the Messiah, and the establishment of the Church, which is his great work, the end and design of all his other works, and ever present to his sight; • Notum à seculo est Domino opus suum.

God has vouchsafed to discover to us, in holy Scripture, a part of the relation of the several nations of the earth to his own people; and the little so discovered, diffuses great light over the history of those nations, of whom we shall have but a very imperfect idea, unless we have recourse to the inspired writers. They alone display, and bring to light, the secret thoughts of princes, their incoherent projects, their foolish pride, their impious and cruel ambition: they reveal the true causes and hidden springs of victories and overthrows; of the grandeur and declension of nations; the rise and ruin of states; and teach us, what indeed is the principal benefit to be derived from history, the judgment which the Almighty forms both of princes and empires, and consequently what idea we ourselves ought to entertain of them.

*

pointed

Not to mention Egypt, that served at first as the Powerful kings apcradle (if I may be allowed the expression) of the inholy nation; and which afterwards was a severe to punish prison, and a fiery furnace to it; and, at last, the or protect scene of the most astonishing miracles that God Israel. ever wrought in favour of Israel: not to mention, I say, Egypt, the mighty empires of Nineveh and Babylon furnish a thousand proofs of the truth here advanced.

Their most powerful monarchs, Tiglath-Pilesar, Salmanasar, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, and many more, were, in God's hand, as so many instruments, which he employed to punish the transgressions of his people. He lifted up an ensign to the nations from far, and hissed unto them from

e Acts, xv. 18. d Isai. v. 26, 30. x. 28, 34. xiii. 4, 5. * I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage. Exod. vi. 6. Out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt. Deut. iv. 20.

the end of the earth, to come and receive his orders. He himself put the sword into their hands, and appointed their marches daily. He breathed courage and ardour into their soldiers; made their armies indefatigable in labour, and invincible in battle; and spread terror and consternation whereever they directed their steps.

The rapidity of their conquests ought to have enabled them to discern the invisible hand which conducted them. But, says one of these kings in the name of the rest,e By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people : and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

But this monarch, so august and wise in his own eye, how did he appear in that of the Almighty? Only as a subaltern agent, a servant sent by his master: The rod of his anger, and the staff in his hand. God's design was to chastise, not to extirpate, his children. But Sennacheribs had it in his heart to destroy and cut off all nations. What then will be the issue of this kind of contest between the designs of God, and those of this prince? At the time that he fancied himself already possessed of Jerusalem, the Lord, with a single blast, disperses all his proud hopes; destroys, in one night, an hundred fourscore and five thousand of his forces: and putting a hook in his nose, and a bridle in his lips (as though he had been a wild beast), he leads

e Isai. x. 13, 14. f Isai. x. 5. g Ibid. ver. 7. h Ibid. ver. 12.

* Sennacherib.

† Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook unto thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. 2 Kings, xix. 28.

him back to his own dominions, covered with infamy, through the midst of those nations, who, but a little before, had beheld him in all his pride and haughtiness.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, appears still more visibly governed by a Providence, to which he himself is an entire stranger, but which presides over all his deliberations, and determines all his actions.

i Being come at the head of his army to two highways, the one of which led to Jerusalem, and the other to Rabbah, the chief city of the Ammonites, this king, not knowing which of them it would be best for him to strike into, debates for some time with himself, and at last casts lots. God makes the lot fall on Jerusalem, to fulfil the menaces he had pronounced against that city, viz. to destroy it, to burn the temple, and lead its inhabitants into captivity.

kOne would imagine, at first sight, that this king had been prompted to besiege Tyre, merely from a political view, viz. that he might not leave behind him so powerful and well-fortified a city; nevertheless, a superior will had decreed the siege of Tyre. God designed, on one side, to humble the pride of Ithobal its king, who fancying himself wiser than Daniel, whose fame was spread over the whole East; and ascribing entirely to his rare and uncommon prudence the extent of his dominions, and the greatness of his riches, persuaded himself that he was a god, and sat in the seat of God. On the other side, he also designed to chastise the luxury, the voluptuousness, and the pride of those haughty merchants, who thought themselves kings of the sea, and sovereigns over crowned heads; and especially, that inhuman joy of the Tyrians, who looked upon the fall of Jerusalem (the rival of Tyre) as their own aggran

i Ezek. xxi. 19, 23. 1 Chap. xxviii. 2.

k Ezek. xxvi, xxvii, xxviii.

disement. These were the motives which prompted God himself to lead Nebuchadnezzar to Tyre; and to make him execute, though unknowingly, his commands. IDCIRCO ecce EGO ADDUCAM ad Tyrum Nabuchodonosor.

m

*To recompense this monarch, whose army the Almighty had caused to serve a great service against Tyre (these are God's own words); and to compensate the Babylonish troops, for the grievous toils they had sustained during a thirteen years' siege; I will give, saith the Lord God, the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey, and it shall be the wages for his army.

The same Nebuchadnezzar, eager to immortalize his name by the grandeur of his exploits, was determined to heighten the glory of his conquests by his splendour and magnificence, in embellishing the capital of his empire with pompous edifices, and the most sumptuous ornaments. But whilst a set of adulating courtiers, on whom he lavished the highest honours and immense riches, make all places resound with his name, an august senate of watchful spirits is formed, who weigh, in the balance of truth, the actions of kings, and pronounce upon them a sentence from which there lies no appeal. The king of Babylon is cited before this tribunal, in which there presides the Supreme Judge, who, to a vigilance which nothing can elude, adds a holiness that will not allow of the least irre

gularity. Vigil et sanctus. In this tribunal all Nebuchadnezzar's actions, which were the admiration and wonder of the public, are examined with rigour; and a search is made into the inward recesses of his heart, to discover his most hidden thoughts. How will this formidable enquiry end?

m Chap. xxix. 18, 20.

n Dan. iv. 1-34.

* This incident is related more at large in the history of the Egyptians, under the reign of Amasis.

At the instant that Nebuchadnezzar, walking in his palace, and revolving, with a secret complacency, his exploits, his grandeur and magnifience, is saying to himself, Is not this great Babylon that I built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty ? in this very instant, when, by vainly flattering himself that he held his power and kingdom from himself alone, he usurped the seat of the Almighty; a voice from heaven pronounces his sentence, and declares to him, that, P his kingdom was departed from him, that he should be driven from men, and his dwelling be with the beasts of the field, until he knew that the Most High ruled in the kingdoms of men, and gave them to whomsoever he would.

This tribunal, which is for ever assembled, though invisible to mortal eyes, pronounced the like sentence on those famous conquerors, on those heroes of the pagan world, who, like Nebuchadnezzar, considered themselves as the sole authors of their exalted fortune; as independent on authority of every kind, and as not holding of a superior power. As God appointed some princes to be the instruments of his vengeance, he made others the dispensers of his goodness. He ordained Cyrus to be the deliverer of his people; and, to enable him to support with dignity so glorious a function, he endued him with all the qualities which constitute the greatest captains and princes: and caused that excellent education to be given him, which the heathens so much admired, though they neither knew the author nor true cause of it.

We see in profane history the extent and swiftness of his conquests, the intrepidity of his courage, the wisdom of his views and designs; his greatness of soul, his noble generosity; his truly paternal affection for his subjects; and, on their part, the grateful returns of love and tenderness, which