felves to our eternal Sovereign, humbly fubmitting our understandings to his truths, our wills to his laws, our interefts to his management, cheerfully confecrating our whole lives to his fervice and obedience. O Lord our God, other lords befides thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will C we make mention of thy name *. Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's t.' To this end, may the living God, for the fake of his Son Jefus Chrift, richly blefs to us the truths which we have now heard, that they may bring forth in us, through the benign influence of the Holy Ghoft, the fruits of holinefs and righteousness, that, in the hours of fuffering and intervals of joy, in life and death, we may derive from his vernment, strength, and comfort, and bleffing. Amen.

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8 The LORD fent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Ifrael.

In the third fection of his difcourfe, which commences with these words, the prophet proceeds to expoftulate with the Ephraimites refpecting the various crimes of which they were guilty, and to fhew the equity and certainty of the punishments threatened to be inflicted upon these accounts.The verfe now read may be confidered as introductory to this fubject, in which that people are reminded of the ineftimable, diftinguifhing favour they had received from God. The Lord fent a word into Jacob. To the pofte

Ifaiah xxvi. 13.

+ 1 Cor. vi. 20.

The Author, in lecturing through this prophecy, difcourfed at more than ordinary length on a number of paffages, of which the one now finished may be confidered as a fpecimen. Judging it unneceffary to alter the form in which thefe Lectures were delivered, and hoping that the more copious illuftration of fome remarkable places of this facred book may be acceptable to the Reader, he makes no apology for following out his original plan.

rity of that great patriarch, which ftill continued
to bear his name, God was graciously pleased to af-
ford the revelation of his will, which is fometimes
emphatically called a word. Though it is comprised
in feveral books, and contains a law that is exceeding
broad, yet because of the intimate connection and
perfect harmony of all the parts of which it is com
pofed, and the unity of defign that pervades the
whole fyftem, it is spoken of as a word, from which
no part can be taken away, and to which nothing can
be added, unless its fignification and usefulness is either
much injured, or totally changed. For the precious
donation of this word, the highly favoured people to
whom it was fent, by the miniftry of the prophets,
were invited to praife the Lord: He fheweth his
word unto Jacob, his ftatutes and his judgments
unto Ifrael. He hath not dealt fo with any nation :
and as for his judgments, they have not known
them. Praise ye the Lord *.'
the Lord. The word, of which
Ifaiah here speaks, denotes, more particularly, the mef
fages delivered by his cotemporaries, Hofea and Amos,
as well as thofe which he himfelf published, by the
command of God, to the Ephraimites, the pofterity
of Jacob, in which awful judgments were denounced
against them, on account of the highly aggravated
tranfgreffions they committed. In this limited fenfe
our prophet ufes the expreffion, in the meffage that
he fent to king Hezekiah refpecting Sennacherib:
This is the word that the Lord hath fpoken con-
cerning him . And, in the paffage before us, it
feems requifite to explain it in the fame reftricted
meaning, as being more efpecially intended.

And it bath lighted upon Ifrael. The words are metaphorical; and may allude to the practice of fhooting an arrow, throwing a dart or other weapon, with the defign of hitting the object that is aimed at. Or the expreflion may refer to what hap

* Pfal. cxlvii. 19, 20.

Ifaiah xxxvii. 23.

