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REFLECTIONS.

Adapted to a fast, or day of humiliation.

HE piety of our ancestors, and God's kindness to them and us, aggravate national ingratitude and impiety. Israel is reminded of their ancestors, who were holy to the Lord, and of the many favours he had shown to them. And when we come to humble ourselves before God, it is highly proper to consider these aggravations of our guilt. Did our ancestors express a fervent love to God, and zeal in his services? Were his favours to them favours to us? Have we received many new and most important ones from him? How odious must our ingratitude be, and how heinous will our guilt appear? He hath brought us, as a nation, from the bondage of popery and arbitrary power; led us through many perils; given us a plentiful country, and succeeded our struggles against foreign and domestic enemies. He hath given us good governors, and skilful, faithful interpreters of his law. How provoking then must be the guilt of such a people! how much need is there of humiliation!

2. We learn the folly and vanity of trusting in creatures, to the neglect of God. The Israelites were always courting idols, and idolatrous alliances, while they forsook their God and king. Our epidemical sin,as a nation, is forgetting God and trusting in our own wisdom and strength. This is forsaking a fountain for a broken cistern; and what can we expect but disappointment? what have we to do to make flesh our arm, when we have a God of almighty power and everlasting goodness to trust in? This were folly and madness; and it becomes us to be upon our guard, lest we be chargeable with it; and to implore mercy for our nation, since it is a temper that so generally prevails.

3. When a nation suffers calamities, it is owing to its sins. The Israelites are several times reminded of this in the passages we have been reading. The neighbouring princes were confederates against them, and brought much desolation upon them. But hast not thou procured this to thyself? When our enemies are multiplied, and our danger increased, may not the same question be put to us? God was leading us by the way, leading us to peace and prosperity; our prospects were promising; but our sins hid those good things from us, engaged us in fresh quarrels, and exposed us to further and greater evils. Our wickedness is in this instance correcting us; and it becomes us to bewail it before God, and to reform; lest we find by further dreadful experience, what an evil and bitter thing it is to have forsaken God, and cast off his fear.

4. God will be justified in the judgments which he brings upon a wicked nation. He pleads with Israel, to show them that his judgments were righteous, and their calamities deserved. The same appeal may be made to us. What iniquity have we found in God, that we should have deserted his service, or have been cold and formal in

it? Has it been either unpleasant or unprofitable? What could he have done more for us, that he has not done? We are worse than the heathens, for they do not change their gods, nor are they so indifferent about their worship. This will fully vindicate a just God, if he punishes us as our ingratitude and iniquities have deserved. But while he condescends thus to plead with us, and to display his former mercy, it gives us encouragement to return. The design of these remonstrances to Israel was to lead them to repentance, and prevent their ruin. God grant they may have a good effect upon our minds; engage us to return to God; and to know, in this our day, the things that belong to our peace, before they are for ever hid from our eyes.

CHAP. II. 20, to the end. CHAP. III. 1—6.

The prophet continues his expostulations with the people for their wickedness.

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OR of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when I delivered thee from Egypt, thou didst promise at mount Sinai to be obedient, and didst behave well when first settled in Canaan ; when, or yet, upon every high hill and under every green tree 21 thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? I gave you a good constitution of government, excellent laws and ordinances, yet 22 now ye are become corrupt and degenerate. For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, [yet] thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God; though thou insistest upon thy innocence, and justifiest thyself, yet thine iniquities 23 are all known to me.* How canst thou say I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, where thy idolatrous worship is performed, especially the sacrificing of thu children, and know what thou hast done: [thou art] a swift dromedary traversing her ways, running from one idol to another; 24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, [that] snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her; like an ass, which at one time cannot be catched, but which in her month (when big and unwieldy) is easy to be caught; 80 you shall in a little time feel the burden of your own ini. 25 quities. Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go; as an ass, which con

They had contrived a way to reconcile the worship of idols with the worship of 1a. hovah, pretending it was only subordinate worship, a pitiful distinction, which papists st use to defend their idolatry.

