Hos. xiv. 4. i" will heal their backsliding ; I will love them freely : for mine anger is turned away from him.
MEN who have never seen the evil of sin are ready to imagine that God will not punish : under the idea of advancing the attribute of mercy, they
deprive the Deity of all justice, holiness, and truth. On the other hand, when they are awakened to a due sight and sense of sin, they suppose that God can never forgive such vile and guilty creatures as them- selves : they are now as prone to limit his mercy, as before they were to extend it beyond all bounds of truth and soberness. Nor is this disposition found only in one or two instances : hard thoughts of God, and desponding thoughts of their own state, are very common amongst those who begin to repent; and therefore God is particularly solicitous to impress us with a confidence in his mercy. When he proclaimed his name to Moses, there were a great many expres- sions declarative of his mercy, while there was only one that described his justice. So we shall find, that there is scarcely one threatening in all the book of God, which is not followed by some free and gracious promise. In the passage before us, he has been ex- horting the ten tribes to return unto him : he has put words into their mouths, and taught them how to approach him acceptably : and for their further encouragement, he promises to vouchsafe them the richest of all mercies ; " I will heal their backsliding ; I will love them freely : for mine anger is turned away from him."
From these words we shall take occasion to shew,
I. What blessings penitents may expect —
[We cannot easily conceive any description of sinners to be worse than those to whom the prophet was writing : this whole prophecy is rilled with the most grievous accusations against them : yet God encourages them to repent ; and, on the first appearance of penitence and contrition, he sends them this heart-reviving message, " I will heal their backsliding ; I will love them freely."
The first blessing then that every penitent may expect is, that God will heal his backslidings. Sin of every kind, but more especially backsliding, makes a grievous wound in the soul. What pain and anguish did Peter feel, when he went out and wept bitterly ! How deeply was David stricken, when he " roared for the disquietness of his heart ! " He compares his misery to that occasioned by broken bones ; and prays, that God would " make the bones which He had broken to rejoice."