5. But they called upon his name by vain oaths, by perjury and blasphemy. So _Jeremiah_, _Because of swearing the land mourneth_, (chapter xxiii. 10.) _And though they say, the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely_, (chapter v. ♦2.) So _Hosea_, _They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant_: So _Ezekiel_, _They say the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth_. So _Isaiah_, _Their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory_. (chapter iii. 8.) _They say, Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One draw nigh and come that we may know it_, (chapter v. 19.) And so _Malachi_, _Ye have wearied the Lord with your words; ye say, every one that doeth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them_; and _where is the_ God _of judgment_? (chapter ii. 17.)
♦ “ii.” replaced with “2.” for consistency
6. And as they _despised his holy things_, so they _prophaned his sabbaths_, (Ezekiel xxii. 8.) Yea, when God sent unto them, saying, _Take heed unto yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers:――Yet they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction_. (Jeremiah xvii. 21, 22, 23.)
Neither did they honour their parents, or those whom God from time to time appointed to be rulers over them. _In thee_ (in _Jerusalem_, saith the prophet) _they have set light by father and mother_, (Ezekiel xii. 7.) And from the very day when God brought them up out of the land of _Egypt_, their murmurings, chiding, rebellion and disobedience; against those whom he had chosen to go before them, make the most considerable part of their history. So that had not _Moses stood in the gap_, he had even then destroyed them from the face of the earth.
7. How much more did they ♦afterwards provoke God, by drunkenness, sloth and luxury? _They have erred through wine_, (saith the prophet _Isaiah_) _and through strong drink they are out of the way_; (chapter xxviii. 7.) which occasioned those vehement and repeated warnings, against that reigning sin; _Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim, them that are overcome with wine_, (verse 1.) _The drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot_; (verse 3.) _Woe unto them that rise up early that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them――But they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands_, (chapter v. 11, 12.) _Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink_; (verse 22.) _Woe to them that are at ease in Zion,――that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the Lambs out of the flock, and their calves out of the midst of the stall, that chaunt to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instrument of musick,――that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph_, (Amos vi. verses 1, 4, 5, 6.) _Behold this_ (saith _Ezekiel_ to ♠_Jerusalem_) _was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters_, (chapter xvi. 49.)
♦ “aftewards” replaced with “afterwards”
♠ “Jerusalemn” replaced with “Jerusalem”
8. From _sloth_ and _fulness of bread_, _lewdness_ naturally followed. It was even while _Moses_ was with them, that _the people began to commit whoredom with the ♦daughters of Moab_: yea, of the daughters of _Zion_ _Isaiah_ complains, _They walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes_, (chapter iii. 16.) And of his people in general God complains by _Jeremiah_, _When I had fed them to the full, they assembled themselves by troops in the harlot’s houses. They were as fed horses in the morning, every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife_, (chapter v. 7, 8.) _They be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men_, (chapter ix. 2.) _The land is full of adulterers_, (chapter xxiii. 10.)
♦ “daughthers” replaced with “daughters”
Yea, and some of them were given up to _unnatural lusts_. Thus we read, _Judges_ xix. 22. _The men of Gibeah, beset the house_, wherein the stranger was, _and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And there were also_ long after _sodomites in the land_, in the days of _Rehoboam_ and of the following kings: _The very shew of whose countenance witnessed against them, and they declared their sin as Sodom, they hid it not_, (Isaiah iii. 9.)