1212.] god's controversy with his people. 319
the moral evil of sin. Only let it be considered what sin is, and against whom it is committed, and its turpitude and malignity will be found perfectly to justify the judgments denounced against it.
If there be any other matter which mine accuser has to lay to my charge, let him bring it forth: I am prepared " to plead with him : " let him " testify against me ; " and let the court, before which we stand, judge between us.']
The charges being thus, for want of an explicit statement on the part of the accuser, inquired into, let us attend to,
III. The replication made —
[As far as relates to a vindication of Jehovah, in reference to some particular points, an answer has been provided in the allegations themselves : and, as nothing more specific is stated as the ground of complaint against him, all further vindication of him is waved : and now the complaints on his side must be brought forward. This is done in another part of Scripture, where the very complaints which are preferred against God are retorted by him on his accusers. " Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offer- ings ; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not (as thou pretendest) caused thee to serve with an offering, or wearied thee with incense ; but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, and wearied me with thine iniquities1." Thus, also, in the passage before us, God prefers his charge against his accusers : " I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants ; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak, king of Moab, consulted; and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal ; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lordm:" that is, ' Call to mind the mercies I have vouchsafed to you, from the time I brought you out of Egypt, till your entrance into Canaan ; and then say, whether you have cause to com- plain of me as acting unkindly towards you ; or whether I have not rather reason to complain of you, for your base ingratitude, and your multiplied transgressions against me ? ' To the same effect may God well reply against us. ' You complain of me as acting oppressively towards you. Look at the redemption which I have vouchsafed unto you ; and not by power only, but by price, even the precious blood of my only dear Son ; — a redemption, too, not from a mere temporal bondage, but from sin and Satan, death and hell. Look also at the counsels
1 Isai. xliii. 22 — 24. m ver. 4, 5.