"that we should defire him. He is defpifed and "rejected of men ;-and we hid as it were our faces "from him; he was defpifed, and we esteemed "him not; we did efteem him ftricken, fmitten "of God, and afflicted." Nor is it reasonable to fuppofe, if the report or doctrine of the perfon fpoken of, was to be believed by the body of the Jewish nation, that the prophet would complain, as he does in y 1. "Who hath believed our report? and to "whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" There is a remarkable conformity, both as to matter and ftyle, between the predictions about Jewish unbelief in chap. 49. and chap. 53. In the former, it is faid concerning the eminent perfon spoken of, that Ifrael would not be gathered to him; that he would be defpifed by man, or (as it is in the original) a defpifed foul, and abhorred of the nation. And here in chap. 53. it is faid of the people whom the prophet fpeaks of, that they would not esteem him; that they would fee no beauty in him that they fhould defire him; that they would reckon him ftricken and smitten of God; and that he would be rejected and defpifed of men.

III. The paffages already cited, joined with other paffages in this remarkable prophecy, about him who was both to enlighten and to fprinkle many nations, fhew, that the hiftory of his life would be in a great measure a hiftory of fufferings and forrows: They fhew, y 2. 3. 8. 9. that he would grow up and live in a low ftation; that he would want thofe external advantages that ufually attract refpect; that he would be a man of forrows in his life, and would be at laft cut off by a violent death: and whereas men may meet with fuch a death, either by affaffination, or by the fentence of civil power; even this is not left undetermined, but it is intimated, that that extraordinary perfon would be condemned in judgement, and fuffer death under colour of public juftice.

IV. As to doctrinal characters, the prophet, in fpeaking of the nature, the caufes, and effects of the fufferings he defcribes, teaches and inculcates, in a variety of the cleareft expreffions imaginable, the fame doctrine that the New Teftament teaches concerning the sufferings of Chrift, viz. that they were a facrifice for our fins; that our fins were the causes of them; that our falvation, our peace, our healing, our juftification, were the end and effect of them, y. 5. 10. 11. ; and likewise adds, that he whose foul was to be made a facrifice for our fins, was to make interceffion for tranfgreffors, y 12. All which implies, that he was not only to enlighten men in the knowledge of God's covenant by his doctrine, but also was to purchase the bleffings of that covenant by his blood, and to procure them by his interceffion; and, confequently, that he was to be the great univerfal prieft, as well as prophet, of the people of God; feeing oblation and interceffion, the two principal parts of the priestly office, as well as inftruction by immediate revelation, the great character of the prophetical office, are fo clearly afcribed to him.

Seeing this doctrine fhews, that the bleffings of God's covenant would be owing in a peculiar manner to that extraordinary perfon, as being not only revealed and offered, but also purchased and procured by him; hence it follows, that it is by this particular important doctrine that we ought to explain fome more general expreffions in other prophecies, where the perfon spoken of is reprefented as being, in a fingular and peculiar manner, the author of our falvation, or of the bleffings of God's covenant, though the manner of his influence on these things be not fo particularly defined in thofe other paffages as in this 53d of Ifaiah, which is justly reckoned one of the clearest and fulleft predictions in the Old Testament.

When he who was to be the light of the Gentiles,

is faid to be given for a covenant of the people, and to be God's falvation to the ends of the earth, as in chap. 42. & 49. formerly confidered; and alfo when we read of one who is fuppofed to be known by the title of the messenger of the covenant, Mal. iii. 1. as a title belonging to him in a fingular and peculiar manner; or when we find the prophets fpeaking of "the blood of the covenant," as that by which" prifoners are fent out of the pit where"in is no water," Zech. ix. 11.; or of the determined time for "finishing the tranfgreffion, making "an end of fins, making reconciliation for iniqui

ty, and bringing in everlasting righteousness,". Dan. ix. 24.; we ought to look on the doctrine contained in the 53d of Ifaiah as a key to those more general prophecies. Nor can this be denied without violating that rule of interpretation which has been so oft referred to, and is fo much relied on in other cafes, viz. That expreffions that are more general and indefinite, fhould be explained by other expreffions relating to the fame fubject that are more clear and particular.

