John Ranicar Park

“ The sea means the Gentile nations, or Europe. The life is life in Christ. The loss of that life, or spiritual death is the loss of true Christianity: here extending over the whole sea, or comprising all the Gentile converts; and the period of this death is yet scarcely elapsed, beginning with the dark ages, and continuing to the millenium. What! is Europe then still, or has it so lately been in a state of spiritual death or perdition? Such is the language of prophecy, and its meaning cannot be explained away or evaded. “Every living soul in the sea dies.” The life in Christ is extinct. ”

“ By Christianity, all are taught to live for [pg 170] the next world; without it, the many will live for this; few are those that will think of another. Christianity not only diffuses peace and happiness on earth, but fits every man for enjoying eternal happiness hereafter. Such is the saving virtue of Christ's religion, in affording to all the means of attaining to eternal life and eternal happiness. But to return to the age in which we live, or from which we are just emerging. This period is peculiarly the age of infidelity—all Europe bears testimony to the fact. ”

“ The governors of Judah can signify no other than the apostles and disciples of our Lord, the first teachers of Christianity, or the founders of the new City. These, when the Jews were no longer willing to hear them, turned their attention to the Gentiles, and directed all their efforts to effect their conversion. As the strength of a city lies in its inhabitants, so the hope of strengthening theirs, from that time, rested in gaining over the Gentiles: “The Governors of Judah say in their hearts, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God.” ”

“ Many who object to the spiritual view, misconceive what is meant by the spiritual exposition; and consider it as setting aside altogether the historical fulfilment of prophecy; whereas the question is simply between religion and politics, between church and state; in short, whether the spiritual or temporal history of the world should be looked to, for the fulfilment of those prophecies which foretel the progress of Christianity, or the Messiah's kingdom. ”

“ Blayney proposes to render it, the Eastern and the Western Sea, may literally signify the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean; but figuratively the Eastern and Western Gentiles, who will receive the benefit of the spiritual waters. The expression, in summer and in winter it shall be, signifies literally, that they shall neither be dried up by the summer's heat, nor congealed by the cold of winter; but figuratively must mean, that the purity of religion shall not again be corrupted by the heat of fanaticism on the one hand, nor frozen by the cold of infidelity on the other. ”

“ This language is metaphorical, it is true, and so is invariably that which is employed in describing the plenteousness of the Messiah's kingdom, abounding in corn, wine, and oil, natural plenty signifying abundance in spiritual blessings. Were any one disposed to take such expressions in a strictly literal sense, he would soon find it impossible, for, most of them are mixed metaphors, such as waters of life, trees of righteousness, garments of salvation, of which part at least must be figurative; and the spiritual sense is in fact the most literal of any that can possibly be affixed to them. ”

“ Adopted Israel may be here understood. To lineal Israel indeed was the prophecy given; and with Israel, idolatry was, and ever had been, the besetting sin; most nearly therefore were the Jews also concerned in its abolition.
Viewed, however, in the more enlarged sense, idolatry comprises the indulgence of every evil propensity; for Paganism, by appointing a presiding Deity over each, had sanctioned the unrestrained gratification of every passion, in making it an act of devotion. ”

“ This flock, the prophet is commanded to feed.
Thus saith the Lord my God. Feed the flock of the slaughter, whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty. And they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord for I am rich. And their own shepherds pity them not.
Avarice is thus foreshewn to be the vice which would lead the priests to reject Christ; the sending of whom is next declared to be the last act of Divine interposition in behalf of Israel; those who reject him being thenceforward left to themselves. ”

“ The heavy burden of the word of the Lord against the land of Hadrach and Damascus; his sending down, (that is, the Lord's) for the Lord's is the eye of man, (the eye of the seer who receives the vision,) and all the tribes of Israel (whom it immediately concerns) .
Hamath also shall have a limit set to her; Tyre and Sidon also, though she be very wise— (worldly-wise) . For she hath built herself Tyre, a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. ”

“ If then the terms, “Sons of Zion” and “Israel of God,” be not less applicable to those who received Christ for their Messiah, than to those who rejected him; we cannot surely say with Dr. Blaney, that there have been no return from captivity, no victories, no successes, since the coming of Christ; for it will hardly be maintained that redemption from the bondage of sin is no return from captivity; [pg 076] that the triumph of Christianity over paganism is no victory, and the rapid propagation of the Gospel no success. ”

“ Look to conduct, and not profession for the proof. Is this world, or the next, the object of pursuit? If conscience whisper, that we who believe, lack the true spirit; how can we expect it in those who disbelieve? Where then in true Christianity? ”

“ What prisoners, but those who were in the bondage of sin? “from the pit wherein is no water.” What pit, but the darkness of idolatry, which had none of the waters of life? Surely this is a most clear and distinct intimation of the sacrifice of the Messiah, and of the benefits thereby conferred upon mankind in the redemption of the heathen world from the darkness of idolatry; thus opening the way to immortality, to the whole human race.
But the Messiah here appears to be promised to the Gentiles, having been previously promised to the Jews ”

“ Were the vices prevalent in each class of society banished from the world; ambition and ostentation from the higher, inordinate love of gain from the middle and commercial, idleness and improvidence from the lower class, such a change would ensue, that the golden age of the poets would be revived. Fortunes would no longer be squandered, and families be ruined by extravagance and dissipation; gambling speculation, extortion and chicanery would be unknown in trade; poverty and dishonesty would be banished from the working classes. ”

