But they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves to that shame

But they went to Baal-Peor, and separated themselves to that shame.

But says God here, What a But comes after all this? God does manifest his delight in them as in the first ripe grapes in the wilderness, and the first ripe fruit, and yet behold, Oh! there's a but for all this.

It's not the greatness of God's love that is enough to engage carnal hearts: this is an evil and a sore thing to see. There was a time that God accepted of this people and delighted much in them, but now they are departed. Oh! it's ordinary for people to degenerate, though a few years since, how forward and zealous were they for God, and for Reformation, but within a while they grew cold, and dead, and formal, and slight, and begin to leave off all their good beginnings, and decline from God, and from his truth.