under the charge brought against them, will instantly reply,, "Wherein have we wearied thee1?" To such God may be considered as saying, ' Since you plead your innocence m, and stand on your own defence, as though you did not need this offer of mercy, come, and " put me in remembrance" of your good deeds (for, if you have any to boast of, they have quite escaped my notice) : Let us plead together, and see whether I am right in my charge, or you in your vindication of yourself: declare thou the grounds of thy dependence, that, if they will bear thee out in thy confidence, " thou mayest be justified" before me.'
Alas ! alas ! that the offers of a free salvation should ever be despised through a vain confidence in our own goodness ! O that we might not so despise our own mercies ! Whatever sen- tence God shall pass upon us, " he will surely be justified in his saying, and be clear when he is judged"." Let us not then provoke God to such a contest ; for our hope will be only as a spider's web, that shall be swept away with the besom of destruction0.
But I understand it rather as a direction and encouragement to the repenting sinner. While some put away from them the word of life, because they feel not their need of mercy, others do the same, from an apprehension of their unworthiness to obtain mercy. But God is ever solicitous to encourage the humble, and says, " Put me in remembrance of this promise; come and plead it with me ! declare thou thine affiance in it; and, unworthy as thou art, thou shalt be justified." As our Lord vouchsafed to Thomas the evidence of his senses, in order that his doubts might be effectually removed, so he here con- descends to the infirmities of his people, in order to bring them to a full conviction of his love and faithfulness. Let this direc- tion then be followed by every doubting, trembling soul. Let us take the Canaanitish woman for our patternp: and our confidence shall ere long be crowned with a rich reward q.]
Reflections —
1. How averse is God to the perishing of an im- mortal soul !
[What stronger comment can we have on that oath of Jehovah, " As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner : turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of Israel1-?" Contemplate the text in that vietv, and say whether God does not desire that all
1 Mai. ii. 17. m Jer. ii. 35. n ps. H. 4.
0 Isai. xxviii. 17. p Matt. xv. 26, 27. 1 Heb. x. 35. r Ezek. xxxiii. 11. VOL. VIII. N