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Chapter
XLVI

Ver. 13. I bring near my righteousness: it fhall not be far off, and my falvation shall not tarry; and I will place falvation in Zion for Ifrael my glory.] Ye may think the Time long till I come to your Relief, and that the Redemption I have fo often affur'd you of is at too great a Distance, quite out of Sight; but my Faithfulness or exact Performance of my Promife fhall make nearer Approaches every Day, and at laft be manifeft to your Eyes; the Salvation I have promis'd I will put off no longer, but fix it in Jerufalem, and make it for the future a Place of Security for my People Ifrael, whom I glory in.

Chapter
XLVII.

The ARGUMENT of Chapter XLVII.

In this Chapter the Prophet firft defcribes the wretched Condition to which Babylon should be reduc'd, of which he affigns Three Causes, her Inhumanity to the Jewish Captives, making no Diftinction between Old and Young, thofe that were able to undergo Hardships, and thofe that were not; her Pride, which made her reckon herself so powerful that it was not poffible for her Throne to be fhaken or her Kingdom deftroy'd; and lastly, her Superftition, in giving Credit to Dealers in Magic, ·Pretenders to Divination, and other Impoftors, who should be fo far from foreseeing or preventing their Countries Ruin, that they themselves fhould not be able to escape..

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CHAP. XLVII:

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Ome down and fit in the duft, O virgin daughter of ~Babylon, fit on the ground: there is no throne, Q daughter of the Caldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.] He fpeaks of the proud City of Babylon as of a Woman, and fuppofes her, like a Queen, feated on a Throne in all the Magnificence and Pomp of Majesty, but lets her know her glorious Days are paft, fhe muft lay afide all her Grandeur, and betake herself to the humble State of Sorrow, Lye groveling in the Duft, and fit on the Ground, as the Cuftom was in Times of public Calamities or private Mourning, for thou shalt no more be called, that is, thou-muft

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no longer be tender and delicate, no longer lye on a Bed of Chapter Down, tread on rich Carpets, and fhine in Silks, but begin to use thy felf to a harder way of Living.

Ver. 2. Take the milftones and grind meal, uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Prepare thy felf to undergo the Drudgery of a Slave, of which the Prophet gives a laborious Inftance in Grinding, the peculiar Employment of Vaflals and Malefactors, like beating Hemp with us. Uncover thy locks, that is, thou shalt not have Time to take care and adjuft thy Locks, but let them hang negligently, the Diadem fhall be tore off thy Head, your Cloaths ftripp'd off thy Back, and the Covering of thy Feet taken away, and they fhall make thee wade thro' Rivers, driving thy Captive Sons before them like Beafts.

Ver. 3, 4. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy fhamefhall be feen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hofts is his name, the holy One of Ifrael Dignas Jove concipit iras. The Revenge I defign to take on thee fhall be worthy my felf, proportion'd to the Dignity of my Perfon,and the Injuries of my People; I will not meet thee as a Man, but as God, faith our Redeemer, whofe Name is the Lord of Hofts, and whofe Power anfwerable to his Name, even the holy One of Ifrael; there is nothing in the Original which anfwers to As for, I fhould therefore rather think Amar is to be understood, fays Gataker, which makes the Senfe more eafy.

Ver. 5. Sit thou filent, and get thee into darkness, O daugh-ter of the Caldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.] Sanctius thinks the Prophet alludes to the Cuftom of noble Matrons, who, upon the Death of their Husbands, retir'd from Converfation, kept clofe, unfeen of any Body, in their Chambers, fet out perhaps like ours in the black Pomp of Mourning.

Ver. 6. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy, upon the antient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. I was angry with my People, and refolv'd to chaftife them for their Sins, therefore I fuffer'd your idolatrous Army to pollute mine Inheritance, and I gave up my People into thine Hands; to fuffer indeed, but not to be treated with fuch Barbarity as I find they have groan'd under ever fince,

XLVII.

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Chapter for thou haft fhewn them no Mercy, even on thofe, in whom XLVII. venerable Age might have mov'd thee to Compaffion, thou haft impos'd the fame Burdens as on the Young, without Confideration of their Weaknefs and Inability to bear up under them.

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Ver. 7. And thou faidft, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.] Thy Arrogance and Conceit of thine own invincible Power was fo great, that it was quite out of thy Mind that there was one greater than thee; it never enter'd into thy Thoughts that it was poffible for thee to be miferable, to fall into fuch Calamities as I will bring on thee; thou didst not remember the latter end of it, of thy Pomp and Greatness, what it might end in at last.

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Ver. 8, 9. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleafures, that dwelleft carelefly, that fayeft in thine heart, I am, and none elfe befides me, I shall not fit as a widow, neither fhall Í know the lofs of children. But these two things fhall come to thee in a moment in one day; the loss of children and widow-hood they shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitude of thy forceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. It is ufual with this Prophet to reprefent Cities like Women, and their Inhabitants like fo many Children brought up under their Care; therefore the Prophet brings in Babylon boafting of her numerous Progeny, which was fo great that the prefum'd it was out of the Power of Fortune, or any thing elfe, to reduce her to the folitary State of Widowhood; that is, dethrone her Monarch and destroy her Inhabitants, both which he tells her fhall come upon her in Perfection, not a Prince nor a Subject shall be left her, the Royal Family shall be quite extinguifh'd, and her Citizens entirely destroy'd.

Ver. to. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, thou haft faid, None Teeth me: thy wijdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou haft faid in thine heart, I am, and none elfe befides me.] The Wisdom of the Chaldeans chiefly confifted in the Knowledge of the Motions and Conjunctions of the Stars and Planets, from the daily Obfervation De Divinati- of which, fays Cicero, they pretend to establish a Science, by which they can foretel what the Fate of a Man fhall be during the Course of his Life; but the Prophet tells them

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their Wisdom should be their Ruin; they thought them- Chapter felves fecure because no unlucky Afpect or Conjunction XLVII. foreboded any National Calamity, therefore they were furpriz'd before they knew an Enemy was coming againft them. The whole Verfe may he thus paraphras'd: For thou hast gone on fecurely in thy Wickedness, being per fuaded that no one faw thee, no one who was able to call thee to account and visit thee for it; and the Wisdom and Knowledge upon which thou fo much valu'dft thy felf has been thy Ruin; for if you had not depended fo much on your Skill in Divinations and on your Strength, you would have prepar'd for your Defence, and not fuffer'd an Enemy. to come to your very Capital before you made Head against

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Ver. 11. Therefore fhall evil come upon thee, thou shalt not know from whence it rifeth: and mischief fhall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able to put it off: and defolation fhall come upon thee fuddenly, which thou shalt not know.] The Prophet derides their pretended Skill in Divinations and Aftrology, in fpight of which they fhould be fo far from being able to forefee or prevent their Destruction, that when it was at the Door, just ready to overwhelm them, they should not be able to discover from whence it came: perhaps pointing at Cyrus's taking the City by Surprize, leading his Soldiers thro' unfufpected Ways, and entring the City while they were in the midst of their Revels.

Ver. 12, 13. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy forceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if fo be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayeft prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counfels: let now the aftrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognofticators ftand up, and fave thee from these things that shall come upon thee.] He infults the Babylonians, bids them mufter all their Forces, produce the whole Poffe of their Stargazers, Diviners and Enchanters, and let them try their Skill, and fee whether they could prevent this Calamity; by which he means they fhould not. Stand now, O Babylon, furrounded with all the mysterious Rites of Incantation, and all the various Methods of Sorcery, in which thou haft taken a great deal of Pains from thy very Youth, and try if they will be of any Advantage to thee, or enable thee

XLVII.

Chapter to prevail against the Perfians; I tell thee, proud City thou wearieft thy felf to no purpofe in the multitude of thy Counfels, all thy Schemes and Projects fhall come to nothing, tho' all thy quick-fighted Aftrologers, and Stargazers, and Monthly Prognofticators, lay their Heads together to fecure thee.

Ver. 14. Behold, they fhall be as stubble: the fire fhall burn them they fhall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there fhall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to fit before it.] For thefe pretended Pryers into the Book of Fate, thefe Sage Foretellers of the Fortune of other Men, fhall neither forefee nor prevent their own Destruction, but fall in the general Calamity with the undifcerning Vulgar.

Ver. 15. Thus fhall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants from thy youth, they shall wander every one to his quarter, none shall fave thee.] Thus fhall it be with thee in regard of thofe Diviners, on whofe Skill in foretelling the Fate of Kingdoms thou haft fo much depended, tiring thy felf, as it were, in running from one of thefe Impoftors to another; they fhall fhare in the common Calamities which fhall befall thee, and the Foreign Merchants, who have dealt with thee from thy Youth, fhall retire with their Effects to their own Country, and leave thee to make the best Defence thou canst for thy felf.

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The ARGUMENT of Chapter XLVIII. He speaks to his Countrymen in Captivity, and endeavours to prevent their falling into Idolatry, by infifting that none of the Chaldean Idols were able to tell them beforehand, had plainly done, what they were to fuffer, how long their Affictions should laft, or who should deliver them; thefe Things none of the Idols could tell them, and therefore they had no Reafon to worship them; for if they deferv'd to be morfhipp'd, they were really Gods, if Gods, they could foretel Things to come; and if they could foretel Things to come,they could have foretold thofe remarkable Events of their Captivity and Reftauration; thefe Things no Idols had or could tell, for be infifts upon it that they knew nothing of them till he made them

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