Jeremiah 22

22:1 Thus said the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates. Thus saith the Lord: Execute ye judgement and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence, to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation. For thus saith the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited. And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them. 10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away; 11 for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. For thus saith the Lord touching Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which reigned instead of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more; but in the place whither they have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land no more. 13 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; 14 that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not his hire; that saith, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is 15 cled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Shalt thou reign, because thou strivest to excel in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgement and justice! then it was 16 well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not 17 this to know me? saith the Lord. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covet-18 ousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. There-fore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, 19 saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. 20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry; and lift up thy voice in Bashan: and cry from Abarim; for 21 all thy lovers are destroyed. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will 22 not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice. The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt 23 thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. O inhabitant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon 24 thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee 25 thence; and I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and 26 into the hand of the Chaldeans. And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that bare thee, 27 into another country, where ye were not born; and there shall ye die. But to the land 28 whereunto their soul longeth to return, thither shall they not return. Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, 29 he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not? O earth, earth, earth, 30 hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

23:1 Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the 2 LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; be 3 hold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them 4 again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and multiply. And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be lacking, saith the LORD. 5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute judgement and justice in the 6 land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name 7 whereby he shall be called, The LORD is our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, As the LORD liveth, which brought up the chil 8 dren of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, As the LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. 9 Concerning the prophets. Mine heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome; because of the LORD, and be 10 cause of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness are dried up; and their course is evil, and their 11 force is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found 12 their wickedness, saith the LORD. Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, 13 even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD. And I have seen folly in the prophets of 14 Samaria; they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen an horrible thing; they commit adultery, and walk in lies, and they strengthen the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusa 16 lem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they teach you vanity: they speak 17 a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say continually unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. 18 For who hath stood in the council of the LORD, that he should perceive and hear his word? 19 who hath marked my word, and heard it? Behold, the tempest of the LORD, even his fury, 20 is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the 21 intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly. I sent not these 22 prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words, and had turned them from 23 their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and 24 not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the 25 LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. I have heard what the prophets 26 have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies; even the prophets of the 27 deceit of their own heart? which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers forget my name for Baal. 28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him 29 speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every 31 one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their 32 tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them; neither shall they profit this people at all,

33 saith the LORD. And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? then shalt thou say unto them, What burden! I will cast 34 you off, saith the LORD. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall 35 say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? 36 and, What hath the LORD spoken? And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man’s own word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living 37 God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the 38 LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? But if ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD: Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, 39 and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto you and 40 to your fathers, away from my presence: and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

CHAPS. 22 and 23 are connected together by similarity of subject. The temporal and spiritual leaders of the people, who are mainly responsible for the national catastrophe, receive their merited castigation. Verses 1-8 of chap. 23, properly speaking, belong to chap. 22; thus we get a well-rounded discourse on the conduct of the kings, with four symmetrical parts or strophes—verses 1-12, 13-19, 20-30 and chap. 23:1-8. Each begins with a general exhortation or meditation, and continues with a poetical description of the fates, successively, of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin. The prophecy is concluded, according to the rule of Isaiah, by a Messianic promise. P. C.

The prophecy which follows to chap. 23:8 was evidently delivered in the reign of Jehoiakim; for it speaks of his immediate predecessor as already gone into captivity, and foretells the death of Jehoiakim himself. It is likewise probable that it followed immediately after what is said in the 19th and 20th chapters to have passed in the Temple precincts; from whence, as from higher ground, the prophet is ordered to “go down to the house of the king of Judah.” (Cf. chap. 36:12.) The beginning of this prophecy is an address to the king of Judah, his servants and people, recommending an inviolable adherence to right and justice, as the only means of establishing a throne, and preventing the ruin of both prince and people (verses 1-9). The captivity of Shallum is declared to be irreversible (verses 10-12). Jehoiakim is severely reproved for his tyrannical oppressions, and his miserable end foretold (verses 13-19). His family is threatened with a continuance of the like calamities; the fall and captivity of his son Jeconiah are explicitly set forth, and the perpetual exclusion of his seed from the throne (verses 20-30). The name of Zedekiah is not mentioned for obvious reareasons; but he is, no doubt, principally intended in the two verses of chap. 23 under the general character of those evil shepherds, who should be punished for dispersing, instead of feeding, the flock. In the six following verses, with which the prophecy concludes, the people are consoled with gracious promises of future blessings; of their return from captivity, and of happier times under better governors; of the glorious establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom; and, it may be, of the subsequent restoration of all the dispersed Israelites to dwell once more in their own land. Blayney.

