"lowed up, and the nations fhall not flow any "moreunto him," Jer. li. 44. "Stand now with "thine inchantments, and with the multitude "of thy forceries, wherein thou haft labour"ed from thy youth; if fo be thou shalt be "able to profit, if fo be thou mayeft prevail. "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy

counfels: let now the aftrologers, the ftar• gazers, the monthly prognofticators ftand up, "and fave thee from these things that fhall "come upon thee: Behold, they fhall be as "stubble; the fire fhall devour them; they * fhall not deliver themselves from the power "of the flame," Ifa. xlvii. 12.-14. "Bel bow

eth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols are upon "the beafts, and upon the cattle; your carriages

are heavy laden, they are a burden to the sweary beaft. They ftoop, they bow down together, they could not deliver the burden, "but themselves are gone into captivity," Ifa. xlvi. 1, 2. Veneration for the prince who refides in her, claiming to be the reprefentative of God, will not preferve him from death, nor the city of his refidence from deftruction. "Thus faith the Lord God, Because <<thine heart is lifted up, and thou haft faid, I am a god, I fit in the feat of God', in the midft " of

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(1) Whoever is accustomed to compare fcripture with fcripture, muft here recognize the character defcribed

2 Theff.

"of the feas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou fet thine heart as the heart of "God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; "there is no fecret that they can hide from "thee'. With thy wisdom and with thine un"derstanding thou haft gotten thee riches, and "haft gotten gold and filver into thy trea"fures: By thy great wisdom, and by thy "traffic thou haft increased thy riches, and "thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: "Therefore thus faith the Lord God, Because "thou haft fet thine heart as the heart of God; "Behold therefore, I will bring ftrangers upon "thee, the terrible of the nations: and they "fhall draw their fwords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy bright"nefs. They fhall bring thee down to the pit, "and thou fhall die the deaths of them that "are flain in the midst of the feas. Wilt thou

yet fay before him that flayeth thee, I am "God? but thou fhalt be a man, and no God, in "the

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2 Thef. ii. 4. He as God fitteth in the temple of God, fhewing himfelf that he is God.

(1) There is irony and truth in the prophet's expreffion. Daniel difcovered fecrets by revelation from God; but the time has been when the Pope had all the fecrets of confequence in Europe, by means of the confeffors of princes and ftate finen.

1

"the hand of him that flayeth thee: Thou "fhalt die the deaths of the uncircumcifed, by "the hand of ftrangers: for I have spoken it, "faith the Lord God," Ezek. xxviii. 2.-10. The fudden and effectual removal of all her defenders is reprefented by a striking me. taphor. "Thy crowned are as the locufts, and "thy captains as the great grafhoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day; but "when the fun arifeth they flee away, and their "place is not known where they are,” Nah. iii. 17. The eafy conqueft of her outworks is represented by another metaphor: "All thy "ftrong holds fhall be like fig-trees with the first "ripe figs: if they be fhaken, they fhall even "fall into the mouth of the eater," Nah. iii. 12. Ripe figs drop by a touch, and when they are first ripe, if they fall into the mouth of the eater, thy are devoured with eagerness: Never were ftrong holds in a worse state of defence than the fortified cities of Stato della Chiefo are at present, by the report of all travellers. How easy then must their conqueft be fome time hence, when the delufion occasioned by Rome's forcery is worn off.

It is probable this destruction fhall come upon Rome on a festival night, when the generality of the inhabitants fhall be immerfed in drunkennels and its attendant vices; for this is repeatedly

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peatedly afferted of her types, Babylon and Nineveh. "In their heat I will make their feafts, "and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and fleep a perpetual fleep, and "not wake, faith the Lord," Jer. li. 39. “And I "will make drunk her princes, and her wife men, "her captains, and her rulers, and her migh"ty men and they fhall fleep a perpetual "fleep, and not wake, faith the King, whofe name " is the Lord of hofts," ver. 57. “For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they fhall be "devoured as ftubble fully dry," Nah. i. 10.

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The terror of the other inhabitants not ftupified by intoxication, is defcribed by the most lively images: "Howl ye, for the day of the "Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction " from the Almighty. Therefore fhall all hands "be faint, and every man's heart fhall melt: and "they shall be afraid: pangs and forrows fhall "take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a 66 woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces fhall be as flames," Ifa. xiii. 6.-8. "A grievous vifion is declared unto me.-Therefore, are my loins filled with pain; pangs have taken hold of me, as the (c pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was "bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dif "mayed at the feeing of it. My heart panted, "fearfulness

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"fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my "pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me," chap. xxi. 2.-4• "The king of Babylon "hath heard the report of them, and his hands "waxed feeble; anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail," Jer. 1. 43. "The mighty men of Babylon have foreborn "to fight, they have remained in their holds, "their might hath failed, they became as wo"men," chap. li. 30.

Another circumftance clearly foretold, is the deftruction of Rome by fire. Thus, Rev. xvii. 16. " They shall burn her with fire." Rev. xviji. 8. "She fhall be utterly burnt with fire: for "ftrong is the Lord God who judgeth her." And her admirers are reprefented as lamenting bitterly when they fee" the fmoke of her

burning," ver. 9. 18. In conjunction with the flames spread by the victorious enemy, shall be a fubterraneous fire kindled by the breath of the Almighty, as appears from Ifa. xxxiv. 9, 10. "And the ftreams thereof fhall be turned into "pitch, and the duft thereof into brimstone, and "the land thereof fhall become burning pitch. "It fhall not be quenched night nor day; the "smoke thereof fhall go up for ever'."

It

(1)" And fuch an event may appear the more pro"bable, because the adjacent countries are known to be of