Obrazy na stronie
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לָכֵן) thereby

of air through the throat. The sound that is thus | God's breath, or God's breath being described as produced corresponds to the rough guttural sound wind (Ex. xv. 8; Job iv. 9; xv. 30; Hos. xiii. 15; of the roaring lion (xxxi. 4), to the noise of thun- Isaiah xl. 7; lix. 19). As a violent tempest der (Job xxxvii. 2), to the moaning of a dove causes much damage, but at the same time does (xxxviii. 14), to the muttering of conjurers (viii. much good by its purifying influence, so this pun19), and to the sighing of a man (xvi. 7), and is ishment of expulsion from the land is so far from also the physical basis for human speech, whether being intended for the destruction of Israel, that this be a speaking with others or a speaking with the salvation of Israel arises from it. For just one's self under profound emotion (meditari). as xxvi. 14; Jer. v. 2) the guilt of Even in Prov. xxv. 4 sq. this signification holds. "Breathe (blow) the dross from the silver" is Jacob is expiated (covered comp. xxii. 14). The what we read there. This means, we are to re- words by this, therefore, are to be taken together, and move by blowing the impure ingredients that point with emphasis backwards. N cannot be swim on the surface of the molten silver. And so referred to the following 11, because atone(Prov. xxv. 5) the court is to be purified from the ment is not made for Israel by this D, but hurtful presence of a wicked man, he is to be on the contrary, this 1 D is the fruit of the blown away as scum upon molten silver. In our expiation. By this expiatory punishment Israel place, too, is simply "to breathe." He knows how to make good come out of evil (Gen. is made partaker of great blessing. The LORD breathes with his rough breath in the day 1. 20). The expiation, i. e., the removal of guilt of the east wind means nothing else than: has the effect that Israel thereby becomes free also God blows Israel away out of his land by send- from the power and dominion of sin. [72? ing, like the storm of an east wind, His breath though it strictly means shall be atoned for, is here with great force over the land. The thought in- metonymically used to denote the effect and not volved in n is once more expressed by an the cause, purification and not expiation. In the image. The Prophet knows that exile is the se- very same way it is applied to the cleansing of verest punishment which Jehovah inflicts on His inanimate objects. ALEXANDER.-D. M.]. people. Whether it was the case that Isaiah had refers to and what follows. All fruit of the already witnessed the carrying away of the ten forgiveness of sin, consequently all sanctification tribes, or that passages of the Pentateuch which concentrates itself in Israel's keeping now the first threaten the punishment of exile were present to and greatest commandment, and in definitively him (Deut. iv. 27 sq.; xxviii. 36, 63 sqq.; xxix. renouncing idolatry. is not, however, the de28), he certainly means that Jehovah does not exterminate His people as He, e. g., exterminated monstrative pronoun, but is to be taken adverbithe Canaanites, but that He inflicts on them as ally; this word, as is well known, possessing the the maximum of punishment only temporary struction (not in) can follow. Comp. two significations this and there. Hence the conexile. The use of the perfect is then quite normal, in order to describe further a matter contained in the principal sentence (). The expression does not elsewhere occur, xix. 4, of

But Isaiah does speak of a

Num. xiii. 17. Israel by so dashaltars, that they can no longer serve for places of ing in pieces all the stones of their idolatrous worship for Ashtoreth and images of the sun, exhibits the fruit of the expiation that has been rendered and of the forgiveness that has been re

are not אבני גיר,ds. Aeye) is lime) גיר .xiv. 3, of a

ceived עֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה xxi. 2, of חָזוּת קָשָׁה a

ver. 1. A mighty political catastrophe which would purify the land is here compared with a stormy wind, or east wind, the most violent wind known in Falestine (Job xxvii. 21; Hos. xiii. 15, which place was perhaps before the mind of the Prophet; Jon. iv. 8; Ezek. xvii. 10; xix. 12); and this wind is marked as

as a breath proceeding from the mouth of God; wind being frequently in the O. T. described as

lime-stones, in the mineralogical sense, but stones in a wall which are covered with lime, mortar [?], (comp. xi. 12; xxxiii. 3) are the same stones, when they, in consequence of the destruction of the wall which they formed, lie broken idolatrous altars, and they will in consequence no in pieces. This shall happen to the stones of the longer serve as pedestals on which images of Ashtoreth and of the sun (comp on xvii. 8) stand up.

8. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLDLY CITY AND ISRAEL'S JOYFUL RESTORATION. CHAPTER XXVII. 10-13.

10

Yet the defenced city shall be desolate,

And the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness:
There shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down,

And consume the branches thereof.

11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off:

The women come and set them on fire:

For it is a people of no understanding;

Therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them,
And he that formed them will show them no favor.

12 And it shall come to pass in that day,

That the LORD shall beat off

From the 'channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt,

And ye shall be gathered one by one,

O ye children of Israel.

13 And it shall come to pass in that day,

That the great trumpet shall be blown,

And they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria,
And the outcasts in the land of Egypt,

And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

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TT:

Ver. 10. 77 (only here in Isaiah) is an adverb, or is the form of the construct state, and can be treated substantive used adverbially. It might also be here as such; for the construct state marks in apposi(comp. Numb. xxiii. 9; Micah vii. 14). That an adverb tional relations nothing but the closest connection can be the predicate is well known. (NAEGELSBACH Gr., § 64, 1). [To one one, i. e., one to the other, to mark careful attention to each individual, and to express the idea that all will be gathered together

Ver. 12. 8, i. c., to one one, to one which is one and nothing else, wholly one. This combination occurs only here (for Eccles. vii. 27 is different). T and without exception.-D. M.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.

inhabitants are so. (Comp.

p. xvi. 2;

היצאת

.Isa, xiii הָאָרֶץ תֵּשֵׁב Amos v. 3; and הָעִיר

20). As the wilderness can be said to be forsaken, but not driven away, we have to connect

also, On משלח and not כמדבר with נעזב only

1. The Prophet again draws on a dark back- | taken here as "pasturage," but as habitation, ground the picture of the worldly power. He dwelling-place. The is said by Metonymy had represented it, ver. 1, in the form of beasts; to be driven away (hp) although only its here, as already (xxiv. 10-12; xxv. 2, 3, 12; xxvi. 5), the great city of the world, the centre of the worldly power, is made to appear. He depicts it as a desolate forsaken place, overgrown with bushes, whose tender branches the calves eat off, whose withered twigs women gather for fuel. This pitiable lot is the punishment of their folly (vers. 10 and 11). Quite different is the case with Israel. This people finds grace in the eyes of its LORD. Out of the sheaves of the nations, which shall be gathered in the day of judgment, all the ears that belong to Israel shall be separated, and bound together (ver. 12). And when the great trumpet sounds, all the Israelites lost and scattered in the lands of the heathen, shall return home, in order to worship Jehovah on the holy mountain at Jerusalem (ver. 13).

the place that has been so forsaken calves will feed (comp. v. 17; xxvii. 13 sqq.), and lie down, and consume (xlix. 4) the branches (comp. xvii. 6) thereof, i. e., of the forsaken city. What remains of the branches (37 in the collective sense of foliage, especially in Job xiv. 9; xviii. 16; xxix. 19), and is withered, is broken off (the plural to be referred to the idea of a multitude of branches contained in 7p); then women come and kindle it ( as a neuter comp. on ver. 4), i. e., they make an , a flame of it (xxxi. 9; xliv. 16; l. the people (i. e., the nations conceived as one) Mal. i. 10). This judgment comes upon of the worldly power; because it is a people without right understanding (plural only here. Comp. on xi. 2). Therefore, although Jehovah is the Creator of the heathen also (Gen. i. 26; comp. Job xii. 10; Acts xvii. 26), yet He will

11

comp.

2. Yet the defenced-no favor.-Vers. 10, 11. The city which becomes desolate and finds no mercy (ver. 11) cannot possibly be Jerusalem. It can only be the city which the Prophet has already (xxiv. 10-12; xxi. 2, 3, 12; xxvi. 5) so emphatically set forth as the centre of the worldly power, and distinguished from the earth of which it is the centre. Vers. 10 and 11 are therefore connected with ver. 1. is here explicative, rather than causal. The defenced city of ver. 10 is identical with the not be gracious unto them (y as xvii. 7; xxix. in xxv. 2.- (comp. xxxii. 18; xxxiii. 20; xxxiv. 13; xxxv. 7; lxv. 10) is originally a habitation of Nomades, a place where people can stay with their flocks and herds. Then it is habitation in general; and as the city is here designated as y, what the city was, and not what it is. is denoted by . It was formerly an inhabited city. is accordingly not to be

