-ounlel and intention of God, bur oft-times the event. So Chap.
#20, Won 2 Cor, 1.17. The Arm of the Lord may either ol, Il,
:1 which Death the bodies of the Crucified abode not
7 thou, The Son of man muſt be lift up ? Who is the Son
an everlaſting Dominion, which ſhould not paſs away, a King- ould wot be deſtroyed: ſo alſo, Dan 2. 44. Micah 4. 7.
Then Jeſus ſaid unto them, Yet a little while »+jz the light with you &- walk while you have the leſt * darkneſs come upon you: for he * that * valketh in darkneſs, knoweth not whither he go-
O H N.
ſignifie the Goſpel, which is called the Power of God to Salation, Rom. 1.16. 1 Cor. 18. Or elſe the, M:fiah, who is thought to be mentioned under this Notion by Iſaiah, Chap. 51. 5s. and 52. 10. and 59. 16, and 63, 12, becauſe the Father worketh by him, as a man worketh by his arm, Chap. 1. 3. 14.
39 Therefore they could not believe s, becauſe that Efaias ſaid again r.
s Some will have, they con! not hear, to be the ſame with they aid not, as Mar, 6, 5. its faid Chriſt could not do mighty works at Na- 2areth: Or the ſame with they would not, as Gen. 19. 22, but this ſeemeth an hard Interpretation of 8x 1dVvay}o. It is moſt certain. that in all there is a natural impotency and diſability to believe ; but this Text feemeth to ſpeak of a further degree of impoſlibility, than thar, occafioned through their wilful obftinacy, and God's judicial hard- ning of them. 7, Becauſe 1ſaias faid, is no more than, for 1[2;a5 ſaid; the particle doth not denote the cauſe influencing them, but the effe& of a Prophecy : God's word (faith che Evangeliſt) muſt M made good, and 1ſaias had Prophecied of what now came to paſs.
derſtand with rhcir heart, and be converted, and I ſhould heal them -. _ # We have this Text (than which there is not one more terrible in the whole Book of God) no leſs than ſix times quoted in the New Teſtament, and in all places quoted and given asa reaſon of the Jews unbeliet in the Lord clus Chriſt, Mat. 13. 14. Mar. 4. 12. Luke 8.10. Acls 28.26, Rom. 11.8, It is not quoted alike in all places, bur for (ſubſtance the fame. The original from whence theſe quotations are, h Iſaiah 6.10. by compairing the Texts we ſhall find ſeveral Authors, nſtruments, or Cauſes of thele dreadful effes. In the original, the Prophet Iſa:ah is made the 1nſ?rumental Cauſe, Go (ſaith God) and make the heart of this people fat, &c. Matthew and Luke, in 2#s 28. 27. mention themſelves as the cauſe : Matthew faith ; For this peoples heart is waxed groſs, and their ears are duil of hearing, and their exe: they have clijed. And in the 4#s it is, For the hear: of this people us waxed groſs, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they cloſed. All the other Texts ſpeak of it as God's AR. The thing is eafily thus reconciled : God ſent to the Jews his Prophets, and gave them the means of Salvation : Ir is true, without the inward efficacy of his Spirit, they could not ſavingly believe ; but they did not do what was in their power to have done, nay, they did do what was in their power to have avoided ; they lighted and contemned the Lord's. Prophets, and killed them, and ſtoned ſuch as were ſent unto them. Thus they firſt ſhut their own eyes, and hardned their own hearts ; and as their Forefathers had done in their Generations, ſo the Fews in our Saviour Chriſt's time did alſo in their Generation ; ſhutting their eyes againſt the Revelation of the Goſpel by Chriſt him. ſelf. They thus behaving themſelves, God judicially gave them up to their own Luſts, permitting their hearts to harden, and ſuffering them to cloſe their own eye, ſo as they could not repent, believe, or return, and be ſaved; not that God infuſed any malice into their hearts, but withdrew his Grace from them after ſuch provocations on their parts ; fo that as. the Prophets in their Age, laboured with them in vain, and all the event of their Miniſtry, was but the gene. rality of thar peoples growing worſe, and more obdurate. So all the event of Chriſt's Miniſtry and Miracles which he perſonally wroughe amongſt them in his Age, did accidentally bur increaſe their fin, and their Judgment, and ripen them for their ruin, through their wilfal abuſe of thoſe ſacred means of Life and Salvation. The judgment ic ſelf was but one, wiz. a judicial hardning of them ; bur it is ſer cur by a great variety of expreſſions, both by the Prophets, and the Wri- ters of the New Teſtament. In 1ſaiah, by making their hearts far, their ears heavy, ſhutting their eyes : In Matthew, making their hearts groſs, their ears dull of hearing, ſhutting their eyes. In this Texr, by blinding their eyes, and haraning their hearts. In the A#s, by the ſame phraſes as in Marthew, in Rom. 11. 8. is added, God hath given them the Spirit of lumber. All the phraſes are expreſſive of the ſame dreadful Judgment of God ; yet it may be exprefled in this variety of phraſe, to ſignifie the diſtin&, particular plagues (comprehended in this one plague) which falls upon the ſeveral powers and faculties of choſe Souls, upon whom this dreadful Judgment fills, Blindneſ7 in che mind, ſlubborneſs in the will, Sc. Vileneſs in the &ffettions, repre- 'pacy in the mind, &C.
41 Theſe things ſaid Efaias, when he ſaw his glory,
and ſpake of him w.
w The Evangeliſt ſaith, that theſe things 1ſaiah ſaid, when he ſaw his glory, and ſpake of him. Iſaiab's fight of God's glory is deſcribed, Iſa. 6. 1. He ſaw the Lord fitting on a Threne, high, and lifted up; &c. The Evangeliſt Expounds this of Chriſt, which 1s an evident proof of the Deity of Chriſt, that he is Jehova#;, for it was Zehovah whom the Prophet there ſaw; And that the Revelation of rhar dreadful wrath of God, did not only concern that particular Age in which Iſaiah lived, but the ſucceſſive g2n-ration of the Jews, whom the Pro- pher ſaw by the eye of Prophecy wonld cread in the ſame eps, and uſe Chriſt (the Hcir) as cheir Fore-fathers had uſed kim, and the Prophets of that Age.
42 Neverthelefs among, the chief rulers alſo many |
did not confeſs hin, leſt they ſhould be put out of the ©* ?
ſynagogue y.