Part I. METAPHORS FROM INANIMATE BoniE·s. SILVER is taken or put for an excellent or very fair Thing, whence the Word of God is faid to be aJ Silver tried in a Furnace of Earth, purified feven 'rimeJ, Pfal. xii. 6. where ~:efpet"t is had to its great Purity. He_nce our Sa·vior is faid, MaL iii. 3· 'ro be a Refiner and Purifier of Goldand Silver, that ts, to mfr~tute a Repurgauon of hts heavenly Doctrine. The Phrafe. m !fa; 1. 22. 'rhy Stlver IJ become Drofs, denotes cor– rupt Doctrine, and~ deprave? Ltfe. 1 he rebellious People of the Jews are called _re– probate Silver, as tf 1t were fatd, overmuch corrupt, and therefore good for nothmg but to be reprobated, or caa away. The ExcremmtJ of Silver, as Drofs, 'rin, and Lead, denote Idolaters, wicked and reprobate People, lfa. i. 25. (See PfaL cxix. 119. Prov. xxv. 4, 5· Ezek. xxii. 18. and the followin<Y Verfes) 1:ltv a Fragment, or (by a SyllepjiJ) Fragments, !fa. i. 28. are called the Par~cles or Refufe of that Drofs, with which the Prophet compares the Wicked, becaufe, like that, not to be healed, &c. BRASS and IRON, denote Hardnefs and Solidity, Deut. xxviii. 23. !fa. xlviii. 4· Jer. i. 18. Mic. iv. 3· Iron alfo denotes great Troubles and Crolfes, if a Furnace (which becaufe of the Fire it contains, is a Symbol of Calamity) be added, Deut. iv. 20. I KingJ viii. 5 t. The like is to be unclerfrood if it be added to a Yoke, as Deut. xxviii. 4~. and to a Rod, Pfal. ii. 9· each of which by itfelf, fignifies Affiichon. There is an obfcurer Place, Jer. xv. 12. Shall Iron break the northern Iron, and the Steel or Brafs, which fome expound, that the northern Enemy, viz. the djjjrian Army was plainly invincible. Others on the contrary, that there would alfuredly come an– other Enemy, who !hould break and chafl:ife the Ajjjrians, to wit, the PerfianJ, &c. Vatab!uJ choofes the former Senfe, by the fir(! Iron, underfl:anding the Jews: He com– pares, fays he, the Strength of the JewJ to pure Iron, aod the Strength of the Chat– deans to Iron, which is mixed with much Steel, and therefore fl:ronger: As if he had faid, !hall the J ewifh Iron Sword break the Chaldean, well-tempered with Iron and Steel?. No ; Iron ar.d Brafs, he calls Iron mixed with Brafs, that is, SteeL Junil!sand 'rreme/!iuJ take it as a Confirmation of the foregoing Promife, Verfe II . which God made 'by the Prophet, that he would defend them from the Hoftility of the Chaldeans, and would make them intreat them well ; and therefore they expound the fir(! Iron, the Cbaldeam, and the latter Iron and Brafs, (that is, Steel) from the North or Chalybes, (for there was a People of that Name in the northern Parts of ,Pon(uJ, from which Chalybs or Steel, took its Name, as Virgil in the zd Book of his Geor– gicJ, and Strabo in his 12th Book of Geography, wirnefs) Jehovah himfelf; as if he (viz. Jehovah) had faid thefe are Iron, bur I who interpofe or come to relieve thee, am a Wall of Steel to thee; therefore you have no Caufe to fear, that you fhould be broken by thofe Enemies. It is faid Ifa.lx. I7· For Brafs I will bring Gold, aud for Iron I will bring Silver, and for Wood Brafs, and for StoneJ Iron-which fignifies the Reftoration or Redemption of Mankmd, and the Change of the legal into an evangelical Difpenfation by the Meifiah. A S'rONE if traos~erred to a Ma11, fometimes denotes a great Stupidity of Mind, I Sam. xxv. 37· fometimes Hardnefs of Heart, and the State of the Sinner before Convedion to God, Ezek. xi. I9- and xxxvi. z6. To which the contrary is, that fuch as are converted and believe are called living Stones, I Pet. ii. 5· With Refpect to Chrijtwho IS called the precioUJ and eletl Stone, upon which they are jpiritually built, Epb. 11. 20, 2 I, 22, &c. This vVord . Stone is alfo ubi in a good Senfe, Gen. xlix. 24. But his Bow abode in Strength, and the drms of his Hands were made ftrong, by _the Han4J of the mighty God of Jacob, from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Ifrael– tliat "• Jofeph !load and was lent by 'the moft powerful God to feed Ifrael and hisFa– ~dy as a l'aflor, and to prop them as a Stone, to wit, when he fupplied and preferved hiS F~ther's whole Houfe from Egypt. Some think that this Man of God did prophefy of Ttmes ro come, and that by'Paftors we fliould CJoderfrand Prophets, and'by aStone, emment Kmgs and Princes that were to come of the Family of Jofeph among the Peo. Ll pk
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=