The words are in ftrict connection with those that immediately go before; If there be a meffenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to fhew unto man his uprightness; then he is gracious, &c. that is, if there be a meffenger with God; or with the fick man; who is defcribed in the preceding verfes, 19-22. by the ftrong pain he is chaftened with on his bed, with which all his bones are affected; by his naufea and abhorrence of food, even the most delicious and dainty; by the confumption of his flesh, being reduced to skin and bone, and fo emaciated, that scarce any flesh is to be feen upon him; and his bones, which were covered with it, now stick out, and may eafily be told; and by his near approach to the grave, and to the deftroyers: not the deftroying angels; rather, deftroying diseases; fo Broughton renders it, "killing maladies;" or it may be the worms, which in the grave destroy the flesh that remains, fee chap. xix. 26. or else deaths, the first and second, and the horrors and terrors of them ". Now in such a case, and at such a season, if there be a proper, useful, affisting person at hand, it is well for the fick man; if there be a messenger, or an angel, as the word fignifies: and fome understand it of an angel by nature; one of those thousands, and ten thousands, that stand before God and minifter unto him; one of those miniftering Spirits that are fent forth to minifter to the heirs of falvation; who, as they perform good offices to them in life and health, so in fickness, and at the hour of death; when it is certain they are present with them, to take care of the separate fpirit, and convoy it to heaven; and may be of use to fuggeft things comfortable to the mind of the fick fon, and direct him what is right for him in fuch circumftances. This fenfe the Popish interpreters greedily catch at; though, fhould it be admitted, it would not follow, that because that angels may be of fome ufe on sick-beds, and death-beds, that therefore they are to be invoked, prayed unto, and made ufe of as mediators between God and man; but I think this fenfe is to be rejected and rather by the messenger, &c. is meant a minister of the word, who is by office an angel; hence we read of the angels of the feven churches', which are no other than the paftors of them; who have their miffion and commiffion from God, to preach the gofpel: and fuch an one is an interpreter of the scriptures, which he ftudies rightly to divide and explain; and of the mind and will of God in them, which he is favoured with, and enlightened into: and a spiritual, evangelical and faithful difpenfer of the word is one among a thousand, scarce and rare; there are but few fuch, efpecially in times of declension, and in fuch places where the word of the Lord is precious or rare; and very probably

3 U 2

a Aben Ezra, Alfhech, R. Simeon Bar Tzemach in los.

c Vid. Schultens in loc. The Targum renders the word

d Targum, Grotius, Mercerus, & alii.

b Bolduc, in loc. "death."

e Munfter, Clarius, Codurcus, Bolducius, Junius & Tremellius, Caryll, and others.

Rev. i. 20.

per

bably there were but few in those countries where Job and his friends lived, fee Eccles. vii. 28. Now the bufinefs of fuch a one is to fhew unto man, to any man, and particularly "the fick man," his uprightness, or rectitude, or righteousness; either the righteoufnefs of God in this difpenfation of his providence; to inform him, that as God is righteous in all his ways and works, fo in this; that it is in very faithfulness he has afflicted him, and therefore should not think hardly of God, or that he is hardly ufed by him; fhould not murmur and repine, but patiently fubmit to the will of God: or elfe the righteousness of the God-man and mediator Jefus Chrift; that everlafting righteoufness he has wrought out, and which is revealed in the gospel, and is a principal article of it; and therefore a proper part of a minifter's work to fhew it unto men; hence they are faid to turn many to righteousness, or to justify many; that is, by pointing out and directing them to the righteousness of Chrift, as the alone jultifying one; and which, as it is the folid foundation of peace, joy, and comfort in life and health, it is most proper to be observed to the fick man drawing nigh to the gates of death; which is a righteoufnefs that will answer for him in a time to come. Moreover, it is the bulinefs of a minifter at fuch a time to fhew the fick man what is right for him to do: if the fick man is stupid and infenfible of his ftate and condition by nature; then he is to inform him that God made man upright, but he by finning loft his uprightness; and this is not now to be found in men, but must be had in another: he is to labour to convince him of the fin of his nature, and the finfulness of his life and actions; and to fhew him the exceeding finfulness of fin, and the juft demerit of it, eternal death and damnation, and the abfolute neceffity of repentance for it. If the fick man is a fenfible man, and is depreffed under a fenfe of fin, and the guilt of it, and under fearful apprehenfions of wrath and ruin; the minifter is to fer before him Chrift, and him crucified; he is to tell him of his blood, righteousness and facrifice, and the efficacy of them to take away fin; and to direct and encourage him to believe in Chrift; affuring him, that whoever believes in him fball be faved. Add to this, if the fick man is a good man, a truly gracious man, and yet has doubts and fears of his uprightness, and the truth of grace in him; then, the minister obferving that this is the fruit of unbelief, and of Satan's temptations, is to do all he can to clear up this point to him, that he is truly a regenerated and converted man; that he has truth. in the inner part, and that the work of grace is begun, which will be performed in him and this, as one rightly obferves, is the hardest work that the minifters of the gospel have, to make men understand and fee their own uprightness: all this being done, then be is gracious; the minifter is gracious, has pity and compaffion on the fick man, and speaks of the grace of God to him, and makes a gracious fupplication for

