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bring forth food of itself, from the roots of the old stalks, without their ploughing or sowing; and then the third year they should sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them, and live on the fruits of their labor, as they were wont to do before. See 2 Kings xix. 29. This is mentioned as a type of what is promised in ver. 30, 31. "And the rem, nant that is escaped of the house of Judah, shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Sion: The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this." The corn's springing again after it had been cut off with the sickle, and bringing forth another crop from the roots, that seemed to be dead, and so once and again, represents the church's re viving again, as it were, out of its own ashes, and flourishing like a plant, after it had seemingly been cut down past recov ery. When the enemies of the church have done their utmost, and seem to have gained their point, and to have overthrown the church, so that the being of it is scarcely visible, but like a living root hid under ground; yet there is a secret life in it that will cause it to flourish again, and to take root downward, and bear fruit upward. This was fulfilled now at this time; for the king of Assyria had already taken and car ried captive the ten tribes; and Sennacherib had also taken all the fenced cities of Judah, and ranged the country round about, and Jerusalem only remained; and Rabshakeh had in his own imagination already swallowed that up, as he had also in the fearful apprehensions of the Jews themselves. But yet God wrought a wonderful deliverance. He sent an angel, that in one night smote an hundred fourscore and five thous and in the enemy's camp.

XIX. In the reign of Uzziah, and the following reigns, God was pleased to raise up a set of eminent prophets, who should commit their prophecies to writing, and leave them for the use of his church in all ages. We before observed how that God began a constant succession of prophets in Israel in Samuel's time, and many of these prophets wrote by divine inspiration, and so added to the canon of scripture, before Uzziah's time. But none of them are supposed to have written

books of prophecies till now. Several of them wrote histories of the wonderful dispensations of God towards his church, This we have observed already of Samuel, who is supposed to have written Judges and Ruth, and part of the first of Samuel, if not the book of Joshua. And Nathan and Gad seem to have written the rest of the two books of Samuel: And Nathan, with Ahijah and Iddo, wrote the history of Solomon, which is probably that which we have in the first book of Kings. The history of Israel seems to have been further carried on by Iddo and Shemaiah : 2 Chron. xii. 15. “Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and Iddo the seer, concerning genealogies?" And after that the history seems to have been further carried on by the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani: 2 Chron. xx. 34. "Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold they are written in the book of Jehu, the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel," as we find him to be, 1 Kings xvi. 1, 7. And then it was further continued by the prophet Isaiah : 2 Chron, xxvi. 22. “Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, write." He probably did it as well in the second book of kings, as in the book of his prophecy. And the history was carried on and finished by other prophets after him,

Thus the prophets, even from Samuel's time, had from time to time, been adding to the canon of scripture by their historical writings. But now, in the days of Uzziah, did God first raise up a set of great prophets, not only to write histories, but to write books of their prophecies. The first of these is thought to be Hosea the son of Beeri, and therefore his prophecy, or the word of the Lord by him, is called the beginning of the word of the Lord; as Hosea i. 2. "The beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea ;" that is, the beginning, or the first part, of the written word of that kind, viz. that which is written in books of prophecy. He prophecied in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel. There was many other witnesses; for God

raised up about the same time to commit their prophecies to writing Isaiah, and Amos, and Jonah, and Micah, and Nahum, and probably some others; and so from that time forward God seemed to continue a succession of writing prophets.

This was a great dispensation of Providence, and a great advance made in the affair of redemption, which appears, if we consider what was said before, that the main business of the prophets was to foreshew Christ, and his redemption. They were all forerunners of the great prophet. The main end why the spirit of prophecy was given them was, that they might give testimony to Jesus Christ, the great Redeemer, that was to come; and therefore the testimony of Jesus, and the spirit of prophecy, are spoken of as the same thing: Rev. xix. 10. “ And Í fell at his feet to worship him : And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: Worship God: For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." And therefore we find, that the great and main thing that the most of the prophets in their written prophecies insist upon, is Christ and his redemption, and the glorious times of the gospel, which should be in the latter days, according to their manner of expression. And though many other things were spoken of in their prophecies, yet it seems to be only as intro ductory to their prophecy of these great things. Whatever they prophecy of, here their prophecies commonly terminate, as you may see by a careful perusal of their writings.

