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this haughty Prince, as he had made him his Inftrument, to execute his Judgments upon Tyre, Judah, and Egypt, that before he would punish him, for his impious Pride, he gave him fair Warning thereof by a Dream, which the Prophet Daniel interpreted unto him, and even allowed him Time for Repen

tance.

But this powerful Monarch being quite intoxicated with his own Greatness, and forgetful of that God who had raised him so high, as he was walking in his fumptuous Palace, and contemplating the Magnificence thereof, with that prodigious Work, the Hanging Gardens, fo famous, and fo highly celebrated amongst the Antients, and as he was taking a View, at the fame Time, of the aftonishing Grandeur of his Capital, the mighty Babylon, could not forbear crying out, in Raptures at his own Performances, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the Houfe of the Kingdom, by the Might of my Pow er, and for the Honour of my Majesty!

Thus afcribing every Thing to himself, and robbing God of his Glory, he was guilty of a manifeft Breach of the Firft Commandment; as well as the higheft Ingratitude, for the extraordinary Bleffings he had received at his Hands: No fooner, therefore, were the Words out of his Mouth, than this dreadful Sentence was pronounced against him, by a Voice from Heaven: O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is fpoken, The Kingdom is departed from thee. And immediately the fo-long-delayed Punishment, of his Pride and Impiety, was executed upon him.

What was very remarkable therein, was, that it was exactly proportionable and conformable to his Offence; as he had aimed, whilst in Power, at exalting himself, and being honoured above the De gree of the greatest of Men, fo he was now le

velled and degraded below that of the meaneft; as he had feemed, by the abfolute Obedience he exacted to his Commands, however unreafonable, not to think the reft of Mankind of the fame Species with himself, fo now the rest of Mankind would not treat him as of the fame Species with themfelves; as he had no more Regard or Compaffion for them, if they any ways offended him, than for brüte Beafts, fo now was he driven from the So. ciety of Mankind, and forced to herd with the Beafts of the Field.

And this terrible Penance was he to undergo, for the whole Space of feven Years; deprived of Reafon; deprived in a manner of Human Shape; his Hairs being grown like Eagles Feathers, and his Nails like Birds Claws; being reduced befides to eat Grafs like the Oxen, and having not the leaft Shelter from the Inclemency of the Weather, but being at all Times expofed to the Rain and Dew of Heaven. Such was the Punishment of the impious Pride of that once great Prince! Can the Heart of Man conceive one more terrible, on this Side the Grave, or a more confummate Misery !

After fuch an Example made of fo mighty a Monarch, would one think it was poffible, another Prince of the fame Family fhould fo far forget it, as to become himself guilty of the fame heinous Offence! And yet we find Belshazzar, one of his Defcendants, and moft probably his Grandson, if not his immediate Succeffor, and his Son, as he is ftiled by the Prophet Daniel, not only utterly unmindful thereof, but even exceeding him in Impiety, and that very heinous Sin, for which his mighty Ancestor and Parent had foffered fo exceffive and fevere a Humiliation. As this was a confiderable Aggravation of his Offence, and as the Ways of GoD are always equal, it was not to be expected, that he should escape

the

the Divine Vengeance, any more than his Grandfather; on the contrary, it is greatly to be feared, as there is no Mention made of his Repentance, that his Punishment far exceeded that of his illuftrious Predeceffor; who has left behind him upon Record, in Holy Writ, a memorable Proof of his Penitence, and Acknowledgment of the Sovereign ty, Power, Truth, and Juftice of the Most High; but of that more in the Sequel.

The unhappy Belshazzar, then, who was by no means a Prince of the fame Capacity and Abilities as Nebuchadnezzar, inftead of applying himself diligently and steadily to the governing and defending his People, (which was the more needful, as the famous Babylon itself, that fo-much celebrated Capital of his Kingdom, was then ftraitly befieged, by a formidable Army of Medes and Perfians, under the joint Command of Cyaxares, called in Scripture Darius the Mede, and of Cyrus the Great,) spent most of his Time, if not all, in Revelling and Debauchery. This Courfe of Life, though exceeding finful and fcandalous at any Jun&ture, and even in a profound Peace, was much more fo on this Occafion; and was a Proof of downright Stupidity, and even Infatuation.

