True Christianity Part 25

IV. DEATH.

11. G.o.d has concealed the time of our death from us, that thereby we may be kept in the daily and uninterrupted practice of true repentance, as not knowing which hour may be our last. "The whole life of a man is given him for repentance," saith St. Bernard. And this repentance is a Christian's daily cross and tribulation. Thus it is said in the Psalms: "I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me." Ps. 38:17; 73:14. G.o.d has promised grace to the penitent, but he has not promised to sinners another day in which to repent. "It is appointed unto men once to die; but after this the judgment." Heb. 9:27. Such as G.o.d shall find thee, as such will he judge thee: wherefore, live in such a manner as thou wouldest wish to have done, when thou art dying. Consider seriously in thy mind, where they now are, who but a few years ago wasted their lives with l.u.s.t and vanity, and freely enjoyed the "good things" of this world? Luke 16:25. They are all gone to their own place, where they wait for the day of judgment.

Wherefore, "come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:4.

V. THE LAST JUDGMENT.

12. For after death, there is neither place nor time for repentance. It is in this world that eternal life is either lost or obtained. Those that repent betimes, shall not be condemned in judgment; but the impenitent will hear the awful sentence: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." Matt. 25:41. "Behold, therefore, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!" (2 Cor. 6:2), which will be followed by the day of judgment in the other world. "To-day, therefore, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation; lest I swear in my wrath, that ye shall not enter into my rest." Ps. 95:7, 8, 11; Heb.

3:7, 8, 11. "For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:10. Those, therefore, who here repent, "shall have their sins covered" (Ps. 32:1), and "they shall no more be mentioned unto them,"

as the prophet declares. Ezek. 33:16. Lay hold, therefore, on the offer of mercy betimes, know and confess thy sins, O man, that they may be remitted and forgotten.

VI. ETERNAL PAINS OF h.e.l.l.

13. With this present life, the season of the mercy of G.o.d closes. It will then be said: "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things." Luke 16:25. Thy life is now over. Thou art now dead! Dead to G.o.d forever, to whom thou didst refuse to live in time! There is no redemption from h.e.l.l. Ps. 49:14-20. How can the d.a.m.ned enjoy the goodness of G.o.d, to which they were dead whilst they were alive, and to which they will now continue dead to all eternity! Remember, therefore, that now is the only time for mercy, and the hour of visitation to repent; whereas, there the d.a.m.ned so die, as, notwithstanding, always to live; and so live, as yet to die eternally. All the senses will there suffer torment. The sight shall be punished with eternal darkness; the ears shall be filled with weeping and gnas.h.i.+ng of teeth; the smell with stench of fire and brimstone; the taste with the bitterness of eternal death; and the feeling with a sense of endless tortures and miseries.

VII. THE JOY OF ETERNAL LIFE.

14. Is it not a very high degree of folly, to prefer a short peris.h.i.+ng pleasure to an eternal joy; and a worthless trifle, to the glorious presence of G.o.d? Now none shall enter into this, but he who has thoroughly washed himself, and "made white his robes in the blood of the Lamb." Rev.

3:14. "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and wh.o.r.emongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Rev.

22:15. None of those, who, having been here invited to the feast of Christ, yet refused to come, "shall taste of his supper." Luke 14:24. The highest joy of eternal life, will consist in "seeing G.o.d as he is." 1 John 3:2. _To see G.o.d_, is all in all, and an eternal reward. "Ye shall see me," says our Lord, "and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man taketh from you." John 16:19, 22. This sight of the face of G.o.d is the joy of the angels; it is their life, and the invisible food by which they are sustained. Now as this vision of G.o.d creates the most exalted joy, so to be banished from it, is to suffer the greatest, the most terrible, and the most severe torment, and eternal misery.

Chapter IX.

Showing What Repentance Is, And The Manner In Which The Sinner Truly Repents; Also, How The Goodness Of G.o.d Leads Us To Repentance.

_Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your G.o.d: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil_.-JOEL 2:12, 13.

