4 [As] for the accommodation of the words to Jeremiah, how did he sprinkle many nations, so as to answer the type of legal cleansing? Did he pour out the Spirit upon them? did he sanctify and make them holy? did he purge them from their iniquities? " But he turned many amongst the nations from the worship of idols." But who told Grotius so? where is it written or recorded? He prophesied, indeed, of the desolation of idols and idolaters. Of the conversion of many, of any, among the heathen by his preaching, he being not pur- posely sent to them, what evidence have we? If a man may feign what he please, and affix it to whom he please, he may make whom he Avill to be foretold in any prophecy.
" Kings shall shut their mouths at him." " Eeges, ut Nebuchodo- nosor Chalda3orum, et Nechos Jilgyptiorum, eorumque satrapse, ad- mirabuntur cum silentio, ubi videbunt omnia quge dicet Jeremias ita adamussim et suis temporibus impleta;" — " Kings, as Nebuchodono- sor of the Chaldees, and Necho of the Egyptians, and their princes, shall admire with silence, when they shall see all things foretold by Jeremiah come to pass exactly and to be fulfilled in their own time."
That by this expression wonder and amazement is intended is agreed. As men, all sorts of men, before were astonished at his low condition, so even the greatest of them shall be astonished at the prosperity of his work and exaltation. The reason of this their shut- ting their mouths in silence and admiration is from the work which he shall do, — that is, "he shall sprinkle many nations," — as is evident from the following reason assigned: " For that which hath not been told them shall they see ;" which expresseth the means whereby he should " sprinkle many nations," even by the preaching of the gospel to their conversion.
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[As] for the application hereof to Jeremiah: — 1. That the kings mentioned did so become silent with admiration at him and astonish- ment is ajpa(pov: and all these magnificent thoughts of the Chaldeans' dealing with Jeremiah are built only on this, that looking on him as a man that had dissuaded the Jews from their rebellion against them, and rebuked all their wickedness, and foretold their ruin, they gave him his hfe and liberty. 2. The reason assigned by Grotius why they should so admire him is for \ns, predictions ; but the reason of the orreat amazement and astonishment at him in the text is his sprinkling of many nations : so that nothing, not a word or expres- sion, doth here agree to him ; yea, this gloss is directly contrary to the letter of the text.
The close of these words is, " That which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consi- der;'' of which he says, " They shall see that come to pass, foreseen and foretold by him, which they had not heard of by their astrolo- gers or magicians."
1, But what is it that is here intended? the desolation of Jeru- salem? That was it which Jeremiah foretold, upon the account whereof he had that respect with the Chaldees which, through the mercy of God, he obtained. Is this that which is thus emphatically expressed, " That which they had not heard, that which they had not been told, this they should see, this they should consider?" That this is directly spoken of Jesus Christ, that he is the thing which they had not seen nor heard of, the apostle tells us, Rom. xv. 2]. Strange that this should be the desolation of Jerusalem !
2. It is probable that the magicians and astrologers, whose life and trade it Avas to flatter their kings with hope of success in their wars and undertakings, had foretold the taking of Jerusalem, considering that the king of the Chaldees had used all manner of divinations be- fore he undertook the war against it, Ezek. xxi. 21, 22. It is too much trouble to abide on such vain imaginations; nor doth Grotius take any care to evidence how that which he delivers as the sense of the words may so much as be typically spoken of Jesus Christ, or be any way accommodated to him.
The prophet proceeds, chap, liii., with the same continued dis- course: Verse 1, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LoRD revealed?" which words are thus illustrated by the annotator: —
" Vultis scire, inquit, quis ille sit futurus de quo coepi agere, qui et meis prophetiis plenam habebit fidera, et ipse de maximis rebus quas potentia Dei peraget revelationes accipiet exactissimas, omnibus circumstantiis additis? dabo vobis geminas ejus notas unde cognosci possit. Hae notoe in Jeremiam quidem congruunt prius, sed potius in subliraiusque, sgepe et magis Kara Xg^/v, in Christum ;" — " 'Will ye
464< VINDICI^ EVANGELICiE.
know/ saith he, ' who he shall be of whom I have begun to treat, who shall both fully believe my prophecies and shall himself receive most exact revelations of the great things that the power of God shall bring to pass, all the circumstances being added? I will give you two notes of him by which he may be known/ These notes, in the first place, agree to Jeremiah, but rather to Christ."