2. 1. The siege of Nineveh; its 1430. Of endeavouring to advance

2. 1. Exhortations in reference to 1436. Of seeking the Lord, on the

3. 1. Promises of good things to 1437. God's love for his redeemed;

come after tribulation.

2. 1. The measuring of Jerusalem. 1443. The blessed results of Christ's

The joy of Sion.

6. 1. The four chariots come forth. 1447. How we may serve for a me-

The crowns for Joshua.

1. 1. The corruptions of the temple 1457. The worship wherewith we

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH 1. 1.

Isaiah declareth the subject of his prophecy.

1 The vision of Isaiah the son in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, of Amoz, which he saw con- Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of cerning Judah and Jerusalem Judah.

LECTURE 1096.

Prophecy viewed as manifesting God's foreknowledge.

A prophet means one inspired to speak in behalf of God to man. In this sense, every book in the Bible is a prophecy, and every writer thereof a prophet. But in a more limited sense, prophecy means the foretelling things to come. "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Acts 15. 18. God foreknows all his own dealings both of providence and grace, and all that concerns every thing which He has made. And by means of his servants the prophets, He has from time to time vouchsafed to make these matters in some measure known beforehand to the children of men. When the prophecy is known to have been set forth before the event, when the thing prophesied is beyond the reach of man's conjecture, and when the event answers to the prophetic words, then we have a most convincing proof that the words come from one greater than man, then we have no small help towards forming a right notion of the omniscience of God. To Him nothing is unknown. The past, the present, and the future, all shew themselves at once and always in his presence. The most secret of our thoughts, no less than the most public of our actions, are all open in his sight. Let us thank Him for helping us to conceive this his glorious attribute, by setting down in his word long beforehand events many in number, of deep importance to mankind, and infinitely surpassing man's sagacity to divine.

Prophecies of this kind, revelations of foreknowledge, occur in most parts of Scripture, but they abound chiefly in the Books commonly called prophetical, of which the first in order is "The Book of the Prophet Isaiah." A "vision" he calls it, signifying that the things written in this book were revealed to him, from time to time, in a supernatural manner; the prophet being as one asleep in respect to this world, but awake in respect to the world of spirits. A vision "concerning Judah and Jerusalem," which we may thus interpret, concerning the chosen people of God, both of old time, and at present, both under the Law and under the Gospel. Yes, it is a vision which closely concerns ourselves. Let us therefore give earnest heed to it. Let us endeavour to follow this holy man, who spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, see 1 Pet. 1. 21, to follow him, by faith, forth from the world of sense, into the presence of God most high. And there bowing before the glory of the Lord, let us magnify the excellency of his wisdom. in knowing all things, and the greatness of his goodness in foreshewing unto us all that is meet for us to know.

PART VII. O. T.

B

Jehovah reproveth his rebellious people.

LECTURE 1097.

Service without devotion is hateful unto God.

The prophets, besides the gift of foretelling the future, had a commission to teach, to admonish, and to reprove. And especially in those of them, who flourished during the decline of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, we find a continued strain of moral doctrine, expressed in the most energetic language, and founded on the most elevated notions of God's attributes, and of man's duties.

And whilst we observe how excellently their teaching was adapted to pave the way for ingrafting the Gospel on the Law, we shall find many a word of exhortation, no less applicable and profitable to ourselves as Christians now, than to the Jews when spoken at the first.

To them, if they had any feeling left, how affecting must have been the solemn words of this opening chapter of Isaiah; a chapter in which we may consider him as describing the alienation of the people from God, and the judgments which they endured in consequence, during the whole period of his ministry; and the readiness on God's part, both then and ever after, to forgive their grievous wickedness, if they would but heartily repent! How likely to move them to compunction must have been this appeal to heaven and earth, as witnesses of the unnatural disobedience, of which this highly favoured people had been guilty towards their Father and their God! Well might He, who made them, cast in their teeth the instinctive attachment of dumb cattle to their owners, as contrasted with their forgetfulness of the Lord. Well might He reproach them with the burden of those sins, which they had wilfully heaped upon their own heads, and with the stripes and wounds, the desolation and destruction, which they had drawn down upon themselves and on their country, by their repeated provocations of his wrath. Their great sin, let us remember, was this, that they had "forsaken the Lord." They had worshipped strange gods, and bowed down before images; instead of serving and worshipping Jehovah only. Let us therefore watchfully keep ourselves from idols. See 1 John 5. 21. If we would not have our church left desolate, let us have no fellowship with idolatry. If we would not have our souls deserted by God's Spirit, let us harbour therein no object of devout regard to interfere with the love of God.

But God's people of old time thought to satisfy the jealous affection of their Maker by the formal offering of the sacrifices appointed in his Law; forgetting, that the very same Law, which bade them offer Him sacrifice, enjoined them to love Him with all their heart. And therefore He now tells them by his prophet, that He loathes their heartless offerings. With a vehement indignation He spurns the very services He had Himself appointed, when rendered by hands that were defiled with the practices which He had denounced. And how then shall we deem that He regards the prayers and praises, oftentimes offered in our Christian churches, by the lips of impenitent offenders? What must be all formal service in a Christian, what must be alms given grudgingly, worship attended reluctantly, and duties done seemingly to God, but in reality out of deference to the world; what but abomination in his sight?