4. Thofe tipling Minifters, who are fond of ftrong Liquors, and encourage others to drink with them to excefs, and fpeak Words, and act according to the Import of Verse 12. Come ye, fay they, I will fetch Wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong Drink, and To-morrow fhall be as this Day, and much more abundant.

In Jerem. ii. 8, 9. are thefe Words, viz. The Priests faid not, Where is the Lord? And they that handle the Law knew me not, the Paftors also tranfgreffed against me, and the Prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after Things that do not profit. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, faith the Lord, and with your Children's Children will I plead.

Thefe Words fhew, that the holy God has a Controversy with ungodly Minifters, who are deftitute of the faving Knowledge of him, and live in Difobedience to him; fuch Minifters, inftead of obtaining a Bleffing on their Children, expofe them to a Curfe, and the Lord will deal with thofe Parents in a Way of Wrath.

In Jerem. xxiii. 2. it is written, Therefore thus faith the LORD God of Ifrael against the Paftors, that feed my People, Ye have fcattered my Flock, and driven them away, and have not vifited them: Behold! I will vifit upon you the Evil of your Doings, faith the LORD. Which Words fhew, that God will visit upon fuch Pastors, as will not faithfully perform their Duty, but neglect the Care of their People, that he will vifit upon them the Evil of their Doing,

The Apostle not only taught the People publickly, but from Houfe to Houfe, teaching Repentance toward God, and Faith toward our Lord Jefus Chrift (fee Alts xx. 20, 21.) but thofe Minifters who will not imitate the Example of the Apoftle, but neglect to vifit their Sheep, and behave fo, as to drive them

from

from attending the facred Miniftrations, provoke the Anger of God, and have Reason to expect a Feeling the bitter Effects of it.

In Ezek. xxii. 26, 31. the righteous God fays, Her Priests have violated my Law, and have profaned mine holy Things: They have put no Difference between the Holy and Profane, neither have they fhewed Difference between the Unclean and the Clean, and have bid their Eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. I have confumed them with the Fire of my Wrath: Their own Way have I recompenfed upon their Heads, faith the LORD God. These Paffages fhew, that thofe Minifters of God in facred things, who (regardless of their Duty) admit ungodly Perfons to those divine Ordinances which are the peculiar Privilege of the Righteous, and reject the Righteous for whom they were appointed, and who will not look into, and obferve the Laws of the Sabbath, to keep it holy, have Reason to be afraid, that the juft God will pour out his Indignation upon them, and confume them in the Day of his Vifitation for Sin.

Happy for them will it be, if those Ministers of the Word of God, who are the Objects of the Threatnings mentioned, fhall confider and lay them to Heart, and make the right Improvement of them.

II. Profane Perfons, who fcoff at ferious Things,' who deride the Providence, or the Word, or the Commandments, or the Sabbaths, or the Ordinances, or the Worfhip, or the People of God, are Objects of his Vifitation and Wrath.

The Words and Actions of these Perfons fhew an Enmity against God, and an impious Contempt of his Authority, and Laws, and a proud Difdain of his People: And they bring upon themselves the Character of Scorners, or of being fcornful,

In Prov. iii. 33, 34. it is faid, The Curfe of the Lord is in the Houfe of the Wicked- -furely be fcornetb the Scorners. And in Prov. xix. 29. it is declared, That Judgments are prepared for Scorners. And therefore this Sort of Sinners. have Reason to think, that divine Judgment will come heavy upon them in the Day of the Lord's Vifitation.

Scorners are dangerous Inhabitants of a City, for it is faid, Prov. xxix. 8. Scornful Men bring a City

into a Snare.

These are Tranfgreflors of the first Command, which, as it forbids the having any other God, so it fignifies, that it is our Duty to acknowledge, love, and reverence the true God, and have Refpect to all his Statutes, and Ordinances, which thefe Sinners contemn and despise.

III. IDOLATERS. There are two Sorts of Idolatry; one, a Tranfgreffion of the first of the Ten Commandments, the other, a Violation of the Second of them.

