thunderings and lightnings, &c. which took place on Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law.

5. Thou meelest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness;] That is, Thou preventest with thy blessings him that rejoices to work righteousness.

in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.]. "Those," refers to " thy ways." In God's ways. there is "continuance" (or no variableness nor shadow of changing) so that "we shall be saved." 6.-all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;] Our very best actions are so far from having any merit in them, that they have a great alloy of imperfection,

CHAP. LXV.

This chapter contains a defence of God's proceedings in regard to the Jews, with reference to their complaint in the preceeding chapter. God is introduced declaring that He had called the Gentiles, though they had not sought Him; and had rejected His own people for their refusal to attend to His repeated call; for their obstinate disobedience, their idolatrous practices, and detestable hypocrisy: that nevertheless He would not destroy them all; but would preserve a remnant, to whom He would make good His ancient promises. Severe punishments are threatened to the apostates; and great rewards are promised to the obedient, in a future flourishing state of the Church.

Verse 1. I am sought of them that asked not for we;] Rather "I am made manifest to them" &c. that is, to the Gentiles. See Rom. x. 20. The rebellious people" in the next verse alludes to the Jews.

3.-that sacrificeth in gardens, &c.] Instances of heathenish superstition and idolatrous practices, to which the Jews were much addicted before the Babylonish captivity. They sacrificed upon altars Built of bricks, in opposition to the command of God in regard to Ilis altar, which was to be of unbewn stone.

4. Which remain among the graves, &c.] Sleep in sepulchres and tombs to obtain dreams. A practice in heathen nations. The "broth of abominable things" was such as was made of animals prohibited by the Jewish Law.

5. These are a smoke in my nose, &c.] The extreme offensiveness to God of spiritual pride and hypocrisy is compared to that of "a smoke in the nose;" and the continual provocation kindled by it to a fire that buraeth all the day."

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8.-As the new wine is found in the cluster, &c.] Or rather, "As when a good grape is found" &c.. The meaning is, as a few good grapes upon a vine, prevent the owner fron cutting it down, so shall the few righteous that remain in the nation prevent Me from destroying it altogether.

10.Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor &c.] These are two of the most fertile parts of Judea.

11.-that forget my holy mountain,] That forsake My temple and worship.

that prepare a table for that troop,) For "that troop" and " that number" the margin of the Bible reads "Gad" and " Meui," supposed to be two objects of heathen worship.

15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen:] Mine elect shall look upon you as a standing monument of God's indignation; your name shall be mentioned in a common form of imprecation, God do to me, as He has done to the wicked Jews. The other name mentioned here may mean that of Christians,

.. 17. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.] That is (in prophetick language) will institute a new dispensation of religion, superseding that of Moses, which was confined wholly to the Jews: one that should admit all people.

20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, &c.] There shall be no untimely deaths: the Prophet describes this renovation of the world as a state similar to that which the Patriarchs enjoyed before the flood; the purport of the latter part of this verse is, that he that died an hundred years old might be looked on as dying in childhood, cut off in the beginning of his days, as a punishment for sin: it may be more plainly rendered, "He that dies an hundred years old, shall die a child; and the sinner that dies an hundred years old, shall be accursed."

25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, &c.] A figurative expression signifying that all fierceness and violence shall be suppressed. See chap. xi, 6, 7, &c.

CHAP. LXVI.

A continuation of the subject of the foregoing chapter, which the Prophet pursues with more express declaration of the new dispensation, and of the flourishing state of the Church under it. The increase of the Church is to be sudden and astonishing. They that escape of the Jews, that is, that become converts to the Christian faith, are to be employed in the Divine mission to the Gentiles, and are to act as priests in presenting the Gentiles as an offering to God. And both, now collected into one body, shall be witnesses of the final perdition of the obstinate and irreclaimable. These two chapters manifestly relate to the calling of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian dispensation, and the reprobation of the apostate Jews, and their destruction executed by the Romans.

