III. 30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him : he is filled full with reproach.

In the mean time, he meekly yields over himself to the oppressing hand of a persecutor, and patiently bears his reproach.

III. 34 To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth. For, however the wicked impatience of men may suggest, it is not the manner of God to crush under his feet those, that are already humbled;

III. 35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High.

Or, to shift off the trial of any man's cause, that he should not have a full bearing of his plea, before his great and righteous tribunal. So verse 36.

III. 37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?

Who is he, that will undertake to effect any thing without the Lord; or will say, that ought can be done, which he willeth not?

III. 38 Out of the mouth of the most High procecdeth not evil and good.

It is only good and just, which can proceed from the mouth of God there is no unrighteousness in his decrees and proceedings.

III. 39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the pu nishment of his sins?

Why then doth any living man complain of God's hand? Why doth he murmur, when he suffers the due punishment for his sins? III. 47 Fear and a snare is come upon us. See Isaiah xxiv. 17. III. 63 I am their music.

I am the matter of their mirth and songs.

IV. 7 Her Nazarites were purer than snow, &c.

While Jerusalem stood upright with God, her votaries were holy and innocent.

IV. 14 They have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their gar

ments.

For this their cruelty, they are stricken with the hand of God; so, as that they are driven to wander in the streets, without habitations; groping for the way, like blindinen; being so defiled with innocent blood, as that men could not touch their very garments, without uncleanness.

IV. 15 They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.

No part of the city was free from very foul pollution: on all sides might be heard that cry, appointed to the lepers, Depart, depart; I am unclean: at last, there was no way but to flee away from that defiled city; they fled therefore at uncertains, and wandered they knew not whither; so much as it was said among the heathen, There will be no more hope of their return, to dwell in Jerusalem.

IV. 17 In our watching we have watched for a nation that could

not save us.

We depended upon hope and aid from the Egyptians, which could not succour us, nor preserve themselves.

IV. 18 They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our streets. They hunt and chase us up and down in our streets: they follow us at the heels, so as we cannot so much as look out of our doors. IV. 19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the heaven: &c.

These Chaldean persecutors are so swift, that it is vain to hope for an escape from them.

IV. 20 The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits.

Yea, which makes up the measure of our sorrow and misery, our king Zedekiah, the anointed of the Lord, who was dear to us as our very breath and life, was taken by them in their pursuit.

IV. 21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest. in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

Rejoice, O thou ancient enemy, the posterity of Esau, that dwellest in the land of Uz; rejoice thou in our ruin and desolation, as thou pleasest; but this cup of the Lord's vengeance shall come, in due time, unto thee also; and thou shalt drink, deep of it, and the shame of thy wickedness shall be discovered.

V. 7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. See Jer. xxxi. 29.

V. 8 Servants have ruled over us.

Not only the princes and great commanders of Chaldea have ruled over us, but even their very slaves insult upon us, and exercise cruelty upon us.

V. 9 We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

Even before this destruction, during the time of the siege, we were fain to get our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the enemy, that lay encamped about us.

V. 12 Princes are hanged up by their hand.

Our princes were driven to make their own hands their executioners.

V. 13 They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.

They put our young men to all the servile and base drudgeries, that could be devised; and compelled our children to undergo those burdens, which they were not able to carry.

V. 16 The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!

All our glory is quite gone, and utterly cast down to the ground. V. 18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon

it.

The hill of Zion, where the temple stood, which was so honoured, so frequented, is now so desolate, that the very foxes walk upon it.

EZEKIEL,

I. 1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw vi sions of God.

It came to pass, in the thirtieth year after the jubilee, and the finding of the original copy of the law, in the month of July, and the fifth day of that month, when I was among the Hebrew captives in Chaldea, by the river Chebar, that God revealed himself to me, and put into me the spirit of prophecy, and represented divers visions to the eyes of my mind.

I. 2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity.

In the fifth day of July, which was in the fifth year of the first deportation into Babylon, and captivity there.

1. 3 And the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

And the efficacy of God's Spirit did shew itself in and upon me, in his holy revelations.

