mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 1.xml

<div2 id="Is.ii" n="ii" next="Is.iii" prev="Is.i" progress="0.68%" title="Chapter I">
<h2 id="Is.ii-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.ii-p1" shownumber="no">The first verse of this chapter is intended for a
title to the whole book, and it is probable that this was the first
sermon that this prophet was appointed to publish and to affix in
writing (as Calvin thinks the custom of the prophets was) to the
door of the temple, as with us proclamations are fixed to public
places, that all might read them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.2" parsed="|Hab|2|2|0|0" passage="Hab 2:2">Hab.
ii. 2</scripRef>), and those that would might take out authentic
copies of them, the original being, after some time, laid up by the
priests among the records of the temple. The sermon which is
contained in this chapter has in it, I. A high charge exhibited, in
God's name, against the Jewish church and nation, 1. For their
ingratitude, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2-Isa.1.3" parsed="|Isa|1|2|1|3" passage="Isa 1:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. 2.
For their incorrigibleness, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5" parsed="|Isa|1|5|0|0" passage="Isa 1:5">ver.
5</scripRef>. 3. For the universal corruption and degeneracy of the
people, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4 Bible:Isa.1.6 Bible:Isa.1.21 Bible:Isa.1.22" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0;|Isa|1|6|0|0;|Isa|1|21|0|0;|Isa|1|22|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4,6,21,22">ver. 4, 6, 21,
22</scripRef>. 4. For the perversion of justice by their rulers,
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.23" parsed="|Isa|1|23|0|0" passage="Isa 1:23">ver. 23</scripRef>. II. A sad
complaint of the judgments of God, which they had brought upon
themselves by their sins, and by which they were brought almost to
utter ruin, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7-Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|7|1|9" passage="Isa 1:7-9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. III.
A just rejection of those shows and shadows of religion which they
kept up among them, notwithstanding this general defection and
apostasy, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10-Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|10|1|15" passage="Isa 1:10-15">ver. 10-15</scripRef>.
IV. An earnest call to repentance and reformation, setting before
them life and death, life if they compiled with the call and death
if they did not, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.20" parsed="|Isa|1|16|1|20" passage="Isa 1:16-20">ver.
16-20</scripRef>. V. A threatening of ruin to those that would not
be reformed, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24 Bible:Isa.1.28-Isa.1.31" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0;|Isa|1|28|1|31" passage="Isa 1:24,28-31">ver. 24,
28-31</scripRef>. VI. A promise of a happy reformation at last, and
a return to their primitive purity and prosperity, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.25-Isa.1.27" parsed="|Isa|1|25|1|27" passage="Isa 1:25-27">ver. 25-27</scripRef>. And all this is to be
applied by us, not only to the communities we are members of, in
their public interests, but to the state of our own souls.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.ii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1" parsed="|Isa|1|0|0|0" passage="Isa 1" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.ii-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.1" parsed="|Isa|1|1|0|0" passage="Isa 1:1" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p1.13">
<h4 id="Is.ii-p1.14">The Vision of Isaiah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p1.15">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p2" shownumber="no">1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
Ahaz, <i>and</i> Hezekiah, kings of Judah.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p3" shownumber="no">Here is, I. The name of the prophet,
<i>Isaiah,</i> or <i>Jesahiahu</i> (for so it is in the Hebrew),
which, in the New Testament is read <i>Esaias.</i> His name
signifies <i>the salvation of the Lord</i>—a proper name for a
prophet by whom God <i>gives knowledge of salvation to his
people,</i> especially for this prophet, who prophesies so much of
Jesus the Saviour and of the great salvation wrought out by him. He
is said to be <i>the son of Amoz,</i> not Amos the prophet (the two
names in the Hebrew differ more than in the English), but, as the
Jews think, of Amoz the brother, or son, of Amaziah king of Judah,
a tradition as uncertain as that rule which they give, that, where
a prophet's father is named, he also was himself a prophet. The
prophets' pupils and successors are indeed often called their
<i>sons,</i> but we have few instances, if any, of their own sons
being their successors.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p4" shownumber="no">II. The nature of the prophecy. It is a
vision, being revealed to him in a vision, when he was <i>awake,
and heard the words of God, and saw the visions of the Almighty</i>
(as Balaam speaks, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.4" parsed="|Num|24|4|0|0" passage="Nu 24:4">Num. xxiv.
4</scripRef>), though perhaps it was not so illustrious a vision at
first as that afterwards, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1" parsed="|Isa|6|1|0|0" passage="Isa 6:1"><i>ch.</i>
vi. 1</scripRef>. The prophets were called <i>seers,</i> or seeing
men, and therefore their prophecies are fitly called
<i>visions.</i> It was what he saw with the eyes of his mind, and
foresaw as clearly by divine revelation, was as well assured of it,
as fully apprised of it, and as much affected with it, as if he had
seen it with his bodily eyes. Note 1. God's prophets saw what they
spoke of, knew what they said, and require our belief of nothing
but what they themselves believed and were sure of, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:John.6.69 Bible:1John.1.1" parsed="|John|6|69|0|0;|1John|1|1|0|0" passage="Joh 6:69,1Jo 1:1">John vi. 69; 1 John i. 1</scripRef>. 2.
They could not but speak what they saw, because they saw how much
all about them were concerned in it, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.20 Bible:2Cor.4.13" parsed="|Acts|4|20|0|0;|2Cor|4|13|0|0" passage="Ac 4:20,2Co 4:13">Acts iv. 20; 2 Cor. iv. 13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p5" shownumber="no">III. The subject of the prophecy. It was
what <i>he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem,</i> the country of
the two tribes, and that city which was their metropolis; and there
is little in it relating to Ephraim, or the ten tribes, of whom
there is so much said in the prophecy of Hosea. Some chapters there
are in this book which relate to Babylon, Egypt, Tyre, and some
other neighbouring nations; but it takes its title from that which
is the main substance of it, and is therefore said to be
<i>concerning Judah and Jerusalem,</i> the other nations spoken of
being such as the people of the Jews had concern with. Isaiah
brings to them in a special manner, 1. Instruction; for it is the
privilege of Judah and Jerusalem that to them pertain the oracles
of God. 2. Reproof and threatening; for if in Judah, where God is
known, if in Salem, where his name is great, iniquity be found,
they, sooner than any other, shall be reckoned with for it. 3.
Comfort and encouragement in evil times; for the children of Zion
shall be joyful in their king.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p6" shownumber="no">IV. The date of the prophecy. Isaiah
prophesied <i>in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah.</i> By this it appears, 1. That he prophesied long,
especially if (as the Jews say) he was at last put to death by
Manasseh, to a cruel death, being sawn asunder, to which some
suppose the apostle refers, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.37" parsed="|Heb|11|37|0|0" passage="Heb 11:37">Heb. xi.
37</scripRef>. From the year that king Uzziah died (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1" parsed="|Isa|6|1|0|0" passage="Isa 6:1"><i>ch.</i> vi. 1</scripRef>) to Hezekiah's
sickness and recovery was forty-seven years; how much before, and
after, he prophesied, is not certain; some reckon sixty, others
eighty years in all. It was an honour to him, and a happiness to
his country, that he was continued so long in his usefulness; and
we must suppose both that he began young and that he held out to
old age; for the prophets were not tied, as the priests were, to a
certain age, for the beginning or ending of their administration.
