whose words or works they were, had the foreknowledge and ordination of those future events. It is evident that by former things are meant former signs of future events, by what is said here in chap. xli. 22. "Let them show us former things what they be, that we may consider them what they be, and know the latter end of them ;" i. e. let them bring forth their ancient predictions or dispensations pointing at future events, that we may consider them, and compare them with the event, and see how they prove in the latter end, see how they come out in the event of things. This is confirmed by ver. 26. "Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and before time, that we may say, He is righteous?" i. e. that we may acknowledge that his cause is good, and that he is to be justified in his pretences; for here God is calling of them to come near together with him to judgment, that it may be tried who can best make out their pretences to divinity and claims of divine honours: see ver. 1 and 21. This is further manifest by chap. xlii. 9. “ Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare before they spring forth, I tell you of them." And xliii. 9, 10. "Let all nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled, who among them can declare this and show us former things? Let them bring forth their wit nesses;" i. e. let them bring forth their witnesses, that such and such things they foretold, or by some dispensation of theirs showed their foreknowledge of such and such events; and that the events exactly agreed with the prediction. Producing witnesses, that they may be justified, is a form of speech still alluding to a coming together in judgment. See also ver. 10, 11, 12, and chap. xliv. 6, 7, 8, xlv. 21, 22, xlvi. 9, 10, xlviii. 3, 4, &c.

[331] Isai. xli. 25. "I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come; from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name; and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay." Probably some respect may be here had to Cyrus, who came from the northeast, being sent by the king of Media to destroy Babylon; and so this place seems parallel with chap. xliv. 28, xlv. 1 and 13. But yet the Holy Ghost seems principally to have an eye here to some other prince, an antitype of Cyrus, that shall come from the northeast to destroy the spiritual Babylon, or antichristian church, which shall be raised up at the time when that glory shall be accomplished for the church that is here prophesied of in this chapter, and the foregoing and following chapters. The chief of them that are called the kings of the east, that are represented as coming to destroy the spiritual Babylon on the dry

ing up of the river Euphrates, in Rev. xvi. 12; as Cyrus and other princes of the east had their way prepared to destroy the literal Babylon on the drying up of the literal river Euphrates, and probably the emperor of Muscovy. This better agrees with the context, which evidently speaks of the glorious times of the church of God, and it better agrees with the words themselves, that speak of the person that shall be raised up as one that shall call on God's name, which was not fully accomplished in Cyrus, though he showed great respect to the true God; yet never properly became a worshipper of the true God, but lived and died an idolator; and it better agrees with the following words which speak of the glory of God in foretelling this thing so long aforehand.

The princes that the emperors of Muscovy shall probably come upon as mortar, are those two great princes that the devil has set up in opposition to Christ, viz. the emperor of the Turks and the Pope. The emperor of the Turks first, so drying up the river Euphrates, and then the Pope, when his way is thus prepared. The princes of these very countries, whose former princes overthrew the literal Babylon, will be joined with the princes of Muscovy, as they have of late been in war with the Turks.

[79] Isai. xlii. 3. "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth." The thing most directly intended in this verse seems to be the perseverance of the Christian church, and of particular saints; the church shall not be extinct, though it shall be greatly oppressed and persecuted, and shall be as a bruised reed, but it shall not be wholly broken; when once the fire is kindled it shall never be quenched; but though it do but just smoke at first, afterwards it shall flame out; it shall be as a grain of mustard-seed that by degrees shall become a great tree, or as the little leaven that was hidden in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened, or as the stone out of the mountain. Though the church sometimes be so oppressed that it is hardly visible, we can hardly see whether there be any fire or no, but only the smoke; yet it shall never be wholly destroyed. The same may be applied to particular saints, for he that has begun a good work in them shall carry it on to the day of Christ.

[479] Isai. xlii. 8. "I am the Lord Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Concerning this text, these things may be remarked confirming the divinity of Christ.

1. The name Jehovah, is a peculiar name of the true God. See also Psalm lxxxiii. 18. "That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth."

2. That the name Jéhovah here spoken of, is often undeniably given to Christ, as is not denied by Arians themselves. It is given in this very book; see chap. vi. 1. &c. compared with John xii. 41.

3. God says expressly concerning Christ, who is called the Angel of the Lord," My Name is in him," and therefore he requires the children of Israel to obey his voice.

4. He is often called "the Name of God."

5. The glory of the Lord was given to him; so that glory with which the angel of the Lord was wont to appear, was in a peculiar manner called the glory of the Lord.

