1. Consider what obstructions you have laid in the way of your own happiness —
[Had )rou not sinned, or, after your sins, continued impe- nitent, you would have been happy long since in the enjoyment of your God. He has been long "waiting to be gracious" unto you, but you would not suffer him to be so. He has been longing " to gather you, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would not." Say then, what alter- native is left to God ? He has called, but you have refused : he still calls, and you still continue to reject his counsels. Truly, " he knows not what to do :" if he spare you, you only add sin to sin; and if he cut you off, you perish without the smallest hope of mercy. Who can tell but that he is deli- berating at this moment, and just about to form his ultimate decision? Who can tell but that this very night he may determine, as he did respecting his people of old ; " Go to, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard : I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up ; I will tread down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down 1 :" or, as he elsewhere says, " I swear in my wrath that they shall never enter into my rest ? " Know, beloved, that if this calamity fall upon you, the fault is utterly your own : nothing but " iniquity can separate between you and your God ; nothing but sin unrepented of can hide his face from youm."]
2. Endeavour instantly to remove them —
[Methinks I see your impenitence, like a dam, barring out from you those streams of mercy, which would refresh and fer- tilize your souls. O remove it without delay ! But take care that your repentance is genuine and unreserved. External and temporary repentance will avail only for the removal of tem- poral judgments. That which is required in order to the final remission of your sins, must be deep, spiritual, and abiding : it must shew itself in the whole of your conduct and conversation. You will put away those pleasures, those vanities, those com- panions, that have been to you an occasion of falling ; and you will " walk mournfully before the Lord of Hosts" to the latest hour of your lives : " you will lothe yourselves for all your ini- quities and abominations," as well after that God is pacified towards you, as before". Let this then be begun immediately, even as " the Israelites put off their ornaments on the very mount of Horeb." Let there be no delays ; no waiting for a more convenient season. And let not the loss of heaven be the only object of your fear : fear also the loss of the divine presence. This, as you have seen, was peculiarly dreaded by the
1 Isai. v. 5. m Isai. lix. 2. n Ezek. xxxvi. 31. with xvi. 63.