2. That he passed through variety of times. Jotham was a good king,
and Hezekiah a better, and no doubt gave encouragement to and took
advice from this prophet, were patrons to him, and he a
privy-counsellor to them; but between them, and when Isaiah was in
the prime of his time, the reign of Ahaz was very profane and
wicked; then, no doubt, he was frowned upon at court, and, it is
likely, forced to abscond. Good men and good ministers must expect
bad times in this world, and prepare for them. Then religion was
run down to such a degree that the <i>doors of the house of the
Lord were shut up</i> and idolatrous <i>altars were erected in
every corner of Jerusalem;</i> and Isaiah, with all his divine
eloquence and messages immediately from God himself, could not help
it. The best men, the best ministers, cannot do the good they would
do in the world.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2-Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|2|1|9" passage="Isa 1:2-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p6.4">
<h4 id="Is.ii-p6.5">The Degeneracy of Israel; The Sinfulness of
Israel; The Sufferings of Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p6.6">b.
c.</span> 738.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p7" shownumber="no">2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p7.1">Lord</span> hath spoken, I have
nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
me.   3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib: <i>but</i> Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
  4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of
evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p7.2">Lord</span>, they have provoked the Holy
One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.   5 Why
should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the
whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.   6 From the
sole of the foot even unto the head <i>there is</i> no soundness in
it; <i>but</i> wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have
not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
  7 Your country <i>is</i> desolate, your cities <i>are</i>
burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence,
and <i>it is</i> desolate, as overthrown by strangers.   8 And
the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge
in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.   9 Except the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p7.3">Lord</span> of hosts had left unto us a
very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, <i>and</i> we
should have been like unto Gomorrah.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p8" shownumber="no">We will hope to meet with a brighter and
more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but
truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad,
very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the
world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a dismal aspect as
this?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p9" shownumber="no">I. The prophet, though he speaks in God's
name, yet, despairing to gain audience with the children of his
people, addresses himself to the heavens and the earth, and
bespeaks their attention (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2" parsed="|Isa|1|2|0|0" passage="Isa 1:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth!</i>
Sooner will the inanimate creatures hear, who observe the law and
answer the end of their creation, than this stupid senseless
people. Let the lights of the heaven shame their darkness, and the
fruitfulness of the earth their barrenness, and the strictness of
each to its time their irregularity. Moses begins thus in <scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1" parsed="|Deut|32|1|0|0" passage="De 32:1">Deut. xxxii. 1</scripRef>, to which the prophet
here refers, intimating that now those times had come which Moses
there foretold, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.29" parsed="|Deut|31|29|0|0" passage="De 31:29">Deut. xxxi.
29</scripRef>. Or this is an appeal to heaven and earth, to angels
and then to the inhabitants of the upper and lower world. Let them
<i>judge between God and his vineyard;</i> can either produce such
an instance of ingratitude? Note, God will be justified when he
speaks, and both heaven and earth shall declare his righteousness,
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.1-Mic.6.2 Bible:Ps.50.6" parsed="|Mic|6|1|6|2;|Ps|50|6|0|0" passage="Mic 6:1,2,Ps 50:6">Mic. vi. 1, 2; Ps. l.
6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p10" shownumber="no">II. He charges them with base ingratitude,
a crime of the highest nature. Call a man ungrateful, and you can
call him no worse. Let heaven and earth hear and wonder at, 1.
God's gracious dealings with such a peevish provoking people as
they were: "I have nourished and brought them up as children; they
have been well fed and well taught" (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.6" parsed="|Deut|32|6|0|0" passage="De 32:6">Deut. xxxii. 6</scripRef>); "I have magnified and exalted
them" (so some), "not only made them grow, but made them great—not
only maintained them, but preferred them—not only trained them up,
but raised them high." Note, We owe the continuance of our lives
and comforts, and all our advancements, to God's fatherly care of
us and kindness to us. 2. Their ill-natured conduct towards him,
who was so tender of them: "<i>They have rebelled against me,</i>"
or (as some read it) "they have revolted from me; they have been
deserters, nay traitors, against my crown and dignity." Note, All
the instances of God's favour to us, as the God both of our nature
and of our nurture, aggravate our treacherous departures from him
and all our presumptuous oppositions to him—children, and yet
rebels!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p11" shownumber="no">III. He attributes this to their ignorance
and inconsideration (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.3" parsed="|Isa|1|3|0|0" passage="Isa 1:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): <i>The ox knows, but Israel does not.</i> Observe,
1. The sagacity of the ox and the ass, which are not only brute
creatures, but of the dullest sort; yet the ox has such a sense of
duty as to know his owner and to serve him, to submit to his yoke
and to draw in it; the ass has such a sense of interest as to know
has master's crib, or manger, where he is fed, and to abide by it;
he will go to that of himself if he be turned loose. A fine pass
man has come to when he is shamed even in knowledge and
understanding by these silly animals, and is not only sent to
school to them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.6-Prov.6.7" parsed="|Prov|6|6|6|7" passage="Pr 6:6,7">Prov. vi. 6,
7</scripRef>), but set in a form below them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.7" parsed="|Jer|8|7|0|0" passage="Jer 8:7">Jer. viii. 7</scripRef>), <i>taught more than the beasts
of the earth</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.11" parsed="|Job|35|11|0|0" passage="Job 35:11">Job xxxv.
11</scripRef>) and yet knowing less. 2. The sottishness and
stupidity of Israel. God is their owner and proprietor. He made us,
and his we are more than our cattle are ours; he has provided well
for us; providence is our Master's crib; yet many that are called
the people of God do not know and will not consider this, but ask,
"<i>What is the Almighty that we should serve him?</i> He is not
our owner; and <i>what profit shall we have if we pray unto
him?</i> He has no crib for us to feed at." He had complained
(<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2" parsed="|Isa|1|2|0|0" passage="Isa 1:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) of the
obstinacy of their wills; <i>They have rebelled against me.</i>
Here he runs it up to its cause: "<i>Therefore</i> they have
rebelled because they do not know, they do not consider." The
understanding is darkened, and therefore the whole soul is
alienated from the life of God, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.18" parsed="|Eph|4|18|0|0" passage="Eph 4:18">Eph.
iv. 18</scripRef>. "<i>Israel does not know,</i> though their land
is a land of light and knowledge; <i>in Judah is God known,</i>
yet, because they do not live up to what they know, it is in effect
as if they did not know. They know; but their knowledge does them
no good, because they do not consider what they know; they do not
apply it to their case, nor their minds to it." Note, (1.) Even
among those that profess themselves God's people, that have the
advantages and lie under the engagements of his people, there are
many that are very careless in the affairs of their souls. (2.)
Inconsideration of what we do know is as great an enemy to us in
religion as ignorance of what we should know. (3.) <i>Therefore</i>
men revolt from God, and rebel against him, because they do not
know and consider their obligations to God in duty, gratitude, and
interest.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p12" shownumber="no">IV. He laments the universal pravity and
corruption of their church and kingdom. The disease of sin was
epidemic, and all orders and degrees of men were infected with it;
<i>Ah sinful nation!</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>. The prophet bemoans those that would not bemoan
themselves: Alas for them! Woe to them! He speaks with holy
indignation at their degeneracy, and a dread of the consequences of
it. See here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p13" shownumber="no">1. How he aggravates their sin, and shows
the malignity that there was in it, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. (1.) The wickedness was
universal. They were a sinful nation; the generality of the people
were vicious and profane. They were so in their national capacity.