The Lord, whose mercy is infinite, by no means seeks our destruction, but rather our life and happiness. He best knows the wretched and deplorable condition into which we are fallen by sin; and he is also desirous to reclaim us from that dangerous state, and to preserve us from everlasting ruin. It is for this reason, that he so earnestly invites the soul to repentance, and engages us to the same by many strong and powerful motives.

2. Sometimes G.o.d is pleased to stir us up by terrible _threatenings_.

"Behold," says he, "I will bring evil upon this people; because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it." Jer. 6:19.

Again, "And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; therefore, will I cast you out of my sight." Jer. 7:13, 15. This dreadful proclamation of both temporal and eternal calamities, should strike fear and terror into us: for the threatening of G.o.d is not an empty voice, nor a sound that vanishes into nothing, but it is accompanied with many terrible effects, and consuming wrath, as will in its time more fully appear, and which we even feel already by sad experience; since miseries and calamities, like a flood, seem to carry all before them. Nay, they will undoubtedly multiply upon us, and exert themselves with the utmost fury and fierceness, except we betimes prevent them by a sincere repentance. Thus the wrath of G.o.d shall be poured forth in wars, famines, pestilence, fire, and inundations, till he has at length destroyed our very _foundations_, as he did once to the city of Jerusalem. Lam. 4:11.

3. But if the proclamation of wrath and judgment cannot prevail upon us, yet ought G.o.d's abounding _goodness_, attended as it is with so many endearing marks of love, to melt our hearts, and to soften them into true and earnest repentance. For thus hath the Lord spoken by the prophet: "Return, thou backsliding Israel, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy G.o.d." Jer. 3:12, 13. In these words, G.o.d makes a free offer of his grace, entreats and adjures us to return to him again, for he is willing to accept our repentance.

4. The pa.s.sages that have been quoted, are a convincing proof that G.o.d, by his grace, mercy, patience, and clemency, strongly invites us to true repentance. There are chiefly three things in those scriptures, which deserve a more particular observation: namely, the _nature_ of repentance, or what it is to repent; that is, to turn unto the Lord:-the _manner_ in which repentance is to be wrought out; that is, by fasting, weeping, and mourning:-the _motive_ to engage us in so holy an exercise, which is the paternal goodness of G.o.d; "_for I am merciful_."

As to the _first_, we know that _to repent_, is nothing else but to be led, through the _law_ of G.o.d, to acknowledge the natural blindness of our hearts, and that detestable impurity which lurks within. Next, we ought to regard this as the very source whence all other sins proceed, and whereby we depart from G.o.d, the supreme and eternal Good, deserving not only various punishments here, but also his everlasting wrath in h.e.l.l hereafter. All this ought to awaken in us sorrow and distress, not so much by reason of the threatened punishment, as rather on account of the heinousness of the many provocations offered to a merciful Father, who in his very nature is love and kindness. This being done, we may then raise again our souls by virtue of the _Gospel_, and with a well-grounded faith, rely on the favor of G.o.d, and on the sure remission of sin promised in Christ Jesus. This must necessarily be attended with a serious amendment of life, with a constant purification of the heart by faith, with a mortification of all evil desires, and with a sincere abnegation of our own will, so opposite to that of G.o.d. In a word, it will be accompanied with a new life acceptable unto G.o.d in Christ, and with fruit worthy of repentance; suitably to what G.o.d enjoins by the prophet: "Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Isaiah 1:16, 18.

5. But alas! here is the difficulty! These things are much more easily said, than reduced to practice. The reason is, because hardly any will earnestly engage in so weighty a work, or search into the true original cause of the many dreadful disorders that appear in our lives and conduct.

Man flatters himself with a confident opinion of his own goodness, and cherishes the affection of the old man. There are few who care to see their hearts in their inward and native depravity; or to be made sensible of that vein of evil nature which runs through all their actions, even the best and most s.h.i.+ning. And thus Christ himself, and the grace of G.o.d, manifested by him, are wantonly disregarded.

