excuses can you find for this ? What palliations can such cri- minal proceedings admit of?]
2. By a most apt comparison —
[The dromedary and the wild ass, when seeking their mate, are so bent upon the attainment of their desires, that all efforts to catch them are in vain : and no one will weary him- self with so fruitless a labour. But, when their time of preg- nancy has advanced, they fall comparatively an easy prey to the pursuer. And it is but to little purpose that we follow you with invitations, entreaties, expostulations, warnings : you " will not hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely." It is perfectly surprising to see how little effect is produced on the minds of the generality by all the labours of the most faithful ministers. There is occasion for the same complaint in every age, and every place: " Lord, who hath believed our report ? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed ?" Let your own consciences testify whether the representation here given be not just and true.]
There is a time, however, when we may hope to pre- vail : and in the hope that it may have arrived, we will, in a word of application, now address ourselves unto you —
[Happy, happy would it be, if you began at last to be "weary and heavy-laden with your sins!" This is the time that God looketh for : and it is the time that we look for also, in the hope that we may prevail upon you to return unto your God. Verily, we may ask with confidence, " What fruit have ye had of the things whereof ye are now ashamed ? " What, but disappointment and misery and death ? O, then, " return
unto Him from whom ye have deeply revolted " And
what does God require of you, in order to your acceptance with him? He says, "Only acknowledge thine iniquity8." So, then, say I also ; and know, that if you come to the Lord Jesus Christ burthened with your sins, he will speedily and most assuredly " give you rest." " Whilst you cover your sins, you cannot prosper : but if you confess and forsake them, you will have mercy h." Hear the beloved Apostle: " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ; but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness1." Receive this testimony, and act upon it ; " so your iniquities, how great or numerous soever they have been, shall not be your ruin k " ]
e Jer. iii. 13. h Prov. xxviii. 13. '1 John i. 8, 9.
k Ezek. xviii. 30. Here the fulness and sufficiency of Christ may be set forth to advantage.