An exposition with practical observations continued upon the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters…

¹The fourth note is this, which is the note I specially aimed at from these words. Our ill dealings with God, our unfaithfulness towards God is made more sensible when those that are near unto us deal ill with us, and are unfaithful to us. Well saith God here, you go a whoring from me, your spouses they shall go a whoring from you, you have been unfaithful to me, your children shall be unfaithful to you, they shall go a whoring too, and then by that anguish and trouble that you have when you see this in your wife, or in your child, you shall be made sensible how grievous this is to my Spirit, that you go a whoring from me. You have many Parents if they should hear that their daughters were grown strumpets and have played the whore, Oh how would they beat their hands ⟨p. 155⟩upon their breasts, and tear their very hair, and stamp upon the ground and cry out, I am undone, I am undone, and though they had never such great estates they would think they had no comfort in any thing but would even look upon themselves and their family as ruinated and undone; And if you should hear that your wife had played the whore, how would it be as a dagger in your hearts. Are you so sensible of this? then by that extremity of grief you would have in such a case, know such is the extremity of the grief of Gods heart when a child of his goes a whoring from him. If his people go on in ways of superstition and Idolatry from him, yea though it be in things that otherwise seem to be but small (it is but a circumstance of place I told you here) yet it goes as near to the heart of God to have his people set upon superstitious ways in his worship, as it doth to the heart of any husband or father to have his wife or daughter play the whore. Use Oh that you would consider that there is this grief In Heaven when God looks upon his people forsaking the true way of his worship. We think indeed that murder and blasphemy provoke God, but we little think how the corruption of his worship provokes him. Let us know that the great provocation of the most high God is the corruption of his worship, I mean when his people shall corrupt his worship any way.

¹The fourth note is this, which is the note I specially aymed at from these words. Our ill dealings with God, our unfaithfulnes towards God is made more sensible when those that are neer unto us deale ill with us, and are unfaithfull to us. Well saith God here, you goe a whoring from me, your spouses they shall goe a whoring from you, you have beene unfaithfull to me, your children shall be unfaithfull to you, they shall goe a whoring too, and then by that anguish and trouble that you have when you see this in your wife, or in your child, you shall be made sensible how grievous this is to my Spirit, that you go a whoring from me. You have many Parents if they should hear that their daughters were grown strumpets and have played the whore, Oh how would they beat their hands