vants the prophets. To a few he discovered his mind, by familiarly converfing with them face to face, as a man with his friend. This intimate intercourse with God Adam enjoyed in paradife, and afterward Mofes in the wilderness, who in this refpect was honoured above all the prophets *. To fome he revealed himfelf by dreams, in which he afforded them thofe intimations of his pleasure which he judged proper to communicate. In this manner he difclofed his friendly purposes to the patriarch Jacob, respecting himself and his pofterity. To others he conveyed inftruction by vifions, in which were exhibited to their view lively reprefentations of thofe things wherein they were to inftruct mankind. In this way the Almighty condefcended to make known his will to our prophet; and therefore he calls thefe prophecies, The VISION wherewith he was favoured. The Lord God who fpake to our fathers, and who speaks to us by the prophets, prefented to him a full view of the interesting fubjects which he defcribes, and gave him the most fatisfying difcoveries of what he publishes for our benefit. Thefe things were made as plain and evident to him as if he had seen them with his bodily fight. In his prophecies, therefore, he declares unto us, what he heard with his ears, and faw with his eyes, fo that with great propriety this infpired book is called, THE VISION OF ISAIAH.

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The highly favoured perfon to whom Jehovah revealed the lively oracles which we are now to confider, and whom he employed to communicate them to his people, was Ifaiah, or as he is called in the New Teftament, Efaias, which being interpreted, fignifies the falvation of the Lord. This is a name highly proper for that prophet by whom God was to give the knowledge of falvation, and on whom he conferred the distinguished honour of delineating the cha+ Gen. xxviii. 12. et feq.

* Deut XXXIV. 10.

racter

racter of the great Redeemer, and the complete redemption he was to obtain.

Names were anciently impofed on children by their parents, not only for the fake of diftinction, but to exprefs their hopes and defires respecting them; and we learn from fcripture, that they were often given, by divine direction, exactly defcriptive of the character of the perfons who received them. Among the many inftances that might be adduced, I only men. tion that of Solomon, whofe name fignifies peace; and accordingly, in his days, God gave peace and quietnefs to Ifrael. In like manner, our prophet fully anfwered the name which, by the direction of divine providence, he had received. He fpake more fully and clearly than the prophets who had gone before him, of that illuftrious Perfon, who is eminently dif tinguished as the falvation of Jehovah, and of thofe fignal deliverances which afforded ftriking reprefentations of his great falvation; whilft, in fome refpects, he was an inftructive figure of him who was to come. He feems to have been poffeffed, in an eminent degree, of wisdom and holinefs, of eloquence, zeal, and fidelity in discharging the duties of his office, and of extenfive authority and influence over the people among whom he lived.. He was honoured and refpected at court, when Sennacherib, king of Affyria, invaded the land of Judah; being the only man mentioned, who with Hezekiah, prayed and cried to Heaven for deliverance; and being fent to in that. season of trouble, rebuke, and blafphemy, he returned the prince a moft comfortable meffage from the Governor among the nations. Nor was he lefs remarkable for his powerful influence with the God of the whole earth, who, in anfwer to his fupplication, gave the Jewith monarch a fign of his certain recovery from the depths of diftrefs, by bringing back the fhadow ten degrees, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz. To this fhort account of the character of our prophet, I may add, he was not

only

only a prophet, but a historian, who, as we are told, 2 Chron. xxvi. 22. wrote the acts of king Uzziah's reign, first and laft; though that hiftory, with many others, not among the canonical books of scripture, are long ago buried in the ruins of time.

The son of Amaz. It is unneceffary, and would be unprofitable, to inquire into the character, the sta→ tion, and employment of our prophet's father; and therefore I fhall not occupy your time, in reciting the various conjectures which have been formed on thefe fubjects. It is fufficient to remark, that he was probably a refpectable perfon, of confiderable rank, and high reputation among his countrymen : and at the time this prophecy was written, it might be very proper to distinguish Isaiah, by the character of the son of Amoz, from others of the fame name. Indeed it was frequently the cuftom of the pofterity of Abraham, to mention not only the names of men themselves, but of their fathers; of which innumerable inftances occur in the word of God.

