in righteoufnefs, and fhall not return, That unto me every knee fhall bow, every tongue fhall fwear. Surely fhall one fay, In the Lord have I righteoufness and ftrength: even to him fhall men come, and all that are incenfed against him fhall be afhamed."

THE whole paragraph is evidently addreffed to the Gospel Church: Gentile finners are evidently intended by THE ENDS OF THE EARTH; for the phrafe is especially defcriptive of them, and peculiar unto them. So it is ufed by the infpired writers: "ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH have feen the falvation of our God." Again, "Afk of me, and I will give the heathen for thine inheritance; and the uttermoft parts of the earth for thy poffeffiont." The fame phrase is used by Ifaiah as well as David: And he faid, It is a light thing that thou fhouldft be my fervant, to raife up the tribes of Jacob, and to reftore the preferved of Ifrael: I will alfo give thee for a light unto the Gentiles, that thou mayeft be my falvation to THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.” To add no more, Said God, by Ifaiah, "The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations: and ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH fhall fee the falvation of our God§." And the fame perfons are defigned EVERY KNEE, and EVERY TONGUE, in the text above quoted.

Pfal. xcviii. 3. † Pfal. ii. 8. If. xlix. 6. § If. lii. ro.

Now,

Now, it is plain, as a fun-bean, that Gentile finners are not called to look unto the Lord for righteoufnefs prior unto the fulness of time.

AGAIN, The fubftance of this promife cannot be exhaufted in any other duty than folemn covenanting. The expreffion is plain in itself; but not a few endeavour to obfcure it as much as may be. As Paul has applied this prediction to the laft judgment *, they aver, That it ought to be confined unto it. This hypothefis, however, is not established on any fure bafe; for the Apoftle quotes it oftener than once, and applies it, once at least, to cONFESSION of the Lordship which belongs unto Jefus Chrift, as well as unto the CONVICTION and SUBMISSION of all creatures at a judgment-feat. It is, according to the apoftolic expofition, a fwearing to confefs that Jefus Chrift is Lord, unto the glory of God the Father. The celebrated HERVEY tranflates the whole thus: "By myself have I fworn: the

* The places in which this text is quoted by Paul are, Rom. xiv. 11. and Philip. ii. 10. 11. From which places compared it is plain, that this prediction is of large fig. nification, and may justly be applied to more events that one. It is, as if the Prophet had faid, "Every tongue fhall either confefs unto the Son of God, and that with the folemnity of an oath, That he is made of God unto them righteoufnefs and ftrength; That they owe unlimited obedience unto him as their highest Lord: Or they fhall have fuch a confeffion extorted from them against a judgment-day."

word

word of righteoufnefs goeth out of my mouth; the word fhall not return. To me every knee fhall bow, and every tongue fhall fwear, faying, Surely in the Lord have I righteoufnefs and ftrength" And then, after he has vindicated it by just criticism, he adds, "This, then, fhall be the form of your oath,--Such the tenor of your confeffion*." The manner in which this oracle is given out is alfo a good argument in favour of explicit covenanting. God not only promifeth, but also ratifieth his promife with his oath Now, if God fwear to us, Is it too much that we fhould fwear unto him? Is not his example worthy of our imitation? Are we not bound, by every tie of gratitude, to make the fwearing reciprocal? The time in which this prediction fhall receive its accomplishment has been variously reprefented. I humbly judge it is yet to come, at least in the fulleft emphafis of it; although I readily grant it has already received a partial accomplishment. Bulenger judicioufly applies it unto the time of the in-bringing of the Jews, with the fulness of the Gentile nations †: Nor have I feen an application of it so natural and easy.

THE third prediction I fhall adduce, is delivered in the following terms: "I will I will pour water on him who is thirfty, and floods upon

* HERVEY'S Afpafio Vindicated, p. 63, 69.

