mh_parser/vol_split/15 - Ezra/Chapter 9.xml

<div2 id="Ez.x" n="x" next="Ez.xi" prev="Ez.ix" progress="91.78%" title="Chapter IX">
<h2 id="Ez.x-p0.1">E Z R A</h2>
<h3 id="Ez.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ez.x-p1">The affairs of the church were in a very good
posture, we may well suppose, now that Ezra presided in them. Look
without; the government was kind to them. We hear no complaints of
persecution and oppression; their enemies had either their hearts
turned or at least their hands tied; their neighbours were civil,
and we hear of no wars nor rumours of wars; there were none to make
them afraid; all was as well as could be, considering that they
were few, and poor, and subjects to a foreign prince. Look at home;
we hear nothing of Baal, or Ashtaroth, nor Moloch, no images, nor
groves, nor golden calves, no, nor so much as high places (not only
no idolatrous altars, but no separate ones), but the temple was
duly respected and the temple service carefully kept up. Yet all
was not well either. The purest ages of the church have had some
corruptions, and it will never be presented "without spot or
wrinkle" till it is "a glorious church," a church "triumphant,"
<scripRef id="Ez.x-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.27" parsed="|Eph|5|27|0|0" passage="Eph 5:27">Eph. v. 27</scripRef>. We have here,
I. A complaint brought to Ezra of the many marriages that had been
made with strange wives, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.1-Ezra.9.2" parsed="|Ezra|9|1|9|2" passage="Ezr 9:1,2">ver. 1,
2</scripRef>. II. The great trouble which he, and others influenced
by his example, were in upon this information, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.3-Ezra.9.4" parsed="|Ezra|9|3|9|4" passage="Ezr 9:3,4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. III. The solemn confession which
he made of this sin to God, with godly sorrow, and shame, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.5-Ezra.9.15" parsed="|Ezra|9|5|9|15" passage="Ezr 9:5-15">ver. 5-15</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Ez.x-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9" parsed="|Ezra|9|0|0|0" passage="Ezr 9" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ez.x-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.1-Ezra.9.4" parsed="|Ezra|9|1|9|4" passage="Ezr 9:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ezra.9.1-Ezra.9.4">
<h4 id="Ez.x-p1.7">Ezra's Reformation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.x-p1.8">b. c.</span> 456.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.x-p2">1 Now when these things were done, the princes
came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the
Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the
lands, <i>doing</i> according to their abominations, <i>even</i> of
the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the
Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.   2
For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for
their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the
people of <i>those</i> lands: yea, the hand of the princes and
rulers hath been chief in this trespass.   3 And when I heard
this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the
hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.   4
Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of
the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had
been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening
sacrifice.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p3">Ezra, like Barnabas when he came to
Jerusalem and <i>saw the grace of God</i> to his brethren there, no
doubt <i>was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart
they would cleave to the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.x-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.11.23" parsed="|Acts|11|23|0|0" passage="Ac 11:23">Acts xi. 23</scripRef>. He saw nothing amiss (many
corruptions lurk out of the view of the most vigilant rulers); but
here is a damp upon his joys: information is brought him that many
of the people, yea, and some of the rulers, had married wives out
of heathen families, and joined themselves in affinity with
strangers. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p4">I. What the sin was that they were guilty
of: it was <i>mingling with the people of those lands</i>
(<scripRef id="Ez.x-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.2" parsed="|Ezra|9|2|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), associating
with them both in trade and in conversation, making themselves
familiar with them, and, to complete the affinity, taking <i>their
daughters in marriages</i> to their sons. We are willing to hope
that they did not worship their gods, but that their captivity had
cured them of their idolatry: it is said indeed that they <i>did
according to their abominations;</i> but that (says bishop Patrick)
signifies here only the imitation of the heathen in promiscuous
marriages with any nation whatsoever, which by degrees would lead
them to idolatry. Herein, 1. They disobeyed the express command of
God, which forbade all intimacy with the heathen, and particularly
in matrimonial contracts, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.3" parsed="|Deut|7|3|0|0" passage="De 7:3">Deut. vii.
