in the person of God the Father, and addresses the parable to Jesus, the Son. And indeed there is no reason whatever to doubt the truth of this reception of the prophecy. The same form is made use of,— and to which a like interpretation must be attached, in the 42nd chapter, in the words, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect in whom my soul delighteth, &c." It is the Spirit of Jehovah which addresses the Messiah. In regard to the meaning of the vineyard, it is explained by the prophet himself; "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts"- he adds-" is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry."

To what then does this parable amount? This ;-that God the Father himself declares through the medium of the prophet, that his Beloved held the earth in his sole possession; that he planted in it the Jewish state; that he fenced it with the barriers of his protection; that he built the tower of the Law and Covenant in the midst of it; and having endowed it with all that was necessary, both for its preservation and the advancement of Truth, -found that his care was disregarded and that his love was met with ingratitude. A stronger proof could scarcely be required, than this avowal of the Father, that the guidance of the Jewish state was wholly given up to, and in the power of the Son.

But the stile, as is very frequent in the prophetic books, changes abruptly at this point; and the prophet, as if to denounce Israel's ingratitude with greater force, leaves the narrative form, and intro

duces Christ himself, expostulating with them on their criminality, and menacing them with his vengeance. "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? . . . . I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned nor digged; but there shall come up briars and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."

The possession of authority over the nation is granted. He has ruled it up to the æra of the prophet. And what is now declared ?-that he will not only continue to hold it, but that the nation shall be dispersed and rooted out from the land; and the Jewish polity broken up by the same Power which established it, because it persisted in evil counsels, and rebelled against the hand which had fostered and protected it; because it brought forth wild grapes, -therefore "I will lay it waste; "it shall be trodden down." The point affirmed is precisely that which was to be desired ;-(the prophet thus confirming that which had been asserted by the historian) that Christ not only held the earth in vassalage, but that he should continue to hold it, even after he had appeared openly in his Incarnation, and had promulgated to mankind the fulness of his Truth.

This announcement to Isaiah is great and lustrous as a prophecy. The vision which almost immediately succeeds it is equally glorious, as conveying to the outward senses, those ideas of the power of the Saviour which had been breathed into his mind

by inspiration. "In the year that King Uzziah died," writes the prophet, "I saw the Lord (JEHOVAH) sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried to another, and said; Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then said I; Woe is me, because I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts."*

The titles applied to God in this vision, it will be observed, are amongst the most exalted names attributed to the Deity: "Jehovah," "the King," "the Lord of Hosts." The power also assumed, palpably denotes an unquestionable supremacy;the supremacy which we should naturally ascribe to the Ruler of the Universe, "the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Turn we to St. John, and in accordance with the above extract; - indeed it can possibly apply to no other portion of the prophet's writings, - we light upon this passage: "These things said Esaias when he saw his (Christ's) glory, and spake of him.Ӡ

The evidences however in the writings of Isaiah are so frequent, that in order to do full justice to the subject, every chapter should be subjected to a close and separate analysis; and it is difficult to select a portion without feeling that much strength of the argument is sacrificed to the fear of an over minuteness which, in the inevitable monotony of repeated proof, might become wearisome and tedious. ↑ John xii. 41.

* Isaiah vi. 1.

We have given two modes of evidence from his predictions. We add another of a different character. It is this; that God who was worshipped as the Lord; the one God of Israel; is represented by the prophet as applying to himself the character, which we now recognize, under our more ample knowledge, as appropriated wholly by the Son, in his character of Redeemer. The passages in which this title is assumed are numerous. We select the following. "Now thus saith the Lord (JEHOVAH) that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by my name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee,"* (an evident allusion to His guidance through the Red Sea and Jordan.) "For I am the Lord thy God, the holy one of Israel, thy Saviour." A few verses subsequently he repeats the expression: "I, even I, am the Lord (JEHOVAH), and beside me there is no Saviour."

In the forty-fourth chapter, a remarkable passage occurs, which plainly points to Christ's coming on the earth; and in the latter clause, a singular confirmation of the rule of Christ over all from the beginning; although spoken of course as of Christ in the Unity of the Godhead. "Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord (JEHOVAH) hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb; I am the Lord

* Isaiah xliii. 1.

that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth forth the earth by myself."

In the forty-eighth chapter a passage occurs of equal-even of greater force, as referring to his guidance of Israel through the wilderness. "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. . . . Go Go ye forth of Babylon; flee ye from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this; utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. And they thirsted not, when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out."

The fifty-fourth chapter commences with a triumphant burst of joy on the firm establishment of the kingdom of the Messiah. It follows the well known prophecy of his sufferings and death; and indeed forms a part of it; being only divided from it by the fictitious arrangement of chapters. It proclaims the grafting in of the Gentiles; and as if in compassion to the Jews for the sufferings they should endure in the Babylonish Captivity, and the privileges and glories they should forfeit in their rejection of himself, turns to them in these accents of consolation : "For a small moment have I forsaken thee: but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment;