oppression, and exercised robbery, and
have vexed the poor and needy; therefore have I poured out mine
indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath:
their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord." So
he arraigns this and the other class. And how of the priests? "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
showed difference between the unclean and the clean." He censures His
servants for not separating between the clean and unclean; and it
insults Him to suppose that He could do in His own practice what He
condemns in theirs. Events, such as old murders brought to light, ever
and anon occur to show that God's mill, as runs the proverb, though
it grinds slow, grinds sure; yet because He does not execute judgment
speedily on workers of iniquity--giving them space to repent; because
He often seems, like one far remote from earth, to treat its crimes
and virtues with equal indifference, men have not believed these
solemn words, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." But
let the wicked hear His words, and take the warning, "Thou hatest
instruction; thou castest My words behind thee. When thou sawest a
thief, then thou consentedst with him. Thou hast been partaker with
adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue practiseth
deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest
thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept
silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself:
but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
Consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and
there be none to deliver."

The universal conscience of mankind is stricken with a sense of
guilt. Alarmed by an instinctive sense of danger, men have felt the
need of reconciliation; and, under a sense of His displeasure, have
everywhere, and in all ages, sought to make their peace with God. For
this end altars were raised and temples built; sacrifices offered, and
penances endured. If the colossal structures of Egypt, and the lovely
temples of Greece and Rome, were erected, as well to adorn the state
as to please the gods, it was less to please approving, than to
appease angry divinities, that their courts resounded with the cries
of victims, and smoking altars ran red with blood. So much did the
heathen