3</scripRef>. 2. They profaned the crown of their peculiarity, and
set themselves upon a level with those above whom God had by
singular marks of his favour, of late as well as formerly,
dignified them. 3. They distrusted the power of God to protect and
advance them, and were led by carnal policy, hoping to strengthen
themselves and make an interest among their neighbours by these
alliances. A practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the
bottom of all the sorry shifts we make to help ourselves. 4. They
exposed themselves, and much more their children, to the peril of
idolatry, the very sin, and introduced by this very way, that had
once been the ruin of their church and nation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p5">II. Who were the persons that were guilty
of this sin, not only some of the unthinking people of Israel, that
knew no better, but <i>many of the priests and Levites,</i> whose
office it was to teach the law, and this law among the rest, and in
whom, by reason of their elevation above common Israelites, it was
a greater crime. It was a diminution to the sons of that tribe to
match into any other tribe, and they seldom did except into the
royal tribe; but for them to match with heathen, with Canaanites,
and Hittites, and I know not whom, was such a disparagement as, if
they had had any sense, though not of duty, yet of honour, one
would think, they would never have been guilty of. Yet this was not
the worst: <i>The hand of the princes and rulers,</i> who by their
power should have prevented or reformed this high misdemeanour,
<i>was chief in this trespass.</i> If princes be in a trespass,
they will be charged as chief in it, because of the influence their
examples will have upon others. <i>Many will follow their
pernicious ways.</i> But miserable is the case of that people whose
leaders debauch them and cause them to err.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p6">III. The information that was given of this
to Ezra. It was given by the persons that were most proper to
complain, the princes, those of them that had kept their integrity
and with it their dignity; they could not have accused others if
they themselves had not been free from blame. It was given to the
person who had power to mend the matter, who, as a <i>ready scribe
in the law of God,</i> could argue with them, and, as king's
commissioner, could awe them. It is probable that these princes had
often endeavoured to redress this grievance and could not; but now
they applied to Ezra, hoping that his wisdom, authority, and
interest, would prevail to do it. Those that cannot of themselves
reform public abuses may yet do good service by giving information
to those that can.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p7">IV. The impression this made upon Ezra
(<scripRef id="Ez.x-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.3" parsed="|Ezra|9|3|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>He rent
his clothes, plucked off his hair,</i> and <i>sat down
astonished.</i> Thus he expressed the deep sense he had, 1. Of the
dishonour hereby done to God. It grieved him to the heart to think
that a people called by his name should so grossly violate his law,
should be so little benefited by his correction, and make such bad
returns for his favours. 2. Of the mischief the people had hereby
done to themselves and the danger they were in of the wrath of God
breaking out against them. Note, (1.) The sins of others should be
our sorrow, and the injury done by them to God's honour and the
souls of men is what we should lay to heart. (2.) Sorrow for sin
must be great sorrow; such Ezra's was, <i>as for an only son or a
first-born.</i> (3.) The scandalous sins of professors are what we
have reason to be astonished at. We may stand amazed to see men
contradict, disparage, prejudice, ruin, themselves. Strange that
men should act so inconsiderately and so inconsistently with
themselves! Upright men are astonished at it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p8">V. The influence which Ezra's grief for
this had upon others. We may suppose that he <i>went up to the
house of the Lord,</i> there to humble himself, because he had an
eye to God in his grief and that was the proper place for
deprecating his displeasure. Public notice was soon taken of it,
and all the devout serious people that were at hand assembled
themselves to him, it should seem of their own accord, for nothing
is said of their being sent, to, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.4" parsed="|Ezra|9|4|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Note, 1. It is the character of
good people that they <i>tremble at God's word;</i> they stand in
awe of the authority of its precepts and the severity and justice
of its threatenings, and to those that do so <i>will God look,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.x-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.2" parsed="|Isa|66|2|0|0" passage="Isa 66:2">Isa. lxvi. 2</scripRef>. 2. Those that
tremble <i>at the word of God</i> cannot but tremble <i>at the sins
of men,</i> by which the law of God is broken and his wrath and
curse are incurred. 3. The pious zeal of one against sin may
perhaps provoke very many to the like, as the apostle speaks in
another case, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.9.2" parsed="|2Cor|9|2|0|0" passage="2Co 9:2">2 Cor. ix. 2</scripRef>.
Many will follow who have not consideration, talent, and courage,
enough to lead in a good work. 4. All good people ought to own
those that appear and act in the cause of God against vice and
profaneness, to stand by them, and do what they can to strengthen
their hands.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.x-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.5-Ezra.9.15" parsed="|Ezra|9|5|9|15" passage="Ezr 9:5-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ezra.9.5-Ezra.9.15">
<p class="passage" id="Ez.x-p9">5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from
my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon
my knees, and spread out my hands unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.x-p9.1">Lord</span> my God,   6 And said, O my God, I am
ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our
iniquities are increased over <i>our</i> head, and our trespass is
grown up unto the heavens.   7 Since the days of our fathers
<i>have</i> we <i>been</i> in a great trespass unto this day; and
for our iniquities have we, our kings, <i>and</i> our priests, been
delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to
captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as <i>it
is</i> this day.   8 And now for a little space grace hath
been <i>showed</i> from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.x-p9.2">Lord</span> our
God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his
holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little
reviving in our bondage.   9 For we <i>were</i> bondmen; yet
our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended
mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a
reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the
desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in
Jerusalem.   10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after
this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,   11 Which thou
hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto
which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness
of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have
filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.   12
Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take
their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their
wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the
land, and leave <i>it</i> for an inheritance to your children for
ever.   13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil
deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast
punished us less than our iniquities <i>deserve,</i> and hast given
us <i>such</i> deliverance as this;   14 Should we again break
thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these
abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst
consumed <i>us,</i> so that <i>there should be</i> no remnant nor
escaping?   15 <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.x-p9.3">O Lord</span> God of
Israel, thou <i>art</i> righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as
<i>it is</i> this day: behold, we <i>are</i> before thee in our
trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p10">What the meditations of Ezra's heart were,
while for some hours he sat down astonished, we may guess by the
words of his mouth when at length he <i>spoke with his tongue;</i>
and a most pathetic address he here makes to Heaven upon this
occasion. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p11">I. The time when he made this
address—<i>at the evening sacrifice,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.x-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.5" parsed="|Ezra|9|5|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Then (it is likely) devout people
used to come into the courts of the temple, to grace the solemnity
of the sacrifice and to offer up their own prayers to God in
concurrence with it. In their hearing Ezra chose to make this
confession, that they might be made duly sensible of the sins of
their people, which hitherto they had either not taken notice of or
had made light of. Prayer may preach. The sacrifice, and especially
the evening sacrifice, was a type of the great propitiation, that
<i>blessed Lamb of God</i> which in the evening of the world was to
<i>take away sin by the sacrifice of himself,</i> to which we may
suppose Ezra had an eye of faith in this penitential address to
God; he makes confession with his hand, as it were, upon the head
of that great sacrifice, through which <i>we receive the
atonement.</i> Certainly Ezra was no stranger to the message which
the angel Gabriel had some years ago delivered to Daniel, at the
time of the evening sacrifice, and as it were in explication of it,
concerning Messiah the Prince (<scripRef id="Ez.x-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.21 Bible:Dan.9.24" parsed="|Dan|9|21|0|0;|Dan|9|24|0|0" passage="Da 9:21,24">Dan.
