lency, shall be
as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited,
neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither
shall the Arabians pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make
their fold there; but wild beasts of the deserts shall lie there, and
the owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there." Both Nineveh
and Babylon arose to glory and power by unscrupulous conquests, for
their kings and people were military in their tastes and habits; and
with dominion cruelly and wickedly obtained came arrogance and pride
unbounded, and with these luxury and sensuality. The wickedest city of
antiquity meets with the most terrible punishment that is recorded of
any city in the world's history. Not only were pride and cruelty the
peculiar vices of its kings and princes, but a gross and degrading
idolatry, allied with all the vices that we call infamous, marked the
inhabitants of the doomed capital; so that the Hebrew language was
exhausted to find a word sufficiently expressive to mark its
foul depravity, or sufficiently exultant to rejoice over its
predicted \fall. Most cities have recovered more or less from their
calamities,--Jerusalem, Athens, Rome,--but Babylon was utterly
destroyed, as by fire from heaven, and never has been rebuilt or again
inhabited, except by wild beasts. Its very ruins, the remains of walls
three hundred and fifty feet in height, and of hanging gardens, and of
palaces a mile in circuit, and of majestic temples, are now with
difficulty determined. Truly has that wicked city been swept with the
besom of destruction, as Isaiah predicted.

The prophet then predicts the desolation of Moab on account of its
pride, which seems to have been its peculiar offence. It is to be noted
that the sin of pride has ever called forth a severe judgment. "It goeth
before destruction." Pride was one of the peculiarities of both Nineveh
and Babylon. But that which is exalted shall be brought low. A bitter
humiliation, at least, has ever been visited upon those who have
arrogated a lofty superiority. It presupposes an independence utterly
inconsistent with the real condition of men in the eyes of the
Omnipotent; in the eyes of men, even, it is offensive in the extreme,
and ends in isolation. We can tolerate certain great defects and
weaknesses, but no one ever got reconciled to pride. It led to the ruin
of Napoleon, as well as of Caesar; it creates innumerable enemies, even