6. He is himself often called the glory of the Lord. The apostle expressly says, he is "the brightness of God's glory."

[255] Isai. li. 9. "Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon." The word Rahab here is not the same with Rahab the harlot in Joshua: that is Rachab with n; this is with. The word signifies pride, probably so called from the exceeding pride that the Egyptians manifested in the time here spoken, viz. when God cut, or broke that land, and wounded the dragon, the task-masters of the Israelites and Pharaoh the dragon here spoken, manifested an exceeding haughtiness of spirit, in so standing it out with God, who appeared in such awful judgments against them. On this account Egypt is the more fit type of the antichristian church, that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt; and Pharaoh the dragon here spoken of, the fitter type of the great red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and the Pope his image.

[108] Isai. lii. 7. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings!" Jerusalem was compassed round with mountains, and therefore he that brought tidings to Zion must come over the mountains, and as he was coming over might therefore be seen in the city. The like expression is in Nahum i. 15.

[78] Isai. liii. 1, 2. "To whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant," &c. That He, that the Prophet speaks of, as it is most uatural to understand, is the arm of the Lord, spoken of in the first verse, and in the two foregoing chapters, as in the 5th and 9th verses of the li. chap. and in the 10th verse of the lii. who

is the same as his servant spoken of in the three last verses of that chapter. Hereby two things are evident:

1. That He, that is the subject of this chapter, is no mere man, as the Jews suppose: this is evident by the 9th and 10th verses of the li. chapter; and

2. By the same verse it is evident that it was Christ the second person of the Trinity that went before Israel when they came out of Egypt. God calls his son his arm, as Jacob calls his son his right hand. Genesis xxxv. 18.

"And

[15] Isai. liii. 12. "Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong." Intending at least partly that Christ's portion should be the most perfect and glorious kingdom of the earth, the most wise, opulent and learned nations of the world. Ps. xlv. 12. the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift, even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour." Isaiah lx. 13. "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.' Ps. lxxii. 10. "The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts."

[13] Jer. i. 5. "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee; and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the nations." In the same manner as God is said to sanctify Jeremiah as a Prophet before he was, whom he had elected to be such, for he said he foreknew the elect or saints, and children and heirs of life. Exod. xxiii. 12. 17.

[282] Jer. ii. 2, 3. "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown." Israel was holiness to the Lord, and the first fruits of his increase. See v. 21. "Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed," Ps. lxviii. 14. This has not respect to that generation that went out of Egypt, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, that were a very corrupt generation, but the generation of their children spoken of Numb. xiv. 31. "But your little ones which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised." So Deut. i. 39. It has respect to those spoken of Jer. xxxi. 2. The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness. same generation that entered into the land of Canaan with Joshua, and took possession of the good land, it was the genera

The

tion that God planted in Canaan as is evident by verse 21. And the going after God in the wilderness that is here spoken of, is not the going of the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness of Sinai, but their following God through that dreadful wilderness in which the congregation long wandered after they went back from Kadesh-barnea, which is spoken of, Deut. viii. 15. "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought; where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint." Although this generation had a much greater trial than the generation of their fathers had before they came to Kadesh-barnea, yet they never murmured against God in anywise as their fathers had done. But their trials had a contrary effect upon them, viz. to humble them, and fit them for great mercy. Deut. viii. 2, 3. "And thou shalt remember the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee, and to prove thee, and to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no, and he humbled thee," &c. And ver. 16. "Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, &c. that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee to do thee good in thy latter end." And therefore it is said, Hosea xiii. 5, "I did know thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought."

This generation were eminent for piety, as appears by many things said of them in the book of Numbers, as especially, Joshua. See Josh. xxiii. 8; xxii. 1, 2. Deut. iv. 3, 4. See also Note on Hos. xi. 1. Jer. xxxi. 2, 3. Hos. ix. 10. Jer. ii. 21. Ps. lxviii. 14. Josh. i. and three last verses. Judg. ii. 7. 17. 22. And though there were some wicked men amongst them, they were not like their fathers, an unbelieving generation; but believed God, and followed him, and by faith overcame Sihon and Og, and the giants and mighty nations of Canaan. They showed a laudable and fervent zeal for God on several occasions, on occasion of Achan's sin, but especially when they suspected the two tribes and half had set up an altar in opposition to the altar of burnt-offering before the tabernacle. Israel feared and served the Lord all the days that the men of that generation lived. See Notes on Judg. ii. 7.

[296] Jer. ii. 2, 3. "I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth," &c. It is probable that all those open rebellions, which were in the congregation of Israel during the whole forty years that the congregation was in the wilderness, were what the men of that perverse generation, who were adults when they came out of Egypt, were principally active and leading in, as the rebellion of Korah and his company that we have an account of, Numb.