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pens when the husbandman is employed in fowing grain in the field; the corn falls upon the ground into which it is caft, where, you know, it dies, it is quickened, it fprings up, and brings forth in different proportions. To whichfoever of thefe practices there is allufion, the meaning of the affertion is the fame. The word that God fent into Jacob hath lighted upon Ifrael: it did not prove ineffectual; it reached the people to whom it was fent, and executed the purposes for which it was intended. Like the fharp arrows of the mighty, it hit and wounded thofe at whom it was directed: it penetrated their hearts, and excited ftrong remorfe and anguifh of confcience. Like the feed fown in the field, it fometimes fell upon thofe who refembled the way-fide, which remains hard and uncultivated; fometimes it dropt upon those who were obdurate and infenfible, as the ftony ground; at other times it lighted upon thorny ground, where it was foon choked; whilft fome of it fell into the good and honeft heart, where it brought forth fruit with patience. People of every defcription experienced the truth of this word, and beheld the juftice and veracity of God difplayed in the accomplishment of the predictions to which Ifaiah refers in this declaration, whilst the meflages fent to them by the prophets, proved, by the event, that they were not falfe alarms, or vain threatenings. -Though the Lord is long-fuffering, and of great mercy, affording tranfgreffors time to repent, that iniquity may not be their ruin, he will by no means clear the guilty, who go on in their trefpaffes, and refufe to improve the feafon allowed them for returning to him. Upon fuch the word of threatening fhall light, and they fhall be punished for their fins. This event is fo certain and determined, that it is fpoken of as already come to pafs, with refpect to the people of Ifrael,

9 And all the people fhall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, that fay in the pride and stoutnefs of heart.

The extenfive effects with which the word above mentioned was to be accompanied are here defcribed. The fubjects of this prediction were, all the the people of Ephraim, and the inhabitants of Samaria, the chief city of that kingdom, who, on this occafion, expreffed very unbecoming fentiments, in a haughty and obdurate temper of mind. These were to be experimentally acquainted with the threatenings denounced by the prophets, and to be thoroughly convinced, by what they faw and felt, of their truth and certainty. For long time they would not believe nor regard the folemn, repeated declarations published by the fervants of the Lord, nor endeavour to comply with their defign, by forfaking their evil ways; therefore fhould they know, in the moft fenfible manner, that the word of God cannot fail of being punctually fulfilled. In their language, the Ephraimites discovered pride and stoutness of heart; and were determined, it feems, to act up to the following refolution, which they expreffed with much haughtiness and infolence: The bricks are fallen

down, but we will build with hewn ftones,' &c. A proud and ftubborn difpofition seldom fails to discover itself in the gefture, the looks, the actions, and the fpeech of those who act under its pernicious influence; and never appears more abfurd and foolish than when it fhews a vain conceit of their fuppofed advantages, connections, and profpects, a wicked contempt of God, his promifes, and threatenings, with a violent oppofition to his righteous difpenfations. A ftriking proof of the truth of this obfervation lies before us in this verse, taken in connection with what follows.— Let the counsel of devout Hannah be acceptable to you, my friends: Talk no more fo exceeding proudly, let not arrogancy come out of your mouths

'for

'for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. Beware of pride and ftoutnefs of heart, from whence proceed the contentions that arife in families, focieties, and nations, which are often attended with dangerous confequences. Be affured that thefe difpofitions are odious to God, and a certain fource of bitter calamities to individuals and nations, and therefore ought to be carefully avoided.

10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn ftones: the fycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

These words exprefs the haughty and obftinate refolution formed by the people of Ephraim, notwithftanding the frequent admonitions they received from the prophets of the Lord.To perceive the criminalty of this purpose, you must know, that the Almighty had already testified his just displeasure against that nation for their fins, by fending against them the king of Affyria, by whom they were greatly diftreffed, fo that many of their houfes were demolifhed and become ruinous. Instead, however, of being deeply humbled for their tranfgreffions, which procured those defolating judgments, and learning the important lefions of humility and fubmiffion, their pride was increafed, and their obftinacy was confirmed. With haughtiness and obduracy of fpirit, they ufed the unbecoming language of this verfe, and thus betrayed their contempt of the meffages that God had fent them by his fervants. The words are eafy to be understood, and require little expofition. Houfes built of brick and fycomore trees, which are not remarkable for ftrength or durablenefs, are far from being fo firm and beautiful as those built of hewn ftones, and finished with cedars. The determination of the Ifraelites to employ the latter in place of the former, plainly