CHAP. lix. 20, 21.

ROм. xi. 26, 27.

St. Paul quotes and expounds the twentieth and following verse of the fifty-ninth chapter, as clearly

interpolation was subsequent to the death of Christ. They would surely not have been so absurd as to fabricate evidence against themselves, though their veneration for the sacred oracles prevented them from expunging what already existed there. If therefore the chapter is an interpolation at all, it must have been interpolated, before the events described in it had taken place. But if the chapter was written before the events described in it had taken place, it is still an example of literal prophecy, whether it proceeded from Isaiah, or proceeded from some other prophet. And it is immaterial, whether we call the writer of this prophecy by the name of Isaiah, or call him by any other name. But in fact, there is no more reason to doubt the authenticity of this chapter, than of any other in the whole book. Nor have the Jews themselves, when pressed with this prophecy, though they acknowledge the difficulties to which it exposes them, ever attempted to evade those difficulties by pretending, that Isaiah was not the author of it.

"Now there is no person in the whole of the Jewish history, from the time of Isaiah to the destruction of Jerusalem, to whom this prophecy is applicable, except to our Saviour. And to Him it is applicable in every point. Of whom but of our Saviour can it be said, that He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows? Of whom but of our Saviour can it be said, that He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities? Of whom else could it be said, that He was stricken for the transgression of his people, and that his soul was an offering for sin? In fact, that single sentence,' he was numbered with the transgressors, he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,' is the sum and substance of the history, which the Evangelists have given of our Saviour's passion. An objection indeed has been made to that part of the prophecy, where it is

demonstrating the Messiah, and the salvation He effected for his people. The covenant made between God and his Son for the redemption of the world is here definitely disclosed, which could only have been fully kept, when the Messiah atoned for the sins of the world. God promised forgiveness to the penitent, through the merits of Christ; or rather, He promised to accept the sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the people. The Spirit, that rested on Christ, is also promised to be continued to his faithful fol

said, he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.' For though our Saviour died with the wicked, he did not make his grave with the wicked. Nor was he literally buried with the rich. But the objection does not affect the Hebrew original: it affects only our English translation. Bishop Lowth has more correctly rendered the passage in the following manner: His grave was appointed with the wicked; but with the rich man was his tomb.' This translation removes the first difficulty, but not altogether the second. The most accurate translation is the Latin translation of Professor Dathe:-' Destinatum quidem ei erat sepulchrum cum impiis, sed in morte suâ divitibus similis fuit.' This translation perfectly accords with the circumstances of our Saviour's death and burial. In consequence of being crucified in company with malefactors, He was so far destined to have also his grave with them; for, according to the common course of things, He would, after being crucified with them, have been also buried with them. On the other hand, though He was not buried with the rich, being laid in a sepulchre where no one had lain before, yet he was buried after the manner of the rich, being laid in a tomb, which a man in the highest rank among the Jews had prepared for his own family. Thus we see, that every part of this remarkable prophecy was strictly and literally fulfilled in the person of our Saviour."

lowers, and their seed's seed, henceforth and for ever. This prophecy evidently received its fulfilment, when the atonement was made upon the cross, and when the Holy Spirit descended from heaven to prevent and co-operate with man's actions.

CHAP. Ixi. 1—3.

LUKE iv. 16-21.

In the sixtieth chapter also the admission of the Gentiles into the Christian Church is brilliantly described, and the Saviour and Redeemer (v. 16) is expressly declared to be Jehovah—the mighty one of Jacob. The language from verse 18-21 is strikingly similar to Apoc. xxi. 23; xxii. 5. But that in the sixty-first chapter, the advent, the public office and ministry of the Messiah were predicted, is proved by Christ reading in the synagogue those very passages, signifying thereby, that they were fulfilled in his own person. He himself declared on that day, that the Scriptures were fulfilled in their ears.

Christ was anointed to preach the good tidings unto the meek, or the poor, as the Septuagint interpret it, and unlike the Jewish doctors, he delivered his consolatory message "without money, and without price." He went about doing good, binding up the broken heart, proclaiming liberty to the cap

tives, and throwing open the prison-doors to those who were bound'. The prophecy could not have been accomplished in any other person: by his inherent power the Messiah fulfilled it to the very letter.

In fact, we have here an epitome of his Divine mission and as He was the Branch of Jehovah predicted to spring from the root of Jesse, so the metaphor is extended to his people, as trees of righteousness planted by Jehovah. Whether under these terms there was a further reference to the Paradisiacal state, and the mystical trees in Eden, we may not presume to decide. The slight exposition, however, which we have offered, we account sufficient to prove, that Christ was the true Messiah predicted by Isaiah, and that of all the prophets Isaiah has unquestionably the best claim to the title EVANGELICAL.

1 The Septuagint renders this clause "the recovery of sight to the blind," and thus it is quoted by St. Luke: it perhaps may refer to the removal of the moral blindness or depravity by the light that is in Christ.

JEREMIAH.

JEREMIAH, the son of Hilkiah, was of the sacerdotal family. He began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of Josiah, 628 years before Christ, and continued in the prophetic office above forty years. Many prophecies relating to the Messiah are contained in the book written by this prophet, as to his miraculous conception, and his atonement. The Lamentations were written by him, and have been styled the most perfect and elegant compositions in the world. They were composed after the destruction of Jerusalem, the desolation of which the prophet laments in the most moving strains of sacred eloquence. The ruin of the temple called forth his tears, and his sympathy; and the bursts of passion and grief are strikingly expressed. The Lamentations are supposed to be, in many parts, prophetic of the miseries and calamities of the Jews.

From the circumstances of the times, in which he lived, and the nature of his prophetic denunciations, Jeremiah has been typically compared to John the Baptist; and some of the Jewish traditions have proceeded so far, as to expect his re-appearance before the Messiah. Calvin's view of the object of his mission is one of the most clear: "Dico simpli