mifery, and deftruction. How presumptuous and audacious was their demand, in daring to feduce the fervants of God from their fidelity, and to direct them how to perform their Master's work! The truth is, they could not endure found doctrine, faithful reproofs, and falutary counfels; and therefore they wifhed, that the prophets would exchange their wholesome admonitions for difcourfes that might be palatable and pleasant.Jefus Chrift hath expressly foretold, That false prophets fhall arise, and deceive 'many.' Permit me therefore to addrefs you in the words of the apostle Peter: Seeing ye know these things before, beware left ye alfo, being led away ⚫ with the error of the wicked, fall from your own ftedfaftness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ +.' 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the holy One of Ifrael to cease from before us. These words contain another instance of this rebellious people's hatred of the truth, their contempt of the word of God, and the faithful admonitions of his fervants. The practice of iniquity, in which obftinate tranfgreffors are employed, is here represented, as a way wherein the multitude are fecurely walking; and the minifters of the Lord are viewed as standing by the way-fide, and thus addreffing the paffengers, in their great Master's name: Forfake the foolish, and ' live; and go in the way of understanding. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the 6 way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. To the true prophets, who performed this friendly office, this proud fastidious people replied, in the words before us, Get you out of the way, and give place to others better than * Matth. xxiv. 11. + 2 Peter iii. 17, 18. + Prov. iv. 14, 15. VOL. II. 4 P you, you, who will speak to us in more pleasant agreeable language. Ceafe from reproving, admonishing, and threatening, in which, for a long time, you have proceeded, and permit us to enjoy ease and peace.Caufe the holy One of Ifrael to cease from before us. The holy One of Ifrael was one of the titles which God frequently affumed, in the meffages that he fent to this people; and it was often mentioned by Isaiah, in the difcourfes which he delivered. In allufion to this practice, the request of thefe profane persons intimates, that they were quite weary of the fermons wherein this name and character was introduced, which were become extremely naufeous and difagreeable to them. It imports, their earneft defire that our prophet might fpeak no more to them in this name, at which they were offended; and that he would defift from faying any thing farther concerning God, and the defigns of his providence.—Such was the froward and wicked language used by the people to whom the prophets of the Lord were fent, which is tranfmitted to us for our instruction, in the book of these prophecies, wherein it was ordered to be recorded. Hence let us learn to beware of finding fault with the word of God, of growing weary of the wholesome admonitions it contains, of contracting a fondness for fmooth things, and an averfion to any of the falutary truths revealed by the holy One of Ifrael. Let us reverence every character under which he hath been pleased to speak to us, and esteem the words of his mouth as our neceffary food. 12 Wherefore thus faith the holy One of Ifrael, Because ye defpife this word, and truft in oppreffion and perverseness, and stay thereon. Before he denounces the awful judgments that were to be inflicted upon this rebellious people, the prophet acquaints them with the authority by which he spake, and specifies the crimes whereby they expofed them felves to fevere punishment.Wherefore thus faith the holy One of Ifrael, whom you ought to have fanctified, but whom you have wickedly contemned. Be affured, that he will be exalted in judgment, and fanctified in righteousness-First, Because ye defpife this word; the law of the Lord, and the prophecies delivered by his fervants, particularly the prediction relating to the vanity of trusting in Egypt. This aggravated iniquity, as hath been already affirmed, is one cause of the deftruction that fhall certainly and fuddenly seize upon you. And fecondly, Because ye trust in oppreffion and perverfenefs, and stay thereon. The oppreffion and perverfeness wherein they confided, were the rich treasures and prefents, extorted from the people by fraud and violence, which were fent down to Egypt on affes and camels. The tribute which, according to treaty, they ought to have paid to the king of Affyria, they perverfely offered to the king of Egypt, in order to obtain his affiftance. Or the fraud, as the Hebrew word fignifies, and perverse nefs wherein they trufted, might be the deceitful perverfe doctrines of the falfe prophets, on which they foolishly placed great dependence. In both fenfes of the words, the Ifraelites and Jews were guilty of the charge here brought against them. Thus did God clearly point out, the caufes which operated to bring terrible defolation upon that people.Sin, my brethren, is the fource of all the calamities wherewith God hath visited the children of men. It expelled the first Adam from paradife; it deluged the old world with water; it brought fire and brimftone from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain; it hath spread the fword, famine, and pestilence, among many nations; it defolated the land of Judea, and kindled the fire that confumed the city and temple of Jerufalem; and, in following ages, it hath produced the most direful effects in every quarter of the world. And we may always conclude with certainty, that wherever people are punished in the manner manner our prophet foretels, fin is the procuring cause. Let us then carefully avoid that abominable thing which God hateth; and when not repented of, he never fails to teftify his difpleasure against the tranfgreffors. 13 Therefore this iniquity fhall be to you as a breach ready to fall, fwelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh fuddenly at an inftant. The punishment of the crimes mentioned in the preceding verfe, is, in this and the following one, reprefented by two fignificant emblems of peculiar ele gance. In the first, the people of Ifrael and Judah, on account of the eminence and grandeur to which they were elevated, are compared to a high wall, Through the favour of Providence, these kingdoms had been raised to great opulence, power, and fplendor: they had become confpicuous in the eyes of the nations, on account of the grandeur of their princes, the number of their military forces, the multitude and strength of their fortified cities. In refpect of privileges, they were exalted to heaven. They enjoyed thofe important prerogatives, whereby they excelled all the other nations of the earth; infomuch that their renown went forth among the Heathen for beauty, which, faid the Lord God, was perfect through his comelinefs put upon them.Therefore this iniquity fhall be to you as a breach ready to fall, &c. The fin whereby they defpifed the word of the Lord, the inftructions of his fervants, and even the name of the holy One of Ifrael, and fought affistance from Egypt, was to prove ruinous to them, as the fwelling out in a high wall. Under this fimilitude, the pfalmift predicted the overthrow of his enemies: As a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. The breach, or bulge, which is fup+ Pfal. Ixii. 3. * See Ezek. xvi. 14. pofed posed to have been in the lower part of the wall, as often happens in old buildings, might fignify, the infolence and pride whereby the pofterity of Ifrael were puffed up, in the confidence of being aided by the Egyptians. And as the fall of a high wall, that is occafioned by its projecting over the foundation, and bursting out in the lower part, is commonly fudden, great, and unexpected; fo, in these respects, it reprefented the overthrow of the Ephraimites and Jews. This iniquity here referred to, was to be the cause of the fall of both thefe kingdoms: and, in fact, it proved fo, first to the Ephraimites, who, by their perfidy, ftirred up Shalmanefer, king of Affyria, to execute vengeance upon them; and then to the Jews, who, by their treachery, provoked God to deliver them into the hands of the Affyrians and Chaldeans, 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters veffel, that is broken in pieces, he fhall not fpare; fo that there fhall not be found, in the bursting of it, a fherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit, The predicted deftruction, which was to terminate in the entire diffolution of the Ifraelitish state, is here illuftrated by a new fimilitude.The first claufe of the verse might have been tranflated thus: "And its "breaking, or burfting, fhall be as the breaking of "the potter's veffel." The truth affirmed in the middle of the verfe, namely, that Almighty God (who seems to be the Perfon fpoken of) fhall not fpare, is plainly fuppofed in the comparison here ftated. He was to give the Ephraimites fuch a fevere blow, fuch a terrible ftroke, as they would not be able to recover from; in confequence whereof, they fhould be fo fhattered to pieces, that, as a people, they were to become unprofitable and useless. As an earthen veffel that is broken to fhivers, becomes unfit for |