not to escape. The conquerors were to be as merciless towards the unarmed and defenceless as towards the flying troops. "And their children shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be plundered, and their wives ravished," v. 16. These were, doubtless, outrages the Babylonian troops had in the sack of cities inflicted on others. The evil of this kind they had perpetrated was now visited on them; and their haughtiness and pride brought down, as they had humbled the arrogance of those who had fallen under their power.

26. Elliptical metaphor in the use of fruit of the womb, for offspring. "Behold I excite against them the Medes, who will not regard silver, and as for gold they will not delight in it. The bows shall dash the youth in pieces; and the fruit of the womb they will not pity; their eye shall not have mercy on children," v. 17, 18. What an end of the honor, splendor, and luxury of the inhabitants of that proud capital, to fall helplessly into the hands of such conquerors! This picture of the unsparing cruelty of the Medes is verified by the narratives of the Greek historians. They were accustomed to display a savage barbarity towards those whom they vanquished.

27. Metonymy, of the eyes for the mind, which perceives through them, The helpless and suffering

appeal more strongly to the sympathies when beheld, than when a mere description of them is heard. To say that the eyes of conquerors will not have mercy on children, is to exhibit them as not to be moved to pity and forbearance by a spectacle that is naturally adapted more than any other to touch the hearts even of the cruel, and soften them to gentleness.

28. Metonymy in the use of the abstract for the concrete; or of a quality for that to which it belongs. "And Babylon the beauty of kingdoms" —that is, the most beautiful city of the kingdoms,— "the glory "that is the most glorious of the objects" of the Chaldees' pride, shall be like God's overthrowing Sodom and Gomorrah," v. 19. The expression indicates that its splendor was such that it was the object of boast and pride, and shed a lustre over the whole empire.

29. Comparison of its overthrow to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Its destruction was to resemble theirs, not in the instruments by which it was to be accomplished, or its immediateness, but in its completeness. It was to be as extraordinary, as resistless, and at length, though occupying a series of years, as absolute as that of the cities of the plain.

"It shall not be inhabited for ever, and it shall not be dwelt in from generation to generation;

neither shall the Arab pitch tent there; nor shall the shepherds cause" their flocks "to lie there," v. 20. No language could more strongly depict its utter desolation. It was not only never again to be inhabited as a city, but no family or even individual was to reside in it from generation to generation. The Arabs that were for a long series of ages to have possession of the neighboring territory, were not even in their marches to pitch tent there; and the shepherds that were to pasture their flocks in the surrounding plains, were not to cause them to lie down there. But it was not only to be shunned by human beings; it was to become the abode of wild and worthless animals, that choose the most solitary and dismal scenes for their residence.

30. Metaphor in the use of full. "But creatures of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of howls, and there shall the daughters of the ostrich dwell, and wild goats shall gambol there," v. 21.

31. Elliptical metaphor in the use of daughters for the female young or brood of the ostrich.

32. Metaphor in the use of near, which is an adjective of place instead of time. "And wolves shall howl in his houses, and jackals in their luxurious palaces. And her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged," v. 22. The sym

bolic Babylon of the Apocalypse is in like manner to become, on its fall, the dwelling of the most odious moral beings. "Great Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."-Chap. xviii. 2.

This example shows that the exposition of the figures of such a prophecy, is an exposition of nearly its whole sense; and that it presents the scenery of the prediction, the actors, the actions, the events, and the impressions which they make on those who witness and share in them, with a vividness and beauty to which unfigurative language is altogether unequal. As compared to such a composition, a plain literal description is but what, in painting, a mere outline sketch is to a delineation exhibiting the whole figure in its living attitude and colors, and indicating the thoughts and passions that glow in the features and beam from the eyes; so an interpretation of such a prediction that neglects its figures is but what a dry sketch is to a full and life-like picture is but what a withered landscape, a leafless forest, is to a wide scene of cultivated fields, orchards, and wooded hills, when arrayed in the fresh verdure, and decked with the gorgeous blossoms of spring.

What is the figure in verse 1? How does it appear that it is not a metaphor? Was the prediction communicated to the prophet? What is the figure, verse 2! Who was addressed? Who is addressed in verse 3 What figure is used? Is it appropriate and lofty What is the first figure, verse 4 What was it that the prophet heard? What is the second? What is the character of the verse! What figure is used, verse 5 What figure occurs first in verse 6 What was the day of Jehovah? What words are used figuratively, verse 6? What figure besides is there in it? By what figure is "melt " used, verse 7, and what does it express ? What nouns are used by a figure, verse 8, and how? What verb in it is used by a figure, and how? What figure is the third in the verse? What is the fourth? What does the last imply Explain the figure, verse 9? What figure is used, verse 10? Explain it. Name and explain the figures, verse 11. Is there any figure in verse 12 Name and explain the chief figure, verse 13. What is its character ? What other figure is there in it? Point out the figures, verses 14, 15. What is taught by them? What figures

occur, verses 17, 18

Explain them. Explain the first figure,

verse 19. Explain the second figure, verse 19! What is taught,

verse 20 What figures occur, verse 21 a figure, verse 22? Explain it.

What word is used by