ON HOSEA XIV. -VERSE 1, 2. 31 house ; he will not endure a divided heart, he is heir of all things, there lies no writ of partition in his inheritance, his title is so good that he will never yield to a composition ; he will have all the heart or none. Again : we should therefore be exhorted (in time of trouble especially) to set about this great work, to fall foul upon our sins, to complain against them to God, as the Achans that trouble Israel, as the corrupters and betrayers of our peace, to set ourselves in God's sight, and not to dare to lie unto his Holy Spirit, by falseness or hypocrisy ; as if we could reserve any one sin unmortified which he should not know of. But being in his sight to whom all things are naked and open, to deal in all sincerity, and to hate sin even as he hates it. There are five notable duties which these words, " Take away all iniquity," lead us unto. The first is, sense of sin, as of a heavy burden, as the prophet David calls it, Psal. xxxviii. 4. Such sense our Saviour requires in true penitents, " Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden," Matt. xi. 28. To conceive them heavier than a millstone, Luke xvii. 2. than the weight of a mountain, Luke xxiii. 30. Oh what apprehension had St. Peter's con- verts of sin, when they felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own hearts, and piercing their spirits with torment and horror ! Acts ii. 37. Oh what apprehensions had the poor jailer of his sins, when he came as a prisoner before his own prisoners, springing in with monstrous amazement, and consternation of spirit, beseeching them to tell him " what he should do !" Acts xvi. 23. 30. Consider it in its nature ; a universal bruise and sickness, like those diseases which physicians say are
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