Hosea 7:14 And they have not cried to me with their heart, when they howled on their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine… That religion can never be genuine and saving, lasting and happy, which is not the religion of the heart. By the heart is meant that which universal custom 'has attached to the term, namely, the choice, the affections, the pleasures, the sincerity of the soul. Religion must be our chosen portion, our beloved employ, our chief delight, our sincere and real character. There is a radical deficiency, an utter worthlessness in the religion that does not reach and possess and penetrate the heart. It is a mere name, a mere form, a mere pretence, a mere delusion. Nothing short of Divine grace can plant religion in the heart. There is in the carnal mind of man an aversion to genuine religion. The renewing of the mind is therefore plainly essential to true godliness. All means must in themselves be insufficient to produce genuine religion. I. THE DEEP AND AWFUL IMPRESSIONS OFTEN PRODUCED ON THE MINDS OF SINNERS BY THE APPARENTLY NEAR APPROACH OF DEATH. "They howled upon their beds." The word "howled" imports the violence of all their emotions and cries and protestations; rage mingled with their terror. 1. At such a time the soul is awakened. 2. As the natural result of the awakening of the soul. it is filled with terror. 3. Now the soul of such an awakened sufferer is filled with tormenting regrets and self-upbraidings for past folly, neglect, and wicked ness. 4. Resolutions of repentance and reformation, if life should but be spared, are often most violently expressed; and no more perhaps is said than is at the moment meant. But such resolutions often betray the sufferer's ignorance of the treachery, corruption, and weakness of his own heart. II. FREQUENTLY SUCH TERRORS ARE UNACCOMPANIED BY ANY CHANGE OF HEART, AND THE PROFESSIONS AND RESOLUTIONS MADE UNDER SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES ARE OFTEN HYPOCRITICAL. Afflictions are, indeed, the established means by which God awakens the careless, slumbering souls of men to an effectual saving sense of Divine things. The man who makes death-bed professions is often more deluded than those Whom he addresses. III. FOUND ON THESE CONSIDERATIONS AN ARGUMENT TO ENFORCE SERIOUS ATTENTION TO THE SOLEMN AFFAIRS OF THE SOUL DURING THE PERIOD OF HEALTH AND EASE. Man is a being so constituted and circumstanced by his Maker that it becomes his duty and interest to carry forward his Views to the future, and to make a timely provision for it. Religion makes great use of this reasonable principle of our nature. Here is the greatest need, the highest exercise for a wise providence in preparing for futurity. We must die. Take that statement to include all that inseparably attends and follows death. With such a prospect before us can we with any wisdom, with any safety, defer to the last critical hour the great work of preparation for an event so awful and momentous? (A. W.) Parallel Verses KJV: And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me. |
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