28 ftrength of the grain. Bread [corn] is bruifed; becaufe he will not ever be threshing it, nor break [it with] the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it [with] his horsemen; bread corn must be bruised in a mortar, or ground in a mill, because other inftruments are not capable of making it fmall 29 enough. This fkill in husbandry, or rather, this judgment and confumption, alfo cometh forth from the LORD of hofts, [which] is wonderful in counfel, [and] excellent in working; who afflicts his people more or lefs, as their characters and cafes require. I. WE REFLECTION S. E here fee the deteftable nature and great guilt of drunkenness. It overcomes men, deprives them of their reason, ftupifies their understandings, leads them into fatal errors, and expofes them to the practice of every iniquity. Of all drunkards, thofe of Ephraim were the worst, they were God's profeffing people, had been better inftructed than others, and fhould therefore have fet an example of temperance and fobriety. The word of God pronounces a woe upon fuch; and the new Testament affures us that they fhall not inherit the kingdom of God. Let us all therefore be warned, and take heed to ourselves, left at any time our hearts are overcharged with gluttony and drunkennefs, and that day of judgment come upon us unawares. 2. We learn how gracioufly God condefcends to teach men their duty; he gives precept upon precept; here a little, and there a little; he gives his inftructions in a plain, concife manner; and they are often repeated; both to help our memories and imprefs our hearts. Thus fhould parents teach their children, and not overburden their memories and confound their judgments. Thus also should ministers teach their hearers; give them fhort, plain, familiar views of their duty; and frequently repeat their admonitions, even tho' fome nicer hearers may naufeate them. The defign of all is to afford prefent refreshment, and lead to eternal reft. But if men will not hear, they will be broken, and fnared, and taken; and the word will be a favour of death unto death to their fouls. 1 3. Let us regard the Lord Jefus Chrift as a fure foundation ftone, and trust in him. The fixteenth verfe is exprefsly applied to him in the new Teftament. He is a corner ftone, which unites and fupports the whole building; precious in the fight of God and all true believers: he is a fure ftone, that cannot be broken or removed. He that builds his final hopes on this foundation fhall not be confounded; but whatever else we build upon, it will be a refuge of lies, which the hail will fweep away. There is no fecurity but in Chrift; and blessed are all they that truft in him. 4. We fee the danger of making a jeft of the word of God. There were fcornful men in Jerufalem, who ridiculed the prophet's reproofs and admonitions, therefore God made their bands ftrong; and gave them up to their hearts' lufts. They were held in fetters of iniquity, as well as made captives by the Affyrians. We fhould be partiIf what ministers fay cularly cautious against this fin. fhould not be quite agreeable to our inclinations, or their manner to our tafte, we fhould not be mockers. Serious things must not be turned into a jeft; for God and his word jeft with no man. What is honestly intended ought to be well taken, and what is seriously fpoken ought to be feriously regarded. When men defpife the word, and become fermon-proof, fin gains dominion over them; and whether they heed and believe them or not, the threatenings of God fhall be executed, and the consumption determined fhall destroy them. 5. God is to be acknowledged in all the skill and fagacity of mankind; and in the different circumftances and conditions of human life. The bufinefs of the husbandman feems to require no great instruction or difcretion, but in reality it does; and it is to be wifhed, that farmers would not plod on in the way of their fathers, without confidering how far it is right; but endeavour by reading, experience, and obfervation to improve upon it. Efpecially fhould they ask instruction and discretion from God in their bufinefs, and give him praife for their fuccefs. Let the dif ferent difpenfations of providence to us, to our friends, and to the world, be confidered as the appointments of him him who is wonderful in counfel; that we may not mourn and complain, but in patience poffefs our fouls, and cheerfully commit all events to God, who gives men all their wisdom and understanding, and must himself be infinitely wise. This prophecy refers to the Affyrian invafion. It contains promifes and threatenings, reproofs and encouragements, according to the character of the people. I W OE to Ariel, to Ariel, the city [where] David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill facrifices; go up regularly to your folemn feafts, and kill facrifices as usual, but all will be in vain while you continue 2 hypocritical; for Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heavinefs and forrow; notwithstanding this your formal worship, wherein you confide so much, both city and temple Shall be brought into great ftraits: and it fhall be unto me as Ariel; both Jerufalem and the neighbourhood about it Shall be like the altar, filled with the bodies of dead men; many fhall be killed in fallying out, and many die within the 3 city. