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prophets, when they mention the revelations wherewith they were favoured. The prophecy of Amos thus begins; The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he faw concerning Ifrael. In like manner, Micah introduces his prophecy, The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morafthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he faw concerning Samaria and Jerufalem.' Our prophet likewise ufes a fimiliar expreffion*, where he fpeaks of the burden of Babylon, which he faw. Though, properly speaking, a word is not an object of fight, it is to be observed, that what Ifaiah here declares he had revealed to him from God, was communicated by a vifion, in which he was favoured with a vifible reprefentation of what he relates. This remark, I apprehend, fully juftifies the form of fpeech under confideration; which feems defigned to intimate, that the prophet received the clearest and most satisfying revelation of what is here recorded.

This prophecy relates to the fame perfons with the former, namely Judah and Jerufalem, by whom, as I obferved from Chap. i. 1. we must understand the people of God, inhabiting those places to whom this meffage was primarily delivered; who afforded an inftructive type of his peculiar people under the New Teftament, who are intimately concerned in this fubject, recorded for their admonition. In this view, we are deeply interested in the predictions before us; and, therefore, we ought diligently to attend to the important truths we now proceed to confider.

2 And it fhall come to pafs in the laft days, that the mountain of the LORDS house shall be eftablished in the top of the mountains, and fhall be exalted above the hills, and all nations fhall flow unto it.

Ifaiah xiii. 1.

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In these words a moft remarkable event, and the time of its accomplishment, is foretold.--The time fixed for the accomplishment of this prophecy, is the laft days, an expreffion which frequently occurs in the Old Teftament. Though fome commentators suppose the times of the gofpel are intended by this phrase, I do not recollect any paffage of fcripture in which it is used to denote the whole period of that dispensation; nor is it thus understood by the Jews, to whom the oracles of God were committed, fo far as I know. The season here referred to, is the concluding period of the Jewish church and state, prior to their abolition; and in this fenfe the words of the patriarch Jacob are to be explained, where he informs his fons, what fhould befall them in the last days, in which the great Meffiah was to come, before the fceptre departed from Judah. To this time, I fuppofe, Balaam looked forward, when he fpake of the end of the days. In these last days (as the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews remarks), God hath spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed ⚫ heir of all things;' and as the prophet Joel foretold, He poured out his Spirit upon all flefht,' &c. With great propriety is this defcription given to the laft series of God's difpenfations toward his church on earth, the last courfe of his providence toward this world, and the concluding fcene in which the great work of man's redemption was accomplished. Then, faith the prophet, fhall come to pass that which is written,

The mountain of the Lord's houfe fhall be established in the top of the mountains. Were these words to be literally explained, they would contain what would feem more like a fable of the poets, than a divine prediction, highly interesting to the church of God, and recorded for its benefit. They would affirm, that the mountain, on which the temple, or the Lord's house, was anciently built, called Zion, on which alfo ftood Joel ii. 28. et feq.

* Gen. xlix. 1.

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the

the city Jerufalem, was to be fo prepared and established as to be exalted far above all other mountains, fuch as Sinai and Tabor, Carmel and Hermon; or rather, that it fhould be removed from off its bafis, and be fixed on the tops of the hills. Every one fees the impropriety of fuch an explanation of the words, affured, that literally Mount Zion fhall never be removed. No doubt the fplendid edifice which adorned its fummit, and the deep valley which lay at the bottom, made it appear immenfely high; and as the Jews reckoned the land of Canaan was the highest part of the earth, and this mountain the highest ground of Canaan, they might confider it as exalted above the hills, and established as on the tops of the mountains. But this is not the import of the prophecy, which must be explained in its figurative and fpiritual fenfe.

