A17640:1062
Commentary upon the Prophecy of Isaiah
A commentary upon the prophecy of Isaiah. By Mr. John Calvin. Whereunto are added four tables ... Translated out of French into English: by C.C.A commentary vpon the prophecie of Isaiah. By Mr. Iohn Caluin. Whereunto are added foure tables ... Translated out of French into English: by C.C.
London: printed by Felix Kyngston, 1609
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Vers. 20. Thou shalt not be joined with them in the grave, because thou hast destroyed thine own land, and slain thine own people: the seed of the wicked shall not be renowned for ever.
Vers. 20. Thou shalt not be ioyned with them in the graue, because thou hast destroyed thine owne land, and slaine thine owne people: the seed of the wicked shall not be renoumed for euer.
Now he shows the reason why the king of Babylon is unworthy of burial, to wit, because he which had destroyed his own land, was neither worthy to be received into it, nor covered therewith. For even as the earth sustains us whilst we live, so also doth it cover us being dead, and keeps us in her bowels unto the coming of Jesus Christ. It is then a just punishment of cruelty when she refuseth to receive those into her bosom that have offered her violence, and defiled her. He yet adds a more fearful threat, to wit, that God will pour out the remainder of his plagues upon the successors. Yet when he saith, The seed of the wicked shall not be renowned for ever, we may expound this member two ways, either that the race of the wicked §1shall not long endure, or that it shall be utterly §2put out. The diversity of the interpretation consists in the word always, for it is either referred to the time past, or to come. To §1the time past thus, Although the seed of the wicked have borne sway for a while, yet the memory thereof is vanished and gone in the end. In the time to come, thus, God will §2so blot out the race of the wicked, that there shall be no more mention of them. Now it is usual with the Lord to curse the seed of the wicked;1 as on the contrary he blesseth the of-spring of the faithful. And even as the memory of the just endures for ever, so also doth it follow of necessity that the remembrance of the wicked should be utterly extinct and abolished. Now howsoever we see not these things fulfilled with our bodily eyes, yet have we ample and pregnant testimonies for it, whereby the truth of the doctrine is sufficiently confirmed unto us.