Pro_1:31
Not until calls of love have failed does the Lord assume the language of stern rebuke; but when grace has been neglected, and even insulted, justice must speak in tones of thunder. The Lord Jesus wept over sinners in the days of his flesh, and still does he by his Church entreat and warn them, and yearn over them; but it will not always be so, for the time cometh when he will have no pity, but will utterly reject the cries and petitions of his enemies. They say that the sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar, and so the very gentleness and tenderness of Jesus will make him the more terrible when his patience at length turns to wrath. Oh! may none of us ever have addressed to us the terrible words which we have just read, for they are full of weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Is it not right that those should perish who refused to be saved? Should not those be rejected at the last who wilfully rejected the Redeemer throughout their day of grace? Is it not a most righteous rule that men should reap what they sow, and that those who choose their own delusions should find their choice confirmed? Shall any one member of our family be so madly wicked as to refuse attention to the invitations of grace? God forbid that it should be so.
How they deserve the deepest hell
That slight the joys above!
What chains of vengeance must they feel
Who break such cords of love.
Draw us, O God, by sovereign grace,
And make us wise to-day,
Lest we provoke thy fiercest wrath
By impudent delay.
