ON HOSEA XIV. -VERSE 1, 2. 15 be done falsely, and flatteringly, with a halting and divided heart ; by the force of semi - persuasions, like that of Agrippa, and Orpah, complimenting with God, and then forsaking him ; by the force of compulsory impressions, like that of Pharaoh and Israel in the wilderness, promises on the rack, and pride when there was respite again, thawing in the sun, and freez- ing in the shade, melting in the furnace, and out of it returning unto hardness again, like the prophet's cake, burnt on the one side, and dough on the other ; but it must be, Hosea vii. 8. 2. A full, thorough, constant, continued conver- sion, with a whole, a fixed, a rooted, a united, an established heart, yielding up the whole conscience and conversation to be ruled by God's will in all things The motives to this duty are two : 1. His mercy ; he is yet thy God. No such argument for our turning unto God as his turning unto us. Adam looks on him as a judge, and hides ; the prodigal looks on him as a father, and returns. As the beam of the sun shining on fire discourages the burning of that, so the shining of God's mercies on us should dishearten and extinguish lust in us ; this is the use we should make of mercy. Say not, He is my God, therefore I may presume upon him ; but, He is mine, therefore I must return unto him. Because he is God, I will be afraid to provoke him ; and because he is mine, I will be afraid to forfeit him. He is so great, I must not dare to offend him ; he is so precious, I must not venture to lose him. His mercy is a holy mercy, which knows how to pardon sin, but not to protect it. It is a sanctuary for the penitent, not for the presump- tuous. 2. His judgment, and that expressed rather as our act than his, Thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. B2
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