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The desolations

A. M. cir. 3244.
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13 Therefore my people are and the eyes of the lofty shall A. M. cir. 3244. gone into captivity, because be humbled:

B. C. cir. 760.
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they have no knowledge and 16 But the LORD of hosts z their honourable men are fa- shall be exalted in judgment, mished, and their multitude dried up with and God that is holy shall be sanctified thirst. in righteousness.

14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled,

* Hos. iv. 6. Chap. i. 3; Luke xix. 44.glory are men of famine.

"Ye that put far away the evil day,
And affect the seat of violence;
Who lie upon beds of ivory,

And stretch yourselves upon your couches;
And eat the lambs from the flock,

And calves from the midst of the stall;
Who chant to the sound of the viol,

Heb. their

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But, in Isaiah, Hades is introduced to much greater advantage, in person; and placed before our eyes in the form of a ravenous monster, opening wide his immeasurable jaws, and swallowing them all together: "Therefore Sheol hath dilated her soul, she hath opened her mouth beyond limit." Destruction expects more than a common meal, when God visits Jerusalem for

And like David invent for yourselves instruments of her iniquities. This seems to refer to the ruin brought music;

Who quaff wine in large bowls,

And are anointed with the choicest ointments:
But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph."

Kimchi says, "they consider not the heavens nor their hosts they pray not the morning nor the evening prayer unto the Lord."

Follow strong drink] Theodoret and Chrysostom on this place, both Syrians, and unexceptionable witnesses in what belongs to their own country, inform us that shechar (oikepa in the Greek of both Testaments, rendered by us by the general term strong drink) meant properly palm wine, or date wine, which was

and is still much in use in the Eastern countries. Ju

on the Jews by the Romans. Our blessed Lord repeats this parable, and applies it to this very transaction, Matt. xxi. 33.

Verse 17. The, lambs-" And the kids"]" gerim, "strangers." The Septuagint read, more agreeably to the design of the prophet, □ carim, apves, "the lambs."` gedayim, “the kids," Dr. Durell ; nearer to the present reading and so Archbishop Secker. The meaning is, their luxurious habitations shall be so entirely destroyed as to become a pasture

for flocks.

kedobram, secundum ductum eorum; i. e., suo ipsorum After their manner—“ Without restraint"] 73 ductu; as their own will shall lead them.

Verse 18. With a cart-rope-"As a long cable"] dea was famous for the abundance and excellence of The Septuagint, Aquila, Sym., and Theod., for Sanj its palm trees; and consequently had plenty of this bechabley, read an kechabley, is oxovie, or oxoivis wine. “Fiunt (vina) et e pomis; primumque e pal- and the Septuagint, instead of shav, read some mis, quo Parthi et Indi utuntur, et oriens totus: matu- other word signifying long; is oxaivių pakpw; and so rarum modio in aquæ congiis tribus macerato expres- likewise the Syriac, arecha. Houbigant consoque." Plin. lib. xiv. 19. "Ab his cariota [palma] jectures that the word which the Septuagint had in maxime celebrantur; et cibo quidem, sed et succo, their copies was y sarua, which is used Lev. xxi. uberrimæ. Ex quibus præcipua vina orienti; iniqua 18, xxii. 23, for something in an animal body supercapiti, unde pomo nomen." Id. xiii. 9. Kapos sig-fluous, lengthened beyond its natural measure. nifies stupefaction: and in Hebrew likewise the wine has its name from its remarkably inebriating quality.

Verse 13. And their honourable men-"And the nobles"] These verses have likewise a reference to the two preceding. They that indulged in feasting and drinking shall perish with hunger and thirst; and Hades shall indulge his appetite as much as they had done, and devour them all. The image is strong and expressive in the highest degree. Habakkuk, chap. ii. 5, uses the same image with great force :-the ambitious and avaricious conqueror "Enlargeth his appetite like Hades;

And

he explains it of sin added to sin, and one sin drawing on another, till the whole comes to an enormous length still increasing and lengthening his rope, with the conand magnitude; compared to the work of a rope-maker tinued addition of new materials. "Eos propheta similes facit homini restiario, qui funem torquet, cannabe addita et contorta, eadem iterans, donec funem in longum duxerit, néque eum liceat protrahi longius." "An evil inclination," says Kimchi on this place, from the ancient rabbins, "is at the beginning like a fine hair-string, but at the finishing like a thick cart-rope." By a long progression in iniquity, and a continued accumulation of sin, men arrive at length to the highest

And he is like Death, and will never be satisfied." degree of wickedness; bidding open defiance to God,

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Quintæ I. Ante Urbem Conditam 7.

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we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!

