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increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous; the fruits of the earth fhall be brought forth in great abundance: in that day fhall thy cattle feed in large paftures. 24 The oxen likewife and the young affes that ear, or till the ground, shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan; there fhall be fuch plenty that the cattle fhall eat dreffed corn, not corn in 25 the straw. And there fhall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers [and] ftreams of waters in the day of the great flaughter, when the towers fall, which the Affyrians had raised against Jerusa26 lem. Moreover the light of the moon fhall be as the light of the fun, and the light of the fun fhall be sevenfold, as the light of feven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound; every thing fhall put on a more cheerful face than before, when God pardons their fins and removes the punishment of them.-Then follows a prophecy of the deftruction of the Affyrians.

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Behold, the name of the LORD, which the Affyrians have blafphemed by reprefenting him like the gods of the heathen, cometh from far, burning [with] anger, and the burden [thereof is] heavy! his lips are full of indignation, and 28 his tongue as a devouring fire: And his breath as an overflowing stream, fhall reach to the midft of the neck, like a great flood which shall deftroy the whole army, and reach even to the king, he alone fhall escape, to fift the nations with the fieve of vanity: and [there fhall be] a bridle in the jaws of the people, caufing [them] to err; their allies fhall be difperfed, they shall run upon their 29 own deftruction, and all their defigns be disappointed. Ye fhall have a fong, as in the night [when] a holy folemnity is kept; like that in the evening when the folemn feafts begin: and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Ifrael; referring to the hymns after the pallover when they went up to the house of the Lord, and particularly when they brought the first fruits; fo fhall you 30 rejoice in the deftruction of the Affyrians. And the LORD fhall caufe his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show

the

the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] fcattering, and tempeft, and hailstones; it shall be done immediately by the hand of God, and probably was 31 done in the manner here defcribed. For through the voice of the LORD fhall the Affyrian be beaten down, [which] 32 fmote with a rod. And [in] every place where the grounded staff, or terrible firoke, fhall pafs, which the LORD fhall lay upon him, [it] fhall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of fhaking will he fight with it; they have been a rod to Ifrael, but they shall be destroyed with a strong conquering staff, and every place where they 33 fall fhall be full of joy and gladness. For Tophet (avalley near Jerufalem, where they used to offer their children to Molech, and which Hezekiah had lately cleanfed) [is] ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; that is, for the glory and strength of the king of Affyria; he hath made [it] deep [and] large: the pile thereof [is] fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it."

I.

REFLECTION S.

E fee here the vanity and guilt of creature dependance, and the neceffity of trufting in God in times of danger. What pains and expense were the Ifraelites at to engage the affiftance of Egypt! but it ended in their fhame and difappointment. Thus men try one creature after another, in which they hope to find fatisfaction and happiness; but they only add fin to fin, and trouble to -trouble. Let us take a wifer courfe, and make God our refuge; return to him in the way of duty; labour to compofe every tumultuous paffion and anxious fear; avoiding every finful method to help ourselves, and feeking direction and help from the Lord of hofts. Thus will our ftrength be increased,

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Probably they made a proceffion with mufical inftruments and fongs of praife to the Affyrian camp, as feeing it would enhance the joy and wonder of the people for their deliverance.

Thereabouts the Affyrians were probably deftroyed and their carcafes burned in that valley.

increased, our peace rendered fecure, and we shall never be afbamed of our hope.

2. God's holiness is the great terror of finners. The thought is too weighty, and the expreffion too ferious, for men that choose to go on in their fin; for, if he be a holy Being, he must hate and punish thofe that are unholy. Hence they love those ministers that prophefy fmooth things, that deal in generals, and give their confciences no alarm. But those that show them the evil of fin, preach fearching fermons, and reprove their vices, they diflike. Yet faithful minifters muft and will tell finners, whether they like it or not, that God is an holy Being, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and that without holiness no man fhall fee the Lord. It is better that they fhould be roufed and difpleafed, than that they fhould be condemned for impenitence, and their minifters for unfaithfulnefs.

