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SERMON XVII.

GOD'S SPEAKING TO MAN.

JOB XXXiii. 14.

·God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.

How astonishing are such declarations as this! In human affairs men generally expect the offending party to make the first overtures of peace; and they often think it not much, where the offence has been great, if the injured person shews some degree of reluctance in listening to the offers of accommodation. But in our intercourse with the Almighty, it would seem as though this expectation were reversed. Man the offender remains impenitent, while God condescends to make offers of peace; the Judge as it were supplicates, and the guilty prisoner continues obstinate; the Sovereign proposes reconciliation to the convicted and powerless rebel, while the latter, convicted and powerless as he is, refuses to return to his allegiance, and to be received under the favour and

protection of his gracious Prince. A large part of the Bible seems written to convince us, that if we perish, it is wholly in consequence of our own sin and folly; that God waiteth to be gracious; that he willeth not the death of a sinner; that so far from taking advantage, as it were, of the first occasion for inflicting punishment, he reprieves, invites, remonstrates, and holds out the free offers of mercy to the last. Though he is a Judge strong and powerful, he is provoked every day. Though his wisdom could in one moment confound our folly, and his strength triumph over our weakness, yet, like that heavenly charity which springs from himself, he "suffereth long and is kind." He pities our ignorance; he bears with our waywardness; he deigns even to conciliate our affections; and it is not till after innumerable provocations, that he at length swears in his wrath that we shall not enter into his rest." How nearly any of us may have approached the period in which this tremendous declaration shall go forth can be known only to the Almighty himself: two points, however, are perfectly clear.-The one is, that each new instance of rebellion and ingratitude is hastening on that awful period, and may prove, when we least expect it, the filling up of the measure of our iniquities. The pardon now offered may not be offered again; the grace now despised may be finally withdrawn ;

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the Saviour who now extends the arms of his mercy to receive all who flee to Him for refuge may soon pronounce that dreadful sentence,"Because I have called and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." The other equally clear point is, that, so long as the heart is tender and there is really a wish and endeavour to return to God, God is willing to turn to us. Though when God spoke once, yea twice, we disregarded it; yet if even now we desire at length to obey his voice, we need not despair of his mercy. His compassion is not gone for ever; the way of reconciliation is still open; the blood of the Saviour is still available for our pardon; and his Holy Spirit is promised to give us a new heart and to renew a right spirit within us.

To impress this subject more fully on our minds, we shall consider,

First, Some of the ways in which God speaks to men ;

Secondly, The intention of his speaking; and,

Thirdly, The reception usually given to his declarations.

First, we are to inquire into some of the ways

in which God speaks to men. In the early ages, before the sacred Scriptures were completed, the Almighty was often pleased to reveal his will by extraordinary methods, and among others by those mentioned by Elihu, in the words which follow the text: "in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men." But since the completion of his revealed word, the only sure declaration of his will which we need, or ought to wish for or expect, is contained in that infallible record.

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God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last times spoken unto us by his Son." We are not to look to impressions on our fancies, either waking or sleeping, to learn the will of God; but to what he himself has disclosed in his word. Are we living in our sins? He plainly declares, that "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God." Are we humbled under a sense of our transgressions, and desirous of forsaking them? His voice is, His voice is, "Whoso repenteth and forsaketh shall find mercy." Are we inquiring the way of pardon and salvation? His answer to our inquiry is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved:" "He hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Do we wish to know what he

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commands? Every part of his holy word teaches us our duties to himself and to our fellowcreatures, and abounds with gracious promises of Divine assistance to enable us to perform them. In short, there is nothing necessary for us to know for our spiritual and eternal welfare which is not therein clearly revealed.

The truths thus disclosed in God's word are impressed upon us by many assistant means. The voice of creation is the voice of God, telling us of his wisdom, and power, and goodness. The ministers of Christ also are his voice, repeating his declarations to a thoughtless world; as says Elihu, in the sixth verse, "I am, according to thy wish, in God's stead;" and again, in the twenty-third, "A messenger, an interpreter, to shew unto man His uprightness." And particularly are the events of Divine Providence, whether prosperous or afflicting, his voice. The chapter before us shews how the Almighty thus "opens the ears of men and sealeth their instruction." Sometimes he speaks by pain and sickness; warning the sufferer to humble himself under the mighty hand of God; to be afflicted for his past sins; and to turn in his affliction to his long forsaken Creator. At others, by a merciful restoration to strength and comfort; the flesh of the sufferer" becomes fresher than a child's: he returns to the days of his youth," being thus invited by the en

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