Hebrews Prael. xix., at the beginning.

This, indeed, was the ancient method of singing in various nations. The song was divided into distinct portions, and the singers sang alternately.

There is a fine specimen of this in the song of Deborah and Barak; and also in the Idyls of Theocritus, and the Eclogues of Virgil.

This kind of singing was properly a dialogue in verse, sung to a particular tune, or in the mode which is now termed recitativo. I have seen it often practiced on funeral occasions among the descendants of the aboriginal Irish. The poems of Ossian are of this kind.

The learned Bishop distinguishes the parts of this dialogue thus:- 3. JEHOVAH. It is I, J EHOVAH, that preserve her; I will water her every moment: I will take care of her by night; And by day I will keep guard over her.

4. VINEYARD. I have no wall for my defense: O that I had a fence of the thorn and brier! JEHOVAH. Against them should I march in battle, I should burn them up together.

5. Ah! let her rather take hold of my protection. VINEYARD. Let him make peace with me! Peace let him make with me! 6. JEHOVAH. They that come from the root of Jacob shall flourish, Israel shall bud forth; And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.

A vineyard of red wine] The redder the wine, the more it was valued, says Kimchi.

Bishop Lowth translates, To the beloved vineyard. For rmj chemer, red, a multitude of MSS. and editions have dmj chemed, desirable. This is supported by the Septuagint and Chaldee.

Is. 27:1-5 The Lord Jesus with his strong sword, the virtue of his death, and the preaching of his gospel, does and will destroy him tha had the power of death, that is, the devil, that old serpent. The worl is a fruitless, worthless wilderness; but the church is a vineyard, place that has great care taken of it, and from which precious fruit are gathered. God will keep it in the night of affliction an persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous. God also takes care of the fruitfulnes of this vineyard. We need the continual waterings of Divine grace; i these be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to nothing. Thoug God sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits to be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and thorn instead of vines, and they are set in array against him, he will trea them down and burn them. Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every moment. Ever sinc sin first entered, there has been, on God's part, a righteous quarrel but, on man's part, most unrighteous. Here is a gracious invitatio given. Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let us tak hold on that. Christ crucified is the power of God. Let us by livel faith take hold on his strength who is a strength to the needy believing there is no other name by which we can be saved, as a ma that is sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is in his reach. This is the only way, and it is a sure way, to be saved. God is willing to be reconciled to us.

Is. 27:6-13 In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospe church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish church, and shal spread further. May our souls be continually watered and kept, that we may abound in the fruits of the Spirit, in all goodness, righteousness and truth. The Jews yet are kept a separate and a numerous people; the have not been rooted out as those who slew them. The condition of tha nation, through so many ages, forms a certain proof of the Divin origin of the Scriptures; and the Jews live amongst us, a continue warning against sin. But though winds are ever so rough, ever so high God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though God will afflict his people, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of their souls. According to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon no people have shown such hatred to idols and idolatry as the Jews. An to all God's people, the design of affliction is to part between the and sin. The affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distanc from the occasions of sin, and use care that we may not be tempted to it. Jerusalem had been defended by grace and the Divine protection; but when God withdrew, she was left like a wilderness. This has awfull come to pass. And this is a figure of the deplorable state of the vineyard, the church, when it brought forth wild grapes. Sinner flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with severely, because God is merciful, and is their Maker. We see how weak those pleas will be Verses 12,13, seem to predict the restoration of the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, and their recovery from their present dispersion This is further applicable to the preaching of the gospel, by whic sinners are gathered into the grace of God; the gospel proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord. Those gathered by the sounding of the gospel trumpet, are brought in to worship God, and added to the church and the last trumpet will gather the saints together __________________________________________________________________

Original Hebrew