We must turn to him in humility. All of us, without excep- tion, are guilty before God. Let us, even the best amongst us, only mark what our thoughts most easily recur to, and what they fix upon with the greatest frequency and delight, in those seasons when there is nothing particular to engage them, and we shall find no great cause for self-preference and self- complacency. Such a view of ourselves would shew us what we are before Him " who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins;" and would convince us that we need to abase our- selves before him with self-lothing and self-abhorrence.
We must also turn to him in faith. There is but one Me- diator between God and man, whose merits and intercession must be the only grounds of our hope. In him, even in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must trust : we must make mention of his name and of his righteousness, even his only : and we must believe that God, for his sake, is willing to accept the very chief of sinners.
We must yet further turn to him in an unreserved devoted- ness both of heart and life. Mark, how entirely the heart of an unregenerate man gives itself to the world! Not that he never engages in religious duties ; but, whatever he does, his affections are set upon things below, and not on things above. The very reverse of this is our duty : we are not to be so occupied with heavenly pursuits, as to neglect the duties of our place and station ; but, in the midst of all our earthly occupations, God must have our hearts : his command must be the reason, his word the rule, and his honour the end, of all our actions. To fulfil his will, and enjoy his presence, should be the one object of our lives.]
Nor shall we decline this duty, if we consider what the text proposes for,
II. Our encouragement —
God will " shew mercy " to returning penitents —
[If it were doubtful whether our efforts would prove effectual for our salvation, we should not readily undertake the work of mortifying sin, and of turning unto God. But there is no doubt : for God delighteth in the exercise of mercy: "judgment is his strange work," to which he is utterly averse : "he willeth not the death of any sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live." He invites us and expostulates with us in the most tender manner, " Turn ye : turn ye ! why will ye die ?" "Wilt thou
not be made clean? O, when shall it once be?" Let
but the assurances of mercy which the Scripture affords to penitent sinners be considered, and no one will want a motive for abandoning his sins, and for returning to his God.]