#£ Th Patience and Goodneſs of God to this Remnant of his anc'e:t People is very remarkable ; he leaveth them noteven 1n cher Rebellion, but fendern J-remiah whom he had before fent to prevent their going into this Idolatrous Country, to try If 1n F:yp tiicy would be brought to a berter mtuzd. bt ſhould ſeem, £i1at the generality of the Jews tat went into Egype had planted thermielves at theſe four paces. Ot Migdel weread Exod. 14.2. 2nd Namb. 53.7. trom wich places we may learn, it was a City or Town upon the Eorders of the Red Sea, We ithall read of it again, Chap 46.14. It was a place which might have minded them better of their Duty and Ovligationsto God, for upon their remova! tron treice, God divided the Red Sex for tiieir forefe- thers. Neph- ws another Cri:y 1n Egyfr, of which we read, [fz, 19: 13. Cha% 2. 16.and 46. 14. Fzeks 30. 13, 16. The Gre-ks and Latins call it Memphis; it is thoughtto be chat City, which is now e2iled Cairo. Pathres wasa Region or Province ; fome think 11 &-rived its Name from Parbruſim the Son of Mizram, Gen. 10. I4. Ir {5 the lame(as lome think) whici 15 fince called Thebats.
2 Thus ſaith the LORT of hoſts, the God of 321, Yehave ſeen all the evil that I have brought.
apon ſerofalem, and upon all the cities of Judah 3 and bchold, this day, they are a delolation, and no
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i ete;reth to the late deſtruCtion of it by the King of Ba- - this Remnant of the People, was a Brand pluckt out of 16, a:d cheir Eyes had been Witneſles to the Deſolations
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3 Becauſe of their wickedneſs which they have ;ommitted to provoke me to anger, in that they vent to bur incenſe, 2d to ſerve other Gods 4, whom they Knew BOT, 7ecrrier taey, You, NOt your FaLncrs C. : 0 ;
is they were eve-witneſſes to the effect, fo it was nothing bur o'r unbelict that made them ftrangers to the caule ; tor god 1 4:4 Prophets had told them that the great moving cauſe was {ner paving a Divine Homage to Idols: e The ftn of which 1s -rravated trom this, that chey were as much ſtrangers to the Lols, as to the People with whom they joyned in the worſhip of them, neither they nor any of their Fachers having bad any
«perimental knowledge of what they had done, or could do for tuck as adored them.
4 Howbeit * I ſentunto you all my ſervants the} prophets, riling early and ſending tem, faying, Oh d9 not this abominable thing that I hate.
5s Eut they hearkened nor, nor inclined their ear 0 turn from their wickedaels, to burn no incenſe 111to other gods f. ;
f Tile two Verſes contain another aggravation of this Peo- pics fin, viz. That they did this again{t 11ght, and admonitions ts the contrary. God by. his Prophets Jet them know that this 25 an abominable thing, a thing which he hated ; and chat not with an orcinary degree of hatred, yer they would not hear, fo
0 yield Obedience to God, but went on intneir Idoſatries.
5 Wherefore * my fury and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the ſtreets of Jeruſalem, and they are waſted ard deſolate as atthis day g. =
g For theſe very Reaſons, their Idolatry, and contempt of my Word by my Prophet, the very fins you are now committing, I have given Fudah and ' Ferufalem into the hand of the King of Babylon, ang it is (asyou at this Day lee it ) waſte and delo- ? : adle,
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of rhoſe few, fo as there ſhall be neither Man, nor Woman, nor Child, nor Suckling remaining of all the Fews.
8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands z, burning incenſe unto other g0ds 1a the land of Egypt whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut your ſelves off, and that ye mighr he a curſe, and a reproach amoag(t all the na- 10s of the earth. &.
i Idols are uſually thus defamed ; And indeed nothing can ar- gue agreater ſtupidity than for any to pay an Homage (confelled- ly due to the fupream Being) to what is the Work of Mens hands, and therefore muſt be made by our Superiour to that order of Beings 1n which Idols are. Bu: how doth the Prophet ſay, that they worſhipped the Works of Mens hands ? For it is apparent from, Ver. 17. that they paid this Homage to the Queen of Heaven, which is not the Work of Mens Hands, Sol. It was before Images which are but the Works of Mens Hands. And this certainly was
the Idolatry of the generality of the Heathens, they worſhipped
an unknown Divine Being betore a Creature, either as repreſent - ing it, or rather putting them in mind of it. & The termz. ar doth not denote the Idolaters end of intention, for none ever did any
act intentionally or to ruine themſelves ; it only ſignifies the end of their Work, that their utter ruine would be the certain conlequent of their work.
o Have ye forgotten the wickedneſs of your fa- + Heb: thers, and the wickedneſs of the kings of Judah,andwicked-
1 wicked- 7ffes or puniſhments
the wickedneſs of their wives, and your ow! nels, and the wickedneſs of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the I[treets of Jeruſalem / *
| God accounteth Men and Women to have forgotten that,the light and refle&ion upon which hath made no ſuch impreſſion up- on them, as to produce a practice ſuttable to thoſe notices, ac- cording to the conduct of a reaſonable Soul ; which teacheth every Man, having notice of a great evil brought upon a Man by luch or ſuch Practices, to avoid running into the like danger. It was the aggravation of this Peoples fins, that they were com» mitted in the Holy Land, and in a City which God had more ta- voured than any other place. To have done theſe things in any place had been guilt enough, but more to do it in the Land of Fu- dab, and in the Streets of Jeruſalem.
10 They are not - humbled evez to this day, nei-
ther havethey feared , nor walked in my law, nor
in my ſtatutes that I ſer before you, and before your
fathers.
m Neither they nor you are humbled; for the Prophets pal- ſing from the ſecond perſon to the third, and by and by from the third Perſon again to the ſecond, let us know, that he intendeth what he ſpake as well to them ro whom he ſpake. as of them concerning whom he ſpeaks ; n from whence wealto learn, That Reformation and Odedience 1s the fiaſt-fruits of Contr71107, or true Humiliation. God accounteth thoſe not humbled, but hardened, who are not reformed.and become obedient to his Will, let theic