it is one of the clearest proofs of national degeneracy, and one of the strongest symptoms of national ruin. Whatever others do therefore, let us continue in prayer, and watch thereunto with all perse

verance.

CHAP. LXIII.

The prophet having described the prosperity of the Jews in the latter day, proceeds to describe the day of vengeance on their enemies, which he had just mentioned. (See ch. Ixi. 2.) They are called Edomites, because these were the ancient enemies of God's people ; and the beginning of the chapter is parallel to several passages in the Revelations which refer to this event. There, as in Ezekiel, their enemies are called Gog and Magog; these shall attack them after their settlement, but be destroyed by the immediate hand of heaven. The prophet uses a dramatic form, or dialogue.

1

WHO

HO [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah,* this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength, with an air of majesty, and not like one fatigued or wounded? The heroic warrior is represented as answering, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save; I, the Messiah, who am faithful to all my prom2 ises. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, sprinkled with blood, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? 3 The Messiah answers, I have trodden the wine press 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 press; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my 4 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 salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld 6 me; that is, my zeal and concern for my 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 it promised.

7

:

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 8 according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. For he

A chief city; though, as Edom signifies red, and Bozrah vintage, these may be general expressions for conquered enemies."

+ The whole of this verse intimates, that the final run of the enemies of the con verted Jews shall not be owing to human means or power, but to the immediate hand of God.

said, Surely they [are] my people, children [that] will not lie ; they are the children of my servants in covenant with me, and will not be false and treacherous: so he was their Saviour; he acted as 9 if they had been faithful. In all their affliction he was afflicted, he was tenderly affected, and sympathized with them, and the angel of his presence, that is, Christ, whom they tempted in the wilderness, saved them in his love and in his pity he redeemed them ;* 10 and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and rexed his holy Spirit, which directed Moses and the elders of Israel; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, 11 [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, or shepherds, of his flock, that is, Moses and Aaron? where [is] he that put 12 his holy Spirit within him? That led [them] by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, 13 to make himself an everlasting name? That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, [that] they should not stumble? as a horse runs safely and swiftly in a plain open 14 country: As a beast goeth down into the valley to feed where he finds abundance, the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people into Canaan, to make thyself a glori ous name. Then follows a prayer suited to the present case of the Jews, in their dispersion, 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 compassion, and thy strength, the sounding, or multitude, of thy bowels, and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained? 16 are they quite gone? Doubtless thou [art] our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not; though they are dead and gone, and can afford us no relief, or, if they could, would not, because we have been so wicked; yet thou, O LORD, [art] our father, our redeemer; thy name [is] from 17 everlasting; O deliver us for the sake of thy name. O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? [and] hardened our heart from thy fear? why hast thou suffered us to do it, and done those things in the course of thy providence, from which thou knewest our perverse heart would take occasion to depart from thee? Return to us in mercy, for thy servants' sake, the 18 tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed [it] but a little while our adversaries have trodden 19 down thy sanctuary.‡ We are [thine :] thou never bearest rule over them; they were not called by thy name; we are

Bp Lowth translates the passage thus: It was not an envoy nor an angel of his presence that saved them; through 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 show them favour, though undeserving.

This Isaiah foresaw, and therefore prepared this prayer for the people; and this is the cise with the holy land; it was destroyed by the Romans, is possessed by the Turks, and thus trodden under foot of the Geutiks.

1.

thy covenant people, and they are not ; or rather, we have long been as those over whom thou didst not rule, who have not been called by thy name: which scnse agrees well with the present condition of the Jews.

HOW

REFLECTIONS.

OW glorious is the character of Christ, as here described. What a great and majestic Saviour! He speaks in righteousness; his commands are all righteous, and he is faithful to his promises. He is able to save his people in the greatest extremity, and to overcome their most numerous and mighty enemies. How safely then may we trust in him! How secure are the interests of the church, and those of every particular believer, in such mighty and gracious hands!

2. Let us learn carefully to remember, and seriously to mention, the loving kindness of the Lord. What a variety of strong expressions does the prophet, in the name of the church, use to describe 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 show us the baseness 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 salvation from him. His people are children that will not lie; their character is, that they do not dissemble in their covenant transactions, but are sincere and honest; they mean what they say, and perform what they promise. If they do not this, whatever they may think of themselves, they are not God's children; but children of the devil, vho was a liar from the beginning. If we are faithful, he will be our Saviour; will deliver us from sin and hell, and conduct us to immortal glory. But if we rebel, and vex his holy Spirit, that strives with us, he will turn to be our enemy, and will fight against us; we shall lose our best friend, and fall into the hands of the most formidable enemy.

