CHA P. XXVI. This chapter, like the foregoing, is a fong of praise, and refers to gofpel times. It foretells the fuccefs of God's caufe in the hands of Chrift over all oppofition. 'IN N that day fhall this fong be fung in the land of Judah, where the gospel fhall be first planted; We have a strong city; falvation will [God] appoint [for] walls and bulwarks; he will guard and defend his own in- ▾ 2 tereft. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in; that the pious jews and gentiles may enter in, and all be incorporated as the 3 city of God. Thou wilt keep [him] in perfect peace, [whofe] mind [is] ftayed [on thee:] because he trust4 eth in thee. Truft ye in the LORD for ever: for in the 5 LORD JEHOVAH [is] everlasting ftrength: For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, [even] to the ground; he bringeth it [even] to the duft. As the church is reprefented as the city of God, fo the fociety of its enemies is defcribed as a city; he will overthrow the strongest cities of his enemies, as Sodom, the Egyptians, and Babylon, were 6 overthrown. The foot fhall tread it down, [even] the feet of the poor, [and] the fteps of the needy; those who are most defpised, that is, meek and humble chriftians, 7 fhall overcome and triumph over all their enemies. The way of the juft [is] uprightness: thou, most upright, doft weigh the path of the juft, or rather, make it plain and 8 level. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; patiently fubmitted to thy correction; the defire of [our] foul [is] to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee; we have expected deliverance from thee, and taken pains to keep up our devout affections 9 to thee. With my foul have I defired thee in the night; yea, with my fpirit within me will I feek thee early; early and late have our defires been to thee: for when thy judgments [are] in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteoufnefs; thy judgments are adapted to teach men righteousness; all ought to learn it, and some R 3 will 10 will. Let favour be fhowed to the wicked, [yet] will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness, amidst great religious advantages and good examples, will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the II LORD. LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not fee; will not own it, nor be fubject to it, fo as to comply with thy defign: [but] they fhall fee, and be afhamed for [their] envy at the people, or, for thy zeal toward thy people; yea, the fire of thine enemies fhall devour them; the fire with which thine enemies are con12 fumed. LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou alfo haft wrought all our works in us, or, for us; and 13 this is our encouragement. O LORD our God, [other] lords befides thee have had dominion over us, other princes and evil lufts: [but] by thee only will we make mention of thy name; by thy favour and affiftance we will 14 be folely thine. [They are] dead, they fhall not live; [they are] deceased, they fhall not rife, that is, the other lords and oppreffors: therefore haft thou vifited, or rather, because thou haft vifited, and destroyed them, anđ 15 made all their memory to perifh. Thou haft increased the nation, O LORD, thou haft increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadft removed [it] far [unto] all the ends of the earth by former captivities; or it may 16 rather refer to the spread of the church of Christ. LORD, in trouble have they vifited thee, they poured out a 17 prayer [when] thy chaftening [was] upon them. Like as a woman with child, [that] draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, [and] crieth out in her pangs; 18 so have we been in thy fight, O LORD: We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen: we have been big with expectations of deliverence, and uneafy till it was accomplished; but have been fadly disappointed. What follows is God's answer to the 19 church's complaint. Thy dead [men] fhall live, [together with] my dead body, that is, my church, fhall they arife. Therefore awake and fing, ye that dwell in duft: for thy dew [is as] the dew of herbs; my favour shall revive thee 20* again, as the dew revives the grafs, and the earth fhall caft out the dead; all countries where you are difperfed, fball restore you again." Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and fhut thy doors about thee; fly to God as thy defence: as men retire to their moft fecret apartments to fhelter themfelves in ftorms and dangers, thus do thou when the deftroying angel is paffing thro' the land: hide thyfelf as it were for a little moment, the shortest space of time, until the in21 dignation be overpaft. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth alfo fhall difclofe her blood and shall no more cover her flain, that is, the blood that fhe had drank: thofe that shed it thought it was for ever covered, but their guilt shall appear. Some understand it, that the number of their enemies who were flain fhould be fo great, that they should lie unburied. 