An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second,…

This is true also in a spiritual way; The Lord sends his rain upon the wilderness, he hath done so, and he hath promised to do so still; that is, he hath sent, and will send the rain of the Gospel upon the Heathen. Some Nations are a wilderness; as they live in a wilderness, so they are themselves a wilderness, a desert; and we have a promise that the Lord will cause the rain, spiritual rain, to fall upon this wilderness (Isa. 35.1, 2.) The wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them (for whom? for the Church, and for the sending forth of the Gospel by them) and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellency of Carmel and of Sharon. That is, it shall be fertile and fruitful in spirituals, as those places, Lebanon, Carmel, and Sharon (which was the glory and excellency of them) were in temporals. But how should the wilderness and solitary places attain this glory? That's showed at the sixth and seventh verses; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. This Prophecy contains a promise of sending the Gospel, and with that the Holy Spirit (who is often compared in Scripture to water) to those who were or are in their soul-state as a dry heath, or as a barren wilderness. This prophet doth not only hold out a like promise in the same Metaphors, but explains it thus (Isa. 44.3, 4, 5.) I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; what is meant by water and floods we may learn from the next words; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon ⟨p. 211⟩thine off-spring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses; that is, they shall grow and flourish internally in grace and knowledge, and not only so, but they shall openly profess it and avouch it, as it followeth in the fifth verse: One shall say I am the Lords, and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob, &c. That is, they shall give up their Names to be enrolled and registered (as our Annotators express it) in Gods Church-book, or among his faithful servants.¹