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[it shall be] ill [with him:] for the reward of his hands shall be given him, a command to the priests and Levites to say thus in their sermons to the people.

[As for] my people, children [are] their oppressors, and women rule over them; persons of weak understanding and effeminate spirits: O my people, they which lead thee, cause 13 [thee] to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people, the pour and 14 the oppressed. The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof, for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor [is] in your houses. 15 What mean ye [that] ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, treat them in the most cruel and inhuman manner? saith the Lord GoD of hosts.

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Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing [as] they go, and making a tinkling with 17 their feet :* Therefore the LORD will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will discover their secret parts; they shall be reduced to rags that cannot cover their nakedness, or be led captive naked, according to 18 the cruel usage of eastern countries. In that day the LORD will take away the bravery of [their] tinkling ornaments [about their feet,] and [their] cauls, and [their] round tires like the moon, 19 20 The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tab21 22 lets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The

changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, 23 and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the 24 hoods, and the veils. And it shall come to pass, [that] instead

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of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; [and] burning instead of beauty; they shall be sun burnt in consequence of being made slaves.t

Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. 26 And her gates shall lament and mourn, because there are no passengers to go through them: and she [being] desolate shall sit upon the ground, as mourners used to do.

1 CHAP. IV. And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach; notwithstanding the natural reserve of the sex, they shall solicit to be married, and be content to maintain themselves. This must have been peculiarly grating to ladies of so much delicacy, luxury, and pride.

This refers to the ornaments worn about their ancles, which are still used by the eastem ladies; and it is reckoned a mark of polite and delicate education to know how to make a noise with them, by striking one foot against the other.

+ See Bp. Lowth's Isaiah for a more just and beautiful translation of these particulara. VOL. V.

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REFLECTIONS.

BSERVE from hence, how much all our national com

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the lives of princes, statesmen, judges, officers, and all their skill, courage, wisdom, and eloquence; he can easily take away any, or all of these, by death, or captivity; or disable them from being of any further service to the public. He can destroy union among the people, and give them up to faction or sedition. Let this teach us not to be confident of the continuance of any of our public blessings. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

2. National judgments are different in their consequences upon different persons, according as their characters are. It shall be well with the righteous, at all adventures. God commands his prophets to tell them so; they have abundant comfort amidst all their fears and alarms. They have the joyful testimony of conscience, and the hope of a glorious reward hereafter. But it shall be ill with the wicked; judgments peculiarly heavy shall fall upon them or, however prosperous they may be here, the reward of their hands shall hereafter be given them. They need nothing else to make them thoroughly miserable than to be left to the consequences of their own folly.

3. We are here taught, that cruelty to the poor is peculiarly displeasing to God, and that he will severely avenge it. There are many oppressive landlords, creditors, and masters, who abuse those that are under their power. Many who enrich themselves by the spoils of their neighbours; who tyrannize over workmen, and refuse them a just allowance for their labour; but God will stand ap and plead for such as are thus oppressed: and haughty oppressive people will do well to consider in time what they will do when God rises up, and when he judges what they will answer.

4. Let the daughters of Britain learn how odious pride, luxury, and extravagance of dress are to God, and how they increase the guilt of a nation. It is very likely that the daughters of Zion thought Isaiah a very rude and unpolite man in reproving them for their dress; but he had good authority for so doing, the Lord saith, And his being so particular is a plain intimation how nice and curious they were about their dress, how much time and money they spent upon it, which might have been better employed; how much they delighted in finery, so that it engrossed their thoughts and conversation. Ministers therefore, having so good an authority, should caution young women against this vice; which shows a proud, weak mind, generally defeats the very end proposed by it, offends God, and contributes to national judgments. They should be as clean and neat as possible; but not nice and curious. They should not waste their precious moments in following every fantastic fashion, lest their delicacy be followed by servitude, poverty, nakedness, and disgrace. Those will be worse able to bear any one

of these, who have been devoted to the follies of dress, expected much waiting on, and have been averse to any thing like labour : hear the words of the apostle, 1 Peter iii. 3, 4. Whose adorning let it not be that of plaiting the hair, but a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price.

CHAP. IV. 2, to the end. CHAP. V. 1—8.

After the prophecy of the calamities of Israel, Isaiah proceeds to foretell the glory of the Messiah's kingdom.

