Jer. iii. 11. And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
THE subject of comparative criminality is one on which we should enter with the greatest care, because it is rarely thought of but in a way of self-preference and self-complacency ; and where these feelings are generated in the soul, the most incalculable injury has
been sustained. We are told by St. Paul, that " they who measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves among themselves, are not wise*." Yet, for the purpose of augmenting our humiliation before God, we may, not uivprofitably, consider our own superior guilt, as Israel of old were taught to do, when God spake to the prophet the words which we have just read. Both Israel and Judah had sinned grievously against him : Israel more openly ; and Judah in somewhat of a more covert way : but God declared, that, notwithstanding all that might be thought to the contrary, the criminality of Judah exceeded that of Israel.
That we may learn how to judge ourselves, I shall first state, and then confirm, this decision of our God. Let me then,
I. State this decision of the Lord —
[Consider what was the state of the parties concerned. Israel, or the ten tribes, had cast off God, from the first mo- ment that they became a nation : and they persisted in their idolatries, till they provoked God to give them up into the hands of their Assyrian enemies. As their injured husband, he gave them a bill of divorce, and would no longer acknow- ledge them under the relation of a spouse. Judah, on the contrary, had retained the worship of the True God ; though they retained their idols, and paid divine honours unto Mal- chamb. Because of their apparent superiority to Israel, they would scarcely so much as own their relation to herc. But if their sins were somewhat less ostensible, they were committed with tenfold greater aggravations before God. Their advan- tages had been incomparably greater, because of the numbers of prophets that were sent to them, and the stated ordinances which they enjoyed, and the presence of God that was in the midst of them : and, inasmuch as these advantages were alto- gether despised amongst them, their guilt was the greater: so that it might well be said of Judah, " Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah." This judgment indeed was not exactly what Judah would have formed, nor what would approve itself, at first sight, to any amongst ourselves. We should have been ready to think that any religion was better than none ; and that even the appearance of regard for God was better than an avowed contempt of him. This, how-
a 2 Cor. x. 12. b Zeph. i. 5. ■ Ezek. xxxiii. 26.