The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 235

requmng eeparation from the ungodly, had intimately 8B80Qiated himself wi\h the idolatrous nations around. The mixing, 81! Keil well points out, was an inward olie before it. became an outward one. There is first a mixing in th~ liea.rt with the spirit of the world, then comes outward worldly conformity. It is this 'which Christians ha,e constantly to guard against (Rom. xii. 2). Their calling is to be separate (2 Coi''. ,•i. 14-18). 'l'bey need to remember that" the friendship of the world.is enmity with God" (,JaR. iv. '!t~ and that "if any man love the world, the love of the Fatbor is not in him" (1 John ii . .tii). Mixing with the world-the sin of the Church to-day, as It was the sin of lsrnd of old-bas its effects. I. Sr1RI'l1JAL u,cONSISTENCY. " Ephraim is a cake not turned "--ov~rd6ne on the one side, underdone on the other; not of a piece throughout; one side "scorched and Llark, the other steamed, damp, and lnke\'Carm; the whole worthless, spoiled irre- mediably, but only to be cast away" (Pusey). The unturned cake is an emblem: 1. Of pa1·tial conversion. We have this where the Divine lif" li~ not venetrated the nature, but affects only parts and sides of it. The conscienc.e is sensitive on. some points, but not on others. Favourite duties are attended to,',while others not ·1ess important are ncfclectrd. The conduct in some things shows thii. power of religion, in others it appears untouched by its influence. There is a want Qf Pfirvasion, of through~ and-throughuess in the character. An illustration is afforrled in wha~ Stanley says of Saul: "He became • another man,' yet not entirely. He was, as is so often the case, l1alf converted, half roused. His mind moved unequally and disproportionately in its new sphere. Backwards and forw.a.rrls in the names of his children we see alternately the signs of the old heathenish superstition, and of the new purified religion of Jehovah . . . . His religion was never blended with his moral nature. It ,broke.out in wild ungovernable acts of zeal and superstition, and then left him more a prey than ever to his own savage o.isposition." 2. Of zeal,for the forms of religion oombined with denial ef its power. Pharisaism was an instance of this. We have other examples in Judah and hraeL The people of the two kingdoms seem never to have failed in their zeal for the ontwarrl services of religion. They kept up sacrifices aµd· offerings (eh. vi. 6); observed the feast days (eh. ii. 11; Isa. i. 11-14; Amos v. 21, 22); were unusually attentive to these forms when trouble seemed impending. With all this they wer~ iniquitous in heart and life. They neglected the weightier matters of, the Law-judgi- mcut, mercy, and faith (Matt. xxiii. 23). With excess of zeal for the forms, t)lere was llo zeal at all for the rezlity. For this, God likens them tq·:an unturned cake. 3; Generally, of religiO'Us professi,m, with inccnsistency of conduct. Religion is intende4 to pen•ade the life. It sl:!ould be as manifest on week-days a.s on Sundays; in the ordinary business of life as in the devotions of the sanctuary. Yet how many fail ip thus carrying out the life of the gospel! What grievous inconsistencies are.seen in their conduct! They maintain their profession, yet "mix with the people," and f11-l.~ in freely with the world's ungodly ways. Surely this is to be "a cake not turned." II. SPIRITUAL DECAY. "Strangers have devoured-his 'strength, and he knoweth it not: yea, grey hairs," etc. Ephraim bad already suffered much from the people among whom he had chosen to mix himself. But even he was not aware of. th.e nmonnt of harm they Lad done him. He did not perceive how this intercourse with the heath<'n had sapped the moral strength of the nation; had deteriorated its politics.; had beguiled it into a false dependence on foreign helpers ; had given a mighty impetus to every disintegrating force already at work in the kingdom. The grey hairs -significant of decay-were thickly stre_wn upon him, but ~e perceived it not. Dete- rioration inevitably results from the mixmg of Christians with the world .. 1. Worldl_y conformity leads to a decay of inward religious earnestness. 'l'hll diversion of thought and affection from spiritual things to the objects about which alone the world car~s necessarily brings about this result. 'fhe temperature of tht1 1;1piritual life faas h1 conformity with its environment. Inforest in rcli;;ion gives place to interest in th~ things which are the constant subjects of though, talk, and concPrn in the circles in which we move. It is, besides, soon found that participation in the w,,rld's pleasures and follies is incompatible with serious attention to the thinµ, of the soul, and the latter, accordingly, is soon abandoned. i. Inward spiritual decay reveals itself by varioi,u; outward wkens. As grey hairs upon the head reveal the gradual approach of age. Among the indications of decay of piety we may JJotice neg1ect of prayer, an,d OH, VI,J, 1-18,] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. 23/'i