"if God be with us, who can be against us?" Our office is, to serve the Lord. His office, if I may so speak, is to save us. Only then let us attend to our part, and we may with safety leave to our heavenly Father the execution of his.]
Hos. viii. 5. Hoiv long ivill it be ere they attain to innocency ?
IT is impossible to read the history of God's an- cient people, or to survey the world around us, with- out being filled with wonder at the patience and forbearance of God. In vain were all his mercies to the Jews in delivering them from their bondage in Egypt, and in giving them possession of the promised land : no manifestations of his power and grace were sufficient to convince them of his exclusive right to their service, or to knit them to him as their only Lord and Saviour. They would make to themselves idols of wood and stone, and transfer to them the allegiance which they owed to God alone. Yet, in- stead of breaking forth against them in wrathful indignation to destroy them, he bore with them, and, with tender anxiety for their welfare, said, " How long will it be ere they attain to innocency?" Precisely thus does he wait for us also, who, notwithstanding all that he has done for the redemption of our souls, are ever prone to depart from him, and to fix on the creature that regard which is due to him only. Yet he is waiting to be gracious to us also, and longing for the return of our souls to him as their proper rest.
In illustration of this pathetic complaint, I shall consider,
I. What is the attainment here specified —
Perfect innocency is utterly unattainable in this life—
[Once we possessed it in our first parents : but since the Fall, we all have inherited a corrupt nature ; since " it was im- possible to bring a clean thing out of an unclean." Nor can vol. x. H