1. WE REFLECTION S. E here fee the reasonablenefs and advantage of an humble, cheerful truft in God. This the prophet in the name of the church expreffes, and, in the name of God, exhorts to. It is our duty to truft in him, to depend upon him, and wait for him in every circumftance of life; to believe in his providence and hope in his promises. This is highly reafonable, for in him is everlasting ftrength; it will fecure our peace with him and our own confcience; it will free us from anxiety and tormenting fears; and we fhall be fafe in the chambers of divine protection. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings whofe mind is fixed, trusting in God. 2. We fee what our duty is in feasons of affliction, whether private or publick, and what use we should make of them. When God lifts up his hand he expects us to fee it; to obferve the operations of his providence, to confider the defign of them, and learn righteousness by them. We should wait on him in the way of his judgments; entertain R 4 w This is applied in Ezekiel's vifion, chap. xxxvii. 11, 12. to the gentiles, or rather, to the jews in the latter day. tain good thoughts of him, ftrong defires after him, and feek to him for relief. His judgments are adapted to warn and alarm the unthinking, to roufe the fecure, and quicken all. His great defign is, that we may learn righteousness; otherwife we shall fuffer in vain. Bleffed is the man whom, thou chafteneft and teacheft out of thy law; that thou mayeft give him reft from the day of adverfity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. CHA P. XXVII. To what particular circumftance of the jewish church and nation this chapter has an immediate reference, it is hard to fay; it is applicable to the church in general when under the oppreffion of any cruel tyrants: fuch are often defcribed as ferpents and dragons; thus was Pharaoh, and fo are the popish powers. I N that day the LORD with his fore and great and ftrong fword fhall punish leviathan the piercing ferpent, even leviathan that crooked ferpent; and he shall flay the dragon that [is] in the fea; who by violence 2 and fubtle arts endeavours to destroy his people. In that day fing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine; that is, the church, called a vineyard of red wine, as that was 3 reckoned the choiceft and best wine. I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: left [any] hurt it, I will keep it night and day; I will defend it from its 4 enemies, and fupply it with provifions. Fury [is] not in me: who would fet the briers [and] thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together; I am flow to anger, not wrathful and implacable; but thofe that oppofe my gracious defigns fhall be as fuddenly 5 and easily destroyed, as fire destroys briers and thorns. Or let him take hold of my ftrength, [that] he may make peace with me; [and] he fhall make peace with me; me; let him by repentance and humiliation feek reconciliation with me, and to stay the arm of my justice, then my mercy and 6 ftrength fhall be engaged in his favour. He fhall caufe them that come of Jacob to take root: Ifrael fhall bloffom bloffom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit; that is, they shall revive again after their oppreffions. 7 Hath he fmitten him, as he fmote those that smote him? [or] is he flain according to the flaughter of them that are flain by him? He fhall leave a remnant of his people when he utterly deftroys thofe enemies that were his inftru8 ments in correcting them. In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it; the allufion to a vine is Still carried on; he will prune it with love and moderation, fo as not to destroy it: he ftayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind; he moderates the storm, left it should destroy the vine. By this therefore fhall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this [is] all the fruit to take away his fin; when he maketh all the ftones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in funder, the groves and images shall not ftand up; the end of his chastisement is to reform him from fin, especially idolatry, and lead him to deftroy his altars and images, and abolish the memory of them. 10 Nevertheless ferufalem fhall fuffer for its fins; for Yet the defenced city [fhall be] defolate, [and] the habitation forfaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there all he lie down, and consume the branches thereof; it all lie for a while in defolation, like a vineyard whofe fence is gone, fo that the cattle come to feed 11 therein. When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, to gather the remains of the trees for fuel, [and] fet them on fire: for it [is] a people of no understanding; they are quite stupid and fottifh: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour. 12 Yet they shall not always continue in this ftate. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, [that] the LORD fhall beat off from the channel of the river Euphrates unto the ftream of Egypt, and ye fhall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Ifrael; the jews fhall be recovered and restored; they shall be beat off, like corn feparated from the chaff; they shall not be brought again in a body, but one 13 by one, thro' God's influence on their minds. And it fhall come to pafs in that day, [that] the great trumpet fhall be |