mixture of metaphors, or figures, which there is in our translation, and renders it, "Woe to the women that weave nets to catch all legs, (or paws of beasts,) and make nets (of a smaller kind) for the head of every (bird) rising up to fly;" in allusion to two sorts of nets, the one, stronger, with with they took wild beasts, the other, smaller, with which they caught birds. And the 20th verse, he translates, thus, "Behold I am against your nets, with which ye hunt souls, and will tear them from your arms on which ye carry them; and your smaller nets will I tear." This makes a beautiful connected sense, and admirably suits the connection; while they were prophesying peace to the people, they were only hunting them down, and destroying their lives *.

You see, then, my brethren, the exceeding sinfulness, the loathsomeness, and the misery of sin, both here and hereafter; and you see how we, the ministers of God, are called upon to shew you these things, to warn you to forsake and avoid them, and to exhort you to repentance and amendment of life, and that at the peril of our own souls, whether you will hear, or whether you will forbear, and whatever may be the consequence, whatever usage we may meet at your hands. A minister, then, is bound to exhort you in public and in private, generally and particularly. And think him not your enemy in so doing; he is, depend upon it, your truest, your best friend. If you were walking, blindfold, to a precipice, and, on falling over and coming to the bottom, must be inevitably shattered to death, and one were to lay hold of you, and save you, what should you think of him? If your house were on fire, and you

* Costard: see Orton, Vol. VI. P. 53.

were asleep in it, and one were to awaken you, and hurry you away from the flames, what should you think of him? If you were drowning in the water, and, as you were sinking for the last time, one were to venture in, and save you, what should you think of him?

Undoubtedly you would think him your friend, your BEST FRIEND. Such a one is your minister. You are about to perish-to PERISH EVERLASTINGLY -and he would save you, by rescuing you from sin and Satan, and bringing you to CHRIST: with Him-and with Him alone-is plenteous redemption. CHRIST! CHRIST!!

SERMON XL.

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.—EZEKIEL XIV-XVIII.

IDOLS SET UP IN THE HEART-THE TRINITY-THE FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS OF GOD-THE ADULTERY OF JERUSALEM-THE EAGLES, THE CEDAR, AND THE VINE-THE BRANCH OF THE CEDAR-GOD'S DEALINGS WITH THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED THE DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN.

EZEKIEL XVIII. 27.

When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

In my last discourse, I considered the book of the prophet Ezekiel, as far as to the end of the XIIIth chapter. The first lessons for this day are the XIVth and the XVIIIth. I have, therefore, now, to consider those two and the chapters between, being five chapters in all.

The XIVth chapter exposes the hypocrisy of those, who pretend to be worshippers of God, while they are idolaters, and shews what calamities should come upon Judea. The prophet says, "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me." Who these elders were is uncertain, probably some persons of note, who came from Jerusalem to the king of Babylon, or on some other business in that country. These came to attend on Ezekiel with an ill design, particularly, to see if they could

discern any contradiction between his prophecies and Jeremiah's, in order to weaken the authority of both. The prophet continues, " And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart," though they pretend to have renounced them, " and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face," set up idols as objects of worship, which is their sin, and will be their ruin: "should I be inquired of at all by them?" should I give such hypocrites a favourable answer?

We protestants, it is true, do not make idols of wood and stone, and bow down to them. But, are we not as idolatrous, or almost so, as the Jews were? Do we not "set up idols in our hearts?" Do we not give up our hearts to other things, to the world, the flesh, and the devil, when we should give them up to God? Whatever a man prefers to God, whether it be his belly, (Phil. iii. 19.) that is eating and drinking, or covetousness, (Col. iii. 5.) that is making money by unlawful means, or to an undue extent, that is his god, his idol, and he is as much an idolater, as the Jews were in the time of Ezekiel.

God says, that, if such an one comes to inquire of the prophet, that he (God) will answer him. And it is said, at the 9th verse," And, if the prophet be deceived, when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet," or, it might be rendered, Have I the Lord deceived that prophet? Is it to be charged upon me? or, rather, I have permitted him to be deceived, as a punishment for his idolatries and pretences to inspiration. God is said to deceive the false prophet, as he is said to have hardened the heart of Pharaoh, that is, what he did had that effect, through his own perverse disposition, when it ought

to have had a directly contrary effect, to have softened, to have humbled it. It is evident, that the person speaking to Ezekiel, in this chapter, called, at the 2d verse," the Word of the Lord," is the same as "the likeness as the appearance of a man," whom he saw upon the throne, as mentioned I. 26. ; and he is called, in this XIVth chapter, the 11th verse, by the same word in the Hebrew, as is translated, Exodus iii. 14., I AM. So that, by the words "that they may be my people, and I may be their God, said the Lord GOD," we are to understand that Christ, here, as the Word, and Messenger of the Covenant, promises, that, to the posterity of these Jews God would be (that is, would be revealed to be) -not "their God," as we render it, but more expressively should be " to them, for Elohim," that is, should be revealed to them as a Trinity, or Three Persons in one Godhead*.

At the 12th verse, God begins to say, that he will bring his four sore judgments upon the land for their sins, famine, noisome beasts, the sword, and the pestilence. Alas! that any one should ever offend a God who has such means of vengeance in his power, a good God, who does not send them when we deserve them, no nor when we greatly deserve them, but only when sin is exceedingly provoking, and cries aloud for punishment! Famine, noisome beasts, the sword, and pestilence! What a favoured country is this! What a favoured people have we been! Not that we have not sinned; but that God has been most indulgent to us. We have, indeed, in some years, suffered from scarcity. But what is scarcity, -which sets us only upon economy, and manage

* See Wogan, Vol. IV. p. 271, 259, 318.