tions and difpenfations, both profperous and afflic tive; and with these you fhall be favoured with renewed communications of pardon and life, of righteousness and grace. Death itself fhall operate for your advantage, by introducing you into that land in which you fhall dwell for ever, and enjoy thofe things which eye hath not feen, ear hath not heard, neither heart conceived. May you be fo happy as feel the force of this argument, which is admirably calculated to excite you to obedience to God.

20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the fword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The extreme danger of rejecting the counfel of God is here reprefented.To refufe, in the fenfe here meant, is to reject with contempt what we will not grant to accept of, or fubmit to. The things fuppofed, in this verfe, to be thus refufed, are, the wholefome admonitions contained in the 16th and following verfes, which ought to have been gratefully received, and faithfully obeyed by God's ancient people, being moft fuitable to their circumftances, and conducive to their most important interefts. To reject these must have been highly offenfive to that God, who condefcended, after their manifold provocations, to point out the way of fafety; and most injurious to themfelves, who, by this conduct, became exposed to more awful judgments. By acting in this manner, they rebelled against God, and declared they would not fubject themfelves to the authority of their rightful Sovereign, and beft Friend. Their refufal is here juftly interpreted as rebellion, which confifts in fubjects with-holding obedience to the laws enacted for their benefit, and taking up arms to overturn the kingdom or ftate. Thus the profeffing people of the Moft High, rejecting his laws, and walking after the imagination of their own hearts, were guilty

of

of rebellion against their higheft Lord.What obstinate wickednefs is contained in this character! Is it not juft and reasonable that they should have yielded fubjec tion and obedience to him who created them; who continually preferved them; who redeemed them from the most deplorable bondage, and required them to do nothing but what is holy, juft, and good, and tending to advance their trueit interefts; who promifes the most valuable bleffings to the willing and obedient, and threatens the moft dreadful judgments against the rebellious. If it betrays the most fullen contempt in a child, to refufe to obey the lawful commands of his father; if it difcovers the moft perverfe difpofition in a people, to reject the mild and equitable authority of their prince; what language can exprefs the guilt contracted by refufing to obey the wholesome admo nitions of the Lord our God?Beware then, of refufing to hearken to him who now fpeaks to you from heaven; For if they efcaped not, who refufed him that fpake on earth, much more fhall not we efcape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven".

Ye fhall be devoured with the fword. The fword, you all know, is a fharp weapon ufed in war, whereby the blood of multitudes hath been fhed to the ground; and therefore when war is threatened in fcripture, it is fometimes called the fword. At other times it denotes, all thofe calamities wherewith the nations are vifited on account of their fins, whereby mankind are afflicted and destroyed. In this extensive fenfe the word feems to be ufed by Job, where he thus fpeaks:

Be ye afraid of the fword, for wrath bringeth the 'punishment of the fwordt;' i. e. all manner of judgments. In the words before us it may be underftood in either fenfe, as denoting the defolations of war, or all thofe calamities whereby God punishes men in this world for their fins. The Hebrew word,

* Heb. xii. 25.

† Job. xix. 29.

M

which

which fignifies a fword, is derived from one fignifying to dry up, to lay wafte, or destroy; and with great propriety, as that weapon is employed in confuming and fpreading defolation among mankind: hence it is faid to eat flefh, to be filled with blood, to reach to the foul, and to devour from one end of the land to another, fo that no flesh hath peace *. Here it is foretold concerning thofe who refufe and rebel, Ye fhall be devoured by the fword. In fcripture we read of the hand, the face, and the mouth of the fword. The first of thefe expreflions may be of the fame import with the phrafe often used among us, The fword in hand, drawn out of the scabbard, and ready to ftrike, denoting prefent imminent danger. The fecond feems to fignify its vifible approach, and rapid progress toward the deftruction of mankind. To the laft there feems to be a manifeft reference in the words before us; which plainly intimates, that the fword, in a figurative fenfe, hath a mouth, whereby it devours the human race, and confumes the fruits of the earth by which men are fupported.This is the awful judgment here threatened as the just punishment of disobedience to God, and affords a striking contraft to what was faid in the preceding verfe. There it was declared, If ye be willing and obedient, ye fhall eat the good of the land; here it is foretold, That if ye refule and rebel, ye fhall be food for the fword. This procedure clearly fhews, that the ways of God toward the righteous and wicked are perfectly. juft and right, and that he recompenfes men according to their works.-Beware then of being contentious, and difobedient to the truth, left you bring on others, as well as yourfelves, fwift deftruction in this world, tribulation and wrath, indignation and anguish, in that which is to come.

For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The men of Judah might be apt to confider what Isaiah had de

Jer. xii, 12,

livered

livered as the word of a feeble man like themfelves, who could do but little, whatever he promised or threatened; and they might rafhly conclude, that little regard was to be paid either to him or his prophecy. Far from believing the word of the Lord which he fpake, they ufed this haughty language, 'Let him make fpeed, and haften his work, that we may fee it. They vainly imagined, that either his words would not come to pafs, or that the fulfilment of them would be delayed for a confiderable fpace of time. But in this they foolishly deceived themselves; and found, in their fad experience, that when they looked for peace no good came; for a time of health, behold trouble. To prevent them from indulging delufive hopes of fafety, affurance is here given, that the above are the declarations, of eternal truth, the faithful fayings of God, who is truth, and for whom it is impoffible to lie. He who gave existence to creation, who is all-fufficient, and unchangeably faithful, will most certainly accomplish all his promises and threatenings. The word that 'goeth out of his mouth fhall not return to him void; but it fhall execute that which he pleases, ' and fhall profper, in the thing whereunto he hath fent itt. Heaven and earth may pafs away, but one ' title of what he hath spoken fhall not fail of receiving its full completion.' The declaration before us is evidently intended to give firmness and certainty fo all the foregoing predictions, that they may produce their proper effect upon all to whom they belong. How juft and awful the threatenings here denounced! How gracious and comfortable, beyond expreffion, the affurances given! Let us then learn wifdom from Judah's folly; and, being affured that the mouth of the Lord hath fpoken what is contained in this prophecy, let us reverence, believe, and obey him, fo fhall we be established.

* Ifaiah v. 19.

+ Ifaiah lv. 11.

21 ¶ How

21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

In the form of complaint, the prophet here exclaims concerning the lamentable change which had happened in the condition of thofe to whom he was fent, and bewails their corrupt, degenerate ftate.

By the faithful city, Jerufalem was doubtlefs primarily intended, the city which God had chofen, defcribed as the joy of the whole earth, the perfection of beauty, the city of the Lord of hofts, the holy city, in which he put his name, and which he honoured with the fymbols of his divine prefence. Here it is called the faithful city, a character it once juftly deferved, whilft its inhabitants faithfully adhered to Jehovah as their God, acknowledging no other God befide him, performing with fidelity the facred homage and obedience he required, and diligently fulfilling the folemn engagements they lay under to his fervice. This was the honourable character of Jerufalem in the days of David and Solomon, and fome other good kings, under whofe government the men of Judah difcovered a firm attachment to the worship of the true God, and the obedience of his precepts. In fuch feafons they fhewed much fidelity toward God, and the concerns of his glory: they were more than ordinarily faithful in promoting the interefts of the nation, and in performing their engagements to one another; and thus they arrived at the character of the faithful city. Then, in the words of the prophet Hofea, Judah ruled with God, and was faithful with the most holy.It was full of judgment. Moft equitable and just decisions were given by thofe who were vefted with power and authority, when feated upon the thrones of judgment, and every fpecies of fraud and injuftice was detected and punished. The practice of

* Hofea xi. 12.

justice