in our chamber, and be still V Let us strive to keep a con- science void of offence, and to approve ourselves in all things to " Him, who searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins." Let it be our ambition, that on every day more and more acts of piety may be recorded in the book of God's remembrance; that so he may " remember us for goodu" while we are here on earth, and welcome us as "good and faithful servants" when we enter into the eternal world.]
1 Ps. iv. 4. u See Neh. xiii. 14, 22, 31. and Ps. cvi. 4, 5.
Hos. vii. 8, 9. Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the peo- ple: Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not : yea, grey hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.
IF the body be oppressed with sickness, we inquire into the symptoms of the disorder, and trace it, if possible, to its proper cause. The same course is proper in reference to the soul, and indeed to the state of nations as well as of individuals. The pro- phet is representing the declining, and almost deso- late, condition of the ten tribes : and, in the words before us, he marks the particular sins which had provoked God to forsake them ; and the fearful con- sequences of their transgressions. The Israelites had, in direct opposition to God's command, united them- selves with the heathen, and incorporated many of their idolatrous rites with the worship of the true God. They were even " mad upon their idols," while they were very cold and indifferent in what related to Jehovah. In consequence of this, God gave them up into the hands of their enemies. Pul, king of Assyria, exhausted their treasures by the tribute he imposed a: and the king of Syria reduced their armies to a mere shadow, " making them even as the dust by threshing b." Proofs and evidences of decay were visible in every department of the state, and such as indicated approaching dissolution : yet
a 2 Kings xv. 19. b 2 Kings xiii. 7.