In the management of their public treaties abroad, and in the
administration of public justice at home, they were corrupt. Note,
It is ill with a people when sin becomes national. (2.) It was very
great and heinous in its nature. They were <i>laden with
iniquity;</i> the guilt of it, and the curse incurred by that
guilt, lay very heavily upon them. It was a heavy charge that was
exhibited against them, and one which they could never clear
themselves from; their wickedness was upon them as <i>a talent of
lead,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.7-Zech.5.8" parsed="|Zech|5|7|5|8" passage="Zec 5:7,8">Zec. v. 7, 8</scripRef>.
Their sin, as it did easily beset them and they were prone to it,
was a weight upon them, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.1" parsed="|Heb|12|1|0|0" passage="Heb 12:1">Heb. xii.
1</scripRef>. (3.) They came of a bad stock, were a <i>seed of
evil-doers.</i> Treachery ran in their blood; they had it by kind,
which made the matter so much the worse, more provoking and less
curable. They rose up in their fathers' stead, and trod in their
fathers' steps, to <i>fill up the measure of their iniquity,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.14" parsed="|Num|32|14|0|0" passage="Nu 32:14">Num. xxxii. 14</scripRef>. They were a
race and family of rebels. (4.) Those that were themselves
debauched did what they could to debauch others. They were not only
corrupt children, born tainted, but <i>children that were
corrupters,</i> that propagated vice, and infected others with
it—not only sinners, but tempters—not only actuated by Satan, but
agents for him. If those that are called <i>children, God's
children,</i> that are looked upon as belonging to his family, be
wicked and vile, their example is of the most malignant influence.
(5.) Their sin was a treacherous departure from God. They were
deserters from their allegiance: "<i>They have forsaken the
Lord,</i> to whom they had joined themselves; <i>they have gone
away backward,</i> are alienated or separated from God, have turned
their back upon him, deserted their colours, and quitted their
service." When they were urged forward, they ran backward, <i>as a
bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, as a backsliding heifer,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.16" parsed="|Hos|4|16|0|0" passage="Ho 4:16">Hos. iv. 16</scripRef>. (6.) It was an
impudent and daring defiance of him: <i>They have provoked the Holy
One of Israel unto anger</i> wilfully and designedly; they knew
what would anger him, and that they did. Note, The backslidings of
those that have professed religion and relation to God are in a
special manner provoking to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p14" shownumber="no">2. How he illustrates it by a comparison
taken from a sick and diseased body, all overspread with leprosy,
or, like Job's, with sore boils, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5-Isa.1.6" parsed="|Isa|1|5|1|6" passage="Isa 1:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. (1.) The distemper has
seized the vitals, and so threatens to be mortal. Diseases in the
head and heart are most dangerous; now the head, the whole head, is
sick—the heart, the whole heart, is faint. They had become corrupt
in their judgment: the leprosy was in their head. They were utterly
unclean; their affection to God and religion was cold and gone; the
<i>things which remained were ready to die</i> away, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.2" parsed="|Rev|3|2|0|0" passage="Re 3:2">Rev. iii. 2</scripRef>. (2.) It has overspread the
whole body, and so becomes exceedingly noisome; <i>From the sole of
the foot even to the head,</i> from the meanest peasant to the
greatest peer, there is <i>no soundness,</i> no good principles, no
religion (for that is the health of the soul), nothing but
<i>wounds and bruises,</i> guilt and corruption, the sad effects of
Adam's fall, noisome to the holy God, painful to the sensible soul;
they were so to David when he complained (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.5" parsed="|Ps|38|5|0|0" passage="Ps 38:5">Ps. xxxviii. 5</scripRef>), <i>My wounds stink, and are
corrupt, because of my foolishness.</i> See <scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.3-Ps.32.4" parsed="|Ps|32|3|32|4" passage="Ps 32:3,4">Ps. xxxii. 3, 4</scripRef>. No attempts were made for
reformation, or, if they were, they proved ineffectual: The wounds
<i>have not been closed, not bound up, nor mollified with
ointment.</i> While sin remains unrepented of the wounds are
unsearched, unwashed, the proud flesh in them not cut out, and
while, consequently, it remains unpardoned, the wounds are not
mollified or closed up, nor any thing done towards the healing of
them and the preventing of their fatal consequences.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p15" shownumber="no">V. He sadly bewails the judgments of God
which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and their
incorrigibleness under those judgments. 1. Their kingdom was almost
ruined, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7" parsed="|Isa|1|7|0|0" passage="Isa 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. So
miserable were they that both their towns and their lands were
wasted, and yet so stupid that they needed to be told this, to have
it shown to them. "Look and see how it is; <i>your country is
desolate;</i> the ground is not cultivated, for want of
inhabitants, the villages being deserted, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.7" parsed="|Judg|5|7|0|0" passage="Jdg 5:7">Judg. v. 7</scripRef>. And thus the fields and vineyards
become like deserts, <i>all grown over with thorns,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.24.31" parsed="|Prov|24|31|0|0" passage="Pr 24:31">Prov. xxiv. 31</scripRef>. <i>Your cities are
burned with fire,</i> by the enemies that invade you" (fire and
sword commonly go together); "as for the fruits of your land, which
should be food for your families, <i>strangers devour them;</i>
and, to your greater vexation, it is <i>before your eyes,</i> and
you cannot prevent it; you starve while your enemies surfeit on
that which should be your maintenance. The overthrow of your
country is as the overthrow of strangers; it is used by the
invaders, as one might expect it should be used by strangers."
Jerusalem itself, which was as the daughter of Zion (the temple
built on Zion was a mother, a nursing mother, to Jerusalem), or
Zion itself, the holy mountain, which had been dear to God as a
daughter, was now lost, deserted, and exposed <i>as a cottage in a
vineyard,</i> which, when the vintage is over, nobody dwells in or
takes any care of, and looks as mean and despicable as <i>a
lodge</i> or hut, <i>in a garden of cucumbers;</i> and every person
is afraid of coming near it, and solicitous to remove his effects
out of it, as if it were <i>a besieged city,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.8" parsed="|Isa|1|8|0|0" passage="Isa 1:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. And some think, it is a
calamitous state of the kingdom that is represented by a diseased
body, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.6" parsed="|Isa|1|6|0|0" passage="Isa 1:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Probably
this sermon was preached in the reign of Ahaz, when Judah was
invaded by the kings of Syria and Israel, the Edomites and the
Philistines, who slew many, and carried many away into captivity,
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.5 Bible:2Chr.28.17 Bible:2Chr.28.18" parsed="|2Chr|28|5|0|0;|2Chr|28|17|0|0;|2Chr|28|18|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:5,17,18">2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 17,
18</scripRef>. Note, National impiety and immorality bring national
desolation. Canaan, the glory of all lands, Mount Zion, the joy of
the whole earth, both became a reproach and a ruin; and sin made
them so, that great mischief-maker. 2. Yet they were not all
reformed, and therefore God threatens to take another course with
them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5" parsed="|Isa|1|5|0|0" passage="Isa 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>Why
should you be stricken any more,</i> with any expectation of doing
you good by it, when you increase revolts as your rebukes are
increased? <i>You will revolt more and more,</i> as you have done,"
as Ahaz particularly did, who, <i>in his distress, trespassed yet
more against the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.8" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.22" parsed="|2Chr|28|22|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:22">2 Chron.
xxviii. 22</scripRef>. Thus the physician, when he sees the
patient's case desperate, troubles him no more with physic; and the
father resolves to correct his child no more when, finding him
hardened, he determines to disinherit him. Note, (1.) There are
those who are made worse by the methods God takes to make them
better; the more they are stricken the more they revolt; their
corruptions, instead of being mortified, are irritated and
exasperated by their afflictions, and their hearts more hardened.
