profaned the name of God, but that they were the cause of its being profaned; for the nations faid, that God had totally caft them off, and made choice of the Gentiles, in their ftead; because they had rejected, and crucified his beloved son, and lord of life: thus has the holy name of God been profaned by the doctrine of a triune Deity, of a god made flesh in the womb of a virgin; so contrary to the doctrine of the ftrict Unity of God, inculcated throughout the Law and the Prophets he therefore tells them, that he will have pity on his holy name that had been thus profaned among the nations; ver. 21. "But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Ifrael have profaned among the nation; whither they are gone." For by their being thus among the nations, his holy name was profaned; he therefore affures us, that he will fanctify his name, by redeeming them; although they fhould be totally unworthy of it; ver. 22-24. "Therefore fay unto the house of Ifrael, Thus faith the LORD God; Not for your fakes do I (this), O houfe of Ifrael, but for mine holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, whither ye are gone. And I will fanctify my great great name which hath been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations fhall know that I (am) the LORD, faith the LORD God, when I shall be fanctified in you in their fight. For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries; and bring you and bring you into your own land." And as the Prophet had made ufe of the image of a menftruous woman, to fhew their defilement, he says, ver. 25th. "Then will I fprinkle clean water upon you, and ye fhall be cleansed from all your defilements, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." For as the menftruous woman is cleanfed by ablution; so will God cleanse them with clean water, that they may become pure again. And that they fhould no more return to fin; he says, verse 26th. "I will also give you a new heart, and a new fpirit will I put within you; and I will remove the heart of ftone from your flesh, and will give you an heart of flesh." By this figure, the Prophet fhews that, they will no more follow their irregular defires, and their cupidity; for that the the great and ftupendous miracles, that will then be performed in their fight, will make fuch a lafting impreffion on them, as entirely to destroy their evil imagination, and incline them to all good; fo that they will then be in the fame ftate that Adam was in before his fall. The Prophet goes on to fhew that they fhall then have the fpirit of prophecy and the fymbol of the divine prefence restored to them; ver. 27-28. " And my fpirit will I put within you, and caufe you to walk in my ftatutes, and to keep my judgments and do them. And ye fhall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers; and ye fhall be my people, and I will be your God." He also affures them, that they fhall no more receive the reproach of famine among the nations, ver. 29-30. And I will fave you from all your defilements; and I will call for the corn and will multiply it, and will not fend famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field; that ye may no more receive the reproach of famine among the nations." They They will then remember their evil ways,. and will thoroughly repent of them: ver. 31. "Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that (were) not good; and ye fhall loathe yourfelves for your iniquities and for your abominations." The Prophet then informs us, that when they shall have thus confidered all their evil deeds; they will know, and be fully convinced, that this great redemption and falvation will not be wrought on account of their merit, as they are entirely undeferving of it; but that he will do it for the fake of his holy name; (as above mentioned) ver. 32. "Not for your fakes do I (this), faith the LORD God; be it known unto you: be afhamed and confounded for your own ways, O houfe of Ifrael." The Prophet then, by a moft beautiful contraft, fhews the happy ftate that the land will then be in, instead of the woful, ruined ftate, that it is in at prefent: ver. 33 -36. "Thus faith the LORD God: In the day when I fhall have cleanfed you from all your iniquities, and shall cause the cities to be inhabited, and the wafte places to be built, and (when) the defolate land fhall be tilled, where. whereas it was defolate in the fight of all that paffed by: Then fhall they fay, This land (that was) defolate is become as the garden of Eden; and the cities (that were) waste, and defolate, and ruined, (are become) fenced, (and) are inhabited. Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD have built the ruined places, and planted the (land which was) defolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. "For when they will fee the fudden transformation of the land, from the loweft ftate of mifery, to the higheft ftate of perfection; they all will be fully convinced, that it was the hand of the LORD that hath done it; according to the word which he had spoken by the mouth of his Prophet. And, as fome may object against this flourishing state of the country, on account of the great diminution which the nation has fuffered in this captivity: the LORD promises them his peculiar bleffing to multi"Thus faith the ply them: ver. 37—-38. LORD God, I will yet (for) this be inquired of by the house of Ifrael, to do (it) for them: I will increase them (with) men, like a flock: |
