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tory, we shall see the prophecies exactly fulfilled; and where we have not history, we have reason to conclude that they were fulfilled, or will be so. The desolations which have been made, particularly by the Turks, upon the countries surrounding the holy land, the ruins of Babylon, Nineveh, and other great and populous cities in those parts, show that God's counsel shall stand, and that his words shall not fall to the ground.

CHAP. XXXV.

This chapter refers to the gospel, and the glorious change it should

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make in the state of the world.

HE wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, for the destruction of the enemy; and the desert shall re2 joice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, [and] the excellency of our God; that is, spiritual blessings, described under these emblems, 3 shall abound. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the 4 feeble knees. Say to them [that are] of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; an address to the apostles and ministers of Christ: behold, your God will come [with] vengeance, [even] 5 God [with] a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, which was literally done by Christ and his 6 apostles. Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters 7 break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, [shall be] grass with reeds and rushes; sandy places shall become good pastures; referring to the influence of Christ's doctrine and spirit upon the world, and especially to the change that should take place in the 8 gentile nations. And an highway, or causeway, shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it [shall be] for those; or, Ged shall be with them, shall be their guide and companion in the way ; therefore, the wayfaring men, though fools, shall nct err [there9 in.] No lion shall be there, nor [any] ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; all their spiritual enemies shall be vanquished; but the redeemed shall walk [there :] 10 And the ransoned of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs, all shall terminate in heaven, and everlasting joy upon their heads; as garlands of flowers were worn at feasts, so shall they wear a crown of glory: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

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REFLECTIONS.

ET us rejoice in the happiness of Christ's kingdom, and the glory of the gospel. It has the brightest glories of the Mosaick dispensation, and some which are unspeakably greater and nobler. The miracles of Christ confirmed his doctrine, and were emblems of the effects of it upon the mind; the eyes of the understanding were enlightened, ignorant heathens were brought to know God, and Christ, and religion; obstinate wills were subdued; idolatry, slavery, polygamy, and other vices and miseries were banished, as far as that prevailed, and the spiritual enemies of men conquered. The glorious change it made in the state of the moral world is but imperfectly represented by these figures; but they ought to excite our thankfulness that we are favoured with this glorious dispensation, and that it hath already contributed so much to the happiness of mankind.

2. The view here given us of the way of religion, should engage us to walk in it. It is the way of holiness, of universal rectitude, purity, and goodness; a safe, plain, and pleasant way; there is no difficulty in finding it, no danger in walking in it. We meet there with the best company, and have God for our guardian and guide, our companion and friend. In this way then let us walk, and proceed therein with vigour and cheerfulness; strengthen our own and others' feeble knees, and encourage one anothers hearts. This delightful road will at length bring us to the heavenly Zion, where sorrow and sighing, where sin, corruptions, and enemies shall be no more; but upon our heads shall be everlasting joy, and in our mouths everlasting songs.

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CHAP. XXXVI, XXXVII.*

TOW it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, [that] Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against 2 all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of 3 the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. 4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence [is] 5 this wherein thou trustest? I say, [sayest thou] (but [they are but] vain words) [I have] counsel and strength for war: now on 6 whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if

These two chapters are the same as 2 Kings xviii. 13. to the end of chap. xix, and the reader is referred to the exposition and reflections upon these places.

a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so [is] Pha7, raoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: [is it] not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? 8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be 9 able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horse10 men? And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this 11 land, and destroy it. Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand [it] and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that [are] on the 12 wall. But Rabshakh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? [hath le], not [sent me] to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own 13 dung, and drink their own piss with you? Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear 14 ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus saith

the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able 15 to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the

LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall 16 not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make [an agreement] with me [by] a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and 17 drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn 18 and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. [Beware] lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of 19 the king of Assyria? Where [are] the gods of Hamath and

Arphad? where [are] the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they 20 delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who [are they] among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for 22 the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. Then

came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with [their] clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

1 CHAP. XXXVII. And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard [it,] that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with 2 sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim, who [was] over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, unto Isaiah

3 the prophet the son of Amoz. And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day [is] a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and 4 [there is] not strength to bring forth. It may be the LORD thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: where5 fore lift up [thy] prayer for the remnant that is left. So the 6 servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the LORD, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.

8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed 9 from Lachish. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He is come forth to make war with thee. And when 10 he heard [it,] he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem 11 shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands 12 by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, [as] Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children 13 of Eden which [were] in Telassar? Where [is] the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of 14 Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the LORD, and spread it before 15 16 the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, Ô LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest [between] the cherubims, thou [art] the God, [even] thou alone, of all the kingdoms 17 of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach 18 the living God. Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have 19 laid waste all the nations, and their countries, And have cast

their gods into the fire: for they [were] no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed 20 them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou [art] the LORD, [even] thou only.

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Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed 22 to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: This [is] the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, [and] laughed thee to

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scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed; and against whom hast thou exalted [thy] voice, and lifted up thine eyes on 24 high? [even] against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached the LORD, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, [and] the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the 25 height of his border, [and] the forest of his Carmel. I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I 26 dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. Hast thou not heard long ago, [how] I have done it; [and] of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldst be to lay waste defenced cities [into] ruinous heaps. 27 Therefore their inhabitants [were] of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were [as] the grass of the field, and [as] the green herb, [as] the grass on the house tops, and 28 [as corn] blasted before it be grown up. But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 29 Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which 30 thou camest. And this [shall be] a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat [this] year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and 31 reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take $2 root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem ́shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount 33 Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this. Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall -not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come be- . 34 fore it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into 35 this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

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Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and four score and five thou sand and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they 37 [were] all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria de38 parted, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

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