Verse 1.-The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? &c.] God admonishes the Jews not to rely on His temple's being among them; that the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; that an humble and truly pious man is a living temple to Him, ver. 2; and that without inward piety," he that killeth an ox" for sacrifice "is as if he slew a man," &c.

4. I also will choose their delusions,] God threatens the people, that because they were abominable in their lives, He would abandon them, and give them over to a spirit of delusion. God is said to choose those things for us, which He premits us to fall into: when men abandon themselves to wickedness and impiety, God withdraws His grace from them; and, by His secret and just judgment, they are deprived of the faculty of discerning between truth and error, between good and evil.

5.-said, Let the Lord be glorified:] Or, in derision called on God to do something extraordinary in your behalf.

7. Before she travailed, she brought forth; &c.] This and the next verse probably refer to the rapid progress of the Gospel, as much beyond human expectation, as if a woman were to bring forth before she was in labour, as if the earth yielded ripe produce the very day it was sown, or as if a nation were in the state of perfection the very moment it was founded.

11.—and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; &c.] Alluding to the blessings of the Gospel; which are signified in the next verse by "peace" and the glory of the Gentiles."

15. For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, &c.] This and the following verse seem to refer either to the destruction of Jerusalem or to the last judgment, or probably to both.

17. They that sanctify themselves,in the gardens &c.] In this verse vengeance is denounced against those, who practised idolatrous rites, and adopted heathenish modes of purification,

19. to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, &c.] To all quarters of the Globe: the Prophet's object here is to designate the most remote parts.

20.-they shall bring, all your brethren-upon horses, and in chariots, &c.] Meaning " In all ways; to intimate their numbers and various ranks. to my holy mountain Jerusalem,] That is, probably, not to the place, but to the true faith and worship God prescribed to the Christian Church: signifying the true religion of after times, by referring to that place in which alone in Isaiah's time the true religion was practised.

23.-from one new moon to another,] That is, at the stated times; signifying the times to be fixed among Christians by reference to those which were fixed amongst the Jews.

24.-for their worm shall not die, &c.] The object of this verse probably is, to intimate that the apostates, those who will not qualify themselves for the blessings of Christianity, shall not merely be cut off, but shall continue in a state of the utmost degradation and misery: as much dishonoured, as those who are denied the rights of burial, and as wretched as the stings of conscience, the pains of burning, and the contempt and abhorrence of all mankind can make them.

CHAP. 1.

This chapter forms an entire section by itself. It contains the call of Jeremiah, and the commission given him by God, the purport of which is explained by two symbolical images, ver. 11, 13, &c. God encourages him to proceed in the execution of it by assuring him of protection and support.

5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;] Some persons have been designed for certain offices by a particular decree of God, from or before their birth, as John the Baptist. Luke i. 15. and others. So here Jeremiah was set apart for the prophetical office, and in due time sent into the world to execute the same.

6.-1 cannot speak: for I am a child.] Not strictly within the years of childhood; but a young man, and therefore one that had not authority and gravity enough to speak as became a Prophet.

10.-I have this day set thee-to root out, and to pull down, &c.] The Prophets are said to do things, when they declare God's purpose of doing them. God here appoints Jeremiah to declare His purposes concerning the overthrow or restoration of kingdoms and nations, according as they should persist in, or repent of their sins.

11.-1 see a rod of an almond tree.] The almond tree takes its name in Hebrew from a word which signifies to hasten, because it is (in warm climates) one of the earliest trees to bud and blossom. This image therefore is presented to the Prophet to intimate that God would" hasten" to bring those judgments on the Jews, which He had foretold He would, when their sins should be ripe for vengeance.

13. I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.] The pot denoted the empire of the Babylonians and Chaldeans, lying to the north of Judea, and pouring forth its multitudes, like a thick vapour, to overspread the land.

15.-they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates &c.] To "set up a throne" in or over any place, denotes taking full possession of it.

