robbed God of the service He required of them, and they
robbed their fellow men of religious guidance and a holy
example.
Priests and rulers became fixed in a rut of ceremonialism.
They were satisfied with a legal religion, and it was
impossible for them to give to others the living truths of
heaven. They thought their own righteousness all-sufficient,
and did not desire that a new element should be brought into
their religion. The good will of God to men they did not
accept as something apart from themselves, but connected
it with their own merit because of their good works. The
faith that works by love and purifies the soul could find no
place for union with the religion of the Pharisees, made up of
ceremonies and the injunctions of men.
Of Israel God declared: “I had planted thee a noble
vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the
degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me?” Jeremiah 2:21.
“Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.”
Hosea 10:1. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt Me and My vineyard.
What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have
not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring
forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
“And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to My
vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be
eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be
trodden down: and I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned,
nor digged; but there shall come up briers and
