I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: For I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; And I will not come in wrath.
Suppose that someone had grievously offended any one of you, and that he asked your forgiveness, do you not think that you would probably say to him, "Well, yes, I forgive you; but I I I cannot forget it"? Ah! dear friends, that is a sort of forgiveness with one leg chopped off, it is a lame forgiveness, and is not worth much. "But," says one, "I want to see how this man goes on; if he is really sincerely penitent for what he has done, and he acts kindly to me for the future, then I think I could believe him to be sincere, and I think I hope I could restore him to my favor." Ah, yes! that is because you are a man that you talk like that; but he of whom I am speaking is "God, and not man," and his invitation to you is, "Come to me just as you are." The Lord will receive you and forgive you without any probation. There was a good old minister who said, "The Lord Jesus took me into his service without a character. He gave me a good character, and he has helped me to keep it even to my old age." Yes, he does take us without a character, so come to him just as you are. He freely forgive, and he perfectly forgets, for he says, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more,"-a feat in which omnipotence outdoes itself. For God to forget, is impossible; yet he does forget the sins of his people. This is one of the impossibilities that are only possible to omnipotent grace; it would be impossible with men, but it is possible with the Lord, for he is "God, and not man."  X. Yet further, MEN CANNOT FORESEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF BEING LENIENT. 