The prophet, firmly believing their general restoration, 10 fpeaks of it as now doing: Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; caft up, caft up the highway; gather out the ftones; remove all obfacles, give them all affiftance; lift up a ftandard for the IT people, to call them together amidst their difperfion. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughters of Zion, Behold, thy falvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him; embrace the Meffiah, in whose 12 fervice you fall find great advantage. And they fhall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forfaken; a people taken into covenant again, and never more to be cast out.

1.

HOW

REFLECTIONS.

OW welcome to our fouls fhould Chrift be, who came on fo gracious an errand. How wretched was the ftate of mankind before he came! Slaves of fin, captives of Satan, prifoners of death. But he proclaims liberty, communicates peace and comfort, and leads to everlafting joy. How venerable is the character of Chrift, fo richly anointed with the Spirit for this purpofe! and how well has he executed his office! Let us rejoice that he hath done it; welcome him into our hearts, and feek comfort and falvation thro' him. Remember that the great end of his miffion and miniftration, and all the comforts which he bestows on his people, is, that they may be righteous; trees of righteousness, bringing forth the fruit of it abundantly; ornaments to the church, and ferviceable to all about them.

2. How profane and impious is it to devote to works of charity and piety what is dishonestly procured, v. 8. Too much of this has been practifed among chriftians. Many hofpitals have been built and endowed, with the fruits of rapine and the spoils of the poor. God loves judgment in governors; and between man and man, in their commerce, dealings, and converfation; but he hates injuftice and op

preffion;

preffion; and those who think to atone for their difhonefty by fuch acts of charity, will find themselves miferably deceived, for the unrighteous fhall not enter the kingdom of God.

3. How much is it the duty of all God's people to be conftant and earnest interceffors with him for the profperity of the church, and the advancement of religion! In how lively and encouraging a manner is this duty urged upón us! We are not to hold our peace, not to reft, not to keep filence, nor give God reft; all which implies great fervency and perfeverance in prayer. It is not enough that the watchmen pray; but all God's people, all who make mention of his name, muft alfo pray; otherwife they are not his people, for they want love both to God and man. He allows and encourages us to be importunate with him. It is very defirable that there were more of this devout, fervent spirit among us. The decay of it is one of the clearest proofs of national degeneracy, and one of the ftrongest fymptoms of national ruin. Whatever others do therefore, let us continue in prayer, and watch thereunto with all perfe

verance.

CHA P. LXIII.

The prophet having defcribed the profperity of the jews in the latter day, proceeds to defcribe the day of vengeance on their enemies, which he had just mentioned. (See ch. lxi. 2.) They are called Edomites, because these were the antient enemies of God's people; and the beginning of the chapter is parallel to feveral paffages in the Revelations which refer to this event. There, as in Ezekiel, their enemies are called Gog and Magog; thefe fhall attack them after their fettlement, but be destroyed by the immediate hand of heaven. The prophet ufes a drama. tic form, or dialogue.

HO [is] this that cometh from Edom, with

W dyed garments from Bozrah," this [that is]

glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatnefs of his ftrength,

A chief city; tho', as Edom fignifies red, and Bozrah vinsage, thefe may be general expreffions for conquered enemies.

ftrength, with an air of majesty, and not like one fatigued or wounded? The heroic warrior is reprefented as answering, I that fpeak in righteousness, mighty to fave; I, the 2 Meffiah, who am faithful to all my promifes. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, sprinkled with blood, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? 3 The Meffiah anfwers, I have trodden the wine prefs alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, as easily and effectually as grapes are crushed in a wine prefs; and their blood fhall be fprinkled upon 4 my garments, and I will ftain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed, the time when they shall be redeemed, is 5 come. And I looked, and [there was] none to help; and I wondered that [there was] none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought falvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me; that is, my zeal and concern for my 6 people. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.-The church then breaks out into grateful acknowledgments of former favours, as an encouragement to hope for what is promifed.

