o a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not
know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert.

"This people have I formed for myself; I have established them to shew
forth my praise, etc.

"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own
sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put in remembrance your
ingratitude: see thou, if thou mayest be justified. Thy first father
hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me."

Is. xliv: "I am the first, and I am the last, saith the Lord. Let him
who will equal himself to me, declare the order of things since I
appointed the ancient people, and the things that are coming. Fear ye
not: have I not told you all these things? Ye are my witnesses."

_Prophecy of Cyrus._--Is. xlv, 4: "For Jacob's sake, mine elect, I have
called thee by thy name."

Is. xlv, 21: "Come and let us reason together. Who hath declared this
from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the
Lord?"

Is. xlvi: "Remember the former things of old, and know there is none
like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure."

Is. xlii: "Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do
I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

Is. xlviii, 3: "I have declared the former things from the beginning; I
did them suddenly; and they came to pass. Because I know that thou art
obstinate, that thy spirit is rebellious, and thy brow brass; I have
even declared it to thee before it came to pass: lest thou shouldst say
that it was the work of thy gods, and the effect of their commands.

"Thou hast seen all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee
new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know
them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; I have kept them
hidden from thee; lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them.

"Yea, thou knewest not; yea, thou heardest not; yea, from that time that
thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou couldst deal very
treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb."

_Reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles._--Is. lxv: "I
am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought
me not; I said, Behold me, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that did
not call upon my name.