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shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? &c.

Thus saith the Lord, Shall this man prosper in his treachery and ingratitude? No; that great monarch, from whom he is revolted, shall take just revenge on him, and shall utterly defeat and root him out. So also verse 10.

XVII. 22 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take off the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, &c.

Thus saith the Lord, I will, at the last, work out the delivery and redemption of my people: out of the seed of David, will I raise up the Messiah, and set him on high in my holy Church.

XVII. 23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

Even in my glorious Evangelical Church, will I exalt his power; and he shall spread my Gospel, and enlarge his spiritual dominions all the world over; and all his elect shall shroud themselves under his grace and protection.

XVII. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

And all the people of the earth shall know, that I have brought down the proud and mighty tyrants of the world; and have exalted this meek and despised Saviour of Mankind above every name, that is named in heaven and in earth.

XVIII. 2 The fathers have eaten sour grapes, &c. See Jer. xxxi.

verse 29.

XVIII. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ye have no reason to murmur against me, as either partial or rigorous; for, are not all souls the work of my creation, one as well as another? and hath not every workman a will to wish well to his own handiwork? were it not therefore for sin, no soul should die.

XVIII. 5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right. But if a man do sincerely apply himself to the keeping of God's law, and carefully endeavour to do that which is just and right. XVIII. 6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous

woman.

And hath not given way to superstitious and idolatrous sacrifices, neither hath given any worship to the idols of Israel, nor hath suffered himself to be defiled with adultery, nor hath been polluted

with that legal uncleanness of unseasonable copulation with a woman set apart for her disease.

XVIII. 's He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase.

He that hath not given forth his money upon usury, neither hath upon any pretence taken increase from the hands of the borrower. XVIII. 10 If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any of these things,

If now this upright man beget a son that is a robber, or a murderer, or is guilty of any other notorious violation of God's law, XVIII. 11 And that doeth not any of these duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife, &c. And doth not set himself to do any of the holy duties required, but yieldeth to idolatrous practices, and to adulteries and other .uncleannesses, &c.

XVIII. 13 Shall he then live? he shall not live.

Shall that son, because he is descended of holy and good parents, live, and have the blesssings of a comfortable life continued unto him? No; he shall not live.

XVIII. 14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like. Now, if this degenerated and wicked man beget a son, that seeth these sins of his father, and, upon due consideration, avoideth and abhorreth all his evil ways.

XVIII. 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. No soul shall be adjudged to death, for any sin, but his own: that universal contagion of our first parents' sin hath spread itself over every soul, and, by our propriety therein, hath made us liable to death; but, in our personal derivation from our following parents, there can be no guilt of death to any man: the son shall not be condemned to death, for the sin of the father, &c. But he, that doeth righteously, shall speed well with God, and be graciously accepted; he, that doeth evil, shall receive according to the wickedness he hath committed.

XVIII. 21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

If that man, who hath been formerly wicked, shall now prove truly penitent, and turn from all his sins, and hereafter live holily and conscionably in this present world, he shall surely live, and

not die. So verse 22.

XVIII. 23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways and live?

Is it any pleasure to me, that men should be wicked; or that those, which are now wicked men, should die everlastingly saith the Lord God. Is it not rather my desire, that men should

repent, and that the repentant should live? Is not this the very sum of my Gospel, which I send into the world? Do not I call, and cry, and sue to men, that they would return from their sins, and be saved?

XVIII. 24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done, shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

But when that man, who hath, all the while, carried himself righteously and unreproveably, shall now, as being weary of his holy courses, turn away from his upright disposition and conversation, and give, himself over to all those abominations, which wicked men commit; shall that man, by virtue of his former in. offensive carriage, live? No; all his formerly professed righteousness shall be forgotten and quite unregarded; and he shall be dealt with according to the present condition of his sin.

verse 26.

So also

XIX. 2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. What is Judea thy mother, even the whole land wherein thou dwellest? She is no better than a fierce and cruel lioness; she consorted with other merciless and cruel nations, and framed herself and her people accordingly.

