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shall be all sincere and upright; not wicked, not hypocritical: they shall be unremovably fastened in their holy station; as being the branches of my own planting, and the work of my own hands, which I have made for the glory of my mercy.

LX. 22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.

Though thou be now small in number, yet thou shalt become exceeding populous; and thou, which art now weak, shalt become a strong and mighty people: I, the Lord, will, in due time, and that ere long, accomplish it.

LXI. 1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek: he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, the Messiah and Mediator; and hath endued me with power and virtue from above: and authorised and sent me, to preach the glad tidings of salvation to the humble and contrite soul; to proclaim liberty to those, which are now in miserable captivity under Satan; to release those, which are bound with the chains of their sins;

LXI. 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To proclaim the acceptable time of redemption, now fully come to the world, and of just vengeance of our God against the malicious enemies of his Church, to their confusion, and the comfort of those whom they have unjustly afflicted;

LXI. 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. To set a day of deliverance to them, which mourn in God's Church, whether for their sins, or under their afflictions; to put off all the sackcloth and ashes and sad ceremonies of their dejection, and, instead thereof, to give them cheerfulness and joy and thankful acknowledgments of mercy; that those, which before were as fruitless and sapless stocks, may now be called, and so approved, the fruitful and flourishing trees of righteousness, such as God hath, by his Spirit, planted in his Church, for the glory of his own mercy.

LXI. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, &c.

In a just type of which restoration, my people, the Jews, shall build again those ruinous walls, that had lain seventy years waste, &c.

LXI. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vine dressers. And those, which are strangers to you, both in nation and religion, shall be ready to be helpful unto you upon all occasions, of your outward and secular employments.

LXI. 6 But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

While ye shall be a royal priesthood, consecrated unto the Lord, and to his holy service; participating of all those comforts, which God hath laid up in store for them which now are called Gentiles, whose future glory and happiness shall be an accession unto yours.

LXI. 7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.

For that shame and grief which ye have endured, you shall have an abundant recompence of joy and comfort; and instead of your former confusion, ye shall now be rewarded with contentment and cheerfulness, in the fruition of your manifold blessings: the happiness of their return to their own land shall make double amends for their captivity; and they shall find cause of everlasting joy. LXI. 8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, &c.

I, the Lord, love sincerity and true dealing in the carriages of men: I cannot abide, that men should pretend a sacrifice to be offered unto me, when they mean nothing but fraud and violence; that they should hope to please me with a stolen oblation: I will direct and enable them to serve me faithfully, &c.

LXI. 9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people.

Their seed, which shall be appointed to carry the word of God unto the Gentiles, shall be highly honoured of them, and their offspring among that people with whom they shall be united.

LXII. 1 For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. For my Church's sake I will not cease, till I have accomplished the great work of her redemption; and have fully finished, and openly manifested, the glory and salvation of mine elect.

LXII. 2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.

And those, that are now far off, even the now-despised Gentiles, shall acknowledge thy righteousness, O my Church; and that not the meaner sort, but even kings and princes, shall bless and celebrate thee; and thou shalt be honoured, as with a new estate, so with a name also which the Lord shall put upon thee. See

verse 4.

LXII. 3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.

God shall put exceeding glory upon thee, and shall cause to shine forth in thee the praise of his wonderful mercy; so as he shall unspeakably honour himself, by honouring thee.

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LXII. 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.

And that new name, which he will call thee by, is this; now, whereas thou art, both in name and condition, Forsaken; then, thou shalt no more either be so or be so called, but shalt both be and be called My Delightsome Spouse, forasmuch as both thy person and thine obedience shall be graciously respected of me.

LXII. 5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: &c.

The outward and bodily marriage, is and shall be the image of this spiritual: behold, as a young man espouseth a virgin, so shall thy faithful ministers espouse thee unto me: &c.

LXII. 6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence.

Behold, I have set over thee, O my Church, faithful pastors and teachers; who shall, in season and out of season, be instant to deliver my messages unto thee: ye, that speak from the Lord, and are his ambassadors to his Church, do your duty conscionably, hide no part of God's counsel from his people, and be earnest with God in the behalf of his Church.

LXII. 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Oh, be ye ever importunate in your prayers; not ceasing, till God have perfected his great work for his Church, which he hath determined and begun, investing his chosen ones with full glory.

