people did yet corruptly. In what follows, the prophet ftill rifes in the defcription of the corrupt ftate of the Jewish nation. They have forfaken the Lord. They fhamefully deferted from their allegiance to the God of their fathers, who had loaded them with innumerable benefits; they wickedly burft afunder thofe powerful obligations whereby he had bound them to his fervice; they went aftray from his bleffed ways, and ferved the blinded idols of other nations, preferring them to God bleffed for evermore. Thus they committed two great evils, forfaking the fountain of living waters, and hewing out to themfelves broken cifterns that could hold no water+.' In this manner they provoked the Holy One of Ifrael to anger. The character here mentioned is frequently given to God by the prophets, and particularly by Ifaiah in this prophecy. Hereby he is diftinguished from the falle gods of the nations; the infinite purity of his nature is expreffed, and his intimate connection with his people is pointed out. He is perfectly holy, the great principle and pattern of all true holinefs among men. He is holy in all his works, in all the difpenfations of his providence, and in all the judgments of his mouth, which bear the impreffion of his untainted purity. He is the Holy One of Ifracl, who fet them apart for himself as his peculiar treasure, who strictly prohibited every impurity among them, and teftified his righteous difpleasure against every fpecies of tranfgreflion which they committed. He was fan&tified among them by that worship which was performed in the beauty of holinefs, and he was honoured by that fanctity of manners which is the diftinguifhing badge of his upright fervants. This Holy One they provoked to anger, by blafpheming his name, neglecting his ordinances, breaking his commandments, and following the cor+ Jer. ii. 13. 2 Chron. xxvii. 2. rupt rupt cuftoms of the nations around them. Thus they incurred his displeasure, and rejected him with contempt. To conclude this affecting defcription, it is added they are gone away backward. They alienated themfelves from the fervice of that gracious God, who invited them to facred intercourfe with him, and gave them the most falutary counfels. They turned to him the back, and not the face, who called them to glory and virtue, in the enjoyment of whofe favour their highest happiness confifted. Inftead of making progrefs in obedience, and advancing in conformity to the will of God, they entered into crooked paths of their own, and went faft backward, until they arrived at a state of lamentable ignorance, idolatry, and wickednefs. Such is the affecting reprefentation the prophet gives of the whole Jewish nation, which exactly correfponds with the hiftory of the times of Ahaz. Under the government of that wicked prince, they grievously revolted from God, the fanctuary of the Most High was neglected, the temple was fpoiled of its ornaments, facrifices were offered to idols, and every fpecies of abominable idolatry was practifed, fo that we read, They tranfgreffed fore against the 'Lord.And is it not too obvious, brethren, to require a proof, that this defcription of the Jewish nation is in fome meafure applicable to us? Are not we a finful nation, who have forfaken the Lord, and gone away backward? Our iniquities give incontestable evidence of the justice of the character. Deeply affected with a sense of our fins, whereby we have provoked to anger the Holy One of Ifrael, let us, with humility of heart, return unto the Lord, that he may remember with us his covenant, and not cast us away, nor utterly destroy us. 5 Why should ye be ftricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is fick, and the whole heart faint. 2 Chron. xxviii. 19. The The prophet, in the name of God, here expoftulates with the finful nation defcribed in the preceding verfe, concerning their folly and danger. Various methods had been tried without fuccefs, to overcome the obftinacy of this rebellious, perfidious people. They had not only been treated with the moft tender indulgence, but they had been chaftened feverely with rods, and weakened with ftripes, to bring them to a better temper and practice: but far from being reformed by the means employed for that purpose, they grew more hardened in their wickednefs, and more obftinate in their tranfgreffions, whereby they exposed themselves to the most severe judgments. To roufe their attention, and alarm their fears, the inquiry is propofed, Why Should ye be stricken any more? Why are you fo ftupid and carelefs, as not to confider the procuring causes of your calamities, that you may avoid them? and why do you go on in your trefpaffes, that will expofe you to ruin? Do you not fee, that the afflictive evils which have befallen you have been the fruits of your