VOL. XL ^ 8
114 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP.
The foundation of all the following promises lies in the second verse, even the giving out of the "Branch of the Lord" and the "Fruit of the earth" for beauty and glory to the remnant of Israel. Who it is who is the "Branch of the Lord" the Scripture tells us in sundry places, Isa. xi. 1; Jer. xxiil 5, xxxiii. 15; Zech. iii. 8. The Lord Jesus Christ, the promise of whom is the church's only supportment in every trial or distress it hath to undergo, he is this branch and fruit; and he is placed in the head here as the gi'eat fountain -mercy, from whence all others do flow. In those that follow, the persons to whom those promises are made, and the matter or substance of them, are observable. The persons have various appellations and descriptions in this chapter. They are called (first) "The escaping of Israel," verse 2 ; " They that are left in Zion," verse 3 ; "Jerusalem" it- self, verse 4; "The dwelling-places and assemblies of mount Zion," verse 5. That the same individual persons are intended in all these several appellations is not questionable. It is but in reference to the several acts of God's dwelling with them, and outgoings of his love and good-will, both eternal and temporal, towards them, that they come under this variety of names and descriptions. First, In respect of his eternal designation of them to life and salvation, they are said to be "Written among the living," or unto life " in Jerusalem ;" their names are in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the •world,^ and they are recorded in the jourpose of God from all eter- nity. Secondly, In respect of ^their deliverance and actual redemp- tion from the bondage of death and Satan, which for ever prevail upon the greatest number of the sons of men, shadowed out by their deliverance from the Babylonish captivity (pointed at in this place), they are said to be " A remnant, an escaping, such as are left and remain in Jemsalem.'" From the perishing lump of mankind God doth by Christ snatch a remnant (whom he will preserve), like a brand out of the fire. Thirdly, In respect of their enjoyment of God's ordinances and word, and his presence Avith them therein, they are called "The daughter of Zion," and "The dwelling-places thereof"' There did God make know^n his mind and will, and walked with his people in the beauties of holiness: these are they to w'hom these promises are made, the elect, redeemed, and called of God ; or thoj;e who, being elected and redeemed, shall in their sevcial generations be called, according to his purpose who w^orketh all things according to the counsel of his own will.
For the matter of these promises, they may be reduced to these three heads: — first, Oi justification, verse 2; secondly, 0( sancti-
' Rev. iii. 12, xiii. 8; Luke x. 20.
a Rev. V. 0; E\)h. v. 25-27; Zech. iii. 2; John xvii. 9; Rom. viii. ^3, ' Ps. xlviii. 11-14, xvi. 1-3, etc.; Jer, 1. 5; Zcih. viii. 2; John xii. 15; Ps. ex. 3; Isa. xlix. 14.
I.] ISAIAH IV. OPENED AND EXPLAINED. 115
fication, verses 3, 4 ; thirdly, Of pei^severance, verses 5, 6. First, Of justification, Christ is made to them, or given unto them, for beauty and glory; which how it is done the Holy Ghost tells us: Isa. Ixi. 10, "I will greatly rejoice in the LoED, my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of sal- vation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness," saith the church. He puts upon poor deformed creatures the glorious robe of his own righteousness, to make us comely in his presence and the presence of his Father, Zech. iii. 8, 4. Through him, his being given unto us, " made unto us of God righteousness,'" becom- ing " the Lord our righteousness,"^ do we find free acceptation, as beautiful and glorious, in the eyes of God. But this is not all. He doth not only adorn us without, but also wash us within. The apostle acquaints us that that was his design, Eph. v. 25-27; and therefore you have, secondly, the promise of sanctification added, verses 8, 4. Verse 3, you have the thing itself: they " shall be called holy," made so, — called so by him who "calleth things that are not as though they were," and l)y that call gives them to be that which he calls them. He said, " Let there be light ; and there was light," Gen. i. 3. And then the manner how it becomes to be so, verse 4; first, setting out the efficient cause, " the Spirit of judgment, and the Spirit of burn- ing,"— that is, of holiness and light; and, secondly, the way of his producing this great effect, " washing away filth and purging away blood." Spiritual filth and blood is the defilement of sin ; the Scrip- ture, to set out its abomination, comparing it to the things of the greatest abhorrency to our nature, even as that is to the nature of God.^ And this is the second promise that in and by the " Branch of the Lokd" is here made to them "who are written unto life in Jeru- salem." But now, lest any should suppose that both these are for a season only, that they are dying privileges, perishing mercies, jewels that may be lost, so that thougli the persons to whom these promises are made are once made glorious and comely, being in Christ freely accepted, yet they may again become odious in the sight of God and be utterly rejected, — that being once washed, purged, cleansed, they should yet return to wallow in the mire, and so become wholly defiled and abominable, — in the third place he gives a promise of jjerseverance, in the last two verses, and that expressed with allusion to the protection afforded unto the people of the Jews in the wilder- ness by a cloud and pillar of fire ; which as they were created and instituted signs of the presence of God, so they gave assured protec- tion, preservation, and direction, to the people in all their ways. The