Isaiah 57:3

But draw near hither, &c.— The prophet proceeds to exhibit the church, totally corrupt as it was, the good men being extinct or dispersed; so that they who remained of the faithful lay hid in solitary places; while the body of the church appeared like a dead carcase; not the true, but the adulterous church. This church is summoned before the judgment-seat of God, first to be convinced, and afterwards to be condemned for her crimes; which crimes are spoken of under the ideas common to the idolatry of the ancient church, though they refer to the spiritual idolatry of the Christian church. There is a remarkable poem of William of Malmesbury, who lived in the 12th century, setting forth the corrupt state of the church in his time, which serves abundantly to shew how exactly this prophesy of Isaiah was fulfilled in those times.