the invitations, the promises, the expostulations, the com- plaints ; " Wilt thou not be made clean ? O ! when shall it once be?" Mark these, I say; and they form such a plea, as must satisfy the most doubting mind, and turn to transports of joy the apprehensions of every desponding soul ]
Address —
1. To those who refuse to turn to God —
[Alas ! how many turn a deaf ear to the solicitations of heaven ! " How often would the Saviour gather us under his wings, and we will not?" But, if you will not turn at God's reproof, what will ye answer him in the day when he shall judge the world? Low as " ye are fallen," he now is willing to raise you up: but all possibility of recovery will then be past ; and you will sink yet lower still, even into the bottom- less abyss of misery. " O consider this, ye that forget God ; lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver you.""
2. To those who are beginning to return —
[Mind that you return in his appointed way. Seek not merely a deliverance from wrath, but a restoration to the state from whence ye are fallen. Look back on man in his primeval state, and see how Adam walked with God in Paradise : that is the pattern that you should endeavour to follow, and the standard to which you should aspire. Or, if he be too far removed from your apprehensions, look at the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and see how he walked in the midst of this ungodly world : and endeavour to " walk as he walked." For the remission of your sins, and your restoration to the Divine favour, let the mercy of God in Christ Jesus be your only plea, your only hope : and, for the honouring of your reconciled God, let the sacrifice of praise be continually offered to him on the altar of your hearts, and every defilement be banished without hesitation or reserve. Thus coming to him, you shall never be cast out; but shall surely be received to a participa- tion of his favour, and to a possession of his glory.]