for the days come upon thee, that the enemies shall cast a trench about thee, &c.-Luke xix. 41-43. Matt. xxiii. 37, 38.

I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work. John ix. 4. Rom. xiii. 11, 12.

A little while is the light with you: walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.-John xii. 35.

of the Lord is.-Eph. v. 14. 16, 17. Col. iv. 5.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. -Phil. ii. 12.

If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead: not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend, &c. this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and

God, &c. hath made of one blood reaching forth unto those things all nations of men, &c. and hath de- which are before, I press toward the termined the times before appointed, mark, &c. Let us therefore, as many and the bounds of their habitation; as be perfect, be thus minded.-Phil. that they should seek the Lord, if iii. 11-16.

haply they might feel after him, &c. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost The timesof this ignorance God winked saith, To-day, if ye will hear his at: but now commandeth all men every voice, harden not your hearts, as in where to repent. - Acts xvii. 24-30. the day of provocation, &c. wherefore And that knowing the time, that I was grieved, &c. so I sware in my now it is high time to awake out of wrath, They shall not enter into my sleep: for now, &c. the night is far rest.---Heb. iii. 7-11. Ps. lxxxviii. 4. spent, the day is at hand; let us Heb. iv. 7. therefore cast off the works of darkness, &c. Rom. xiii. 11, 12.

This I say, brethren, the time is short; it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, &c.-1 Cor. vii. 29.

And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.Heb. vi. 11, 12. 1 Cor. xv. 58.

Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us; and let us run with patience the race that is set before us: looking unto Jesus, &c.-Heb xii. 1-3.

Go to now, ye that say, to-day, or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow: for what is your life? It is even

When it pleased God, &c. to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I confered not with flesh and blood, a vapour, &c. For that ye ought to

neither went I up, &c.-Gal.i. 15-17.

In due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them, &c. - Gal. vi. 9, 10.

Awake, thou that sleepest, &c. redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will

say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. - James iv. 13-15.

If ye call on the Father, &c. pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. 1 Pet. i. 17.

That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, to the lusts of men, but to the will of God, for the time past of our life may suf

CHAP. XLVII.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO HOPE IN,
ANDCRY TO GOD, WHEN OUR CASE
SEEMS DESPERATE, AND AT THE
LOWEST EBB.

MOSES said unto the people, Ye have
sinned a great sin: and now I will
go up unto the Lord; peradventure I
shall make an atonement for your sin.

-Exod. xxxii. 30.

The Lord shall repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, &c. -Deut. xxxii. 36.

Ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel; peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.I Sam. vi. 5.

And Jonathan said, &c. Come and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.-1 Sam. xiv. 6.

While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?2 Sam. xi. 22.

MANY shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many: and ye shall hear of wars, &c. because iniquity shall abound, the love of Let him alone, and let him curse, many shall wax cold. The gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, &c. As the days of Noah were, so shall the coming of the Son of man be, &c. They were eating, &c.-Matt. xxiv. 5-7. 12. 14. 37, 38.

&c. it may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. -2 Sam. xvi. 11, 12.

Why sit we here until we die? If we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit still here, we die also. Now, therefore, come and let us fall into the host of the Syrians: and if they kill us, we shall but die. -2 Kings vii. 3, &c.

That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.-2 Thess. ii. 3, &c. if they save us alive, we shall live;

In the last days perilous times shall come; for men shall be lovers of their ownselves, &c. -2 Tim. iii. 1-4.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? &c.-2 Pet. iii. 3, &c.

This is a day of trouble, &c. it may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, &c. and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard. Wherefore, lift up the prayer for the remnant that are left.-2 Kings xix. 3, 4.

We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now, therefore, let us make a covenant with our God, to put away all the wives, &c. - Ezra x. 2, 3.

O my God, I cry in the day time, and thou hearest not, &c. be not far from me, &c. - Ps. xxii. 2-12.

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth, &c. He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.-Lam. iii. 27. 29.

Israel said, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts, &c. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Ezek. xxxvii, 11-13.

O king, &c. break off thy sins by righteousness, &c. if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity (or healing of thine error).-Dan. iv. 27.

from his evil way, &c. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?-Jonah iii. 8-10.

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek, &c. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.-Zeph. ii. 3.

The woman who had had the bloody issue twelve years, and had spent much upon physicians to no purpose, came and touched Christ, and was healed. - Luke viii. 43-48. John v. 5-9.

The woman of Canaan, though Christ answered her roughly, cried still, and prevailed.-Mark vii. 26,&c. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee: for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.-Acts viii. 22, 23.

In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the

Rend your heart, &c. who know- acknowledgment of the truth; and

eth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him? &c. Joel ii. 13, 14.

Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate; it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.-Amos v. 15.

The ship was like to be broken, &c. Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay, and was fast asleep; and the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, &c. Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.-Jonah i. 4-6.

that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.

CHAP. XLVIII.

GOD IS NOT REGARDLESS OF THE
FIRST ESSAYS AND INSTANCES OF
HUMILIATION, BUT FREQUENTLY
COMMENDS AND REQUITES THEM.

HE only of Jeroboam shall come to
the grave, because in him there is
found some good thing toward the
Lord God of Israel, in the house of
Jeroboam.-1 Kings xiv. 13.

