prophet in his own room: therefore, say they, the prophet had as much evidence of his calling, as the minister hath, for that unction was as evident a thing, as our imposition of hands is. And it is true, it was so, where it was actually, and really executed. But then, nothing is more evident, than that this word, Meshiach, which signifies anointing, is not restrained to that very action, a real unction, but frequently transferred, and communicated in a Scripture use, to every kind of declaration of any election, any institution, any inauguration, any investiture of any person to any place; and less than that, of any appropriation, any application of anything to any particular use. Any appointing was an anointing; as in particular (for many other places) where St. Hierome reads, Arripite clypeos, buckle your shields to you, which was an alarm to them, to arm, the original hath it, and so hath our translation, anoint your shields; to apply them to their right use, was called an anointing. And when God calls Cyrus, the king of Persia, unctum suum, his anointed; it were weakly, and improperly argued from that word, that Cyrus was king of Persia, was literally, actually anointed; for that unction was peculiar to the kings of Israel; but Cyrus was the anointed of the Lord, that is, declared and avowed by the Lord, to be his chosen instrument. Neither could Elijah literally execute this commandment, for anointing Hasael king of Syria; for Hasael the king of Syria could not be anointed by the prophet of the Lord, for such unction was peculiar to the kings of Israel. And for the kings of Israel themselves, their own rabbins tell us, that they were not ordinarily anointed, but only in those cases, where there arose some question, and difference, about the succession; as in Solomon's case, because Adonijah pretended to the succession'; to make all the more sure, David proceeded with a solemnity, and appointed an anointing of Solomon, which, otherwise, say their rabbins, had not been done. But howsoever it may have been for their kings, there seems to be a plain distinction between them, and the prophets in the Psalm1o, for this evidence of unction; Touch not mine anointed, says God there they, they that were anointed, constitute one rank, one class; and then follows, And do my prophets no harm: 8 Isaiah xxi. 5. 9 1 Kings i. 10 Psalm cv. 15. they, they who were not anointed, the prophets, constitute another class, another rank. So that then an internal, a spiritual, unction the prophets had, that is, an application, an appropriation to that office from God, but a constant, an evident calling to that function, by any external act of the church, they had not, but it was an extraordinary office, and imposed immediately by God; and therefore the people might seem the more excusable, if they did not believe a prophet presently, because the office of the prophet did not carry with it such a manifestation by anything evidently done upon him, and visible to them, that by that, that man must be a prophet. But, as God clothes himself with light, as with a garment; so God clothes, and apparels his works with light too for, says St. Ambrose, God hath made creatures to no purpose, if he had not made light to see them by. Therefore when God does any extraordinary work, he accompanies that work with an extraordinary light, by which he for whose instruction God does that work, may know that work to be his. So when he sent his prophets to his people, he accompanied their mission with an effectual light and evidence, by which that people did acknowledge in their own hearts, that that man was sent by God to them. Therefore they called that man at first a seer, one whom they acknowledged to have been admitted to the sight of God, in the declaration of his will to them: for so we have it in Samuel, He that is now called a prophet, was beforetime called a seer. And then that addition of the name of a prophet, gave them a further qualification; for, nabi, which is a prophet, is from niba; and niba, is venire facio, to cause to make a thing to come to pass. So that a prophet was not only præfator, but prefactor ; He did not only presage, but preordain; that is, there was such an infallibility, inevitableness in that which he had said, as that his very saying of it, seemed to them some kind of cause to the accomplishing thereof. For, hence it is, that we have that phrase so often in the New Testament, this and this was thus and thus done, that such and such a prophecy might be fulfilled; they never went to that height, that such or such a sacred purpose, or unrevealed decree of God might be fulfilled; but they rested in the declaration which God had made in his church, and 11 1 Sam. ix. 9. were satisfied in the execution of his decrees, in his visible ordinances. Therefore the increpation which the prophet lays upon the people here, (Lord, who hath believed our report) is not, that they did not believe those prophets to be prophets, (for though that were an extraordinary office, yet it was acccompanied with an extraordinary light) neither was it, that they did not believe that those things which were prophesied by them, should come to pass, (for they believed that man to be roch, a seer, one that had seen the counsels of God concerning them; and they believed him to be nabi, venire facientem, one upon whose word they might as infallibly rely, as upon a cause, for an effect;) but this was the sin of this people, this was the sorrow of this prophet, that they did not believe these predictions to belong to them, they did not believe that these judgments would fall out in their time. In one word, present security was their sin. And was that so heinous? . So heinous, as that that is it, with which God was so highly incensed', and with which he meant so deeply to affect his people, in that considerable passage, in that remarkable, and vehement place, where he expostulates thus with them; Hear, ye scornful men, (ye that make a jest, a scorn of future judgments)" Hear ye scornful men, that rule this people, (says God there) (you that have a power over the affections of the people in the pulpit, and can persuade what you will, or a power over the wills of the people in your place, and can command what you will) you that tell them (says the prophet there) we have made a covenant with death, and are at an agreement with hell, (fear you nothing, let us alone; ambitious princes shall turn their forces another way, antichristian plots shall be practised in other nations) you that tell them (says he) when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come to you, (howsoever superstition be established in other places, howsoever prevailing armies be multiplied elsewhere, yet you shall have your religion, and your peace still; for we have made a covenant with death, and with hell, we are at an agreement) Hear ye scornful men (says God) you that put this scorn upon my predictions, your covenant with death shall be disanulled, and your agreement with death shall not stand, (the fair promises of others to you, your own promises to yourselves VOL. I 12 Isaiah xxviii. 14. 13 Isaiah xxviii. 18. I shall deceive you) and the overflowing scourge shall pass through“, through you all, for you, (you scornful men) shall be trodden down by it; and, (as it follows there, in an elegant, and a vehement expression) it shall be a rexation, only to understand the report: you that would not believe the report of the prophet, that for these and these sins, such and such judgment should fall upon you, shall be confounded even with the report, the noise, the news, how this overflowing scourge hath passed through your neighbours round about you; how much more with the sense, when you yourselves shall be trodden down by it? There is scarce any of the prophets, in which God does not drive home this increpation of their security, and insensibleness of future calamities. As in Isaiah, so in Ezekiel God says", What is that proverb which ye hace in the land of Israel? (it was, it seems, in every man's mouth, proverbially spoken by all) what was it? This, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails; the vision which he says, is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times afar off. But, (says God there) In your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and perform it: not say it in our days, and perform it upon our children; but God will speak, and strike together, we shall hear him, and feel him at once, if we be not seriously affected with his predictions. : The same way God goes in Jeremy, as in Isaiah, and in Ezekiel. I have sent unto you all my servants, the prophets", (says God there) God hath no other servants, to this purpose, but his prophets if your dangers have been, by God's appointment, preached to you, God hath done. You must not, as Dives did in the behalf of his brethren, look for messengers from the state of the dead; you must not stay for instruction, nor for amendment, till you be pro mortuis (as the apostle speaks) as good as dead, ready to die; you must not stay till a judgment fall, and then presume of understanding by that vexation, or of repentance by that affliction; for, this is to hearken after messengers, from the state of the dead, to think of nothing till we be ready to join with them; but as Abraham says there to Dives, Thy brethren have the law, and the prophets, and that is enough, that is all; so 14 Isaiah xxviii. 19. 17 Jer. vii. 23. 25 15 Ezek. xii. 22. 16 Ver. 27. 18 1 Cor. XV. God says here, I have sent them all my servants, the prophets; that is enough, that is all: especially, when, (as God adds there) He hath risen early, and sent his prophets, that is, given us warning time enough, before the calamity come near our own gates. But when they rejected, and despised all his prophecies, and denunciations of future judgments, then follows the sentence, the final, and fearful sentence, The Lord hath forsaken, and rejected them; them; whom? As it follows in the sentence, The Lord hath forsaken, and rejected the generation of his wrath ;• the generation of his wrath? there is more horror, more consternation in that manner of expressing that rejection, than in the rejection itself; there is an insupportable weight in that word, His wrath; but even that is infinitely aggravated in the other, The generation of his wrath. God hath forgot that Israel is his son, and his first-born 20; so he avowed him to be in Moses' commission to Pharaoh. God hath forgot that He rebuked kings for his sake; that he testifies to have done in his behalf, in David; God hath forgot that they were heirs according to the promise 22; that is their dignification in the apostle; forgot that they were the apple of his own eyes, that they were as the signet upon his own hand"; forgot that Ephraim is his dear son, that he is a pleasing child, a child for whom his bowels were troubled 25; God hath forgot all these paternities, all these filiations, all these incorporatings, all these inviscerations of Israel into his own bosom, and Israel is become the generation of his wrath. Not the subject of his wrath; a people upon whom God would exercise some one act of indignation, in a temporal calamity, as captivity, or so; or multiply acts of indignation, in one kind, as adding of penury or sickness to their captivity; nor is it only a multiplying of the kinds of calamity, as the aggravating of temporal calamities with spiritual, oppression of body and state, with sadness of heart, and dejection of spirit; for all these, as many as they are, are determined in this life; but that which God threatens, is, that he will for their grievous sins, multiply lives upon them, and make them immortal for immortal torments; they shall be a generation of his wrath; they shall 20 Exod. iv. 22. 21 Psalm cv. 15. 24 Hagg. ii. 23. 19 Ver. 29. 22 Gal. iii. 29. ↑ 25 Jer. xxxi. 20. |