$$ and the fulness thereof; the world, and they " that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their "hands; let the earth be joyful together before "the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: " with righteousness shall he judge the world, " and the people with equity." In like manner it is faid, Pfalm lxxvii. 16. " The waters faw

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thee, O GOD, the waters faw thee: they were " afraid; the depths alfo were troubled." So Hab. iii. 10." The mountains faw thee, and they strembled; the overflowing of the water pafsed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high." The like animated Profopopeias we also meet with in Job. xxiv. 26, 27. "And JOSHUA wrote thefe words in the book of the law of GOD, and took a great ftone, and fet it up there, under an oak that was by the fanctuary of the LORD. And JOSHUA faid, Behold, this ftone fhall be a witnefs unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD, " which he spake unto us: it shall be there for a witness unto you, left ye deny your God." In Ifaiah xxxv. 1. it is faid, that " the wilder"derness and the folitary place fhall be glad for them; and the defert fhall rejoice, and bloffom as the rofe. In Ifa. lv. 12. it is promised to the people of GOD, that "they should go out with joy, and be led forth with peace, and that the mountains and the hills fhould " break forth before them into finging, and that "all the trees of the field fhould clap their "hands." In Jer. xlvii. 6. the fword is addrefs

ed

ed as a perfon. "O thou fword of the LORD, how long will it be. ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy fcabbard, reft, and be still. SS How can it be quiet, feeing the LORD hath "given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against "the fea-fhore? There he hath appointed it." And Hab. ii, 11, it is faid, that " the ftone fhall cry out of the wall, and that the beam out of the timber fhall anfwer.it."

But I must prescribe fome bounds to myself, and therefore I fhall conclude the examples of the Profopopeia from Scripture with a most beautiful and variegated instance, from Isaiah xiv. 3---27.

After the Prophet had foretold the deliverance of the Jews from their hard captivity at Babylon, and their return to their own land, he immediately introduces them as singing a kind of triumphal ode upon the excision of the King of Babylon, filled with the brightest images, and continued in an uninterrupted series of the most beautiful Profopopeias. The fong begins with a fudden exclamation of the Jews, exprefsing their joy and surprise on account of the unexpected revolution of their affairs, and the destruction of the tyrant that opprefsed them. Ver. 3. " And it " fhall come to pass in the day that the LORD fhall give thee reft from thy forrow, and from thy

fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou ss waft made to serve, that thou shalt take up this S proverb against the King of Babylon, How hath "the oppressor ceased! The golden city ceased!

SS The

The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, " and the fceptre of the rulers. He who fmote "the people in wrath with a continual ftroke; " he that ruled the nations in anger is perfecuted, and none hinders." Upon this event the earth is at peace, and its inhabitants triumph. The fir-trees, and the cedars of Lebanon, by which images, according to the frequent language of parable, Kings and Princes may be designed, exult with joy, and glory over the broken power of their most cruel enemy. Ver. 7, 8.

The whole earth is at reft, and is quiet; they "break forth into singing: yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, say

ing, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us."

Next follows a moft bold Profopopeia of the grave, or the infernal region: Ver. 9. " Hell s from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee "at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, Ss even all the chief ones of the earth: it hath

raised up from their thrones all the kings of "the nations." Thefe royal fhades, thus rising to meet the Babylonifh tyrant, infult and mock him, upon being funk into the fame degradation with them, ver. 10, 11. All they shall speak and fay unto thee, Art thou alfo become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy $3 pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noife of thy viols: the worm is fpread under thee, and the worms cover thee."

And

And the poor worm insults th' immortal man.

The people of GOD then resume their song, and beautifully exaggerate the remarkable end of the King of Babylon, in an exclamation after the manner of funeral dirges, according to the model of which fort of compositions indeed almost the whole ode is conftructed: Ver.12. " How art ss thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, fon of #the morning? How art thou cut down to the

ground, which didft weaken the nations ?SS The ode next introduces the Babylonifh Monarch as giving the unbounded reins to his ambition in the views of his fupremacy in glory and power, that Monarch upon whom are come the fouleft fhame, and the most miserable ruin: Ver. 13. For thou haft faid in thine heart, I ss will afcend into heaven, I will exalt my throne "above the stars of GoD: I will sit alfo upon "the mount of the congregation, in the sides " of the north: I will afcend above the heights " of the clouds; I will be like the moft High." New Profopopeias are introduced. They who have found the dead body of the King of Babylon, which has been caft out unburied, and attentively and nearly furvey it, can fcarce believe it to be the corps of fo great and powerful a Monarch: Ver. 16. " They that fee thee fhall-narsrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, faying, Is this the man that made the earth to

* tremble, that did shake kingdoms? that made

"the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the ss cities thereof? that opened not the houfe of " his prisoners ?"

A taunting fpeech is then taken up against him, that the common rites of burial are deferv. edly denied him, because of his cruelty: Ver. 19, 20." But thou art caft out of thy grave, like "an abominable branch; and as the raiment of those that are slain, thruft through with a fword, that go down to the stones of the pit, ss as a carcafe trodden under feet. Thou shalt "not be joined with them in burial, because

thou haft destroyed thy land, and slain thy ts people: the feed of evil-doers fhall never be " renowned." Next his very name, his ftock, and his posterity are execrated: Ver. 21. " Pre"pare slaughter for his children, for the iniSquity of their fathers; that they do not rife " and pofsefs the land, nor fill the face of the Ss world with cities."

The scene is closed with a most awful speech of God himself, threatening the excision of the defcendants of the King of Babylon, and his imperial city: Ver. 22. " For I will rife up against

them, faith the LORD of hofts, and cut off " from Babylon the name and remnant, and fon " and nephew, faith the LORD: I will alfo make sit a possession for the bittern, and pools of waster; and I will sweep it with the befom of deftruction, faith the LORD of hosts.",

We fhall conclude with the remarks of Doctor

LOWTH upon the passage. "What images, how

"various,