be feasted with the fruit of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. 212 Of great Seleucia. The sir name of Seleucia was given to the kings of Babylon; Seleucia, one of the generals of Alexander, founder of the Syro-Macedonian empire, before Christ, 301. Babylon, a celebrated city, the capital of the Assyrian empire, on the banks of the Euphrates. It had one hundred brazen gates; and its walls, which were cemented with bitumen, and greatly enlarged and embellished by the activity of Semiramis, measured four hundred and eighty stadia in circumference, fifty cubits in thickness, and two hundred in height. It was taken by Cyrus, B. C. 530, after he had drained the waters of the Euphrates into a new channel, and marched his troops by night into the town, through the dried bed; and it is said, that the fate of the extensive capital was unknown to the inhabitants of the distant suburbs, until late in the evening. Babylon became famous for the death of Alexander, and for the new empire which was afterwards established there under the Seleucidae. 214 Dwelt in Tellassar The children of Eden, which were in Tellassar. Isa. xxxvii. 12. 223 Southward through Eden went a river large, Orontes, a riyer of Syria, rising in Cœlosyria, and falling after a rapid and troubled course, into the Mediterranean, below Antioch. According to Strabo, who mentions some fabulous accounts N wished to consult him, generally resorted. He was difficult of access; and, when consulted, refused to give answers, by immediately assuming different shapes, and eluding the grasp, if not properly secured in fetters. 617 Culminate from th' equator; The sun or star is said to culminate, when it is in the highest point in the heavens that it is possible for it to be; that is, when it is upon the meridian. 622 The same whom John saw also in the sun. And I saw an angel standing in the sun. xix. 17. Circled his head a golden tiar Rev. Tiar is an ornament, or habit, wherewith the ancient Persians covered their heads; and with which the Amorites and kings of Pontus are represented on medals. These last, because they were descended from the Persians. It was worn in the form of a tower, and sometimes adorned with peacocks' feathers. 636 And now a stripling Cherub he appears, They were represented in the tabernacle and temple, in human shape, with two wings. Exod. xxv. 18. And angel of the second order. 648 The Arch-angel Uriel A principal angel who has power over others. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God. Rev. viii. 2. Brightest Seraph tell An holy angel of the first order. 683 Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks Invisible. Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, When our deep plots do fail; and that should teach us, There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them how we will. 702 For wonderful indeed are all his works. And shall I forget the God of my salvation, the author of all my mercies? Shall I render him no expressions of thankfulness? Then might all nature reproach my ingratitude: shall I rest satisfied with the bare acknowledgment of my lips? No, let my life be vocal, and speak his praise, in that only genuine, that most emphatical language, the language of devout obediLet the bill be drawn upon my very heart let all my affections acknowledge the draught: and let the whole tenor of my actions, in time and through eternity, be continually paying the debt; the ever-pleasing, ever-growing debt of duty, veneration and love. HERVEY. ence. 708 I saw, when at his word the formless mass. Which, though to us it seems embroil'd, moves on By wisdom's finest hand, and issuing all In general good. THOMSON. 718 That roll'd orbicular and turn'd to stars. Stars Numerous, and every star perhaps a world Of destin'd habitation. M His day, which else as th' other hemisphere When the sun and the moon are in opposite parts of the heavens: the latter rises in the east, as the former sets in the west. The western sun withdraws. Meanwhile the moon, .Full orb'd and breaking through the scatter'd clouds, Shews her broad visage in the crimson'd east. THOMSON. 730 With borrow'd light her countenance triform The moon is incessantly varying; either in her aspect or her stages. Sometimes she looks full upon us, and her visage is all lustre; sometimes she appears in profile, and shews us only half her enlightened face ; anon a radiant crescent but just adorns her brow; soon it dwindles into a slender streak; till, at length, all her beauty vanishes, and she becomes a beamless orb. Sometimes she rises with the descending day, and begins her procession amidst admiring multitudes; ere long she defers her purpose till the midnight watches, and steals unobserved upon the sleeping world. Sometimes she just enters the edges of the western horizon, and drops us a ceremonious visit; within a while, she sets out on her nightly tour, from the opposite regions of the east, traverses the whole hemisphere, and never offers to withdraw, till the more refulgent partner of her sway renders her presence unnecessary. In a word, she is, while conversant among us, still waxing or waning, and never continueth in one stay. HERVEY. 736 and Satan, bowing low, As to superior spirits is wont in heaven. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but God. the powers that be are ordained of God. Rom. xii. 1. While subjects learn reverence and obedience to their magistrates, not only for wrath but for conscience sake, may magistrates learn a correspondent care to answer that end of their office, which an apostle makes the foundation of such precepts as these; and to be indeed a minister of God for good, a terror not to good, but to evil works. Great Britain is happy in a government to which this character may justly be applied. Its subjects are under the greatest obligations to the divine goodness, in having so remarkably overthrown the attempts of those who would have left us little use of the scripture, but would themselves have abused it, to have rivetted on the heaviest of fetters, by perverting this passage of St. Paul, as if he had intended to subvert every free constitution under heaven; and to put a sword into the hands of merciless tyrants, to kill and take possession of the heritage of the Lord, counting his people but as sheep for the slaughter. we are thus happy, we shall be doubly inexcusable, if we fail in rendering both honour and tribute, where they are so justly due. May we extend our care to the universal law of love; and may it be so deeply engraven on our hearts, that the practice of every social virtue may be easy and delightful. While |