6. And yet Joel (2:12) requires us to "turn unto G.o.d with all our heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." Hereby he intimates that we are turned away from G.o.d; have forsaken the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13); and are now unable to attain life and happiness again, unless we "_search_ our ways," and "_return_" unto him from whom we are gone astray. Lam. 3:40. It is for this purpose that the Prophet charges "backsliding children" to return, with the promise annexed, that the "Lord will heal their backslidings." Jer. 3:22. For this verily is the will of G.o.d, that we should see and confess our misery, in order that he may compa.s.sionately heal it.

7. But since, by nature, we are so blind as to be utterly unable of ourselves sufficiently to discover our own wretchedness; G.o.d has been pleased to afford means, with a view to bringing us to a sound knowledge of ourselves. This is done by his holy Word and the Sacraments, which are always accompanied with his grace and Spirit. By these the Father draws, allures, and calls us to himself, as so many lost and wandering sheep.

John 6:44. For as a straying sheep cannot of itself return, but must of necessity be sought and brought back to the fold by the shepherd, so we would forever go astray in the wilderness of sin and error, did not G.o.d himself carefully seek us; and this the examples of Peter and Paul abundantly confirm. Therefore the prophet says: "Turn thou me, O Lord, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my G.o.d." Jer. 31:18. "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise." Jer. 17:14. "For it is G.o.d," says the apostle, "which worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:13.

8. When, therefore, the Lord graciously awakens us by these means, and invites us to repentance, it is our part, not to withstand his grace and Spirit; (as it is said, "To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts") (Ps. 95:7, 8); but to confess the sin which he thus reproves in us, and by no means make light of the grace offered to us in the Gospel.

Then G.o.d will a.s.suredly have mercy upon us, as he himself declares: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our G.o.d, for he will abundantly pardon." Isa. 55:7.

9. Upon this account the work of conversion, though it is entirely a work of G.o.d's grace, is yet in one respect ascribed to us; namely, as we _give_ up ourselves to the Lord, and to his operations, and do not wantonly resist his Spirit, despise his grace, and cast it from us; or, as the apostle expresses it, do not put his Word from us, nor stop our ears against it, as did the Jews of old. Acts 13:46; 7:57. On the contrary, when the severity of the _law_ has laid open our spiritual diseases, and we have felt the bitterness thereof; let us avail ourselves of the _Gospel_ as a healing remedy, and suffer our heavenly Physician to restore us to health.

10. An image of this we have in a straying sheep. If it but hear at a distance the voice of the shepherd, it starts back immediately, and returns to him. And how willingly would the lost sinner follow the voice of his Shepherd, if sin had not so perverted him, as to reduce him lower than the very beasts in stupidity and dulness! Of this indeed the prophet complains: "The ox knoweth his owner, and the a.s.s his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." Isa. 1:3. "Shall they fall," asks another prophet, "and not arise? Shall he turn away, and not return? The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle, and the crane, and the swallow, observe the times of their coming: but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." Jer. 8:4, 7.

11. We ought, therefore, most fervently to implore the Lord, not to withdraw from us his gracious a.s.sistance, without which we must certainly go astray. For since sin and the old Adam constantly abide in our corrupt flesh and blood, we have need of daily, yea, hourly supplies of grace, for repressing the tyranny of sin, and for nouris.h.i.+ng the life of G.o.d within us. The grace of G.o.d is the life of our soul, as the soul is the life of the body. And as the life of the body, without the free enjoyment of the air, must soon be extinct; so the vital flame of the inward life will speedily languish, without a daily supply of grace to support it. For this reason Solomon prayed: "The Lord our G.o.d be with us; let him not leave us, nor forsake us; that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways." 1 Kings 8:57.

12. This is a lesson which ought not to be learned in a light and general manner, but by a close and practical application be brought home to every one in particular. Let, therefore, every one look into his own heart and seek its renewal, that so all may be reformed in time. Let us remember that comfortable exhortation, and the promise annexed thereto: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near." Isa.

