stink, and want of food. So on the contrary, affairs being changed, the honour afforded him shall be matter of admiration.'

1. To grant the first observation, as to the change of persons in the discourse, the word ('shall be astonished') here used, signifies not every slight admiration, by wondering upon any occasion, or that may be a little more than ordinary but mostly, an astonishment arising from the contemplation of some ruthful spectacle. So Levit. xxvi. 32. "I will bring the land into desolation, and the enemies which dwell therein, shall be astonished at it;' and the word is near twenty times used to the same purpose. This by way of diminution is made, 'mirati sunt, admirationi erit.'

2. This astonishment of men, is by Grotius referred both to the dejection and exaltation of Jeremiah, whereof there is nothing in the words. It is the amazement of men, at the despicable condition of him, that is spoken of, only, that is intended; but without intruding something of his exaltation, this discourse had wanted all colour or pretext.

3. Was it so great a matter in Jerusalém, that a prophet should be put in prison there, where they imprisoned, stoned, tortured, and slew them almost all, one after another, in their several generations, that it should be thus prophesied of, as a thing that men would, and should be amazed at? Was it any wonder at all in that city, whose streets not long before, had run with the blood of innocent men, that a prophet should be cast into prison? Or was this peculiar to Jeremiah to be dealt so withal? Is it any matter of astonishment to this very day? Was his honour afterward, such an amazing thing, in that for a little season he was suffered to go at liberty, and had victuals given him? Was not this, as to the thing itself, common to him with many hundred others? Were his afflictions such, as to be beyond compare with those of any man, or any of the sons of men? Or his honours such as to dazzle the eyes of men with admiration and astonishment? Let a man dare to make bold with the word of God, and he may make as many such applications as he pleaseth, and find out what person he will, to swer all the prophecies of the Messiah. This not sucg, let us try the next verse.

o shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut

their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them, shall they see, and that which they had not heard, shall they consider.'

Ita asperget gentes multas,' in Hebro 'sic asperget ;' 'ut respondeat illi sicut, quod præcessit. Multos ex gentibus ab idolorum cultu avertet. Similitudo sumpta ab aspersionibus legalibus; unde et Chaldæis est objurgari. At LXX habent οὕτω θαυμάσονται ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐπὶ αὐτῷ· non male, nam mirari est aspergi fulgore alicujus.' 'In the Hebrew it is, So he shall sprinkle, that it might answer to the As' that went before. He shall turn many of the nations from the worship of idols. A similitude taken from the legal washings: whence with the Chaldees is to 'rebuke.' The LXX render it, 'So shall many nations wonder at him:' not badly. For to wonder is as it were, to be sprinkled with any one's brightness.'

For the exposition of the words;

1. We agree that it is, 'So he shall sprinkle:' an àródwous, relating to the πpóraσis, ver. 14. As many were astonished,' &c. The great work of Christ, and his exaltation therein, being rendered in opposition to his humiliation and dejection before-mentioned. As he was in so mean a condition, that men were astonished at him, so he shall be exalted in his great work of converting the nations to their. admiration.

2. It is granted that the expression, he shall sprinkle,' is an allusion to the legal washings and purifications, which as they were typical of real sanctification and holiness; so. from them is the promise thereof so often expressed in the terms of washing' and 'cleansing,' Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. the term being preserved and used in the New Testament frequently; the blood of Christ, whereby this work is done, being therefore called the blood of sprinkling;' Eph. v. 25, 26. Heb. ix. 14. The pouring out of the Spirit by Jesus Christ, for the purifying and sanctifying of many nations, not the Jews only, but the children of God throughout the world, by faith in his blood, is that which is here intended. What the use of in the Chaldee to this purpose is, I know not.

3. The LXX have very badly rendered the words, ' many

nations shall wonder at him;' both as to words and sense. For 1. as the words will not bear it; so 2, they make that the action of the nations towards Christ, which is his towards them. They lose the whole sense of the words, and what they say, falls in with what follows, and is clearly expressed. 3. It is not helped by the explanation given to it by the annotator. The first expression is metaphorical, which the LXX render by a word proper, remote from the sense intended, which the annotator explains by another metaphor. By which kind of procedure, men may lead words and senses whither and which way they please.

4. For the accommodation of the words to Jeremiah how did he sprinkle many nations; so as to answer the type of legal cleansing? Did he pour out the Spirit upon them? Did he sanctify, and make them holy? Did he purge them from their iniquities? But he turned 'many amongst the nations, from the worship of idols.' But who told Grotius so? Where is it written or recorded? He prophesied indeed of the desolation of idols and idolaters. Of the conversion of many, of any among the heathen by his preaching, he being not purposely sent to them, what evidence have we? If a man may feign what he please, and affix it to whom he please, he may make whom he will to be foretold in any prophecy.