for him; (fo fome render the words) and prays in the following manner; "O Lord God, deliver this fick man from going down to the pit, redeem his "life from destruction; for I find in the everlasting gospel, there is a ransom or "atonement for fin provided for fuch perfons."

But after all, I rather think, with others, that the Meffiah, our Lord Jefus Chrift, is meant by the messenger or angel; who is the angel that went before the Ifraelites in the wilderness, in whom the name of the Lord was, who could, though he would not, pardon their iniquities; the angel of God's prefence, who always appears before him, and introduces men into his prefence, and through whom they enjoy it; and the angel or messenger of the covenant, who has confirmed it by his blood, and has revealed it more clearly in the gofpel: who alfo is an interpreter of his Father's mind and will, with which he is thoroughly acquainted, lying in his bofom; or an orator, the effential Word of God that spake for his people in council and covenant; their advocate with the Father, and the antitypical Aaron, that can speak well; having as man and mediator the tongue of the learned given him to fpeak a word in feafon : and he is one among a thoufand; the chiefest among ten thousand, angels or men; he has obtained a more excellent name, and is of a fuperior nature to angels, being their creator, Lord, and head; and is higher than the kings of the earth; there is none like unto him among all the creatures in heaven or earth; and to a believer he is all in all. And his office as a prophet is to fhew unto men the uprightness or righteoufness of God; the ftrictnefs of his juftice, what that requires, even perfect conformity to his law, and which is fufficiently declared by his propitiatory facrifice; and also his own uprightness, or righteousness he has wrought out; and which he, by his fpirit, convinces men of their need of, and brings it near to them, and clothes them with it, as well as fhews it unto God for them as their advocate; and he also fhews to them what is right and good for them to do, even to love mercy, do justice, and walk humbly with God: and then upon all this God is gracious; he manifefts his grace and love, and orders deliverance from ruin and destruction, even upon the foot of a ransom found and given; and feeing there is with him fuch a divine perfon in office in favour of the fick man: for the particle if' does not denote any thing doubtful and uncertain, but is expreffive of fomething certain, and infers it from it. In the words may be obferved,

'Junius & Codurcas.

I. The

* Cocceius, Schmid. Joh. Henr. Michael & Schultens in loc. Vid.

Withi Oeconom. Foederum, 1. 2. c. 3. §. 3. p. 112. & 1. 4. c. 3. § 30—37. P. 463—465. ONA, non incertam nunc, fed contra certam & neceffariam infert conditionem; fine qua peccator iratum numen experiens, & jam morti primæ ac fecundæ proximus, a pernicie liberari nequit ; ergo non doctor intenditur, non angelus, fed Goel. Schultens in loc.

I. The great bleffing of the text, a ranfom found.

II. The happy effect and confequence of it, deliverance from going down to the pit.

III. The grace of God difplayed herein, both in finding the ranfom, and delivering from the pit upon it; he is gracious, and faith.

