There are two great ordinances which divine wisdom has instituted, the wretched profanation of both of which is complained of and sharply reproved in this chapter. I.

What was said in the foregoing chapter was directed to the priests : Thus saith the Lord of hosts to you, O priests! that despise my name. But the crimes there charged upon them they were guilty of as sacrificers, and for those they might think it some excuse that they offered what the people…

Corrupt practices are the genuine fruit and product of corrupt principles; and the badness of men’s hearts and lives is owing to some loose atheistical notions which they have got and which they govern themselves by.