and gold, let us, who profefs to be Chriftians, take heed that we do not over-value them, and too eagerly endeavour to attain them, as if they were effential to our happiness. Permit me to feize this opportunity, of charging' them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor truft in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy *."

18 Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they fhall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye fhall not fpare

children.

The favage cruelty of the Medes was to be strongly marked by their very inhuman treatment of the younger inhabitants of Babylon. Perfons of this fort were to be killed, not only by arrows fhot from their bows; but fuch was to be the wild ferocity and barbarity of the enemy, that they would ftrike dead with their large bows, the young people who came in their way. Tender infants, little children, and young men, who are often objects of compaffion, and allowed to escape, when others fuffer the most direful calamities, the Medes were neither to pity nor spare. They would not fhew mercy to the moft feeble and helpless, nor to thofe for whom the dictates of humanity moft powerfully plead. Infligated by fierce and violent paffions, through the whole of this arduous enterprise, they would not, on any account, discover the leaft favour toward perfons of any description.— In the course of providence, God often recompenfes men according to their doings: as they have done to others, fo others have done to them. They are made to feel the burden of. their iniquities, and to inherit the fruit of their own doings, according to what is written, Obad. ver. 15. As thou haft done, it fhall

VOL. II.

* 1 Tim. vi. 17.

E

• be

' be done unto thee: thy reward fhall return upon 'thine own head.' Babylon had greatly afflicted and fpoiled the people of God; and therefore fhe, in like manner, fhould be afflicted and spoiled. As thou 'didft rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Ifrael, because it was defolated; fo will I do unto thee, ' thou shalt be defolate.'

19 ¶ And Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees excellency, fhall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

In this and the following verfes, to the end of the chapter, the prophet defcribes the fuccefs which was to attend the expedition of the powerful and cruel enemies whom God would ftir up against Babylon.That great city was to be laid entirely in ruins, and to become a perpetual defolation, which should never be restored to its ancient fplendor and glory. To embellish his representation, he extols its former magnificence and grandeur in the time of its profperity, that, by contrasting its flourishing condition with the deplorable state to which it was to be reduced, he might draw the more moving picture of its overthrow. Babylon was once the richeft and the most elegant city in Afia; and, at the time in which it was overwhelmed with destruction, it was the greatest and most powerful. It was the metropolis and royal feat of a mighty empire: it was the Lady of king'doms,' to whom many states and nations yielded homage and obedience. It was the beauty of the Chaldees excellency. The Chaldees were a people highly celebrated for learning, for their acquaintance with philofophy, aftronomy, and the facred rites performed in honour of the gods. They were greatly addicted to divination, foothfaying, and aftrology. Hence those who profeffed thefe magical arts, are called Chaldees, or Chaldeans, in the book of

Daniel.

Daniel. They were a strong and valiant, a fierce and courageous people, a great and ancient nation. Their martial character is thus defcribed by the prophet Habakkuk: For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hafty nation-they are terrible and ' dreadful-their horfes alfo are fwifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the eveningwolves-they fhall fly as the eagle that hafteth to eat f.' The country inhabited by this people, was called the land of Shinar t,' the land of Nimrod ||,' the land of Mefopotamia. From thence the Lord brought out Abram, the Father of the faithful, that he . might give him, and his pofterity, the land of Canaan to inherit. The excellency of the Chaldees confifted in their riches, wisdom, ftrength, valour, extent of dominion, with other things of a fimilar nature. Of all these things which are esteemed excellent among men, the city of Babylon, comprehending its palaces, temples, fortifications, and public buildings, was the chief ornament. It was one of the most beautiful and most elegant cities that was ever formed by human wifdom and power. How astonishing, that a city of such exquifite beauty, ftrength, and excellence, fhould have been utterly destroyed!This overthrow is illuftrated by a very striking similitude, in the following words:

It fhall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. Truly memorable was the deftruction of thefe cities, which proceeded immediately from God, who rained down fire and brimstone from heaven upon them, whereby not only they, but all their inhabitants, all the neighbouring plains, and all that grew upon the ground, were laid wafte §. Their overthrow was fudden and unexpected to the inhabitants, who were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Their deftruction was univerfal and irre

* Daniel ii. 3. | Micah v. 6

+ Hab. i. 6, 7, 8. See Gen. xix. 24, 25.

+ Gen. x. 10.

coverable,

coverable, according to the prediction of the prophet Jeremiah: As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbouring cities thereof, faith the Lord: fo fhall no man abide there; neither fhall any fon of man dwell therein*.' In like manner, the deftruction of Babylon was to proceed from God: it was to come fuddenly and unexpectedly, when its inhabitants were employed in feftivity and mirth; and its perdition was to be complete and irreverfible.

20 It fhall never be inhabited, neither shall . it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither fhall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

The

The fubject introduced in the preceding verfe, is here amplified and illuftrated. According to this prediction, Babylon was to be entirely defolated, and deprived of its inhabitants, fo as to become an unfrequented defert. Left it fhould ftill be imagined, that, though reduced to a wildernefs for fome time, it might again rife into its former fplendor, our prophet declares, that it fhall not be inhabited for ever. defolation fhall be perpetual, without any hope of its restoration. To give greater folemnity and certainty to what is foretold, the prediction is repeated with little variation, and the ftrongeft affuranec is given of the perpetuity of its defolate condition.And left it might be fuppofed, that, notwithstanding the city was to be divefted of its inhabitants, it might nevertheless afford a place of retreat to Arabians wandering through the deferts, and to fhepherds employed in feeding their flocks, it is exprefsly affirmed, that it fhould ferve none of thefe purpofes, but be wholly abandoned by every human creature.

21 But wild beafts of the defert fhall lie there, and their houfes fhall be full of doleful creatures,

Jer. 1. 40.

and

and owls fhall dwell there, and fatyrs fhall dance there.

22 And the wild beafts of the islands fhall cry in their defolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days fhall not be prolonged.

The wild beasts of the defert, and of the iflands, here intended, might be lions, bears, tigers, and other rapacious animals, which frequent the wilderness. The doleful creatures with which their houfes fhould be filled, might be thofe nocturnal birds, the leffer heron, the night-raven, and bittern, which frequent old ruins, and howl and fhriek with very difmal cries. And owls fhall dwell there. Owls com, monly choose for their residence, places which are deferted by men, where they may escape the notice of other birds, which are faid to attack them, and strip them of their feathers. The owls are feldom heard to cry, except in the night-time, when, at intervals, they raise their melancholy, frightful voice.And fatyrs fhall dance there. Satyrs were anciently defcribed as a kind of monftrous creatures: in their upper part, refembling the human form, with the addition of horns; and in the lower part, in fhape like a goat. These hideous animals were to frifk and dance, in the dreary folitude of that place where Babylon once ftood.- -And the wild beasts of the iflands fhall cry in their defolate houses, and dragons in their pleafant palaces. Dragons, which are wild, mifchievous creatures, make a horrible, mournful noife, and refort to folitary places, were likewise to take up their refidence in the fumptuous palaces of Babylon, which had been the feats of luxury, debauchery, and wickednefs.--And her time is near to come, and her days fhall not be prolonged. The period fixed, in the divine decree, for the total overthrow of this great city, fpeedily approached, at the time in which this prophecy was delivered; and the feafon