SERMON IV. ASSHUR SHALL NOT SAVE US ; WE WILL NOT RIDE UPON HORSES : NEITHER WILL WE SAY ANY MORE TO THE WORK OF OUR HANDS, YE ARE OUR GODS; FOR IN THEE THE FATHERLESS FINDET H MERCY. I WILL HEAL THEIR BACKSLIDINGS, I WILL LOVE THEM FREELY: FOR MINE ANGER IS TURNED AWAY FROM HIM. -HOSEA XIV. 3, 4. 'INHERE remaineth the second point formerly men- tioned, from the promise or covenant, which Israel here makes, which I will briefly touch, and so pro- ceed unto the fourth verse ; and that is this : II. That true repentance and conversion taketh off the heart from all carnal confidence, either in pre- parations of our own ; " We will not ride upon horses :" or in foreign aid from any confederates, especially enemies of God and his church, though . otherwise ever so potent ; " Asshur shall not save us :" or, lastly, in any superstitious and corrupt worship, which sends us to God the wrong way ; " We will not say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods :" and causeth the soul in all conditions, be they ever so desperate, so desolate, so incurable, to rely only upon God. It is very much in the nature of fallen man to affect an absoluteness, and a self -suffi- ciency, to seek the good that he desireth within him self, and to derive from himself the strength whereby he would repel any evil which he feareth. This stay- ing within itself, reflecting upon its own power and wisdom, and by consequence affecting an indepen- dency upon any superior virtue in being and working,
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