1,2. As one who must not fear the face of the proudest or most wicked of monarchs on his throne, Jeremiah must go to the king’s house and there proclaim this word. There were things in this message that were keenly cutting and humiliating, but they were also fearfully true, and being true, they should be said even though the guilty man who had done them were a king on his throne. It was pertinent to remind this wicked Jehoiakim that he sat on the throne of David, for David was in an important sense the founder of this kingdom.

3. With admirable clearness and point the one supreme purpose of all civil government, and consequently its prime duties and obligations, are here set forth—viz., to execute judgment and righteousness, to secure even-handed justice and equity between man and man; to shield the weak against the strong, and all classes against oppression and wrong. It was for these purposes that God ordained a civil government over His chosen people. These are the ends He aims to secure in His sanction of civil government in all human society. Rulers should be “a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well.” In the present case He promises, provided they will rule thus, to continue the succession of kings on David’s throne indefinitely long, and with great prosperity.

5-7. If Jehoiakim and his court will not hear, God dooms them to utter desolation. Nothing could be more solemn than this fearful oath, in which the Lord God swears by Himself: “As truly as I live, I will execute this sentence of remediless doom!” It would be in vain for the king and his princes to say, It cannot be that God will destroy His own Temple and His own city, and let His name be blotted out from among the nations of men. It would be all in vain for them to flatter themselves that they were so identified with the house, the worship, the name and the honor of God on earth, that they could have nothing to fear from a foreign enemy, no such thing to fear as the ruin of their city and kingdom. H. C.

6. Thou art Gilead unto Me, and the head of Lebanon. Lebanon was the highest mountain in Israel; and was, therefore, an apt emblem of the reigning family, advanced to the highest rank and dignity in the State. Gilead was the richest and most fertile part of the country. The meaning then is plainly this, By My providence thou art not only supreme in rank, but hast been rendered exceedingly wealthy and flourishing; but the same power that raised thee, will likewise be exerted in reducing thee to the lowest state of indigence and distress. Blayney.—The greater privileges any church or nation enjoys, the sorer will prove its punishment, if it abuses the favor and goodness of God. Wogan.

8. And many nations shall pass by this city. They who had heard that this city had been called the city of God, and the place of His especial residence, would be astonished to find it the scene of His judgments and vengeance. Thus was fulfilled that threatening of Moses, that God would make the Jews “an astonishment” to other nations (De. 28:37. See likewise 1 K. 9:8.) W. Lowth.

10. Weep ye not for the dead. “Weep not for the dead”—that is, for the good Josiah, who, though dead, was happy and in peace; but weep rather for his wicked son Shallum, or Jehoahaz, who after a very short and impious reign was carried captive into Egypt, and was never to return or see his native country any more. Wogan.

13-17. This woe does not begin with naming Jehoiakim, the king then on the throne. The prophet first describes him in points too plain to be mistaken. He then addresses him

(verse 15), and finally (verse 18) gives his name and God’s solemn message to him announcing his terrible doom. The repeated exhortations to Jehoiakim to do justice, to execute judgment, to abstain from oppression (see above, verses 3, 4 and chap. 7:5-9), plainly intimate the general character of his reign in these respects. The history gives us a hint of this in its brief notice of his heavy exactions of tribute from the people (2 K. 23:33, 35). The prophet represents him as lavishing the wealth of the nation upon his palace at this very time when his people were crushed with taxation—extorting labor from them without wages, and building his house by unrighteousness. This was both mean and wicked, and we instinctively honor the Lord for frowning upon it and dooming this proud tyrant to a dishonored grave as a fit retribution for building his costly and magnificent palace with coerced, unpaid labor, in the midst of the general suffering of an overtaxed people. In verse 15 the Hebrew reads, not precisely “closest thyself in cedar,” but “dost rival or emulate in cedar”—i.e., rival all other kings; seek to outdo them all in the costliness and splendor of thy palace. Will this guarantee to thee a long and prosperous reign? Far otherwise. “Did not thy father eat and drink,” enjoying the good things of life quite sufficiently, and yet without any such extortion and wasteful expenditure as this of thine? Did not he do justice and judgment, and thus ensure prosperity? Do not you, his recreant son, know that he judged the cause of the poor and needy, and that so judging and so doing it was well with him? And is not this administration of justice—done withal in kindness and compassion—“to know Me, saith the Lord?” Is anything else knowing Me? Will not every king who really knows Me rule thus?

18,19. Note the striking contrast between the great mourning over the death of the father, Josiah, and the utter absence of even one note of grief over the burial of his godless, graceless, guilty son! Nobody shall say over him, “Ah his glory!” There was no glory lost there to be deplored!

