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their old Masters again in Poffeffion of them, and fenfible of their Deliverance.

Ver. 10. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth fhall fee the falvation of our God.] That is, God by redeeming his People has given as great a Proof of his irrefiftible Power to all the World, as a Man does of his Perfonal Strength, when he pulls off his Cloaths and difcovers a large Arm, with fwinging Bones and ftrong Mufcles.

Ver. 11. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing, go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the veffels of the Lord.] He calls on them to depart out of Babylon, and the Dominions belonging to it, and bids them prepare to cleanse themselves from all thofe illegal Pollutions they must have contracted among their Pagan Masters, those especially who were to carry the Veffels of the Lord, meaning the Levites; the holy Veffels of the Sanctuary were carry'd to Babylon by Nebuzaradan, and there continu'd till Cyrus reftor'd them to their proper Owners, for the Ufes they were at first design'd.

Ver. 12. For ye shall not go out with hafte, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you: and the God of Ifrael will be your reward.] Ye shall have Time enough to prepare for your Journey, and purify your felves, if you need, for ye fhall not be hurry'd away on the fudden, as your Fathers were out of Egypt; no Enemies fhall purfue you in the Rear or oppofe you in the Front, for God will be at the Head of you, and God fhall bring up your Rear also.

Ver. 13. Behold, my fervant fhall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.] Here fome begin the $3d Chapter, and Salmeron fays it is fo divided in fome Copies which he had feen; the Subject is new, and has nothing quod Babylonium olet, according to the Expreffion of Sanctius, and is to be literally understood of the Meffiah, as all Expofitors I have met with agree, except Grotius, who thinks the Words may in the firft lower Senfe of them be understood of Feremiah the Prophet, confider'd as a Type of Chrift; I fhall therefore add both Expofitions, not because I am any way inclin'd to think the Prophet foretold the Sufferings of his Brother Prophet, but because the Violence which is offer'd by one to the Words will fet

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LII.

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Chapter off the more natural Application of the other; Behold, my fervant fhall, deal prudently, Fafhkil intelliget, that is, fhall fo nnderstand my Will, as to perform it; or, according to the other Signification of the Word, he fhall profpry, he fhall fucceed in the great Undertaking of Man's Redemption; according to Grotius, Behold, my fervant Jeremiah fhall know all these Things by clear Revelation, he shall be throughly acquainted with God's Purpose of reftoring his People to their own Land: He fhall be exalted and extoll'd, and be very high, divers Expreffions to reprefent in part the tranfcendent and unexpreffible Advancement of Christ in regard of his Human Nature affum'diby the Deity: But this was in my Opinion rather a Deba fement to him, and is fo reprefented in the New Teftament, therefore (a) others understand the Words of his Exaltation to Heaven; Grotius, he fhall be in great Honour and Reputation among the Babylonians, they fhall look upon him as a Perfon of Ferem. 40. 4. extraordinary Merit, and for a time treat him accordingly. Ver. 14. As many were astonished at thee; (his visage was fo marred more than any man, and his form more than the Tons of men)]. This Verfe, I think, may be more clearly render'd, as it is in the Port Royal Translation, Comme vous avez etè l'etonnement de plufieurs par votre defolation. Il paroitra auffi fans gloire devant les Hommes, & dans une forme meprifable aux yeux des Enfans des Hommes. des Enfans des Hommes. Or thus,

Tirinus.

As many as were astonished at thee, at the mean Figure he made, for he appear'd before Men without Glory, and in a Form altogether defpicable in the Eyes of the Sons Biblia Max. of Men: He changes the Perfon,which obfcures the Sense, and fpeaks as if the Meffiah had already appear'd ; but the Words fhould be render'd futurely, and the Perfon either both in the Second or in the Third: As many shall be aftonish'd at him, for he hall appear before Men without Glory, and in a Form defpicable in the Eyes of the Sons of Men. There is a great variety of other Tranflations, but this I think beft agrees with the Words, and is fo fuitable to the mean appearance of our Saviour among Men, that I need not be at the trouble to point out the obvious agreement; Grotius refers the Words to the great alterations the hardships which the Prophet Jeremiah met with in Captivity made in his Coun

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tenance, how wan and ghaftly his Looks were by long Chapter confinement.

LII.

Ver. 15. So fhall he Sprinkle many nations, the Kings fhall fhut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them, fhall they fee; and that which they had not heard, fhall they confider.] So fhall he Sprinkle many Nations, that is, his Doctrine fhall be propagated in many Nations, and the Inhabitants become a pure People, holy and acceptable to the Lord, as by the fprinkling of the People with the Blood of the Sacrifice, all their Pollutions were wash'd away. Kings fhall fhut their mouths at him and reverence Heb. 9. 13: him, and fubmit to the Laws he prefcribes them, verify'd in Conftantine, and the reft of the Chriftian Princes fince his time: And they who had never feen or heard any thing of him before, that is, the Gentiles, fhall confider his Heavenly Doctrine, and fhall be converted unto it. Grotius of Jeremiah, he fhall convert many of the Heathen, among whom he convers'd from Idolatry to the Worship of the true God: The Princes of Babylon, fhall have an awful regard for him, keep filence as it were in his Prefence, as Men are us'd to do in the prefence of those they highly esteem: Because they shall be convinc'd he foretold their deftruction, which none of their Diviners could inform them of, and they fhall fee it come to pass exactly as he foretold.

