other powers that were adverse to Ifrael of old, men might behold a striking reprefentation of the unavoidable overthrow of all the nations on the earth, who perfil in virulent oppofition to the kingdom of our Lord and his Chrift. The prophecy which comes first under confideration, comprehended in this and the next chapter, on to ver. 28. foretels the deftruction of Babylon by the Medes and Perfians. This great event was to be the mean of delivering the Jews from the captivity in which they had been long detained; and having been predicted probably about two hundred years before its accomplishment, the profpect it afforded would revive the dejected minds of the men of Judah with the hope of release. The prophecy opens with the command of God, to gather together the forces which he had appointed to this fervice, ver. 2. and 3.Upon which the prophet immediately hears the tumultuous noife of the different nations crowding together to his ftandard; he fees them advancing, prepared to execute the divine vengeance, ver. 4. and 5.He then proceeds to defcribe the dreadful confequences with which this vifitation was to be accompanied, ver. 6.-11.—Under a variety of the most striking images, the dreadful deftruction of Babylon is next fet forth, ver. 12.-16.-The chapter concludes with a defcription of the everlafting defolation to which that great city is doomed, ver. 17. to the end. THE CHAP. XIII. HE burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the fon of Amoz did fee. The city of Babylon, famous for its antiquity and grandeur, ftood in a large plain, remarkable for its rich and fertile foil, which lay along the banks of the river Euphrates. It was furrounded with walls, which were eighty-feven feet in thickness, three hundred and fifty feet in height, and fixty miles in length. These immenfe walls were built of large bricks, cemented by a fort of glutinous pitch found in that country. On the outfide of the walls a great ditch was formed, which was lined with bricks, and filled with water. The walls were built in the form of a fquare, each fide of which was fifteen miles in length, and had twenty-five gates, that were made of folid brafs. At each of the four corners was a tower, and betwen every two gates were three towers, raised about ten feet higher than the walls. Oppofite to the twenty-five gates were twenty-five ftreets, about one hundred and fifty feet wide, which went in ftraight lines to the gates on the other fide; fo that there were fifty streets in the city, fifteen miles long, croffing each other at right angles. Befides, there were four streets next to the walls, about two hundred feet broad. In this manner the city was divided into fix hundred and feventy-fix fquares, each of which was two miles and one quarter in circumference; on the fides of which stood the houses, of three and four ftories high, richly ornamented. In the midst of the fmall fquares were gardens and pleafure-grounds. A branch of the great river Euphrates ran through the city, from north to fouth. On each fide of the river a wall was built, of the fame thicknefs with those which encompaffed the city; in which, over against every street that led to the river, were gates of brafs; from which a defcent, formed by steps, went down to the water, for the convenience of the inhabitants. Over the river was built a bridge, a furlong in length, and thirty feet wide, executed with wonderful art; the arches óf which were made of large ftones, faftened together with chains of iron and melted lead. To prevent the injuries to which the city and country adjacent were expofed, from the in undations - undations of the Euphrates, two artificial canals were cut at some distance above the city, by which the course of the waters was directed into the Tigris; and prodigious banks were formed on each fide the river, to keep the waters in their channel. To facilitate the execution of thefe great works, it is faid that a very large artificial lake was dug, of forty miles fquare, and thirtyfive feet deep, into which the waters of the river were turned, by means of a canal, until the whole enterprife was finished. At each end of the bridge was a magnificent palace, the one of which had a communication with the other, by means of a vault that was made under the channel of the river. The palace, on the eaft, is faid to have been three miles and three quarters in compafs; and that on the west, seven miles and a half: and both were furrounded with three walls, at confiderable distances. There were alfo in this city hanging gardens, containing a fquare, meafaring four hundred feet on each fide. They were made in form of terraces, carried up as high as the walls of the city, by means of arches built on the top of arches, and encompaffed by a wall of twenty-two feet in thicknefs. On the top of the arches were laid large ftones: these were covered with reeds, mixed with bitumen, upon which were laid bricks cemented with plafter; and above all thefe, thick fheets of lead, on which was laid the mould of the gardens, fo deep that the largest trees might grow there. In the upper terrace was a pump, by which water was drawn up from the river, to moisten the foil of the gardens. In the arches were magnificent apartments, from which were seen the most beautiful profpects. The magnificent temple, which was built in the form of a pyramid, ftood near the palace; and, at the foundation, measured half a mile in 'compafs. The tower, on the top of it, was faid to be a furlong in height; on which was raised an obfervatory, the afcent to which was by ftairs on the outfide, turned in the manner of a fpiral line. In this temple was performed the worship of the god Belus or Baal, and other deities. The riches it contained in ftatues, tables, &c. were immense, reckoned by fome to have amounted to twenty-one millions Sterling. Such were the wonderful structures for which this great city was renowned, and by which it was richly ornamented. Babylon was no lefs remarkable for antiquity than grandeur. The foundations of the city were laid by Nimrod, the great grandfon of Noah, about a hundred years after the deluge. In after times, Semiramis, that she might furpafs all who had preceded her in enterprise and magnificence, and immortalize her name, employed two millions of men in building and decorating this royal emporium of the Babylonifh empire; which increased through various periods, until it attained the fummit of its power and fplendor in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. This is great Babylon, of which Ifaiah treats in the prophecy before us. The burden. The root from which the word here tranflated burden is derived, fignifies to lift up or to bear; and, by an easy tranfition, it is ufed to denote the awful doom pronounced upon a perfon or people. The prophecies containing denunciations of divine judgments, which were to be inflicted upon various nations as the juft punishment of their wickedness, are called burdens in this and the following chapters. Such was to be the intolerable weight of the predicted calamities, that they were greatly to diftrefs and crush those on whom they were laid. So heavy and unfupportable are the effects of the divine difpleasure, that they are a burden by far too much for men to bear. This truth was acknowledged by David, the fervant of the Lord, in thefe words: Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.' So great was the load of guilt 6 * Pfal. xxxviii. 4. which he had contracted, and fo dreadful the wrath of God he deferved, that he apprehended it altoge ther intolerable. If the hand of God is thus heavy on his people, when he chaftens them for their profit, how dreadful muft be thofe terrible calamities whereby he punishes and confumes the wicked! None knoweth the power of God's anger, the awful effects of which crush into ruin the ftrongest nations of the earth, and prove a burden too heavy for them to fuftain. So frequently was this expreffion ufed by the prophets of the Lord, that there were fome fcoffers who, on that account, derided them with contempt, with whom God was highly difpleased, and whom he threatened, by the prophet Jeremiah, feverely to punish, in these words: And when this people, or the prophet, or a prieft, fhall afk thee, faying, What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt then fay unto them, What burden? I will even forfake you, faith the Lord.'This burden Ifaiah, the Son of Amoz, did fee. The calamities which he foretold were to be inflicted on Babylon were very clearly revealed to him, probably by means of a vifion, wherein he had a diftinct reprefentation of the approaching divine judgments that fhould fpread defolation over that great city. This vifion which he beheld, either with his bodily fight, or with the eyes of his mind, was attended with fuch fatisfying evidence, and convincing power, that he could not entertain a doubt concerning the truth of what he relates. 2 Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, fhake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. The prophecy begins with the command of God, to collect together the forces which he had appointed * Jer. xxiii. 33. et feq. to |