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N that day shall the branch of the LORD, the Messiah, be beautiful and glorious in the sight of God and all good men, and the fruit of the earth [shall be] excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel, who shall escape the destruction 3 before mentioned, and be converted by the gospel. And it shall come to pass, [that he that is] left in Zion, and [he that] remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, that is, the first converts to christianity shall be eminently so, [even] every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem, or, in the Lamb's book 4 of life; an allusion to the Jewish registers of families: When the LORD shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem, their murders and oppressions, especially slaying the prophets and the Messiah, from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning; by his holy spirit producing purity and zeal among them. 5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory [shall be] a defence; when he shall have thus purged them, he will manifest his power in protecting their families and places of worship. Here is nothing said about the temple, but an allusion to the pillar of cloud, whereby God intimates that he would preserve 6 and protect them in a glorious manner. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain; an allusion to the tents which travellers carried with them in the east, which they used when they passed over the deserts; and it intimates that God would be their defence in all extremities. The prophet then describes the ingratitude and unfruitfulness of the Jews, as a reason why God sent his judgments upon them. He begins with representing in a beautiful parable, God's tender care of his people, and their unworthy returns to his goodness.

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CHAP. V. Now will I sing to my well beloved, that is, to Christ, to whom the care of the Jewish church was committed, and which is often represented as a vineyard, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard: My well beloved hath a vineyard in a 2 very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones

thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, for the safe and convenient residence of the keeper, (probably referring to the temple,) and also made a wine press therein, removed all the hindrances, and gave all the means of fruitfulness: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, 3 and it brought forth wild grapes, or poisonous berries. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard; though yourselves are 4 parties, the case is so plain, that I leave it to your judgment. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? hath any thing been wanting on my part? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? how can this disappointment be accounted for? 5 And now, go to, or rather, come now, and I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down; I will quite withdraw my protection, and give Israel up as a prey to their enemies; their state and church 6 shall be quite ruined: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briars and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it: they shall lose all their outward blessings and spiritual privileges. 7 Then comes the explanation of the parable: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; a country in which he took delight, and did more for its inhabitants than for any other people: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry; of the oppressed, to men for help, and to God for vengeance.

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REFLECTIONS.

E have great cause to be thankful for our national blessings. No nation upon earth has more reason to apply these things to themselves than we have. God hath taken care of us as his vineyard, hath given us all desirable blessings, temporal and spiritual. Christ, the branch, hath as it were sprung up among us, and we enjoy the glorious fruits of it in the gospel of peace. We have the protection of heaven on our dwelling places; and, what deserves our especial thankfulness, on our solemn assemblies; upon every thing that is the glory of our land the Lord hath created a defence. Let us seriously reflect how valuable these blessings are, and how few enjoy them, that we may be inspired with sentiments of gratitude to God. Nevertheless,

2. We should be very cautious and watchful, lest we forfeit these blessings. The end for which they were given and are continued to us is, that we may be fruitful: it is the design of all to make us holy and obedient. Let this then be our aim; for no lasting happiness can be expected till the filth of our land be purged away; and that will not be, without the spirit of judgment and burning, which

we should daily and earnestly implore. If we go on in sin, God may justly deprive us of our privileges, and take the gospel away from us. And we must allow it to be just and reasonable that he should, for what could God have done more? Therefore let us not be high minded, but fear. This parable is also applicable to particular persons, and the advantages they enjoy. We have conscience, scripture, ordinances, and ministers; if we are unfruitful, God will take away his grace; deny the dews of his blessings; and what was our inexcusable sin, will be our just and dreadful punishment, we shall be quite barren and useless. Let us labour therefore to answer and repay the divine cultivation, to have our fruit unto holiness, and the end will be everlasting life.

CHAP. V. 8, to the end.

The prophet here threatens judgments upon the nation, principally referring to the captivity; and specifies the particular sins for which God would punish them.

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O unto them that join house to house, [that] lay field to field, who engross all trade, profits, and estates to themselves, from a principle of insatiable avarice, and to the injury of their neighbours, till [there be] no place, that they may be placed 9 alone in the midst of the earth! In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great 10 and fair, without inhabitant. Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah, that is, but a tenth part; so that they shall have no comfort in 11 their houses and lands. Wo unto them that rise up early in the morning, [that] they may follow strong drink, that continue until night, [till] wine inflame them! who make a trade of drinking, and thus waste their time, their substance, and their health, and 12 inflame their lusts and passions by it. And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands; they delight in mirth and pleasure, but regard neither the 13 merciful nor afflictive dispensations of Providence. Therefore my people are gone, that is, they shall go, into captivity, because [they have] no knowledge and their honourable men [are] famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst; this was the case at the siege of Jerusalem, and the devastation of their 14 country by the Chaldeans. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it, like Korah and his company. A dreadful image, to 15 represent the suddenness and terror of their destruction. And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled; as they were

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