66 behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inha"bitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall "disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”* In chap. xxxiii. how awfully does the Prophet describe the judgments of God! "Hear ye that are afar off, what I have "done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The Isaiah, xxvi. 1, 19, 20, 21. Lowth's translation of these last verses is somewhat different, though, for the purpose I adduce them, not materially: ver. 10. 66 Thy dead shall live, my deceased they shall rise. "For thy dew is as the dew of the dawn, "But the earth shall cast forth as an abortion, the deceased tyrants." And ver. 21. "For behold, Jehovah issueth forth from his place. "To punish for his iniquity, the inhabitant of the earth. "And shall no longer cover her slain." On this passage Lowth remarks: "The deliverance of the people of God from a "state of the lowest depression, is explained by images plainly taken from the resur"rection of the dead. In the same manner the Prophet Ezekiel represents the restora"tion of the Jewish nation from a state of utter desolation, by the restoring of the "dry bones to life, exhibited to him in a vision, chap. xxxvii. which is directly thus "applied and explained, ver. 11; and this deliverance is expressed with a manifest "opposition to what is here said above, ver. 14, of the great lords and tyrants under "whom they had groaned: "They are dead, they shall not live; 66 They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise. "That they should be destroyed utterly, and should never be restored to their former power and glory. It appears from hence, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the "dead was at that time a common and popular doctrine for an image which is "assumed, in order to express or represent another in the way of allegory or metaphor, "whether poetical or prophetical, must be an image commonly known and understood, "otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which it is assumed." Here I find the Bishop of Killala makes no material change in Lowth's translation; but the learned Prelate in the next chapter notices a circumstance very apposite to my present argument: chap. xxvii. "In that day, "Shall Jehovah punish with his grievous sword, "His great and strong sword, "Leviathan the mailed serpent, Even Leviathan the writhing serpent; "And he shall slay the monster that is in the sea." On this the Bishop remarks; "that whatever present adversary is designed here by "the name of Leviathan, whether the king of Egypt or Babylon; it seems highly proba 'ble that a future spiritual enemy is in contemplation, even the old serpent, whose fina. destiny is related." Rev. xx. 10. "sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hy"pocrites; who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring "fire? Who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burn"ings?* He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; " he that despiseth the gain of oppression, that shaketh his hands "from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of "blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; "bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." And in verse 22, the ground of this confidence is emphatically described: "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord "is our king; he will save us." In chap. li. the Prophet illustrates the abolition of the Jewish economy and the introduction of the new, by images which bespeak a mind familiarized to the contemplation of that grand catastrophe which shall close the existence of this sublunary world. "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the "earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, "and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that "dwell thereon shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall "be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hear"ken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose "heart is my Law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither "be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: "but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation."† I close the extracts from this truly evangelic Prophet, with chap. lvii. in which he describes, in terms the most clear and impressive, that strict retribution by which divine justice will correct all the inequalities of the present life, and render to every man according to his works. "The righteous perisheth, and no *Lowth translates the 14th verse: "Who among us can abide this consuming "fire, who among us can abide these continued burnings ?" Ver. 11 to 22, Lowth remarks, is a description of the dreadful apprehensions of the wicked, in those times of distress and imminent danger, finely contrasted with the confidence and security of the righteous, and their trust in the promises of God, that he will be their never-failing strength and protector. Lowth's translation is here much more accurate and expressive; "But my righte " ousness shall endure for ever, and my salvation to the age of ages." man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, * none considering that the righteous is taken away from the "evil to come.* He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in "their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. For thus "saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose "name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him "also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit "of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the "wicked." 66 Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor Prophets, occupied as they chiefly are, in denouncing the temporal judgments immediately to be inflicted on the Jews, first by the dispersion of the ten tribes, and afterwards by the Babylonish captivity, recur to the remote ideas of a future state less frequently than the great evangelic Prophet, who constantly extends his view to the glories and the effects of the Messiah's reign. Yet they frequently speak of Jehovah as recompensing all the inhabitants of the earth, whether nations or individuals, according to their deeds; and of the great and terrible day of the Lord; and of men's delivering their souls from death; in terms which are properly applicable only to the great day of final retribution. Thus Jeremiah, in chap. xvii. declares, "The heart is deceitful above all things; "who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, 66 even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."