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whom he would enable to confound the wife and the ftrong. On this account, he gave folemn thanks to his heavenly Father: I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou haft hid these things from the wife and prudent, and hast revealed 'them unto babes *.' The babes, and infants, of whom our Saviour speaks, were his apostles and difciples, who were fimple, inoffenfive, and who, like children, drunk in the fincere milk of the word, that they might grow thereby. From all which we may conclude, that infants, and those who resemble them, in fimplicity, teachableness, and fubmiffion, are the perfons who, in general, are taught of God. Would you then, my friends, be taught knowledge, and understand doctrine? earneftly beg from God, a humble and teachable difpofition. Those whom he is pleased effectually to inftruct, he first humbles, and then brings them to conftant dependence upon himfelf, to render them wife unto falvation. Convinced that your acquaintance with divine truths is faint, partial, and often confused, submit wholly to him who teacheth finners the way that they fhould choose.

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

This verse beautifully reprefents the amiable condefcending manner in which the Lord God conveyed inftruction to those whom he took under his tuition, who required flow and gentle methods to be used in order to their profiting. For precept must be upon precept. They must be taught, with equal attention, diligence, and care, as the youngest children, whose masters give them one rule or precept to learn, and after that another. In like manner, the great Inftruc

* Matth. xi. 25.

tor

tor of his church, fuiting himself to the weak capacities of his people, who are flow of understanding, and often negligent and forgetful of a precept refpecting the abfolute neceffity of new hearts, fubjoined a precept relating to the high importance of faith in the promised Meffiah: to a precept on devotion, he added one on morality. And that nothing might be wanting on his part, precepts upon every fubject were diverfified and multiplied.-Line upon line. As little children, who cannot receive much at once, and who must not be burdened, have now and then a line given them to read, or commit to memory; fo the Teacher of the foolish hath vouchfafed, in the fame eafy manner, to inculcate upon his church, the doctrine of his holy word. He gave them one line, informing them of their depravity and fin; another, fhewing their duty; and a third, prefiguring their redemption. Here a little, and there a little. He communicated to them a little instruction by one of his fervants, and a little by another, that they might the more easily comprehend what they were taught; that the pleafing variety of inftruments he employed, and the diverfity of fubjects of which they treated, might attract their attention, and promote their benefit. In this agreeable winning manner, hath God been graciously pleased to teach his people; which fhews at once, his admirable condefcenfien, their flowness of capacity to learn, and the criminal conduct of those fcornful men who rejected and derided the admonitions of his fervants.In this gentle manner, hath God also taught you, my friends, what you ought to avoid,. to do, and to defire. Endeavour to profit under the various methods he takes for your improvement: and pray earnestly, that he may render his instructions effectual, by his Spirit and bleffing accompanying them.

II For with ftammering lips, and another tongue, will he fpeak to this people.

The

The Lord God having spoken with great plainness, by his fervants, to the pofterity of Ifrael, and fre quently repeated to them his precepts, infomuch that young children might have learned them, yet fuch was their ftupidity and obftinacy, that they flighted and contemned them. The Moft High, whofe inftructions they had even dared to ridicule, was determined to fpeak to them in strange lan guages, in the courfe of his providence; firft by the Chaldeans, and afterward by the Romans. He therefore retorts upon them with great feverity, the opprobrious deriding language which they had infolently ufed, in cenfuring his method of teaching them. The words before us, contain the awful threatening which God denounced against them, on account of their unprofitablenefs under the various means he had employed for their improvement, and the scorn with which they had treated his prophets. For with ftammering, or, as the Hebrew word fignifies, with mocking lips, and another tongue, or foreign language, which fhall be unintelligible to you; and which, notwithstanding, like children, ye fhall be obliged to learn. They were to be carried away by their enemies into a diftant country, where they would hear a language that they did not understand; and be forced, contrary to their inclination, to learn it with great difficulty. Or this prediction may poffibly relate to the uncertain, indiftinct, and ftrange. manner of teaching, which, in after periods of the Jewish church, was adopted by those who affumed the character of their inftructors. According to either interpretation, the prophecy hath been exactly fulfilled. After the Jews were taken captive to Babylon, they were obliged to learn, with stammering lips, the language of that country: and there God fpake to them in a foreign tongue, as a juft punishment for the fcorn and contempt they poured upon his fervants and inftructions. And, in following ages, this threatening took effect, when the Jewish doctors,

whose

whose business was to inftruct the people, overlooking the facred oracles of God, taught, in the Syrian language, thofe foolish expofitions of fcripture given in Talmuds, Chaldee paraphrases, and oral traditions.Those who do not profit by the gentle methods employed for their benefit by infinite wisdom and grace, are affured by this prediction, that the Lord will ere long deal with them in another and very different manner. If you will not listen to the plain repeated inftructions delivered in the word of God, you have reafon to fear, that the threatening denounced against the Jewish people, fhall, in one way or other, be executed upon you. They who prefumptuously abufe the choiceft mercies, fhall have judgment without mercy. They muft perifh for lack of knowledge, who defpife divine teaching: they fhall be taught with another tongue, who contemn the fimple method whereby the Lord teacheth his people. This verse is cited by the apostle Paul, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, when treating of the proper use of the gift of tongues, which was over-rated by fome in that church. God having threatened by Isaiah, to speak to the men of Judah in different or ftrange languages, as the juft punishment of their fin, the apostle, by quoting the paffage before us, reminded thofe to whom he was writing, that they had little reason to boaft of the gift of tongues; that they ought to beware of abufing it, fenfible that gifts are to be eftimated by their real utility.

12 To whom he faid, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to reft, and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

The Lord God hath been pleased to adopt the most winning methods for inftructing his people; and, in order to their profiting, he hath folicited their attention in the most obliging manner. To whom he faid, This is the reft-and this is the refreshing. The

doctrines

doctrines of grace, relating to Jefus Chrift and his redemption, have been uniformly inculcated by the fervants of God, as the only means of conveying rest and peace, tranquillity and joy, to the weary and difquieted minds of men. To him (faid the apostle Peter) gave all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whofoever believeth in him fhall receive remiffion of fins *. The faints, in all generations, have cordially embraced this important doctrine, as the fure foundation of their hope and comfort. This glorious truth our blessed Saviour affirmed during his miniftry, whilft he opened the fountain of confolation; and demonftrated, that he himself was the Author of falvation, poffeffed of all the fulness of celestial wisdom, grace, and righteousness, and that he came into this world to give reft and refreshment to weary and heavy laden finners. • Come unto me,

faid the compaffionate Redeemer, all ye that labour, ⚫ and are heavy laden, and I will give you reft t.' I will refresh you with liberty, tranquillity, peace, and confolation. No reft fo excellent, none fo defirable, as this which is promifed, and conferred by Jefus Christ. Agreeable to his name and character, he faves all that come to him, from their fins: he delivers them from condemnation: he cleanses them from all unrighteoufnefs; and introduces them into the glorious liberty of the fons of God. He invests them in the poffeffion of peace that paffeth all underftanding, which is the never-failing fource of abundant fatisfaction. He either delivers them from af fliction, or enables them to fuftain it with compofure and refignation, and renders it fubfervient to their real benefit. At their diffolution, he releases them from the unavoidable troubles to which they are here exposed their bodies being laid in the grave, where the weary are at reft, their fouls do enter into peace. They fleep in Jefus, until the morning of the refur

* Acts x. 43.

+ Matth. xi. 28.

rection,

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