The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 128

of satisfying tho bodily appetites. Those addicted to vice have no room in their souls for generous impulses, and have no disposition to engage in works of philanthropy and public good. IV, SIINSUALITY INDISPOSES THE MIND TO RECEIVE THE ENLIGHTENING AND QUICKEN- 11-0 INFLUENCES OF RE_L~OION .. Ch_ristianity is _a rebuke to the lover of pleasure; for it summons man to a spmtual hfe, imposes spmtual service, and proffers spiritual joys. He that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth. Christ calls us to mortify the deeds of the body. His religion is, indeed, not ascetic; at the marriage-feast at Cana. he so.nctioned wedded love and the proper use of wine. But he cannot tolerate a sensual life, and has declared plainly that the debauched and the drunken can have no place in his kingdom. For such have permitted Satan to take away their heart and they have none left to give to Christ. ' APPLICATION. Let the young be warned against the insidious and seductive snares which the world lays for their downfall, and into which their weak and sinful nature is too apt to lead them. There is safety only by the cross, and by the Spirit of the Holy Sa.viour.-T. Ver. 17.-Abandonment. Ephraim is in this book taken as the representative of the northern tribes, because it was the most numerous and powerful, and seems to have been the leader in the apostasy of Israel. The principle of this verse is one which we can recognize as just, but one upon which it would be dangerous, without authority, for erring man to act. L THE OASE DESCRIBED IS ONE OF RESOLUTE APOSTASY AND IDOLATRY. Ephraim is represented, a.snot only idolatrous, but confirmed in idolatry. Having fo!'lla.ken the Lord, Israel has gone arter strange gods, and is joined unto them as in an adulterous connection. There are those who not only fall into sin, but wallow in sin ; who are not only tempted, but delight in yielding to temptation. II. THE BUMAN ABANDONMENT BEBE OOUNSELI.El>. " Let him alone. n This pre- sumes that many efforts to reform the sinful have been made. It would not, indeed, be lawful for man to give such a direction as this; but God gives it. Why? Doubtless that the sinner may be left to his own devices, to reap the coruiequence of his sinful ways. Expostulations, entreaties, threats, have all failed; and man can do no more. It is time for God to work ; and he teaches by allowing the disobedient to eat the fruit of their conduct. " 'l'he way of transgressors is hard ; " and they must walk therein in order to learn that this is so. III. THOSE ABANDONED BY HEN ABE NOT ABANDONED BY GoD. Mercy dictates the treatment here counselled. Ephraim is " let alone," in order that, learning by bitter experience the evil of sin, Ephraim may turn unto the Lord, and so seek and find pardon and acceptance. 'l'he eye of God is upon the abandoned sinner, and the hand of God is ready, at the right moment, to be stretched forth to deliver and to save. For such the mercy of the Sovereign, the grace of the Saviour, may yet a.vail.-T. Vers. 1, 2.-.11 corrupt people and an ezpostulating God. "Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath 11, controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." In the previous chapters the prophet's language had been highly and somewhat perplexingly symbolical. It is so much so in the shor~ chapter preceding this, that we pass it by. Here he begins to speak more plainly, and in sententious utterances. From the first to the nineteenth verses of this chapter, he reproves both the people and the priest for their sins during the eleven years' interregnum that followed Jeroboam's death. He makes no mention, therefore, either of the king or his family. The subject of these two verses is-.11 corrupt people ancl an tr;1;postl/,[ating God. I. A OOBBUl'T PEOPLE. The people are "the children of Israel," or the ten tribes who were living during the terrible period of anarchy which followed on the death of Jeroboam II. Their depravity is here represented both in a negative and a positive form. 1, Negatively, "Because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." These are the great fontal virtues in the universe; and where they 11re  TBE BOOK OF HOSEA, [en. 1v. 1-19,