with us can we mca~me the depth of our sin or the motives wo havo for returning to him. I. GoD's PEOPLE CAN CALI, TO MIND OLD MEMORIES OF HIS FATHERLY aoODNEBS. 1. In our own experience of his grace he has revealed himself as a J?ather. He is the Source and Origin of life. In him we continue to exist (Acts xvii. 28). Ho is constantly protecting us and enriching us with his gifts. 2. God may be discerned a.s the Oom- pm.ion of his people's e,a,rly days. (1) He was with his people-a Companion-not merely blessing them from a <listance. (2) He was with his people as a Friend, holding kindly intercourse, con~esc~ndfng to intimate communion, accompanying them ·as a Star and Solae-0 through their p1lgmuage. (3) He was with his people in their youth. None are t~o young to_ be l~onoured with th~ friendship of God. Happy are they who have been m commumon with~ from their youth up, instead of only coming to him at the ele,enth hour! 'l'hey enJoy the most of him, have longest time for his service, have most ad,antages for growing and ripening in religious experience. As we look back on our early days, we may often discern how God has been with us in dark scenes where his presence was unrecognized at tlie time, and has been sustaining and cheering us when we have not recognized the hand from which the comfort was coming. , II. OLD MEMORIES OF GoD's FATHERLY GOODNESS MAY BE ABUSED. It would seem that the Jews often fell into this mistake. 1. We may assume that the past blessing of God is all that we need. Because we once enjoyed his presence we, may be too ready to rest satisfied as though all must be well with us henceforth for ever. •But we cannot live in the past. It is vain to waste our time in idle self-congratulations on our early devotion if later years have found us wandering far from God. We,must not say that all is done that our souls need if we can point to an early time when we were introduced to filial relations with God. It is nothing to us that God was the Friend of our youth if he has been rejected in our later days. Indeed, this ca~ly memory will be our accuser for subsequent unfaithfulness. 2. We may assume that if God was once our Father and Friend he wil,l always stand in those relations to us. But if we lose our first love we lose the blessings which are connected with it. The past is no security for the present. The momentous questions is, Do we now stand in a· true filial relation ~ith God ? Is he still our Friend? If he was valued as a Companion in the fresh- .:iess of youth, is he not wanted in the toils and battles of manhood? will he not be needed in the weariness of age ? in the darkness and mystery of the lonely passage of death? III. OLD MEMORIES OF GoD's FATHERLY GOODJIESB MAY BE CONSIDERED WITH PROFIT. 1. They may reveal our subsequent urifaithfulness. ',Ne compare ourselves with our- selves and see how we have fallen. 2. They may lead us to see the blessedness of an earlier estate, to be awakened to the loss we have suffered, and to be roused .to the desire for a return to it. 3. They may help us to t~st God. Be was our father and our Friend in early days. He is changeless. If, then, we repent and return to him, will he not permit us still to cry, "My Father;" and again to enter into .the blessed in- fluences of friendly fellowship with him? So the prodigal remembers his early days, and is induced by old memories to say, "I will arise and go to my father" (Luke xv. 18).
Ver. 10.-Insincere repentance. I. REPENTANCE IS INSINCERE WHEN IT DOES NOT POSSESS THE WHOLE HEART. Judah is accused of being "false," and of turning to Jehovah "feignedly," because she did not turn "with her whole heart." 1. True repentance must be found in the heart. Mere confession with the lip without a ch_ange of feeling is a mockery (Isa. xxix. 13). Simple amendment of external conduct 1s no repentance unless it is prompted by a sincere desire to do better, by a return to the love of goodness. 2. '£rue repentance must possess the whole heart. It is not consist~nt with a lingeriug affection for sin. 'l'he penitent must not look back regretfully, like Lot's wife, on the pleasant things he is renouncing. Repentance must be for sin, not for certain sins selected from the rest for condemnation; it means the desire to abandon all wickedness. People sometimes repent insincerely by confessing and abandoning trifling faults, while they cling to greater evils. A right repentance searc?es the dark de1,ths of the soul and brings forth olµ buried sins, forgotten but not yet forgiven, dar- ling bosom sins which have grown into the very life nnd can only })e torn out from a Lleediug heart, common sins which arc classed among a man'a habits and which he err.' m. 1-25.] 'l'B.E BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEffF.MJAU. GG