younger sister, that dwells to the southward, is Sodom, and the cities appertaining to her.

XVI. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: &c.

Yet thou hast not contented thyself to do after the example of their abominations: but &c.

XVI. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness &c.

Behold, these were the most eminent sins of thy sister Sodom, even pride, excess of diet, extreme idleness and security; and want of respect and mercy to the poor and needy, &c.

XVI. 51 And hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

Thou hast made thy sisters' wickednesses to appear small, in comparison of thine.

XVI. 52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they.

Thou, which hast passed thy sentence upon the foul sins of So dom and Samaria, now make account to undergo the shame and judgment, which thy own greater and more abominable sins have deserved.

XVI. 53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them.

And if the captivity of Sodom, and that of Samaria, and the towns round about them both, shall be ever reversed, then look that thine also, O Judah, shall be so; but, as there is no possibility in their return, so there is none in thine.

XVI. 56, 57 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and alt that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.

Thou never thoughtest of the judgment, which I brought upon thy sister Sodom, in raining fire and brimstone upon their heads, while thou wert transported with thy security and pride, before that God, by his inflicted judgments, brought forth thy wickedness to the notice of the world; and before he made thee a reproach to the Syrians, and their neighbouring nations, and to the Philistines, and the people adjoining; all which have despitefully insulted upon thee.

XVI. 61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy

covenant.

Then shalt thou bethink thyself, and recal to remembrance those wicked ways wherein thou hast walked, and be ashamed: when thou shalt also adjoin unto thee the Gentiles, as partners of

thy happy conversion; whom thou shalt be a means to bring home into my Church, but not by virtue of any covenant of thine, but of my own, which is the New Covenant that I shall make with my chosen under the Gospel.

XVI. 63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and ' never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame.

That thou mayest remember thy old wickednesses, and be soundly humbled under the sense of them, and not have a word to say for thyself, because of the shame of thy former vileness.

XVII. 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar: Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is a great eagle: his long wings and many feathers are his several dominions; whose divers colours are the rites and various forms of government, in those sundry nations: he came into Judea, where Lebanon is renowned and conspicuous; and took away king Jechoniah, the highest branch of the cedars there:

XVII. 4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.

He cropped off the top of his young twigs, all their prime nobility and able soldiery, and carried them into captivity, and set them in Babylon.

: XVII. 5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow

tree:

He took also of the seed royal, even Zedekiah, and planted him ' in the fruitful land of Judea, where he had store of means to have lived and flourished.

XVII. 6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, &c.

And he grew up, and prospered exceedingly, and became a great and wealthy prince, howsoever tributary to Babylon: both his family and his power were greatly enlarged.

XVII. 1 There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.

There was also another great king, of ample dominions and mighty power, even the king of Egypt and, behold, Zedekiah thus set up by Nebuchadnezzar, yet did unthankfully incline unto and rely upon that king of Egypt, to be supported by him in his revolt. XVII. 8 It was planted in a goodly soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, &c.

He was, if he could have kept him so, well planted in his own soil, which was rich and plentiful.

XVII. 9 Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper

shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? &c.

Thus saith the Lord, Shall this man prosper in his treachery and ingratitude? No; that great monarch, from whom he is revolted, shall take just revenge on him, and shall utterly defeat and root him out. So also verse 10,

XVII. 22 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take off the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, &c.

Thus saith the Lord, I will, at the last, work out the delivery and redemption of my people: out of the seed of David, will I raise up the Messiah, and set him on high in my holy Church.

XVII. 23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

Even in my glorious Evangelical Church, will I exalt his power; and he shall spread my Gospel, and enlarge his spiritual dominions all the world over; and all his elect shall shroud themselves under his grace and protection.

XVII. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

And all the people of the earth shall know, that I have brought down the proud and mighty tyrants of the world; and have exalted this meek and despised Saviour of Mankind above every name, that is named in heaven and in earth.

XVIII. 2 The fathers have eaten sour grapes, &c. See Jer. xxxi.

verse 29.

XVIII. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ye have no reason to murmur against me, as either partial or rigorous; for, are not all souls the work of my creation, one as well as another? and hath not every workman a will to wish well to his own handiwork? were it not therefore for sin, no soul should die.

XVIII. 5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right.

But if a man do sincerely apply himself to the keeping of God's law, and carefully endeavour to do that which is just and right.

XVIII. 6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous

woman.

And hath not given way to superstitious and idolatrous sacrifices, neither bath given any worship to the idols of Israel, nor hath suffered himself to be defiled with adultery, nor hath been polluted

with that legal uncleanness of unseasonable copulation with a woman set apart for her disease.

XVIII. 8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase.

He that hath not given forth his money upon usury, neither hath upon any pretence taken increase from the hands of the borrower, XVIII. io If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any of these things,

If now this upright man beget a son that is a robber, or a mur derer, or is guilty of any other notorious violation of God's law, XVIII. 11 And that doeth not any of these duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife, &c. And doth not set himself to do any of the holy duties required, but yieldeth to idolatrous practices, and to adulteries and other uncleannesses, &c.

XVIII. 13 Shall he then live? he shall not live.

Shall that son, because he is descended of holy and good parents, live, and have the blesssings of a comfortable life continued unto him? No; he shall not live.

XVIII. 14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like. Now, if this degenerated and wicked man beget a son, that seeth these sins of his father, and, upon due consideration, avoideth and abhorreth all his evil ways.

XVIII. 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

No soul shall be adjudged to death, for any sin, but his own: that universal contagion of our first parents' sin hath spread itself over every soul, and, by our propriety therein, hath made us liable to death; but, in our personal derivation from our following parents, there can be no guilt of death to any man: the son shall not be condemned to death, for the sin of the father, &c. But he, that doeth righteously, shall speed well with God, and be graciously accepted; he, that doeth evil, shall receive according to the wickedness he hath committed.

XVIII. 21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

If that man, who hath been formerly wicked, shall now prove truly penitent, and turn from all his sins, and hereafter live holily and conscionably in this present world, he shall surely live, and not die. So verse 22.

XVIII. 23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways and live?

Is it any pleasure to me, that men should be wicked; or that those, which are now wicked men, should die everlastingly? saith the Lord God. Is it not rather my desire, that men should

repent, and that the repentant should live? Is not this the very sum of my Gospel, which I send into the world? Do not I call, and cry, and sue to men, that they would return from their sins, and be saved?

XVIII. 24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done, shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

But when that man, who hath, all the while, carried himself righteously and unreproveably, shall now, as being weary of his holy courses, turn away from his upright disposition and conversation, and give himself over to all those abominations, which wicked men commit; shall that man, by virtue of his former inoffensive carriage, live? No; all his formerly professed-righteousness shall be forgotten and quite unregarded; and he shall be dealt with according to the present condition of his sin.

verse 26.

So also

XIX. 2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. What is Judea thy mother, even the whole land wherein thou dwellest? She is no better than a fierce and cruel lioness: she consorted with other merciless and cruel nations, and framed herself and her people accordingly.

XIX. 3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

She brought forth one amongst the rest, noted for a lion-like disposition, even Jehoahaz, the son of good Josiah, who tyrannized for a time over his people.

XIX. 4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Insomuch as the neighbour nations heard the fame of his misgovernment; and set upon him, and took him violently away, and brought him captive in chains unto Egypt.

XIX. 5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

Then, when she saw herself disappointed of the hope of his success, she set up another of the seed royal, by the allowance of Pharaoh Necho; even Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah.

XIX. 6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he ruled fiercely and wickedly amongst his people; and followed those courses of oppression and violence, which his brother had led him to.

XIX. 7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.