3. See what a bleffing the means of grace are, and how highly they fhould be valued. God promifes his people that tho' they should be afflicted, reduced to famine and ftraits, yet they should have their teachers continued; and those who know the value of the word, its inftructions, warnings, and counfels, will look upon this as a great favour, fufficient to sweeten the bread of adverfity; tho' it is to be feared that many had rather be without teachers and means of grace, than lose their substance, or be in ftraits. It is a bleffing to have faithful friends, to admonish us, a tender confcience, that will check us when doing evil, and the fpirit of God, to imprefs the warnings of the word and the convictions of confcience. We are all in danger of mistaking our way; of turning to the right hand or to the left; of going into one error or another; let us therefore reverence the word of God, esteem his faithful minifters in love, and attend to that friendly admonition, from whomsoever it comes, This is the way, walk ye in it.

4. With what joy should we celebrate our fpiritual deliverances! The Ifraelites went with gladness and fongs to celebrate their rescue, from the Affyrians; and have we not much greater reafon, with gladness of heart, to celebrate in the house of the Lord our deliverance from fatan, fin, and death; thofe enemies of our fouls and their eternal welfare?

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Let us rejoice in it, and give God the glory of it; but rejoice with trembling, left our enemies fhould gain the dominion over us, and drive us down to hell; of which Tophet was but a faint image, tho' our Lord chooses by it to describe the horrors of the infernal world, even that lake, which burneth with fire and brimstone; where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

CHA P. XXXI, XXXII.

This prophecy is a continuance of the former. The first part of the thirty fecond chapter feems to refer to the beginning of Hezekiah's reign, from the ninth to the fifteenth verfe, to the troubles in the middle of it; and the conclufion, to the prof perity of the latter end.

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to them that go down to Egypt for help;

Wand stay on horfes, and truft in chariots, be

caufe [they are] many; and in horsemen, because they are very ftrong; but they look not unto the Holy One 2 of Ifrael, neither feek the LORD! Yet he alfo [is] wife, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evil doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity: a fevere irony; as if be bad faid, You boast of the wisdom of your politicks, but God has fome wifdom, and is as able to help as they, therefore to fhow your folly he will punish you for your evil doings, and the Egyptians your helpers for their iniquity. Now the Egyptians [are] men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not fpirit; they have no more strength and fwiftness than common creatures, and are liable to be frighted, wounded, and deftroyed: when the LORD fhall ftretch out his hand, both he that helpeth fhall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all fhall 4 fail together; but God is a furer defence. For thus hath the LORD fpoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of Thepherds is called forth against him, [he] will not be afraid of their voice, nor abafe himself for the noise of

them:

them: fo fhall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof; all the noise of the Affyrian army is no more to him than a parcel of shepberds fhouting against a lion, whom they dare not go near, be minds it not, neither loofes his prey, nor carries it off with 5 greater speed. As birds flying speedily to their nefts to fecure their young, or to drive away an enemy, fo will the LORD of hosts defend Jerufalem; defending alfo he will deliver [it; and] paffing over he will preserve [it.] It is the fame word as is used for paffing over the Ifraelites" boufes in Egypt, and has reference to their former deliverance; Jerufalem fhall first be reformed, and then faved.

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Turn ye unto [him from] whom the children of If7 rael have deeply revolted. For in that day every man fhall caft away his idols of filver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you [for] a fin; tho' they were the work of your own hands, the materials valuable, and you had worshipped them, yet being the occafion of fin you fhall caft them away.

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Then fhall the Affyrian fall with the fword, not of a mighty man, who fmites openly; and the fword, not of a mean man, who fmites fecretly, fhall devour him: but he fhall flee from the fword of the angel, and his young 9 men, or choice ones, fhall be discomfited. And he, that is, the king, fhall pafs over to his ftrong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the enfign, which the angel fhall wave over them as a mark of God's care of Jerufalem, or rather of any party of the jews, however inconfiderable, faith the LORD, whofe fire, or altar, [is] in Zion, and his furnace in Jerufalem; where God is daily worshipped, and from whence fire fhall come forth to destroy

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bis enemies.

CHAP. XXXII. Behold, a king fhall reign in righ2 teousness, and princes fhall rule in judgment. And a man fhall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempeft; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; referring to the protection, repofe, and happiness they should enjoy in Hezekiah's reign, after the troubles in the reign of 3 his predeceffors. And the eyes of them that fee fhall not

be

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