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10 34. The man clothed with linen with a writer’ ink-horn about his loins, (see Ezek. ix. 2, 3,) may be seen, by an attentive eye, going through the city now, as well as in the days of the prophet, and his purpose is the same; viz. to set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh, and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.

35. The ungodly is so proud that he careth not for, neither is in all his thoughts. (Psalm x. 4.) The Psalmist cannot mean that the ungodly never think of God, for they find it impossible at times not to think of Him; but still it does not follow that God is in their thoughts, because they think about God; for it is possible to think about God, and yet not to think under His influence; and, if we think of God without His influence, then God is not in the thought. It merits consideration, therefore, that God may be, and is, in a thought about worldly things, if in that thought God be regarded; and He may not be, and is not, in a thought about heavenly things, if in that thought He be not regarded as its origin and end.

36. The minds of wicked men are continually in that same direction and rapidity of motion, in which the herd of swine was, after that the devils were entered into it, of which it is written, The whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. (See Matt. viii. 32.)

37. To give knowledge of salvation unto His people by [in] the remission of their sins. (Luke i. 77.) It would