Ahab, &c. rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, &c. and went softly, &c. Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? be

Jonah (when in the fish's belly) said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple, &c. when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, cause he humbleth himself before me, and my prayer came in unto thee, I will not bring the evil in his days. into thine holy temple.-Jonah ii. -1 Kings xxi. 27-29.

1-4.7.

Jehu commended and rewarded for

Let man and beast be covered with his zeal, in executing the judgments sackcloth, and cry mightily unto of God upon Ahab's house.-2 Kings God: yea, let them turn every one x. 30.

and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. Numb. xxi. 2, 3.

Because thine heart was tender Lord thy God.-Deut. xxiii. 21-23. (saith God to Josiah) and thou hast Eccles. v. 4, 5. humbled thyself before the Lord, &c. Israel vowed a vow to the Lord, and hast rent thy clothes, and hast wept before me: I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold, therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. -2 Kings xxii. 19, 20.

When the Lord saw that Rehoboam, and the princes humbled themselves, he said, I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, &c. God would not destroy him altogether.-2 Chron. xii. 6, 7. 12.

Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. -Jer. ii. 2.

Thus God did note and commend the good of the churches in Asia.Rev. ii. 2, 3.9.13. 19. iii. 4.8.10, 11.

CHAP. XLIX.

OF VOWS AND PROMISES TO GOD.

JACOB vowed a vow, saying, if God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, &c. then shall the Lord be my God.-Gen. xxviii. 20-22. xxxi. 13.

The laws for redemption of things vowed. Levit. xxvii. The law about vows; where it binds, and is to be kept, and where not.-Numb. xxx.

When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. That which is gone out of thy lips, thou shalt keep and perform, even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the

Jephthah's vow, to dedicate to God whatever came forth of the doors of his house to meet him: after his victory his daughter met him; who did with her according to his vow.Judges xi. 30-39.

Hannah vowed to give her child unto the Lord; and she performed it. -1 Sam. i. 11. 27, 28.

Absalom pretended a vow which he had vowed unto the Lord, that he might go to carry on the conspiracy he designed against his father David. -2 Sam. xv. 1--10.

Offer unto God thanksgiving: and pay thy vows unto the Most High.Ps. 1. 14.

Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.-Ps. lvi. 12.

Thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage, &c. So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows. Ps. lxi. 5. 8.

I will go into thy house with burntofferings: I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, &c. when I was in trouble.-Ps. lxvi. 13, 14. Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God. Ps. lxxvi. 11.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now, in the presence of all his people.-Ps. cxvi. 14.

It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy; and after vows, to make inquiry.-Prov. xx. 25.

When thou vowest unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools, &c. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.Eccles. v. 4, 5.

God threatens Israel for saying, they would perform their vows which they had made, to burn incense to the

queen of heaven, &c. - Jer. xliv. &c. how much less shall your God 25, &c.

I will pay that which I have vowed. -Jonah ii. 9.

Paul had shorn his head in Cenchrea; for he had a vow.- Acts xviii. 18.

We have four men which have a vow on them; them take, and purify thyself with them, &c. And all may know, &c. that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written, and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only, &c.-Acts xxi. 23, &c.

The law about the vows of a daughter, in her father's house: and

of a married person.-Numb. xxx.

CHAP. L.

OF BLASPHEMY.

deliver you out of mine hand? And his servants spake yet more against the Lord God, and against his servant Hezekiah. He wrote also letters, to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against him, &c. And they spake against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the works of the children of men.-2 Chron. xxxii. 9-20.

The shame of my face hath covered me, for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth. - Ps. xliv. 15, 16.

O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people hath blasphemed thy name. Ps. lxxiv. 10. 18.22.

AND the Israelitish woman's son Render unto our neighbours sevenblasphemed the name of the Lord, fold into their bosom, their reproach, and cursed; and they brought him wherewith they have reproached unto Moses, &c. and they put him in thee, O Lord.-Ps. lxxix. 12. ward, that the mind of the Lord What have I here, saith the Lord, might be shewed unto them. And that my people is taken away for the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, nought? &c. and my name continuBring forth him that hath cursed, ally every day is blasphemed? Isa. without the camp; and let all that lii. 5.

a

heard him lay their hands upon his In this your fathers have blashead, and let all the congregation phemed me, in that they have comstone him, &c. Whosoever curseth mitted trespass against me, when his God, shall bear his sin: and he I had brought them into the land, that blasphemeth the name of the &c. Then they saw every high hill, Lord, he shall surely be put to death. and all the thick trees; and then -Levit. xxiv. 11-16. 23. they offered sacrifices there, &c.Ezek. xx. 27, 28.

Jezebel, king Ahab's wife, commanded the nobles to set up false Thou shalt know that I am the witnesses against Naboth, to testify Lord, and that I have heard all thy that he did blaspheme God and the blasphemies, which thou hast spoken king; and so stone him to death: against the mountains of Israel, saywhich accordingly they did.-1 Kings xxi. 8-13. Acts vi. 11. 13.

ing, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. Thus with your mouth you have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me. - Ezek. xxxv. 12, 13.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, by his servants said, Who among all the gods, &c. could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God When Christ had said to the sick should be able to deliver you out of man, Thy sins are forgiven thee, then mine hand? &c. No god of any na- behold certain scribes said within tion or kingdom was able to deliver, themselves, This man blasphemeth,