BinBi, woe kept; there the twelve memorial paternal relationship no longer. The princes stones ho.d been eet up; there the Oaptain ofisraelhad become rebellious ondstubborn; of the host of the Lord had appeared to by an impressive Hebrew paronomasia, their Joshua, reaeeuring him of Divine protection; 1arim, rulers, had become 1orerim revolters. there the tabernnole had stood before its Ephraim is smitten, their root is' dried up, removal to Shiloh: yet that very ploce-a they shall bear no fruit. Ephraim is a plBce of suoh blessing and solemn covenant- pleasant plant, but a worm has smitten the rng-had become the scene of idolatry and root and it has withered; Ephraim is a iuiquity. The wickedness of Israel had goodly tree, hut the lirshtning of heaven has been concentrnted there as in a focus; there scorched and dried it up; there may b<t Israel's rejection of the theocracy in its leafage for a time, but no fruitao-e ever. spiritual form had taken place; there that Yea, though they bring forth, yet w'1i I slay first plague-spot ofruin had been contracted; the beloved fruit of their womb. The desires there the calf-worship had been developed; -margin, dear delights, or, darlings-perish, there the form of civil government had been ancl so the figure is now droppecl, and the shaped according to their own ening fancy, fact is seen in all its severe and stern reality, a.nd their mode of religious worship had while the dread denunciation of vers, 11 and been corrupted. Thus Gilgal hod become 12 is repeated and emphasized. My God the centre of all their sin; but the scene of will oast them away, beoause they did not mercy became the source of wrath, for there hearken unto him; and they ahell be wan- God's fatherly love was turned by Israel's derers among the nations. The prophet wickedness into hatred. For .the wiokednesa submits his will to the Divine will, and ac- of their doings I will drive them out of my quiesces in the disposals of his providence, house, I will love them no more. They were and in his own proper person predicts Israel's driven out like Hagar out of the house of coming doom. He fills up the ontline of the patriarch, that Ishmael might not inherit the dark picture by stating the cause of with Isaac; like an unfaithful wife divorced their rejection. He specifies at the ea.me and driven out of the house of the husband time the character of rejection, namely, dis- whom she has dishonoured; or like an un- persion among the nations, like birds driven dutiful and disobedient son whom his father from their nest, for so the term nodfdim has disinherited. Further, God disowns denotes. the rebellious son, Dd acknowledges the
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-6.-Sin is the cause of."sorrow and the source of sadness. The merry- mo.king of wicked people is often both hollow and heartless; it is always without trim ground or real ea.use; while the laughter of fools is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. The people of Israel were jubilant at the time referred to. The reason of their jubilation does not distinctly appear. It may have srisen from some losses having bee-c. retrieved, or some advantages gained, or some successes achieved, or some useful alliances secured, or the ordinary joy of harvest. Whatever it was, there was no good cause for it nor continuance of it. "Joy is forbidJen fruit to wicked people." Among the losses which sin entails are, as we learn from the verses before us, the following:- 1. THE Loss OF JOY. 1. Religion makes men joyful as well as cheerful. "Rejoice in the Lord alway," is the exhortation of an apostle, and an exhortation which he repeats. The joy of the Lord is our strength. How different with the wicked! They deprive themselves of all real joy. They may be outwardly prosperous and rejoice in that prosperity; but the wrath of God abideth on them, and a worm is at the root of their joy. 2. The professing people of God sometimes envy the seeming prosperity of the wicked; seeing the outward success of sinners, they are tempted to imitate their works and ways. They forget that in doing so their sin is more heinous than that of other people; it is aggravated by their engagement to be the Lo:d's, by_ the vows ~f Gou which are upon them, and by the various means and motives which they enJoy for pursuing the right course. Their sin is thus greater than that of other people ; they are therefore forbidden to rejoice with the ordinary joy of other people. It, was thu~ with Israel, when, forgetful or unmindrul of their covenant relation, they went a-whoring from their God, and committed spiritual adultery by following idols. 3. Some men make a profession of religion for sake of worldly gain; they calculate the benefit!!, pecuniary, professional, political, or social, which they expect from religion; they 2'78 'i'llE BOOK 0~ ROS~A. [otr. tx. 1-17,