date

[161-466] 1817 Nov. 29 Not
[161-466]

1817 Nov. 29

Not Paul

II. Doctrine

Ch.

§.3. Practice

Irr

Prophets

Isaiah

1. Isaiah i. 9. 10.

In Isaiah—in the first of the two passages of his book in which the allusion to the fate of the two cities occurrs, the way /manner/ in which mention is made of them seems extraordinary enough, and to look at it may naturally enough be expected to have occasioned no small perplexity to, and imposed no small quantity of labour on /upon/ the Commentators.

In the first mention made of them, they are alluded to in the usual character of places affording an example in proof of the existence of the particular providence by which the people in question were brought to consider themselves as all along governed. After speaking of the country as having suffered desolation by fire as well as other means at the hands of a foreign enemy (v. 7) it goes on to observe that (v. 9) ‘Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.’ Thus far the character in which the two cities are brought to view is that of so many places of which at a period of high antiquity the compleat destruction had been effected.

Isaiah i. 7. 8. 9.
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  • Title: [[161-468] 1817 Nov. 30 Not]
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    1817 Nov. 30

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    2. Isaiah in the passage iii. 9.

    3. Soon after Ch. iii. comes another passage in which in the character of a proverbial expression, Sodom is brought in: brought in but how? /in what character?/ not in the character of a place specially notorious /remarked/ for the prevalence of the particular propensity, but in that of a place, which for depravity in all shapes taken together was commonly regarded as having been subjected by supernatural means to the calamity of fire in the character of a punishment inflicted by a particular providence. Isaiah iii. 9. ‘The shew of their countenance (that of the people of Judah in general and Jerusalem in particular) doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, ;they hide it [not]: wo unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.’

    In this picture effrontery seems to be the principal feature.
  • Title: [[161-467] 1817 Nov. 29 Not]
    Description: [161-467]

    1817 Nov. 29

    Not Paul

    II. Doctrine

    Ch. In Jesus

    §.3. Practice

    Irr

    Isaiah

    1. Isaiah i. 9. 10.

    Comes the next verse, and now the discourse is addressed to them one after another, as if they were so many cities either revived or still in being: and then comes a torrent of invective /foreboding and exhortation/ and evil foreboding which from this verse (v. 10) lasts even to the end of the Chapter, which is at the 31 st verse.

    By one supposition alone can the strangeness of this appearance be removed, and it presents itself as a satisfactory one. The city to which this lesson of invective was meant to be understood as addressed was the capital of the kingdom to which he belonged even Jerusalem the capital of Judæa: and it is by a figure of speech /rhetoric/ that the city in question is addressed by those two celebrated /so universally notorious/ and opprobrious names.

    In no other character than that of subjects of supernatural destruction are the two inseparable cities spoken of: to the particular propensity in question no allusion is here to be found: examples of wickedness in general not of wickedness in that particular mode /shape/ this is the character in which they are here brought to view.
  • Title: [1817 Nov. 30 Not Paul II. Doctrine]
    Description: 1817 Nov. 30

    Not Paul

    II. Doctrine

    Ch. In Jesus

    §.3. Practice

    Irr

    Prophets

    7. Seventhly and lastly comes /behold/ Zephaniah, Ch. ii. v. 8. 9.

    ‘I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified {themselves} against their border.

    9. ‘Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts and God of Israel, surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, {even} the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation, the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.’

    10. ‘This they shall have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified {themselves} against the people of the Lord of hosts.’

    11. ‘The Lord {will be} terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and {men} shall worship him every one from his place, {even} all the isles of the heathen.’

    12 ‘Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by the sword.’

    13. ‘And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and will make Ninevah a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.’—Thereupon follows the picture of the wilderness in detail.

    In all the other /preceding/ passages the subject /object/ of the prophets’ vituperation is his own country: in this last the neighbouring countries come in for their /a/ share in it.