4. We may from this chapter draw many noble arguments and encouragements in prayer, especially in time of trouble. We may observe God's tender regard to his people: he is afflicted in their affliction; like a tender parent sympathizing with a sick child; his bowels yearn over his suffering servants. He is so good that he makes his former mercies an argument to bestow further favours ; which men would rather consider as an argument against doing it. Let us think of our covenant relation to him; and plead these things in prayer: let fatherless children especially, remember, that though their parents are ignorant of them, and acknowledge them not, yet God is their father, and his name is everlasting. Let them seriously address him under that title; and in him the fatherless will find mercy.

CHAP. LXIV.

It

This is a continuation of the prayer begun in the former chapter. describes the case, and is intended for the use of the Jews in their present dispersed state, and not their captivity in Babylon, as some understand it.

1

H that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence! Oh that God would look upon us, and show himself as visibly in our favour as he did to our fathers at mount Sinai, when there was such thunder, lightning, and rain, as made the 2 mountains look as if they were melted down; As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, or when the fire make the metals melt, and the waters boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, [that] the nations may trem3 ble at thy presence. When thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, in our deliverance from Egypt, and at mount Sinai, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy 4 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; or, as in the margin of our bibles, neither hath the eye seen a God beside thee which doeth so for him that waiteth 5 for him.* Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, that is, thou meetest with thy favour, or with joy, those who serve thee cheerfully, [those that] remember thee in thy ways, who observe and own thy providence, and regard thee in every merciful and afflictive event: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved; that is, in those ways of thine, especially thy ways of mercy, there is continuance: thy mercy is everlasting, therefore we shali 6 be saved.t But we are all as an unclean [thing,] and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; our best services are imperfect, defective, and mixed with pollution: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away; as the wind doth a withered leaf, thou hast driven us out of our 7 land, and deprived us of good. And [there is] none that calleth upon thy name, none who is earnest in his intercession for us, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, to avert the judgment; an allusion to holding a man's hand when he is going to strike for, or rather, therefore, thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. 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.

This speaks the unsearchable wisdom and grace of God in his scheme for the salvation of his people; as if he had said, Thou hast not yet done thy utmost, there is still more in

reserve.

Lowth translates it; Lo thou art angry (for we have sinned) because of our deeds, for we have been rebelliou..

9

Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever behold, see, we beseech thee, we [are] all thy people; 10 thy peculiar, covenant people, and not thy creatures only. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation, even Sion and Jerusalem, the upper and lower city, and 11 all the cities of the holy land also, are desolate. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire and all our pleasant things are laid waste; not only 12 the temple, but the palace and the synagogues are destroyed. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these [things,] O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? Wilt thou neither show compassion to us, nor execute judgment upon those that oppress us?

1.

REFLECTIONS.

ET us learn to entertain high thoughts of the power, wisis there in this chapter! He is able, and intends, to do what his people have never seen nor heard of before; something beyond their highest conception. The apostle accommodates this remark to the gospel dispensation, 1 Cor. ii. 9. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; because it revealed glorious things, which human wisdom could not discover. It is also applicable to the future state of the righteous; for we can form no idea equal to what God intends for them. As we desire to be the objects of divine favour, and to share in the blessings of his people, let us wait for him in the way of duty, and love him with all our hearts.

2. Let us observe the character of good men, as it is here described; examine ourselves by it, and endeavour to answer it in our conduct. He will meet them who rejoice and work righteousness, who are faithful and constant in the discharge of their whole duty, and who do it cheerfully. Let us rejoice in God, in our relation and obligations to him. Let us remember him in his ways, whether of judgment or mercy; and accommodate our temper to his vari ous providences. He will then meet us; admit us to converse with him; visit us with his favour, and show himself as our friend and helper.

3. We are taught our duty in times of public trouble, and that is, humbly to bewail our sins before God; our guilt and pollution, and the imperfection of our righteousness; to deprecate the continuance of his anger, and entreat his kind and powerful appearances for us; to seek his mercy to remove our calamities, and his grace to reform our manners. On this errand we may comfortably apply to him, as our Creator and Father, who has shown so much goodness in our creation and support; and much more, as our God in Jesus Christ. But let us remember, that if we desire these blessings, we