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fpirit: fo wilt thou recover me, and make me to live; 17 by thee I fhall ftill be fupported. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou haft in love to my foul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou haft caft all my fins behind thy back; thou haft forgiven my fins which brought this distemper upon me, and haft fhown thy 18 favour to me by thus recovering me. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can [not] celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth; they cannot glorify thee on earth and ferve mankind, or expelt to fee thy promises to thy church and people fulfilled. 19 The living, the living, he fhall praife thee, as I [do] this day: the father to the children fhall make known thy truth; they that have been recovered fhall praife thee themfelves, and relate thy goodness to their children, to en20 courage them to trust in thee. The LORD [was ready] to fave me therefore we will fing my fongs to the ftringed inftruments all the days of our life in the houfe of the LORD; not only this fong, but other devout compofitions; not merely in one vifit paid to the fanctuary, but as long as 21 my recovered life fhall continue. For Ifaiah had faid, Let

them take a lump of figs, and lay [it] for a plaister 22 upon the boil, and he fhall recover." Hezekiah also had faid, What [is] the fign, that I fhall go up to the houfe of the LORD? that was the first place he defigned to vifit, and therefore he put the question with particular reference to it.

1.

REFLECTION S.

HIS chapter fuggefts many useful inftructions to the fick and infirm; and fuch any of us may

very foon be. We fhould therefore fet our houfes in order, make our wills, fettle our affairs, and contrive for the peace of furvivors. Efpecially fhould we fet our fouls in order; renew the exercise of repentance and faith, and make our peace with God, with men, and our own confciences. Let the fick pray, and humble themselves; acknowledge the hand

Perhaps thefe might have a natural virtue to ripen the impofthume, but could not heal it fo foon without extraordinary interpofition.

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hand of God in the vifitation, and feek help from him; but they should not neglect the affiftance of phyficians and medicines, left they tempt the Lord their God. Tho' Hezekiah's recovery was in a great measure miraculous, yet natural means were used, to teach us the use of them. Let us not think our fears of death signs of our being in a finful ftate, for even Hezekiah wept fore at its approach, tho' he could appeal to God that he had walked before him in truth, and with a perfect heart, and had done that which was good in his fight.

2. Those who have been recovered from fickness may fee what should be their temper and conduct. It is proper to recollect, and keep written memorials of their danger and deliverance; of the workings of their thoughts and affections; their views of God, themselves, and another world; and of their refolutions and vows. Let them be very thankful for their escapes from death; remembering, that it was the Lord that healed them, that recovered them from the pit of corruption, when just finking into it; they should express their thankfulness in their addreffes to God, and in their converfation with others, for their encouragement. It should be our care to walk humbly with God; to proceed with caution and watchfulness in the way of duty; to be zealous for his honour, and diligent and ferious in our attendance upon his ordinances. Hezekiah's love to God's house showed itself very remarkably during his fickness; he lamented his being deprived of attendance there, and refolved to frequent it conftantly while he lived. Thus fhould we improve our recoveries from fickness, or our continued health; remembering, that life is fhort, and that there is no knowledge, wisdom, or device, in the grave, whither we are all going.

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CHAP. XXXIX.1

T that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, fent letters and a prefent to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been fick,

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For the illuftration and improvement of this chapter, fee
Kings XX. 12-19.

2 and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and fhowed them the house of his precious things, the filver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah fhowed them not. 3 Then came Ifaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and faid unto him, What faid these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah faid, They are come from a far country unto me, [even] from Babylon, 4 Then faid he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah anfwered, All that [is] in mine house have they feen there is nothing among my treasures 5 that I have not showed them. Then faid Isaiah to 6 Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hofts: Behold, the days come, that all that [is] in thine house, and [that] which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, thall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be 7 left, faith the LORD. And of thy fons that shall iffue from thee, which thou shalt beget, fhall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of 8 Babylon. Then faid Hezekiah to Ifaiah, Good [is] the word of the LORD which thou haft fpoken. He faid moreover, For there fhall be peace and truth in my days.