55:6. "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart, saith the Lord." Jer. 29:13.

13. But in order to true repentance, it is not enough to refrain only from gross sins, and foul visible transgressions; but the heart, whence all those evils proceed, is to be changed and purified; that so inward pride, covetousness, and l.u.s.t, with all sinful affections, may be mortified at last. For whilst the heart is unchanged, unreformed, and unrenewed; that is, whilst our own corrupt temper, our inward malice, wrath, hatred, enmity, revenge, lying, and deceit, are quietly suffered within us; all our boasts of, and pretences to, and formalities in, religion, are but mere show and hypocrisy. G.o.d requires no less than a new heart, and "a new creature in Christ Jesus." 2 Cor. 5:17. No one is so holy, so good, and so thoroughly cleansed, but he will still find something in his own heart to be thrown out, or to be amended and rectified. "As a fountain casteth out her waters, so Jerusalem casteth out her wickedness." Jer. 6:7. This is the first head, relating to the nature of repentance, of which more has been said in Book I.

14. Let us now consider, in the second place, the _manner_ of our returning to G.o.d: "with all the heart," says the prophet, "with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." Wretched mortals can weep floods of tears for empty and peris.h.i.+ng goods, whilst they stand unmoved at the miserable state of their souls, and at the loss of an eternal and incorruptible inheritance! In this they are altogether unlike David, who, by his example, sets a most s.h.i.+ning pattern of sincere and unfeigned repentance before us. See Ps. 6, and Ps. 38. "For the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam. 16:7), and "trieth the heart and reins." Ps. 7:9.

15. What the prophet says of fasting, is to be understood of a general fast enjoined by the prophet to all the people. In such a fast the whole body of a nation were wont to be concerned. They publicly confessed their sins; they deplored and bewailed them; and thus humbling themselves before G.o.d, fasted both inwardly and outwardly. And in this order they begged remission of sin, and deprecated the judgments of G.o.d gathering over them.

Such a general fast and public repentance as this, such sincere conversion, prayer, faith, confession, and supplication, are the most effectual means to appease the wrath of an offended G.o.d, and to avert his judgments from whole kingdoms and nations. This plainly appears from the history of the defeat of the other tribes of Israel, by that of Benjamin; in which the former having in two battles lost forty thousand men, all went up and came before the Lord, with weeping and mourning, and there fasted the whole day, from morning to night. Judges 20:26. A similar ill.u.s.trious example is recorded of the fast of the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5, 10): and of the children of Israel, who, being beaten by the Philistines, kept a fast for seven days together, after Saul and Jonathan were slain in the battle. 1 Chron. 10:12.

16. Such solemn penitential fasts were also in use in the primitive Church, when the Christians met together, and in any great public calamity humbled themselves before the Lord. Not, surely, to obtain remission of sin by such performances, as so many meritorious acts of devotion; but by a contrite, sober, and humble heart, to deprecate the judgments that were ready to break in upon them. And such fasts might with propriety still be observed.

17. Fasts such as these, accompanied with true repentance, would prove an impregnable wall and fortification against all our enemies; a sovereign medicine in all pestilential diseases; and a safeguard about all our estates and possessions. An example of this we have in Job, who, whenever his children had spent any day in mirth and feasting, "offered up unto G.o.d prayers and sacrifices for them" (Job 1:4, 5); and thus, as it were, fortified his house by prayer against the insults of wicked men and devils.

18. In great public calamities the Lord looks out for such men as may, like a bulwark, oppose his wrath when ready to make a breach. "I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them, I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord G.o.d." Ezek. 22:30, 31. We may also remember, on this occasion, the intercession of Abraham. Gen. 18:23.

19. Thus the prophet Daniel was a wall of defence when he made confession to G.o.d of the sins of all the people. Dan. 9:4, 5, etc. And the prophet Joel, in very moving terms, describes such a penitential fast: "Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn a.s.sembly; gather the people; sanctify the congregation; a.s.semble the elders; gather the children, and those that suck the b.r.e.a.s.t.s; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach." Joel 2:15-17.