LXII. 8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies.

The Lord hath engaged himself by his oath, and hath sworn by his power and omnipotence, that he will no more give over his Church to the utter waste and spoil of their enemies.

LXI. 10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

My Church shall be as a populous and well traded city, which shall be full of infinite resort: go to then, O my spiritual overseers; pass through the gates diligently and frequently, and make way for that happy concourse which shall be thither; remove those hindrances and scandals, which may lie in the way of my people; and call all mine to a holy and constant profession and maintenance of my truth.

LXIII. 1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

Who is this, shall my wondering Church say concerning her God and Saviour, who is this, that comes out from among the troops of his enemies, with garments distained with blood; even this, that is decked with the glory of his victory and triumph? Dost thou ask, who I am, O my Church, shall he say, I am thy righteous and holy Redeemer; mighty to save and deliver mine elect. LXIII. 2 Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?

Wherefore then, O Saviour, art thou thus suited in crimson, and dyed red with blood? If thou be so powerful to save us, how hast thou not delivered thyself from this effusion of thine own blood? Or is it the blood of enemies, that hath thus drenched thy robes; so that thou lookest as one, that hath been treading in the winepress, all tainted with the blood of the grape?

LXIII. 3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

It is true, O my Church, I have been indeed treading the winepress of my Father's wrath: I have been crushing and trampling upon all the clusters of mine enemies; even I alone, by my mighty power, have trod them under my feet, without the supply of all other helps: the victory is mine alone, which I will, in my good time, fully accomplish; for I will, in my just anger, be exquisitely avenged of all those, that maliciously rise up against me, and will give proofs to the world of my vengeance and their sufferings.

LXIII. 4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

For I have eternally decreed and set the day, wherein I shall be perfectly revenged of the proud and wicked enemies of my Church, and wherein I shall fully redeem my faithful people.

LXIII. 5 And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: &c.

I saw there was no help to be expected from any finite creature; and, being much affected to see so remediless a desolation of my Church, I addressed myself to the work, and by my own power wrought their deliverance: &c.

LXIII. 8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.

For he said, Surely, these are my chosen ones, my peculiar people; they will stick fast to me, and will not degenerate into wicked and lewd courses: so he, who expected this holiness and perseverance from them, was a Saviour unto them.

LXIII. 9 In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them.

In all their afflictions he pitied them, and did, as it were, suffer with them; and the Angel of his Covenant, who still appears before his face to intercede for his Church, saved them from the dangers of manifold destructions.

LXIII. 11 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his

people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him?

Then he remembered the days of old; and those ancient passages, that were betwixt Moses and his people, whose posterity, in their present distresses, are ready to say; Where now is that God, that did so powerfully bring his people through the sea, by the hand of Moses their leader? Where is he, that did then put his Holy Spirit into that faithful guide of his people?

LXIII. 13 That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, &c.

He, that led them through the Red Sea, with no less security and confidence, than a horse walks in an even and smooth down, &c. So verse 14.

LXIII. 15 The sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me, are they restrained?

The yearning of thy bowels, and thy tender compassions towards thy people.

LXIII. 16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: &c.

O God, how boldly may we sue to thee, since thou art our Father! nothing in the world can strip us of this relation to thee: whatever become of all these terms of cognation and consangui nity, which the world can afford, surely nothing can hinder this our challenge of interest in thee; and, however we have made ourselves by our sins unworthy to be owned by our father Abraham, if he could take notice of these earthly things, yet do not thou cast us utterly off, from the benefit of that covenant, which thou madest with him and his seed: &c.

LXIII. 17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?

O Lord, we know, if thou guide us not, we cannot but err: why hast thou withdrawn thy Spirit from us, upon the just desert of our sins, so as we have thereupon gone astray from thy laws? why hast thou, in the punishment of our wickedness, given us over to the hardening of our own hearts before thee?

LXIII. 18 The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little. while our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. It is but a little while, in comparison of the promise and covenant made to thy people, that thy peculiar and select nation have possessed this good land; and now our adversaries have destroyed thy holy temple.

LXIII. 19 We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.

They can challenge no part in thee: we are thine own charge, and chosen inheritance; thou hast given laws to us, and hast exercised a special sovereignty over us: thou hast not done so to them; they were never so endeared to thee, never so much graced by thee.

LXIV. 1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou

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