[If we would " know and see" what a " bitter thing" it is to forsake the Lord, let us consult the declarations of God, " the Lord God of hosts," and the experience of his ancient people. What " broken bones" did the fall of David occasion &! And where was the blessedness which the Galatian Church had once enjoyed, when, through the influence of their false teachers, they had declined from the simplicity of the Gospel'1? Indeed, let any man consult the records of his own conscience, and he will soon perceive, that, as there is no happiness to be compared with a state of nearness to God, so there is no misery like that which a sense of his departure from us will occasion. As for the bitterness of it to apostates in the day of judgment, that cannot be described ; and we pray God we may never be left to feel and endure it. But let us study to "know and see" it in its true light, that we may be stirred up by the consideration of it to " cleave unto our God with full purpose of heart."] * Ps. li. 8. h Gal. iv. 15.
Jer. ii. 23, 24. Hoiv canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim ? See thy way in the valley ; know what thou hast done: thou art a sivift dromedary traversing her ways ; a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure : in her occasion who can turn her away ? All they that seek her will not weary themselves : in her month they shall find her.
IN estimating our state before God,, we ought to mark the circumstances under which our sins are committed, and the aggravations of our guilt in that particular view. It is in this light that our iniquities are viewed by God. The mercies we have received from him ; the resolutions which, under a sense of those mercies, we have formed ; the degree in which we have degenerated ; all these things are marked by God, and form an accumulation of wickedness far exceeding that of any individual actsa. But there is one evil which enhances our guilt beyond every other that can be named ; and that is, a self-justifying spirit, and a denial of the accusations which God, in his word, and by his ministers, brings against us. That I may guard you against this, which is so pre-eminently offensive to the Divine Majesty, I will set before you,
a ver. 20 — 22.
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