well with him ; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings : but woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him ; for the reward of his hand shall be given hime." This is what in God's name we are authorized and commanded to declare. Respect indeed will be had to the means and opportunities which different per- sons enjoyed ; and on this principle, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for the Jews, who rejected the ministry of our Lord: but still there will be one test to which every man will be brought, namely, How did you improve the privileges you enjoyed, and how did you act up to the principles you professed ? No favour will be shewn to any man because he was a Jew, nor will any man be despised because he was a Gentile : " the uncircumcision of the Gentile will be reckoned to him for circumcision, if he keep the law ; and the circumcision of the Jew be reckoned for uncircumcision, if he break the law." The conformity of every man to the mind and will of God, as far as he had an opportunity of knowing it, will be the object of inquiry ; much or little being required of him in proportion to what has been committed to him : and according as he has neglected or im- proved his talent, shall be the sentence passed upon him ; regard being had, not to the state of a man at any former period of his life, but to his state at the time that he is sum- moned to the judgment-seat. Now can any man condemn this as unequal or unjust? Twice does God appeal even to the very people that presumed to accuse him ; and twice does he challenge them to say, on whose part inequality is chargeable, their own, or his ?]
The prophet, assuming that after this statement there must be an end of the controversy, shews how these determinations of God should be,
III. Improved —
It is to no purpose that God has declared these truths, if they have not a practical operation on our minds.
The prophet therefore improves tne subject for us, by a word,
1. Of direction ; " Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions " —
[Repentance is necessary for every child of man : " God commandeth all men every where to repent." But it is not a partial repentance that will suffice : we must " turn from all our transgressions : there must be no exceptions, no reserves ; no right eye, which we will not pluck out; no right hand,
e Isai. iii. 10, 11.