See mighty Babylon (so heaven ordains,) Yet fear not, Israel, at his dreadful ire, Thou fav'rite child of heav'n's exalted sire! What tho' pale rage in her triumphant car, Drives o'er thy fields, and sounds the blast of war! What tho' thy warriors load the purple plain! Tho' bellowing slaughter strides o'er heaps of slain, Tho' horror numbs thy sense, and freezes ev'ry vein! 'Tis thus thy God makes boasted might subside, Thus spurns his foes, and bends the brow of pride; Yet know, those wounds avenging justice gave, Stern Ire impell'd, but mercy meant to save; Triumphant mercy! that exalts the low, Sighs o'er the oppress'd, and melts at human woe ! Wipes ev'ry tear, bids pining anguish cease, And pours o'er all the healing balm of peace. But see once more th' intrepid victor near ! The shouts of battle thunder on my ear; Mark, mark yon yielding throng !—'tis Israel flies, Groans, noise, despair, and tumults rend the skies. I faint; o'erpow'r'd beneath the whelming flood. Wild numbing grief congeals my creeping blood : I see, I shudder at th' approaching train; My lips too quiver with convulsive pain : Fix'd dumb with horror at this dreadful blow, I stand, a -a speechless monument of woe! Yet mighty God! be all my pow'rs resign'd! Then by no storms dismay'd, no fears deprest, THE OVERTHROW OF PHARAOH'S ARMY. OGILVIE. Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are filed apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth: I will destroy the city, and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries : and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together. JEREMIAH, xlvi. 3.-12. PREPARE for the battle, draw near to the field, Oh! why have I seen them retreating dismay'd? Let the warrior, tho' swift, not depart from the strife, Biblical Illustrations. ISAIAH, xxxv. 7. And the glowing sands shall become a pool, BISHOP LOWTH'S TRANSLATION. "THE word (serab) is Arabic, as well as Hebrew, expressing in both languages the same thing; the glowing sandy plain, which in hot countries, at a distance, has the appearance of water. It occurs in the Koran, (chap. xxiv.) But as to the unbelievers, their works are like a vapour in a plain, which the thirsty traveller thinketh to be water, until, when he cometh thereto, he findeth it to be nothing. Mr. Sale's note on this place is, The Arabic word serab signifies that false appearance, which in the eastern countries is often seen in sandy plains, about noon, resembling a large lake of water in motion, and is occasioned by the reverberation of the sun-beams: (by the quivering undulating motion of that quick succession of vapours and exhalations, which are extracted by the powerful influence of the sun. SHAW's Travels, p. 378). It sometimes tempts thirsty travellers out of their way, but deceives them, when they come near, either going forward (for it always appears at the same distance), or quite vanishes." Thus Bishop Lowth (where see more) in loco, to which we subjoin the following lively picture of this phenomenon from the pen of the intrepid traveller, Belzoni. "The next phenomenon is the mirage, often described by travellers, who assert having been deceived by it, as at a distance it appears to them like water. This is certainly the fact, and I must confess, that I have been deceived myself, even after I was aware of it. The perfect resemblance to water, and the strong desire for this element, made me conclude, in spite of all my caution not to be deceived, that it was really water I saw. It generally appears like a still lake, so unmoved by the wind, that every thing above is to be seen most distinctly reflected by it, which is the principal cause of the deception. If the wind agitate any of the plants that rise above the horizon of the mirage, the motion is seen perfectly at a great distance. If the traveller stand elevated much above the mirage, the apparent water seems less united and less deep, for, as the eyes look down upon it, there is not thickness enough in the vapour on the surface of the ground to conceal the earth from the sight. But, if the traveller be on a level with the horizon of the mirage, he cannot see through it, so that it appears to him clear water. By putting my head first to the ground, and then mounting a camel, the height of which from the ground might have been about ten feet at the most, I found a great difference in the appearance of the mirage. On approaching it, it becomes thinner, and appears, if agitated by the wind, like a field of ripe corn. It gradually vanishes as the traveller approaches, and at last entirely disappears when he is on the spot."* It is probable that Jeremiah refers to the serab or mirage, when, in pouring forth his complaint to God for mercies deferred, he says, "Wilt thou be altogether unto me as waters that be not seen" (Jer. xv. 18. margin), that is, which have no reality, as the Septuagint has rendered it. The following observations on the horrors of travelling in the Great Desert of Arabia, from the same pen as the above, will afford an admirable illustration of the passage. After describing the appearance of the Desert from the intense heat of the sun, &c. Mr. Belzoni proceeds: "Generally speaking, in a desert, there are few springs of water, some of them at the distance of four, six, and eight days journey from one another, and not all of sweet water: on the contrary, it is generally salt or bitter; so that, if the thirsty traveller drinks of it, it increases his thirst, and he suffers more than before. But, when the calamity happens, that the next well, which is so anxiously sought for, is found dry, the misery of such a situation cannot well be described. The camels, which afford the only means of escape, are so thirsty that they cannot proceed to another well: and, if the travellers kill them, to extract the little liquid which remains in their stomachs, they themselves cannot advance any farther. The situation must be dreadful, and admits of no resource. Many perish, victims of Narrative of Operations and Researches in Egypt, &c. p. 196. 4to. or vol. i. pp. 304, 305. 8vo.-Sir R. K. Porter also bears witness to the complete deception of these vapours. Travels in Armenia, &c. vol. ii, pp. 241, 242. Η ύδως ψευδες ουκ έχον πίστιν |