Which he faw concerning Judah and Jerufalem. These were the fubjects to which the following predictions relate. In the primary fenfe of the words, their inhabitants, who belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites refiding among them, were doubtless intended, in diftinction from Ephraim, which included the other tribes of Ifrael. Judah was the land they poffeffed; and Jerufalem was the metropolis of the kingdom, in which their kings and nobles, their judges, priefts, and teachers refided, who constituted the most important part of the nation. The people who dwelt in thefe places, were chofen of God to be the objects of his peculiar care and special protection; their city and country were deftined to be the theatre on which the Moft High, in the last days, was to display the riches of his grace, by eftablishing the kingdom of Jefus Chrift. As that nation afforded a lively representation of the peculiar people of God under the New Teftament, and that city was a figure

a figure of the Jerufalem that is above, which is the mother of us all, they may be understood here not only in their literal, but in their figurative fignification, denoting the church of God under the new and better difpenfation of his grace. This is the obvious meaning of Judah and Jerufalem, in feveral places of the prophetic writings; as in the following paffage, where the Lord God promises, That when he fhall perform the good things he hath spoken of to the houfe of Ifrael and the houfe of Judah, in thofe days Judah 'fhall be faved, and Ifrael fhall dwell fafely. Notwithstanding there are in the prophecies before us, fome things relating to Ephraim, to Egypt, to Tyre, and to other nations, Judah and Jerufalem are the chief fubject of which they treat; and, it must be remembered, these laft-mentioned places include not only what was literally fo called in ancient times, but the church of the Living God under the New Teftament, to which we profeffedly belong. This interefts. us more nearly in this portion of scripture, on which we are now entering, than many are apt to imagine; and fupplies us with a powerful argument to engage our serious attention.

In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Abaz, and Hezekiab, kings of Judah. The time during which each of these kings reigned is particularly mentioned in fcripture hiftory; and, when added together, make one hundred and twelve or thirteen years. It is evident, Isaiah must have exercifed his prophetical office during the whole time in which Jotham and Ahaz fat upon the throne, being thirty-two years t. From what we read in this prophecy, it appears, that he continued in his office until the fourteenth year of Hezekiah; and fuppofing he was appointed to it fo late as two years before Uzziah died, he must have. acted in the character of a prophet at least forty-eight years. Some have been of opinion, that he continued

Jer. xxxiii. 16.

+ See 2 Chron. xxvii. 1. and xxvIII. I. about

about fixty years in the prophetical office, and lived to the reign of Manaffeh: under whofe wicked government, according to tradition, he was put to death, being fawn afunder for pretended blafphemy; having declared, that he faw the Lord fitting upon his throne, high and lifted up, and for the fharp reproof adminiftered to the princes of Ifrael, from the tenth verfe of this chapter. Under kings of fuch oppofite difpofitions and characters, our prophet would no doubt experience very different treatment, and his instructions would meet with very different entertainment. Whilft Jotham and Hezekiah, who were good kings, fat on the throne of Judah, Ifaiah would certainly enjoy much of their fupport and countenance in the execu tion of his important office: whereas in the time of Ahaz, remarkable for his impiety, he probably fuffered much difcouragement and oppofition from that wicked prince, who fhut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and erected altars to idols, notwithstanding all the divine eloquence our prophet employed in ftemming the torrent of corruption.Let us remember, what is addreffed to Ifrael is also spoken to us; that the Lord God is addreffing us from his holy temple; and therefore it becomes us, with reverence, to attend to this fure word of prophecy, and to improve it, through the divine bleffing, for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and inftruction in righteoufnefs, that, like men of God, we may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

The prophecy recorded in this chapter ftands fingle, and unconnected with those which follow; and affords a beautiful fpecimen of the prophet's elegant and forcible manner of writing. It contains a warm remonftrance against the heinous crimes, and abounding corruptions, of the perfidious and hypocritical, profeffing people of God;moft animated exhortations to repentance, and a speedy return to duty, drawn from the contemplation of their prefent calamities, and imminent danger of defolating judg

ments;