beholding Christ as their Covenant-head and Surety, shall obtain an interest in the covenant which he has ratified, even in the covenant which is " ordered in all things and sure." A blessed day will that be ! Methinks the whole creation is groaning and travelling in pain for its arrival. The deliverance from Babylon was but a very faint emblem of that day : for from Babylon a small remnant only returned to possess their former inheritance ; but, at the period of which we are speaking, a redeemed world " shall come with singing unto Zion," and " all flesh shall see the salvation of God."]
In connexion with the spread of the Gospel, the prophet proceeds to state,
II. The felicity of those who shall embrace it —
Here, the reference to the redemption from Egypt, which had long since taken place, and that from Babylon, which was yet future, must be more dis- tinctly noticed. Both the one and the other of those far exceeded all that could have been expected, and all that could have been supposed within the verge of possibility. The obstructions to that from Egypt, especially, appeared utterly insurmountable. For, how should such a multitude be fed ? How should they be screened from the heat, which, at seasons, must be too oppressive to be borne ? How should they also be conducted through a wilderness which was utterly unexplored ? And how should they find refreshment in a land where there were neither rivers nor springs ? These difficulties had been overcome through the good providence of God ; and whatever may be supposed to correspond with them in the spiritual life shall also be vanquished by all who commit themselves to Christ as " their Leader," whom they will follow, and " their Commander," whom they will obeyk.
He here assures to his people,
1. Provision —
[He that gave his people bread from heaven for the space of forty years will be at no loss to " feed" his flocks, however numerous, in this dreary wilderness ; or to give them ample
k Isai. lv. 4. VOL. vm. s