Jeremiah 11

Ver. 15, 16. What have the Jewish nation, whom I once so dearly loved and cherished, now to do in my temple, when they are so abandoned to idolatries, and when their sacrifices, which were once holy, are rendered detestable because of their obstinacy and joy in wickedness! I once made them outwardly flourishing and prosperous, and put them into a capacity to do much good: but now I intend to destroy them by the furious Chaldeans

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XI.—God greatly loves true holiness; and abundant, but gracious, are his rewards of it. The saints of God delightfully consent to his transactions of grace, but especially to the better covenant made with men in Christ, and established upon better promises than the national covenant which God made with Israel. But it is hard to make unregenerate men have so much as a semblance of holiness; on the contrary, they are ready deliberately 89 98* and obstinately to combine against the Lord their God. But, if they will not be ruled by his law, they must be destroyed by his curse. And dreadful is their case for whom prayer cannot avail: God will not, and idols cannot, help. Neither present devotions nor the past favours of God can profit them. Faithful ministers are often barbarously rewarded by those who should be their protectors. And none have been more malicious persecutors than profane clergymen. But, if God preserve and vindicate his servants, they may possess their souls in patience, and continue their faithfulness. And, alas! wretched will be the condition of those who have injured them when God rises up to punish