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DISCOURSE LXXXV.

BLESSINGS UNIMPROVED RESUMED BY THEIR OWNER.

For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax.-Hosea ii. 8, 9.

If you are accustomed to reflection, two subjects must often present themselves to your minds. They are the goodness of God, and the wickedness of man. These subjects are equally obvious and common; and though the one is as painful as the other is pleasing, we must not turn away from it. Nor must we, in the exemplification, so think of our fellowcreatures as to forget ourselves. We frequently condemn the Jews for their unbelief, ingratitude, and rebellion; yet, instead of casting stones, it would be better to kneel and confess

"Great God, how oft did Israel prove
By turns thy anger, and thy love;
There in a glass our hearts may see
How fickle, and how false they be."

They were fair specimens of human nature,
and we have no reason to believe that we
should have been better than they, had we
been placed under the same dispensation:
yea, have we not proved ourselves worse,
under superior advantages? Let us consider,
I. THE SOURCE OF OUR MERCIES.
II. OUR GUILT IN THE USE OF THEM.
III. THEIR REMOVAL. "For she did not
know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil,
and multiplied her silver and gold, which
they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I
return, and take away my corn in the time
thereof, and my wine in the season thereof,
and will recover my wool and my flax."

I. THE SOURCE OF OUR MERCIES. I gave her-"I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold."

Here we do not refer to those blessings, which we call spiritual. These it should be our principal concern to obtain: for these alone can afford satisfaction to the soul, and yield us a hope beyond the grave. If the inquiry concerned these, I trust we should be prepared to join in the acknowledgment of the Apostle:"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." But we now speak of temporal good things. He who is the Saviour of the soul has provided also for the body; and his bounty ministers, not only to our support, but our delight. "He giveth us," says the apostle, "richly all things to enjoy." "He daily,"

says David, "loadeth us with his benefits." In these declarations we see, not only the plenitude of these mercies, but the author of them. To establish in your minds the conviction, that God is the giver of all you possess, I could add a number of testimonies from the sacred writers; and remark, in particular, that our Saviour has taught us to pray for them-"Give us day by day our daily bread." But it is needless to enlarge. There is one thing, however, concerning which it is of im"Never suffer portance to admonish you. instruments to keep your thoughts from God."

There is, First, unconscious instrumentality. This takes in what we call nature. The sun, the air, the rain, the earth, the seasons, are all essential to the welfare of man. But how could this do us any good, without God? Their operation, and their very being, depend upon him. "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. The day is his, the night also is his. He hath made summer and winter. His paths drop down fatness."-"It shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel."

There is, Secondly, voluntary instrumentality. Thus our fellow-creatures may do us good in a thousand ways; and are we to feel towards them, only, as we do towards a bridge that carries us over a river, or a spring that refreshes us in our journey? They act knowingly and freely in relieving us, and display the noblest principles of their nature. And we are not only allowed, but required to be grateful towards them. And a man that is destitute of gratitude has no good principle that we can rely upon. But here again, God has higher claims upon us :-for, who placed these friends and benefactors in our way? Who endowed them with their ability? Who inspired them with their disposition? Who gave us favour in their eyes?

There is, Thirdly, personal instrumentality. Few of the good things of this life are obtained without some exertions of our own. Indeed, if they were, they would not be half so sweet: it is what a man gains by his own skill and diligence that is so peculiarly dear and precious-"Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hand." But are we then to turn Chaldeans? of whom it is said; "They take up all of them with the angel, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous." But from whom have we derived our natural talents and the prudence which results from experience and observation? "Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken and hear my speech. Doth the plowman plow all day to

The disease had suspended you over the grave. The accident had scarcely missed the child's life; and the Lord, in delivering, made "bare his arm." And yet, perhaps, you were only struck with the wonderfulness of the event; or your gratitude was a mere notion, vanishing "as the morning cloud, and early dew."

sow? doth he open and break the clods of his | The fire had begun to consume your property. ground? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him. For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. This also cometh forth from the Lord of Hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." Whose providence fixed us in a situation favourable to our efforts; and ordered those opportunities, without which our attempts might have been in vain? Where is the wisdom of a man, who sees not that his plans depended upon a multitude of events over which he had not the least control; any one of which might have rendered foolish that scheme which now appears so wise and that undertaking fatal which now appears so flourishing? Where is the piety of the man who does not own the agency of God in his most successful endeavours, and say with Solomon, "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it?" This is the grand lesson which Moses gave to the indulged Israelites: "Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth."

