IsA. LIII. 2.] TOE FIFTY-THIRD CHAPTER OF ISAIAH. 243
will not have us look to the end of his counsels, and therefore the younger is the most eminent.
3. That he may declare his displeasure against th<3 pomp of the world. God maketh least use of that which we so much adore, out- ward glory and splendour. Most of his glorious instruments have been taken from the plough and sheepfold. Christ himself, as I told you, honoured meanness in his own person. You may see by Isa. ii. 11-22, that God's great design in the latter days is to destroy the pomp of the world, the oaks and the cedars, and whatever is lifted up ; ' The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.' God's choice is of the meanest and most unlikely things, hereby showing certainly that there is not so much as the world thiuketh in outward glory, which hath always proved unhappy to the church, who, when she enjoyed golden cups, had but wooden priests. Though Constan- tine was a worthy instrument, yet Seminatum est venenum in ecclesia — in his time poison was sowed in the church.
4. That he may shame his enemies in their security. When they have to deal with those that are unlikely to prevail, they think they shall carry all before thera,. 1 Sam. xvii. 42. The ruddy youth was despised by Goliath, and threatened terribly too, that his flesh should be given to the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field ; but yet he over- came the giant. The more shame doth God pour upon his enemies by far, when they meet with their destruction where they least think of it. Abimelech, after he had overcome Shechem, the hold of the god Berith, and divers other strongholds, and there was but one fort stood out, had his skull broke by a woman with a piece of a millstone. Judges ix. 53. God ruineth them most ignominiously. Thus the Almighty goeth to war against Pharaoh with flies, and frogs, and lice, Exod. viii., the most putrid of all living creatures. The Moabites were put to flight before the Israelites by a fancy, to wit, the sun shining upon the water, which they thought to be blood. Pope Adrian was choked with a gnat. So Judges v. 20, it is said, ' The stars in their courses (or paths) fought against Sisera.' And what was that ? Nothing but a little rain and hail, as Josephus witnesseth ; for as they drew to battle there fell suddenly a storm of rain and hail just in their faces, that they could not see ; and it being on the backs of the Israelites, it drove them on with the more fierceness against their enemies. Now by this way God poureth a great deal of contempt upon his adversaries.
5. That he may take off all cause of boasting fi'om the creature, that the flesh may not glory in itself. Thus this very reason is urged by the apostle, 1 Cor. i. 27-29, ' God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; and base things in the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.' The things that are nothing in our respect and valuation, God honoureth, and uses them as instru- ments, that we may have no cause to boast of our strength or merit. The creatures are apt to vaunt when they see there is anything of theirs concurring towards a work, though they do in part see
244 A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION UPON [ISA. LIII. 2.
God's hand in it : Judges vii. 2, * And the Lord said unto Gideon, The l)eo})le tluit are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.' It is observable that David called twice upon the mighty : Ps. xxix. 1, ' Give unto the Lord, 0 ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.' When a people are mighty they are very loth to give the glory and strength to God. Therefore God worketh by those that cannot any way ascribe it to themselves.
6. Another reason may be, that God may provide for the esteem of the meanest. God hath so tempered his providence, that he will leave no cause of contempt and disrespect among us. He casteth honour upon the meanest, and those that are not so high in the valua- tions of men. This is the reason of God's various distribution, why he hath made some mean, and some glorious, that he might upon times single out some of those mean ones to show his power by. Look, as Christ saith of the blind man, that he was made blind to fit him for a miracle — John ix. 3, ' That the works of God should be manifest ia him ' — so some are poor, some are imlikely, that the work of God might be made manifest, that he might show his power and might and wisdom in working by them. He will leave none to scorn and contempt. Despised persons; shall be honoured by him, when other more glorious persons are laid aside as useless.