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CHAP. VIII.

The prophet here upbraids the people with their folly and obftinacy, and bewails the dreadful miferies that were coming upon them.

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T that time, faith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerufalem, out of their graves; the Chaldeans fhall break open their fepulchres, in hope of finding treafures, but in the rage of disappointment they shall throw about 2 their bones: And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the hoft of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have ferved, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have fought, and whom they have worshipped, but who can do nothing for them they fhall not be gathered, nor be buried; 3 they fhall be for dung upon the face of the earth. And fo great fhall be their misery, that death fhall be chosen rather than life, by all the refidue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, faith the LORD of hosts.

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Moreover thou fhalt say unto them, Thus faith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arife? fhall he turn away, and not return? they act different from the maxims of common prudence; if a man fall, will he not rife, and be glad of help? if a traveller misses his way, will he not en5 quire, and be glad to be fet right? Why [then] is this people of Jerufalem flidden back by a perpetual back6 fliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. I. hearkened and heard, [but] they fpake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? God is reprefented as waiting and expecting that they would fay fo, but every one turned to his course, as the horse rufheth into the battle, without 7 confidering or fearing his danger. Yea, the ftork in the heaven

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"Thefe various expreffions are used, to fhow how fond they were of this worship, and what regard they paid to these gods, who now cannot protect their bones.

heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the fwallow obferve the time of their coming; they return in the fummer to their former abodes; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD; they do not obferve my providence, nor think of returning to 8 me. How do ye fay, We [are] wife, and the law of the LORD [is] with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he [it] the pen of the fcribes [is] in vain; you boast of your wifdom, becaufe poffeffed of my law; but, with regard to you, that law was made, tranfcribed, and expounded in 9 vain; you might as well have been without it. The wife [men] are afhamed, they are difmayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wifdom [is] in them? the politicians that boast of their wisdom show egregious folly, and fuffer the confequences of their own fchemes and devices, because they will not be ruled 10 by my word. Therefore will I give their wives unto others, [and] their fields to them that fhall inherit [them:] for every one from the leaft even unto the greateft is given to covetousness, from the prophet even 11 unto the priest every one dealeth falfely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people flightly, faying, Peace, peace; when [there is] no 12 peace. Were they afhamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore fhall they fall among them that fall in the time of their vifitation they shall be 13 caft down, faith the LORD. I will furely consume them, faith the LORD: [there fhall be] no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf fhall fade; and [the things that] I have given them fhall 14 pass away from them. Why do we fit ftill? Say the people to one another; affemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be filent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to filence, hath given us no reason to complain, and yet no encouragement to pray, and given us water of gall, or hemlock, to drink, that is, fevere and painful judgments, because we have finned against the LORD. We looked for peace, as the false prophets had faid, but no good [came; and] for a time

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16 of health, and behold trouble! The fnorting of his horfes was heard from Dan, from the north: the whole land trembled at the found of the neighing of his ftrong ones, or horfes; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and thofe that 17 dwell therein. For, behold, I will fend ferpents, cockatrices, among you, which [will] not [be] charmed, and they fhall bite you, faith the LORD; tho' mufical founds may have fuch an influence on particular ferpents as to prevent their biting, your enemies fhall not be mollified or difarmed by any means. The prophet adds in his 18 own name, [When] I would comfort myself against for

row, my heart [is] faint in me; I see much more reason 19 to fear than to hope. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: [Is] not the LORD in Zion? [is] not her king in her? their vain plea: to which God anfwers, Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, [and] with ftrange vanities? The people then fay 20 The harvest is past, the fummer is ended, and we are not faved; the time in which we expected deliverance is over, we have no help from Egypt, nor from any of our allies. 21 The prophet adds, For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; aftonifhment hath taken hold on me; I am ghastly, as in a violent agony, 22 like a dying man. [Is there] no balm in Gilead? is there no fuitable remedy for a difeafed nation? [is there] no phyfician there to apply thofe remedies? Yes, undoubtedly there is both: why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? alas! it is their own fault, they have brought this evil upon themselves.

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REFLECTION S.

ET us fee and lament the folly and madness of men, in neglecting to repent and return to God. What an instructive view is given of repentance, v. 6. Men speak aright when they talk of returning to God, and not till then. Repentance begins in confidering what we

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have done, in comparing it with the law, and lamenting what is amifs. Men act wifely in other respects, v. 8, but foolishly and perverfely in religious concerns. The obedience of the birds to the inftinct implanted in them, fhames the stupidity of men, who will not use their underftandings to judge and purfue their true intereft. The reafon is, they have deceived themselves, and hold fast deceit and when minifters would undeceive them, they will not let them they excufe their fins, and refufe to return. Let us lament that this is the cafe of fo many, and take care that it be not our own.

2. Religious advantages will be of no avail while men continue difobedient. We may boast of having bibles and ministers, the tongues of the learned, and the pens of the fcribes; but if we do not attend and confider, and govern oùrfelves by the divine law, of what advantage is all this? What fignifies it to live in an enlightened age, and to enjoy many glorious privileges, both as proteftants and Britons, while we reject the word of the Lord, and while profeffing to believe it we will not be ruled by it. Remember that the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and that to depart from evil is understanding.

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3. The deftruction of finners is to be charged upon themselves. What the prophet fays of a dying nation, equally applicable to perifhing fouls. v. 22, Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no phyfician there? why then is not the health of my people recovered? There is abundant provision for their healing, by the word and Spirit of God. Jefus is a divine, almighty phyfician; but men will not put themfelves under his method of cure, nor follow his prefcriptions. They are humourfome and wilful, nourish their difeafe, and imagine that it will not prove fatal. May God fhow us our fpiritual diforders, that we may apply to Chrift, the great phyfician: and may he bring us health and cure, and reveal to us abundance of truth and peace.

CHAP.

CHA P. IX.

In which the prophet ftill touches upon the fame mournful string, lamenting the wickedness of his people, and the judgments that were coming upon them.

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fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the flain of the daughter of my people! which I forefee will be very many; and foretell this, to excite them 2 to lamentation. Oh that 1 had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, a cave, or hut, that I might leave my people, and go from them! having met with fo much ill usage, and being fo much vexed at their wickedness; for they [be] all adulterers, an affembly of 3 treacherous men. And they bend their tongues [like] their bow [for] lies; they contrive malicious lies, which are as dangerous as arrows: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; they have not courage to defend an honeft caufe, nor even to speak the truth: for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, faith the LORD; they grow worse and worse, and their ignorance of 4 my holy nature and law is the fource of all Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and truft ye not in any brother for every brother will utterly fupplant, and 5 every neighbour will walk with flanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, [and] weary themselves to commit iniquity; they have Studied the art of falsehood, and take more pains to commit iniquity than it would require to practise truth and integrity. 6 Thine habitation, O Jeremiah, [is] in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refufe to know me, faith the LORD; they neither mind the prophets nor the fcriptures. 7 Therefore thus faith the LORD of hofts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; I will try what afflictions will do to reform them, for how fhall I do for the daughter of my people? after having exercised so much mercy and patience, what other method can I take, that 8 may at least fave fome? Their tongue [is as] an arrow E e 4

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