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worn off? and have we not shamefully "forgotten our benefactor?"---Well might God's anger wax hot against us to consume us for such ingratitude

-Nor can we ascribe

it to any thing but the intercessions of God's people, that his wrath has not burst forth against us, as against Korah and his company, to destroy us utterly-]

III. Deduce from it some suitable observations-Observe

1. The duty of secret intercession

[We are commanded to pray for all men, and especially for kings and all that are in authority-Yea, even in Babylon, were the Jews taught to pray for the peace and prosperity of their very oppressors: how much more then should we intercede for our native country, where we enjoy every liberty that we can desire!-Let it not be said, that our governors do not deserve our prayers; for the injunction to pray for kings was delivered in the reign of Nero, than whom a more wicked prince could not exist-Let us then make a conscience of this duty; for if we know not to intercede for others, we have no reason to think that we have ever yet seen aright the value of our own souls-]

2. The benefit of public fasts

[The honour God has put upon public fasts is well known to all; and his answers to united supplications have been as signal as the hand of God could make them-The victory given to Jehosaphat, the respite to Nineveh, and the deliverance to Peter the very day before his intended destruction, sufficiently evince, that God will hear the united prayers of his people-Indeed, if one man, Moses, so prevailed for the saving of an whole nation, what deliverance should not nations receive, if they would all unite in prayer?-If a few individuals alone mourn for the land, they shall have at least some tokens of peculiar favour to themselves, though they should not succeed in averting God's anger from the nation at large-But if there be not some to stand in the breach, it cannot fail but that we must be overwhelmedi-]

3. The guilt and danger of neglecting Christ

[Great as were the mercies vouchsafed to the Jews in Egypt, they are not to be compared with the redemption which we have experienced through Christ: as our bondage was infinitely more grievous, so the means used to effect our deliverance, infinitely enhance the value of the deliverance itself: we are bought with blood, and that blood was the blood of our incarnate God- -What destruction then must not

e 2 Chron. xx. 12, 15.

f Jonah iii. 10. g Acts xii. 5-8. h Ezek. ix. 4, 6. Zeph. iii. 18. i Ezek. xxii. 31, 32. Amos vi. 1, 6.

we expect if we should forget "God our Saviour?" Nor is it the intercession of others that shall ever prevail to avert it from us; we must pray, every one of us for himself -Not but that mutual intercession may in this respect be productive of great benefits-Let us then "bear his great goodness in remembrance," and let it be our song in time, as it shall be through all eternity-]

k Heb. ii. 3.

CCCXXIV. THE CHARACTERISTIC MARKS OF TRUE

PENITENCE.

Hos. vi. 1. Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

THE spiritual dereliction which the people of God have at times experienced, has ever been considered as the most afflictive of all chastisements: but it has also been the most salutary, and most effectual. The benefits arising from it were strongly exemplified in the Israelites, who after having long withstood the united efforts of all the prophets, were on a sudden constrained by it to turn to God with unfeigned contrition.

The words before us are the expressions of that repentance which was excited in the Israelites by God's depar ture from them, and by his grace that accompanied the affliction: and they suggest to us a proper occasion to consider

a

I. The characteristic marks of true penitence
It will always be attended with

1. A sense of our departure from God

[Uuregenerate men live "without God in the world;" and yet the thought of their being at a distance from God never enters into their minds. But as soon as the grace of repentance is given to them, they see that they "have been like sheep going astray, every one to his own way," and that they never can find happiness but in "returning to the shepherd and bishop of their souls."]

a Hoş. v. u.

2. An acknowledgment of affliction as a just chastisement for sin

[The impenitent heart murmurs and rebels under the divine chastisements: the penitent "hears the rod and him that appointed it." He blesses God for the troubles that have brought him to reflection; and while he smarts under the wounds that have been inflicted on him, he regards them as the merciful tokens of parental love."]

3. A determination to return to God

way

[When a man is once thoroughly awakened to a sense of his lost condition, he can no longer be contented with a formal round of duties. He reads, hears, prays in a very different from that in which he was wont to do. "What shall I do to be saved?" is the one thought that occupies his mind; and he is resolved through grace to sacrifice every thing that would obstruct the salvation of his soul. To hear of Christ, to seek him, to believe on him, and to receive out of his fulness, these are from henceforth his chief desire, his supreme delight.d]

4. A desire that others should return to him also

[As all the other marks, so this especially was manifested by the repenting Israelites. This is peculiarly insisted on as characteristic of the great work that shall be accomplished in the latter day. This has distinguished the church of God in all ages! The penitent knows how awful the state of all around him is, and how much he has contributed by his influence and example to destroy them; and therefore, though he expects nothing but "hatred for his good-will," he feels it incumbent on him to labour for their salvation: and, if it were possible, he would instruct, convert, and save the whole world.]

