slight. 8. ~ ~ of God in <Jhrut 8MWa that the sorrow is rightly mingled with the .sin-just as storms are good for a vitiated atmosphere. We cannot breathe without creatin12: poison. Ir the air were motionless it would be fatal to us e.nd others. By Divine ordinance the air, beoo.use it is vitiated and heated, must move• and then comes the draught which chills the invalid and kills him, and the storm which sweeps o.er the se11. and causes wreck. Yet the law which causes these disasters is for the world's salvation. So evils which would corrupt the earth, 88 in olden time e.re not left unheeded. Sorrow comes till men" acknowledge their offence and seek God's face." II. THE NATURE oF THIS AFFLICTiol'l'. "I will return to my place." God is everywhere; but relatively to us he is sometimes near, sometimes far away. He is to us according t-0 the conditions and desires of our hearts, He is said to withdraw when the sense of his care and favour is gone. This would be no great trouble to. some. 'l'hey have yet to learn that to be apart from God is to be away from light and love and hope for ever. It is to be in" the outer darkness." None of us know to the full the sweetness of the Divine presence, and therefore do not completely know the bitterness of its withdrawal. Who of us has prayed till the heavens were opened, and we saw visions of God? Who of us has gazed on Christ till he was transfigured before us, and we cried, " It is good for us to be here"? Who of us knows the deepest meaning of the promise," If any man open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me"? It is in proportion as we have realized these blessinas that we can realize this curse. Imagine yourself stricken down by fatal illnes~, growing sensibly weaker, no hope of recovery and no God near; going down into the darkness of death, feeling in vain for a hand that does not meet yours-a God-forsaken man! Or read the utterances of men who knew more of God than we. See the agony of the psalmist as he prays, "Be not silent unto me: lest., if thou be silent to me, 'I become like them that go down into the pit" (Ps. xxviii. 1; also Job xiii. 24; Ps. xliv. 23, 24, etc.). If the message comes to the nation, to the Church, or to you, " I will go and return to my place," no organization we can frame, no force we can muster, will avail us. It will be time for us (as it was for Israel when Jehovah refused to go up amongst them, :i.nd promised only indirect guidance) to put off ou1· ornaments, to bewail our sin, to acknowledge our offence, and seek him early, "Oh, satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days." III. THE RESULTS OF THIS AFFLICTION. "In their affliction they will eeek. me early." L Ackriowledgment of sin is the first sign of the change. 'fhe reference is not to the unconsidered declaration that we are "miserable sinners," but to the intellig;ent and prayerful confession which follows on that self-examination which affliction does so much to stimulate. When severe weather keeps us within doors,. we discover the faults of onr house. When the vessel is under the stress of storm, her weak places reveal them.selves. So with character, when thoughts are driven in upon ourselves. In society a man asks himself, " What have I ? " in solitude he asks himself, " What am I ? " A trne answer to that question lea.de to c;ionfession. Acknowledgment of sin is not synonymous with the cry of pa.in or despair. See how David distinguishes between these in his own experience in Ps. xxxii. He speaks of himself as " roaring" with his pa.in, yet that brought no relief; but he adds, •• I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord: and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." The sa.me distinction is drawn by Hosea himself (vii. 14), .. And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds." If a man were on the ra.ck the executioner would not stay his hand because of his shrieks, but the first whispered words of a confession would give instant relief. 2. The seeking after God is a further Rign of this change. We may condemn ourselves, we may resolve to be holier, we may confess our faults to our fellow-man, without havina the trne repentance described here. Judas was conscious of sin, and it drove him ~ despair; but Peter, when contrite, went to the Lord's feet, and was able still to say," Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." "In their affliction they shall seek me early." To bring this about we are sometimes so encircled by troubles that we cannot look over them or see beyond them, but can merely look up to the hills whence true help comes. Apply this to the Christian who has been forgetting God, and to the sinner who has never known him. APPEAL. Wait not till the IJUITOWB of life make yO'I/, ff-it your ~ of God, We (lll, v. 1-16.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA. l!i5
may bo thankful that we me,y go even at the last, but how ignoble to leave it till then l Point out the shame of leo.ving the gladness of youth unconsecrated to him who gave it; of wo.iting till the ce.res of life so press upon the spirit that, weary and heartsick, we return to the Father; of delaying till the evening of life is deepening, and enfeebled by nge we say, "Now let us turn to God." Show how destitute of magnanimity, bow fraught with peril, such a course must be. Whether in affliction or in joy, "seek him early,"-A. R.