(2.) God, sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, ceases to
correct those who have been long incorrigible, and whom therefore
he designs to destroy. The reprobate silver shall be cast, not into
the furnace, but to the dunghill, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.29-Jer.6.30" parsed="|Jer|6|29|6|30" passage="Jer 6:29,30">Jer. vi. 29, 30</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.24.13 Bible:Hos.4.14" parsed="|Ezek|24|13|0|0;|Hos|4|14|0|0" passage="Ezek 24:13,Ho 4:14">Ezek. xxiv. 13; Hos. iv. 14</scripRef>. He
that is <i>filthy, let him be filthy still.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p16" shownumber="no">VI. He comforts himself with the
consideration of a remnant that should be the monuments of divine
grace and mercy, notwithstanding this general corruption and
desolation, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. See
here, 1. How near they were to an utter extirpation. They were
almost like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect both of sin and ruin, had
grown almost so bad that there could not have been found <i>ten
righteous men among them,</i> and almost as miserable as if none
had been left alive, but their country turned into a sulphureous
lake. Divine Justice said, <i>Make them as Admah; set them as
Zeboim;</i> but Mercy said, <i>How shall I do it?</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.8-Hos.11.9" parsed="|Hos|11|8|11|9" passage="Ho 11:8,9">Hos. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>. 2. What it was that
saved them from it: <i>The Lord of hosts left unto them a very
small remnant,</i> that were kept pure from the common apostasy and
kept safe and alive from the common calamity. This is quoted by the
apostle (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.27" parsed="|Rom|9|27|0|0" passage="Ro 9:27">Rom. ix. 27</scripRef>), and
applied to those few of the Jewish nation who in his time embraced
Christianity, when the body of the people rejected it, and in whom
the promises made to the fathers were accomplished. Note, (1.) In
the worst of times there is a remnant preserved from iniquity and
reserved for mercy, as Noah and his family in the deluge, Lot and
his in the destruction of Sodom. Divine grace triumphs in
distinguishing by an act of sovereignty. (2.) This remnant is often
a very small one in comparison with the vast number of revolting
ruined sinners. Multitude is no mark of the true church. Christ's
is a little flock. (3.) It is God's work to sanctify and save some,
when others are left to perish in their impurity. It is the work of
his power as the Lord of hosts. Except he had left us that remnant,
there would have been none left; the corrupters (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>) did what they could to debauch
all, and the devourers (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7" parsed="|Isa|1|7|0|0" passage="Isa 1:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>) to destroy all, and they would have prevailed of God
himself had not interposed to secure to himself a remnant, who are
bound to give him all the glory. (4.) It is good for a people that
have been saved from utter ruin to look back and see how near they
were to it, just upon the brink of it, to see how much they owed to
a few good men that stood in the gap, and that that was owing to a
good God, who left them these good men. <i>It is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10-Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|10|1|15" passage="Isa 1:10-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p16.7">
<h4 id="Is.ii-p16.8">The Vanity of Mere Ritual
Obedience. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p16.9">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p17" shownumber="no">10 Hear the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p17.1">Lord</span>, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.   11 To what purpose
<i>is</i> the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p17.2">Lord</span>: I am full of the burnt offerings of
rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.   12 When ye come to
appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my
courts?   13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an
abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of
assemblies, I cannot away with; <i>it is</i> iniquity, even the
solemn meeting.   14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear
<i>them.</i>   15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will
hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not
hear: your hands are full of blood.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p18" shownumber="no">Here, I. God calls to them (but calls in
vain) to hear his word, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10" parsed="|Isa|1|10|0|0" passage="Isa 1:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. 1. The title he gives them is very strange; <i>You
rulers of Sodom,</i> and <i>people of Gomorrah.</i> This intimates
what a righteous thing it would have been with God to make them
like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of ruin (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), because that had made themselves
like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of sin. The men of Sodom were
<i>wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.13" parsed="|Gen|13|13|0|0" passage="Ge 13:13">Gen. xiii. 13</scripRef>), and so were the men
of Judah. When the rulers were bad, no wonder the people were so.
Vice overpowered virtue, for it had the rulers, the men of figure,
on its side; and it out-polled it, for it had the people, the men
of number, on its side. The streams being thus strong, no less a
power than that of the Lord of hosts could secure a remnant,
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The rulers are
boldly attacked here by the prophet as rulers of Sodom; for he knew
not how to give flattering titles. The tradition of the Jews is
that for this he was impeached long after, and put to death, as
having cursed the gods and <i>spoken evil of the ruler of his
people.</i> 2. His demand upon them is very reasonable: "<i>Hear
the word of the Lord,</i> and <i>give ear to the law of our
God;</i> attend to that which God has to say to you, and let his
word be a law to you." The following declaration of dislike to
their sacrifices would be a kind of new law to them, though really
it was but an explication of the old law; but special regard is to
be had to it, as is required to the like, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.7-Ps.50.8" parsed="|Ps|50|7|50|8" passage="Ps 50:7,8">Ps. l. 7, 8</scripRef>. "Hear this, and tremble; hear
it, and take warning."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p19" shownumber="no">II. He justly refuses to hear their prayers
and accept their services, their sacrifices and burnt-offerings,
the fat and blood of them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>), their attendance in his courts (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), their oblations, their
incense, and their solemn assemblies (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" passage="Isa 1:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), their new moons and their
appointed feasts (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.14" parsed="|Isa|1|14|0|0" passage="Isa 1:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>), their devoutest addresses (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|15|0|0" passage="Isa 1:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>); they are all rejected, because
their hands were full of blood. Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p20" shownumber="no">1. There are many who are strangers, nay,
enemies, to the power of religion, and yet seem very zealous for
the show and shadow and form of it. This sinful nation, this seed
of evil-doers, these rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah,
brought, not to the altars of false gods (they are not here charged
with that), but to the altar of the God of Israel, sacrifices, a
multitude of them, as many as the law required and rather more—not
only peace-offerings, which they themselves had their share of, but
burnt-offerings, which were wholly consumed to the honour of God;
nor did they bring the torn, and lame, and sick, but fed beasts,
and the fat of them, the best of the kind. They did not send others
to offer their sacrifices for them, but came themselves to appear
before God. They observed the instituted <i>places</i> (not in high
places or groves, but in God's own courts), and the instituted
<i>time,</i> the new moons, and sabbaths, and appointed feasts,
none of which they omitted. Nay, it should seem, they called
extraordinary assemblies, and held solemn meetings for religious
worship, besides those that God had appointed. Yet this was not
all: they applied to God, not only with their ceremonial
observances, but with the exercises of devotion. They prayed,
prayed often, made many prayers, thinking they should be heard for
their much speaking; nay, they were fervent and importunate in
prayer, they spread forth their hands as men in earnest. Now we
should have thought these, and, no doubt, they thought themselves,
a pious religious people; and yet they were far from being so, for
(1.) Their hearts were empty of true devotion. They came to
<i>appear</i> before God (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>), <i>to be seen</i> before him (so the margin reads
it); they rested in the outside of the duties; they looked no
further than to be seen of men, and went no further than that which
men see. (2.) Their hands were full of blood. They were guilty of
murder, rapine, and oppression, under colour of law and justice.
