but he gave me no answer." She then went about the city, and inquired of all the watchmen respecting him: and failing of success here, she says, in verse 8, "I charge you, Ö daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, tell ye him that I am sick of love." This is a striking comment on the last words of my text, " In their affliction they will seek me early:" and it exactly agrees with the experience of God's people in all ages: when they, who have been favoured with the light of God's countenance, are for a season deprived of it, they put away their foolish and vain excuses; they see that they must at all events get nigh to their Beloved; they will spare no pains; they will rather rise at midnight, than not seek him at all: they will attend the ordinances with redoubled diligence: they will inquire of the ministers, the watchmen, how they may find him: they request the intercession of the saints: in short, they will never rest, till they have regained the sensible enjoyment of the Divine presence.] Let us now come to a short APPLICATION of the subject. 1. To the careless world [My Brethren, many of you must be sensible that you never seek after God: if you pray at any time, you rest satisfied with having performed a duty, and are not at all solicitous to obtain any manifestations of the Divine presence: yea, because you have never experienced any peculiar sensations of God's favour, you are ready to think, that all hopes of such experience are groundless, and that all must be either hypocrites or enthusiasts who pretend to such things. But surely, your own want of experience in these matters is no more a ground for denying the truth of what others feel, than your ignorance of the concerns of others is a ground for denying what others know. Would to God that you would seek the Lord for yourselves! you should soon find that it is not in vain to call upon him. If you would humble yourselves, confessing your sins, and crying for mercy through the blood of Jesus, you should soon find that God is "gracious, and full of compassion, and rich in mercy unto all that call upon him:" he would be "a Father unto you; he would come unto you, and dwell with you;" he would "manifest himself unto you as he does not unto the world;" he would "shed abroad his love in your hearts;" and he would "make you glad with the light of his countenance." O, then, "seek the Lord, seek his face evermore!" Remember, it will be an awful matter to be banished for ever from his presence; to hear him say, "Depart, accursed" how dreadful! On the contrary, how delightful to hear him say," Come, ye blessed!" O" seek ye the Lord whilst he may be found; call ye upon him whilst he is near."] 2. To the professors of religion [How apt are you to draw back from God, instead of pressing forward as you ought to do! How do you compel him to hide his face, when he would gladly be comforting you with his presence! Ah, Brethren, know where the fault is: "He delighteth in the prosperity of his people:" it is wholly owing to yourselves, if ye do not "rejoice in the Lord all the day long." Do not then oblige him to withdraw himself; do not bring on yourselves so heavy an affliction: search, and see, what there is that has displeased him: see if the world has drawn you aside; see if pride has grieved his Spirit; see if negligence in secret duties has caused him to hide his face: and, whatever it be, confess it to the Lord; mourn over it; renew your application to the blood of Jesus; and press forward with greater diligence: so shall you "walk in the light, as He is in the light;" you shall have abiding and increasing fellowship both with the Father and the Son; and soon you shall be admitted into his immediate presence, where you shall never have one cloud to intercept your view of him to all eternity.] MCLIII. 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 departure from them, and by his grace that accompanied the affliction: and they suggest to us a proper occasion to consider, I. The characteristic marks of true penitence- 1. A sense of our departure from God [Unregenerate 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 can never find happiness but in "returning to the shepherd and bishop of their souls."] 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 [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 way 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.] 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.] c Ps. cxix. 75. b Ps. xvi. 7. and cxix. 67. a Cant. v. 6, 8. f Cant. i. 4. Draw me, and we, &c. Zech. viii. 21. John i. 41, 45. e Isai. ii. 3 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 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 mei?" 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 to me as soon as I shall have implored his forgiveness? 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'.] h The text, with ver. 2. i Judg. xiii. 23. k Heb. xii. 6. 1 Matt. xi. 28. 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 waterm." Let our past experience suffice to shew us the vanity and folly of our ways: and let us "return unto him from whom we have deeply revolted." But let us beware lest we "heal our wounds slightly." Christ is the brazen 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 us 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 God in the name of Christ, their "backslidings shall be healed," and "their happiness restored".""] m Jer. ii. 13. n 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. |