ix. 21, 24</scripRef>); and perhaps he had regard to that in
choosing this time.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p12">II. His preparation for this address. 1. He
<i>rose up from his heaviness,</i> and so far shook off the burden
of his grief as was necessary to the lifting up of his heart to
God. He recovered from his astonishment, got the tumult of his
troubled spirits somewhat stilled and his spirit composed for
communion with God. 2. He <i>fell upon his knees,</i> put himself
into the posture of a penitent humbling himself and a petitioner
suing for mercy, in both representing the people for whom he was
now an intercessor. 3. He <i>spread out his hands,</i> as one
affected with what he was going to say, offering it up unto God,
waiting, and reaching out, as it were, with an earnest expectation,
to receive a gracious answer. In this he had an eye to God as the
Lord, and as his God, a God of power, but a God of grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p13">III. The address itself. It is not properly
to be called a prayer, for there is not a word of petition in it;
but, if we give prayer its full latitude, it is the offering up of
pious and devout affections to God, and very devout, very pious,
are the affections which Ezra here expresses. His address is a
penitent confession of sin, not his own (from a conscience burdened
with its own guilt and apprehensive of his own danger), but the sin
of his people, from a gracious concern for the honour of God and
the welfare of Israel. Here is a lively picture of ingenuous
repentance. Observe in this address,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p14">1. The confession he makes of the sin and
the aggravations of it, which he insists upon, to affect his own
heart and theirs that joined with him with holy sorrow and shame
and fear, in the consideration of it, that they might be deeply
humbled for it. And it is observable that, though he himself was
wholly clear from this guilt, yet he puts himself into the number
of the sinners, because he was a member of the same
community—<i>our sins and our trespass.</i> Perhaps he now
remembered it against himself, as his fault, that he had staid so
long after his brethren in Babylon, and had not separated himself
so soon as he might have done from the people of those lands. When
we are lamenting the wickedness of the wicked, it may be, if we
duly reflect upon ourselves and give our own hearts leave to deal
faithfully with us, we may find something of the same nature,
though in a lower degree, that we also have been guilty of.
However, he speaks that which was, or should have been, the general
complaint.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p15">(1.) He owns their sins to have been very
great: "<i>Our iniquities are increased over our heads</i>
(<scripRef id="Ez.x-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.6" parsed="|Ezra|9|6|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>); we are ready
to perish in them as in deep waters;" so general was the prevalency
of them, so violent the power of them, and so threatening were they
of the most pernicious consequences. "Iniquity has grown up to such
a height among us that it reaches to the heavens, so very impudent
that it dares heaven, so very provoking that, like the sin of
Sodom, it cries to heaven for vengeance." But let this be the
comfort of true penitents that though their sins reach to the
heavens God's mercy is <i>in the heavens,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.x-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.5" parsed="|Ps|36|5|0|0" passage="Ps 36:5">Ps. xxxvi. 5</scripRef>. <i>Where sin abounds grace will
much more abound.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p16">(2.) Their sin had been long persisted in
(<scripRef id="Ez.x-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.7" parsed="|Ezra|9|7|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Since the
days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass.</i> The
example of those that had gone before them he thought so far from
excusing their fault that it aggravated it. "We should have taken
warning not to stumble at the same stone. The corruption is so much
the worse that it has taken deep root and begins to plead
prescription, but by this means we have reason to fear that the
measure of the iniquity is nearly full."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p17">(3.) The great and sore judgments which God
had brought upon them for their sins did very much aggravate them:
"<i>For our iniquities we have been delivered to the sword and to
captivity</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.x-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.7" parsed="|Ezra|9|7|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>),
and yet not reformed, yet not reclaimed—brayed in the mortar, and
yet the <i>folly not gone</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.x-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.22" parsed="|Prov|27|22|0|0" passage="Pr 27:22">Prov.
xxvii. 22</scripRef>)—corrected, but not reclaimed."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p18">(4.) The late mercies God had bestowed upon
them did likewise very much aggravate their sins. This he insists
largely upon, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.8-Ezra.9.9" parsed="|Ezra|9|8|9|9" passage="Ezr 9:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8,
9</scripRef>. Observe, [1.] The time of mercy: <i>Now for a little
space,</i> that is, "It is but a little while since we had our
liberty, and it is not likely to continue long." This greatly
aggravated their sin, that they were so lately in the furnace and
that they knew not how soon they might return to it again; and
could they yet be secure? [2.] The fountain of mercy: <i>Grace has
been shown us from the Lord.</i> The kings of Persia were the
instruments of their enlargement; but he ascribes it to God and to
his grace, his free grace, without any merit of theirs. [3.] The
streams of mercy,—that they were <i>not forsaken in their
bondage,</i> but even in Babylon had the tokens of God's
presence,—that they were a remnant of Israelites left, a few out
of many, and those narrowly escaped out of the hands of their
enemies, by the favour of the kings of Persia,—and especially that
they had <i>a nail in his holy place,</i> that is (as it is
explained, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.9" parsed="|Ezra|9|9|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>),
that they had set up the <i>house of God.</i> They had their
religion settled and the service of the temple in a constant
method. We are to reckon it a great comfort and advantage to have
stated opportunities of worshipping God. <i>Blessed are those that
dwell in God's house,</i> like Anna that departed not from the
temple. <i>This is my rest for ever,</i> says the gracious soul.
