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vealed, clearly admonishes the waiting world of the nature

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The waters of the great deep?

That made in the depths of the sea a way,
A passage for thy redeemed?

11. So shall the redeemed of Jehovah return,

And they shall come unto Zion with rejoicing;
And everlasting happiness shall be upon their heads.
Gladness and happiness shall they find,
And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Does not this, among the number of other concurrent prophecies, clearly establish the expectation, that a miraculous providence, similar to that exerted at the exodus, will be again seen at the final restoration of Israel? But this miraculous journey through the wilderness, and the circumstance that they arrive at Zion, "crowned with everlasting joy," seems clearly ascertained to be at a period after the tremendous vengeance has been inflicted on the last great adversary, so often set before us in prophecy. For, till that last conflict is past, Jerusalem cannot be a scene of everlasting peace and happiness. It was, however, evident from former Scriptures, that there was a partial restoration, previously to this which marks the appearance of the Redeemer; that

Psalm lxvin.; Isaiah, xxxv. 1; xl. 2; xli. 17; xliii. 16.

Jerusalem had been rebuilt; and, in circumstances of extreme fear and apprehension, was to be besieged by the last mortal enemy; and, when fairly taken and captivated, should be rescued from his grasp.* This is evidently the people that is now addressed:

12. I, I am he that comforteth thee.

Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die,

And of the son of man that shall be as grass!

13. And forgettest Jehovah thy Maker,

Who stretched out the heavens, and founded the earth:

And art in fear continually from day to day,

Because of the wrath of the

oppressor;

As if he were ready to destroy.

But where is the fury of this oppressor? 14. The prostrate' captive' is near to his release:' And he shall not die in the dungeon,

Neither shall his bread fail.

15. For I, Jehovah, am thy Elohim,

He who stilleth the sea when its waves roar,
Jehovah Sabaoth is his name.

"Jehovah Sabaoth," as we have seen before, is a title of the great Redeemer; the Lord that cometh with his shining armies from heaven. He, as we have learned before, appears at the last rescue of Jerusalem.

It is to HIM, in the character of the Deliverer of Zion, that the next lines are addressed, as appears from chapter xlix., verse 2.

• Psalm cvii.; Isaiah, xvii. and xviii., xxix., xlix. 24, &c.

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"The prisoner shall soon be released." -HORSLEY.

16. And I have put my words in thy mouth,

And I have covered thee in the hollow of my hand;

To stretch out the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth;

And to say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

"The word" "put into" the Deliverer's "mouth," is represented in the address to Zion that follows:

17. Arise, arise,

Stand up, O Jerusalem,

That hast drank from the hand of Jehovah

The cup of his wrath!

The dregs of the cup of trembling

Thou hast drank, thou hast drained.

She had been hitherto the object of the divine displeasure; she had drank of the cup of his wrath—a cup that caused" trembling," or " reeling." The intoxication of grief, and of mad despair, had rendered her incapable of making any exertion for her own relief. This consequence seems afterwards expressed :

18. There was none to lead her,

Of all the sons she had brought forth;

There was none to take her by the hand,

Of all the sons she had reared.

19. These two evils befell thee.

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In' the desolation and the destruction, who would condole with thee?

In' the famine and the slaughter, who would comfort thee?

The two evils were, I imagine, the calamity itself, and the being in her distress destitute of every comforter.

Thy sons fainted and fell.

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20. At the head of all the streets were they' as the oryx in the

: toils,

Filled with the wrath of Jehovah, with the rebuke of thy God.

This is evidently intended to predict, as other oracles have done before, the feebleness of Jerusalem in the last conflict, and her utter destitution of all human help. But, as we learned long ago, when " HE seeth that her strength is gone," &c.;* then Jehovah with his own arm will accomplish salvation.

21. Since thus it is, hear thou this, thou afflicted;

And thou drunken, but not with wine;

22. Thus saith the Lord, Jehovah,

And thy Elohim, that contendeth for his people:

Lo, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of reeling,
Even the dregs of the cup of my wrath,

Thou shalt drink of it again no more.

But, as we usually find in this connexion, when Jerusalem's chastisement is finished, then comes the dreadful retribution on her adversaries:

23. And I will put it into the hand of them that oppress thee, Who said to thee, Bow thyself down, that we may pass over thee:

And thou placest thy body as the ground,

And as the street to the passengers.

'A picture of the most tyrannical oppression on the one hand, and of the most abject wretchedness on the other: but too truly illustrated by the sufferings which this nation has often already endured from its enemies!

Song of remembrance.

The season of her vindication, however, from all her wrongs, and of the perpetual triumph of her final salvation, is now anticipated.

SECTION IV.

Remarks on the Fifty-second Chapter.

ZION, in the character of a captive, is next addressed in the first verse of our fifty-second chapter. She is congratulated on her approaching deliverance, and invited to exchange the sordid garments of her captivity, and her lowly seat on the dust, for the robe and chair of state; for she is henceforth to sit as queen:

1. ARISE, arise,

Clothe thee in majesty, O Zion!
Clothe thee with thy robes of state,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.

For no more shall enter into thee,
The uncircumcised or the unclean.

2. Shake thyself from the dust, arise,
Take thy seat, O Jerusalem!

Loose thyself from the bands on thy neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!

3. For thus hath Jehovah said:

Ye were sold for nothing,

And not with money shall ye be redeemed.

If the uncircumcised and unclean are no more to enter into Jerusalem, the conclusion is certain, that the above is addressed to this city on her final deliverance.

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