penfations and judgments: the whole earth [is] full of his glory; his perfections now fine in his works and provi4 dence; but it shall be more fo in gofpel times. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke, in token of God's indignation against his people.

5. Then faid I, Woe [is] me! for I am undone, or, I am ftruck dumb, because I [am] a man of unclean lips, I am a polluted, finful creature, unfit to be employed in any fervice for God, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have feen the King, the LORD of hofts; I have feen him in all his splendour and 6 purity, appearing as a judge. Then flew one of the feraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, [which] he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid [it] upon my mouth, and faid, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy fin purged; this is a fign that thy guilt is pardoned, and that a commiffion is given thee to be a preacher and reprover to this people.

8

Alfo I heard the voice of the Lord, faying, Whom fhall I send, and who will go for us? He asked not for information, but that Ifaiah might willingly offer himself. Then faid I, Here [am] I; fend me; I am very wil9 ling to go now my incapacity is removed. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and fee ye indeed, but perceive not; tho' I give you the means of inftruction, and lay before you things most worthy of feeing and hearing, yet by my prophet I foretel 10 that ye will not be affected with them. Make the heart. of this people fat, Stupid and hardened, that is, declare: that it shall be fo; be not wanting to inftruct and reprove them, tho' this should be the confequence; and make their ears heavy, and fhut their eyes; left they fee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their. heart, and convert and be healed, or pardoned. Thus Jeremiah is faid to build and deftroy kingdoms, and Ezekiel is faid to destroy Jerufalem, because they foretold that they should 11 be destroyed. Then faid I, Lord, how long shall this judg-·

ment,

ment, this judicial blindness continue? And he answered, Until the cities be wafted without inhabitant, and the houfes without man, and the land be utterly defolate; till utter deftruction come upon them as a nation; referring to their deftruction by the Romans, forty years after Chrift's 12 time; And the LORD have removed men far away, and [there be] a great forfaking in the midft of the land; till many flee away, and others are carried captive 13 by the Romans, fo that very few are left. But yet in it [fhall be] a tenth, or tythe of the inhabitants, and [it] fhall return to God, and fhall be eaten, that is, be acceptable to him, as the tythe was eaten by the priest, and is called meat in his houfe: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whofe fubftance [is] in them, when they caft [their leaves;] like a tree that feems withered and dead in winter, yet is alive, and shall sprout again: [fo] the holy feed [fhall be] the fubftance thereof; those who embrace the gofpel fhall preferve the nation from utter ruin, and at length it fhall flourish again; fo that the jews shall never be entirely caft off, but in due time be numbered again among God's people.

I.

LE

REFLECTION S.
CTIO

ET us make this grand description of the Lord Jehovah familiar to our minds. He is exalted above all cherubims; attended with an innumerable company of bright and holy beings. Obferve with what humility and reverence they appear before him, covering their faces. With what ardour and zeal do they praise him! with what activity and speed do they execute his commands ! May we engage in religious fervices with the fame difpofition! contemplate and adore him as fuperlatively holy; and particularly think of him in this light when earthly kings die. In the year Uzziah died, who was upon the whole a good king, and reigned very long, Ifaiah faw this vifion. It was comfortable, in fuch circumstances, to reflect on the Lord as the King eternal and immortal; and to think that he has committed all judgment to his Son,

whofe

whofe glory, as the image and reprefentative of Jehovah, the prophet faw.'

2. When we feriously confider the infinite purity and holinefs of God, we may juftly tremble before him. We are ready to think Ifaiah was very happy in fuch a fight as this; but, exalted as his genius and piety were, he cries out, Woe is me! for I am undone. We are all men of polluted lips, have faid many rafh and unholy things; are unfit to appear before the Lord, and unworthy to be employed as his fervants; therefore it becomes us to be afraid of his righteous difpleasure, and to abafe ourselves deeply before him. God is greatly to be feared, and to be had in reverence of all them that draw nigh unto him.

