Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

much she suffered, before she could find him again. When the Lord speaketh unto us in his ordinances, and by the secret motions and persuasions of his holy Spirit, we should not defer, nor put him off, as Felix did Paul, to some other time; but pursue the occasion, and set ourselves to do every duty in God's time. There is a time for every work, and it is beautiful only in its time: and therefore fit it is, that we should observe wisely the signs and nature of the times", and accordingly proportion our devotions for the church and ourselves. It is the worst loss of time to let slip the seasons of grace and spiritual wisdom, till, it may be, God's time of mercy is passed over. If thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things that concern thy peace! But now thy day is over, and my day of wrath is come; they are now hidden from thine eyes.

"He shall judge amongst the heathen.”—By heathen we are to understand the same with enemies, verse 1, and people"; meaning all the armies and swarms of Christ's enemies, either spiritual or secular. The word "Gentiles" was a word of great contempt and detestation amongst God's people', as the word "Jew" is now amongst us: a proverbial word to cast reproach and shame upon men. Therefore the apostle saith of the Ephesians, that, in times past, "they had been Gentiles in the fleshk." As if, by being Christians, they had ceased to be Gentiles; or rather that word had ceased to be a term of reproach. So that "Gentile" was a word of scorn, as "Samaritan," or "Canaanite "," or "Publican"." And therefore we find those two joined together, "Publicans and Sinners ;" and so the apostle joineth these two words, "Gentiles and Sinners"." So then the word "heathen" is added by David to the enemies of Christ, to render them the more odious, and to express their more abject and hateful condition: and therefore, when God would cast notable reproach upon his people, he calleth them "Sodomites and Gentiles P." So then the meaning is, His most abject and hateful enemies, that are unto him as Canaanites

[blocks in formation]

and Samaritans, he shall judge; that is, he shall condemn and punish them.

6

Whence we may note, That Christ's victories over his enemies shall be by way of pleading and disceptation. His military is likewise a judiciary proceeding, grounded upon righteous and established laws. Therefore the day of God's wrath is called a time of vengeance, and recompense for the " controversies of Sion ;"-to show that the Lord doth not take vengeance but by way of debate: and therefore when he punisheth, he is said to "plead" with men. The priest said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law, knew me not, &c. "Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will I plead "." So to plead' and to take vengeance' go together and the Lord is said to reprove with equity,' and to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth; that is, to convince and argue before he doth punish'; as we see in the case of Sodom". Herein the Lord showeth, that all our misery begins at ourselves; that if we perish, it is because we would not take his counsel, nor be guided by his will. That he did not sell us to any of his creditors; but that for our iniquities, we "sold ourselves." In human wars, though never so regularly and righteously ordered, yet many particular men may perish without any personal guilt of their own. Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.' But, in these wars of Christ, there shall not a man perish, till he be first convinced, by a judiciary proceeding, of his own demerit.

66

[ocr errors]

Every mouth must be stopped, and all the world," by the evidence and acknowledgment of their own conscience, "become guilty before God," before his wrath shall seize upon them. The Lord sent Noah to preach, before he sent a flood to destroy the world. He argued with Adam, before he thrust him out of Paradise. The voice' goeth ever before the 'rody.' This course our Saviour observed towards him, who had not the wedding-garment: first, convinced him till he was speechless, and then cast him into outer darkness. And this course the Lord took with his people, when he punished them *. For he will have the consciences of

[blocks in formation]

men to subscribe and acknowledge the justness of his pro-
ceedings, and to condemn themselves by their own witness.
When he entereth into judgement, he doth it by line and
plummet, in proportion to the means of grace neglected, to
the patience and forbearance abused, to the times of grace
overslipped, to the purity of the law violated and profaned.
We must take heed, therefore, of continuing Gentiles, of
being aliens from that commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from that covenant of promise, of living without God in the
world. No man can, with hope or comfort, say, "Enter not
into judgement," but he who is the "Lord's servant" and of
his household. We must be all ingrafted into the natural
olive, and become the seed of Abraham, and Jews by cove-
nant, before Christ will be our peace, or reconcile us unto
his Father C.

"He shall fill the places with dead bodies."-This notes the
greatness of the victory, That none should be left to bury
their dead. There shall be a universal destruction of wicked
men together in the day of God's wrath; they shall be bound
up in bundles and heaped for damnation. And it notes
the shame and dishonour of the enemy: They shall lie like
dung upon the face of the earth, and shall be beholden to
their victors for a base and dishonourable burial; as we see
in the great battle with Gog and Magog *.