Verses 20-30 refer to Jeconiah, otherwise called Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim. In the first four verses he is not brought out by name (Jehoiakim was not at first; see verses 13-17), but the manner in which he is introduced in verse 24 shows that these four verses (20-23) refer to him. Indeed, they can refer to none other, for Jehoiakim has gone to his dishonored grave. The Lord had spoken to this young king in friendly warning while he was prosperous, but he would not hear. Indeed, from his youth he had persisted in this wicked course, regardless of the voice of God. Of necessity this must ensure his ruin. H. C.

20. Go up to Lebanon, and cry. This is an ironical expression, addressed to Jerusalem, or more probably to the royal house or family of Judah; the whole chapter being a prophecy concerning it and its several branches. She is styled “inhabitant of Lebanon” (verse 23) for the same reason as her state and dignity is denoted by “the head (or summit) of Lebanon” (verse 6), as being highest of all. Here she is called upon ironically to go to the tops of the highest mountains, and to the frontiers of the country, and cry aloud for help to the neighboring powers, but in vain; since all those who had any inclination to favor her, the Egyptians in particular, were themselves crushed and disabled by the arms of the king of Babylon. Blayney.

21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. God speaks to us in our prosperity. There are important words which need to be spoken to us at such a time. We can never have all the wants of our souls supplied by the richest abundance of material good things, and we need heavenly words for our soul’s sustenance then as much as in the conscious helplessness of trouble. We have special duties belonging to the time of prosperity. Prosperity brings talents, opens up opportunities for enlarged service, calls for renewed devotion of love and gratitude. There are also peculiar dangers attending prosperity, and it is well that we should hear a Divine voice warn us against them, and heed a Divine counsel which will direct us how to conquer them. There are means by which God speaks to us in prosperity. He is ever speaking to us, even when we do not hear His voice—by the Bible we should be reading, by the ordinances of the Church and the institution of preaching, by the course of providence, by the life of nature, by the still small voice of conscience. But there are special voices of prosperity. Prosperity speaks to us of the goodness of God exercised toward us in spite of our ill-desert and in a degree beyond all reckoning.

There is danger lest we should disregard the voice of God in prosperity. God does not thrust His messages upon unwilling ears. We may refuse to hear. Yet He speaks so that we may always hear, so that if we do not heed His voice it must be because we will not hearken to it. Prosperity may disincline us to do this because it seems to satisfy us without God. Really satisfy us it cannot. But temporarily it acts as an opiate, and when we do not feel the need of God we are tempted selfishly to disregard His voice. Then prosperity is distracting. Sorrow is lonely and silent, and leaves us in the dark night to listen to heavenly voices and gaze on the wonders of the world above. The garish day of prosperity, with its noisy and dazzling distractions, withdraws our attention from such things. Further, prosperity begets pride. It leads us to think much of self, to yield to self-will, and to rebel against the requirement to act as God’s servants and stoop beneath the yoke of His will. Hence it inclines us to a rebellious disregard for His voice. If men have been hardened against God from their youth, it is not likely that they will heed His voice in the time of prosperity. The longer we neglect this voice the more deaf do we become to it. It is terrible to think of the folly and wickedness of persistent disregard to God’s truth while He is patient and long-suffering and persevering in seeking access to our hearts. Some great shock seems to be required to disturb this habit of hardened indifference. An earthquake of adversity may be required to break up such fallow ground. If trouble comes with this end it is a great blessing. The adversity of the Captivity was such a blessing to the Jews; it led them to regard the voice that was unheeded in their prosperity. So our sorrows are often blessings if they make us to hear the voice of our Father in heaven. Adeney.

Prosperity is as real a test of what men are as is adversity. It draws forth a different set of qualities, but is not the less a means of proving and intensifying a man’s character, be it good or bad. When we say that sometimes success in commerce, literature, science or military skill makes a man vain and scornful of others, or humble and considerate, we really mean that it has developed hidden weakness in the one case, and moral strength in the other. He who can conquer prosperity is often a greater man than the conqueror of adversity. Only the spirit of Him who “made Himself of no reputation,” who “became poor” that we “might be rich,” will enable us to subdue all things to His glory. Chapman.

24,25. The signet-ring on the right hand would represent whatever was peculiarly valuable and precious. Though Coniah was in some respects as valuable and dear to the Lord as a signet ring, yet for his sins the Lord would pluck him off His finger—i.e., hurl him from his throne, and send him into captivity. The history of this young but wicked king shows that he was taken captive to Babylon; that he lay there at least thirty-seven years in captivity; was then brought forth from prison on the accession of Evil-merodach, and treated with princely kindness. This Chaldean king reigned but two years. We hear no more of Jehoiachin. (See 2 K. 25: 27-30 and Jer. 52: 31-34.) Ezekiel, a fellow-captive, dates from the years of his captivity. (See Ezek. 1: 2; 8: 1, etc.)