18.—I have made thee this day a defenced city, &c.] I this day strengthen thee against all the opposition, which shall be made unto thee; thou shalt be more surely defended from henceforth than a walled city; more firm than a pillar of iron, or walls of brass.

CHAP. II.

The prophecy, begun in this chapter, is continued to the end of the fifth verse of the next chapter. In it God professes to retain the same kindness and favourable disposition towards Israel which He had manifested in their earlier days. He expostulates with them on their ungrateful returns for His past goodness; and shews, that it was not want of affection in Him, but their own extreme wickedness and disloyalty, which had already subjected, and would still subject, them to calamities and misery. He concludes with a pathetick address, exhorting them to return to Him, with an implied promise of acceptance; and laments the necessity He was under through their continued obstinacy, of giving them further marks of His displeasure.

Verse 2.-I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, &c.] I remember my first kindness to thee, when I delivered thee out of Egypt, and espoused thee to Myself, to be My own peculiar people. The covenant which God made with the Jews at mount Sinai is commonly represented under the metaphor of a marriage contract.

3. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, &c.] Israel was then consecrated to the Lord, and set apart for His service; as the first-fruits are wont to be devoted to God; so that all who devour them bring evil upon themselves.

8. The priests said not, Where is the Lord? &c.] The priests, whose office it was to instruct others in their duty, were ignorant or regardless of it themselves.

9.-1 will yet plead with you,] That is, I will maintain the equity of My proceedings, and the iniquity of yours.

10.-pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; &c.] The purport of this passage is, Look about you to the west and to the east.

11. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? &c.] Men are very tenacious of the religion of their forefathers, and with difficulty prevailed on to renounce it, though the change be never so reasonable. Whereas the Jews have changed the worship of the true God for idols and vanities.

13.-und hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, &c.] God is the Author and Giver of all blessings: wherever else men place their happiness, whether in false religions or in the uncertain comforts of worldly blessings, they will find themselves disappointed, just as they that expect to find water at broken cisterns.

14. Is Israel a servant? &c.] Israel's present servitude, and his being made a prey to many foreign enemies (" lions" verse 15.) must be imputed to his sins, of which his slavery is the consequence. In the next verse (15) the verbs express

the time past, but are to be understood of the future. It is very usual for the Prophets thus to speak of events foreseen by them, as if they had been already accomplished. See the note on Deut. xxxii, 15.

16.-Noph and Tahapanes] Two principal cities of Egypt.

18.-to drink the waters of Sihor ?] God upbraids the people for courting the favour of the King of Egypt, and of Assyria, instead of seeking assistance from Him. "Sihor" is a name for the Nile.

19.-it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God,] This is applicable to individuals as well as to nations. Life was not intended to be led inconsistently; one part in doing wrong, the other in being sorry for it. Uniform obedience is our Maker's demand; and whoever departs from it wilfully, though he may return, will assuredly be made to "know and see," one way or other, that "it is a thing evil and bitter, that he hath forsaken the Lord his God."

22. For though thou wash thee with nitre, &c.] Though thou endeavourest to wash away thy sins by the rites of expiation prescribed by the law, or practised by idolaters; though thou insistest upon thy own innocence and justification (verse 23;) yet the "marks" or stains of thy sins will always appear in the sight of God, till they are cleansed by a sincere repentance and reformation.

23.-see thy way in the valley,] See how thou hast prostituted thyself, and practised the grossest idolatry in the valley; alluding to those idolatrous acts which were practised in the valley of Hinnom. See chap, vii. 31.

-thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;] The impossibility of restraining one of these fleet animals, when hurried away by the impetuous call of nature, is represented as a parallel to that unbridled lust and eagerness, with which the people of Judah ran after the gratification of their passion for idolatry, which is called spiritual whoredom.

24.-all they that seek her will not weary themselves; The animal is described in the season of her lust, when all they that seek her," that is, the males, "will not weary themselves," but on the contrary will find her eager to meet them.

25. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, &c.] This is probably a warning to beware of the consequences of pursuing the courses they were addicted to; as if it had been said, Take care that thou dost not expose thyself by thy wicked ways to the wretched condition of going into captivity unshod, as the manner is represented, ls. xx. 4; and of serving thine enemies in hunger, and in thirst.

30. In vain have 1 smitten your children; &c.

The design of God's judgments is men's reforma. tion: and where they do not attain this end, it shews that such a people are incorrigible.

33. Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?] The Prophet alludes, as before ver. 20, to the practices of a common barlot, who deeks herself, and uses all the inveigling arts that may recommend her. Thus has Judea tried all methods to gain the friendship of foreign idolaters, who are called her lovers, See chap. iii. 1.

34.-I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.] That is, it is not a few only, but all of you that I have found guilty of this sin: it is become national.

36.-thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt,] Disappointed in thy expectations of succour from Egypt.

37.-thine hands upon thine head:] To cover the head was a mark of great affliction.

CHAP. III.

Verse 2.-where thou hast not been lien with.] Where thou hast not worshipped some idol.

In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness;] That is, thou hast waited for opportunities of practising thine idolatries, as the Arabian waits for a prey in the wilderness.

6. The Lord said also unto me] Here begins an entire new section or distinct prophecy, which is continued to the end of the sixth chapter. It consists of two parts. The first part contains a complaint against Judah, for having exceeded the guilt of Israel, whom God already cast off for her idolatry, verse 6-12. The Prophet is hereupon sent to announce to Israel the promise of pardon upon her repentance, and the hopes of a glorious restoration in after times, which are plainly marked out to be the times of the Gospel, when the Gentiles were to become a part of the Church, verse 12-21. The children of Israel, confessing and bewailing their sins, have the same comfortable assurances as before respeated to them, verse 22; chap. iv. 2.

In the second part, which begins chap. iv. 3, and is prefaced with an address to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, exhorting them to prevent the Divine judgments by a timely repentance, the Babylonian invasion is clearly and fully foretold, with all the miseries which would attend it; and the universal and incorrigible depravity of the people is represented at large, and pointed out as the Justly provoking cause of the national ruia.

7. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.] The two kingdoms of Israel and Judah are described as sisters in iniquity.

9.-through the lightness of her whoredom,] That is, her great inclination to idolatry.

11. The backsliding Israel hath justified herself &c.] That is, Israel hath appeared righteous in comparison with Judah: which last sinned against greater convictions; and would not take warning by that desolation, which God brought on the kingdom of Israel for their idolatries.

12.-toward the north,] Assyria and Media, whither the ten tribes of Israel, were carried by their conquerour, lay to the north of Judea.

14.-1 will take you one of a city, and two of a family, &c.] This relates to their call into the Christian Church, into which they were brought, not all at a time, nor in a national capacity, but severally as individuals, here and there one.

16.-they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: &c.] The ark of the covenant was the visible seat of God's residence among His people; it was therefore the object of their boast; but after the destruction of their first temple, they had it no more. But to compensate this loss, they are told in the next verse, that " Jerusalem should be called the throne of the Lord," to which not the Jews only, but "all the nations should be gathered." By Jerusalem is meant the Christian Church.

21. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: &c.] The Prophet, foreseeing that the Jews will at length be touched with an hearty repentance for all their misdoings, represents them as bewailing themselves upon "the high places," the scenes of

their former idolatries.

22.-Behold we come unto thee; &c.] What follows to the end of the chapter is spoken in the name of the Israelites, accepting the Divine invitation, verse 22; acknowledging the vanity of their misplaced trust, verse 23; and professing the deepest contrition and shame for their misbehaviour, verse 24, 25.

23. from the hills, and from the-mountains:] That is, from their idols, which were worshipped on hills and mountains.

24. For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers &c.] It is this shameful idolatry which hath undone both our late forefathers and us.