20 Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Wo unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 22 Wo unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink :

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23 Which justify the wicked for reward,

Chap. lxvi. 5; Jer. xvii. 15; Amos v. 18; 2 Pet. iii. 3, 4. Heb. that say concerning evil, It is good, &c.- - Prov. iii. 7; Rom. i. 22; xii. 16. Heb. before their face. Verse 11. * Prov. xvii. 15; xxiv. 24.

and scoffing at his threatened judgments, as it is finely expressed in the next verse. The Chaldee paraphrast explains it in the same manner, of wickedness increasing from small beginnings, till it arrives to a great magnitude.-L.

I believe neither the rabbins nor Bishop Lowth have hit on the true meaning of this place; the prophet seems to refer to idol sacrifices. The victims they offered Their were splendidly decked out for the sacrifice. horns and hoofs were often gilded, and their heads dressed out with fillets and garlands. The cords of vanity may refer to the silken strings by which they were led to the altar, some of which were unusually thick. The offering for iniquity was adorned with fillets and garlands; the sin-offering with silken cords, like unto cart-ropes. Pride, in their acts of humiliation, had the upper hand.

Verse 19. Let the counsel of the Holy One] Tryphiodorus has an expression something like this :

επει Διος ηλυθε βουλη.

TRYPH. Il Excid. 239..

Because the counsel of Jupiter was come. "This expression, nλvớɛ ßovλn, is, I believe, something uncommon; but it is exactly paralleled and explained by a passage in Isaiah, chap. v. 19. The Septuagint has expressed it in the very same words with Tryphiodorus: και ελθοι ή βουλη του άγιου Ισραηλ, ένα yvapev."-Merrick's note, ad loc.

Verse 22. Mighty to drink wine] "They show not," says Kimchi, "their strength in combating their enemies, but in drunkenness and debauchery."

Verse 23. The righteous] pry tsaddik, singular, Sept., Vulg., and two editions.

Judah enumerated.

and take away the righteousness A. M. eir. 3244. of the righteous from him!

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B. C. cir. 760. Anno Olymp. Quinta L Ante Urbem Conditam 7.

24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

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25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

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frequently used. Virgil very elegantly intimates, rather than expresses, the image:

Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli
Fundere lumen apex; tactuque innoxia molli
Lambere flamina comas, et circum tempora pasci.
En. ii. 682.

"Strange to relate! from young Iulus' head
A lambent flame arose, which gently spread
Around his brows, and on his temples fed."
And more boldly of Etna darting out flames from its
top:-

Interdumque atram prorumpit ad æthera nubem, Turbine fumantem piceo, et candente favilla: Attollitque globos flammarum, et sidera lambit. Æn. iii. 574.

"By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high, By turns hot embers from her entrails fly, And flakes of mountain flames, that lick the sky." The disparted tongues, as it were of fire, Acts ii. 3, which appeared at the descent of the Holy Spirit, on the apostles, give the same idea; that is, of flames shooting diversely into pyramidal forms, or points, like tongues. It may be farther observed that the prophet in this place has given the metaphor its full force, in applying it to the action of fire in eating up and devouring whatever comes in its way, like a ravenous animal whose tongue is principally employed in taking in his food or prey; which image Moses has strongly exhibited in an expressive comparison: "And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now shall this collection of people lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field," Num, xxii. 4. See

also 1 Kings xviii. 38.

Verse 24. The flame—“The tongue of fire"] "The Their root shall be as rottenness] cammak, like flame, because it is in the shape of a tongue; and so mak; whence probably our word muck, dung, was it is called metaphorically." Sal. ben Melec. The metaphor is so exceedingly obvious, as well as beautiful, that one may wonder that it has not been more tains trembled"] Probably referring to the great earth

derived.

Verse 25. The hills did tremble-" And the moun

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Lord against Judah.

like flint, and their wheels like 4. M. cir. 3244 a whirlwind:

B. C. cir. 760.
Anno Olymp.

Quintæ I.
Ante Urbem
Conditam 7.

29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea and if one y look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof..

a

y Chap. viii. 22; Jer. iv. 23; Lam. iii, 2; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8. Or, distress.- -a Or, when it is light it shall be dark in the destructions thereof.- Ezek. xxxii. 8, in the margin.

promises to unloose the loins of kings before Cyrus,
chap. xlv. 1. The girdle is so essential a part of a
soldier's accoutrement, being the last that he puts on to
make himself ready for action, that to be girded, Swv-
vvota, with the Greeks means to be completely armed
and ready for battle :-

Ατρείδης δ' εβοησεν, ιδε ζωννυσθαι ανώγεν
Αργείους.