7

I will mention the loving kindneffes of the LORD, [and] the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath beftowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Ifrael, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the 8 multitude of his loving kindneffes. For he faid, Surely they [are] my people, children [that] will not lie; they are the children of my fervants in covenant with me, and will not be falfe and treacherous: fo he was their Saviour; 9 he acted as if they had been faithful In all their affliction he was afflicted, he was tenderly affected, and fympathized with them, and the angel of his prefence, that is, Christ, whom they tempted in the wilderness, faved them: in his love

f The whole of this verfe intimates, that the final ruin of the enemies of the converted jews fhall not be owing to human means or power, but to the immediate hand of God.

love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare to them, and carried them all the days of old. But they

h

rebelled and vexed his holy fpirit, which directed Mofes and the elders of Ifrael; therefore he was turned to be II their enemy, [and] he fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, Mofes, [and] his people, [faying,] Where [is] he that brought them up out of the fea with the fhepherd, or shepherds, of his flock, that is, Mofes and Aaron? where [is] he that put his holy 12 Spirit within him? That led [them] by the right hand of Mofes with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name? 13 That led them through the deep, as an horfe in the wilderness, [that] they should not ftumble? as a horfe 14 runs fafely and fwiftly in a plain open country: As a beast goeth down into the valley to feed where he finds abundance, the Spirit of the LORD caufed him to reft: fo didft thou lead thy people into Canaan, to make thyself a glorious name. Then follows a prayer fuited to the prefent cafe of the jews, in their difperfion, which is continued to the end of the next chapter.

15

Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where [is] thy zeal, thy great compaffion, and thy ftrength, the founding, or multitude, of thy bowels, and of thy mercies toward me? are they reftrained? are they quite gone? 16 Doubtless thou [art] our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Ifrael acknowledge us not; tho' they are dead and gone, and can afford us no relief, or, if they could, would not, because we have been fo wicked; yet thou, O LORD, [art] our father, our redeemer; thy name [is] from everlasting; O deliver us for the fake of 17 thy name. O LORD, why haft thou made us to err from

thy ways? [and] hardened our heart from thy fear? why haft thou fuffered us to do it, and done thofe things in

the

Bp. LowтH tranflates the paffage thus: It was not an envoy nor an angel of his prefence that faved them; thro' his love and his indulgence he himself redeemed them.

By an elegant figure God is represented as recollecting their former importance, as an argument to fhow them favour, tho' undeferving.

the course of thy providence, from which thou knewest our perverfe heart would take occafion to depart from thee ? Return to us in mercy, for thy fervants fake, the tribes 18 of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have poffeffed [it] but a little while: our adverfaries have 19 trodden down thy fanctuary. We are [thine:] thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name; we are thy covenant people, and they are not; or rather, we have long been as thofe over whom thou didst not rule, who have not been called by thy name: which fenfe agrees well with the prefent condition of the jews.

1:

H

REFLECTION S.

OW glorious is the character of Chrift, as here described. What a great and majestic Saviour! He. Speaks in righteousness; his commands are all righteous, and he is faithful to his promifes. He is able to fave his people in the greatest extremity, and to overcome their most numerous and mighty enemies. How fafely then may we truft in him! How fecure are the interefts of the church, and thofe of every particular believer, in fuch mighty and1 gracious hands!

2. Let us learn carefully to remember, and seriously to mention, the loving kindness of the Lord. What a variety of ftrong expreffions does the prophet, in the name of the church, use to defcribe it! Let it teach us to remember his goodness to us, to our families, to our country, and to the church of God. This will fhow us the bafenefs and guilt of our own ingratitude and rebellion, and thus lead us to repentance; and it will encourage our hope in him, notwithstanding our guilt and unworthiness.

3. From the covenant relation between God and his people, he may reasonably expect faithfulness from them, and they falvation from him. His people are children that will not lie; their character is, that they do not diffemble in their

Covenant

This Ifaiah forefaw, and therefore prepared this prayer for the people; and this is the cafe with the holy land; it was deftroyed by the Romans, is poffeffed by the Turks, and thus trodden under foot of the gentiles.