Ezekiel 35

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XXXV.—God’s ministers must declare nothing but evil against the implacable enemies of Christ and his people. The quarrels of parents often descend to their children; and national antipathies are deeply rooted. Therefore parents should carefully avoid giving bad example to their children, as it may ensnare and ruin them, though themselves should repent. Nothing is more cruel than to insult and oppress the distressed. Even they, who suffer for their sin here, ought not to be trampled on, but pitied. And it shews great baseness, if our own advantage thereby render us glad at the losses and troubles of others. When God’s church is in trouble, the constancy and fidelity of her friends, and the malice and pride of her enemies, are singularly monies. God is highly provoked when his enemies lay claim to the peculiar property his offending favourites. And they, who jest at or help forward their own may expect similar calamities. Neither men’s words nor their deeds are written by God in measuring out his judgments. And implacable malice is punished with irreparable ruin