I. 4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

And, behold, I looked; and God shewed me a representation of those fearful tempests of calamity, which yet were to come upon his people, by a whirlwind, arising from the north, (whence their further persecution and captivity was to come,) by a dark cloud; and fire infolded within it, to signify the trial which they are to undergo but there was a pleasing brightness about that cloud; and out of the midst of that fiery splendour, there was, as it were a shining colour of amber, to signify the presence of God's powerful grace and mercy, in the midst of all the fiery trials of his Church.

I. 5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

And out of the midst of that fiery brightness, came four Angels, in the likeness of four living creatures, whose number was proportioned to the four corners of the world. And this was their appearance; they had the shape and likeness of a man.

I. 6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And every one of them had four faces; to signify their ready address to receive whatsoever command from God, which way soever it should be delivered and every one of them had four wings; to signify their swiftness in execution of all the charges of God.

:

1. 7 And their feet were straight feet: the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

The legs of these Angels were straight up, like the legs of a man; and their feet were round, as the circumference of a calf's foot, for the greater fitness of that turning motion, which they should be put unto; and they had a sparkling kind of brightness in their moving, like to that of burnished brass.

I. 8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

And they had the likeness of hands; to signify their aptness to execute the will of God; and those hands were under their wings; to imply that their motion is not of themselves, but such as is regulated and directed by the secret instinct of God: all the four Angels had both faces and wings.

I. 9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

Their wings were joined together, at their tops; to signify their full concord and agreement in fulfilling God's command; and they went unanimously together, and all moved right forward, without turning to the right hand or to the left.

I. 10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

And for the likeness of their faces, it was according to the several qualities, which are eminent in four noted creatures; a Man, a Lion, an Ox, an Eagle: such were these Angels; to signify that they were understanding as a man, strong as a lion, serviceable as the ox, as the eagle swift.

I. 11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

Such were their faces: as for their wings, two of them were stretched upward; to signify their relation unto and dependance upon God's charge: and were joined together; in a signification of the perfect concord and joint agreement in all their services: and two of them covered their bodies; to signify the hidden nature of these celestical spirits, beyond the reach of all human comprehension.

1. 12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went. And they went in this posture all together, straight forward, which way soever the Spirit of God moved them to go; not tuning at all to either hand."

I. 13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

As for the colour wherein these Angels appeared, they seemed to be like unto burning coals of fire, or like to burning lamps; to

represent both the glory and the tèrror of those spiritual creatures! and this fiery glittering seemed to be diffused over all these Angels; and did cast out a bright lustre from it, and did, as it were, dart out lightning upon the eyes of the beholder.

I. 14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

And the Angels made so speedy dispatch, as that their motion was as the sudden flash of the lightning.

I. 15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

Now, as I beheld these four Angels, behold, I might see four wheels appearing upon the earth, by those four Angels; to signify the perpetual mutability of all these inferior things.

I. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

The appearance of every one of the wheels and their work, was of a sca-colour; to shew the vanity and instability of these earthly things: and they four had one likeness; to shew the constant uniformity of God's proceedings with meu: and their work was, as it were of a Sphere, wherein one wheel seemeth to be set cross to the other; to shew, that, however God hath most wisely and ordinately disposed all things, yet they seem to us intricate and perplexed.

1. 17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they returned not when they went.

When they moved, they moved all four together; and went right on to the period appointed.

I. 18 As for the rings, they were so high that they were dread-. ful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. As for the outmost roundels of those wheels, they were of a vast and dreadful height: and they were on all sides thereof full of eyes; to shew, that there is not the least motion in any of these earthly things, which is not directed by an eye of Divine Providence.

I. 19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them : and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

And, to shew that all these worldly alterations and changes have a dependance upon the powerful preordination and instinct of God, and are overruled by those ministering spirits to whom he committeth the managing thereof, when the Angels moved on, the wheels moved by them, and when the Angels were lifted up, the wheels were lifted up also.

I. 20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

Which way soever the Spirit of God directed them to go, thither they went and if by the power of that Almighty Spirit the Angels