The people shed blood, and the rulers did not punish them for it;
the rulers shed blood, and the people were aiding and abetting, as
the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel in shedding Naboth's blood.
Malice is heart-murder in the account of God; he that hates his
brother in his heart has, in effect, his hands full of blood.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p21" shownumber="no">2. When sinners are under the judgments of
God they will more easily be brought to fly to their devotions than
to forsake their sins and reform their lives. Their country was now
desolate, and their cities were burnt (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7" parsed="|Isa|1|7|0|0" passage="Isa 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), which awakened them to bring
their sacrifices and offerings to God more constantly than they had
done, as if they would bribe God Almighty to remove the punishment
and give them leave to go on in the sin. <i>When he slew them, then
they sought him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.34" parsed="|Ps|78|34|0|0" passage="Ps 78:34">Ps. lxxviii.
34</scripRef>. <i>Lord, in trouble have they visited thee,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.16" parsed="|Isa|26|16|0|0" passage="Isa 26:16"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 16</scripRef>. Many
that will readily part with their sacrifices will not be persuaded
to part with their sins.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p22" shownumber="no">3. The most pompous and costly devotions of
wicked people, without a thorough reformation of the heart and
life, are so far from being acceptable to God that really they are
an abomination to him. It is here shown in a great variety of
expressions that <i>to obey is better than sacrifice;</i> nay, that
sacrifice, without obedience, is a jest, an affront and provocation
to God. The comparative neglect which God here expresses of
ceremonial observance was a tacit intimation of what they would
come to at last, when they would all be done away by the death of
Christ. What was now made little of would in due time be made
nothing of. "<i>Sacrifice and offering,</i> and prayer made in the
virtue of them, <i>thou wouldest not; then said I, Lo, I come.</i>"
Their sacrifices are here represented,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p23" shownumber="no">(1.) As fruitless and insignificant; <i>To
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices?</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. They are <i>vain
oblations,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" passage="Isa 1:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. <i>In vain do they worship me,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.9" parsed="|Matt|15|9|0|0" passage="Mt 15:9">Matt. xv. 9</scripRef>. Their attention to God's
institutions was all lost labour, and served not to answer any good
intention; for, [1.] It was not looked upon as any act of duty or
obedience to God: <i>Who has required these things at your
hands?</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>.
Not that God disowns his institutions, or refuses to stand by his
own warrants; but in what they did they had not an eye to him that
required it, nor indeed did he require it of those whose hands were
full of blood and who continued impenitent. [2.] It did not
recommend them to God's favour. He delighted not in the blood of
their sacrifices, for he did not look upon himself as honoured by
it. [3.] It would not obtain any relief for them. They pray, but
God will not hear, because they regard iniquity (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" passage="Ps 66:18">Ps. lxvi. 18</scripRef>); he will not deliver them, for,
though they make many prayers, none of them come from an upright
heart. All their religious service turned to no account to them.
Nay,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p24" shownumber="no">(2.) As odious and offensive. God did not
only not accept them, but he did detest and abhor them. "They are
<i>your</i> sacrifices, they are none of mine; I am full of them,
even surfeited with them." He needed them not (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.10" parsed="|Ps|50|10|0|0" passage="Ps 50:10">Ps. l. 10</scripRef>), did not desire them, had had
enough of them, and more than enough. Their coming into his courts
he calls <i>treading them,</i> or trampling upon them; their very
attendance on his ordinances was construed into a contempt of them.
Their incense, though ever so fragrant, was an abomination to him,
for it was burnt in hypocrisy and with an ill design. Their solemn
assemblies he could not <i>away with,</i> could not see them with
any patience, nor bear the affront they gave him. <i>The solemn
meeting is iniquity;</i> though the thing itself was not, yet, as
they managed it, it became so. It is a <i>vexation</i> (so some
read it), a provocation, to God, to have ordinances thus
prostituted, not only by wicked people, but to wicked purposes:
"<i>My soul hates them; they are a trouble to me,</i> a burden, an
incumbrance; I am perfectly sick of them, and <i>weary of bearing
them.</i>" God is never weary of hearing the prayers of the
upright, but soon weary of the costly sacrifices of the wicked. He
hides his eyes from their prayers, as that which he has an aversion
to and is angry at. All this is to show, [1.] That sin is very
hateful to God, so hateful that it makes even men's prayers and
their religious services hateful to him. [2.] That dissembled piety
is double iniquity. Hypocrisy in religion is of all things most
abominable to the God of heaven. Jerome applies the passage to the
Jews in Christ's time, who pretended a great zeal for the law and
the temple, but made themselves and all their services abominable
to God by filling their hands with the blood of Christ and his
apostles, and so filling up the measure of their iniquities.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.20" parsed="|Isa|1|16|1|20" passage="Isa 1:16-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p24.3">
<h4 id="Is.ii-p24.4">A Call to Repentance; Repentance and
Reformation Urged. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p24.5">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p25" shownumber="no">16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil
of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;   17
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
fatherless, plead for the widow.   18 Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p25.1">Lord</span>:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.   19
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
  20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
sword: for the mouth of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p25.2">Lord</span>
hath spoken <i>it.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p26" shownumber="no">Though God had rejected their services as
insufficient to atone for their sins while they persisted in them,
yet he does not reject them as in a hopeless condition, but here
calls upon them to forsake their sins, which hindered the
acceptance of their services, and then all would be well. Let them
not say that God picked quarrels with them; no, he proposes a
method of reconciliation. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p27" shownumber="no">I. A call to repentance and reformation:
"If you would have your sacrifices accepted, and your prayers
answered, you must begin your work at the right end: <i>Be
converted to my law</i>" (so the Chaldee begins this exhortation),
"make conscience of second-table duties, else expect not to be
accepted in the acts of your devotion." As justice and charity will
never atone for atheism and profaneness, so prayers and sacrifices
will never atone for fraud and oppression; for righteousness
towards men is as much a branch of pure religion as religion
towards God is a branch of universal righteousness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p28" shownumber="no">1. They must <i>cease to do evil,</i> must
do no more wrong, shed no more innocent blood. This is the meaning
of washing themselves and <i>making themselves clean,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16" parsed="|Isa|1|16|0|0" passage="Isa 1:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. It is not only
sorrowing for the sin they had committed, but breaking off the
practice of it for the future, and mortifying all those vicious
affections and dispositions which inclined them to it. Sin is
defiling to the soul. Our business is to wash ourselves from it by
repenting of it and turning from it to God. We must put away not
only that evil of our doings which is before the eye of the world,
by refraining from the gross acts of sin, but that which is before
God's eyes, the roots and habits of sin, that are in our hearts;
these must be crushed and mortified.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p29" shownumber="no">2. They must <i>learn to do well.</i> This
was necessary to the completing of their repentance. Note, It is
not enough that we cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well.
(1.) We must be doing, not cease to do evil and then stand idle.
