that brings the judgment of fire, and lays all desolated Ezek. xxxv. 4, 5, 7, ' I will lay thy cities waste, and thou phalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Because thou hast had a per- petual hatred,' or hatred of old, ' and hast shed the blood of the chil- dren of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end. Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out, and him that returneth;' ver. 10, 'Because thou hast said. These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it, whereas the Lord was there ;' ver. 11, ' Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy, ^•liich thou hast used out of thy hatred against them : and I will make myself known among them when I have judged thee:' ver. 12, ' And thou shalt know that 1 am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying. They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume or devour :' veV. 13, ' Thus with your mouth you have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me : I have heard them : ' ver. 14, ' Thus saith the Lord God, "When the whole earth rejoiceth I will make thee desolate:' ver. 15, ' As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee : thou shalt be desolate, 0 mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it : and they shall know that I am the Lord.' The Edomites were deadly enemies to the Israelites — their hatred was old and strong, and active against them ; and they took hold on all occasions wherein they might express their rage and cruelty against tiiem, both in words and works. And therefore when the Babylonians took Jerusalem, they cried, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof, Ps. cxxxvii. 7. When the Babylonians entered Jerusalem, many of the Jews fled to the Edomites for succour, they being their brethren ; but instead of sheltering them, they cruelly destroyed them, and greatly insulted over them, and were glad of all o})portunilics wherein they might vent all their rage and malice against them, that so they might the better ingratiate them- selves with the Babylonians. Now for these cruel practices and bar- barous severities of theirs towards the poor, afflicted, and distressed Israel of God, God is resolved to bring utter desolation upon them : ver. 3, ' Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, 0 mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee mo.st desolate:' or as the Hebrew is, Shcmamah Umeshammah, desolation and desolation. Now this doubling of the Hebrew word shews the certainly of their desolation, the sj)eediness of their desola- tion, and the greatness and throughness of their desolation : Jer. xxvi. 14, 15 ; see ver. 8, 9, 11, ' As for me, behold, I am in your hand, do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for cer- tain, that if you put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood U])on yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof That was good counsel which Tertullian gave Scapula, a pagan perse- cutor : God Avill surely make inquisition for our blood, therefore, saith he, if thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself ; if not thyself, yet spare thy country, which must be responsible when God comes to visit for
> .See Ezek. xxi. 23, 31, 32, and xxv. 3-5.
IsA. XLTI. 24, 25.] the late fiery dispensation. 119
blood: so Lam. iv. 11-13, ' The Lord hath accomplished his fury ; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. The kings of the, earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jeru- salem. For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her." The prophets and the priests enraged the people against them, and engaged the civil power against the just and the innocent, to the shedding of their blood. But this innocent blood could not be purged away but by fire. To shed the blood of the just is a most crying sin, and that for which God has turned the most glorious cities in the world into ashes. Jerome upon the text saith, that the prophets and priests shed the blood of the just in the midst of Jerusalem, by drawing them into error, which is to the destruction of the soul. But Calvin upon the text well observes this cannot stand, because just men are not so destroyed; but the wicked only, that take no heed to their false teaching. Therefore, saith he, the true prophets of Grod are meant by the just, for whom they had prisons, dungeons, and stocks to put them into ; and some- times stoning, or otherwise tumults, which they stirred up among the people, whereby their blood was shed.
Eome has much of the blood of the saints upon her skirts, and for this very sin she shall be utterly burnt with fire, as you may see at large, if you will please to read the 18th chapter of the Eevelation at your leisure, Kev. xvi. 6, xvii. 6, xix. 2, and xviii. 24. Though Eome was a cage of unclean birds, and full of all manner of abomina- tions, yet the sin that shall at last burn her to ashes, is the blood of the saints. Mark, though the people of God are in Babylon, and may partake of her plagues, and fall under the fiery dispensation with her, it is not the sins of the saints, but the sins of Babylon that bring the judgment of fire upon Babylon. Mark, the people of God may live in a city that may be burnt to ashes, and yet their sins may not be the procuring causes of that judgment. Lot lived in Sodom, and had his failings and infirmities as well as other saints, Gen. xix ; but it was not his sins that brought the judgment of fire upon that city, but the sins of the citizens, as the Scripture assures us.
But you may say. Pray, sir, why is God so severe as to turn stately cities, rich and populous cities, great and glorious cities, into a ruinous heap, for shedding the blood of the just? Ans. Because, next to the blood of Christ, the blood of the just is the most precious blood in all the world. Mark, There are these nine things that speak out the preciousness of the blood of the just : —
[1.] First, CVear and jAmn scriptures speak out the blood of the saints to he precious : ' He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight.' And so Ps. cxvi. 15, 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints;' Ps. Ixxiii. 32, 33, and Ixxii. 14. But,: