June 4

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.—Hosea 14:1.

In this invitation, we have the matter of it, and the motives to it. The matter is conversion; without that, the hand which is lifted up in threatening, will fall down in punishment: and where that is, God hath a book of remembrance for his jewels, when his wrath burneth as an oven against stubble.

1. But this conversion must have two conditions in it:—First, it must be to the Lord; not merely philosophical, to some low and general dictates of reason, such as Aristotle, or Plato, or Epictetus, or Plutarch, or the like heathen moralists, could furnish us withal, without self-denial, lowliness of spirit, or faith in Christ.

Nor merely political, to credit, or profit, or secular ends, "not for the sake of fame, but for the sake of conscience," as the orator speaks; or as our prophet hath it, "for corn, and for wine." As good be an empty vine, as bring forth fruit only to ourselves.

But it must be spiritual unto the Lord. "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me." And not only to the

Lord; for that may be done falsely, and flatteringly, with a halting and divided heart. By the force of semi-persuasions, like that of Agrippa, and Orpah, complimenting with God, and then forsaking him. By the force of compulsory impressions like that of Pharaoh and Israel in the wilderness. Promises on the rack, and pride when there was respite again; thawing in the sun, and freezing in the shade; melting in the furnace, and out of it returning unto hardness again,—like the prophet's cake, burnt on the one side, and dough on the other. But it must be,

Secondly, A full, thorough, constant, continued conversion, with a whole, a fixed, a rooted, a united, an established heart, yielding up the whole conscience and conversation to be ruled by God's will in all things.

II. The motives to this duty are two: First, his mercy, he is thy God; no such argument for our turning unto God, as his turning unto us. Adam looks on him as a judge, and hides; the prodigal looks on him as a Father, and returns. As the beam of the sun, shining on fire, doth discourage the burning of that; so the shining of God's mercies on us, should dishearten and extinguish lust in us. This is the use we should make of mercy. Say not, "He is my God; therefore I may presume upon him; but he is mine, therefore I must return unto him. Because he is God, I will be afraid to provoke him; and because he is mine, I will be afraid to forfeit him. He is so great, I must not dare to offend him; he is so precious, I must not venture to lose him."—His mercy is a holy mercy, which knows to pardon sin, but not to protect it. It is a sanctuary for the penitent, not for the presumptuous.

Secondly, his judgment and that expressed rather as our act than his, "Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." If mercies do not work upon love, let judgment work upon fear. Extremities are a warrant unto importunities. Even heathen mariners in a storm will cry mightily unto God. When there is a deluge coming, is it not time for Noah to fear, and to prepare an ark? What meanest thou, O thou sleeper, to lose the season and benefit of God's visitations? When there is a tempest over the ship, heavy distresses and distractions both at home and abroad, to be so secure in thy wonted impenitency, as if thou hadst no sins to procure these judgments, or no sense to feel them? If thou be falling, is it not high time to consider thy ways? to search and to judge thyself? to have thine eyes like the windows of Solomon's temple, broad inwards, to find out thine own provocations; and as David speaks, to keep thyself from thine own iniquity?

Thus when, in one and the same time, mercies and judgments are intermixed, then is the solemn season to call upon men for repentance. If we felt nothing but fears, they might make us despair; if nothing but mercies, they would make us secure. If the whole year were summer, the sap of the earth would be exhausted; if the whole were winter, it would be quite buried. The hammer breaks metal, and the fire melts it; and then you may cast it into any shape. Judgments break, mercies melt; and then, if ever, the soul is fit to be cast into God's mould.