XIX. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

She brought forth one amongst the rest, noted for a lion-like disposition, even Jehoahaz, the son of good Josiah, who tyrannized for a time over his people.

XIX. 4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Insomuch as the neighbour nations heard the fame of his misgovernment; and set upon him, and took him violently away, and brought him captive in chains unto Egypt.

XIX. 5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

Then, when she saw herself disappointed of the hope of his success, she set up another of the seed royal, by the allowance of Pharaoh Necho; even Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah.

XIX. 6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he ruled fiercely and wickedly amongst his people; and followed those courses of oppression and violence, which his brother had led him to.

XIX. 7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

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And he usurped and took to himself their widowed palaces; and laid waste their populous cities, through his cruel extortions: yea, he made the whole land desolate; and, by his unmerciful exactions and cruel menaces, exhausted the fulness thereof.

XIX. 8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. Then the nations, being moved with his insolency, set against him on every side; and, both by force and policy, surprised him, and he was captived by them.

XIX. 10 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by the reason of many waters.

Thy mother is like a vine in the time of her first peaccable plantation; set in a moist and fruitful soil; and thereupon yielded abundance of branches, and those branches abundance of grapes.

XIX. 11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bear rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height by the multitude of her branches. And she brought forth many. and potent princes, which bore rule over my people; and she grew populous and mighty, famous and Henowned amongst the nations about her.

XIX. 12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

But now, through her unanswerableness to God's proceedings with her and to her own good beginnings, she is justly plucked up in fury, and cast down to the ground, and dried up, and withered, with the severe judgments of the Almighty: her princes and all those of her blood royal are consumed and utterly rooted out. XIX. 13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, &c. And now she is carried away, in a woeful captivity, tobe planted in the barren wilderness of Babylon.

XIX. 14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a scep tre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. And a destruction is risen from among themselves, even from the treachery of Zedekiah, which hath utterly consumed the remainders of her hopes; so that now, there is no more likelihood of any of the royal blood to be exalted to her government, &c,

XX. 4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. Wilt thou any more denounce and inculcate my despised judg ments unto them? Or, wilt thou plead with me for them, any more? No; rather lay before them the abominations of their fathers; and so leave them to their deserved punishments.

XX. 5 When I lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob.

When I solemnly swore by myself, for the confirmation of that covenant, which I made with the seed of Jacob.

XX. 7 Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes. Cast ye away, every one of you, those abominable idols, which your eyes have seen and affected.

XX. 12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them,

Moreover also, as I gave them, together with the rest, a royal law, which was written in the very heart of man; so I did peculiarly give them my sabbaths, as a special cognizance of my people, whereby they might be known to be severed from all others, and might have this bond of sanctifying my name above all other

nations.

XX. 25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

Wherefore I did, in my just judgment, give them up to their own inventions, so as they made to themselves wicked laws, and perverted their ways before me;

XX. 26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb.

And I yielded them over to a pollution, with their own gifts and oblations, so as in those things, wherein they vainly hoped and pretended to please me, they foully defiled themselves, namely, in their superstitious and idolatrous lustrations, wherewith they wickedly thought to consecrate the fruit of their womb.

XX. 27 Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

Yet in this your fathers have shamefully reproached me, in that, being so graciously dealt with by me, yet they demeaned theinselves wickedly and rebelliously against me.

XX. 8 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: &c. For when I had brought them into the land of Canaan, which I had promised and swore to give unto them, they cast their eyes upon those hills and groves, wherein the heathen had wont to offer their idolatrous sacrifices; and there, contrary to my commandment, they made their sinful oblations, to provoke me to wrath against them.

XX. 29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go?

Notwithstanding that I dissuaded them from these idolatrous courses, and sharply reproved them; expostulating with them the vanity and wickedness of these services of theirs; What mean you thus to frequent your forbidden altars? Do you not know, that I have confined my worship to one place? Why will ye thus wilfully transgress my law?

XX. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

And I will bring you into the desert land of your captivity under

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