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unto them meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: to comfort all that mourn: to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness: that they might be called "Trees of righteousness," the "Planting of the Lord," that he might be glorified. They shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And P strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and vinedressers but ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God=ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. For I the Lord love judgment; I hate robbery for burnt offering: and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a

m "The meek," to intimate the qualities that would recommend to God's favour.

"The opening," &c. So ante Isa. xlii. 7.

• "For," i. e. " instead of."

Strangers," &c. See ante Isa. xiv. 2. lx. 14.. "For" i. e. " to make amends for."

H

bride adorneth herself with her jewels: for as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Isa. Ixi. 1-11.

No. XCIX.

Upon the great Exertions which should be made to bring the Israelites to Christianity, and of God's concurrence in effecting it.

No. 99. For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou ́shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name: thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed "forsaken," neither shall thy land any more be termed "desolate ;" but thou shalt be called "Hephzibah," and thy land "Beulah :" for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married for as the young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night. Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, "Surely "I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; "and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine,

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"Thy corn" and "the stranger.” One of the prophetic denunciations at the commencement of Isaiah "Your land,

was,

"for which thou hast laboured: but they that have gathered "it shall eat it and praise the Lord and they that have "brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holi"ness." Go through, go through the gates: prepare ye the way of the people: cast up, cast up the highway, gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, "Say "ye to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation "cometh, behold his reward is with him, and his work "before him."" And they shall call them, "The holy "people, The redeemed of the Lord," and thou shalt be called "Sought out, a city not forsaken." Isa. lxii. 1—12.

No. C.

Prophetic Intimations of Vengeance upon those who should oppose the coming in of the Israelites: Recollections of God's peculiar Favour towards them in Times of old, a Suggestion of his favourable Disposition towards them, and anxious Appeals by them to be again allowed to be his People.

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No. 100,"Who is this that cometh from Edom, with "died garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his "apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?" "It "that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." "Where "fore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments

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strangers devour it in your presence." Isa. i. 7. And it was amongst the curses for disobedience in Deut. xxviii. 31-33. that their oxen should be slain before their eyes, but they should not eat thereof, &c. &c., and that the fruit of their land and all their labours should be eaten up by a nation whom they knew not. See also Micah vi. 15. "Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt "not reap," &c., and post Isa. lxv. 21. &c.

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"Edom" was one of the adversaries of Israel, God's people in early times and under that name the prophecy looks to the adversaries of God's future people, " the Christians."

t“ 1," &c. i. e. " the Messiah-Christ.”

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"like him that treadeth in the wine fat?" "I have trod"den the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in my anger, and "trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my "raiment for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and "the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked and "there was none to help, and I wondered that there was "none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salva❝tion unto me, and my fury, it upheld me. And I will " "tread down the people in my anger, and make them "drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to "the earth." I will mention the loving kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the mutlitude of his loving kindnesses; for he said," Surely they are "my people; children that will not lie:" so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them: and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, "where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of "his flock? where is he that put his Holy Spirit within "him; that led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make "himself an everlasting name? that led them through the deep," &c. "Look down from heaven, and behold "from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: "where is thy zeal, and thy strength, the sounding of

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"Will tread," "make," " and will bring," rather "trod," "made," and "brought ;" the verbs in the Septuagint and vulgar Latin are in the past tense. Dr. Lowth.

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"thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they "restrained? Doubtless thou art our Father, though "Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us "not thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; thy "name is from everlasting. O Lord, why hast thou "made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart "from thy fear? return for thy servants' sake, the tribes "of thy inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have "trodden down thy sanctuary. We are thine thou never barest rule over them: they were not called by "thy name. Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, "that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains "might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting "fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make "thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations "may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terri"ble things which we looked not for, thou camest down, "the mountains flowed down at thy presence: for since "the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor "perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, "beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth "for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh

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righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. "Behold thou art wroth, for we have sinned in those is "continuance and we shall be saved. But we are all as "an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind, have taken us away. And there "is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up "himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face "from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniqui"ties. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are "the clay, and thou our potter, and we all are the work "of thy hand. Be not wroth very sore, O Lord: neither "remember iniquity for ever; behold, see, we beseech "thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wil