(2.) We must be doing good, the good which the Lord our God
requires and which will turn to a good account. (3.) We must do it
well, in a right manner and for a right end; and, (4.) We must
learn to do well; we must take pains to get the knowledge of our
duty, be inquisitive concerning it, in care about it, and accustom
ourselves to it, that we may readily turn our hands to our work and
become masters of this holy art of doing well. He urges them
particularly to those instances of well-doing wherein they had been
defective, to second-table duties: "<i>Seek judgment;</i> enquire
what is right, that you may do it; be solicitous to be found in the
way of your duty, and do not walk carelessly. Seek opportunities of
doing good: <i>Relieve the oppressed,</i> those whom you yourselves
have oppressed; ease them of their burdens, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.6" parsed="|Isa|58|6|0|0" passage="Isa 58:6"><i>ch.</i> lviii. 6</scripRef>. You, that have power in
your hands, use it for the relief of those whom others do oppress,
for that is your business. Avenge those that suffer wrong, in a
special manner concerning yourselves for the fatherless and the
widow, whom, because they are weak and helpless, proud men trample
upon and abuse; do you appear for them at the bar, on the bench, as
there is occasion. Speak for those that know not how to speak for
themselves and that have not wherewithal to gratify you for your
kindness." Note, We are truly honouring God when we are doing good
in the world; and acts of justice and charity are more pleasing to
him than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p30" shownumber="no">II. A demonstration, at the bar of right
reason, of the equity of God's proceedings with them: "<i>Come now,
and let us reason together</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.18" parsed="|Isa|1|18|0|0" passage="Isa 1:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); while your hands are full of
blood I will have nothing to do with you, though you bring me a
multitude of sacrifices; but if you wash, and make yourselves
clean, you are welcome to draw nigh to me; come now, and let us
talk the matter over." Note, Those, and those only, that break off
their league with sin, shall be welcome into covenant and communion
with God; he says, <i>Come now,</i> who before forbade them his
courts. See <scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.8" parsed="|Jas|4|8|0|0" passage="Jam 4:8">Jam. iv. 8</scripRef>. Or
rather thus: There were those among them who looked upon themselves
as affronted by the slights God put upon the multitude of their
sacrifices, as <scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.3" parsed="|Isa|58|3|0|0" passage="Isa 58:3"><i>ch.</i> lviii.
3</scripRef>, <i>Wherefore have we fasted</i> (say they) <i>and
thou seest not?</i> They represented God as a hard Master, whom it
was impossible to please. "Come," says God, "let us debate the
matter fairly, and I doubt not but to make it out that <i>my ways
are equal, but yours are unequal,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.18.25" parsed="|Ezek|18|25|0|0" passage="Eze 18:25">Ezek. xviii. 25</scripRef>. Note, Religion has reason
on its side; there is all the reason in the world why we should do
as God would have us do. The God of heaven condescends to reason
the case with those that contradict him and find fault with his
proceedings; for <i>he will be justified when he speaks,</i>
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.4" parsed="|Ps|51|4|0|0" passage="Ps 51:4">Ps. li. 4</scripRef>. The case needs
only to be stated (as it is here very fairly) and it will determine
itself. God shows here upon what terms they stood (as he does,
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.18.21-Ezek.18.24 Bible:Ezek.33.18-Ezek.33.19" parsed="|Ezek|18|21|18|24;|Ezek|33|18|33|19" passage="Eze 18:21-24,33:18,19">Ezek. xviii. 21-24;
xxxiii. 18, 19</scripRef>) and then leaves it to them to judge
whether these terms are not fair and reasonable.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p31" shownumber="no">1. They could not in reason expect any more
then, if they repented and reformed, they should be restored to
God's favour, notwithstanding their former provocations. "This you
may expect," says God, and it is very kind; who could have the face
to desire it upon any other terms? (1.) It is very little that is
required, "only that you <i>be willing and obedient,</i> that you
<i>consent to obey</i>" (so some read it), "that you subject your
wills to the will of God, acquiesce in that, and give up yourselves
in all things to be ruled by him who is infinitely wise and good"
<i>Here is no penance imposed for their former stubbornness, nor
the yoke made heavier or bound harder on their necks; only,
"Whereas hitherto you have been perverse and refractory, and would
not comply with that which was for your own good, now be tractable,
be governable</i>" He does not say, "If you be <i>perfectly</i>
obedient," but, "If you be <i>willingly</i> so;" for, if there be a
willing mind, it is accepted. (2.) That is very great which is
promised hereupon. [1.] That all their sins should be pardoned to
them, and should not be mentioned against them. "Though they be as
red as scarlet and crimson, though you lie under the guilt of
blood, yet, upon your repentance, even that shall be forgiven you,
and you shall appear in the sight of God as white as snow." Note,
The greatest sinners, if they truly repent, shall have their sins
forgiven them, and so have their consciences pacified and purified.
Though our sins have been as scarlet and crimson, as deep dye, a
double dye, first in the wool of original corruption and afterwards
in the many threads of actual transgression—though we have been
often dipped, by our many backslidings, into sin, and though we
have lain long soaking in it, as the cloth does in the scarlet dye,
yet pardoning mercy will thoroughly discharge the stain, and, being
by it purged as <i>with hyssop, we shall be clean,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.7" parsed="|Ps|51|7|0|0" passage="Ps 51:7">Ps. li. 7</scripRef>. If we make ourselves clean
by repentance and reformation (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16" parsed="|Isa|1|16|0|0" passage="Isa 1:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), God will make us white by a
full remission. [2.] That they should have all the happiness and
comfort they could desire. "Be but willing and obedient, and <i>you
shall eat the good of the land,</i> the land of promise; you shall
have all the blessings of the new covenant, of the heavenly Canaan,
all the good of the land." Those that go on in sin, though they may
dwell in a good land, cannot with any comfort eat the good of it;
guilt embitters all; but, if sin be pardoned, creature-comforts
become comforts indeed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p32" shownumber="no">2. They could not in reason expect any
other than that, if they continued obstinate in their disobedience,
they should be abandoned to ruin, and the sentence of the law
should be executed upon them; what can be more just? (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.20" parsed="|Isa|1|20|0|0" passage="Isa 1:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>); "<i>If you refuse and
rebel,</i> if you continue to rebel against the divine government
and refuse the offers of the divine grace, <i>you shall be devoured
with the sword,</i> with the sword of your enemies, which shall be
commissioned to destroy you—with the sword of God's justice, his
wrath, and vengeance, which shall be drawn against you; for this is
that which <i>the mouth of the Lord has spoken,</i> and which he
will make good, for the maintaining of his own honour." Note, Those
that will not be governed by God's sceptre will certainly and
justly be devoured by his sword.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p33" shownumber="no">"And now life and death, good and evil, are
thus set before you. <i>Come, and let us reason together.</i> What
have you to object against the equity of this, or against complying
with God's terms?"</p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.21-Isa.1.31" parsed="|Isa|1|21|1|31" passage="Isa 1:21-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p33.2">
<h4 id="Is.ii-p33.3">The Degeneracy of Jerusalem; Reformation of
the Church. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p33.4">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p34" shownumber="no">21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it
was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now
murderers.   22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed
with water:   23 Thy princes <i>are</i> rebellious, and
companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after
rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of
the widow come unto them.   24 Therefore saith the Lord, the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p34.1">Lord</span> of hosts, the mighty One of
Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of
mine enemies:   25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and
purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:   26
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors
as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of
righteousness, the faithful city.   27 Zion shall be redeemed
with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.   28 And
the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners <i>shall
be</i> together, and they that forsake the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p34.2">Lord</span> shall be consumed.   29 For they shall
be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be
confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.   30 For ye
shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no
water.   31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of
it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall
quench <i>them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p35" shownumber="no">Here, I. The woeful degeneracy of Judah and
Jerusalem is sadly lamented. See, 1. What the royal city had been,
a faithful city, faithful to God and the interests of his kingdom
among men, faithful to the nation and its public interests. <i>It
was full of judgment;</i> justice was duly administered upon the
thrones of judgment which were set there, the <i>thrones of the
house of David,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.5" parsed="|Ps|122|5|0|0" passage="Ps 122:5">Ps. cxxii.