And those Perfons are guilty of tranfgreffing the firft Commandment, who own, or acknowledge any Creature as God, or who pay religious Refpect or Reverence, by any inward Action of their Minds, or Gesture of their Body, to any Creature as God and the Object of their Worship.

Thefe Actions are an Acknowledgment of fuch a Creature as God, and is the having another God before the Face, or befides JEHOVAH, the one only living and true God; and is the Sin, the Idolatry forbidden in Exod. xx. 3. where the Almighty fays, Thou fhalt have no other God, before Me.

And this is a moft heinous Impiety; because it is an Acknowledgment of divine Perfections, Wif dom, Knowledge, Holiness, Power, and Goodness, to be the Attributes of fuch a Creature, and a giving to fuch a Creature the Glory due to God alone.

And

16

Sacred Declarations, &c.

And fince God has given to Man an Understanding to know Things, and a reasoning Faculty to draw proper Conclufions, it is the more abfurd and irrational in Man, to entertain an Apprehenfion, that any material Subftance is poffeffed with the Attributes of that Being who formed it.

The Second Commandment forbids Mens making any Images to be the Means of religious Worshiping the true God-As the firft Commandment relates to the Object of divine Worship, fo the Second to the Means of it. It fays, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven Image, or any Likeness of any Thing that is in Heaven above, or that is in the Earth beneath, or that is in the Water under the Earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor ferve them. (Vid. Exod. xx. 4, 5.)

And as the Law forbids the making any Reprefentations, as the Means of Worship, and the performing any bodily Actions expreflive of Reverence to them; fo it must be understood for the fame Reafons, to forbid those internal Acts of the Mind, which fignify a religious Devotion to them.

Worfhipping the true God by Means of a molten or graven Image, was the Idolatry of the Children of Ifrael. When the golden Calf was made, the People faid, Thefe be thy Gods, O Ifrael, which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt, Exod. xxxii. 4. q. d. This Image is to reprefent God, who delivered us from our Bondage to the Egyptians, we will keep in Remembrance our Deliverance, and express our Reverence of Jehovah our God, by Acts of Adoration to this Image.

For they kept a Feaft to Jehovah, by Means of that golden Calf.

Aaron made Proclamation, and faid, Tomorrow is a Feaft to the LORD, i. e. Jehovah. (Exod. xxxii. 5.), and ver. 6. it is faid, They rose up early on the Morrow,

Morrow, and offered Burnt-offerings, and brought Peace-offerings, (i. e. to Jehovah) and this they did by Means of the Golden Calf, by performing their Acts of religious Worship to it, as a Reprefentation of God, who had brought them out of the Land of Egypt.

Now from what has been obferved, the Nature of the Sin of Idolatry is very manifeft, and the Idolatry forbidden by the fecond Commandment, is a very heinous Iniquity; obfcuring from the Idolaters, the Brightness, the Glory of the divine Majefty, by making Images of Creatures, real or imaginary, Representations of God, becaufe fuch Reprefentations can only excite falfe and debafing Ideas of a Being who is invifible, who never was feen, or can be feen; and whofe Glory it is to be unlike all fenfible Objects, and infinitely to tranfcend the moft excellent Creatures. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what Likeness will ye compare to him? says the inspired Prophet Isaiah xl. 18. and v. 25. To whom then will ye liken me? or shall I be equal? fays the holy One.

It is a vile Indignity to the great God, to make any Representation, or Image to be the Means of worshiping him; a Practice very provoking of his Anger.

How terrible did the holy God refent it, when the Ifraelites were guilty of it.

The Lord Jaid unto Mofes, Go, get thee down; for thy People which thou broughtest out of the Land of Egypt, have corrupted themfelves. They have turned afide quickly out of the Way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten Calf, and have worshiped it, and have facrificed thereunto, and faid, Thefe be thy Gods, O Ifrael, which have brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt v. 7, 8.--Now therefore let me alone, that my Wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may confume them. v. 10.

C

Mofes

either