under fin, enemies to God in our minds, and by wicked works. Have not we often esteemed the vanities of this world, yea, and finful pleafures, more than the Living God? Have not we preferred many other objects to him? Have not we frequently caft his laws behind our backs, and rejected the offers of his glorious grace. It is true, that, through the kind reftraints of providence and grace, by means of aflliction, the fear of difgrace or punishment, or a regard to our own intereft, we may have been happily preserved from those grofs enormities whereby fome have demonftrated themfelves the enemies of God; but this will not exempt us from coming under this defcription. Nor will the feeming refpect we pay to God, in confequence of good education, the restraints of fear, or profpects of advantage, or the favourable opinion we have of ourselves, prove that this character does not belong to us. Concerning fuch God faith, He will eafe and avenge himself. The first of thefe expreffions imports, that the enemies of God are a burden to him. Though he upholds all things by the word of his power, he is wearied by mens iniquities, and preffed ' with their fins as a cart is preffed with fheaves.' Various are the ways in which God eafes himfelf of his adverfaries. Sometimes, in a day of his power, he flays the enmity of their hearts; he difpofes them to throw down the weapons of their rebellion, reconciles them to himself by the blood of his Son, and renders them his dutiful fubjects. But this is not what is here intended, as is evident from the following claufe of the verfe, where this expreffion is explained, by his avenging himself on his enemies. He will do himself juftice, by punishing them according to their defert, and vindicating his own rights. Thus will he rescue his name from the foul afperfions whereby it hath been injured; he will relieve his patience of the infupportable load it hath long fuftained, and deliver the earth from that oppreffive burden under under which it hath groaned. This vengeance he, in fome measure, inflicts in this world, by deferved judg ments on those who have acted in hoftility against him, though he often referves the execution of it on individuals until the day of final recompence, when he will take vengeance on all who have not obeyed his gofpel. Thus he avenged himself on the rebellious Jews, by the fword of the Chaldeans, by famine, and other dreadful calamities, on account of the abominations they committed: and, by this procedure, God declares he would be eafed, or quieted. This expreffion, used in accommodation to our weaknefs, must be explained in confiftency with the per fection of the divine nature. When men are highly displeased with those who have offended them, they reft not until their injured honour hath been repaired, and then they are at ease. In allufion to this practice, with which we are acquainted, the bleffed God, of whofe exiftence and manner of acting we are in great meafure ignorant, fays he is eafed. I will not fay more on this delicate fubject, left I fhould darken counsel by words without knowledge. -Do any of you then provoke the Lord to jealoufy? Are you ftronger than he? Will your hearts endure, or your hands be ftrong, in the day of his righteous vengeance? Will you be able to defend yourfelf, to escape out of his hand, or to sustain the awful weight of his wrath? His hand fhall find out all his enemies, his right hand fhall find out all thofe that hate him." O that you would ferioufly lay to heart this interesting confideration, that thereby you may be induced to acquaint yourselves with him, and to be at peace, and fo good fhall come unto you! 25¶ And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy drofs, and take away all thy tin. * Pfal. xxi. 8. God God here promifes to purify his people from the corruption and hypocrify which had crept in among them. Turning the hand muft denote, that God, infinitely gracious, would change his method of acting toward his people, and mercifully alter his difpenfations refpecting them. In this fenfe the expreffion is ufed by our prophet, where he promises, The Lord 'fhall fet his hand again the fecond time, to recover 'the remnant of his people which fhall be left. It is evident, from the judgment threatened in the foregoing verfe, and the mercy foretold in the following words, that the phrafe is intended to fignify a favourable change in the divine procedure. Its import then will be fhortly this: Though the Most High God, justly offended with the heinous provocations of a hypocritical people, would feverely punish them for their multiplied tranfgreffions, yet, in the midst of deferved wrath, he would remember mercy, and reverfe his awful difpenfations. Accordingly, we obferve the train of this prophecy is here changed: the thick cloud, that feemed ready to burst with impending judgments, now appears luminous, and fhowers down promifed mercies. What a happy change was this, attended with the moft defirable effects, richly deferving to be marked with admiration and gratitude! And purely purge away thy drofs, and take away all thy tin. The drofs here mentioned, like that spoken of in the 22d verse, must be understood in its figurative fenfe, denoting that corruption and fin which obfcured the amiable luftre and beauty of which the people of Judah would otherwife have been poffeffed, that gave them a deceitful appearance, rendered them of little value, and made it neceffary for God to purify them in the furnace of affliction.Tin in itself is a useful metal, that may be converted to valuable purposes, though, in comparifon of filver, it has but *Ifaiah xi, 11. little value or beauty. In a metaphorical fenfe, in which it is here ufed, it denotes that diffimulation and hypocrify which had intermixed themfelves with Judah to a very great degree. In the expreffion before us, the better fort of that people are confidered as the filver, or fome other precious metal, which was to be purified, being mixed with much drofs and other worthlefs ftuff; i. e. with much remaining corruption and hypocrify, from which it was neceffary they should be purged. Besides, they were interfperfed among the idolatrous, profane, and hypocritical, whom God, by the prophet Ezekiel, calls, The drofs and 6 the tin *;' from the deftructive influence of whofe wicked practices it was highly proper they fhould be delivered. Though, in general, they reckoned themfelves pure and precious as filver, whilst they cried, 6 The temple of the Lord are thefe,' great part of them were no better than drofs and tin; for, according to the testimony of the prophets, They did evil with 'both hands greedily: they were as briers and thorns, and the reft were as fcorpions; and the iniquity of the house of Ifrael was exceeding great.' In mercy therefore to the godly, and in judgment to the wicked, God promises, that he would make a thorough feparation between them in the furnace of affliction, when the wicked fhould be confumed in the fire of his wrath, and his peculiar people purified and preferved. He alfo fortels, that, by this trying operation, they who were as filver, the upright worfhippers and faithful fervants of God, fhould be purified from the drofs of their iniquities, and the tin of hypocrify, which had fpoiled their beauty, and diminifhed their value. This happy event was foretold at great length, by the prophet Ezekiel, when the word of the Lord came unto him: of which we read, Chap. xxii. 17. and following verfes; to which I beg your attention, because what is here predicted is there * Ezek xxii. 18. amplified and explained.—This prediction clearly points out the uniform procedure of Jehovah refpecting his degenerate people, both in their focial and perfonal capacity; whilft it holds forth the ground of that encouragement, whereby their hopes of complete purification are fupported. It was fulfilled at the Babylonifh captivity, fo far as the ftate of the church at that period permitted, when the wicked among the men of Judah were melted and confumed, and the faints of the Moft High were purified and preferved; and, in different ages of the church of God, it hath received, and still continues to receive, farther completion. When the church of Ephesus left her first love; when the church of Pergamos turned afide after the doctrine of Balaam; when the church of Thyatira was feduced by that wicked woman Jezebel, who called herfelf a prophetefs; when the church of Sardis abated in zeal, and Laodicea became lukewarm; they were caft into great tribulation, and there they were tried and purified. And we, my brethren, in our prefent degenerate state, have reason to expect, that God, by means of awful judgments he already threatens to inflict, will purge away the corruption and hypocrify which have lamentably diffufed their influence among us. Let it be our concern then, that all the afflictions and trials wherewith we are vifited, may be made effectual, through the kind providence, and powerful bleffing of God, for weakening our corruptions, and purifying our graces. 26 And I will reftore thy judges as at the firft, and thy counfellors as at the beginning: afterward thou fhalt be called, The city of righteoufness, the faithful city. The restoration of the people of Judah to their ancient aristocratical or democratical ftate is here promifed, together with its happy confequences. Both |