and the guilt which had reduced her to it. a She ftill was puffed up with the glory of poffeffing the empire of the fea; of being the feat of univerfal commerce; of giving birth to the most famous colonies; of having within her walls merchants, whofe credit, riches, and fplendour, equalled them to the princes and great men of the earth; of being governed by a monarch, who might juftly be entitled god of the fea; of tracing back her origin to the most remote antiquity; of having acquired, by a long feries of ages, a kind of eternity; and of having a right to promife herself another fuch eternity in times to come. b ، But fince this city, corrupted by pride, by avarice and luxury, has not profited by the firft leffon which God had given her, in the perfon of the king of Babylon; and that, after being oppreffed by all the forces of the East, fhe ftill would not learn to confide any longer in the falfe and imaginary fupports of her own greatnefs: d God foretels her another chaftifement, which he will fend upon her from the Weft, near 400 years after the first. Her deftruction will come from Chittim, that is, Macedonia; from a kingdom fo weak and obfcure, that it had been despised a few years before; a kingdom whence fhe could never have expected fuch a blow. Tyre, poffeffed with an opinion of her own wifdom, and proud of her fleets, of her immenfe riches, which the heaped up as mire in the ftreets," and alfo protected by the whole power of the Perfian empire, does not imagine The has any thing to fear from those new enemies, who being fituated at a great diftance from her, without either money, frength, or reputation; having neither harbours nor fhips, and being quite unfkilled in navigation; cannot therefore, as the imagines, annoy her with their land forces. f Tyre looks upon herself as impregnable, because fhe is defended by lofty fortifications, and furrounded on all fides by the sea as with a moat and a girdle: a Ifa. xxiii. 3, 4. 7, 8. 12. b Ezek. xxviii. 2. e1 Maccab. i. I. c Ifa. xxiii. 13 Zech. ix, 2. 5. girdle: nevertheless Alexander, by filling up the arm of the fea which feparates her from the continent, will force off her girdle, and demolish those ramparts which ferved her as a second enclosure. Tyre, thus difpoffeffed of her dignity as queen and as a free city, boasting no more her diadem nor her girdle, will be reduced, during seventy years, to the mean condition of a flave. "The Lord hath purposed it, to ftain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth." h Her fall will drag after it the ruin of trade in general, and fhe will prove to all cities a subject of forrow and groans, by making them lofe the prefent means and the future hopes of enriching themselves. * To prove, in a sensible manner, to Tyre, that the prophecy concerning her ruin, is not incredible, and that all the ftrength and wifdom of man can no ways ward off or fufpend the punishment which God has prepared for the pride and the abuse of riches, Ifaiah fets before her the example of Babylon, whofe deftruction ought to have been an example to her. This city, in which Nimrod laid the foundations of his empire, was the most ancient, the most populous, and embellished with more edifices, both public and private, than any other city. She was the capital of the first empire that ever exifted, and was founded, in order to command over the whole earth, which feemed to be inhabited only by families, which he had brought forth and sent out as fo many colonies, whofe common parent she was. Nevertheless, fays the prophet, fhe is no more, neither Babylon nor her empire. The citizens of Babylon had multiplied their ramparts and citadels, to render even the befieging it impracticable. The inhabitants had raised g Ifa. xxiii. 9. h Ibid. ver. 1. 11. 14. pompous i Ibid. ver. 13, 14. Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not till the Affyrians founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: They fet up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof, and he brought it to ruin. Howl, ye fhips of Tarshish: For your strength is laid waste, Ha. xxiii, 13, 14. pompous palaces, to make their names immortal; but all thefe fortifications were but as fo many dens, in the eyes of Providence, for wild beafts to dwell in; and thefe edifices were doomed to fall to duft, or else to fink to humble cottages. After fo fignal an example, continues the prophet, fhall Tyre, which is fo much inferior to Babylon in many refpects, dare to hope that the menaces pronounced by heaven against her, viz. to deprive her of the empire of the fea, and deftroy her fleets, will not be fulfilled? To make her the more ftrongly fenfible how much fhe has abused her profperity, God will reduce her to a ftate of humiliation and oblivion during