16. 173 comp. xxix. 16; xlv. 9 et saepe). [Many of the best interpreters hold that the city spoken of in ver. 10 is Jerusalem, and not Babylon. The desolation here described is not so complete as that denounced against Babylon (xiii. 19-22), and corresponds exactly to the judgment foretold elsewhere by Isaiah against Israel and Jerusalem xxxii. 13, 14; v. 17. The people of no under

standing, whose Maker and Former is Jehovah, | Euphrates to designate a boundary of the Israelitcertainly looks like Israel. Comp. i. 3.-D. M.]. ish kingdom (Gen. xv. 18; 1 Kings viii. 65), 3. And it shall come-Jerusalem.-Vers. but as emblem of the southern and first land of 12, 13. In contrast to the sad image of a wilder- exile; as the Euphrates is emblem of the second ness in vers. 10 and 11, the Prophet depicts and northern land of exile. Israel's final destiny as a harvest of glory and highest honor for Israel. The image of a great harvest-day (Matt. xiii. 39; Rev. xiv. 14 sqq.), forms the basis of the figurative language of vers. 12 and 13. The sheaves are gathered, even in the countries where Israel lives in exile, mainly therefore, in the countries of the Euphrates and the Nile. For these countries are for the Prophet here, as xi. 11 sqq.; xix. 23 sqq., representatives of the lands of exile in general. But borne by the reapers, the LORD shall beat these sheaves (of the beating off of olives Deut... Israel's return to his own land is type of

when the harvest-sheaves of those countries are

xxiv. 20; of the threshing of grain with a staff Jud. vi. 11; Ruth ii. 17; Isa. xxviii. 27), and the ears of Israel will fall out, and then be gathered to be brought back. It is plain that the Prophet means by this image what he afterwards, ver. 13, states in proper terms. For the scattered Israelitish ears amid the great sheaves of the

נדחים and אברים Gentiles are nothing but the

At the signal which will be given by sound of trumpet (xviii. 3; Matt. xxiv. 3; 1 Cor. xv.52; 1 Thes. iv. 16) all the Israelites who are lost (Jer. 1. 6) and scattered (xi. 12 comp. Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 16) in the lands of Assyria and Egypt (in the same lands which were previously designated by 7 and come to worship the LORD in Jerusalem, on the mountain of the Sanctuary (xxiv. 23; xxv. 6, 7, 10). Here ends the libellus apocalypticus of Isaiah This worship he conceives as never ending (comp. xxv. 7 the restoration of redeemed men (the 'Topanλ TVεUTIKÓS) into the heavenly home. It is not possible in this connection to think merely (as even DRECHSLER does) on a single act of worship before taking possession of the land and settling in it.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

1. xxiv. 2. "When general judgments take ver. 13. I take therefore ver. 12 as a col-place, no distinction is observed between man and lective designation of ears of grain. For what wife, master and servant, mistress and maid, significance would it have here to give promi- learned and unlearned, noble and plebeian, clergy nence to the Euphrates being at high water, as and laity; therefore let no one rely on any exterit is quite indifferent for the Geographical bound-nal prerogative or superiority, but let every one ary whether the Euphrates has much water or little (, flurus aquae, emphasizes the abundance of water, Ps. lxix. 3, 6; besides only Jud. xii. 6 where the meaning is a matter of no consequence)? We dare not press the line of the Euphrates, or the line of the

without distinction repent and forsake sin."CRAMER. Though this is right, yet we must, on the other hand, remember that the LORD declares in reference to the same great event, "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at any the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other more than the depth of the Euphrates as a sharply left” (Matth. xxiv. 10 sq.). There is no contradrawn boundary-line. For the grain-ears of the diction in these two statements. Both are true: Euphrates are just the ears of the lands of the outward relations will make no difference; there Euphrates, and the ears of the brook of Egypt shall be no respect of persons. But the state of are the ears of Egypt, as appears from the heart will make a difference. According to and D ver. 13. I believe that in regard to the inward character there will, in the case of grammar we are fully justified in supplying those whose external position in the world is perfectly alike, be some who enter life, others whose doom is death.

