Let us IMPROVE this subject in a way of,
1. Inquiry —
[Have we ever felt our danger of perishing, and taken shelter under our Redeemer's wings ? We can be at no loss to answer this question, if only we will consult the records of our own conscience. The necessity of fleeing thus to Christ is plainly intimated in the image before us, and attested by innumerable other passages of Holy Writ. Know then, that if your own hearts condemn you, you have an evidence within yourselves that you are yet exposed to the wrath of God. O tremble at the thought, and flee without delay to the refuge set before you !]
2. Admonition —
[It is to little purpose to deny our danger. If the help- less chickens should disregard their parent's call, under the idea that the warning given them was the result of ungrounded fear, would their denial of the danger free them from it ?
Would not their presumption bring upon them the very destruction which they refused to shun ? Thus it will be with those who despise the Saviour's voice. Their security will be their ruin. Nor will they be at all more safe, if they content themselves with coming nearer to him in the ordinances, while they defer hiding themselves altogether under the shadow of his wings. It is there alone that they can find protection : and if they be not " found in him," the " wrath of God \vill surely come upon them to the uttermost." Be thankful then, that, after so many calls have been despised, the voice of mercy is yet sounding in your ears.]
3. Encouragement —
[Whom is it that the Saviour calls? The innocent, the good, the virtuous ? No ; but those who had embrued their hands in the blood of all his martyred servants : and these he calls with tenderest compassion, *' O Jerusalem, Jerusalem :" to these he appeals, that he had renewed his invitations to them times without number, and that, if they perish, they will be the sole authox's of their own destruction : " How often would I have gathered you, but ye would not!" Know then, beloved, that your former sins, however numerous or heinous, shall be no bar to your acceptance, if only you will flee to Christ. Over you he weeps, as he once did over the murderous Jerusalem; and he declares unto you, that " Whosoever cometh to him, he will in no wise cast out." Remember that, if you perish, it will not be through any want of willingness in Christ to save you : and that that very consideration, which is now so encouraging, will one day fill you with inconceivable anguish; " Christ would, but I would not" O let not that reflection be suffered to embitter your eternal state ; but now let your re- luctance be overcome; and obey the voice that warns you only for your good.]