Iliad, xi. 15.

Verse 26. He will-hiss-" He will hist"] "The metaphor is taken from the practice of those that keep bees, who draw them out of their hives into the fields, and lead them back again, ovpiopaoi, by a hiss or a whistle.”—Cyril, on this place ; and to the same pur- Το δε ενδύναι τα όπλα εκαλουν οἱ παλαιοι ζωννυσθαι. pose Theodoret, ib. In chap. vii. 18, the metaphor is more apparent, by being carried farther, where the hostile armies are expressed by the fly and the bee :"JEHOVAH shall hist the fly

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That is in the utmost parts of Egypt;

And the bee, that is in the land of Assyria."
On which place see Deut. i. 44; Psa. cxviii. 12; and
God calls the locusts his great army, Joel ii. 25;
Exod. xxiii. 28. See Huet, Quest. Alnet. ii. 12.

sharak or shrak, he shall whistle for them, call loud and
shrill; he shall shriek, and they (their enemies) shall
come at his call.

With speed] This refers to the nineteenth verse. As the scoffers had challenged God to make speed, and to hasten his work of vengeance, so now God assures them that with speed and swiftly it shall come.

Pausan. Boot. It is used in the same manner by the Hebrews: "Let not him that girdeth himself boast as he that unlooseth his girdle," 1 Kings xx. 11; that is, triumph not before the war is finished.

Verse 28. Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint "The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant"] The shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof is quite a modern practice, and was unthe Greek and Roman writers, especially those that known to the ancients, as appears from the silence of treat of horse medicine, who could not have passed over a matter so obvious and of such importance that now the whole science takes its name from it, being called by us farriery. The horse-shoes of leather shoes with which Nero and Poppea shod their mules, and iron which are mentioned; the silver and gold Verse 27. None-among them] Kimchi has well used occasionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate catillustrated this continued exaggeration or hyperbole, tle, or for vanity, were of a very different kind; they as he rightly calls it, to the following effect: "Through enclosed the whole hoof as in a case, or as a shoc the greatness of their courage, they shall not be fa- does a man's foot, and were bound or tied on. For tigued with their march; nor shall they stumble though horse's hoof was of much greater importance with them this reason the strength, firmness and solidity of a they march with the utmost speed: they shall not slumber by day, nor sleep by night; neither shall they than with us, and was esteemed one of the first praises ungird their armour, or put off their sandals to take of a fine horse. Xenophon says that a good horse's their rest. Their arms shall be always in readiness, hoof is hard, hollow, and sounds upon the ground like their arrows sharpened, and their bows bent. The a cymbal. Hence the xaλkоTodes innoι, of Homer, hoofs of their horses are hard as a rock. They shall not fail, or need to be shod with iron: the wheels of their carriages shall move as rapidly as a whirlwind." Neither shall the girdle] The Eastern people, wearing long and loose garments, were unfit for action or

and Virgil's solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. And Xenophon gives, directions for hardening the horses' hoofs by making the pavement on which he stands in the stable with round-headed stones. For want of this artificial defence to the foot which our horses have, business of any kind, without girding their clothes Amos, chap. vi. 12, speaks of it as a thing as much about them. When their business was finished they impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock as took off their girdles." A girdle therefore denotes to plough up the same rock with oxen:

strength and activity; and to unloose the girdle is to

deprive of strength, to render unfit for action. God

"Shall horses run upon a rock?
Shall one plough it up with oxen?"

The vision

ISAIAH.

of Isaiah. These circumstances must be taken into considera- this version, it stood thus in the Septuagint-Kai tion in order to give us a full notion of the propriety εμβλέψονται εις τον ουρανον ανω, και εις την γην κάτω ; and force of the image by which the prophet sets forth" And they shall look unto the heavens above and unto the strength and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, the earth beneath," and so it stands in the Septuagint which made a great part of the strength of the Assy- MSS., Pachom. and 1. D. 11., according to which they must have read their Hebrew text in this manner rian army. Xenop. Cyrop. lib. ii.

This is probably ונבט לשמים למעלה ולארץ למטה cassuphah, like the stormy כסופה (Like a whirlwind

blast. Here sense and sound are well connected.