By the mountain of the Lord's houfe, we under, ftand the church of Jefus Chrift, the holy hill of Zion, over which God hath anointed him King, of which that mountain was an eminent type. The folid rocks, of which it was compofed, afforded an inftructive emblem of the stability and duration of the church of God, against which the gates of hell fhall never prevail: its elevation above the neighbouring grounds, reprefented the dignity and influence of the church of Chrift in its profperous condition: being feen at a great distance, and enjoying the richest prospects, fignified that the church is a city fet on a hill, from whence the difciples of Christ are favoured with the most transporting views. In the church of the New Teftament, as anciently in the mountain of the Lord's house, the Living God takes up his peculiar residence, fo as to dwell in the midst of it; his presence is enjoyed, his glory is feen, and therein he is honoured and ferved according to his own appointment. In this fenfe we understand the mountain of the Lord's house, which is here foretold,

Shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and fall be exalted above the hills. Both expreffions feem

defigned

defigned to intimate, that the church of God fhould be exalted to distinguished dignity; and, on account of the peculiar privileges wherewith it fhould be invefted, fhould far excel all that are called hills and niountains; and therefore its praifes fhould be celebrated, and its fame fpread abroad through the earth. The Son of God was to elevate his church to the highest honour, by appearing in the Lord's houfe, and there delivering the glorious truths of the gofpel; whereby he was to afford a much clearer revelation of the divine glory, and to inftitute a far more perfect worship, than ever had been ordained from any other mountain, not excepting Sinai itself. He was to give the most wonderful demonstrations of the divine prefence among men, the fame whereof should fpread through the whole world; fo that the nations fhould be happily disposed to renounce their vain fuperftitions, to deteft their false religions, and to fubmit to his doctrine and authority.We behold this prediction verified, when the Son of God, entering Jerufalem and the temple, laid the foundations of his kingdom, taught the ways of God in truth, and qualified his apostles for the faithful performance of his service, by his divine inftructions and Holy Spirit. Then the mountain of the Lord's houfe was honoured with aftonishing difplays of the gracious prefence of God, which were every where published abroad. The bleffed confequences were, that the fublime doctrines, inculcated by Jefus Chrift and his apoftles, founded on eternal truth, which no human or infernal power fhall ever be able to fubvert, destroyed the falfe religions profeffed in the world; fo that Mount Zion became far more illustrious and famous than any other mountain in the earth.

And all nations fhall flow unto it. The vaft concourfe of people, which fhould refort to Zion, are here described in language which hath an obvious reference to the waters of a river flowing on in their courfe toward the fea. The expreffion intimates, that

all

all nations should speedily, and in continued fucceffion, repair to the church of Jefus Chrift; whilst one fhould have powerful influence on another, all fhould prefs forward, with progreflive force and rapidity, until they were received into its bofom. True, indeed, it is not more contrary to the course of nature, for water to run upward, and flow unto the tops of the mountains, than it is for men, alienated from the life of God, to refrain from walking in the vanity of their minds, and to have recourfe to Jefus Christ, that they may participate of the bleflings of his church. It ought therefore to be remembered, that the fountain from whence these mighty streams take their rise, which fhall convey all nations to the great Redeemer, is in the highest heavens; and as waters rife as high as the fpring from which they flow, the multitudes of people, here intended, fhall be conducted not only to the house of the Lord, eftablifhed on the tops of the mountains, but to that not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. How aftonishing this event, that all nations, even thofe who had hitherto walked in their own ways, fhould refort, in great numbers, to Mount Zion, that they may join themselves to the church of God, in which are inculcated the difficult teffons of felf-denial, the study of humility and inward purity, that are oppofite and troublesome to human nature in its degenerate ftate! To excite in the people of God the lively expectation of this unlikely fuccefs of things, it was repeatedly foretold, by the prophets Jeremiah and Zechariah, That Gentiles, as well as Jews, fhould repair to the church under the New Teftament. Such, accordingly, was the powerful agency of the Holy Spirit that attended the doctrine of Jefus Chrift preached at Jerufalem, that devout men, of every nation under heaven, came and dwelt in that highly favoured city, as we read in the fecond chapter and 5th verfe of the Acts of the Apostles.

Jer. iii.

17.

Zech. ii. 10. II.

Because