An exposition with practical observations continued upon the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of…An exposition with practicall observations continued upon the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth chapters of…

Hence Observe.

That an evil heart turns the blessings of God, into rebellion against him: The Jews were thus charged (Deut. 32.15.) ⟨p. 150⟩Jesurun waxed fat, and kicked. The Lord complains of this, as of a sin, which he scarce knew how to pardon (Jer. 5.7.) How shall I pardon thee for this? Thy Children have forsaken me, &c. When I had fed them to the full, they then committed Adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses. Those are great sins indeed, which put the Lord (whose title is, The God pardoning sin, and ready to forgive) into a query about their pardon and forgiveness. Such kind of sinning made Jerusalem a Sister to Sodom; that is, as like Sodom, yea and Samaria too, as if they had been one Mothers Daughters, or as if they had been of one and the self-same blood, and stock (Ezek. 16.49.) Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her, and in her Daughters: Plenty of the Creature, and plenty of sin, went together, and whereas Jerusalem should have served God, she served her lusts in the abundance of all things. We have a saying, when men are lifted up upon the enjoyment of outward good things (in allusion to Beasts) Provender pricks them. They act more like Beasts then Men, who kick against God, who feeds them, and turn his bread of blessings into the stones of disobedience. What outward good thing will not an evil heart abuse, and wax wanton with, when it is so apt to abuse spiritual things, and to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, that is, to grow wanton and lascivious, because God is gracious?

That an evill heart turnes the blessings of God, into rebellion against him: The Jewes were thus charged (