[4.] The effects of all this. It enlightened their eyes, and it
revived their hearts; that is, it was very comfortable to them, and
the more sensibly so because it was in their bondage: it was life
from the dead to them. Though but <i>a little reviving,</i> it was
a great favour, considering that they deserved none and the day of
small things was an earnest of greater. "Now," says Ezra, "how
ungrateful are we to offend a God that has been so kind to us! how
disingenuous to mingle in sin with those nations from whom we have
been, in wonderful mercy, delivered! how unwise to expose ourselves
to God's displeasure when we are tried with the returns of his
favour and are upon our good behaviour for the continuance of
it!"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p19">(5.) It was a great aggravation of the sin
that it was against an express command: <i>We have forsaken thy
commandments,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.x-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.10" parsed="|Ezra|9|10|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. It seems to have been an ancient law of the house of
Jacob not to match with the families of the uncircumcised,
<scripRef id="Ez.x-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.14" parsed="|Gen|34|14|0|0" passage="Ge 34:14">Gen. xxxiv. 14</scripRef>. But,
besides that, God had strictly forbidden it. He recites the
command, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.11-Ezra.9.12" parsed="|Ezra|9|11|9|12" passage="Ezr 9:11,12"><i>v.</i> 11,
12</scripRef>. For sin appears sin, appears exceedingly sinful,
when we compare it with the law which is broken by it. Nothing
could be more express: <i>Give not your daughters to their sons,
nor take their daughters to your sons.</i> The reason given is
because, if they mingled with those nations, they would pollute
themselves. It was an unclean land, and they were a holy people;
but if they kept themselves distinct from them it would be their
honour and safety, and the perpetuating of their prosperity. Now to
violate a command so express, backed with such reasons, and a
fundamental law of their constitution, was very provoking to the
God of heaven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p20">(6.) That in the judgments by which they
had already smarted for their sins God had <i>punished them less
than their iniquities deserved,</i> so that he looked upon them to
be still in debt upon the old account. "What! and yet shall we run
up a new score? Has God dealt so gently with us in correcting us,
and shall we thus abuse his favour and turn his grace into
wantonness?" God, in his grace and mercy, had said concerning
Sion's captivity, <i>She hath received of the Lord's hand double
for all her sins</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.x-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.2" parsed="|Isa|40|2|0|0" passage="Isa 40:2">Isa. xl.
2</scripRef>); but Ezra, in a penitential sense of the great
malignity that was in their sin, acknowledged that, though the
punishment was very great, it was less than they deserved.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p21">2. The devout affections that were working
in him, in making this confession. Speaking of sin,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p22">(1.) He speaks as one much ashamed. With
this he begins (<scripRef id="Ez.x-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.6" parsed="|Ezra|9|6|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>), <i>O my God! I am ashamed and blush, O my God!</i>
(so the words are placed) <i>to lift up my face unto thee.</i>
Note, [1.] Sin is a shameful thing; as soon as ever our first
parents had eaten forbidden fruit they were ashamed of themselves.
