Isaiah 57:17

For the iniquity of his covetousness The covetousness of the Jewish people, (here addressed as one man,) who were eminently guilty of this sin before the Babylonish captivity, as is expressly affirmed, Jeremiah 6:13; and Jeremiah 8:10; and they were still more addicted to it in the time of Christ, and previous to the destruction of their city by the Romans; Christ himself testifying, that the greatest professors of sanctity among them devoured widows' houses, and, for a pretence, made long prayers. But this sin is not mentioned exclusively of others, but so as to comprehend all those sins for which God was wroth, and smote them: covetousness, however, joined with a froward going on in the way of their own hearts, has been the characteristic sin of that people, in all ages, since the overturning of their commonwealth by the Romans. If Vitringa's exposition of this chapter be adopted, this verse must be understood of the avarice of the Church of Rome, manifested by her enormous exactions, and her infamous traffic in indulgences, dispensations, and a variety of equally abominable practices, which, for many ages, have disgraced that church in the view of all intelligent and pious Christians. I hid me, and was wroth

I withdrew my favour and help from him, and left him in great calamities. And he went on frowardly Yet he was not reformed by corrections, but in his distresses trespassed more and more, and obstinately persisted in those sinful courses which were most pleasing to the lusts of his own corrupt heart.