“ The shepherds are the guardians, the goats the leaders of the flock; but the Jewish shepherds and leaders misled their flock, and as their forefathers, under Jeroboam, had embraced idolatry, and were therefore allowed to be carried away into captivity, so their posterity, seduced by similar passions, rejected the blessings of the Gospel, and were suffered to remain in the bondage of sin. ”

“ It seems scarcely possible to give a more unequivocal intimation of the spiritual import of the whole, as not alluding to political events, but as regarding the progress of true religion, than is contained in those expressions of the last verse, which declare, that the supplications of the smaller number will be offered up in a manner acceptable to God, who will hear and answer them. The particular period alluded to, is distinctly marked by the nominal abolition of idolatry, and the general corruption of Christianity. ”

“ John in the Revelations gives intimation of a resurrection preceding, or accompanying [pg 176] its establishment. Now, we have, as I conceive, no just ground for assuming, in a vision, every other part of which is figurative, that this part alone is to be understood literally. Why, I should ask, may not this resurrection, like the rest, be also symbolical, or signify regeneration to newness of life? which our Saviour expressed by being born again; that is, a total change in our nature and habits, such as was produced in his apostles and disciples by the gift of the Holy Spirit. ”

“ Can the earth be made to bring forth at once? Can a nation be born in a day? For as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children.
The earth and the nation shew that a whole people, or race of men, are here spoken of; and the man-child of the former verse, we here [pg 020] find changed into children, in the plural number. Such appears to be the solution of the difficulty, on the spiritual plan of exposition.
If an equally satisfactory solution can be offered by reference to political events, this will no doubt be the best defence of that mode of exposition that can be offered. ”

“ Nor can any construction, worthy of the subject, or adequate in dignity and importance, be put upon the expression, the sons of Zion, and the sons of Greece, but that which refers to the religion of each. The triumph of true religion over idolatry was one that affected the whole world, including every country, and extending to every age, and regarding the eternal as well as temporal interests of mankind. ”

“ In answer to the difficulties proposed by the Jew, the Christian may say, that he does not mourn the death of Christ, but the sins that required such a sacrifice; and as to the free agency of those who crucified him, he will say, that God's seeing fit sometimes to employ the wicked in accomplishing his purposes, does not imply that he first makes them wicked for the purpose. ”

“ A religion like Paganism, which allowed the unrestrained indulgence of the passions, of pride, avarice, and ambition, was well calculated to seduce; and the Jews, in spite of the continual exhortations of their prophets, in spite of the many signal miracles displayed to them, and wrought in their behalf, had frequently relapsed into idolatry. ”

“ Are the proofs of Christianity then inconclusive? Far otherwise. Though its prophetic proofs are clothed in metaphor, and require study to understand them; though its history is by no means free from contradictions; though time may have obscured some passages, and interpolation thrown a doubt upon others; yet is there left sufficient; amply sufficient to satisfy the mind of any who think the subject worthy of serious examination.
But here is the misfortune. Most men think otherwise. The laity are too often content to take their religion on trust ”

“ The Jews still remain under this illusion, continuing still to look for a temporal prince, and the literal fulfilment of prophecy. Thousands also of Christians, who look for the second coming of Christ, expect his personal advent; that is, that he will come in person to reign with the saints on earth for a thousand years. ”

“ Among the blessings promised in this state, is increased length of life; nor is this at all difficult to conceive or account for. The tormenting passions of ambition and avarice subsiding; the mind being no longer tortured by the cravings they occasion, nor the spirit broken by the disappointments that attend them; the constitution being no longer worn out by the toils and cares they give rise to, the larger portion of diseases incidental to man, (and more proceed from the mind than the body) would be prevented. ”

“ Triumphant career and success are herein promised to Judah, but the Messiah's kingdom having been already declared to be a peaceful one, we cannot suppose literal warfare to be here intended. The triumph of true religion over Paganism is no doubt the warfare to be understood. ”

“ Thus, selecting the Jews to be God's chosen people, and putting his words in the mouth of the prophet, are said to be planting the heavens and laying the foundation of the earth. And in conformity with this style, when the old Covenant was to be dissolved, and the new one to be established, new heavens and a new earth are said to be created. ”

“ The Jews expect, at the coming of their Messiah, the establishment of their political, as well as their spiritual supremacy over all the earth. The Christians reject all idea of a political kingdom, but differ in their views of it as a spiritual one. Some understand it to signify the universal establishment of true Christianity on earth, with the full enjoyment of all the blessings which it is calculated to [pg 175] afford ”

“ The Christian may perhaps suppose, as some have done, that Christ is the man-child here intended; but that cannot be. For Zion is the mother, and a mountain can never be literally understood to bring forth a man; the mountain is a figurative mother, and the child must be a figurative child. ”

“ The esteem and veneration with which the primitive Christians, and particularly the apostles, would be regarded for their purity and holiness, and for their spiritual strength, notwithstanding that they were designedly chosen from the lowest and most illiterate class of men, is here emphatically foretold. Their consequent success in preaching the gospel is next declared; the nations being destroyed, figuratively signifies their false religion being overthrown. ”

“ With respect to the division of the flock into two parts, it must not be supposed that any distinction of sects is here alluded to, for no one could, more than another, claim the character of purity and holiness. True Christianity must be sought for in the heart, and not in the outward form of worship, or profession of faith. ”

“ If then we find that creatures the most opposite in disposition, and supposed to be natural enemies, may be trained to live together peaceably and amicably; what may not be expected from man, having moreover the aid of reason to guide and assist him?
Let adequate motives for controlling his passions be furnished; let true Christian principles be early inculcated; let religion be more practical and less doctrinal ”