Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 4.djvu/61

Rh written word, and to that they must have recourse. Note, Those will never be drawn to consult wizards, that know how to make a good use of their Bibles. Would we know how we may seek to our God, and come to the knowledge of his mind? To the law and to the testimony. There you will see what is good, and what the Lord requires of you, Make God's statutes your counsellors, and you will be counselled right.

Observe, [1.] What use we must make of the law and the testimony; we must speak according to that word; we must make this our standard, conform to it, take advice from it, make our appeals to it, and in every thing be overruled and determined by it; consent to those wholesome healing words, (1 Tim. vi. 3.) and speak of the things of God in the words which the Holy Ghost teaches. It is not enough to say nothing against it, but we must speak according to it.

[2.] Why we must make this use of the law and the testimony; because we shall be convicted of the greatest folly imaginable if we do not. They that concur not with the word of God, prove there is no light, no morning-light, (so the word is,) in them; they have no right sense of things; they do not understand themselves, nor the difference between good and evil, truth and falsehood. Note, Those that reject divine revelation, have not so much as human understanding; nor do they rightly admit the oracles of reason, who will not admit the oracles of God. Some read it as a threatening; "If they speak not according to this word, there shall be no light to them, no good, no comfort, or relief; but they shall be driven to darkness and despair;" as it follows here, (v. 21, 22.) What light had Saul when he consulted the witch? 1 Sam. xxviii. 18, 20. Or what light can they expect, that turn away from the Father of lights?

(4.) He reads the doom of those that seek to familiar spirits, and regard not God's law and testimony; there shall not only be no light to them, no comfort or prosperity, but they may expect all horror and misery, v. 21, 22. [1.] The trouble they feared shall come upon them; they shall pass through the land, or pass to and fro in the land, unfixed, unsettled, and driven from place to place by the threatening power of an invading enemy; they shall be hardly bestead whither to go for the necessary supports of life; either because the country would be so impoverished, that there would be nothing to be had, or at least themselves and their friends so impoverished, that there would be nothing to be had for them; so that they who used to be fed to the full shall be hungry. Note. Those that go away from God, go out of the way of all good. [2.] They shall be very uneasy to themselves, by their discontent and impatience under their trouble. A good man may be in want, but then he quiets himself, and strives to make himself easy; but these people, when they shall be hungry, shall fret themselves, and when they have nothing to feed on, their vexation shall prey upon their own spirits; for fretfulness is a sin that is its own punishment. [3.] They shall be very provoking to all about them, nay, to all above them; when they find all their measures broken, and themselves at their wit's end, they will forget all the rules of duty and decency, and will treasonably curse their king, and blasphemously curse their God; and this more than in their thought, and in their bed-chamber, Eccl. x. 20. They begin with cursing their king, for managing the public affairs no better, as if the fault were his, when the best and wisest kings cannot secure success; but when they have broken the bonds of their allegiance, no marvel if those of their religion do not hold them long; they next curse their God, curse him, and die; they quarrel with his providence, and reproach that, as if he had done them wrong; The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, Prov. xix. 3. See what need we have to keep our mouth as with a bridle, when our heart is hot within us; for the language of fretfulness is commonly very offensive. [4] They shall abandon themselves to despair, and, which way soever they look, shall see no probability of relief; they shall look upward, but heaven shall frown upon them, and look gloomy; and how can it be otherwise, when they curse their God? They shall look to the earth, but what comfort can that yield to those whom God is at war with? There is nothing there but trouble, and darkness, and dimness of anguish, every thing threatening, and not one pleasant gleam, not one hopeful prospect; but they shall be driven to darkness by the violence of their own fears, which represent every thing about them black and frightful. This explains what he had said, (v. 20.) that there shall be no light to them. Those that shut their eyes against the light of God's word, will justly be abandoned to darkness, and left to wander endlessly, and the sparks of their own kindling will do them no kindness.

CHAP. IX.

The prophet, in this chapter, (according to the directions given him ch. iii. 10, 11.) saith to the righteous, It shall be well with thee, but Wo to the wicked, it shall be ill with him. Here are, I. Gracious promises to those that adhere to the law and to the testimony; while those that seek to familiar spirits, shall be driven into darkness and dimness, they shall see a great light, relief in the midst of their distresses, typical of gospel-grace. 1. In the doctrine of the Messiah, v. 1..3. 2. His victories, v. 4, 5. 3. His government and dominion, as Immanuel, v. 6, 7. II. Dreadful threatenings against the people of Israel, who had revolted from, and were enemies to, the house of David; that they should be brought to utter ruin, that their pride should bring them down, (v. 8..10.) that their neighbours should make a prey of them, (v. 11, 12.) that, for their impenitency and hypocrisy, all their ornaments and supports should be cut off, (v. 13..17.) and that by the wrath of God against them, and their wrath one against another, they should be brought to utter ruin, v. 18..21. And this is typical of the final destruction of all the enemies of the son of David and his kingdom.

EVERTHELESS, the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. 2. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 3. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. 5. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. 6. For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: