The affecting defcription of the calamitous ftate of the Jewish nation, begun in the preceding verfe, is here continued. The whole body of the people, all the members of the community, in a figurative fenfe, were difeafed, wounded, and bruifed, by the righteous judgments of God, which were inflicted upon them fo univerfally, that neither the higheft orders, nor the lowest ranks among them were exempted. Several expreffions are ufed, to reprefent the various diftreffing calamities wherewith they were vifited, the lamentable effects of their apoftacy from God, and the fad evidences of his juft difpleafure. The very vitals of their conftitution were hurt, by the chaftifements they had received. They were dangeroufly bruifed, by their fall from their former ftate of exaltation and dignity. Sores had appeared on them, which had the most painful and dangerous afpect; and, if not cured by a fkilful hand, threatened the very deftruction of the nation. Viewing them as individuals, their judgments were perverted by prejudices, their understandings were darkened through ignorance, their hearts were hardened through the deceitfulness of fin, their affections were become earthly and fenfual, nor did any faculty of their minds efcape the infection of fin. Thefe inward diftempers difcovered their baneful influence through their whole conduct, in the manner we have heard; in confequence of which, their outward condition affumed a very alarming appearance, whilft proper care was not taken to get their diftreffes cured, and their calamities removed.This, brethren, affords a juft reprefentation of our fpiritual ftate, until the Lord, who healeth all our difeafes, cure our fpiritual maladies, redeem our lives from deftruction, and crown us with loving kindnefs and tender mercy. Let us therefore apply to him, whose skill and ability no diftemper, however inveterate, could ever reproach, that he may give us that relief he is infinitely able to beftow.

They

They have not been clofed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. No effectual remedy had been properly applied. That wounds may be healed, it is neceffary that they be carefully clofed and filled up; that bruifes may be healed, it is needful that they be tenderly bound up; and in order to putrifying fores being cured, they must be foftened with proper ointments. As it is in the natural, fo it is in the political body, with regard to which each of thefe methods, here referred to, must be tried, in expectation of removing the diforders of the ftate. The wounds made by difcords and divifions must be clofed, the bruifes received by falls from former eminence and dignity must be bound up, and the putrifying fores that have arifen from a difeafed conftitution ought to be treated with much lenity and attention, that the body politic may be reftored to foundnefs. All thefe falutary meafures, we are informed, had been neglected, with refpect to Judah, in the days of Ahaz, to which period this defcription feems efpecially to refer.This portrait, to which I am unwilling any longer to fix your attention, prefents to your view a very moving fpectacle. An individual of our fpecies placed before our eyes literally in this deplorable condition, would doubtlefs affect the moft infenfible heart in this affembly, and bring tears from the eyes of not a few. But we have now been furveying a far more diftreffing fcene than this; a whole nation afflicted with the most complicated evils, oppreffed with the moft grievous calamities, without fo much as one friendly hand ftretched out to adminifter relief. Surely the contemplation of fuch an object ought to excite your compaffion, efpecially when you recollect, that this affecting defcription, in its figurative fenfe, is jufly applicable to our fpiritual condition, until the loving kindnefs of God our Saviour appear, in working our falvation, in healing the difeafes of our fouls, and anointing us with the cil of gladness.

7 Your country is defolate, your cities are burnt with fire: your land ftrangers devour it in your prefence, and it is defolate as overthrown by ftrangers.

