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5. How miferable is the ftate of thofe who continue unréformed under the means of grace! God tries them by various methods, by confcience, his providence, his word and ordinances, as metals are tried, in order to separate the drofs, to refine and purify them. His minifters take pains to ftudy, to make known, and to enforce the will of God; but, alas! feldom is any good effect of their pains feen. Their bellows are burned, their time is loft, their ftrength and health impaired, and their lives fhortened. But they that will not be reformed, fhall be utterly confumed: the Lord will reject them, and then who can fave them? who will have pity on them? Let us pray that we may be refined by the means of grace, as filver is refined; and be purified as gold; then fhall we be veffels of honour, and our faithful minifters will rejoice in the day of Christ, that they have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain.

CHAP. VII.

Here begins another section of the prophecy, ending at the tenth chapter: it opens with exhortations to amendment of life, without which their confidence in the temple is declared to be in vain.

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HE word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, LORD, faying, Stand in the gate of the LORD'S houfe, (probably at fome grand feftival) and proclaim there this word, and fay, Hear the word of the LORD, all [ye of] Judah, that enter in at thefe gates to wor3 fhip the LORD. Thus faith the LORD of hofts, the God of Ifrael, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place, or elfe I will give 4 it to ftrangers and idolaters. Truft ye not in lying words, faying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the 5 Lord, The temple of the Lord, [are] these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and

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6 his neighbour; [If] ye opprefs not the ftranger, the fatherlefs, and the widow, and fhed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your 7 hurt: Then will I caufe you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. 8 Behold, ye truft in lying words that cannot profit, that is, in false prophets. Will ye fteal, murder, and commit adultery, and fwear falfely, and burn incenfe unto Baal, and, walk after other gods whom ye know 10 not; And come and ftand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and pretend to worship me, and fay, We are delivered to do all these abominations? will ye abufe my mercy and the deliverances granted you, as if I defigned them as an encouragement to you to go on in II your fins? Is this houfe, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have feen [it,] faith the LORD, tho' you think I did not. 12 But go ye now unto my place which [was] in Shiloh, where I fet my name at the first, the place where the ark was fettled at your first entrance into Canaan, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Ifrael; probably the city was deftroyed, as we never read of it af13 terwards. And now, because ye have done all thefe works, faith the LORD, and I fpake unto you, rifing up early and fpeaking, but ye heard not; and I called 14 you, but ye anfwered not; Therefore will I do unto [this] houfe which is called by my name, wherein ye truft, and unto the place which I gave to you and to 15 your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will

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caft you out of my fight, as I have caft out all your 16 brethren, [even] the whole feed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them; neither make interceffion to me: for I will not hear thee.*

17 Seeft thou not what they do in the cities of Judah 18 and in the streets of Jerufalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women

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* God forefaw that there would not be a universal reforma. tion, which was the only thing that could prevent their captivity; therefore he commands the prophet not to pray for them.

knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, the new moon, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger; all hands are employed as if they had their meat and drink 19 from them. Do they provoke me to anger? faith the LORD; can they hurt me by their wickedness? [do they] not [provoke] themselves to the confufion of their own 20 faces? Therefore thus faith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury fhall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beaft, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it fhall 21 burn, and fhall not be quenched. Thus faith the LORD of hosts, the God of Ifrael; Put your burnt offerings unto your facrifices, and eat flesh; tho' the burnt offerings should be entirely conjumed, and only the fat of the peace offering, you may either burn them all, or ́eat them all, it is the fame thing to me while you go on thus to do wickedly; or rather, Ye have added your burnt offerings to your facrifices, and eat flesh, which I faid nothing of to your 22 fathers. For I fpake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or facri23 fices: But this thing commanded I them, faying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye fhall be my people and walk ye in all the ways that I have com24 manded you that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counfels [and] in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward like headstrong oxen, and not 25 forward. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my fervants the prophets, daily rifing up 26 early, and fending [them] Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers; fet up idols in 27 the temple, and took no warning. Therefore thou fhalt speak

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As God really commanded thefe when they came Egypt, the meaning muft be, that he had a greater regard to obedience than to burnt offerings, and to mercy than facrifices. Or, that ceremonial obfervances were no further acceptable, than as they were the genuine fruits of obedience,

speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee; thou fhalt also call unto them; but 28 they will not answer thee. But thou fhalt fay unto them, This [is] a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth towards God and man is perifhed, and is cut off from their mouth; there is no depending on any thing they fay.

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Cut off thine hair, [O Jerufalem,] and caft [it] away in token of forrow, and take up a lamentation on high places, a folemn publick lamentation; for the LORD hath rejected and forfaken the generation of his wrath, 30 that used to be the generation of his love. For the children of Judah have done evil in my fight, faith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it; which was 31 actually done in Manaffeh's time. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which [is] in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their fons and their daughters in the fire, wicked rites which they have learned of the Canaanites, which I commanded [them] not, neither came it into my heart.

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Therefore, behold, the days come, faith the LORD, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the fon of Hinnom, but The valley of flaughter: for they fhall bury thofe that shall be flain by the Chaldeans in 33 Tophet, till there be no place. And the carcafes of this people fhall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beafts of the earth; and none fhall fray 34 [them] away. Then will I caufe to ceafe from the. cities of Judah, and from the ftreets of Jerufalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land fhall be defolate; there shall be no encouragement to marry when they have nothing but defolation and ruin before their eyes. VOL. V.

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REFLECT

Tophet was that particular spot in the valley of Hinnom, where fires were made, into which the poor innocent victims were thrown; and is fuppofed to have derived its name from the drums and tabrets that were beaten in order to drown the cries of the children when they facrificed them to Molech.

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REFLECTION S.

E, learn hence, that there are many who are very zealous for the forms of godliness, yet have nothing of the power of it. This wicked people made a great ado about the temple of the Lord. It was the cry of the times; as many in the chriftian world have said, The church, the church, while by their fins they have been pulling it down; zealous for forms and rites, while 'the church has been made a den of robbers, and their hearts have been full of all wickedness. God fees this hypocrify, and cannot be deceived by it. Let us take heed that we do not deceive ourselves.

2. Obferve the gracious regard which God has to the prayer of his fervants. When he was determined to root out this wicked people, he commands his prophet not to pray for them. He knew his affection and zeal for the people, and that he would pray, while there was any hope. But God esteemed the praying breath of his fervant too precious to be spent in vain. This is an encouragement to pray for our country while we have reafon to hope for fuccefs; and it contains an awful admonition, that they who will not be reformed by the preaching of ministers, shall not be the better for their prayers.

3. We here fee the wisdom and neceffity of obedience. The fame is commanded under every difpenfation, as in v. 23. Walk in all the ways I have commanded you; and our encouragement is the fame, I will be your God, and it fall be well with you. We must walk in all his commands, both moral and pofitive, if we would enjoy the privileges and happiness of his people. Oh that there were fuch a heart in us, to fear God and keep his commandments, that it might be well with us for ever.

CHAP.

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