tinues with its owner, will be shod, and have plenty of food, but when it runs away, will wear out its hoofs, and want both food and water; so thy idolatries will be injurious and destructive; yet thou dost 26 desperately resolve to go on in thy evil ways. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they have nothing to say, but, like an hardened robber, impudently deny the fact; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, 27 and their prophets, Saying to a stock, Thou [art] my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth; giving that praise to ido's which is due to God alone, as the author and preserver of all things for they have turned [their] back unto me in contempt, and not [their] face: but in the time of their trouble they 28 will say, Arise, and save us. But where [are] thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble for [according to] the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah; every city hath its peculiar gods, 29 like the heathens. Wherefore will ye plead with me your innocence and my promises? ye all have transgressed against me, 30 saith the LORD. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction; they are not grown better: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, who reproved you, like a destroy31 ing lion, with fury and pleasure, as a lion devours his prey. O generation, see ye the word of the LORD; consider it and apply your hearts to it. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we are an independent people; we will come no more unto thee; we 32 can save ourselves, we have no need of thee. Can a maid forget her ornaments, [or] a bride her attire ? yet my people have forgotten me days without number; they have renounced their re33 lation to me, which was their greatest glory. Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love, like a lewd woman, who by gay dress and artful looks endeavours to inveigle others? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways, and been an example 34 of heinous wickedness to others. Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these in every part of the land the murder of your children is as plain, as if your garments were sprinkled with their blood; by which means murder is sometimes discovered.

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Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou 36 sayest, I have not sinned, and prove the contrary. Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way, Aying from one alliance to another? a plain proof that you have forsaken me: thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. 37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, or from hence, that is, from · thy own country, and thine hands upon thine head, as mourn ers, and in token of thy extreme grief: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

1 CHAP. III. They say, it is a known adjudged case, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted by such detestable practices? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers, by thine alliances with idolaters; yet return again to me, saith the LORD, and I will receive thee 2 into favour. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness, that waits for the caravans to buy goods; thou hast been no more ashamed to sit by the way side as a prostitute, than a merchant is to deal with his customers; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms 3 and with thy wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a 4 whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou [art] the guide of my youth and return to God, as thy husband, before thou art quite ruined? wilt thou not from this time do it, when thou art so graciously invited, and there are so many threatenings of sad judg5 ments if thou continuest obstinate? Will be reserve [his anger] for ever? will he keep [it] to the end?* Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldst.

REFLECTIONS.

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OW vain are all the attempts of sinners to justify themselves in an evil way! They, like Israel, are fond of doing it; they deny the fact, plead innocence, and say they are not polluted. Yet all their iniquity is marked before God; their secret sins are in the light of his countenance; and when he comes to plead with them, and set his law and their sins in order before them, they will be overwhelmed with shame and confusion. May we learn to guard against self deceit. We cannot plead innocence nor vindicate our conduct; therefore we should humbly and thankfully submit to the terms of the gospel.

2. They who forsake the service of God, change for the worse; change their God, for those which are no gods; their glory, for that which is their shame and reproach; like an untractable beast, that forsaking a good master is exposed to want and ruin. But men do not consider what their sins will bring them to at last. God is not

a wilderness to his people; his service is both pleasant and profitable; but if we desert it, we run into shame, misery, and ruin; and their case will be the worst of all, who do this after they have promised that they will not transgress.

3. The vanity and insufficiency of earthly things will abundantly. appear in the day of trouble. Men will not hearken in the day of prosperity; but when sickness and death come upon them, their

These are words put into their mouth wherewith to approach God; yet there was little hope of their using them, because they had shown all hatred to God and goodness.

VOL. V.

spirits will be tamed. They now reject reproof, and scorn advice; but when distress and anguish come upon them, where are their gods, their honours, and gay friends and companions? let them arise, and save them, if they can, in times of trouble: but here they will find disappointment. The Lord hath rejected such confidences, and men can never prosper in them. But if we make God our hope and portion, and his service our business, we may cheerfully say to him, in our time of trouble, Arise, and save us; and he will be our refuge and strength.

4. How kind is God to invite sinners to return, and put proper words and encouragements into their mouths. Though a man will not receive an adulterous wife, yet God invites sinners to return to him. He will not reserve his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Let rebellious children return to him as their father from this time, when he again invites them, and he will have compassion upon them, will subdue their iniquities, and cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.

CHAP. III. 6, to the end. CHAP. IV. 1-3.

In order to understand this part of the prophecy, we must remember, that it refers to the time of Josiah, a very zealous reformer: the people were not hearty in his reformation; they only complied with it externally, and after his death relapsed into idolatry,

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HE LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and un7 der every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said, by the prophets, after she had done all these [things,] Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacher8 ous sister Judah saw [it.] And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, that is, dissolved the spiritual relation between us; and she was carried captive; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the har9 lot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery 10 with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, 11 but feignedly, saith the LORD. And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah; Israel is less guilty than Judah, because Judah did not take warning.

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Go and proclaim these words toward the north, where the ten tribes were carried captive, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will not cause mine anger to fall, or continue, upon you: for I [am] merciful, saith the LORD,

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