The ARGUMENT of Chapter LIII.

This Chapter is to be understood folely of Chrift, as all Interpreters agree, even (a) those who have all along understood (a) Hugo, the foregoing Chapters of Cyrus, and the Captivity; and Thomas." Grotius, as far as I can find, ftands fingle in referring it to the Prophet Jeremiah. His Interpretation I have added purely to fet off that which I efteem the true one: In which the Reader will find the Words taken in their own natural fignification, but in the other strangely wrefted. Lyranus owns the Anticnt Jews understood it of the Meffiah, and the Chaldeé Paraphraft exprefly names him: Suppofing then this Chapter, to begin at the 13th Verfe of the former, the Prophet

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begins a new Subject and defcribes the mean Appearance, the Life, the Death, the Burial of the Meffiah fo exactly that as A Lapide fays, this Chapter may justly challenge for its Title, The Paffion of Jefus Chrift according to Ifaiah.

Verse 1..

CHA P. LIII.

W HO hath believed our report? and to whom

is the arm of the Lord revealed ] That is, How few are they who will believe the Gospel, when preach'd to them? Who will believe and fincerely embrace the glad Tidings of Salvation we publish to the World? He speaks in the Perfon of Chrift and his Apoftles, forefeeing how ineffectual their Preaching was like to prove, how infenfible the greatest part of the Jewish Nation would be of the mighty Power of God, working and manifefting it felf in Chrift. Grotius thinks the Prophet fpeaks in his own Perfon, as if he had faid, Tho' I tell them over and over again, of the Captivity and their Deliverance out of it, they will neither believe one nor other.

Ver. 2. For he hall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comelinefs: and when we shall fee him, there is no beauty that we fhould defire him.] He gives the reason why fo few of the Jews fhould entertain Chrift the Meffiah, because of his mean Appearance, which he defcribes under the Metaphor of a forry Plant or of a Sprig fhooting out with great difficulty out of the Root of a decay'd faplefs Tree in a poor barren Ground, and therefore very unlikely to make any figure, or thrive and look well: He hath no form or comeliness, that is, He fhall be void of all fhew and luftre, without any pompous retinue to draw the Eyes of People, and ingage their Affections to him. Grotius, when they are in the Hands of their Oppreffors, they will not believe the glad tidings of their Redemption Preach'd by Jeremiah, because of his mean outward circumftances, who being bred up in obfcurity in a fmall Village, fhall want authority to give weight to his Words. We fee nothing (they will fay) which fhould incline us to believe what he fays, nor can we imagine if God de

fign'd to do fuch things for us, he would reveal his De- Chapter figns to a Perfon of fo unpromising a look. LIII.

Ver. 3. He is defpised and rejected of men, a man of forrows, and accquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was defpifed, and we esteemed him not.] I need not mention the bafe treament our Saviour met with from his Country-men, every Chriftian is accquainted enough with this, as well as the particulars of his Sufferings: And it cannot be deny'd but Jeremiah might be inny us by them, and undergo a great deal of Contempt and Ignominy from the Jews, as well as hardfhips from the Babylonians. But what is this to the Sufferings of the Meffiah? How far does the utmost he underwent fall fhort of this Expreffion, viduang koli; one intimately acquainted with forrow, as one Friend is with another, one who has try'd every fort of it, and felt the moft exquifite anguifh; as our Saviour did in the Garden,, and on the Cross. We hid as it were our Faces from him": Kemafter Panim mimmennu; He was as one from whom the People turn their Heads, as they are apt to do when they behold any thing they loath and abhor; by which Expreffion the Prophet defign'd to. give an Idea of the lowness of the Condition in which the Meffiah fhould appear, fo far from attracting the Eyes of the multitude by a glittering outfide, which he could have easily. commanded, that they could not endure to look upon him Which is not applicable to Jeremiah, for whatever condition he was in, in all probability the greatest part of the Captives were in a worfe, and had no reafon to defpife him.

Ver. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs, and carried our forrows: yet we did efteem him stricken, mitten of God, and afflicted.] The Application of this to our Saviour is fo obvious that every Chriftian Reader cannot fail to make it, as foon as he reads the Words: Which Grotius thinks will admit of a Senfe applicable to the Prophet Jeremi ah: A Man of forrow he is, but our Sins have brought upon him all his Misfortunes, the grief he bears is ours, due to us, which we might have prevented by hearkning to his Inftructions: Which I think is very unnatural. Ter "did we efteem him fmitten, stricken of God and afflicted, that

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