sented by them. Such are the refuges of papists at this day, in all their idolatrous worship : and such the vain excuses of all the votaries of this world.]
3. In a way of hypocritical palliation —
[Here we must go back to our first parents, when inter- rogated respecting their eating of the forbidden fruit. The man cast the blame upon his wife ; or rather upon God him- self, who had given her to him : " The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." The woman, in like manner, shifted the blame from herself, and cast it on the serpent : " The serpent beguiled me, and I did eatd." So sinners of every description find something to palliate their guilt : ' The faults they have committed have not been of an enormous kind : the commissions have been but rare : they have not injured any one : they have had no evil intention : their hearts have been good, though their actions have not been altogether so correct.' But God seeth not as man seeth : man looketh on the outward appearance : but God seeth the heart.]
But men cannot deceive God ; as will be seen by,
IT. The charge which God brings against them —
However we may justify ourselves, " God will re- prove us, and set before us the things that we have done6." In the passage before us, he substantiates his charge against his offending people,
1 . By an appeal to fact —
[" See thy way in the valley : know what thou hast done." In the valleys, as well as in the hills, thine idolatries obtrude themselves upon the notice of the whole world : " they are not discovered by secret search f :" they do not even affect con- cealment. And may we not say to you also, " See your ways in the valleys ? " Look at your whole lives : what are they but one continued scene of rebellion against God? Trace your conduct, from your youth up : what have you done, but " love and serve the creature more than the Creator ?" and yet you will ssay, " We have not gone after Baalim." What is idolatry if this be not ? and how can you " provoke God to jealousy " more than by the very conduct which you have pur- sued from your earliest youth ? Look at your very religion : what has it been, but a mere form, without any vital power ; a shadow, without any substance ? It is not by occasional slips that you have fallen, but by one entire uninterrupted course of conduct. Who amongst you will deny this ? What
d Gen. hi. 11—13. e Ps. 1. 21. f ver. 24.