England of OUl'II in her world-wide tran~actions is the chief manifestation at this moment! So that, as Dean Alford cnµinP'Q11ly ren,arks, some parts of the description rather suit London than Rome. Commercially, iudeed, we have done with any avowed tratlc in the bodies of mB'll. But that iu the eight of God many of the accepted maxims or IOllle men of businel!II involve a fearful triding with consciences and souls, is not open to question. It is well known that almost every variety of export and import ll&IIUld here is ours. Our ·shipping interest& are far larger than those of any other nation on the face of the earth. Our gross tonnage through the Suez. Cena! alone lhowa this. Our merchandise touches every shore. The splendour and renown of our name and fame intoxioatea many and many a merchant. Luxury, self-sufficiency, pdde, ~lessness,-these are t.o a grievous extent our bane and our poison. And who W-Ould venture to dispute the fact that, from sheer love· of greed and gold, thousands on thoUS11nds will play fast and loose with truth and principle, and the right and God, and will say, n Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from u•? And the fearful fact ought to be recognized and acknowledged, that· eYen the hatred which some entertain of the prie.atly yoke ariil88 from a refusal to wear any yoke' at all. "'Our tongues are our own ; who is Lord over us ? " Bo men speak. Thie evil ia certainly ~ huge that it is nothing le11a than a •• Babylon tbe_gNIBt... IL THIii BABYLOl!I' u DOOMED. The means and methods of Babylon's fall have lNien indicated in the preceding homily (q.v.). They are fourfold. i. Divine overruling. 2. Human desertion. 3.. Heavy jurlgments. 4. Retribution and desolation. IIL THB PALL OF BABYLON WILL CALL FROM MANY A BITTER LAMENTATION. There are three sources from which the lament will come. i. From kinga, as they see the great city which was the glory of their empire reduced and brought low. 2. From merchants, whode sources of wealth are dried up, so that "no one bnyeth their mer- chandise any more." 1 3. ~·rom men of the sea, wbo gained their living by trading from port to port, because there is no longer any principal mart with which to trade. And clearly this is such a lamentatiou as godless men would make. We read in eh. xvi. 21 .that when the destruction eame men blasphemed God because of the hail. In strict aocortlance therewith is the spirit of the wail over Babylon'e fall. It is not that God· bas not been glorified. It is not that her busy life has been used for rposea most utterly selfu;h and often vile, for the lamentation over the ruin ia
E t as llt'llish as· their· commerce itself has been (ver. 11). Their cargoes no one ,· any mure/ Surely, nothing could bespeak the degradation of man when in apostasy from God; more than suoh a lamentation as this. It all centres in self, They have made their commerce their god. Ah! earthly souls will be earthly still, even under the ruin of all they hold most dear, Here we see sketched before us men -,-men made for God, to enjoy him, to love him, and to obey him-clad in sackcloth; and why 'I Because they have not honoured their God? Ah, no I But because tlilJ on, buys tht1ir cargo/ It is as if an orphan child should centre all bis grief on a lost farthing, and tbink nothing of his disobedience to his lost parents. Nor can we fail t.o detect in this lament a note of bitterness against God. They see that the great Power they have been ignoring is working against them, and that they are blnkrupt for et.-rnity. Terrible beyond expression must it be for a man who has lived for earth, to flnd--tlle world for which he lived departing for ever. How l!are and forlorn and desola:e must he feel I Th11 harpers, and singers, and pipers, and trumpeters are for ever still; the sound of hammrr and anvil is heard no more; the whirl of the mill has ceased; the sheen of the silver, the glitter of the gold, the li~ht of the lamp, ban nnish!'(i away; the voice of gladness, and of the bridegroom and the bride, are hushed; and the man is left alone. Hie gods are gone, and he is oonfronted with the God whom he neglected, to find-alaa I too late-that his whole life. has been a mistake. Be has loved and served the creatw-e more than the Creator, and now, instead of finQi11g his joy in God when every earthly joy is gone, his only look-out is a vista Qf bankruptcy and of irreparable woe. All his dignity has disappeared, and is reduce4 &oa moan s.nd groan that 110 one buys hi• cargo/ IV. 'fins PIOTURB OP GODLESS AND' HOPELESS l,AUENTATION OUGHT NOT TO B. 1 See a valuable note on the " Lament of Ula Merchanti" 'n Bhthop Carpenter'a • Com- mentary.' e. rrnr.1..._24.j TUB Jt:EVEJ'..J.Tl()N OP R'L'. JOHN'. THE- DIVINB. Itri