and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. And I will make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts."'—" And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, nor shall the shepherds make their fold there; but wild beasts of the desart shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the island shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: Her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged*. In such fearful terms did the God of Israel announce the doom of his people's ancient oppressor: and these predictions have been fulfilled-not merely in the destruction of Babylon's power by Cyrus, and her progressive debasement into one of the meanest cities of the world-but literally-Yes, literally; for that great city Babylon, which was once "the glory of kingdoms," and the wonder of the world, whose strength, extent, beauty, magnificence, rendered it inconceivably superior to every other that has ever existed,—that great city has become the prey of utter desolation. Not a

* Isa. xix. 22, 23, and chap. xiii. 19–22.

ployed for the purpose of delusive fascination goodly arts of painting and statuary she has ed, like the pagans of the ancient world, inte vience to her idolatry. And, like them, even day, does she decorate with lighted candles ples of her superstition, and the tombs of her saints. But all this scene of idolatrous illu ere long pass away. The voice of music heard in her no more. The skill of the ar be needed by her no more. The burning ta illuminate the scenes of her idolatry no mo darkness of oblivion shall close over her ins her influence, and all her glory; and nought heard of her save the loud wail of her in minions, and the high gratulations wherewit vants of God will celebrate her fall.

But this is not all. It is intimated, I ap in the verses before us, that, in token of pleasure against the great Antichristian pe CITY which has been its peculiar seatthrone has stood-and whence its unhallowe have been issued forth, will be converted in of utter desolation. The prophecies of the tament against Chalden Babylon, had to the passing

1 of the O24-TecaI were overbelised n the willen by the their mournful ery f the oppread!"nare come into thine they delict, they The dead boda d be meat unto the y saints unto the Lord, wilt thou be like fire?"-ku, captivity of Zon" "Their mouth their tongue with ord hath done

ad."-Ail this va

.ace under the hew

the prevalence of the

rch was driven in tim

of the martyrs, wis mere Jesus," are represent w tion-" How long, O Lord, not judge and avenge **

trace of its splendour, not even a vestige of its existence is now to be found. Its palaces, towers, temples, are mouldered into dust, or sunk into a morass; and so completely has the word of the prophet been fulfilled, that the place where it stood, infested with venemous beasts, cannot be approached. And thus it must remain for ever; for it is doomed by divine decree "never to be inhabited from generation to generation."

Thus, my brethren, I have no doubt, will Babylon's antitype perish. Her ecclesiastical greatness will be destroyed-all the orders of her proud and profligate hierarchy will be abolished-and her idolatrous worship, with all the multitude of her other abominations, will be covered with the mantle of everlasting oblivion. But this not all. A brand of infamy-a seal of divine indignation will be indelibly impressed on the very spot which, for so many hundred years, has been polluted as the chief seat-the peculiar dwelling place of "the man of sin." ROME will become the scene of awful and utter desolation described in my text. Mirth and joy will dwell in her no more. Busy commerce will forsake her. Industry and trade will perish out of her. She will cease to be the habitation of man, and will remain, from generation, to to generation, a spot blasted by the curse of heaven, and devoted to unbroken silence and perpetual gloom."

* See Appendix No. VI.

*

IV. THE FINAL OVERTHROW OF MYSTICAL BABYLON, WILL BE AN EVENT FULL OF JOY TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.

During the melancholy period of the Old-Testament captivity, the people of God were overwhelmed with sorrow, hung their harps on the willows by the river of Babylon, and sent up their mournful cry before him who is "the refuge of the oppressed:""O God," they said, "the heathen are come into thine inheritance, thy holy temple have they defiled, they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. How long, Lord, wilt thou be angry? Will thy jealousy burn like fire?"*-But, "when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion," they were "like men that dreamed." "Their mouth was filled with laughter, and their tongue with praise." They said,-" The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."+-All this was a type of what was to take place under the NewTestament Economy. During the prevalence of the Antichristian power, the Church was driven into the wilderness, and "the souls of the martyrs, who were slain for the testimony of Jesus," are represented as uttering this expostulation-" How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our

* Ps. lxxix. 1-5. + Ps. cxxvi. 1-3.