They have violently strained the law of God to their own senses, and to the favour of their wicked practices.

III. 5 The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth not shame.

The holy and just God is in the midst of her; both to observe her carriage, and to instruct her in the ways of his laws, and to punish her sinful failings; and doth and will proceed accordingly he will not be unjust in the forbearing her; but doth every day shew some judgment or other upon her wicked inhabitants: he faileth not, thus to correct and warn her; but the unjust are not sensible of any shame or danger that is towards them.

III. 6 I have cut off the nations.

I have given them sufficient warning by those judgments, which I have brought upon the nations about them.

III. 7 I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.

I said of thee, O Jerusalem, Surely thou wilt be premonished by my judgments, to fear me; thou wilt receive good counsel and instruction, that so I might turn away my threatened destruction from thee, howsoever I might afflict thee for a time; but they, contrarily, gave themselves to an eager and wilful pursuit of their sins, and have shamefully corrupted all their doings.

HI. & Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey for my determination is to gather the nations that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger.

Therefore, since both the nations and ye are so unreclaimably sinful, make account of a heavy day, wherein I will rise up to execute my vengeance upon you and them; for my determination is, to gather the nations, and assemble the kingdoms, that I may enwrap them in one common destruction.

III. 9 For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD. After which, I will restore peace to my people; and will so work with them, that, abandoning all false worship and idolatry, they shall, with pure hearts and lips, confess me their Lord Christ.

III. 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. From the remotest parts of the world shall suppliants be gathered into my Church: both Jews and Gentiles shall bring offerings unto me, and subject themselves to my Gospel.

III. 11 In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me: for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of my holy mountain.

In that day thou shalt have no cause to be ashamed of all thy former offences, wherein thou hast transgressed against me; since

both I have fully forgiven them, and reformed them also: for then I will take away from thee that vain pride and confidence, which too many of my people put in the holiness of mount Zion, and the temple there; as if that alone could secure them from all evils, and procure all blessings.

III. 12 I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD.

Rather, in the stead of these proud boasters, I will leave in the midst of thee those meek and humble souls, which shall be vile in their own eyes, and shall place all their trust in Christ their Sa

viour.

III. 13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak les; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth : for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. And those selected people, which shall give up their names to me in my Church, shall make due conscience of their ways; not daring, either to do wickedly, or speak deceitfully for they shall be under the leading of a faithful shepherd; under whose power and mercy they shall feed safely and quietly, and none shall make

them afraid.

III. 14 Sing, O daughter of Zion.

Sing praises therefore unto the Lord, O thou Church of the faithful.

III. 15 The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more.

The Lord hath removed away both thy sins and his judgments from thee: he hath subdued thy spiritual enemies under thee, &c. Thou shalt not have cause to fear any evil, that may befal thee. So also verses 16, 17.

III. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach of it was a burden. I will gather together and comfort them, that mourn after the solemn assemblies of Sion; grieving at their withholding therefrom, by their forced captivity: who are a feeling part of thee, my Church; to whom the reproach of their long restraint was a burden.

III. 19 I will save her that halteth.

I will save the remnant of Israel, that were maimed and halting under too much oppression.

HAGGAI.

I. 2 This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.

The people make excuses for their neglect, and say, The time is not yet come for the building up of the Temple: fain would we

be re-edifying it, but we see opposition made by our envious neighbours, so as it is not yet seasonable to go about it.

I. 4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?

Is it time for you, O ye Jews, to build for yourselves fair houses, and to take your pleasure in enjoying of them, while ye suffer God's house to lie waste?

I. 5 Consider your ways.

Consider well the courses that ye take, and the success of your

affairs.

I. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

God hath justly crossed you in all your hopes and endeavours: ye have sown much, expecting a goodly crop, but ye find little to reap, &c. and he, that earneth wages, is never the better, never the richer; his gains do not prosper in his hands.

I. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. Go ye up to mount Libanus, cut down cedars, and bring them up to Sion, and build this Temple of mine; and, though it be not done with that state and magnificence, wherewith it was formerly, yet I will take pleasure in it, and account myself glorified in and by it, saith the Lord.

I. 9 I did blow upon it.

I crossed your hopes and designs in it.