The external calamitous condition of the land of Judah is in this verfe farther reprefented.-Your country is defolate. The Hebrew word rendered defolate is emphatical, and fignifies defolation; and fo the expreffion imports, that the country was fo completely laid waste that it was become a perfect defolation. This general propofition is illuftrated in what follows, which feems intended to fet forth the univerfal deftruction that had overfpread the land. Your cities are burnt with fire. They have not only been depopulated, and fpoiled of their riches and ornaments by your enemies, but they are confumed by the fires kindled by the rage and fury of your invaders, and now lie buried in ruins.Your land frangers devour it in your prefence. Your grounds, which fhould have fupplied your families with food, are ravaged by ftrangers, who have come in among you, in your very fight, without regard to your being the witneffes of their conduct. Your fruitful fields, which were the beauty and riches of your country, now lie uncultivated and barren; and your vineyards, which afforded you abundance of wine and oil, are become like an unfruitful defert.And it is defolate as overthrown by frangers. Your cities and fields every where bear the marks of the unrelenting fury and hoftile power of thofe ftrangers who entered your country, with a view to fpoil and rapine, and were employed in fpreading deftruction wherever they came. The Bishop of London renders this claufe, "As if deftroyed by an "inundation," occafioned by a great fail of rain, which, caufing a flood, fpreads a general defolation through the land. In either view, the expreffion is evidently intended, to fhew the terrible extenfive effects of the powerful invasion which had entered the

land

land of Judah, and made dreadful devaftation through the whole country.

This defcription of the defolate ruined state of that once happy land agrees with the time of Ahaz, when Judea was ravaged by the invasion of Ifrael, by Syrians from the north, the Edomites from the fouth, and the Philiftines from the weft. At that time we are informed, That the land was fpoiled, the cities 'were poffeffed by their enemies, hundred thousands of the inhabitants were led captive, and one hun'dred and twenty thousand were flain in one day*. How awful does the Almighty appear in the execution of his righteous judgment! How dangerous is apoftacy from God, which exposes both to temporal and fpiritual calamities; and brings down the dreadful effects of his difpleafure, not only on our perfons, and the state to which we belong, but alfo on the land in which we dwell! On account of the fins of them that dwell therein, the Lord God Omnipotent turneth rivers into a wilderness, the water-fprings into dry ground, and a fruitful field into barrennefs t.' This affecting confideration ought to teach us, to ftand in awe, and not to fin; to beware of provoking him to anger, who can fave and deftroy to the

uttermoft.

8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a befieged city.

The very folitary and defolate condition of the chief city of Judea is here illuftrated by three fimilitudes.And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard. Zion was the name of a mountain fituated on the north of Jerufalem, on which part of that beautiful city was built, and on which stood the magnificent temple of the Lord. By a figure in fpeech, frequently

2 Chron. xxviii.

Pfal. cvii. 33, 34.

ufed

used in the Hebrew language, the inhabitants of a city or country are called its daughter. Hence we read of the daughter of Edom, of Tyre, Babylon, and here of Zion. This once flourishing and holy city, the capital of Judea, was now reduced to fuch a low and despicable condition, that it refembled a little temporary hut made of turf, branches of trees, and the like materials, in a vineyard, where the fruits were in danger of being fpoiled or ftolen, in order to fhelter the keeper from the weather during the time the fruits were ripening.- -This once beautiful city, the joy of the whole earth, was become like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers; which were anciently much efteemed, and cultivated by the Egyptians and the Ifraelites. The lodge mentioned, being built merely for the convenience of the gardener, and not for ornament, had a very mean and infignificant appearance, and was an object that was generally overlooked and neglected; and, on thefe accounts, afforded a striking reprefentation of Zion, in her folitary deferted ftate.

It is farther compared to a befieged city, around which univerfal defolation hath been fpread by the besiegers, that fo the inhabitants may derive no advantage from the neighbourhood. In this diftreffed condition, they are obliged to retire, if poffible, to other places: the city ceafes to be frequented by ftrangers, and becomes an object of pity, as well as a feat of danger. By thefe three fimilitudes, the forlorn state of Jerufalem, in the days of Ahaz, is reprefented; all of which feem defigned to give affecting views of its meannefs and folitude.

How exceedingly different muft Zion then have been from what it was in the days of David and Solomon, when the tribes of the Lord went up to the teftimony of Ifrael, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord; when filver and gold at Jerufalem, was plenteous as ftones, and cedar-trees as fycamore-trees that are in the vale for abundance! What an inftructive warning does this charge afford, of the extreme danger of apoftacy from God, and the duties of his

worship!