ON HOSEA XIV.- VERSES 3, 4. 16 f i. 15. Till we be sick and weary we shall not look after a physician to heal and ease us, Matt. ix. 12. xi. 28. till we be pricked in our hearts we shall not be hasty to inquire after the means of salvation, Acts ii..37. Though the proclamation of pardon be made to all that will, Rev. xxii. 17. yet none are will- ing till they are brought to extremities : as men cast not their goods into the sea, till they see they must perish themselves, if they do not. Some men must be bound before they can be cured. All that God doth to us in conversion, he doth most freely ; but a gift is not a gift till it be received, Rom. v. 17. John i. 12. and we naturally refuse and reject Christ when he is offered, Isa. liii. 3. John i. 11. because he is not offered but upon these terms that we deny ourselves, and take up a cross, and follow him. Therefore we must be wrought upon by some terror or other, 2 Cor. v. 11. When we find the wrath of God abiding upon us, and our souls shut under it as in a prison, John iii. 36. Gal iii. 22. and the fire of it working and boiling like poison in our consciences, then we shall value mercy and cry for it as the prophet doth; Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed ; save me, and I shall be saved ; for thou art my praise," Jer. xvii. 14. Things necessary are never to be valued to their utter- most but in extremities. When there is a great famine in Samaria, an ass's head (which at another time is thrown out for carrion) will be more worth than in a plentiful season the whole body of an ox. Nay, hunger shall in such a case over vote nature,, and devour the very tender love of a mother ; the life of a child shall not be so dear to the heart, as his flesh to the palate of a pined parent, 2 Kings vi. 25. 28. As soon as a man finds a shipwreck, a famine, a hell in his soul, till Christ save, feed, deliver it, immediately o3
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