those fabulous narratives with which superstition always abounds and to treat his solemn and pious edicts as the effusions of a disordered brain; for he instituted a festival in derision of the Jewish religion, and in open contempt of the God whom his father had so profoundly reverenced. We are informed that "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his Lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the gold and silver vessels, which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was at Jerusalem, that the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, might drink therein. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone."

This was a determined insult of the God of heaven, and setting that tremendous power at defiance, which his father had with so much humility ascribed to him. A conduct so impious, unreproved, would have effaced all those impressions in favour of the new religion, which had been made upon his father's subjects: and the thousands of his profligate lords would soon have polluted the principles of the community at large. An alarming miracle interposed to prevent a total relapse into paganism. The magicians were

D d

again applied to, but it was in vain. They could not interpret the solemn warning inscribed upon the wall of the palace. Their incapacity enabled Belshazzar to recollect the inspired servant of his father, to whom he offered the most splendid rewards. Daniel, in conformity to one characteristic of a true prophet, expressed a dignified indifference to these promised honours, and answered to the king, "let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet will I read the writing unto the king, and make known unto him the interpretation." Daniel faithfully stated to him also the cause of this miraculous interference, and of the terrible judgments denounced by it. After he had recalled to his recollection the melancholy condition of his father, as a punishment "because his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, until he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdoms of men;" Daniel adds, "and thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knowest all this. But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they have brought the vessels out of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them, and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gods of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know; and the God in

whose hands thy breath is, and whose are all thy hast thou not glorified."

ways,

"In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain; and Darius the Median took the kingdom."

Thus terminated the independence of this mighty empire. Isaiah, who predicted its ruin, considers the event as a triumph over those Gods, whom the impious Belshazzar attempted to reinstate in all their honours. Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods, he hath broken unto the ground." "Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle," &c. &c. &c.*

Profane historians inform us that the city was taken by surprise, under the direction of the great Cyrus, and that it was in consequence of their intoxication, that the king and his nobles became an easy prey to the conquerors. The prophet Isaiah had pointed out this Cyrus by name as the instrument of providence, and has explicitly stated the important object of the se vere judgments he was ordained to inflict. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations be* See Isa. ch. xxi. xlvi, 1.

fore him; I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know, that I the Lord, who call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord and there is none else; there is no God besides me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:* that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am the Lord, and there is none else: I form the light, and create darkness: Imake peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these.'

Every attentive reader of the sacred pages will be convinced, that the denunciations pronounced against Babylon, are peculiarly frequent and terrific. In some of these denunciations, the manner of her destruction, and the immediate cause of it are so minutely described, that they appear like a narrative of facts, rather than prophetic threatenings pronounced. Isaiah

*Is. ch. xlv.v. 1, 7.

takes the lead, with a dignified triumph. "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amos did see. Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones, or those ordained to the office; I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise, of a multitude in the mountains like as of a great people a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms and nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustered the hosts of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land," &c. &c. Behold I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver, and for gold they shall not delight in it. Their bow shall also dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb, and their eye shall not spare children; 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 tents there'; neither shall the shepherds make their folds there;