To promote an increase of such repentance amongst us, we shall proceed to state

II. The grounds on which a penitent may take encouragement to return to God

Whatever grounds of despondency we may feel within ourselves, we may take encouragement

1. From a general view of God's readiness to heal us [God has not left himself without witness even among the heathen world; but has shewn, by his goodness to the evil and unthankful, that he is ever ready to exercise mercy. But to us who have his revealed will, he has left no possibility of doubt: for "if he spared not his own son, but delivered

b Ps. xvi. 7. and cxix. 67.
d Songy. 6, 8.

VOL. III.

3 E

e Ps. cxix. 75.
е Isai. ii. 3.

him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" The invitations and promises with which his word is filled, are a further evidence to us, that he is willing to receive every returning prodigal, and that he will in no wise cast out any who come unto him. On this ground the whole world may adopt the words of the text, and say, "Come, let us return unto the Lord."]

2. From that particular discovery of it which we have in the wounds he has inflicted on us

[The Israelites seemed to lay a peculiar stress on this, and to infer, from the very strokes of his rod, his willingness to "heal and bind them up." They even felt an assurance that his return to them would be both speedy and effectual. Thus as soon as any person is brought to acknowledge the hand of God in his afflictions, he will improve them in this very way. Whether his troubles be of a temporal or spiritual nature, he will adore God for not leaving him in a secure and thoughtless state, and for awakening him by any means to a sense of his guilt and danger. He will begin immediately to argue as Manoah's wife: "Would the Lord have shewn me this mercy, if he had intended to destroy me?" Does a father correct his child because he has no love to him? Are not the very expressions of his anger to be viewed as tokens of his love, and as an earnest of his returning favour as soon as the child shall have implored forgiveness?

h

Let those then who feel the burthen of their sins, remember, that it is God who has given them to see their iniquities; and that, the heavier their burthen is, the more abundant encouragement they have to cast it on the Lord.i]

APPLICATION

1. To those who have deserted God

[Let us only reflect on the months and years that we have past without any affectionate remembrance of God, or any earnest application to Christ as our Mediator and Advocate; and we shall not need many words to convince us, that we are included in this number. But let us consider whom “ we have forsaken; even God, the fountain of living waters;" and, with all our labour in pursuit of happiness, we have only "hewed out for ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Let our past experience suffice to shew us the vanity and folly of our ways: and let us “ him from whom we have deeply revolted." But let us beware lest we "heal our wounds slightly." Christ is the brazen

return unto

f Ver. 2. Song i. 4. Zech. viii. 21. John i. 41, 45.

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Serpent to which all must look: He is the good Samaritan who alone can help us, and who has submitted to be himself "wounded for our transgressions," that he might "heal uş by his stripes."]

2. To those who are deserted by God

[God does find it necessary sometimes to withdraw the light of his countenance from his people. But, whatever he may have done on some particular occasions, we are sure that in general he does not forsake us till after we have forsaken him. Hence, when the Israelites were deserted by him, they did not say, let us pray that he will return to us; but, let us return unto him: for they were well assured that, as the alienation had begun on their part, so it would be terminated as soon as ever they should humble themselves in a becoming manner. Let those then who are under the hidings of God's face, inquire, what has occasioned his departure from them: and let them put away "the accursed thing," and turn to him with their whole hearts. Let them rest assured, that "there is balm in Gilead;" and that, if they come to him in the name of Christ, their "backslidings shall be healed," and "their happiness restored.”*

I Hos. xiv. 4. Lam. iii. 31, 32. Ps. xcvii. 11. and cxlvii. 3. If this were the subject of a Fast Sermon, the APPLICATION might be comprised in the following observations. 1. The calamities of the nation are manifest tokens of God's displeasure, and calls to repentance—2. All the efforts of our rulers to heal our wounds will be in vain, if we do not repent-3. A general turning unto God would bring us speedy and effectual relief.

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CCCXXV. A CALL TO REPENTANCE.

Jer. xiii. 15-17. Hear ye, and give ear, be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive.

REPENTANCE is at all times a proper subject to be enforced; but more especially on a day professedly set apart for national humiliation. The words before us were addressed to the Jews when God was about to send

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