tion of the Gentile churches. But if we reflect the name of Jacob, or of Israel, was never laid aside they were the Israel of God. "God of truth," in this connexion, will signify God who has so wonderfully fulfilled his long expected promises, his long threatened judg

ments.

Again, we are told, when Jerusalem has endured her appointed punishment, "has received at the Lord's hand an equivalent recompense for all her sins," and vengeance has been poured forth on the adversary, there is then to be an entirely new and different dispensation of the kingdom; and a new disposal of the creatures of this lower earth in subserviency thereto. This, in the accustomed language of prophecy, is the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.

When the former provocations are forgotten,
And when they are hidden from mine eyes;

17. Then, behold, I create

New heavens and a new earth:

And the former things shall not be remembered,
Neither shall they any more arise in the mind.

18. But rejoice ye and be glad,

In the age to come which I create.'

For lo, I create Jerusalem a joy,
And her people a cause of gladness:

19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
And be glad in my people:

And there shall no more be heard therein,
The voice of weeping, or the cry of distress.

20. There shall be no more the short-lived infant,
Or an aged man that shall not complete his days.

So Bishop Lowth.

For a child "should he be thought” who died at a hundred years old,

And a sinner, who at an hundred years were cursed" with death."

21. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; And they plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof.

22. They shall not build, and another inhabit; They shall not plant, and another eat.

For as the days of a tree are the days of my people,
And they shall wear out the works of their hands.

My chosen shall not labour in vain,

23. Neither shall they bring forth for nought.

For they are a seed blessed of Jehovah,
And their offspring with them:

24. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will

answer;

And while they are yet speaking, I will grant their petition.*

25. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox,

And dust shall be the serpent's, food.

They shall not hurt or destroy,
In all my holy mountain, hath Jehovah said.

In the new dispensation,-perhaps we may use the apostle's expression, "In the world to come of which we speak"-we find it here clearly stated, that besides the risen saints of the new Jerusalem, there will be a world of living men in the flesh, "put in subjection,"-to anticipate the apostle's exposition of prophecy,-not to angels, but to glorified men, with the Redeemer at their head.

In this new world of living men are a future race of Israelites, to take the lead, and to be the instruments of

So Bishop Stock translates these lines.

2

you has, evidently, this sense

here.

1

blessing to the whole world. Jerusalem, as we have repeatedly seen, becomes the joy of the whole earth. The children of the resurrection, the "holy myriads,” whom the "Lord brings with him," we know to be an “immortal" and "incorruptible" race, who " die no more;" who "neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God." In the prediction, however, before us, though it evidently relates to the period when Christ and his "holy ones" are come, we have a picture of longevity indeed, and of a great extension of strength, as well as prosperity; but, it should seem, not a deathless state; - or, if we are to say, " there shall be no more death," "corruption hath not put on incorruption, nor is mortality swallowed up of life :"-and these inhabitants of this Jerusalem, to be rebuilt in the new world, are plainly said to have an "offspring." So that "the new Jerusalem, which is above," "the mother of all" true believers, who have the testimony of Jesus, the city whose foundations are of divine workmanship, inhabited by the souls of just men made perfect, where Abraham, and all who lie in Abraham's bosom, are; and which city is one day to "come down from God out of heaven" - this city is carefully to be distinguished from that city built for the favourite nation in the new earth, and beneath the new heavens.

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SECTION XVIII.

On Chapter the Sixty-Sixth.

THE last chapter of our prophet, as Bishop Lowth remarks, is a continuation of the same subject as the former.

The oracle seems to expostulate with a people zealously

engaged in building a magnificent temple; but inclined to substitute, through their unworthy conception of their God, a superstitious show, and carnal services, instead of the spiritual communion of the humble soul with God.

1. THUS hath Jehovah said:

The heavens are my throne,

And the earth the stool of my feet;

Where is the house ye would build for me,
Or where is this place of my resting?

2. Even all these my hand hath made,
And all these are mine, hath Jehovah said:

And on this will I look-on the humble man,
Even on him that is of a contrite spirit, and revereth my
word.

This reproof well applies to the character of that generation which possessed the holy city, when Jesus of Nazareth appeared among them: and there is some reason to think, from what we have met with before, that the same cast of religious character will distinguish, in a great measure, the Israelitish nation till near the last.

3. "He" that slayeth an ox, killeth a man; That sacrificeth a lamb, beheadeth a dog;

That maketh an oblation, poureth out' the blood of swine;
That burneth incense, blesseth an idol.

We may understand this passage, either as marking the character of these religious devotees, who, at the

same time that they showed such extreme zeal for the outward ceremonies of their religion, were guilty of the most abominable crimes, and of deeds the most contrary to their professed character. Such were the Scribes and Pharisees of the first advent, "who devoured widows' houses, and for a pretence made long prayers." But, on the whole, I incline to Bishop Stock's interpretation,

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My proper seat is the heart of my worshippers, saith God. Whoso approacheth me without due preparation of mind, will no more gain my favour by the most punctual observance of outward rites, than if he had insulted me by offerings directly contrary to what I enjoined. He that slayeth an ox to mine honour, shall be as far from acceptance with me, as he that is an homicide, &c. This is not to make all crimes equal, as Bishop Lowth contends; for there may be diversities of punishment among wilful transgressors, though all are alike excluded from the divine favour." A most necessary and important distinction.

The passage thus interpreted becomes parallel to chapter the first, verse the eleventh, and the four following. This is strictly applicable to the insulting offer of the ritual service by the Jews, as the prop of their selfrighteousness; while they despised that warning voice, that calls to evangelical repentance; and to that poverty of spirit, that meekness of the regenerated heart, which, " in the law of the spirit of life," can alone place men in a situation to receive by grace through faith a knowledge of their interest in a Saviour, and in his righteousness.

As these men have chosen their own ways,

And their soul hath delighted in their abominations;