I. The self-vindicating ways of sinners —
Ministers are commanded to " shew the house of Israel their transgressions and their sins." And it might be supposed, that, when men's iniquities are so visible and undeniable, they would fall under the accusation, and humble themselves before God. But they, for the most part, justify themselves against the charge that is brought against them : some,
1 . In a way of direct denial —
[A remarkable instance of this we have in Cain. After lie had murdered his brother Abel, the Lord came to him, and said, " Where is Abel, thy brother ? and he said, I know not: am I my brother's keeper ?b" What astonishing effrontery was here ? Yet is it precisely such as we see generally exlubited by those around us. We ask them, in God's holy name, Why " they live as without God in the world," and without any just concern about their eternal interests? But they deny the charge ; " They do not neglect God : they do not disregard their own souls : they do not " cast God's word behind them," and " pour contempt on all the wonders of redeeming love." Though their wickedness is as manifest as was that of the wor- shippers of Baal, they will still say, " I am not polluted ; I have not gone after Baalim" ]
2. In a way of vain excuse —
[Of this we see a striking example in Saul. He had been commanded to destroy the Amalekites, and every thing that appertained \into them ; and when Samuel came to him, he said, " Blessed be thou of the Lord ! I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meaneth, then, this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear ?" Then Saul, unable to deny the fact that he had spared the best of the prey, excused himself: " They, the people, have brought them from the Amalekites, having spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacri- fice unto the Lord thy God : and the rest we have utterly destroyed c." Thus, when men cannot deny their wickedness, they will excuse it : ' They have done nothing but what was sanctioned by custom;' or, ' They have only followed those impulses of nature which they were not able to withstand.' It is probable that the idolaters in my text did not mean to deny that they shewed some respect to their molten images; but only to say, that it was not to the images themselves, or to Baal, that they paid their homage ; but to Jehovah, as repre-
b Gvu. iv. 9. c i Sam. xv. 13—15.