To return to the miferable Belshazzar: We have already obferved, that he used to pafs his Time al moft continually in Feafting, Revelling, and all Manner of Debauchery; but, upon fome Account more than ordinary, at a certain Seafon of the Year, there was one particular Day, when the whole City were accustomed to give themselves up to Mirth, Jollity, and Rioting, and to fpend the whole Night therein: Not to be behind hand, therefore, with' his diffolute Subjects, on this folemn Occafion, Belshazzar himself made a fumptuous and fplendid Entertainment for no less than a thousand of his' Nobles, as we are particularly informed by the Prophet Daniel; and being a little elevated with the Wine, as may probably be fuppofed, which, added to his natural Pride and Infofence, being alfo willing, at this jovial Seafon, to carry his Excels to a greater Height, and make a farther Oftentation of his Grandeur, than he had ever yet pre umed to do, he ordered the Gold and Silver Veffels, which his Grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the Temple at Jerufalem, and which had been fet apart for, and devoted to the Service of the Living GoD, to be brought before him, that himself, his Wives, and Concubines, together with his Nobles, might drink out of them, which was accordingly done.

This of itself was a grofs Infult, and facrilegious Profanation of tho'e holy Utenfils; and what Nebuchadnezzer himfelf, with all his Haughtiness and Arrogance, had never dared to attempt. Bu', not content with this, as if this was not enough, and refolving to add Outrage and Affront to Infult, whilft they were thus prophaning thofe facred Veffels, and thereby dishonouring the Moft High, to whofe Service they were confecrated, they took that very Opportunity to praife their Gods of Gold, Silver, Brafs, Iron, Wood, and Stone; as if

they meant thereby, as undoubtedly they did, to extol thofe Idols above the Living LORD of Heaven and Earth; and to triumph over him themfelves, by revelling, as it were, in his Spoils; as thinking him not able to hurt them, or make them any Way fenfible of his Refentment.

But, to their inexpreffible Confufion and Terror, the Almighty foon let them know, and that at the Expence of a Miracle, he had not only fufficient Power, but Will alfo, to punish fuch notorious Offenders against his Mercy and Long-Sufferance, and that his long-delayed Judgments, were just about to break upon their guilty Heads. In the fame Hour, fays the infpired Writer, came forth Fingers of a Man's Hand, and wrot: over against the Candlestick, upon the Plaister of the Wall of the King's Palace; and the King Jaw the Part of the H nd that wrote.

It may well be imagined, as hardened in Wickedness as Belshazzar feems to have been, neither he nor his Lords could behold fo dreadful a Sight,' without being prodigioufly terrified; accordingly we find, that Inftant, all his impious Haughtiness, Infolence, and high Looks, forfook him; infomuch that, as we are informed by Daniel, who was fent for to explain the Writing, and to fee if he could adminifter any Comfort on fo fhocking an Occafion; Then the King's Countenance was changed, and bis Thoughts troubled him, fo that the Joints of his Loins were loofed, and his Knees fmote one against another.

Nor does Daniel, who was an Eye-Witness thereof, defcribe the Confternation and Horror of this abominable Prince in plainer Terms, than the Prophet Isaiah paints them in, fo many Hundred Years before this dreadful Incident came to país. Therefore are my Loins filled with Pain; Pangs have taken bold of me, as the Pangs of a Woman that travel

leth:

leth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the feeing of it. My Heart panted; Fearfulness affrighted me; the Night of my Pleasure bath he turned into Fear unto me Chap xxi. 3, 4. With what amazing Perfpicuity is every Circumftance here foretold, by this divinely illuminated Writer, at fuch a Ditance of Time beforehand! What a Picture of the most compleat Woes, and the most confummate Mifery, is here exhibited, in the Perfon of one of the most haughty Tyrants, and most powerful Princes of Antiquity!

Confider this, ye purple Homicides, ye Million Murderers, who now infeft the Earth, and fet the World in Flames for your own private and finifter Views, and tremble: You may here find, the al-feeing Eye of Heaven, is upon all your Ways, when you litle think of it; and can never have any tolerable Affurance you are not upon the Brink of Ruin and ete na Mifery, but when, after a ferious Review of your paft Actions, your own Conf.ience pronoun. ces you blameless, and you meet nothing therein wherewith to reproach yourself.