30. This young king was doomed to be childless, not in the sense of having no offspring, but of having none to succeed him on the throne of David and to rule any more in Judah. That he had sons appears in 1 Chron. 3: 17, 18 and in Matt. 1: 12. In him the royal line became extinct—a fact pregnant with significance in this connection, opening the way for the subject of the next chapter, the new king whom God would raise up for a shepherd to His people (23: 5, 6). H. C.

Chap. 23. This chapter stands in the closest relations of thought to the preceding. The succession of wicked kings, the three recreant sons of Josiah, brought to view, delineated and doomed there, are here referred to as “the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep on the Lord’s pasture-field.” They are doomed to fearful judgments; but the Lord in His loving faithfulness will yet save His people, and for this end will raise up a righteous King in the person of the Messiah, under whose just sway the people will have salvation, instead of such judgments as their wicked kings had brought down upon them. This is the course of thought which introduces and illustrates this signal prophecy of the Messiah (verses 5, 6) and of His blessed reign (verses 7, 8). The remaining portion of the chapter (verses 9-40) treats of the false prophets whose influence had been and then was so pernicious to the people.

1. That the word “pastors” is applied to the kings that sat on David’s throne comes naturally from the fact that David himself was taken from the care of his father’s flocks and put to the care of the Lord’s people. He was in more senses than one the shepherd-king—i.e., a king who rose from shepherd-life to the life of king, and who made that kingly life a fine example of pastoral care and influence over the Lord’s covenant people. In the light of his example suggested by this very term, it was most fit that the direst woes should fall on those recreant kings recently named and described, who had destroyed or scattered into foreign lands the sheep who were on the Lord’s pasture-land in Canaan. The main thoughts in this passage (verses 1-8) are found even more fully expanded in Ezek. 34.

2. “The Lord God of Israel” is the appropriate designation of Jehovah in such a connection as this. He appears here in glorious promise and prophecy as the deliverer of His people, because He is by covenant the Lord God of Israel—of Israel as a whole people, irrespective of the revolt and loss of the Ten Tribes—of Israel as the offspring of Him who was a prince with God.

5. “Branch” is rather a shoot or sprout which springs up from the root and becomes itself the tree. The word appears earliest in Isa. 4: 2, and is said of the Messiah elsewhere—e.g., Jer. 33: 15; Zech. 3: 8 and 6: 12. He would be righteous in broad distinction from the unrighteous kings brought to view in the previous chapter, especially Jehoiakim, who was unsurpassed in shameless injustice and oppression. (The same word is used of the Messiah in Isa. 53: 11 and Zech. 9: 9.) H. C.

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord. It hath been universally agreed by Christians, and allowed by several of the most eminent Jewish interpreters, that this is a prophecy of the coming of Christ, and the glorious state of God’s Church consequent thereupon. Nor is it possible to think of any other person or event, to which the characters here mentioned agree; while they all evidently conspire to point out the Messiah and His kingdom.

I will raise unto David a righteous Branch. It is an usual figure for the head of a family, and the descendants from him, to be represented by the root or body of a tree, and the branches growing out of that tree. God, therefore, having frequently declared that the Messiah should be born of the house and lineage of David, the prophet, here and in chap. 33: 15, with allusion to this figure, mentions it as an act of Divine power and mercy that “God would raise unto David a righteous Branch.” Dean Stanhope.

The Messiah is often called “the Branch,” to denote His descent from the stock of David. (See Isa. 4: 2; Zech. 3: 8; 6: 12, and cf. Isa. 11: 1.) W. Lowth.—And a King shall reign and deal wisely. The Messiah was continually from the time of David foretold under this character, and as such He was expected by the Jews. Accordingly the New Testament abounds in affirmations concerning the regal character of Jesus; in conformity with which, though His kingly authority be not so visibly and powerfully exerted as it shall one day be, yet we are not left under any reasonable doubt

whether our blessed Lord be the promised Messiah. The amazing vengeance taken on His murderers, in destroying their city and their constitution, and the no less wonderful success of His Gospel, propagated and preserved in opposition to all its enemies, are instances of His unlimited “power in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). The enlightening of Jews and Gentiles, by bringing such multitudes of the one and so many nations of the other to the acknowledgment of the truth, are a partial completion of the prophecies, though there be still a nobler in reserve, when the fulness of both shall come in. He reigns now actually in the hearts of men, and subdues the most formidable of our enemies by the holiness of His law and the mighty operations of His grace. His dominion and conquest indeed will be much more absolute when the time shall come for every enemy to be utterly destroyed. In the mean time, we may be well assured that what remains shall certainly come to pass, because nothing has hitherto failed of what was seasonable and expedient to be done, as an evidence of Christ’s regal authority. Dean Stanhope.