ται εις την γην.

the true reading, with which I have made the translaVerse 30. If one look unto the land, &c.—" And tion agree. Compare chap. viii. 22; where the same these shall look to the heaven upward, and down to the sense is expressed in regard to both particulars, which earth"] 11 venibbat laarets. Kai euẞhepov are here equally and highly proper, the looking upSo the Septuagint, according to the wards, as well as down to the earth: but the form Vatican and Alexandrian copies; but the Compluten- of expression is varied. I believe the Hebrew text in sian and Aldine editions have it more fully, thus:- that place to be right, though not so full as I suppose Και εμβλέψονται εις τον ουρανον ανω, και κάτω ; and it was originally here; and that of the Septuagint the Arabic from the Septuagint, as if it had stood there to be redundant, being as full as the Coptic verthus-Kai euẞ2εpovrai eis тov ovpavov, kai els aηsion and MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 11. represent it in ynu karw, both of which are plainly defective; the this place, from which I suppose it has been interpowords ε τηv yŋv, unto the earth, being wanted in the lated. former, and the word avw, above, in the latter. But an ancient Coptic version from the Septuagint, supposed to be of the second century, some fragments of which are preserved in the library of St. Germain des Prez at Paris, completes the sentence; for, according to

Darkness-"The gloomy vapour"] The Syriac and Vulgate seem to have read ny bearphalach; but Jarchi explains the present reading as signifying darkness; and possibly the Syriac and Vulgate may have understood it in the same manner.

CHAPTER VI.

This chapter, by a particular designation of Isaiah to the prophetic office, 1-8, introduces, with great solem nity, a declaration of the whole tenor of the Divine conduct in reference to his people, who, on account of their unbelief and impenitence, should for a very long period be given up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, 9, 10; and visited with such calamities as would issue in the total desolation of their country, and their general dispersion, 11, 12. The prophet adds, however, that under their repeated dispersions, (by the Chaldeans, Romans, &c.,) a small remnant would be preserved as a seed from which will be raised a people, in whom will be fulfilled all the Divine promises, 13.

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Rev. iv. 2. - Or, the skirts thereof.- -d Ezek. i. 11.
in regard to his people and the fates of the nation;
which are even now still depending, and will not be
fully accomplished till the final restoration of Israel.

In this vision the ideas are taken in general from royal majesty, as displayed by the monarchs of the East; for the prophet could not represent the ineffable presence of God by any other than sensible and earthly images. The particular scenery of it is taken from the temple.

a 2 Kings xv. 7.- 1 Kings xxii. 19; John xii. 41; As this vision seems to contain a solemn designation of Isaiah to the prophetic office, it is by most interpreters thought to be the first in order of his prophecies. But this perhaps may not be so; for Isaiah is said, in the general title of his prophecies, to have prophesied in the time of Uzziah, whose acts, first and last, he wrote, 2 Chron. xxvi. 22; which is usually done by a contemporary prophet; and the phrase, in the year that Uzziah died, probably means God is represented as seated on his after the death of Uzziah; as the same phrase (chap. throne above the ark, in the most holy place, where xiv. 28) means after the death of Ahaz. Not that the glory appeared above the cherubim, surrounded by Isaiah's prophecies are placed in exact order of time. his attendant ministers. This is called by God himChapters ii., iii., iv., v., seem by internal marks to be self "the place of his throne, and the place of the antecedent to chap. i.; they suit the time of Uzziah, soles of his feet," Ezek. xliii. 7. "A glorious throne, or the former part of Jotham's reign; whereas chap. exalted of old, is the place of our sanctuary," saith the i. can hardly be earlier than the last years of Jotham. prophet Jeremiah, chap. xvii. 12. The very posture See note on chap. i. 7, and ii. 1. This might be of sitting is a mark of state and solemnity: Sed et new designation, to introduce more solemnly a general ipsum verbum sedere regni significat potestatem, saith dedication of the whole course of God's dispensations Jerome, Comment. in Eph. i. 20. See note on chap.

a

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Conditam 6. the

his glory.

e Heb. this cried to this. Rev. iv. 8.fulness of the whole earth.

LORD of hosts:
earth is full of

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

1

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of Isaiah.

A. M. 3245. B. C. 759. Anno Olymp. Quintæ 2. Ante Urbem Conditam 6.

Exod.

5 Then said I, Wo is me! for I am Heb. his glory is the Heb. thresholds. Exod. xl. 34 1 Kings viii. 10. Psa. lxxii. 19. iv. 10; vi. 30; Judg. vi. 22; xiii. 22; Jer. i. 6. chi, the angels as flames of fire, that the depravity of that generation might be exhibited, which was worthy of being totally burnt up.

