to save sinners.

All that the Lord our God says to us, therefore, let

us hear, and be obedient.

4. Whatever peace and prosperity any church or nation enjoys, there is no peace to the wicked; they can never be in a state of peace and favour with God, nor can they have any solid, lasting peace of conscience, or well grounded hope of everlasting peace. They can take no reasonable encouragement from God's promises to his people, however confidently they may rely upon them. Though they are joined to God's people in appearance, and in external communion, yet they have no title to their special privileges. But let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and turn to the Lord; then peace, and all good, will come unto them.

CHAP. XLIX.

The beginning of this chapter principally relates to Christ and the covenant of redemption, and the deliverance he should work out for the church, as illustrated by the deliverance of the Jews.

1

ISTEN, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people,

;

from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name; he hath spoken of me by John the Baptist, and other holy 2 men, as the Saviour of the world. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow, or hollow of his hand hath he hid, or defended me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; referring to the wisdom and eloquence of Christ, and the power of his gospel to penetrate the hearts of men; 3 And said unto me, Thou [art] my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified, in whom Israel shall be glorified; or, I will be 4 glorified in Israel. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain; I have been rejected by the Jews, and few of them have believed: [yet] surely my judgment [is] with the LORD, and the reward of my work with my God.

5

And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb [to be] his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, God will testify his affection and approbation, and my God shall be my strength; he will carry me through all my sufferings. 6 And he said, It is a light thing, comparatively, that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel, though all of them should believe and be saved: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that, thou mayest be my salvation, the author and instrument of salvation, 7 unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the redeemer

Some think Christ is called Irael, as God's servant, and the representative of the church.

of Israel, [and] his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Pilate and Herod, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, shall submit to him and become christians, because of the LORD that is faithful, [and] the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee, and so prove that he is faithful to his promises, and that thou 8 art his chosen. Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; I have heard thy prayer, and assisted thee in thy work : and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to br the surety and mediator of the new covenant, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; to establisk good laws, and repair what is decayed by ignorance and corrup 9 tion; That thou mayest say to the spiritual prisoners, Go forth; to them that [are] in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures [shall be] in all high places. 10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them; they shall have plenty of the means of grace, and security and hap11 piness under the Redeemer's government. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted; the roads which are sunk and become impassable shall be raised and repaired; that is, God will so order things in the course of provi12 dence, as to help and further the progress of the gospel. Behold, these shall come from far, from Babylon, which lay east: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim, from Pelusium, to the south.

13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted; let the whole cre14 ation rejoice in the prospect of this event. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my LORD hath forgotten me. The language of the Jews in captivity; as if they had said, what hope can we have of such a time, when at present we are so af 15 flicted and sunk? God graciously answers, Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget; a remarkable change of persons, they may forget, some, yea, many may, yet will 16 I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of [my] hands; the thoughts of thee are as familiar to my mind, as if thy name was written there ;* thy broken walls [are] con17 tinually before me. Thy children, or elders, shall make haste to return home, and build thee up again; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee, be driven far away, 18 see v. 19. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these

This alludes to a custom in the east of inscribing the names of the dead, or of absent friends, or their native country, by some indelible mark on their hands or arms. Thus the pilgrims that went to the holy sepulchre had themselves marked; and this art is practised by travelling Jews all over the world at this day.

[As] I live,

gather themselves together, [and] come to thee. saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them [on thee,] as a bride [doeth :] mothers consider their children as their greatest ornaments, so the purity and piety of christians shall be an ornament to the church.* 19 For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabi20 tants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place [is] too strait for me: 21 give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these and educated them, so that they come with dispositions to be the beauty, strength, and glory of the church? Behold, I was left alone; these, where [had] they 22 [been?] Thus saith the Lord GoD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, I will beckon them, and they shall come, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in [their] arms, and thy young daughters shall be carried upon [their] shoulders; they and their children shall eagerly come, and 23 be joined to the church. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall become good themselves, and be the protectors of religion and liberty: they shall bow down to thee with [their] face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; they shall do honour and pay deference to the church of Christ; and thou shalt know that I [am] the LORD for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. 24

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? An objection made by the Jews to their deliverance from captivity, without being ransomed or excharged. To 25 which God answers, But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children; my almighty power shall 26 effect this. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; the nations that join with Babylon shall contend with and destroy one another :† and I the LORD [am] thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

1.

WE

REFLECTIONS.