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay fiege against thee with a mount, and I will raise 4 forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, [and] fhalt fpeak out of the ground, and thy fpeech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar fpirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the duft; thou shalt be very humble, and speak low, thro' faintnefs or fear of 5 the enemy; yet God will deliver thee. Moreover the multitude of thy ftrangers fhall be like small duft, and the multitude of the terrible ones [fhall be] as chaff that paffeth away: yea, it fhall be at an inftant fuddenly; re6ferring to the deftruction of the Affyrians. Thou shalt be vifited of the LORD of hofts with thunder, and with VOL. V. earthquake, S ▾ Ariel fignifies, the Lion of God; it means Jerufalem, and has a particular reference to the altar of burnt offerings there, which confumed the facrifices. 9 earthquake, and great noife, with ftorm and tempeft, 7 and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that diftrefs her, 8 fhall be as a dream of a night vifion. It fhall even be as when an hungry [man] dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his foul is empty or as when a thirsty [man] dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, [he is] faint, and his foul hath appetite: fo fhall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion; their hopes Shall be disappointed; they think to enrich themselves with its Spoil, and fwallow it up in their imagination; but they shall be deceived, and their disappointment be the more grievous. Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink; referring to the ftupidity of the peo10 ple in the midst of these alarming providences. For the LORD hath poured upon you the spirit of deep fleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the feers hath he covered; that is, God hath given them up to a stupid, heavy, fenfelefs temper, and permitted the eyes of their understanding to be covered, because they II would not confider. And the vifion of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is fealed, which [men] deliver to one that is learned, faying, Read this, I pray 12 thee: and he faith, I cannot; for it [is] fealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, faying, Read this, I pray thee: and he faith, I am not learned. Tho' the learned know it to be a book that is a prophecy, and an important one too, yet they are not defirous nor willing to read it; and the unlearned complain that it is dark and obfcure, above their capacities, and therefore they give themfelves no concern about it; thus the prejudices of the learned, and the ignorance of the unlearned, will defeat the end of the 13 prophet's inftructions. Wherefore the LORD faid, Forafmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men, by falfe prophets, or tra រ ditions 14 ditions of their teachers, as our Lord explains it: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wife [men] fhall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] fhall be hid; because they will not understand, they shall not; their fins fhall be their punishment: and this fhall be a marvellous thing, the people shall lofe their understanding in a wonderful degree, especially those who are now famous for 15 it. Woe unto them that feek deep to hide their counfel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they fay, Who feeth us? and who knoweth us? Woe to the politicians who think God does not know their fchemes, and who have formed them without any regard to his word, his prophets, or his providence; who know their counfels are not agreeable to his will, and therefore wish to 16 conceal them. Surely your turning of things upfide down fhall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for fhall the work fay of him that made it, He made me not? or fhall the thing framed fay of him that framed it, He had no understanding? Their inverting the order of things, and leaving God out of their politicks, without whom they have no more power to do any thing than clay has without the potter, is in effect denying him to be their creator, or denying his wisdom. 17 [Is] it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon fhall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field fhall be esteemed as a foreft? A proverbial expreffion of a great and furprising alteration, and is applicable both to the happy confequences of Sennacherib's defeat, and Hezekiah's 18 forwarding a reformation among them. And in that day fhall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall fee out of obfcurity, and out of dark19 nefs. The meek alfo fhall increase [their] joy in the LORD, and the poor among men fhall rejoice in the Holy One of Ifrael; the book shall be no longer fealed; humble fouls fhall learn God's will, fhall do it, and rejoice in 20 it. For the terrible one, the Affyrian enemy abroad, is brought to nought, and the fcorner, at home, is confumed, and all that watch for iniquity, for opportunities 1 |