He covered his feet-" He covereth his feet"] By the feet the Hebrews mean all the lower parts of the body. But the people of the East generally wearing long robes, reaching to the ground, and covering the lower parts of the body down to the feet, it may hence have been thought want of respect and decency to appear in public and on solemti occasions with even the feet themselves uncovered. Kempfer, speaking of the king of Persia giving audience, says, Rex in medio supremi atrii cruribus more patrio inflexis sedebat : corpus tunica investiebat flava, ad suras cum staret proterisa; discumbentis vero pedes discalceatos pro urbanitate patria operiens.-Amoen. Exot. p. 227. "The king sat on the floor cross-legged, as is the custom of the country. He was covered with a yellow garment, which reached down to the feet when standing, but covered the feet for decency when sitting with his slippers off." Sir John Chardin's MS. note on this place of Isaiah is as follows: Grande marque de respect en orient de se cacher les pieds, quand on est assis, et de baisser le visage. Quand le souvrain se monstre en Chine et à Japon, chacun se jette le visage contre terre, et il n'est pas permis de regarder le roi; "It is a great mark of respect in the East to cover the feet, and to bow down the head in the pre

iii. 2. St. John, who has taken many sublime images
from the prophets of the Old Testament, and in par-
ticular from Isaiah, hath exhibited the same scenery,
drawn out into a greater number of particulars; Rev. iv.
The veil, separating the most holy place from the
holy or outermost part of the temple, is here sup-
posed to be taken away; for the prophet, to whom
the whole is exhibited, is manifestly placed by the
altar of burnt-offering, at the entrance of the temple,
(compare Ezek. xliii. 5, 6,) which was filled with the
train of the robe, the spreading and overflowing of the
Divine glory. The Lord upon the throne, according
to St. John, (chap. xii. 41,) was Christ; and the vision
related to his future kingdom, when the veil of separa-
tion was to be removed, and the whole earth was to
be filled with the glory of God, revealed tó all man-
kind which is likewise implied in the hymn of the
seraphim, the design of which is, saith Jerome on the
place, Ut mysterium Trinitatis in una Divinitate demon-
strent; et nequaquam templum Judaicum, sicut prius,
sed omnem terram illius gloria plenam esse testentur;
"That they may point out the mystery of the Trinity
in one Godhead; and that the Jewish temple alone
should not be, as formerly, the place of the Divine
glory, for the whole earth should be filled with it." It
relates, indeed, primarily to the prophet's own time,
and the obduration of the Jews of that age, and their
punishment by the Babylonish captivity; but extends
in its full latitude to the age of Messiah, and the blind-sence of the king."
ness of the Jews to the Gospel, (see Matt. xiii. 14;
John xii. 40; Acts xxviii. 26; Rom. xi. 8,) the deso-
lation of their country by the Romans, and their being
rejected by God. That nevertheless a holy seed-a
remnant, should be preserved; and that the nation
should spread out and flourish again from the old
stock.-L.

NOTES ON CHAP. VI.

Verse 1. The Lord] Fifty-one MSS. of Kennicott's, and fifty-four of De Rossi's, and one edition; in the 8th verse, forty-four MSS. of Kennicott's, and fortysir of De Rossi's, and one edition; and in the 11th verse, thirty-three MSS. of Kennicott's, and many of De Rossi's, and one edition, for Adonai, "the Lord," read “JEHOVAH," which is probably the true reading; (compare ver. 6;) as in many other places, in which the superstition of the Jews has substituted Adonai for Yehovah. One of my own MSS., a very ancient and large folio, to which the points and the masora have been added by a later hand, has in Yehovah in the 1st and 8th verses, in the teeth of the masora, which orders it in both places to be read 78 Adonai.

Verse 3. Holy, holy, holy] This hymn, performed by the seraphim, divided into two choirs, the one singing responsively to the other, which Gregory Nazian., Carm. 18, very elegantly calls Evμpwvov, avtiowvov, ayyɛhwv orativ, is formed upon the practice of alternate singing, which prevailed in the Jewish Church from the time of Moses, whose ode at the Red Sea was thus performed, (see Exod. xv. 20, 21,) to that of Ezra, under whom the priests and Levites sung alternately,

"O praise JEHOVAH, for he is gracious; For his mercy endureth for ever;" Ezra iii. 11. See De Sac. Poes. Hebr. Præl. xix., at the beginning.

Verse 5. Wo is me! for I am undone] '57) nidmeythi, I am become dumb. There is something exceedingly affecting in this complaint. I am a man of unclean lips; I cannot say, Holy, holy, holy! which the seraphs exclaim. They are holy; I am not so: they see God, and live; I have seen him, and must die, because I am unholy. Only the pure in heart shall see God; and they only can live in his presence for ever. Reader, lay this to heart; and instead of boasting of thy excellence, and trusting in thy might, Verse 2. Above it stood the seraphim] ' sera- or comforting thyself in thy comparative innocence. phim, from seraph, to burn. He saw, says Kim- thou wilt also be dumb before him, because thou hast

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