after and before. The omission of substantives after prepositions of comparison furnishes a perfectly sufficient analogy for this omission (comp. Job xxxiii. 25). [The proposed construction is intolerably hard, and has no clear parallel to support it. It is unwarrantably assumed that must mean the high water of the river Euphrates as distinguished from the river at low water. nav denotes current, flood, and so abundance of water, and it may well be put as an adjunct of the river Eu phrates when the other terminus is the insignificant stream of Egypt, the Wadi el Arish. It appears to me exceedingly forced to take na here as a collective, meaning ears of grain, and then to suppose an ellipsis of this substantive after .-D. M.].

That the is the Wadi el Arish which flows near Rhinocolura into the sea is certain. (Comp. EBERS, Egypt and the books of Moses, I. p. 275). But it is not mentioned along with the

2. xxiv. 5 sq. "The earth is burdened with sins, and is therefore deprived of every blessing. The earth must suffer for our guilt, when we have as it were spoilt it, and it must be subject to vanity for our sakes (Rom. viii. 20). What wonder is it that it should show itself ungrateful toward us ?"-CRAMER.

[3. xxiv. 13 sq.

"Observe the small number of this remnant; here and there one who shall escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family, when the old world was drowned), who when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their head with joy. Luke xxi. 26-28." HENRY.D. M.].

4. xxiv. 17-20. Our earth is a volcanic body. Mighty volcanic forces were active at its forma

tion. That these are still in commotion in the interior of the earth is proved by the many active volcanoes scattered over the whole earth, and by the perpetual volcanic convulsions which we call earthquakes. These have hitherto been confined to particular localities. But who can guarantee

that a concentration and simultaneous eruption | those which arose together with it, and which of those volcanic forces, that is, a universal earth-stand in organic connection with it, so also the quake, shall not hereafter occur? The LORD angelic powers, which are judged simultaneously makes express mention of earthquakes among the with us men, can be only those which stand in signs which shall precede His second coming connection with the heavenly bodies of our Solar (Matth. xxiv. 7; Mark xiii. 8; Luke xxi. 11). System, i. e., with the earthly material world. And in 2 Pet. iii. 5 sqq. the future destruction of There are heavenly bodies of glorious pneumatic the earth by fire is set over against the destruc- substance. If personal beings stand in connection of the old world by water. Isaiah in our tion with them, they must also be pure, glorious, place announces a catastrophe whose characteris- resplendent beings. These will not be judged. tic features will be that, 1) there will be no escape They are the holy angels, who come with the from it; 2) destructive forces will assail from LORD (Matth. xxv. 31). But it is quite conabove and below; 3) the earth will be rent asun- ceivable that all the bodies of our Solar System der; 4) it will reel and totter; 5) it will suffer are till the judgment like our earth suffered to be so heavy a fall that it will not rise again (ver. 20 the theatre of the spirits of darkness. b). Is there not here a prophecy of the destruction of the earth by volcanic forces? And how suddenly can they break loose! The ministers of the word have every reason to compare this extreme exposedness of our earth to fire, and the possibility of its unexpectedly sudden collapse with the above-cited warnings of the word of God, and to attach thereto the admonition which is added in 2 Pet. iii. 11.

6. xxiv. 21-23. It seems to me that the Prophet has here sketched the chief matters pertain ing to eschatology. For the passing away of hea ven and earth, the binding of Satan (Rev. xx. l3), the loosing of Satan again (Rev. xx. 7), and finally the reign of God alone, which will make sun and moon unnecessary (Rev. xxi. 23)—are not these the boundary-stones of the chief epochs of the history of the end of the world?