tranfgreffions? And if you are fenfible of this as you ought, it betrays the moft extreme folly to perfift in thefe crimes, which render more fevere judgments neceffary to bring you back to God and your duty. Why have you become incorrigible under the difpenfations of divine providence, and worfe by the very means employed to make you better? It is highly proper and neceffary, that you feriously confider what anfwer you can give to fuch a seasonable and interesting inquiry, that you may be fenfible of your wickednefs, perverfity, and wretchednefs. Ye will revolt more and more. Thefe words defcribe the perverse disposition of those to whom they were directed. They had already apoftatized from the worship and fervice of the Living God, who had chaftened them in various ways, to, reduce them to a dutiful fubjection to his authority. Their hearts, however, inftead of being foftened by the chaftife ments ments they received, became more obdurate; and their corruptions, far from being fubdued, acquired new strength and vigour. Their conduct, far from being reformed and improved, rofe to new degrees of impiety and wickednefs; in which they were fo confirmed, that, though repeatedly ftricken, they revolted the farther from God, and alienated themfelves the more from his fervice.This fhews the imminent danger to which revolting from God, our rightful Sovereign, most certainly expofes thofe who, through evil hearts of unbelief, depart from him. In its first beginnings, which frequently commence with the neglect of fome divine inftitution, or the omiffion of fome commanded duty, of no great apprehended confequence, it is viewed as a trivial matter, in which no farther progrefs for a time is intended. But men do not commonly ftop here: their deceitful and defperately wicked hearts, being withdrawn from God, are quickly attached to the pleafures of fin fuited to their corrupt appetites; and their affections, engroffed by hurtful objects, lead them fill farther from him, until they are fo accuftomed to their evil ways, that they remain indifferent under the moft alarming judgments. Progrefs in revolt is down-hill, and frequently proves both eafy and rapid. This was the unhappy condition of the Jewish nation, as plainly intimated in the expreffion before us, Ye will revolt more and more. Being fet up as a beacon, to warn us of the awful danger of departing from the Living God, keeping them fully in our view, let us beware of following the ruinous courfe which they fteered, from which neither the mercies nor judgments of God could detain them. The whole head is fick. In this, and the following expreffions, the external calamitous fiate of the Jewith nation is defcribed. The reprefentation is borrowed from the diftreffed condition of one covered with wounds, afflicted with putrifying fores, whofe head is pained, whofe heart is faint, whofe members are bruised, and whofe diftemper, preying on the inward parts, threatens to be mortal. The figure is inftructive, and ufed by the moft elegant profane writers. The words then must be explained not in their literal, but in their metaphorical fenfe, in order to our understanding them aright.In this view, by the head may be meant, the king, the princes, and governors of the people, who were the chicf and leading men in the nation. Thefe are, with great propriety, called the head, as they were exalted above others to honour and dignity; and to them it belonged to direct and confult, for the benefit of the whole body of the people. The whole head is faid to have been sick, no part of it remained found and free from diftempers, but the whole was become feeble and difeafed, in a ftate of languor and imbecility, totally indifpofed for rightly performing the part incumbent on it to act.And the whole heart faint. The heart literally denotes that part of the human frame which is the fource of life and motion. In the figurative fenfe, in which it is here to be underfood, the high priest, the priests, and fanhedrim, may be intended, who were to the Jewish nation what the heart is to the natural body, giving life and vigour to all its operations, and without whom their church and state would have been destitute of beauty and regular motion. The whole heart is faid to have been faint, reduced to a very feeble and languid condition, incapable of performing its proper functions for the benefit of the body. We all know, that the connection between the head and the heart is very intimate; fo that what indifpofes the one affects the other, and will be foon felt through the whole frame, as is plainly affirmed in the next verse. 6 From the fole of the foot even unto the head, there is no foundnefs in it; but wounds, and bruifes, and putrifying fores: they have not been clofed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The |