3. How honourable is it to be employed for God, and how cheerfully fhould we engage in his fervice! It fhould be the great defire of all chriftians, as the fervants of God, more especially of minifters, to have their iniquity purged, their guilt removed, their inclinations to fin mortified, and to have a comfortable fenfe of pardon and peace. We fhould all be willing to work for God; and tho' the times may be bad, and we may meet with many difcouragements in our christian work, and fee little hope of fuccefs in our endeavours to do good, yet ftill our language fhould be, Here am I, Lord; fend me. It is honour enough to be employed for God, tho' our work fhould be unfuccefsful. But this is an additional comfort, that our work is with the Lord, and we fhall by no means lofe the reward.

4. What a deplorable condition is their's, who hear the gofpel, but are made worse by it.This is the cafe of the jews; and this paffage is quoted fix times in the New Teftament, and applied to them by Christ and his apostles And it is the cafe of too many chriftians; they hear, but understand not; will not apply their minds to confider and attend to their own concern in it; fo that they continue in fin, and are not healed; yea, they are given up to fpiritual blindness, and their hearts grow harder by their mifimprovement of the means of grace. Let us beware that this cafe be not our's. It is indeed a very difcouraging circumftance to minifters, that it is fo common a cafe; but there is this to balance it, that there is a holy feed, a pious VOL. V. remnant,

N

remnant, that will hear, learn, and improve; and that while the word of God is to fome a favour of death unto death, it is to others of life unto life, and they are a favour to God in both.

CHA P. VII.

The defign of this chapter is, to affure the house of David, or royal family, that they should not be destroyed by the kings of Syria and Ifrael, who were confederate against them, but Should be punished by the king of Affyria, in whom they trufted.

A

ND it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the fon

of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, [that] Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the fon of Remaliah, king of Ifrael, went up toward Jerufalem to 2 war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, faying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, that is, the royal family, as the 3 trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then faid the LORD unto Ifaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jafhub thy fon, whofe name fignifies, the remnant fhall return,' at the end of the conduit of the up4 per pool in the highway of the fuller's field; And fay unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint hearted, for the two tails of these fmoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the fon of Remaliah; do not give way to anxious fears, for thefe two kings are but as two firebrands which are almost con5 Jumed. Becaufe Syria, Ephraim, and the fon of Remaliah, 6 have taken evil counsel against thee, faying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and fet a king in the midft of it, [even] the son of Tabeal; thus pretending to the crown of Judah, 7 and defigning to overthrow the house of David: Thus faith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come 8 to pass. For the head of Syria [is] Damafcus, and the head of Damafcus [is] Rezin; as Damafcus is the

head

head city of Syria, and Rezin is the head or king of Damafcus, fo they fhall continue to be, and not advance themselves, and enlarge their territories, as they defign; and within threefcore and five years fhall Ephraim be broken, that 9 it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim, [is] Samaria, and the head of Samaria [is] Remaliah's fon. If ye will not believe, furely ye fhall not be established; if ye will not trust what God fays, and rely upon him for deliverance, but feek out for foreign fupport, you shall never profper in any defign for the fecuring your peace and comfort, as it came to pass, 2 Chron. xxviii, 20.

10

Moreover the LORD fpake again unto Ahaz, faying, II Afk thee a fign of the LORD thy God, fome miracle to confirm the truth of this prediction; afk it either in the 12 depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz faid, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD; being fecretly determined not to truft providence, but to feek help from the king of Affyria, therefore for political reasons he would not afk a fign; tho' he pretended religion and a regard to God as 13 the reafon. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David? [Is it] a fmall thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God alfo? This is not only a flight to me, 14 but to the patience and kindness of God. Therefore the LORD himself fhall give you a fign, a double fign, one, that the houfe of David should not be totally destroyed, the other, that they should speedily be delivered; Behold, a virgin fhall conceive, and bear a fon, and fhall call his name Immanuel; an illuftrious prophecy of Chrift. Nevertheless 15 Butter and honey fhall he eat, that he may know, or till he knows how, to refufe the evil, and choose the good, that is, he shall be bred up as other children are. The land fhall continue its fruitfulness, and be capable of nourishing its inhabitants, till he is born; and as he is to be born of

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the &

Accordingly, from the first year of Ahaz, when this confederacy was formed and this prophecy delivered, it was juft fixty five years to the twenty fecond year of Manaffeh, when the king of Affyria carried away the last of the ten tribes, and planted colonies of other nations in their ftead, and probably took Manaffeh captive at the fame time. It was broken from being a kingdom by the former Affyrian kings, but not broken from being a people till

now.