' esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our

griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did

esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and

afflicted. But he was wounded for our trans

gressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; ' the chastisement of our peace was upon him;

and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath

laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was 'oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison, and from judgment, and who shall declare his

generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich, in 'his death; because he had done no violence, 'neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet 'it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath 'put him to grief: when thou shalt make his 'soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,

he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of

'the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall 'see of the travail of his soul, and shall be

satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous 'servant justify many; for he shall bear 'their iniquities. Therefore will I divide unto 'him (a portion) with the great, and he shall 'divide the spoil with the strong; because he

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hath poured out his soul unto death: and he

was numbered with the transgressors, and he 'bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

The point at issue, between Jews and Christians, with respect to the foregoing prophecy, is, what person is spoken of. The modern Jews allege, that the Jewish nation is here personified; and their sufferings during their long and dreadful captivity are thus foretold. The Christians, on the contrary, apply this passage to the sufferings and death of Jesus. I shall therefore inquire, first, how far the features of character possessed by the person who is the subject of this prophecy, are to be found in the Jewish nation; and, secondly, whether all these

features of character did not shine forth conspicuously in the life, and sufferings, and death of Jesus.

The person here described, is styled the righteous servant of God. (ver. 11.) Righteousness, therefore, forms a prominent feature of his character.

How far this feature of character

belongs to the children of Israel, at any period of their history, we may learn from the Hebrew Scriptures, and the writings of David Levi. When they were about to inherit the land of Canaan, Moses, in the name of the Lord, thus addresses them:- Speak not thou in thine

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heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cast 'them out before thee, saying, For my righte

ousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess the land; but for the wickedness of these • nations the Lord doth drive them out from 'before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for

the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go 'to possess the land; but for the wickedness of 'these nations the Lord thy God doth drive

them out from before thee, and that he

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may perform the word which the Lord sware ' unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. • Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the 'wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came into this place, ye have rebelled against the • Lord.' (Deut. ix.)

- After their entrance into the promised land, and their settlement in it, Joshua, who intimately knew the character of his people, thus addresses them, at a time when they had just renewed the profession of their firm determination to continue in the service of the Lord, (xxiv. 19.) And Joshua said unto the people, 'Ye cannot serve the Lord; for he is an holy • God; he is a jealous God: he will not forgive

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your transgressions nor your sins.' The meaning of this seems to be, that there was something in the character of the children of Israel

so opposite to the holiness of God, that it was impossible for them sincerely to love and obey him.

In the time of the prophet Isaiah, the children of Israel and Judah are described as a ⚫ sinful nation; a people laden with iniquity;

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children that are corrupters.'- Except the 'Lord had left us a very small remnant, (of righ'teous persons,) we should have been as Sodom,

and we should have been like unto Go'morrah.' Even their religious worship is described as being abominable in the sight of God. (Isaiah i. 13.) In the time of Jeremiah they were equally depraved and wicked; the prophet says, (ch. ix. 2.) Oh that I had in the wilder'ness a lodging-place of way-faring men, that I

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might leave my people, and go from them; for

they be all adulterers, an assembly of trea'cherous men! And they bend their tongues ' like their bow for lies, but they are not valiant for truth on the earth; for they proceed from ' evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the 'Lord. Take ye heed every one of his neigh