E have great reason to rejoice in Christ's commission to save the Gentiles. This sublime description is addressed to us of these isles, for to us is the word of his salvation

The following verses are generally interpreted of the Jews; but their land was never so populous after the captivity as before; they had not the whole land of Canaan, as in Solonion's time. I therefore think it refers to the accession of Gentile converts.

+Cyrus conquered some countries which were in alliance with the Chaldeans, and then made use of their soldiers in bis attack upon Babylon.

VOL. V.

Gg

sent. This great and populous nation is become christian; has been enlightened by the sun of righteousness; we enjoy plenty of the means of grace, and are directed in the way to eternal life. Let us then adore the grace that has been afforded us, and say, as in v. 13. Sing, O heavens ; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains : for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

2. It is no new thing for faithful ministers to complain of their want of success. They labour, take pains, and are diligent in their work, spend their health and strength in endeavouring to do good; yet little good is done. It is a most discouraging circumstance; but it was the case with our Master, though never man stake as he did; and this is our encouragement, as it was his, that our work is with the Lord, and our reward with our God: He will not forget it ; but will proportion his reward, not to our success, but to our fidelity.

3. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. This is the apostle's remark on v. 8. See 2 Cor. vi. 2. God heard and assisted his Son, that he might execute his work, and preach reconciliation. Therefore, while the gospel sounds in our ears is the time when we may be accepted, and the day when we may be saved. Let us therefore attend to it; for when our time on earth ends, there is no other accepted time, no other day of salvation, Today therefore if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

4. Let us admire and trust in the compassion of God to his people in their distresses. That is a most beautiful, tender and delightful image in v. 14. It is next to impossible that a woman should forget her sucking child, or even the son of her womb; though she is more likely to forget the child she bore, than the child she suckles. But they may forget; mothers may prove monsters, and be unnatural to their children; as those are who wickedly destroy them, or even send them to be suckled by strangers when they are able to do it themselves. But God will not forget his church in its lowest distress, nor his people, though they may sometimes, through long affliction, be ready to despair.

5. Let us encourage ourselves to expect the continuance and enlargement of the church. There are many delightful promises in this chapter, of its spread among the gentiles, of kings becoming holy and zealous, and of numerous converts being added to it. Let this excite our prayers for the propagation of the gospel, and our thankfulness when any are added to the church, and especially those that are a peculiar ornament and credit to it. Though many difficulties seem to lie in the way, an almighty God has engaged that they shall be surmounted; and therefore they shall not be ashamed that wait for him.

CHAP. L.

This chapter is a vindication of God's dealings with his people; and concludes with an exhortation to trust in God and not in ourselves.

HUS saith the LORD, O ye captives, Where [is] the

representing the jewish church as their mother, and alluding to the power which husbands had to put away their wives, God inquires for the bill of divorce, in which the reasons would appear why they were rejected or which of my creditors [is it] to whom I have sold you? An allusion to persons when oppressed with debt selling themselves, or their children, to their creditors, as was frequently done among the Jews, see 2 Kings iv. 1. and Matt. xviii. 25. but this, says God, cannot be my case; I am not urged by any such necessity; I am not in debt to the Chaldeans or Romans. Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away; you sold yourselves for the gratification of your lusts, and were put away for your own folly 2 and wickedness. Wherefore, when I came, [was there] no man? when I called, [was there] none to answer? if it were not so, why did you refuse my offers, and despise and abuse my messengers, especially my own Son? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because [there is] no water, and dieth for thirst; I have the same power as I ever had, therefore it was not 3 owing to me that you were not delivered, but to your sins. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering; a reference to the Egyptian darkness, Exod. x. 21. The Missiah is then introduced as speaking in his own name.

4

The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to [him that is] weary he wakeneth morning by morning: he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned; or rather, as learners or schelars; (an allusion to a master calling up his scholars and servants in the morning ;) as if he had said, God reveals his will to me, and 5 gives me ability to instruct and comfort the afflicted. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back; he hath instructed me in the discharge of my office, given me to understand why I must suffer; and I was will6 ing to do what he required. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face 7 from shame and spitting. For the Lord Gon will help me ; therefore shall I not be confounded; not be overborne by my enemies, nor disappointed in my work and of my hope: therefore have I set my face like a flint, I am bold and courageous, and I 8 know that I shall not be ashamed. [He is] near that justifieth

These great indignities Christ suffered patiently, Luke xviii 31, 32. Mutt. xiv. 65. xv. 19,