5</scripRef>. Men were generally honest in their dealings, and
abhorred to do an unjust thing. <i>Righteousness lodged in it,</i>
was constantly resident in their palaces and in all their
dwellings, not called in now and then to serve a turn, but at home
there. Note, Neither holy cities nor royal ones, neither places
where religion is professed nor places where government is
administered, are faithful to their trust if religion do not dwell
in them. 2. What it had now become. That beauteous virtuous spouse
was now debauched, and become an adulteress; righteousness no
longer dwelt in Jerusalem (<i>terras Astræa reliquit—Astrea left
the earth</i>); even murderers were unpunished and lived
undisturbed there; nay, the princes themselves were so cruel and
oppressive that they had become no better than murderers; an
innocent man might better guard himself against a troop of banditti
or assassins than against a bench of such judges. Note, It is a
great aggravation of the wickedness of any family or people that
their ancestors were famed for virtue and probity; and commonly
those that thus degenerate prove the most wicked of all men.
<i>Corruptio optimi est pessima—That which was originally the best
becomes when corrupted the worst,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.26 Bible:Eccl.3.16" parsed="|Luke|11|26|0|0;|Eccl|3|16|0|0" passage="Lu 11:26,Ec 3:16">Luke xi. 26; Eccl. iii. 16</scripRef>. See
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.15-Jer.22.17" parsed="|Jer|22|15|22|17" passage="Jer 22:15-17">Jer. xxii. 15-17</scripRef>. The
degeneracy of Jerusalem is illustrated, (1.) By similitudes
(<scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.22" parsed="|Isa|1|22|0|0" passage="Isa 1:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>Thy
silver has become dross.</i> This degeneracy of the magistrates,
whose character is the reverse of that of their predecessors, is a
great a reproach and injury to the kingdom as the debasing of their
coin would be and the turning of their silver into dross. Righteous
princes and righteous cities are as silver for the treasury, but
unrighteous ones are as dross for the dunghill. <i>How has the gold
become dim!</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.1" parsed="|Lam|4|1|0|0" passage="La 4:1">Lam. iv. 1</scripRef>.
<i>Thy wine is mixed with water,</i> and so has become flat and
sour. Some understand both these literally: the wine they sold was
adulterated, it was half water; the money they paid was
counterfeit, and so they cheated all they dealt with. But it is
rather to be taken figuratively: justice was perverted by their
princes, and religion and the word of God were sophisticated by
their priests, and made to serve what turn they pleased. Dross may
shine like silver, and the wine that is mixed with water may retain
the colour of wine, but neither is worth any thing. Thus they
retained a show and pretence of virtue and justice, but had no true
sense of either. (2.) By some instances (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.23" parsed="|Isa|1|23|0|0" passage="Isa 1:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): "Thy princes, that should keep
others in their allegiance to God and subjection to his law, are
themselves rebellious, and set God and his law at defiance." Those
that should restrain thieves (proud and rich oppressors, those
worst of robbers, and those that designedly cheat their creditors,
who are no better), are themselves companions of thieves, connive
at them, do as they do, and with greater security and success,
because they are princes, and have power in their hands; they share
with the thieves they protect in their unlawful gain ( <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.18" parsed="|Ps|50|18|0|0" passage="Ps 50:18">Ps. l. 18</scripRef>) and <i>cast in their lot
among them,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.8" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.13-Prov.1.14" parsed="|Prov|1|13|1|14" passage="Pr 1:13,14">Prov. i. 13,
14</scripRef>. [1.] The profit of their places is all their aim, to
make the best hand they can of them, right or wrong. They love
gifts, and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their
salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy
of them, and never think they can get enough; nay, they will do any
thing, though ever so contrary to law and justice, for a gift in
secret. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes at any time,
and make them pervert judgment. These they love and are eager in
the pursuit of.
[2.] The duty of their places is none of their care. They ought to
protect those that are injured, and take cognizance of the appeals
made to them; why else were they preferred? But <i>they judge not
the fatherless,</i> take no care to guard the orphans, <i>nor does
the cause of the widow come unto them,</i> because the poor widow
has no bribe to give, with which to make way for her and to bring
her cause on. Those will have a great deal to answer for who, when
they should be the patrons of the oppressed, are their greatest
oppressors.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p36" shownumber="no">II. A resolution is taken up to redress
these grievances (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" passage="Isa 1:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>): <i>Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the
Mighty One of Israel</i>—who has power to make good what he says,
who has hosts at command for the executing of his purposes, and
whose power is engaged for his Israel—<i>Ah! I will ease me of my
adversaries.</i> Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p37" shownumber="no">1. Wicked people, especially wicked rulers
that are cruel and oppressive, are God's enemies, his adversaries,
and shall so be accounted and so dealt with. If the holy seed
corrupt themselves, they are the foes of his own house.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p38" shownumber="no">2. They are a burden to the God of heaven,
which is implied in his easing himself of them. The <i>Mighty One
of Israel,</i> that can bear any thing, nay, that upholds all
things, complains of his being <i>wearied with men's
iniquities,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p38.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.24 Bible:Amos.2.13" parsed="|Isa|43|24|0|0;|Amos|2|13|0|0" passage="Isa 43:24,Am 2:13"><i>ch.</i>
xliii. 24. Amos ii. 13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p39" shownumber="no">3. God will find out a time and a way to
ease himself of this burden, by avenging himself on those that thus
bear hard upon his patience. He here speaks as one triumphing in
the foresight of it: <i>Ah. I will ease me.</i> He will ease the
earth of the burden under which it <i>groans</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.21-Rom.8.22" parsed="|Rom|8|21|8|22" passage="Ro 8:21,22">Rom. viii. 21, 22</scripRef>), will ease his
own name of the reproaches with which it is loaded. He will be
eased of his adversaries, by <i>taking vengeance on his
enemies;</i> he will <i>spue them out of his mouth,</i> and so be
eased of them, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.16" parsed="|Rev|3|16|0|0" passage="Re 3:16">Rev. iii. 16</scripRef>.
He speaks with pleasure of the <i>day of vengeance</i> being <i>in
his heart,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.4" parsed="|Isa|63|4|0|0" passage="Isa 63:4"><i>ch.</i> lxiii.