[2.] Holy shame is as necessary an ingredient in true and ingenuous
repentance as holy sorrow. [3.] The sins of others should be our
shame, and we should blush for those who do not blush for
themselves. We may well be ashamed that we are any thing akin to
those who are so ungrateful to God and unwise for themselves. This
is <i>clearing ourselves,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.x-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.11" parsed="|2Cor|7|11|0|0" passage="2Co 7:11">2 Cor.
vii. 11</scripRef>. [4.] Penitent sinners never see so much reason
to blush and be ashamed as when they come to <i>lift up their faces
before God.</i> A natural sense of our own honour which we have
injured will make us ashamed, when we have done a wrong thing, to
look men in the face; but a gracious concern for God's honour will
make us much more ashamed to look him in the face. The publican,
when he went to the temple to pray, hung down his head more than
ever, as one ashamed, <scripRef id="Ez.x-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.13" parsed="|Luke|18|13|0|0" passage="Lu 18:13">Luke xviii.
13</scripRef>. [5.] An eye to God as our God will be of great use
to us in the exercise of repentance. Ezra begins, <i>O my God!</i>
and again in the same breath, <i>My God.</i> The consideration of
our covenant-relation to God as ours will help to humble us, and
break our hearts for sin, that we should violate both his precepts
to us and our promises to him; it will also encourage us to hope
for pardon upon repentance. "He is my God, notwithstanding this;"
and every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of
covenant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p23">(2.) He speaks as one much amazed
(<scripRef id="Ez.x-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.10" parsed="|Ezra|9|10|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>) "<i>What
shall we say after this?</i> For my part I know not what to say: if
God do not help us, we are undone." The discoveries of guilt excite
amazement: the more we think of sin the worse it looks. The
difficulty of the case excites amazement. How shall we recover
ourselves? Which way shall we make our peace with God? [1.] True
penitents are at a loss what to say. Shall we say, We have <i>not
sinned,</i> or, <i>God will not require it?</i> If we do, <i>we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.</i> Shall we say,
Have patience with us and we will pay thee all, with <i>thousands
of rams, or our first-born for our transgression?</i> God will not
thus be mocked: he knows we are insolvent. Shall we say, <i>There
is no hope,</i> and <i>let come on us what will?</i> That is but to
make bad worse. [2.] True penitents will consider what to say, and
should, as Ezra, beg of God to teach them. What shall we say? Say,
"I have sinned; I have done foolishly; God be merciful to me a
sinner;" and the like. See <scripRef id="Ez.x-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.2" parsed="|Hos|14|2|0|0" passage="Ho 14:2">Hos. xiv.
2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p24">(3.) He speaks as one much afraid,
<scripRef id="Ez.x-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.13-Ezra.9.14" parsed="|Ezra|9|13|9|14" passage="Ezr 9:13,14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. "After
all the judgments that have come upon us to reclaim us from sin,
and all the deliverances that have been wrought for us to engage us
to God and duty, <i>if we should again break God's commandments, by
joining in affinity with the children of disobedience</i> and
learning their ways, what else could we expect but that God should
be <i>angry with us till he had consumed us,</i> and there should
not be so much as a remnant left, nor any to escape the
destruction?" There is not a surer nor sadder presage of ruin to
any people than revolting to sin, to the same sins again, after
great judgments and great deliverances. Those that will be wrought
upon neither by the one nor by the other are fit to be rejected, as
reprobate silver, for the <i>founder melteth in vain.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.x-p25">(4.) He speaks as one much assured of the
righteousness of God, and resolved to acquiesce in that and to
leave the matter with him whose judgment is <i>according to
truth</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.x-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.15" parsed="|Ezra|9|15|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>):
"<i>Thou art righteous,</i> wise, just, and good; thou wilt neither
do us wrong nor be hard upon us; and therefore behold <i>we are
before thee,</i> we lie at thy feet, waiting our doom; <i>we cannot
stand before thee,</i> insisting upon any righteousness of our own,
having no plea to support us or bring us off, and therefore we fall
down before thee, in our trespass, and cast ourselves on thy mercy.
<i>Do unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.x-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.15" parsed="|Judg|10|15|0|0" passage="Jdg 10:15">Judg. x. 15</scripRef>. We have nothing to say,
nothing to do, but to <i>make supplication to our Judge,</i>"
<scripRef id="Ez.x-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.15" parsed="|Job|9|15|0|0" passage="Job 9:15">Job ix. 15</scripRef>. Thus does this
good man lay his grief before God and then leave it with him.</p>
</div></div2>