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First. Ignorance. "She knew not that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold." God does much more good in this world than is ever known. He has done each of you countless acts of kindness, of which you have never been aware. For instance-From how many evils have you been preserved, by night and by day, abroad and at home, of which you were not sensible, because the danger was hidden, by the very interposition that hindered it. But sometimes you have seen your danger.

For a distinction is here necessary. There are two kinds of knowledge; the one speculative, the other practical. The former is nothing without the latter: it is no better than ignorance; and as such it is always considered in the Scripture. Thus the apostle John tells us, "He that loveth not, knoweth not God." And again, "He that saith, 1 know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." When a man is really convinced of sin, and is taught the truth as it is in Jesus, though he had often read of it, and heard of it, he naturally says, "I never knew this before." It is said, the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, "and knew not the Lord;" it cannot mean that men of their education and office were unable to distinguish the God of Israel from idols; but they did not act as those who were acquainted with him, and professed to serve him. "Know them that labour among you," says the apostle: that is, own them, and conduct yourselves properly towards them.-It is in vain, therefore, to say, this charge does not apply to us: we are not ignorant; we know that God gives us all we enjoy. Yes; but do you know, so as to be impressed and influenced by it? This is the accusation; they know not, so as to feel, and speak, and live as if they knew. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know, my people do not consider."

But here is a second charge. It is perver sion. "She knew not that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal." Instead of using them in the service and for the glory of God, they appropriated them to the use of idols! This is worse than the former, as insult exceeds indifference, and opposition, neglect. What would you feel more provoking, than for a man to borrow of you, in order to publish a libel upon your character? What would you have thought, if, when Jonathan gave him his sword and his bow, David had instantly wounded him with his own weapons! Yet is not God thus perpetually affronted and dishonoured? Does not the swearer employ the very breath he continues, in blaspheming him? Does not the drunkard take what was designed for his nourishment and refreshment, and offer it in sacrifice to his vile appetite, to the injury of his health, and disgrace of his reason? Is not the raiment, given to cover and screen

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and comforts when they seem most attractive, most necessary; when their loss is least expected, and we are rejoicing to see them flourish!" I will take away my corn in the time thereof, and my vine in the season." So it was with Jonah. His gourd was not only removed, but in the very time thereof.

us, made to minister to pride, and to excite unhallowed passions? Genius and learning are valuable in themselves, and may be applied to purposes the most useful: yet how often have they pandered for lewdness and infidelity! The tongue," wherewith bless we God, even the Father, often curses men, who are made after the similitude of God!" The Lord God prepared a gourd, and made And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."

III. Observe THE REMOVAL. "Then will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my vine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax." What a number of reflections arise from this part of our subject!

it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehe ment east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live."

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First. We see how precarious every thing Again. God does not deprive us of our earthly is! "Riches make to themselves enjoyments without a cause." Therefore," wings and flee away:" they are called “un- says he, “because they acknowledged not certain riches." Honour hangs upon the that I indulged them: and employed my wavering tongue of the multitude; and our mercies for Baal: therefore will I return, and laurels wither as we wear them. Children take them away." God gives freely; but often disappoint our fondest hopes. Friends he takes away justly: he is a sovereign in the die. Our strength is not the strength of one, but not in the other. "Why," says he, stones. Who knows how soon he may be" will you be stricken any more?" And he "made to possess months of vanity, and have himself answers the question: "Ye will rewearisome nights appointed unto him?" volt more and more." My strokes are Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant continued only because your provocations are thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: but renewed." He does not afflict willingly, if a man live many years, and rejoice in them nor grieve the children of men: but our own all; yet let him remember the days of dark- wickedness corrects us, and our backslidings ness; for they shall be many. All that com- reprove us." It is our non-improvement, it eth is vanity.' is our abuse of our mercies, that endangers Secondly. God withdraws our comforts as them. And upon this principle, who has not well as gives them. "I will return and take reason to tremble? who would have a right them away," says God. "I form the light under bereavement to complain? Which of and create darkness; I make peace and our blessings have we not frequently forfeited? create evil I the Lord do all these things." which of them has not caused us "to go a Job knew who had robbed him of his sub-whoring from God?"-" It is of the Lord's stance; but he said, "the Lord hath taken mercies that we are not consumed; because away." We exclaim, " O, it was that un- his compassions fail not." lucky servant; it was that perfidious friend; it was that malicious enemy:" but old Eli would say, "It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good." Our Lord knew that Peter would deny him, and Judas betray him, and Herod insult him, and Pilate condemn him, and the Jews crucify him: yet he speaks only of God: "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it ?"