4</scripRef>. If God's professing people conform not to his image,
as the Holy One of Israel (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>), they shall feel the weight of his hand as the Mighty
One of Israel: his power, which was wont to be engaged for them,
shall be armed against them. In two ways God will ease himself of
this grievance:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p40" shownumber="no">(1.) By reforming his church, and restoring
good judges in the room of those corrupt ones. Though the church
has a great deal of dross in it, yet it shall not be thrown away,
but refined (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.25" parsed="|Isa|1|25|0|0" passage="Isa 1:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>):
"<i>I will purely purge away thy dross.</i> I will amend what is
amiss. Vice and profaneness shall be suppressed and put out of
countenance, oppressors displaced, and deprived of their power to
do mischief." When things are ever so bad God can set them to
rights, and bring about a complete reformation; when he begins he
will make an end, will take away all the tin. Observe, [1.] The
reformation of a people is God's own work, and, if ever it be done,
it is he that brings it about: "<i>I will turn my hand upon
thee;</i> I will do that for the reviving of religion which I did
at first for the planting of it." He can do it easily, with the
turn of his hand; but he does it effectually, for what opposition
can stand before the arm of the Lord revealed? [2.] He does it by
blessing them with good magistrates and good ministers of state
(<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.26" parsed="|Isa|1|26|0|0" passage="Isa 1:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): "<i>I will
restore thy judges as at the first,</i> to put the laws in
execution against evil-doers, <i>and thy counsellors,</i> to
transact public affairs, <i>as at the beginning,</i>" either the
same persons that had been turned out or others of the same
character. [3.] He does it by restoring judgment and righteousness
among them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.27" parsed="|Isa|1|27|0|0" passage="Isa 1:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>),
by planting in men's minds principles of justice and governing
their lives by those principles. Men may do much by external
restraints; but God does it effectually by the influences of <i>his
Spirit,</i> as a <i>Spirit of judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.4 Bible:Isa.28.6" parsed="|Isa|4|4|0|0;|Isa|28|6|0|0" passage="Isa 4:4,28:6"><i>ch.</i> iv. 4; xxviii. 6</scripRef>. See
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.85.10-Ps.85.11" parsed="|Ps|85|10|85|11" passage="Ps 85:10,11">Ps. lxxxv. 10, 11</scripRef>. [4.]
The reformation of a people will be the redemption of them and
their converts, for sin is the worst captivity, the worst slavery,
and the great and eternal redemption is that by which <i>Israel is
redeemed from all his iniquities</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.130.8" parsed="|Ps|130|8|0|0" passage="Ps 130:8">Ps. cxxx. 8</scripRef>), and the <i>blessed Redeemer</i>
is he that <i>turns away ungodliness from Jacob</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.26" parsed="|Rom|11|26|0|0" passage="Ro 11:26">Rom. xi. 26</scripRef>), and <i>saves his people
from their sins,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.8" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.21" parsed="|Matt|1|21|0|0" passage="Mt 1:21">Matt. i.
21</scripRef>. All the redeemed of the Lord shall be converts, and
their conversion is their redemption: "<i>Her converts,</i> or
<i>those that return of her</i> (so the margin), shall be redeemed
with righteousness." God works deliverance for us by preparing us
for it with judgment and righteousness. [5.] The reviving of a
people's virtues is the restoring of their honour: <i>Afterwards
thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
city;</i> that is, <i>First,</i> "Thou shalt <i>be</i> so;" the
reforming of the magistracy is a good step towards the reforming of
the city and the country too. <i>Secondly,</i> "Thou shalt have the
<i>praise</i> of being so;" and a greater praise there cannot be to
any city than to <i>be called the city of righteousness,</i> and to
retrieve the ancient honour which was lost when <i>the faithful
city became a harlot,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.21" parsed="|Isa|1|21|0|0" passage="Isa 1:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p41" shownumber="no">(2.) By cutting off those that hate to be
reformed, that they may not remain either as snares or as scandals
to the faithful city. [1.] it is an utter ruin that is here
threatened. They shall be destroyed and consumed, and not chastened
and corrected only. The extirpation of them will be necessary to
the redemption of Zion. [2.] It is a universal ruin, which will
involve the transgressors and the sinners together, that is, the
openly profane that have quite cast of all religion, and the
hypocrites that live wicked lives under the cloak of a religious
profession—they shall both be destroyed together, for they are
both alike an abomination to God, both those that contradict
religion and those that contradict themselves in their pretensions
to it. <i>And those that forsake the Lord,</i> to whom they had
formerly joined themselves, <i>shall be consumed,</i> as the water
in the conduit-pipe is soon consumed when it is cut off from the
fountain. [3.] It is an inevitable ruin; there is no escaping it.
<i>First,</i> Their idols shall not be able to help them, <i>the
oaks which they have desired, and the gardens which they have
chosen;</i> that is, the images, the dunghill-gods, which they had
worshipped in their groves and under the green trees, which they
were fond of and wedded to, for which they forsook the true God,
and which they worshipped privately in their own garden even when
idolatry was publicly discountenanced. "This was the practice of
the transgressors and the sinners; but they shall be ashamed of it,
not with a show of repentance, but of despair, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.29" parsed="|Isa|1|29|0|0" passage="Isa 1:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. They shall have cause to be
ashamed of their idols; for, after all the court they have made to
them, they shall find no benefit by them; but the idols themselves
<i>shall go into captivity,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" passage="Isa 46:1,2"><i>ch.</i> xlvi. 1, 2</scripRef>. Note, Those that
make creatures their confidence are but preparing confusion for
themselves. You were fond of the oaks and the gardens, but you
yourselves shall be, 1. "<i>Like an oak without leaves,</i>
withered and blasted, and stripped of all its ornaments." Justly do
those wear no leaves that bear no fruit; as the fig-tree that
Christ cursed. 2. "<i>Like a garden without water,</i> that is
neither rained upon nor <i>watered with the foot</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.10" parsed="|Deut|11|10|0|0" passage="De 11:10">Deut. xi. 10</scripRef>), that had no
<i>fountain</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.4" osisRef="Bible:Song.4.15" parsed="|Song|4|15|0|0" passage="So 4:15">Cant. iv.
15</scripRef>), and consequently is parched, and all the fruits of
it gone to decay." Thus shall those be that trust in idols, or in
an <i>arm of flesh,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.5-Jer.17.6" parsed="|Jer|17|5|17|6" passage="Jer 17:5,6">Jer. xvii.
5, 6</scripRef>. But those that trust in God never find him as a
wilderness, or as waters that fail, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.31" parsed="|Jer|2|31|0|0" passage="Jer 2:31">Jer. ii. 31</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> They shall not
be able to help themselves (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.31" parsed="|Isa|1|31|0|0" passage="Isa 1:31"><i>v.</i>
31</scripRef>): "<i>Even the strong man shall be as tow</i> not
only soon broken and pulled to pieces, but easily catching fire;
and <i>his work</i> (so the margin reads it), that by which he
hopes to fortify and secure himself, shall be as a spark to his own
tow, shall set him on fire, and he and his work shall burn
together. His counsels shall be his ruin; his own skin kindles the
fire of God's wrath, which shall burn to the lowest hell, and none
shall quench it." When the sinner has made himself as tow and
stubble, and God makes himself to him as a consuming fore, what can
prevent the utter ruin of the sinner?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p42" shownumber="no">Now all this is applicable, 1. To the
blessed work of reformation which was wrought in Hezekiah's time
after the abominable corruptions of the reign of Ahaz. Then good
men came to be preferred, and the faces of the wicked were filled
with shame. 2. To their return out of their captivity in Babylon,
which had thoroughly cured them of idolatry. 3. To the
gospel-kingdom and the pouring out of the Spirit, by which the
New-Testament church should be made a new Jerusalem, a city of
righteousness. 4. To the second coming of Christ, when he shall
thoroughly purge his floor, his field, shall gather the wheat into
his barn, into his garner, and burn the chaff, the tares, with
unquenchable fire.</p>
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