V. Though the above-mentioned figures, contained in chap. 42. & 49. are not to be met with in this 53d chapter; yet fome of the most remarkable of them are to be found in chap. 54.; which, for the reasons formerly hinted *, may juftly be confidered as a continuation of the preceding prophecy; feeing, though it does not speak fo exprefsly of the particular perfon by whom the enlightening of the Gentiles was to be brought about, yet it fpeaks clearly enough of that great event itself; as it is foretold in the plaineft expreffions in y 5. that the holy one of Ifrael would be called the God of the whole earth, and confequently of the Gentile nations; and in the context, y 1. 2. 3. the church of God diffused among the Gentiles, is confidered as a wo

See above, on Isaiah xlix.

man

man who had been formerly barren, but was now breaking forth into finging, because of the multitude of her children; as enlarging the place of her tent; ftretching forth the curtains of her habitations; breaking forth on the right hand and on the left; her feed inheriting the Gentiles, and making the defolate cities to be inhabited.

VI. As these figures have fo obvious and manifold a resemblance to thofe made ufe of in the prophecies formerly confidered, as of itself forms a confiderable proof, that this chapter, and those other prophecies, treat of the fame events and times; fo this is farther confirmed by the harmony of thofe different prophecies, as to inftructions relating to the two above-mentioned practical fubjects, viz. the confolations of God's afflicted people, and the univerfal joy and exultation of God's church in general, as appears by comparing y 1. 7. 11. &c. of this chapter, with the paffages in the other chapters formerly confidered.

ISAIAH lv. lvi.

Whereas the defcription given in chapters 52. & 53. of the particular perfon who was to be the light of the Gentiles, is interrupted in chap. 54. (which speaks indeed of that great event itself, the enlightening of the Gentiles, but does not mention the particular perfon by whom that event was to be accomplished), the defcription of that extraordinary perfon is again refumed in chap. 55.; which not only contains fome fingular characters of him, coinciding with thofe formerly mentioned, but likewife adds fome new characters, which are of confiderable importance, and tend to make the predictions concerning him more fpecial and circumftantiate. He is not indeed exprefsly called the Light of the Gentiles in this as in fome other chapters; but the thing

meant

meant by that title is evidently enough affirmed of him.

It appears from 3.4. & 4. that the perfon here spoken of, who is called by the name of David, is one to whom men would be beholden in a fingular and peculiar manner for the mercies contained in God's everlasting covenant; which mercies are expreffed,

1. by the metaphors of waters, wine, and milk; and are in part explained in y 7. by the promises of abundant pardon to the penitent. It is one of the strongest expreffions imaginable of our fingular obligations to that mystical David, for the mercies of the divine, covenant, that these mercies are called his mercies: "I will make an everlasting cove"nant with you, even the fure mercies of David." When therefore the nations fpoken of y 5. are represented as called by this David, and as complying with his call, it implies, that they would be called, and actually brought into a happy participation of the mercies of God's covenant, Jer. xxxi. 33. 34.; which neceffarily includes their being enlightened in the knowledge of God himself: and as the prophet is not fpeaking of the calling merely of particular perfons, but of nations, fo his expreffions evidently characterife the nations of the Gentiles, and at the fame time foretell the fpeedy fuccefs of the gofpel: Nations that knew not thee fhall run unto thee.

II. Though this 55th chapter does not fpeak exprefsly of the enemies of the mystical David, whom it describes; yet y 2. contains remarkable expostulations and rebukes, directed to people who are reprefented as spending their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which fatisfies not; and as very backward to hearken to God when offering to make an everlasting covenant with them. But in chap. 56. the prophet is more exprefs and particular: After mentioning the happy times when God's houfe would be a houfe of prayer for all people, he foretells the blindness and fpiritual flumber