Thirdly. We learn that God does not relinquish his propriety in any of his blessings, when he bestows them: "I will take away my corn, and my wine, and will recover my wool and my flax." Still they are his: and therefore, when he comes for them, he comes not to rob, but to resume:

"The dear delights we here enjoy,
And fondly call our own,

Are but short favours borrow'd now,
To be repaid anon."

Fourthly. He often removes our blessings

Finally. His conduct, in the removal of our joys, looks forward, as well as backward; he is not only the righteous Governor, but the tender Father; he punishes, not for our destruction, but advantage; and the very consequences of sin are made the cure. Thus you here find these losses inflicted because we have departed from God; but, at the same time, they are the merciful means to bring us back to him. "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take

away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax." And observe what follows: "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new-moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." It was for their sin, that he sent the Jews into Babylon; yet it was for their good: "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good." "Who is a God like unto thee?"

But while this subject leads us to magnify the Lord, it should afford instruction and encouragement to those who are afflicted. No affliction will ever do us good unless it excite in us both fear and hope. It can do nothing unless it lead us to condemn ourselves, and to acknowledge that God is justified when he speaketh, and clear when he judgeth. At the same time, we must apprehend not only his justice in the dispensation, but his goodness. Without this we shall feel a sullen despair, or be hardened into impenitency. Remember, therefore, that "though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the greatness of his mercy:" and that your severest trials may become your greatest blessings. Many are beginning to see this already-yea, they perceive it so plainly, that they are now praising God for providenees which once tempted them to entertain the most harsh and unworthy thoughts of him.

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But it is a sad thing when the lamp is extinguished, and there is no Sun of Righteousness near! When creatures are lost, and He is not found, nor even sought after! When this is the case, God will either withdraw the affliction in wrath, and say, Ephraim is joined unto idols: let him alone;" or he will increase the severity of his measures, and after chastising us with whips chastise us with scorpions. So he threatens-"And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk

contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins!"

The day of trouble, therefore, is a period peculiarly eventful and important. Your salvation, or destruction, may hinge upon it. God then comes near, and if you do not receive him, you may miss him for ever!Who thinks of this? Who is sufficiently impressed with the awful consequences of losing an affliction? In general, you ask for our prayers when you come into trouble, and our thanksgivings when you come out. But sometimes we hardly know what to do. If we were to regard the result, we should often be far from hailing you upon your recovery from sickness, or your emerging from penury; we should see your deliverance, as you call it, wearing away every serious thought of God, renewing your worldly spirit, and leading you to violate the vows your souls made when you were in trouble. It is best, perhaps, to invite our praise when you come into afflic tion, and our prayers when you come out. I say, our praise when you come into effic tion-for this is a token for good: it is a proof that God has not as yet cast you off: it is an evidence that the husbandman has not yet resolved to cut down the tree, while he digs about it and manures: the physician does not entirely despair of the patient while he orders medicine, or even amputation-I say, our prayers when you come outthat you may never forget the things your eyes saw, and your ears heard; never lose the lessons you received in the school of correction; but be able to say, in every review, "it is good for me that I have been af flicted, that I might learn thy statutes Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word."

To conclude. There is no subject under which we cannot teach and preach Jesus Christ. How is it that any blessings are communicated to us but through the mediation of Him, who is the way, the truth, and the life?

"He sunk beneath our heavy woes
To raise us to his throne;
There's not a gift his hand bestows
But cost his heart a groan."

What wood is it that, thrown in, heals the waters of Marah? It is the tree on which he died that takes the curse out of all our comforts, and all our crosses too. He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. While faith views the rod, however dry and barren before, it then enlivens, and blossoms, and bears: and "though no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." Amen.

DISCOURSE LXXXV I.

DIVINE FORGIVENESS.

