was no peace, and one built up a wall, and others daubed it with untempered mortar. Will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley, and pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying unto my people that hear your lies? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to your ways, saith the Lord God: repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions: so iniquity shall not be your ruin ". Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel *. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves and live ye3. Ye shall remember your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled, and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils, that ye have committed". Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-ropea. Woe unto them that justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him o. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood c. Wash ye, ye, make ye clean, put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes, cease to do evil a. Learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool'. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the fruit of the land . But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it". She hath wearied herself with lies, therefore have I caused my fury to light upon her 1. Sow to yourselves in righteousness, and reap in mercy; break up your fallow-ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you Turn thou unto thy God; keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually'. O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help m. Return to the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord, say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away". Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near •. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon P. For thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones 1. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth; for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth and smote him: I hid me and was wroth, and he went on fro wardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comfort to him and to his mourners *. I create the fruit of the lips; peace, peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him ". But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt *. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked y. k Hos.x. 12. s Isa. Ivii. 17. 1 Hos. xii. 6. m Hos. xiii. 9. n Hos. i. 1. y Ver. 21. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. It is good that a man should both hope, and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord". Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us: he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all our sins into the depth of the sea. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them o. A Psalm. O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, have mercy upon us for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be a stranger to us, and as a wayfaringman that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us for thy name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory; remember, break not the covenant with us d. I will no more sit in the assembly of mockers, nor rejoice; I will sit alone because of thy hand, for thou hast filled me with indignation o. Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable which refused to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as waters that failf? O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh, to direct his steps. O Lord, correct me, but with judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee, shall be ashamed, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved for thou art my praise. Be not a terror unto me, thou art my hope in the day of evilh. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled, mine heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled'. For these things I weep; mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul, is far from me k Hear me, O Lord, and that soon, for my spirit waxeth faint; hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit'. O let me hear thy loving-kindness betimes, for in thee is my trust; show thou me the way that I should walk in, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Teach me the thing that pleaseth thee, for thou art my God: let thy loving spirit lead me forth into the land of righ teousness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake, and for thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble. The Lord upholdeth all such as fall, and lifteth up those that be down m. I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost: O seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments. O do well unto thy servant, that I may live and keep thy word. I O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before go hence, and be no more seen. Glory be to the Father, &c. As it was in the beginning, &c. A Prayer for a Sinner returning after a long Impiety. I. O ETERNAL Judge of men and angels, Father of mercy, and the great Lover of souls, I humbly acknowledge that the state 8 Jer. xvii. 13. k Lam. i. 15. h Ver. 17. i Lam. i. 20. of my soul is sad and deplorable, and by my fault, by my own grievous fault, I am in an evil condition; and if thou shouldest now enter into judgment with me, I have nothing to put in bar against the horrible sentence, nothing of my own, nothing that can ease thy anger, or abate the fury of one stroke of thy severe infliction. I do, O God, judge and condemn myself, and justify thee, for thou art righteous, and whatsoever thou doest is good and true. But, O my God, when the guilty condemns himself, nothing is left for the offended party but to return to graciousness and pardon. I, O Lord, have done thy severe and angry work, I have sentenced a vile man to a sad suffering; and if I so perish as I have deserved, thou art just and righteous, and thou oughtest for ever to be glorified. II. But, O my God, though I know that I have deserved evils that I know not, and hope I shall never feel, yet thou art gracious and holy, and lovest more to behold thy glory reflected from the floods and springs of mercy, than to see it refracted from the troubled waters of thy angry and severe displeasure and because thou lovest it so highly to shew mercy, and because my eternal interest is served in it, I also ought to desire what thou lovest, and to beg of thee humbly and passionately that I may not perish; and to hope with a modest confidence that thou hast mercy in store for him, to whom thou hast given grace to ask for it: for it is one degree of pardon to be admitted to the station of penitent beggars; it is another degree of pardon that thou hast given me grace to hope, and I know that in the fountains of thy own graciousness thou hast infinite arguments and inducements to move thee to pity me, and to pardon. III. O my God, pity me for thy name's sake, even for thy own goodness' sake, and because I am miserable and need it. And because I have nothing of my own to be a ground of confidence, give thy servant leave to place my hopes on thee, through Jesus Christ; thou hast commanded me to come to the throne of grace with boldness, that I may find mercy in time of need; and thou hast promised to give thy Holy Spirit to them that ask him. O dear God, give me pardon, and |