three fcore and ten years. But after this feafon of obfcurity, fhe will again endeavour to appear with the air of an harlot, whofe charms and artifices fhe fhall affume; she will employ her utmost endeavours to corrupt youth, and footh their paffions. To promote her commerce, fhe will ufe fraud, deceit, and the moft infidious arts. She will visit every part of the world, to collect the most rare and moft delicious products of every country; to infpire the various nations of the universe with a love and admiration for fuperfluities and splendour, and fill them with an averfion for the fimplicity and frugality of their ancient manners. And the will fet every engine at work, to renew her ancient treaties; to recover the confidence of her former correfpondents; and to compenfate, by a speedy abundance, the fterility of feventy years. Thus, in proportion as the Almighty fhall give Tyre an opportunity of recovering her trade and credit, fhe fhall return to her former fhameful traffic, which God had ruined, by ftripping her of the great poffeffions fhe had applied to fuch pernicious ufes. "But at last, Tyre, converted by the gospel, fhall no more be a scandal and a stumbling-block to nations. She fhall no longer facrifice her labour to the idolatry of wealth, 1 Ibid. ver. 16. k Ifa. xxiii. 15. m Ifa. xxiii. 17. a Ibid. ver. 18, wealth, but to the worship of the Lord, and the comfort of those that ferve him. She fhall no longer render her riches barren and ufelefs by detaining them, but shall scatter them, like fruitful feed, from the hands of believers and minifters of the gospel. One of God's defigns, in the prophecies juft now cited, is to give us a juft idea of a traffic, whofe only motive is avarice, and whofe fruits are pleasure, vanity, and immorality. Mankind look upon cities enriched with a commerce like that of Tyre (and it is the fame with private perfons) as happier than any other; as worthy of envy, and as fit (from their induftry, labour, and the fuccefs of their applications and conduct) to be proposed as patterns for the reft to copy after: But God, on the contrary, exhibits them to us under the fhameful image of a woman loft to all fenfe of virtue; as a woman, whofe only view is to feduce and corrupt youth; who only fooths the paffions and flatters the fenfes; who abhors modefty and every fentiment of honour; and who, banifhing from her countenance every characteristic of chastity, glories in ignominy. We are not to infer from hence, that traffic is finful in itfelf; but we fhould feparate from the effential foundation of trade, which is juft and lawful when rightly used, the paffions of men which intermix with, and by that means pervert the order and end of it. Tyre, converted to Christianity, teaches merchants in what manner they are to carry on their traffic, and the ufes to which they ought to apply their profits. SECT. SECT. VII. Darius writes a fecond letter to Alexander. Journey of the latter to Jerufalem. The honour he pays to faddus the high-prieft. He is fhewn thofe prophecies of Daniel which relate to himself. The king grants great privileges to the Jews, but refufes them to the Samaritans. He befieges and takes Gaza, enters Egypt, and fubdues that country. He there lays the foundations of Alexandria, then goes into Lybia, where he vifits the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and caufes himSelf to be declared the fon of that god. His return into Egypt. WHILST Alexander was carrying on the fiege of Tyre, he had received a fecond letter from Darius, who at laft gave him the title of king. "He offered him ten thousand talents (thirty millions) "as a ranfom for the captive princeffes, and his daughter "Statira in marriage, with all the country he had conquered as far as the Euphrates. Darius hinted to him "the inconftancy of fortune; and defcribed, in the most pompous terms, the numberlefs troops who were ftill "under his cominand. Could he (Alexander) think, "that it was fo very easy to cross the Euphrates, the Tygris, the Araxes, and the Hydafpes, which were as "fo many bulwarks to the Perfian empire? That he "fhould not be always fhut up between rocks and paffes: "That they ought both to appear in a plain, and that "then Alexander would be afhamed to come before him "with only a handful of men." The king hereupon fummoned a council, in which Parmenio was of opinion, that he ought to accept of thofe offers, declaring he himfelf would agree to them, were he Alexander. And fo would I," replied Alexander, " were I Parmenio." He therefore returned the following anfwer: "That he did "not want the money Darius offered him: That it did "not become Darius to offer a thing he no longer poffeffed, "or • Plut. in Alex. p. 681. Quint. Curt. 1. iv. c. 5. Arrian. 1. ii. P. 101. |