judgments; but if he does not always punish the transgressors of his covenant and laws with temporal punishments, he will infallibly punish them in the life to come; since the threatenings of the Gospel are not less express, nor less certain, than those of the ancient prophets. On the other hand, the promises God here makes, to establish his kingdom, and again to manifest his glory at Jerusalem, after he had afflicted it, express God's mercy to his people. These promises concern us, as well as the Jews, since we see their perfect completion in the manifestation of Jesus Christ, and the establishment of his kingdom. CHAPTER XXV. THIS is a song of praise for the blessings which God would grant to his people, in delivering them, and humbling their enemies. Reflections. THE praises and thanksgivings contained in this chapter relate, first, to the deliverance of the Jews, and their return from Babylon; but they chiefly suit that great deliverance, which the Messiah was one day to procure for men, by redeeming them, and purchasing salvation for them. We are chiefly to observe, after St. Paul and St. John, that these words of the prophet, He will swallow up death in victory: and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; will not be fully accomplished till death, our last enemy, shall be destroyed by the resurrection, and Jesus Christ shall introduce his elect into eternal glory. This expectation ought to produce in us a great desire to partake of these excellent promises, and be a powerful motive to us, to bless the Lord who has promised them, and to be glad and rejoice continually in expectation of that salvation, which shall be fully revealed at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. CHAPTER XXVI. I. Isaiah goes on to praise God for the blessings he would bestow on his people, and expresses the confidence which the righteous have in God. II. He represents how men abuse the forbearance of God; he adores his justice and power, which would appear in restoring peace to the Jews, after he had reduced them to the utmost extremity; and from all these considerations he comforts and encourages the people of God. Reflections. I. WE ought to meditate with faith and gratitude upon what is said in this chapter, and in so many other prophecies, of the deliverance and peace which God would send his church, since these predictions principally relate to the times of the Gospel. II. We learn from this chapter that the character of true believers is to trust in God alone, to desire nothing but him, and to seek him with all the powers of the soul; and that God, on his part, supports them and guides them in the way that they should go, and takes care of every thing that relates to them. III. Another instruction that the prophet gives us is, that men commonly learn to fear God, and to do that which is right, when he chastises them, and they see his judgments; but that the wicked abuse the forbearance of God, and are hardened in their sins, when he shows them favour; and instead of being converted, become yet more wicked. Lastly, The assurances which the prophet gives the Jews of the divine protection, should effectually comfort the church, and all its true members, make them easy in the worst of times, and fill them continually with hope and joy. CHAPTER XXVII. GOD promises by his power to punish the enemies of the Jews, to be reconciled with his people, and to bring the dispersed in Assyria and Egypt again to Jerusalem, there to worship the Lord. Reflections. WE may gather from this chapter, I. That how great soever the power of the enemies of God be, he is more powerful than they, and will not fail to set bounds to their malice. II. That there is this difference between the afflictions with which God visits his church, and the judgments he displays against idolaters; that God afflicts his church in pure kindness, to cleanse and purify it: whereas he punishes the other in his wrath, and for their destruction. This goodness of the Lord appears in the promises here made to gather together the dispersed Jews, and to bring them again to Jerusalem, which actually came to pass after the captivity of Babylon. This teaches us, that God does never entirely withdraw his grace and protection from his people, and from those he loves; and that after he has afflicted and humbled them, he restores them to rest and peace, and gives them new proofs of his love, and fresh reason to celebrate his mercy. CHAPTER XXVIII. THIS is a prophecy against Ephraim; that is, against the kingdom of the ten tribes and against the kingdom of Judah. I. Isaiah foretells, that they should be delivered into the hands of their enemies because of their pride, their dissoluteness, and their idolatries. II. He reproaches the priests and the prophets for following the general corruption; for being as ignorant and wicked as the people; and for their false confidence, in thinking themselves secure from the judgments of God. III. He denounces those judgments against them, promising, nevertheless, that God would display his infinite power and wisdom in behalf of Jerusalem; and that as the ploughman, after he has prepared the earth, and sowed his seed, sets apart the good grain, so the Lord would spare the men of Judah, and not destroy them with the ungodly. Reflections. THE threatenings of Isaiah against the Israelites teach us, I. That the sins of men, and particularly pride, drunkenness, and dissoluteness, are the cause of those miseries which befall them, and of the chastisements which God inflicts upon them. II. That if these sins are displeasing to God in all persons, they are still more odious in the ministers of religion; and that ignorance and corruption, in those who ought to teach others, produces depravity in the people, and occasions the ruin and destruction of the church. III. It is to be observed, that Isaiah complains of the false confidence of the Israelites, who, at the very time the wrath of God was ready to fall upon them, in the profoundest security said, We have made a covenant with death; and when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. Thus men flatter themselves in their sins, and think themselves safe, when God is preparing to surprise and overwhelm them with his judgments. IV. God shows his goodness, by promising to lay in Sion, for a foundation, a tried stone; a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation. prophecy properly relates to Jesus Christ, and is several times applied to him in the New Testament, where it is said, that Christ is that corner-stone upon which the church is built, and which is an occasion of stumbling, and a rock of offence to unbelievers, and a means of salvation to all those that believe in him. CHAPTER XXIX. This THE prophet, in this and the following chapter, speaks of the coming of the Assyrians, who were to make war upon Jerusalem, and foretells, I. That that city, which he here calls Ariel, should in a short time be visited and besieged, but that God would disperse and confound those that made war against them. II. He says, that all these evils would be occasioned by the great hardness of heart, the blindness and security which reigned, even among the prophets, and by the hypocrisy of the Jews. III. To these threatenings Isaiah joins promises of deli verance. Reflections. gover In this chapter, we are to observe, I. That Isaiah's threatenings against Jerusalem, and against those who should attack it, were executed a few years after, when Sennacherib came to besiege that city, and was forced to retreat with the loss of his army. II. That it was the blindness of the prophets, and the hypocrisy of the Jews, which obliged God to use them in this manner. From hence we may conclude, that the ignorance and impiety of the nors of the church is always attended with great corruption and that God abhors the worship we pay him, when it is only external and hypocritical. This is expressed in these words, which our Saviour likewise mentions in the Gospel: This people draw near to me with their mouths, and honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. III. We also learn from this chapter, that it is great folly, and extreme impiety, to pretend to hide ourselves from the eyes of the Lord, and to escape his knowledge and his power; and that nothing can screen us from his judgments, nor hinder him from disposing of us as the potter disposes of the clay. Lastly, God gives proof of his love and mercy to his people, in promising, after he had threatened them, to take pity on them, and restore them to a glorious condition. CHAPTER XXX. Isaiah denounces the utmost miseries against those Jews, who, instead of quietly waiting for the assistance of the Almighty against the Assyrians, had recourse to the Egyptians, who would not hearken to the prophets of the Lord, and would even hinder them from speaking. II. He assures them, they should be delivered if they trusted in God rather than in man; that God was ready to show them favour; that he would deliver them, and let |