suggestions of Satan ; cease to entertain hard thoughts of God ! Only come to Jesus, and see what a gracious Saviour he is ; how freely he will love, how effectually he will heal. Bring all your unworthiness along with you ; bring all your sins, and all your backslidings ; and if only ye desire to have them all healed, surely ye shall soon feel the cleansing efficacy of his blood, and the renewing influence of his Spirit : and when he thus loveth you, he will " love you to the end" ]
2. What cause of fear is here to those who are living in wilful sin !
[If you be not seeking deliverance from sin, even from your darling and besetting sin, surely your case is awful indeed : the anger of God is not turned away from you. No : if there be any truth in the Divine record, " the wrath of God abideth on you." If you seek not to have your backslidings healed, how is it possible that God should love you? It is said, " He hateth all the workers of iniquity," and, " He is angry with the wicked every day." Deceive not therefore your own souls : ye backsliders in particular, who have fallen from your first love, deceive not yourselves ; for, except ye repent, God shall remove your candlestick, and your lamp shall go out for ever. Examine well your own souls ; see whether the world have not crept in ; whether some accursed weeds and thorns have not choked the seed, so that you bring no fruit to perfection ? If you can be easy in such a state, there is reason to fear that you are given up by God to judicial hardness : but perhaps you are not easy, yet your uneasiness does not stir you up to repent : you do not unfeignedly seek grace and mercy from the Saviour's hands ; you do not plead with him in earnest ; you do not go with strong crying and tears to implore deliver- ance : what then can you expect, but to perish by the wounds which your backslidings have made ? Still, however, there is mercy in store for you : God desires not your death, but rather that you turn from your wickedness and live. O then, " turn, and live ye!" Be importunate at the throne of grace; plead with Him that died for sinners : remember, He is the Sun of Righteousness, whose beams are healing ; and " the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations." He is called, in Exodus xv. 26, " The Lord who healeth thee ;" and he says to every convinced sinner, " If thou wilt return, return unto me, O Israel!" " Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out" ]
1177-3 THE FRUITS OF god's favour. 149