"He shall wound the head over many countries."-Either
literally, Antichrist f; who taketh upon him to be œcumeni-
cal bishop and monarch, and to dispose of crowns and dis-
pense kingdoms at his pleasure. Or spiritually, Satan, who
is the prince of this world, whose head Christ was to crush
and tread under our feet 5. Or figuratively, the Head, that
is, the counsel and power of many nations, which shall at
last appear to have been but a vain thing". What sense so-
ever we follow, the main thing to be observed is, that which
we handled before; that Christ will, in due time, utterly
destroy the greatest, the highest, the wisest of his enemies.-
And therefore this
may suffice upon this verse.

b Isai. xxviii. 17.
d Matth. xiii. 30.
xxxix. 11, 16.

c Rom. ii. 29. xi. 17, 24. Gal. vi. 16. Ephes, ii. 11, 14,
Psalm xxxvii. 38. Isai. i. 28. lxvi. 17.
• Ezekiel
g Gen. iii. 15. Rom. xvi. 20.

f Revel. xvii. 2, 18.

Psalm ii. 2. 1 Cor. i. 19.

4

VERSE VII.

He shall drink of the Brook in the Way: therefore shall he lift up the Head.

SOME understand these words in the sense of the two former, for a figurative expression of the victories of Christ, and they in a twofold manner. Some, by brook, understand the blood of the adversary, with which the way should be filled as with a stream: and, by drinking hereof, the satiating, refreshing, and delighting himself in the confusion of his enemies; for the Lord is eased, when his enemies are subdued. Others, that he should pursue his victory with such heat and importunity, that he should not allow any time of usual repast, but should content himself with such obvious refreshment, as should offer itself in the way: and should immediately lift up his head again, to pursue the enemy at the heel; and in this sense, there is no more new matter here intimated, than that which hath been before handled.

Others understand the means, whereby Christ should thus lift up his head, and exalt himself above all the enemies of his kingdom, namely, by his passion and sufferings; by death destroying death, and him that had the power of death, which is the devil. I will not undertake to define which sense is most agreeable to the place; it being so difficult. But upon occasion of this latter (which, I think, is more generally embraced) I shall speak something of the means and grounds of Christ's victories over his enemies, and of his government in his church, namely, his sufferings and resurrection.

"He shall drink of the brook in the way."-By brook then, or torrent, we may understand the wrath of God, and the rage of men; the afflictions and sufferings which befel Christ. And this is a very frequent metaphor in holy Scriptures, to understand afflictions' by 'water. So the wrath of the Lord is called a stream, and a lake, Isai. xxx. 33. Revel.

[ocr errors]

a Isai. i. 24. b Psalm xviii. 4, 5. xlii. 7. lxix. 1. cxxiv. 4, 5.

xix. 20.—in regard of the rage and irresistibleness thereof,— 'Sternit agros, sternit sata læta, boumque labores ;'-and in regard of the turbidness and thickness thereof: for God's wrath is full of dregs. It is said in the history of Christ's passion, when he was going to wrestle with that woful Agony in the garden, that "He passed over the brook Cedron d." And we may observe in the History of the Kings, that when the good kings Hezekiah, and Asa, and Josiah, purged the city and the temple of idolatry, "They burnt the cursed things at the brook Kidron, and cast them thereinto ";"--to note unto us, that that brook was the sink, as it were, of the temple, that into which all the 'purgamenta' and uncleanness of God's house, all the cursed things were to be cast. With relation whereunto it is not improbable, that the prophet David, by a prophetical spirit, might notify the sufferings of Christ, by drinking of that cursed brook over which he was to pass,-to signify, that on him all the faithful might lay and pour out their sins, who is therefore said to be 'made sin and a curse for us;'- as the people, when they laid their hands on the head of the sacrifice, did thereby, as it were, unload all their sins upon it.

Now as waters signify afflictions, so there are two words with relation thereunto, which signify suffering of afflictions; and they are both applied unto Christ: "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, or be baptized with that baptism that I am baptized with?” He that drinketh, hath the water in him; he that is dipped or plunged, hath the water about him. So it notes the universality of the wrath which Christ suffered: it was within him; "my soul is heavy unto death :"-and it was all about him; betrayed by Judas, accused by Jews, forsaken by disciples, mocked by Herod, condemned by Pilate, buffed by the servants, nailed by the soldiers, reviled by the thieves and standers by, and, which was all in all, forsaken by his Father. So then drinking of the brook is meant suffering of the curses; and it is frequently so used ".

By "the way" we must understand either the life of Christ on earth, his passage between his assumed voluntary

c Isai. li. 17. Psalm lxxv. 8. d John xviii. 1. e 2 Chron. xv. 16. 2 Chron. xxix. 16. xxx. 14. 2 Kings xxiii. 6. f 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13. g Matth. Ezek. xxiii. 32, 34. Habak. ii. 16. Revel.

xx. 22.

xiv. 9, 10.

h Jerem. xxv. 27. xlix. 12.

« ElőzőTovább »