having so lately reproved ourselves for it in our declarations and fasts,
yet to harden our necks, what can we expect but utter destruction, and
that without remedy, as we sentenced ourselves? Ezra ix. 13 and xiv. 13,
Isa. xxx. 13, 14. Shall not this iniquity be to us a breach ready to fall,
even this iniquity of going down to Egypt for help, &c. Then, (ver. 6)
there is a snare to entrap thy feet in the sins of the wicked; if thou be
joined with them, thou cannot well escape. Ver. 8: Wicked profane
contemners of God and his people bring ruin on a city or commonalty, they
set it on fire and blow it up. But godly men pacify wrath, turn away
judgments, and purge all from provocations, which is the only means to
turn it away. Ver. 16 shows, when wicked men gather together, and grow in
state and power, they grow worse, and sin with greater boldness, and
transgression then overflows the land, _tanquam ruptis repagulis_.(404)
There is no obstacle. See Psal. xii. And ver. 24 shows, he that is partner
and fellow receiver with a thief, or conceals such offenders, endangers
his own destruction; and he that stays with, and associates with wicked
men, must hear cursing and cannot bewray it. He will see many
abominations, that though he would, he cannot remedy. Ver. 25: Fear of man
and of the land's danger, hath brought many into a snare, to run from the
Lord to an arm of flesh, but he that trusts in the Lord shall be safe.
Ver. 27: Here is the deadly enmity between the two seeds, they cannot
reconcile well. See ver. 10 and chap. xxi. 3. It is no wonder the godly
abominate such men who are God's enemies and the land's plague.

Chap. xxx. 11, 14 describes the malignant party, who make nothing of the
godly magistrates or their mother church and land, but curse, malign,
oppose as much as they could, and are oppressors, monstrous tyrants,
mankind beasts, or beastly men. The subject of their cruelty is the godly
afflicted man. They eat up all and will not leave the bones, as the
prophet complains, "I lie among men whose teeth are as spears and arrows,
and their tongue a sharp sword." And then, ver. 12, 13, 20 describe our
enemies, the invaders. They think themselves godly and righteous, yet are
not purged from their filthiness. They are given up to strong delusions to
believe lies, and there is no lie greater than this, that they are a godly
party in a godly cause and way. They wipe their mouth after all their
bloodshed, and say, I have don