II. 3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?

If there be any yet alive amongst you, that saw this Temple in her first glory, as it was built by Solomon, ere it was ruined by Nebuchadnezzar, and sees it now in the present homely estate, wherein it is; will he not think meanly of it, as a thing not wor thy to be regarded?

II. 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts:

Yet now, be of good courage, O Zerubbabel, &c. and be strong, and go forward cheerfully with the work, O ye people of the land; for I do both graciously accept, and will mercifully bless your endeavours herein :

ye

came

II. 5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you fear ye not. According to the word of my covenant with when you, out of Egypt, that ye should be my people, and I would be your God; so will I perform my protection, and the presence Spirit with you: fear ye not.

of my

1

II. 6, 7 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

For thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Once, I did, in great terror, deliver my Law; and now, ere any long time, I will once more work a great change in my Church, by the bringing in of my Gospel; before, and in the exhibiting whereof, as I did formerly, in the delivery of the Law, I will do wondrous things, both in heaven and earth, to the astonishing of the inhabitants thereof: And, besides the prodigies in heaven and earth, wherewith men shall be moved to amazement, I will cause great commotions of wars amongst all nations, who shall be grievously embroiled; and then, immediately, peace being restored to the world, the promised and desired Messiah, the Saviour of the World, shall come; and I will fill this house with the glory of his presence in it; for he shall come under the roof thereof.

II. 8, 9 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace saith the LORD of hosts.

Think not that I stand upon matter of cost or price of metals: all the silver and gold, which is hid in the bowels of the earth, is mine; and how easy were it for me, thus to adorn my house ! but I would have you to know, that the glory of this house of mine doth not consist in these outward things: no; the glory of this latter house, though meaner in structure, shall be greater, than of the former, saith the Lord; in that my Son, the Saviour of the World, being clothed in flesh, shall come personally and visibly under the roof of it; and that from thence shall the Gospel go forth to all the world, even that Gospel of Peace, which shall work a true and blessed tranquillity to every believer.

II. 12, 13, 14 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or twine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. As a man, that toucheth or carrieth about him a sanctified thing, is not thereby made clean and holy, neither doth thereby sanctify or make holy those other things which he toucheth; so, ye Jews, though ye have a holy altar, and there be holy sacrifices offered thereon, yet this holiness of your altar cannot sanctify you: but as, contrarily, if a man, that is unclean through any occasion of legal impurity, touch bread or flesh or any such thing, that very thing, which he toucheth, is by that touch made unclean ; so, ve Jews, being morally polluted and unclean, do, by your sinful

VOL. IV.

impurity, pollute my altars and offerings, and all the services that ye go about.

II. 15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD. And now I pray you, consider, and look back from this day, unto the time that the first stone was laid in the foundation, which is above one hundred years, since when there hath not been a stone laid upon it.

II. 16 Since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: &c.

In all that time of your slackness and neglect, I did so sensibly cross you, that you might well find it, in your corn, and oil, and wine; in all which, your hopes failed you notably where one made account to have gathered twenty measures, he found but ten: &c.

II. 18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid, consider it.

And now, that ye may see God's blessing upon you, for setting your hands to the building of his Temple, consider his dealings with you ever since the four and twentieth day of November, when ye began to renew the work of this building, consider.

II. 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.

As yet the seed is so far from yielding a harvest-increase to the barn, that it is scarce sprouted up; as yet there is no proof of your other fruits, the vines, pomegranates, olives; but mark how plentifully, from this very day, God will bless you in all these.

II. 21, 22 I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

I will make a sensible and wonderful alteration in the world; For I will overthrow the thrones of divers kingdoms, and will cause the opposite kingdoms of the heathen to subdue one another; and, besides the broils of foreign wars, I will cause the power of great kingdoms to be impaired and overturned by civil divisions.

II. 23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

But as for thee, O Zerubbabel, my faithful servant, which hast been zealous to advance my service and to build my Temple, I will take thee and thy posterity into my dearest respects and special care; for I have made choice of thee, as the man, from whose loins, in the fulness of time, I will take that flesh, wherewith I shall be clothed, saith the Lord of Hosts.