salem's destruction; for that this prophecy belongs
to these times is clear from the application of it by the
Apostle Paul, \\#Ro 9:29\\ and which confirms the
sense given of the above passages: %the very small
remnant% are the remnant according to the election of
grace, the little flock, the few that entered in at the
strait gate and are saved, or the few that believed in
Christ, and so were saved from that untoward gene-
ration; these were %left%, reserved, distinguished, and se-
cured in election-grace, being a remnant according to
it, in the hands of Christ to whom they were given,
and in whom they were preserved; in redemption by
him, that they might be a peculiar people; in provi-
dence till called, in which the Lord watched over them
to do them good, and waited to be gracious to them,
and saved them to be called; and in effectual vocation,
in which he separated them from the rest of the world,
and kept them by his power through faith unto salva-
tion. And this was done %unto us%; for the sake of
his church, that that might continue, and he might
have a seed to serve him: and by %the Lord of hosts%,
of the hosts of heaven, the sun, and moon, and stars,
and of the angels there, and of the inhabitants of the
earth; which shews great condescension in him to re-
gard this remnant, and great grace to them; since he
could not stand in need of them, having the host of
heaven on his right hand and on his left; nor was
there any thing in them that could deserve this of him;
but it was, as Jarchi observes, in his mercy, and not
for their righteousness: to which may be added, that
since he is the Lord of hosts, he was able to protect and
preserve this remnant, notwithstanding all the oppo-
sition of men and devils, as he did; and had he not
taken such a method as this, \*\\we should have been as
Sodom, [and] we should have been like unto Gomorrah\\:
cities that were infamous for their sins, and notorious
for the punishment of them, being consumed by fire
from heaven, \\#Ge 13:13 18:20 19:24\\ and
not only the Jews, but any and every nation, even the
whole world, would have been like these cities, both
for sin and punishment, had it not been for the dis-
tinguishing grace of God, in leaving and reserving
a few for his glory, and the support of his interest.
All the holiness that ever was, is, or will be in the world,
is owing to electing, redeeming, and efficacious grace:
there had not been a holy man nor a holy woman in the
world, in any age, if God had not taken such methods
of grace; and it is owing to, and for the sake of, this
small remnant, that temporal judgments are often
averted from a nation and people, and that the con-
flagration of the world is not yet; this is kept back till
they are gathered in; and were it not for this distin-
guishing grace, eyery individual of mankind would
have been cast into hell, and must have suffered the
vengeance of eternal fire, which the punishment of
Sodom and Gomorrah, was an example of.
\*Ver. 10. \\Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom\\,
&c.] Not literally, but mystically, meaning the go-
vernors of Judea; they and their people having sinned
in like manner, and as openly, as the rulers of Sodom,
and the inhabitants thereof; see \\#Isa 3:9\\ and so the
Targum paraphrases the words, \*"receive the word of
" the Lord, ye governors, whose works are evil like
"the governors of Sodom."\* These are called to
attend to the word of the Lord; either the Scriptures,
which should be the rule of faith and practice, from
which they had swerved; or to the word which now
came to them by the prophet, and is contained in the
following verses; or rather to the Gospel preached to
them by John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, see
\\#Isa 2:3\\ which being rejected by them as it was, it is
declared that it would be more tolerable for the land
of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for them,
\\#Mt 11:24\\ KILL \*\\give ear unto the law of our God, ye peo-
ple of Gomorrah\\; the inhabitants of Judea; for as
were both the civil and ecclesiastical rulers, so were the
people both in Isaiah's time, and in the times of Christ
and his apostles. The Targum is, \*"hearken to the
"law of our God, ye people whose works are like to
"the people of Gomorrah."\* And by %the law of our
God% is meant, not so much the law of Moses, which
these people had not hearkened to, but had broken
it, and cast it away from them, as the doctrine of
the grace of God, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our God; which was first sent and
preached to this wicked people, for the sake of the
small remnant, according to the election of grace left
among them; see \\#Isa 2:3\\.
\*Ver. 11. \\To what purpose [is] the multitude of ygur
sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord\\, &c.] These people,
though they neglected the weightier matters of the
law, and the more substantial duties of religion, as did
the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's time, \\#Mt 23:23\\
yet were very diligent in the observance of the
ceremonial law, and repeated their sacrifices almost
without number, on which they placed all their trust
and dependence; wherefore, to take off their confidence
in these things, the Lord observes to them the unprofit-
ableness of them; they could be of no avail to them,
for they could not expiate their sins, or atone for
them; and they could not be profitable to God, for he
had no need of them; see \\#Ps 50: 10-12\\. 
\*\\I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed\\
\\beasts\\; to the loathing of them, and therefore would
no more eat their flesh, and drink their blood, or ac-
cept of them in sacrifice, \\#Ps 50:13\\ %rams% were used for
burnt offerings, \\#Ex 29:18 Le 1:10\\ and the
fat of any creature offered in sacrifice was burnt, and
forbidden to be eaten by men, 
\\#Le 1:8,12 3:4,5,10,11,15,16 4:8-10,19,31,55 7:25,31\\
\*\\and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he\\
\\goats\\: as he did in moral services, in acts of
beneficence and mercy, and in sacrifices of praise and
thanksgiving, #1Sa 15:22 Ho 6:6 Ps 68:30,31\\
much less did he delight in the sacrifices of these
creatures, as offered by such wicked hands and with-
out faith in the blood and sacrifice of Christ; and still
less when these were superseded and abrogated by
Christ; for this prophecy belongs to the times of the
apostles, as appears from \\#Isa 1:9\\ see \\#Ps 40:6,7\\. The
several creatures mentioned were used in sacrifice, and
their blood was sprinkled round about the altar, \\#Le 3:2,8,13\\ and 
before the vail, \\#Le 4:6,17\\.
\*Ver. 12. \\When ye come to appear before me\, &c.]
At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and
tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel ap-
peared before God, \\#Ex 23:17 \*\\who hath required
this at your hand\\; either to appear at such times,