BULLENGER in Loc.
*

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the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit on thy feed, and my bleffing on thine offspring.-One fhall fay, I am the Lord's, and another fhall call himfelf by the name of Jacob; and another fhall fubfcribe with his hand unto the Lord; and furname himself by the name of Ifrael*.” There are various things in this prediction which point out the New Teftament œconomy as the era of its accomplishment; fuch as the promife of pouring out the Spirit upon the feed of Christ. Dr Owen justly obferves, That the Spirit is never faid to be POURED out on the

* If. xliv. 3, 5. VITRINGA opens this precious treafure with the key of folid criticifin, in his commentary on this text. The whole is well worthy of our perufal; but too copious to be tranfcribed. I fhall adduce the following excerpts as a fpecimen: "P, VOCABIT, idem hic valet quod p, voCABITUR. Sic cap. xliii. 7. et xlviii. 1. Sed ipfum noftrum p forma activæ cum voce conftructum eadem fenfu fumitur apud Mofen Gen. iv. 26. TUM COEPTUM EST APPELLARI DE NOMINE JEHOVE, Que verfio hoc tempore doctis interpretibus merito probatur, h. e. dici cœperunt Filii Dei.appellare nomine Jacobi myftice est: «. Profiteri fidem Jacobi, ejufque cultum religionis fectari atque exercere, et adfpirare ad juftiam Dei per fidem. 6. In promiffione gratiæ fpiritualibus, fummam falutis, felicitatis fuæ conftituere. 7. Virtutes Jacobi, INTEGRITATIS, MO

-Se

DESTIE, PATIENTIÆ, PLACIDITATIS INDOLIS, ET VERE DEI REVERENTIÆ imitari ac præftare. Qui hunc induit animi affectum, vitamque et mores ad eum modum componit, verus eft JACOBIDA. Sic Poeta facer. Pfal. xxiv. 5, 6. "Quis confcendet Montem Jehova? Purus manibus, et purus corde, qui non attollit in vanum anemum fuum (non fectatur falfam juftitiam) et non jurat fraudulanter

the Old Teftament Church; as he was given unto them in a more fparing measure than under the better economy. This prediction must also belong unto the Gofpel Church, as it refers unto a time when the belief of the true God fhould triumph over the polytheism and idolatry of the Gentile world: This is infifted on in the following part of the chapter. Now, it was the Gofpel difpenfation alone, that difpelled the thick clouds of Pagan darkness,

and

(in negotio religionis): Is reportabit Benedictionem a Jehovah, (h. e. Benedictionem omnium preftantiffimum, quæ eft JUSTIA, ut mox fequitur) et juftitiam a Deo falutis fuæ. Hæc eft generatio queærentium te: fedulo quærentium faciem tuam. Hic eft Jacob." Hi funt verum femen Jacobi. Hæc fimplex eft pofitio. Gradatio in fequentibus. “Hic fcribat," &c. Hoc eft manu fua SIGNABIT: quod aliquanto plus eft quam DICET. Phrafis defumpta eft a contractibus, qui in tabulas redacti fubfcriptione manuum confirmabantur, tum ab his qui contraxerant, tum a teftibus; de quo ritu luculentus locus eft apud Jer. xxxii. 10, 12, 44.Ultimum eft quod hic redditur: "Et nomine Ifraelis cognominabitur.” h. e. Appellabitur non ISRAEL, fed ISRAELITA. Quæro quid plus dicat hoc nomen quam illud Jacobi Refpondeo, tanto plus, quanto pluris valet nomen ISRAEL quam JACOB. Ifrael notat Luctatorem cum Deo, &c. Defignantur itaque hoc nomine confeffores et martyres, qui non gravantur caufa fidei fubire graviffimas tentationes, et afflictiones, et vi fidei cum Jacobo vincunt. Et hæc quidem quo ad confeffionem ipfam. Subjecta quibus Vates hoc attributum vindicat defignat. Ille vocula TM HIC, ter quidem expreffa, fed poteftate quater repetita, Pfal. lxxxvii. 3. &c. Memorabo Raab (Egypt) et Babylon inter eos qui me familiarius cognofcunt. Ecce Palæstina et Tyrus cum Arabibus Cufchæis: HIC natus ibi. Et de Y yy 2 Zione