'Kings shall shut their mouth at him. Reges, ut Nebuchodonosor Chaldæorum, et Nechos Ægyptiorum, eorumque satrapæ admirabuntur cum silentio, ubi videbunt omnia, quæ dixit Jeremias ad amussim et suis temporibus impleta.' 'Kings, as Nebuchodonosor of the Chaldees, and Necho of the Egyptians, and their princes, shall admire with silence, when they shall see all things foretold by Jeremiah come to pass exactly, and to be fulfilled in their own time.'

That by this expression, wonder and amazement is intended, is agreed: as men, all sorts of men before were astonished at his low condition; so even the greatest of them shall be astonished at the prosperity of his work and exaltation. The reason of this their shutting their mouths in silence and admiration, is, from the work which he shall do ; that is, he shall sprinkle many nations; as is evident from the following reason assigned: 'for that which hath not been

told them, shall they see;' which expresseth the means whereby he should sprinkle many nations,' even by the preaching of the gospel to their conversion.

For the application hereof to Jeremiah. 1. That the kings mentioned did so become silent with admiration at him and astonishment, is aypapov: and all these magnificent thoughts of the Chaldeans dealing with Jeremiah, is built only on this; that looking on him, as a man that had dissuaded the Jews from their rebellion against them, and rebuked all their wickedness, and foretold their ruin, they gave him his life and liberty. 2. The reason assigned by Grotius, why they should so admire him, is for his predictions: but the reason of the great amazement and astonishment at him, in the text, is his sprinkling of many nations: so that nothing, not a word or expression, doth here agree to him. Yea this gloss is directly contrary to the letter of the text.

The close of these words is; "That which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard, shall they consider.' Of which he says, 'They shall see that come to pass, foreseen and foretold by him, which they had not heard of by their astrologers or magicians.'

1. But what is it, that is here intended? The desolation of Jerusalem. That was it which Jeremiah foretold; upon the account whereof he had that respect with the Chaldees, which through the mercy of God he obtained. Is this that which is thus emphatically expressed; 'That which they had not heard, that which they had not been told, this they should see, this they should consider.' That this is directly spoken of Jesus Christ, that he is the thing which they had not seen, or heard of, the apostle tells us, Rom. xv. 21. Strange that this should be the desolation of Jerusalem. 2. It is probable that the magicians and astrologers, whose life and trade it was to flatter their kings with hope of success in their wars and undertaking, had foretold the taking of Jerusalem, considering that the king of the Chaldees, had used all manner of divinations, before he undertook the war against it. It is too much trouble to abide on such vain imaginations. Nor doth Grotius take any care to evidence, how that which he delivers as the sense of the words, may so much as

8 Ezek. xxi. 21. 22.

g

be

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pically spoken of Jesus Christ, or be any way accommodated to him.

The prophet proceeds, chap. liii. with the same continued discourse. Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?' which words are thus illus trated by the annotator.

"Vultis scire, inquit, quis ille sit futurus de quo cæpi agere, qui et meis prophetiis plenam habebit fidem, et ipse de maximis rebus, quas potentia Dei peraget, revelationes accipiet exactissimas, omnibus circumstantiis additis: Dabo vobis geminas ejus notas, unde cognosci possit: Hæ notæ in Jeremiam quidem congruunt prius, sed potius in Christum.' "Will you know, saith he, who he shall be, of whom I have begun to treat? Who shall both fully believe my prophecies, and shall himself receive most exact revelations of the great things that the power of God shall bring to pass, all the circumstances being added; I will give you two notes of him, by which he may be known. These notes in the first place agree to Jeremiah; but rather to Christ.'

1. I suppose if we had not the advantage of receiving quite another interpretation of these words, from the Holy Ghost himself in the New Testament, yet it would not have been easy for any to have swallowed this gloss, that is as little. allied to the text, as any thing that can possibly be imagined. The Holy Ghost tells us, that these words are the complaint of the prophet, and the church of believers unto God, concerning the paucity of them that would believe in Christ, or did so believe, when he was exhibited in the flesh: the power of the Lord with him for our salvation, being effectually revealed to very few of the Jews: so John xii. 37, 38. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Isaias the prophetmight be fulfilled, Lord who hath believed our report, and towhom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? So Rom. x. 16. 'But they have not obeyed the gospel; for Isaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report??

2. Let us now a little compare these several interpretations: 'Who hath believed our report?' Lord how few do believe on Christ, working miracles himself, and preached by the apostles? Jeremiah shall believe my prophecies, saith