+ And again," He that get“teth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of * Lowth is more accurate, and equally expressive of the sentiment which this passage appears to me to impress: 66 "The righteous man is taken away because of the evil; "He shall go in peace, he shall rest in his bed, "Even the perfect man, he that walketh in the straight path." Bishop Stock remarks, that "in verse 19, the words, Peace to the distant and to the 66 rear, saith Jehovah, means, to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. In this universal peace the wicked shall have no share." I would add, this universal peace, excluding all the wicked, can scarcely be conceived strictly true but of that world "wherein shall "dwell righteousness." + Blayney observes, the Prophet contrasts the accursed condition of him that resteth his trust on man, ver. 5, 8. He showeth that, be the human heart ever so wily, God can detect, and will finally punish its double dealing, ver. 9, 11. He acknowledguth that sure salvation cometh from God, and from God only. "his days, and at his end shall be a fool."* And again, “O Lord, "the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth; because "they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters." 66 Thus Ezekiel, in the vision of the valley of dry bones, chap. xxxvii. gives a scenical representation of the restoration of the dead hope of Israel, by the restoration of these bones to life. "Then said he unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole "house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, "O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come "up out of your graves, and bring you unto the land of Israel."+ Thus also Hosea, encouraging Israel to obedience by the prospect of deliverance from the calamities which God would inflict on them for their crimes, if they should truly repent; in chap. xiii. calls on them: "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but "in me is thine help. I will ransom them from the power of *Blayney reads, "felon," that is, "he shall have the reward of a felon at last, or "shall be brought to condign punishment. This is directly opposite to what Balaam "wished, Numb. xxiii. 10, and what every wise man would wish for himself, a latter "end like that of the righteous." If this observation is just, the Prophet, by the last end of the irreligious, means their future state; which, according to Taylor, is the exact force of the word here used. The Chaldee paraphrase renders the words "shall be written in earth," by falling into Gehenna. + Primate Newcome, in his note on the 12th verse of this chapter, observes: "In "the land of their captivity, the Jews seemed as absolutely deprived of their own "country, as persons committed to the grave are cut off from the living. The fore"going similitude showed in a strong and beautiful manner, that God, who could even "raise the dead, had power to restore them." Having been led to recur to the Works of this truly learned and Christian divine, I cannot forbear expressing the fond and grateful remembrance which must ever remain imprinted on my heart, of a man, whose encouragement animated, whose advice guided, my earliest studies, and in whose friendship, terminated alas! only by his death, I received the most honourable reward. But he is gone in peace-he rests in glory; though dead, his example and his works still speak to the living; and Oh! " may we die the death of the righteous, and may our last end be like his." This verse is otherwise, and, as it seems to me, more accurately rendered by Primate Newcome: "Yet I will redeem thee from the grave, "I will deliver thee from death. "O death, where is thine overthrow! "O grave, where is thy destruction! "Repenting is hidden from mine eyes." "i. e." says Newcome, "change of purpose, my veracity being concerned." And "the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be "thy plague! O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance "shall be hid from mine eyes." Joel, with all the energy and sublimity of Isaiah himself, predicts the wonderful effusion of divine grace under the Gospel scheme; and passes on to describe the signs that should precede, and the terrors that should attend, the coming of the day of judgment, that great and terrible day of the Lord: "And I "will show wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood and "fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness; and the moon into blood, before the great and the ter"rible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that 66 "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be de"livered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord "shall call."* 66 Amos also first describes the temporal sanctions of the Mosaic law, and their exact distribution by the immediate hand of God, who "caused it to rain upon one city, and not to rain upon "another city; one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered "unto one city to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have "overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Go"morrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burn"ing; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord."+ He then proceeds to point out that great day of judgment, the prospect of which ought to restrain, as its punishment would assuredly chastise the obstinacy of their guilt: "Therefore thus "will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD, O ISRAEL. For lo! he that "formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth "unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkhe remarks, that "St Paul naturally applies to the resurrection of the dead, what the "Prophet says of future national happiness." Admitting the Prophet means only this, we have here a very strong instance how distinct and familiar was the idea of a resurrection to the Prophet and his countrymen. Joel, ii. 30. Primate Newcome understands this passage, of the events which took place at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. But from our Saviour's language, Matt. xxiv. 29, we are certainly warranted in applying them also to the day of general judgment. Amos, iv. 7, 8, 11. |