19. To the same effect do the other prophets declare, _Ye are departed out of the way, ye have caused many to stumble.――――Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people_, (Malachi ii. 8, 9.) _From the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace_, (Jeremiah vi. 13, 14.) _They prophesy lies in my name_, (chapter xiv. 14.) _They say still unto them that despise me, the Lord had said, ye shall have peace; and they say unto every man that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you_, (chapter xxiii. 17.) _The prophets of_ Jerusalem _strengthen the hands of the evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness_, (verse 14.) _They have seduced my people, and one built up a wall, and lo others daubed it with untempered mortar_, (Ezekiel xiii. 10.) _With lies they have made the hearts of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he shall not return from his wicked way, by promising him life_, (verse 22.) _Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness_, (Jeremiah xii. 10.) _There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like a roaring lion, ravening the prey. They have devoured souls_, (Ezekiel xxii. 25.) _Thus saith the Lord, Feed the flock of the slaughter whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty, and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not_, (Zechariah xi. 4, 5.) II. 1. Such is the general account which the scriptures give of the _Jews_, the antient church of God. And since all these things ♦were _written for our instruction_, who are now the visible church of the God of _Israel_, I shall in the next place appeal to all who profess this, to every one who calls himself a _Christian_, how far in each instance the parallel holds? And how much _we_ are better then _they_? ♦ “was” replaced with “were” per Errata And first, were they _discontented_? Did they _repine_ at the providence of God? Did they say, _Is the Lord among us or not_? When they were in imminent _danger_, or pressing _want_, and saw no way to escape? And which of us can say, _I am clear from_ this sin: I have washed my hands and my heart in innocency? Have not we who _judge others, done the same things_? _Murmured_ and _repined_ times without number? Yea, and that when we were not in pressing _want_ nor distressed with imminent _danger_? Are we not in general, (our own writers being the judges) have we not ever been from the earliest ages, a _repining, murmuring, discontented people_, never long satisfied either with God or man? Surely in this we have great need to humble ourselves before God; for we are in no wise better than they.