grecians, that, to appease its terrors, they worshipped it as a god. In times of great danger, all men have felt its powerful influence. When the hand of God was ftretched out to deliver the Ifraelites from the land of Egypt, the dukes of • Edom were amazed, and the mighty men of Moab trembled "." • When Saul beheld the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled t.' When Nebuchadnezzar marched into Judea, the heart of the king, and of the princes, did perish the priests were astonished, and the 'prophets wondered t.' And when the day of the Lord was at hand, the inhabitants of Babylon were afraid. Pangs and forrows shall take hold of them, they fhall be in pain as a woman that travaileth. Their fears were to be accompanied with inexpreffible anguish and forrow, which are compared to thofe of a woman in travail, on account of the fuddenness and extreme violence of the pain and agony with which they were to be afflicted.- -They fhall be amazed one at another. This expreffion intimates, that their powers and faculties were to be fo difturbed and debilitated, that they would have neither understanding, nor ability, to take proper measures to fecure their fafety or retreat. They fhould look upon one another like perfons who are furprised and confounded, who are unable to speak or act in a manner fuited to their circumstances.- -Their faces fhall be as flames; thus giving proof of their shame and, confufion, and of the wrath, indignation, and anguish, which they felt. These paffions are often attended with violent agitation, by which the blood is expelled from the heart to the exterior parts, and particularly to the face, which, being inflamed, appears, in colour, like flames of fire. Thefe two verfes, taken together, contain a natural and beautiful description of the timid,

Exod. xv. 15. +1 Sam. xxvii. 5.

‡ Jer. iv. 9.

perplexed,

perplexed, and diftreffed condition of the inhabitants of Babylon, at the time the calamities above threatened were to be inflicted upon them by the Medes and Perfians. Had we an accurate hiftory of what then happened at that great city, there is every reason to believe we fhould be informed of the exact accomplishment of every one of our prophet's predictions delivered on this fubject.If the day of the Lord produced fuch dismay and confternation at Babylon, what effects ought the approach of a far more awful day of the Lord to have upon us? You know perfectly, that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night; and that he will furprife, with a dreadful alarm, those who are asleep in fecurity. When they fhall fay, Peace and fafety, then fudden deftruction fhall feize upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they fhall not escape. Therefore let us not fleep as do others; but let us watch and be fober, putting on the breast-plate of faith and love, and for an helmet the hope of falvation *.

9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath, and fierce anger, to lay the land defolate; and he shall destroy the finners thereof out of it.

Our prophet proceeds more fully to delineate the terrible deftruction which fhould be brought upon Babylon by her enemies.-The day of the Lord here denotes, as in the fixth verfe, the particular period wherein God had determined to exhibit himself present to the inhabitants of that city, by the awful judgments he would inflict upon them, by means of those whom he employed to punish their wickedness.――In the following words, the feafon alluded to is described by fome of its peculiar characteristics. It is cruel. Cruelty confifts in with-holding mercy

1 Theff. v. 1. et feq.

from

from those who are in our power, and in acting toward them with feverity and rigour. The day of the Lord is faid to be cruel, because the exercife of pity and compaffion was then to be refrained, and the moft dreadful calamities were to be inflicted with the

greatest feverity. The Babylonians were a cruel people, who had no mercy; therefore the Lord, as he threatened by his fervant Jeremiah, was to fend against them a great nation, and many kings, who were cruel, and would not fhew mercy t.' With wrath, and fierce anger.' Wrath (faith the wife man) is cruel, and anger is outrageous.' When leffer judgments effect not the purposes intended by them, and when they are not accompanied with a speedy reformation, the wrath and fierce anger of the Lord is kindled. This remark was verified to the Babylonians, concerning whom Jeremiah thus fpeaks: We would have healed them, but they

are not healed-for their judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the fkies .To lay the land defolate; i. e. to deprive it of its inhabitants, to fpoil it of its beauty, to divest it of its riches, to ravage its cities, and to fpread general devaftation through the whole country. As the fcorching heat of the fun dries up the pools and brooks of water in the drought of fummer, fo the wrath of the Almighty was to confume the inhabitants, the riches, and all the glory of Babylon.

And he fhall deftroy the finners thereof out of it. Though all men are finners, having tranfgreffed the law, and come fhort of the glory of God, yet there are various degrees of fin, and different kinds of finEven the holiest and beft of men come under this description, in as much as they often offend God, and do not uniformly act for the advancement of the

ners.

Jer. vi. 23.

† Jer. 1. 41, 42.

+ Prov. xxvii.

4.

Jer. li. 9.

divine glory. There is another very numerous class of finners, who deliberately tranfgrefs the commandments of the Lord, who prefumptuously go on in their trefpaffes, and take pleasure in committing iniquity. There are alfo finners of a still greater magnitude, who are continually projecting and executing all manner of wickedness, and daily employed in perpetrating the most enormous crimes. Perfons of this last description, no doubt, greatly abounded in Babylon; and were especially intended in this prediction, which declares, that they fhould be destroyed out of it, by the awful judgments to be inflicted upon them in the day of the Lord's anger.What hath been faid of time is also true of fin, it confumeth all things. Sin hath even deftroyed thofe creatures which time could never have wafted. It divested angels of their original dignity, and caft them down from heaven, which time alone could never have done. Sin is the cause of all the destruction and mifery which the defolating judgments of war, famine, and peftilence, hath spread over the face of the earth. Nay more, finners bring upon themselves greater deftruction than can proceed from any of these calamities. They ruin their reputation, they wound their confcience, they deftroy their own fouls, and deprive themselves of those comforts which the fword, famine, and pestilence, cannot withhold.. Let us then take heed left by our trefpaffes, we expofe ourselves to fimilar judgments with thofe here threatened against the finners of Babylon.

10 For the ftars of heaven, and the conftellations thereof shall not give their light: the fun fhall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon fhall not caufe her light to shine.

By the terrible calamities threatened to be inflicted upon this great city, the inhabitants were to be deprived of their profperity and joy: inftead of which, they

they were to experience darkness, forrow, and anguifh.The profperity and felicity of ftates and kingdoms is often reprefented, in the prophecies, by images taken from the luminaries of heaven, which are reprefented, for this purpose, as fhining with increafing fplendor, and uninterrupted continuance. The overthrow and deftruction of empires and nations is also represented by oppofite images: the ftars are obfcured, the moon withdraws her light, and the fun ceases to fhine. This remark may affift us in understanding the import of the figurative expreffions contained in this verfe, which I now proceed to explain, and apply to the fubject before us.The ftars of heaven may here denote the princes and nobles of Babylon, who made a very fplendid and brilliant appearance in the eyes of the people, the priests, and those who with them prefided in the worfhip of their gods, whom they would confider as luminaries in their horizon. The conftellations of heaven are literally numbers of fixed stars, which appear in the form of fome creature, by whose name they are called; and feem here intended to fignify the counsellors and ftatefmen, whofe abilities were united in directing the affairs of that great city. By the heavens in which they were wont to give light, may be meant the whole fuperior part, civil and religious, of the nation.By the fun, the king of Babylon might be particularly intended, under whofe influence the kingdom enjoyed great profperity, light, and happiness.The moon fignificantly reprefents the lefs principal and fubordinate power of the ftate, which derived authority and influence from the chief ruler in the empire.

Concerning these stars and conftellations the prophet declares, that they shall not give their light. Being themselves involved in obfcurity, they fhall not be able to communicate the leaft ray of light and profperity to thofe on whom they formerly fhined with a. cheering, refreshing light.- -The fun fhall be dark

ened