So it is those who are most in sympathy with God who are most likely to burn with holy indignation against such things as the prophet saw. The men who offer such prayers as this, "Forgive them not," would be the first to reverse it did the offenders give any sign of repentance. +VII. A crushing doom impending over an unsuspecting nation.+ No sooner had the prophet uttered his prayer, than he sees it was needless, and that the thunderclouds of the Divine anger were already thickly massed over the guilty nation; without any visible sign there was gathering over them a storm that would suddenly break forth with destructive force. Therefore he breaks out into a strain of impassioned warning and appeal to the very men for whose punishment he had prayed (ver. 10, &c.) What lessons shall we learn from our survey of this dark picture? 1. _Not to judge of the relations of nations, individuals, or ourselves to God by the test of temporal circumstances._ It is an old but gross fallacy that temporal prosperity is a sure sign of the Divine favour (Eccles. ix. 1-3; Job xxi. 7-15, &c.)[1] Let us not ask what our circumstances are, but what our character is, and what our conduct has been. If we are unrighteous, temporal prosperity should alarm us, as a sign that God has forsaken us (Heb. xii. 8). 2. _Not to be hasty to impute the temporal prosperity of the wicked to a slumbering of the Divine justice._ We need scarcely trouble ourselves to pray for a doom upon the ungodly (Exod. xxxiv. 7; 2 Pet. ii. 3; Job xxi. 17, 18; Ps. lxxiii. 18, 19; Isa. iii. 11). 3. _Let us remember that we ourselves, as sinners, are exposed to the Divine judgments, and let us "enter into the Rock"_--"the Rock of Ages," that, sheltered in Him, we may be safe when the storms of the final judgment shall burst upon our guilty world. FOOTNOTES: [1] When the Lord hath set thee up as high as Haman in the court of Ahasuerus, or promoted thee to ride with Joseph in the second chariot of Egypt; were thy stock of cattle exceeding Job's, "seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen;" did thy wardrobe put down Solomon's, and thy cupboard of plate Belshazzar's when the vessels of God's temple were the ornature,--yet all these are but the gifts of Wisdom's left hand, and the possessors may be under the malediction of God, and go down to damnation.--_Adams,_ 1654. The eagles and lions seek their meat of God. But though all the sons of Jacob have good cheer from Joseph, yet Benjamin's mess exceeds. Esau shall have the prosperity of the earth, but Jacob goes away with the blessing. Ishmael may have outward favours, but the inheritance belongs to Isaac.--_Adams,_ 1654. GOD'S PEOPLE FORSAKEN. Heb. xiii. 5. _I will never leave thee nor forsake thee._ Isa. ii. 6. _Thou hast forsaken Thy people the house of Jacob._