In effect, it really was fo; and was of God himfelf; who had long before purpofed to deftroy Babylon, for her inhuman Barbarity and Cruely to his People, the Jews; and for her infupportable Pride, which was exceedingly aggravated at this Time, by the facrilegious Impiety of her Monarch, which undoubtedly filled up the Measure of her Iniquity, and called for inftant Devaflation and Subverfion. This evidently appears, because all the Particulars, that happened at that famous Siege, had been plainly foretold by the Prophet Ifaiah, and even Cyrus named, (and that about Three Hundred Years before

it

it happened, or before that Prince was born,) with as much Exactness, as if that Prophet had himself been an Eye-Witness thereto : The Almighty foreknowing, at fuch a Distance of Time, and indeed from all Eternity, the exceffive Wickedness of that great City, with the Impiety and Tyranny of her Princes in general, heightened to the last degree by that of this Monarch, had not only fealed, but declared, her fearful Doom fo long beforehand, with almost as much Clearness, as if it were a Narrative of somewhat actually already passed.

Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged, there is fomewhat to be faid, for the otherwise unaccountable Security of the Inhabitants of Babylon, and their Monarch, when befieged by a powerful Army, and juft upon the Brink of Destruction; as the incredible Height and Thicknefs of their Walls, not to be fhaken, nor fcaled, by any Engines or Machines then in ufe; and it is even a Question, whether they could have been battered down by the largest Cannon now made. As it had nothing to fear from open Force, it had almost as little to apprehend from Famine; being ftored with a Sufficiency, and even Plenty of all Manner of Provifion, and Weapons for War, notwithstanding the infinite Nus. ber of its Inhabitants, for full Twenty Years: And this evidently appears, from the continual Practice of Belshazzar, in indulging himself in Feating, and Drunkenness; which, impious as he was, it is not to be fuppofed he would have dared to do, had there been a Scarcity, for fear of a Mutiny A third Circumstance, which contributed greatly to the Strength of Babylon, and to the Befieged's imagining themselves in abfolute Safety, was, its be. ing fituated on the Banks of the Euphrates, a large and deep River. To all thefe Advantages, if we add, that the Gates of the City were of fid Brafs, and of an immenfe Thickness, and alío that it cos

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rained probably two Millions, undoubtedly above Fifteen Hundred Thoufand Inhabitants, we shall have no great Room to wonder, prefumptuous as moft Men naturally are, that they apprehended no Darger, and derided all the empty Efforts, as they thought them, of the Befiegers.

But, to fhew how much in vain, or useless, either Fortifications, Numbers, Plenty, Rivers, or any other additional Securities, which the Wit and Forefight of Man can invent, contrive, or have recourse to, are, when the Almighty fights against a People: Firf, The River whereon the Babylonians rely fo much, fhall no longer be a Safeguard to them; Cyrus, by an unparalleled Stratagem, whereof there never was any Example in Hiftory, before or fince, fhall find the Means to drain it quite dry, fo that his Army fhall advance along the very Channel, and enter the City at each End, juft where the River ufed to pals: But even this is not fufficient; the folid brazen Gates, which fhut up all the Descents, from the Keys to the Euphrates, and are not to be forced by any Human Art, are of themselves fufficient to render the whole Enterprize abortive. Well then, to remove this Obftacle, Cyrus fhall make his Attack on a Night of general Riot and Revelling; and the Inhabitants and Garrison, tho' befieged, fhall be fo unaccount.bly and inexcufably negligent and forgetful, to leave them open. Well, but the Succefs may still be very dubious, if the Garrifon are at all upon their Guard, and take the Alarm in any reasonable Time, before too many of the Enemy's Army are entered, and before they are advanced too far; why then they fhall advance on each Side along the Channel, till they join each other in the very Heart of the City, before they meet with any Oppofition: All these Circumstances are particularly taken Notice of, and related with great Perfpicuity by the Prophet Ifaiah.

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