These prophets were set to writing their prophecies by the spirit of Christ that was in them, chiefly for that end, to foreshow and prepare the way for the coming of Christ, and the glory that should follow. And in what an exalted strain do they all speak of those things; many other things they speak of in men's usual language. But when they come upon this subject, what a joyful heavenly sublimity is there in the language they use about it! Some of them are very particular and full in their predictions of these things, and above all the Prophet Isaiah, who is therefore deservedly called the evangelical prophet. He seems to teach the glorious doctrines of the gospel almost as plainly as the apostles did, who preachVOL. II.

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The Apostle Paul thereEsaias is very bold, Rom. word, as used in the New

ed after Christ was actually come. fore takes notice, that the Prophet x. 20. i. e. as the meaning of the Testament, is very plain, he speaks out very plainly and fully; so being "very bold" is used, 2 Cor. iii. 12, we use "great plainness of speech," or "boldness," as it is in the margin.

How plainly and fully does the prophet Isaiah describe the manner and circumstances, the nature and end of the suffering and sacrifice of Christ, in the 53d chapter of his prophecy. There is scarce a chapter in the New Testament itself which is more full on it! And how much, and in what a glorious strain, does the same prophet speak from time to time of the glorious benefits of Christ, the unspeakable blessings which, shall redound to his church through his redemption! Jesus Christ, the person that this prophet spoke so much of, once appeared to Isaiah in the form of the human nature, the, nature that he should afterwards take upon him. We have an account of it in the 6th chapter of his prophecy at the begin ning; "I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple," &c. This was Christ that Isaiah now saw, as we are expressly told in the New Tes tament. See John xii. 39, 40, 41.

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And if we consider the abundant prophecies of this and the, other prophets, what a great increase is there of the light of the gospel, which had been growing from the fall of man to this day? How plentiful are the revelations and prophecies of Christ now, to what they were in the first period of the Old. Testament, from Adam to Noah? Or to what they were in the second, from Noah to Abraham? Or to what they were, before Moses, or in the time of Moses, Joshua, and the Judg es? This dispensation that we are now speaking of, was also, a glorious advance of the work of redemption by the great additions that were made to the canon of scripture. Great part. of the Old Testament was written now, from the days of Uz ziah to the captivity into Babylon. And how excellent are those portions of it? What a precious treasure have those prophets committed to the church of God, tending greatly to

confirm the gospel of Christ? And which has been of great comfort and benefit to God's church in all ages since, and doubtless will be to the end of the world.

PART VI.

From the Babylonish Captivity to the Coming of Christ.

I COME now to the last period of the Old Testament, viz. that which begins with the Babylonish Captivity, and extends to the coming of Christ, being the greatest part of six hundred years, to shew how the work of redemption was car ried on through this period.

But before I enter upon particulars, I would observe,in three things, wherein this period is distinguished from the preceding periods of the times of the Old Testament.

1. Though we have no account of a great part of this period in the scripture history, yet the events of this period are more the subject of scripture prophecy, than any of the preceding periods. There are two ways wherein the scriptures give account of the events by which the work of redemption is carried on; one is by history, and another is by prophecy: And in one or the other of these ways we have contained in the scriptures an account how the work of redemption is carried on from the beginning to the end. Although the scriptures do not contain a proper history of the whole, yet there is contained the whole chain of great events by which this affair hath been carried on from the foundation, soon after the fall of man, to the finishing of it at the end of the world, either in history or prophecy. And it is to be observed, that where the scripture is wanting in one of these ways, it is made up in the other. Where scripture history fails, there prophecy takes place; so that the account is still carried on, and the chain is not broken, till we come to the very last link of it in the consummation of all things.

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