residence between the cherubims, and descended '■' to the threshold of the house6." From thence it moved to the court of the temple, which was on the north side, whither the cherubims had already moved f. After that, it went to the door of the last gate, at- tended both by the cherubims and the wheels g. Then, lastly, with the cherubims and the wheels, it deserted the city altogether, and went to the mountain on the east side of the city h. What was the design of God in all these gradual removes, but to manifest the re- luctance with which he yields to the necessity imposed upon him, of leaving his people to the ruin they have merited ?
Hence then we take occasion to shew,
I. How averse God is to forsake his people —
Look we to his declarations ?
[What can be more express than his assertion, yea, his oath, that he " has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live1?" How pathetically does he lament the obstinacy of those who withstand all the influences, and defeat all the purposes of his grace: " How long shall it be ere ye attain to innocency ?" " Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once bek?" The idea of abandoning his people seems almost to overwhelm him : " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? How shall I deliver thee up, Israel ? How shall I make thee as Admah ? How shall I set thee as Zeboim1?" But of all the passages in Holy Writ in which the Divine compassion towards obsti- nate offenders shines forth, there is none that exceeds the lamentation of our blessed Lord over Jerusalem ; " O that thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things belonging to thy peace!" "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not ! "
Look we to examples ?
[What more astonishing than the forbearance of God towards the antediluvian world during the space of one hun- dred and twenty years ? Mark his patience also towards his
e Ezek. ix. 3.
f Ezek. x. 3, 4, 18. The word " tvent," ver. 4. should rather be, " had gone."
s Ezek. x. 19. h Ezek. xi. 22, 23. > Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
k Jer. xiii. 27. ' Hos. xi. 8. See also Ps. lxxxi. 13—10.