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CHAP. XL.

We now come to the last part of Ifaiah's prophecy, which is by much the most fublime and important. It contains many comfortable predictions of the restoration of the jews from captivity, of the bleffings of the gospel, and the converfion of the •jews in the latter days. But in this chapter, and in many other places, thefe events are fo intermingled, that, tho' the general fenfe is plain, it is hard to determine to which event the prophet refers.

OMFORT ye, comfort
ye my people, faith
your God; that is, to the prophets during the cap-

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2 tivity, and to all christian ministers in future ages. Speak

ye

3.

ye comfortably to Jerufalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardon+ ed: for fhe hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her fins; not double to what she deserved, but double in proportion to God's feverity in correcting other finful, nations, becaufe fhe was more eminently favoured. It may have a reference to the law of paying double damages, Exod. xxii. 4. Immediately a harbinger is introduced, giving orders, as was ufual in the march of eastern generals, to remove every obStacle, and prepare the way for their return into their own land,

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God; probably referring to Cyrus's proclamation of deliverance to the jews; or rather to the gofpel falvation; and it is fo applied to John the Baptist, 4 Matt. iii. 3. Every valley fhall be exalted, and every mountain and hill fhall be made low: and the crooked fhall be made ftraight, and the rough places plain; all difficulties fhall vanish; men's pride and prejudices fhall be 5 removed: And the glory of the LORD, his glorious power and goodness, fhall be revealed, and all flesh fhall fee [it] together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken 6 [it.] The voice faid to the prophet, Cry, or proclaim aloud. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grafs, and all the goodlinefs thereof [is] as the flower 7 of the field: The grafs withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: furely 8 the people [is] grafs. The grafs withereth, the flower fadeth but the word of our God fhall ftand for ever; there is no dependance to be laid on the wisdom, power, and promifes of men, but the promises of God are faithful, and nothing fhall prevent the execution of them. So Peter applies the words in his first epiftle, chap. i. 23-25.

9 O Zion, that bringeft good tidings, or, O thou that telleft good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerufalem, that bringeft good tidings, or, O thou that telleft good tidings to Jerufalem, lift up thy voice with strength; proclaim aloud on the mountains, from whence thou canst beft be heard, lift [it] up, be not afraid,

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for God will make his word good; fay unto the cities of 10 Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the LORD God will come with ftrong [hand,] or, against the strong, and his arm fhall rule for him; he will complete your deliverance, and establish the Meffiah's kingdom, without human assistance: behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work, 11 or, recompenfe for his work, before him. He, that is, the Merah, fhall feed his flock like a fhepherd: he fhall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry [them,] that is, the lame and fick, in his bofom, [and] fhall gently lead thofe that are with young.

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Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the fpan, and comprehended the duft of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in fcales, and the hills in a balance? To confirm your faith in thefe promifes, obferve the exact order in which the earth is formed; the mountains are weighed, the waters and the duft are measured; fo that there is not a drop too much, nor a grain fuperfluous or deficient; and fay, 13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD when he made the world, or [being] his counsellor hath taught him to 14 govern it? With whom took he counfel, and [who] inftructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and fhowed to him the way 15 of understanding? Behold, the nations [are] as a drop of a bucket, as inconfiderable, when compared with the ocean, as a drop of water, and are counted as the small duft of the balance; fo fmall, when compared with the whole earth, as not to affect the niceft fcales; behold, he taketh up the ifles as a very little thing; the ifles, tho Jo fpacious, strong, and deep rooted, are in his hand what a a light thing is in ours, which we take up, turn, and manage 16 as we pleafe. And, if we would study to prefent an oblation anfwerable to his greatnefs, Lebanon [is] not fufficient to burn, nor the beafts thereof fufficient for a burnt offer17 ing. All nations, if they were affembled together to attend this great facrifice, before him [are] as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity. To caution the jews against the idolatry of the Chaldeans, 18 he proceeds, To whom then will ye liken God? or

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