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his strength, his power, his royalty. He shall differ infinitely from other kings, who cannot be such unless they are acknowledged by some state; and who fall into the condition of private men, if their subjects refuse to obey them. Their authority is not their own, nor from themselves, nor can they give it duration. But the child who shall be born, even when he shall appear to be in want of all things, and to be incapable of commanding, shall bear all the weight of divine majesty and royalty. [i] He shall support every thing by his efficacy and power; and his sovereign authority resides fully and wholly in himself, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Nothing shall prove this better than the manner in which he shall chuse to reign. He must have from himself, and independant of all exterior means, a sovereign power, in order to make him be worshipped by mankind, notwithstanding the ignominy of the cross, which he shall vouchsafe to take upon himself; and to change the instrument of his punishment into the instrument of his victory, and the most splendid mark of his sovereignty; the government shall be upon his shoulder, Those who study the Scriptures attentively, find that the beauty of it consists in the strength and greatness of the thoughts.

IV. DESCRIPTION.

1. Cyrus was the greatest conqueror, and the most accomplished prince mentioned in history, the reason of which the Scripture gives us, viz. that God himself had taken a pleasure in forming him, for the accomplishment of his intended mercy to his people. He calls him by his name two hundred years before his birth, and declares, that he himself will set the crown on his head, and put a sword in his hand, in order to make him the deliverer of his people.

[k] Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right-hand I have holden, to subdue nations be

[] Heb. i. 3. Isa. xl. 10,

[k] Isa, xlv. 1, 2. 5.

fore

fore him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron... I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God besides me. I girded thee though thou hast not known me.

In another place, he commands Cyrus, king of the Persians, then called Elamites, to set out with the Medes; he orders the siege to be made, and the walls to fall down. [1] March, Elam; Mede, do thou besiege. In fine, Babylon will no longer make others sigh. Let him come now at my command; let him join with the Medes; let him besiege a city which is an enemy to my worship and to my people; let him obey me without knowing me; let him follow me with his eyes shut; let him execute my commands without being either of my counsel, or in my confidence; and let him teach all princes, and even all men, how I am sovereign over empires, events, and even wills; since I make myself to be equally obeyed by kings, and every private soldier in the armies, without having any occasion either to reveal myself, or to exhort, or employ any other means than my will, which is also my power. [m] That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is none else.

How majestic are these few words! Go up, Elam ; Prince of the Persians, set out. Besiege, Mede: and you, prince of the Medes, form the siege. I have made all their groans to cease: Babylon is taken and plundered: it has no power; its tyranny is at an end.

2. The Scriptures have painted in the strongest colours, how greatly sensible God is to the oppression of the poor and weak, as well as to the injustice of the judges and the mighty of the earth.

[n] Isaiah represents truth feeble and trembling, imploring, but in vain, the assistance of the judges,

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and representing herself to no purpose before every tribunal. Access is denied her every where; she is in all places rejected, forgotten, and trodden under foot. Interest prevails over right, and the good man is delivered up a prey to the unjust. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and he wondered that there was no intercessor.

His silence would make me conclude, either that he does not see those disorders, or that he is indifferent to them. It is not so, says the prophet in another place; every thing is prepared for judgment, whilst men are not thinking any thing of the matter. [0] The invisible judge is present. He is standing in order to take in hand the defence of those who have no other; and to pronounce a very different sentence against the unjust, and in behalf of those who are poor and weak. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in their houses. What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor ? says the Lord God of hosts. Nothing can be stronger or more cloquent than the reproaches which God makes in this place, to the judges and princes of his people. How! You who ought to defend my people, as a vine that was committed to your care; you who ought to serve as a hedge and a rampart to it; it is you yourselves have made wild havoc of this vine, and ruined it, as though the [p] fire had past over it. And you eat the vine. Had you been but a little tender to your brethren, and not ruined them entirely! but after you had stripped my people, you lay them. in the wine-presses, in order to squeeze the marrow out to their bones: You bruise them; you crush them under the mill, in order to grind them to dust; you grind them. You perhaps intend to conceal your thefts and rapine from me, by converting them into proud furniture for the ornament of your houses. I [] So the original says.

[0] Isa iii. 13-3 5.

have followed with attentive and jealous eyes, all you have despoiled your brother of; and see it, notwithstanding your great endeavours to hide it. The spoil of the poor is in your houses. Every thing calls aloud for vengeance, and shall obtain it; it shall fall on you and your children; and the son of an unjust father, as he inherits his crime, will also inherit my anger. [q] Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity. For the stones shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

We observe a quite opposite character in the person of Job, who was the pattern or example of a good judge and a good prince. [r] For from my youth compassion was brought up with me as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb.... I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.... I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy... I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.... I was a father to the poor... I brake the jaws of the wicked, and pluckt the spoil out of his teeth.

3. I shall conclude with a description of a very different kind from those which preceded it, but no less remarkable; it is that of a war-horse, which God himself described in the book of Job.

: [s] Hast thou, says God to Job, given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grashopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with [9] Hab. ii. 11, 12.

14-17.

[r] Job xxxi. 18. xxix. 12, [] Ibid. xxxix. 19-25. fierceness

fierceness and rage; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and shouting.

Every word of this would merit an explication, in order to display the beauties of it; but I shall take notice only of the latter, which give a kind of understanding and speech to the horse.

Armies are a long time before they are set in battle array, and are sometimes a great while in view of one another without moving. All the motions are marked by particular signals, and the soldiers are appointed to perform their various duties, by the sound of trumpet. This slowness is importunate to the horse; as he is ready at the first sound of the trumpet, he is very impatient to find the army must so often have notice given to it. He repines secretly against all these delays, and not being able to continue in his place, nor to disobey orders, he strikes the ground perpetually with his hoof, and complains, in his way, that the soldiers lose their time in gazing one upon another. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage. In his impatience, he considers as nothing all such signals as are not decisive, and which only point out some circumstances to which he is not attentive; neither believeth he that it is the sound of a trumpet. But when it is in earnest, and that the last blast of the trumpet calls to battle, then the whole countenance of the horse is changed. One would conclude that he distinguishes, as by his smell, that the battle is going to begin; and that he heard the general's order distinctly, and answers the confused cries of the army, by a noise, which discovers his joy and courage. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and shouting.

If the reader compares Homer's and Virgil's admirable descriptions of the horse, he will find how vast→ ly superior this is to them both.

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