A God ready to pardon.-Neh. ix. 17. GOD is absolutely incomprehensible, and the highest archangel cannot "find him out unto perfection." Yet we are not called to worship "an unknown God." He has furnished us with all the information necessary to bring us to himself. All his works praise him," but his word, "which he hath magnified above all his name, peculiarly reveals bim.

In this sacred volume, indeed, some clouds and darkness are round about him. Subjects are occasionally intimated which lie far beyond the reach of our present faculties; and concerning which we may safely follow the advice of the poet: "Wait the great teacher, Death. But the Scripture renders things plain and obvious in proportion as they are important and necessary; so that he may run that readeth them. Some truths are written as with a sunbeam-such are those which regard our state as sinners, and are calculated to draw forth our faith and hope in God. For "we are saved through faith: we are saved by hope." Man fell by losing his confidence in God; and he is only to be recovered by regaining it. For which purpose we read, not only that there is forgiveness with himbut that "he is A GOD READY TO PARDON."

We shall divide our reflections into three parts. In the First we shall show WHAT IS NECESSARY TO RENDER THE SUBJECT INTERESTING. In the Second we shall ADDUCE THE PROOFS WHICH ESTABLISH THE TRUTH OF IT. And, in the Third, WE SHALL POINT OUT THE WAY IN WHICH IT may BE abused, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT ought TO BE improved.

I. WHAT IS NECESSARY TO RENDER THE SUBJECT INTERESTING? THREE THINGS.

First. A conviction of guilt. "They that are whole need not the physician, but they that are sick." "The full soul loathes the honeycomb: but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet." In vain we present alms to the affluent, or offer pardon to the innocent; our kindness will offend rather than gratify. Suffer me then to ask, Are you not sinners? Have you ever lived a day, or an hour, as you ought? Have you not, at least, been chargeable with sins of omission?-But a servant's disobedience appears in neglecting to do what the master enjoins, as well as in doing what he forbids. If your conduct has not been grossly wicked, what has been the state of your heart? For the law of God is spiritual, and each command comprehends under it not only the outward acts, but our very desires and thoughts.

By the law, therefore, is the knowledge of sin. The law begins with the object of all

adoration, and requires that we serve God alone. But have you never transferred to the creature that supreme regard-that love-that fear-that confidence-which are due to the Creator, God over all, blessed for evermore? If you have never worshipped wood or stone; never cried, "O Baal, hear us!" never sacrificed to devils; have you not made gold your hope, and fine gold your confidence? have you not made flesh your arm? have you not "had men's persons in admiration, because of advantage?" If you have often, if you have daily, worshipped the Supreme Being, has it been in spirit and in truth, or only with the form of godliness? Have you never taken "His Name in vain,” either in profane swearing, or in idle conversation, or in those prayers and praises, which have "mocked him with a solemn sound, upon a thoughtless tongue?" Have you sanctified the "Sabbath-day, to keep it holy?" Have you not squandered away many of its precious hours in idleness, in dress, in visitings, in pleasure-taking? Have you suffered your ox and your ass, your man-servant and your maid-servant, to rest, as well as you? Have you called the Sabbath a delight? and have you honoured it by a devout attention to the purposes for which it was instituted?— But you are sure you are no murderer! Is there then no one dead, in whose removal you have rejoiced? Is there no one alive, at whose continuance you have inwardly repined? Have you never been angry with your brother without a cause ?—You think you are no adulterer! But the infallible Expositor has said, "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."-You repel with indignation the charge of theft! But is it not pride, rather than principle, that has sometimes restrained you; or the fear of the consequences, rather than a sense of the sin? Are you a stranger to all unjust gain and excessive profit in trade? Have you never taken advantage of ignorance, or confidence? Have you fully paid your servants for their toil; and never kept back the hire of your labourers, by fraud? Have you never robbed the poor of what was due to them? In a word, "Have you done unto others as you would they should do unto you?"

I have not examined you by every command of the moral law; but I have endeavoured to convict you of transgressing those of which you were most likely to deem yourselves blameless. Examine yourselves by the remainder: they are before you, and they are all "holy, and just, and good." Try yourselves by them; try your conduct by them; try your dispositions by them; and "every mouth must be stopped, and all be found guilty before God. "I was alive," says Paul," without the law; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died."

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