I. The great bleffing of the text, a ranfom found. Two things I fhall confider under this head; 1, Who or what this ranfom is; 2dly, The act of finding it, and to whom it is to be ascribed.

ft, Who or what this ranfom is. A ranfom is a price paid for the redemption of captives, or fome fatisfaction given upon which they are released. In fuch a state and condition by nature are the elect of God, and ransomed of the Lord; they are the prey of Satan, and are led and detained captives by him at his will; they are brought into bondage by their fins and corruptions, and are held under the fame; and they are fhut up under the law, and liable to its condemnation and curfe; now Chrift is the ranfom of them from all this. This will appear by a paffage or two out of the New Teftament, which will ferve greatly to illuftrate the text; for there is the fame gofpel in one Teftament as in the other, only it is in the Old more covertly, and in the New more clear and exprefs; and the one ferves to open and explain the other. Our Lord, fpeaking of the Son of man, by whom he means himself, fays, he came not to be ministered unto, but to minifter"; not to be waited upon, as a nobleman, prince or potentate; but to be a fervant to others, and particularly to give his life a ransom for many; fo that it is the life of Chrift that is the ranfom-price of men. Again, the apostle Paul fays of the man Chrift Jefus, the mediator, that he gave himself a ransom for all; algo, a ransom-price" in the room and ftead of all his people, Jews and Gentiles, to be teftified in due time; as it has been most clearly through the miniftration of the gofpel; whence it is manifeft that not riches, nor righteousness, nor repentance, nor prayers, nor alms-deeds, are the ranson of men, but Chrift himfelf. Not riches: The Ifraelites indeed, when they were numbered, gave every one an half fhekel for the ranfom of their fouls, which was called atonement-money; but then this was not a real, but a typical ranfom; typical of the ranfom of Jefus Chrift; which is exprefsly denied to be by corruptible things, as filver and gold, but by his precious blood". Had a man ever fo great riches, the riches of the Indies, or of the whole world, he would not be able to redeem himself or his brother, or give to God a ransom for either; for if once wrath goes forth from the Lord, and he takes away with the ftroke of it, à great ranfom, even a king's ranfom cannot deliver from it; for

for will be efteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength: nor is a man's own righteoufnefs, or his good works, a ransom for him; thefe are what God has a prior right unto before the performance of them, and therefore men cannot expect a recompence for them, or a ranfom by them; for who bath first given to him (the Lord,) and it shall be recompensed to him again? These are debts they owe to God, and when performed ever fo well, they do but their duty; and therefore can never pay off the old fcores of fin by them, or thereby make atonement for them; thefe are not profitable to God, whatever they may be to men, and cannot merit any thing at his hand; and besides are exceeding imperfect and unacceptable to God of themselves; they are thrown out of man's acceptance with God, juftification before him, and eternal falvation; and if there is no acceptance, juftification and falvation by them, as we are fure from the word of God there is not, then they cannot be the ranfom-price for the fouls of men, or atone for their fins: nor is the ransom, repentance, tears and humiliation; for what fatisfaction do thefe give to an offended Being, to injured and inexorable juftice, and to the righteous law of God? which thofe that fin against die without mercy, unless it is fulfilled, magnified, and made honourable could men bring inftead of ten thousands of rivers of oil, fuch a quantity of brinifh tears, they would not wash away fin, or atone for it; ftill it would remain marked before God. Vain, ftupid man! to imagine that his own tears will do what a Saviour's could not; for though in the days of his flesh he offered up prayers and fupplications with strong crying and tears yet not these, but his blood was the ransom of fouls. Nor are prayers and almsdeeds a ransom, though ever fo well performed; these may come up before God for a memorial, through the mediation of Jefus Chrift, but not for a ransom or atonement, when done in faith, and from a principle of love, and to the glory of God; but for many of the prayers of men, they do but receive the greater damnation, as the Pharifees of old did; and a man may bestow all his goods to feed the poor, and yet not have charity, or the true grace of love, and be loft and perish; and if he had that grace, and did what he did from fuch a principle, it would not atone for his fins, or be the ranfom of his foul; no, this is in Chrift, and him only. The word here used comes from a root which fignifies to cover, and is much the fame in found as our English word, which feems to come from it the mercy-feat is called by this name, and indeed it was no other than a lid or covering to the ark, in which the law was, and exactly of the fame measure with it; and was typical of Chrift, who by his blood and righteousness covers

• Rom. xi. 35.

all

Pfal. xlix. 6, 7. Job xxxvi. 18, 19. . Heb. v, 7. Ex his de homine, & de Deo peccati condonationi quod fuum eft, conferente, exemplis eodem verbo utriufque actum exprimentibus apparet, optime reddi per tegere & tegendo illiniendoque. inducere ac delere. Guffet. Comment. Ebr. p. 398.