7. xxv. 6. ["The LORD of hosts makes this feast. 5. xxiv. 21. The earth is a part of our planeThe provision is very rich, and every thing is of tary system. It is not what it appears to the op- the best. It is a feast, which supposes abundance tical perception to be, a central body around and variety; it is a continual feast to believers; which worlds of a different nature revolve, but it, it is their fault if it be not. It is a feast of fat together with many similar bodies, revolves round a common centre. The earth according to things and full of marrow; so relishing, so nourishthat view of the account of the creation in Gen.ing are the comforts of the Gospel to all those that feast upon them and digest them. The rei., which appears to me the true one, has arisen with all the bodies of our Solar system out of turning prodigal was entertained with the fatted calf; and David has that pleasure in communion one primary matter, originally united, common with God, with which his soul is satisfied as to them all. If our Solar System is a wellwith marrow and fatness. It is a feast of wines on ordered, complete organism, it must rest on the the lees; the strongest-bodied wines, that have basis of a not merely formal, but also material been long kept upon the lees, and then are well unity; i. e., the separate bodies must move, not refined from them, so that they are clear and fine. only according to a principle of order which governs all, but they must also as to their sub- soberly used, makes glad the heart, and raises the There is that in the Gospel which, like fine wine, stance be essentially like. And as they arose simultaneously, so must they perish simultaneous- Spirits, and is fit for those that are of a heavy heart, being under convictions of sin, and mourning for it, that they may drink and forget their misery (for that is the proper use of wine; it is a cordial for those that need it, Prov. xxxi. 6, 7) may be of good cheer, knowing that their sins are forgiven, and may be vigorous in their spiritual work and warfare, as a strong man refreshed with wine." HENRY.-D. M.]

8. xxv. 9. "In the Old Testament the vail and covering were before men's eyes, partly because they waited for the light that was to appear, partly because they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke i. 79). The fulfilment of this prediction has in Christ already begun, and will at last be perfectly fulfilled in the Church triumphant where all ignorance and sorrow shall be dispelled (1 Cor. xiii. 12)." CRAMER.

ly. It is inconceivable that our earth alone should disappear from the organism of the Solar System, or pass over to a higher material condition. Its absence, or ceasing to exist in its previous form and substance, would necessarily draw after it the ruin of the whole system. Hence the Scripture speaks every where of a passing away and renovation of the heaven and the earth (Ps. cii. 26; Isa. li. 6; lxv. 17; lxvi. 22; Matth. v. 18; xxiv. 29, 35; 2 Pet. iii. 7, 10, 13; Heb. xii. 26; Rev. xx. 11; xxi. 1). The heaven that shall pass away with a great noise, whose powers shall be shaken, whose stars shall fall, is the planetary heaven. The same lot will happen to the companions of our earth, to the other planets, and to the centre, the sun, and to all other co-ordinate and subordinate stellar bodies, which will befall the earth itself. This is the substance of the view mother, who presses to her bosom her sorrowful 9. xxv. 8. "God here represents Himself as a which serves as a basis for our place. But per-son, comforts him and wipes away his tears (Isa. sonal beings are not thereby by any means exlxvi. 13). The righteous are to believe and apcluded from the D. The parallel expropriate this promise, that every one may learn pression, and the use in other places to speak with Paul in the time of trial: the suf of the related expression D'83 lead us ferings of this present time are not worthy to be rather to suppose personal beings to be included. compared with the glory which shall be revealed But I believe that a distinction must be made in us, Rom. viii. 18." CRAMER. here. As the heavenly bodies which will pass away simultaneously with the earth, can only be

10. xxv. 10. "This is now the hope and consolation of the church that the hand of the LORD rests

on this mountain, that is, that He will be gracious, and let His power, help and grace be there seen and felt. But the unbelieving Moabites, i. e., the Jews, with all others who will not receive the gospel, shall be threshed to pieces as straw in the mire; these the Lord's hand will not rescue, as it helps those who wait on Him, but it shall press them down so that they will never rise, according to the saying, Mark xvi. 16." VEIT DIET

RICH.

the living God on earth, and who will not be excluded from the celestial city. Instead of complaining that only the righteous and the faithful will be admitted into the heavenly city, it should rather give us joy to think that there will be no sin there, that none but the just and true will there be found. This has been a delightful subject of reflection to God's saints. The last words written by HENRY MARTYN were: “Oh! when shall time give place to eternity? When shall appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness? There, there shall in no wise enter in any thing that defileth; none of that wickedness which has made men worse than wild beasts-none of their corruptions which add to the miseries of mortality shall be seen or heard of any more."-D. M.]

14. xxvi. 4. "The fourth privilege of the church is trust in God the Rock of Ages, i. e., in Christ, who not only here, but also Matth. xvi.; 1 Cor. x.; 1 Pet. ii., is called a rock in a peculiar manner, because no other foundation of salvation and of the church can be laid except this rock, which is here called the rock of ages on account of the eternity of His being, merit and oflice. Hence a refutation can be drawn of the papistical fable which makes Peter and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, to be the rock on which the church is built." FOERSTER. ["Whatever we trust to the world for, it will be but for a moment. All we expect from it is confined within the limits of time; but what we trust in God for will last as long as we shall last. For in the Lord Jehovah, Jah, Jehovah, in Him who was, and is, and is to come, there is a rock of ages, a firm and lasting foundation for faith and hope to build upon; and the house built on that rock will stand in a storm." HENRY."-D. M.]

11. xxv. Three thoughts contained in this chapter we should hold fast: 1) When we see the world triumph over every thing which belongs to the LORD and His kingdom, when our hearts are anxious about the preservation in the world of the Church of Christ, which is sore oppressed, let this word of the Prophet comfort our hearts. The world-city which contains all that is of the world, sinks into the dust, and the church of Christ goes from her chains and bands into the state of freedom and glory. We have often seen that it is the LORD's way to let every thing come to maturity. When it is once ripe, He comes suddenly with His sentence. Let us comfort ourselves therewith, for thus will it happen with the world and its dominion over the faithful followers of Christ. When it is ripe, suddenly it will come. to an end. 2) No one who has a heart for the welfare of the nations can see without the deepest pain how all hearts are now seduced and befooled, and all eyes closed and covered. The simplest truths are no longer acknowledged, but the more perverse, brutal and mean views and doctrines are, the more greedily are they laid hold of. We cannot avert this. But our comfort is that even this seduction of the nations will reach its climax. Then men will come to themselves. The vail and covering will fall off, and the Gospel will shine with new light before the nations. Therewith let us comfort ourselves. 3) Till this happens, the church is sorrowful. But she shall be full of joy. The promise is given to her that she shall be fully satisfied with the good things of the house of the LORD. A life is promised to her which neither death nor any pain can affect, as she has rest from all enemies. The word of the LORD shall be fulfilled in her: Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. The Church that has such a promise may wait in patient quietness for its accomplishment, and praise 16. xxvi. 6. "It vexes the proud all the the LORD in affliction, till it pleases Him to glo- more that they will be overcome by those who rify her before all cations." WEBER, The Prophetare poor and of no consequence. For example, Isaiah. 1875. Goliath was annoyed that a boy should come against him with a staff (1 Sam. xiii. 43)." CRAMER.

12. xxvi. 1. "The Christian church is a city of God. God has built it, and He is the right Master-builder. It is strong: 1) on account of the Builder; 2) on account of the foundation and corner-stone, which is Christ; 3) on account of the bond wherewith the living stones are bound together, which is the unity of the faith." CRAMER. [The security and happiness of true believers, both on earth and in heaven, is represented in Scripture under the image of their dwelling in a city in which they can bid defiance to all their enemies. We dwell in such a city even now, Ps. xlvi. 4-5. We look for such a city, Heb. xi. 10, 16; Rev. xxi.-D. M.]

13. xxvi. 2. [These words may be taken as a description of the people whom God owns, who are fit to be accounted members of the church of

15. xxvi. 5. "It is very common with the prophets, when they prophesy of the kingdom of Christ to make reference to the proud and to the needy, and to represent the latter as exalted and the former as brought low. This truth is directed properly against the self-righteous. For Christ and His righteousness will not endure spiritual pride and presumption; but the souls that are poor, that hunger and thirst for grace, that know their need, these Christ graciously receives." CRAMER.

17. xxvi. 8-10. That the justice of God must absolutely manifest itself that the majesty of the LORD may be seen, and that the wicked may learn righteousness, must even from a new Testament view-point be admitted. But the New Testament disputes the existence of any one who is righteous when confronted by the law, and who is not deserving of punishment. [But that there is none righteous, no not one, is taught most emphatically in the Old Testament also.-D. M.]. But it (the New Testament) while it shuts up all, Jews and Gentiles, without exception, under sin (Gal. iii. 22; Rom. iii. 9; xi. 32), sets forth a scheme of mediation, which, while it renders full satisfaction to justice, at the same time offers to

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