Wesley Corpus

All my familiars watched for my halting; saying, Perad venture he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.” (xx. 7, 8, 10.) And elsewhere, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth ! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.” (xv. 10.) 17. But “if a man walking in the spirit of falsehood do lie,” saith the Prophet Micah, “saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and strong drink, he shall even be the Prophet of this people.” (ii. 11.) And God gave them Pastors after their own hearts; such were those sons of Eli, “sons of Belial, who knew not the Lord; ” (1 Sam. ii. 12;) rapacious, covetous, violent men; (verses 14-16;) by reason of whom “men abhorred the offering of the Lord; ” (verse 17;) who not only “made them selves vile,” (iii. 13,) but also “made the Lord’s people to transgress,” (ii. 24.) while they “made themselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel.” (Verse 29.) Such were those of whom Isaiah says, “The Priest and the Prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine.” (xxviii. 7.) “Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” (lvi.12.) Therefore, saith he, “The Lord hath poured out upon youthe spiritof deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: The Prophets and the Seers hath he covered; and the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed.” (xxix. 10, 11.) Such also were those of whom he saith, “His watchmen are blind, they are all igno rant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.” (lvi.