The impious Belbazzar himself, before the Hand-writing upon the Wall, was in the Height of his Mirth and Jollity; and thought himself, undoubtedly, as fecure from any inpending Harm, s the greatest of you can do, in the inmot Recefies of your Palaces; nay, even after the Explanation of it, as ominous as it was to him, and as exprefly as the Tranflation of his Kingdom to the Enemy, then befieging his Capital, was foretold, yet as the precife Time when this Calamity was to befal him, was not named, neither any Mention made of his being to be flain, his flattering Courtiers found the Means to diffipare thofe gloomy Terrors, with which this fhocking Denunciation of God's Vengeance, had filled him; infomuch that he was induced to

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reaffume his Gaiety, and continue the Debauch, as if nothing had happened, and he was in full Security. Accordingly, we find, though this Circumftance is omitted in Daniel, that it is particularly taken Notice of in Isaiah, xxi. 5, immediately after his having defcribed, as above, ver. 3, 4, Belhazzar's extraordinary Confufion and Confternation. Prepare the Table, fays he, watch in the Watch. Tower; eat, drink. Neither is this at all furprizing, if we confider what an Infidel that Monarch was, and how prone the best Men are, by Nature, to Unbelief.

After having given the neceffary Orders, therefore, for keeping a ftrict Watch, it could no more enter into his Head, that there was any Poffibility the City fhould be furprized that very Night, and himself flain, than it could into any one of ours, were we even to be affured of it, by the Mouth of a Prophet, that Fifty Thoufand French would enter the Kingdom in Four and twenty Hours, when we had no other Intimation of any fuch Defign, than that they had drawn down fuch a Body of Forces into the Neighbourhood of Calais and Boulogne.

Should we not greatly diftruft the Veracity of fuch a Prophet, though otherwife a Man of an unblemished Life and Character? Should we not even call him an idle Dreamer, Vifionary, and En. thufiaft; and fhould we not fay, that after having deceived himself into a Belief, that his Reveries, proceeding only from I digeftion, were the Fruits of Divine Infpiration, he was now endeavouring to país them as fuch, upon us? Should we not a k whether thefe Forces had Wings; and if nór, where he Veffels were to transport them? In short, fhould we not treat both fuch a Prophet, and his Meffage, with the utmoft Contempt? We certain

ly

ly fhould; and yet we should be more inexcufable in fo doing, than Belfbazzar was on this Occafion. We profefs a Belief in the only true GOD; he did not; and the Surprize of Babylon that Night, when there was not the leaft Appearance of Danger, feemed an Event, humanly fpeaking, as improbable and impoffible, as that fuch a Body of the French, fhould come unawares upon us.

If it be faid a Miracle was wrought, to convince him of his approaching Difafter, we grant it; but then let it be confidered, he had no certain Rule whereby to diftinguifh a true Miracle from a falfe one; and, for aught he knew to the contrary, the Hand-writing might only be the Effect of Art-Magick, or the Delufion of his Senfes; nay, as the Interpretation thereof was very difagreeable to him, it was but natural for him to be willing to flatter him elf that it was fo; and more especially, as the Chaldeans were reckoned famous for that Art, and as Daniel, who had explained the Writing, was thought to excel them all therein, and even was appointed Mafter over them.

All this being confidered, it was no fuch Wonder, that the wretched Belshazzar, by the Perfwafion of his flattering Courtiers, fhould fo far recover nis Spirits, as to go on with the Debauch, and put off all farther Thoughts of that alarming Denunciation for the prefent: What Probability was there of the Enemy's paffing the Euphrates, penetrating into the Heart of fo vaft a City, which was feveral Miles, and advancing even to the Palace, before any Notice was given of their Approach, in the fhort Space of one Night? And yet all this, and more, is to be justly apprehended, by every Nation, which has GOD for its Enemy: Gates fhail not only be left open, and unguarded, but Walls fhall fall down, and not Rivers alone, but Seas fhill