20. Such public fasts ought to be celebrated by the whole mult.i.tude, without hypocrisy, with ardent zeal and devotion; for it is the will of G.o.d, that every one readily confess his sins. He requires true humility, sincere repentance, and a turning to him with our whole heart. Hence the prophet commands the "heart, and not the garments," to be rent. The Jews, at the hearing of any sad or terrible evil, were accustomed to rend their clothes, in order to evidence thereby the inward sorrow with which they were affected. This, however, like their fasting, was often a mere formality, and their grief was only pretended. Wherefore, the prophet reproves them, saying, "Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?" Isa. 58:5-7.

21. These words explain the nature of a true fast; which is then only kept, when, on the one hand, we abstain from sin, subdue the wanton l.u.s.ts of the flesh, and keep the old man, with all his members, under constant restraint and subjection: and, on the other, when we are fervent in works of charity, in the practice of patience and mercy, and of the other virtues springing up from a contrite, sincere, and penitent heart. And it is with regard to these inward acts of humiliation, that the prophet bids us _rend our hearts_. For as the wounds of the heart must necessarily be very painful; so the grief occasioned by our sins should affect us, as if our very hearts were bruised and crushed. And this "broken spirit," this "contrite heart," is that _sacrifice_ which is so highly acceptable to G.o.d. Ps. 51:17. Such a heart has, by faith, obtained a due fitness to receive the influence of the grace of G.o.d, the consolations of the Holy Spirit, and the merit and blood of Jesus Christ. As a hard and ma.s.sive stone cannot be penetrated by the oil or water poured upon it, until it be broken to pieces; so the sovereign balm of G.o.d's grace and consolation cannot comfort and quicken the heart, except it be first broken and softened into humility, that so by faith it may partake of the merit of Christ. "Not the whole, but the sick, have need of a physician." Matt. 9: 12. Let no one think that he belongs to Christ, unless he has first "crucified the flesh, with its affections and l.u.s.ts." Gal. 5:24. The blood of Christ will be of no profit to any except to those who embrace it with a contrite, afflicted, penitent, humble and believing heart.

22. As for the _motives_ to repentance, which make up the third head, they are thus expressed by the prophet: "Turn unto the Lord, _for_ he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil." Joel 2:12, 13. He lays down in these words, a gradual display of the manifold mercies offered to returning sinners. As if he had said, "If you think it a small thing that I am _gracious_, then know that I am _merciful_ also: if this be not enough, I am likewise _patient_ and _slow to anger_: if this will not yet suffice, then I am, moreover, of _great kindness_. If, after all, you still require something more, then understand, that I easily _repent_ of intended punishments; yea, even when my avenging hand is lifting up, I am ready to let fall the rod, upon your serious repentance."

23. First, then, the prophet calls G.o.d _gracious_ (Ps. 103:8); that is, ready to be entreated and reconciled. G.o.d is easy to be prevailed with, forgives offences, deals not in strict justice and the rigor of the law, according to what we have deserved. And all these marks of mercy should lead us to repentance. There are many admirable promises, all tending to the same end. "If thou afflict them, they will cry unto me, and I will surely hear; for I am gracious." Ex. 22:23, 27. "Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you. Thou shalt weep no more; he will be very gracious unto thee, at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee." Isa. 30:18. That is, the Most High is so rich in grace, that he waits for you. In him there is _expecting grace_, by which he readily receives those that truly return: _prevenient grace_, expressed by the Psalmist-"Let thy tender mercies speedily prevent (_that is_, meet, _or_ antic.i.p.ate) us" (Ps. 79:8): _protecting grace_, noticed by the same prophet; "He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compa.s.s him about"

(Ps. 32:10): _preserving grace_; "Surely," says David, "mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." Ps. 23:6. Of this we have given examples in the preceding chapter. With this agree also the words of Scripture: "With the Lord there is mercy; and with him is plenteous redemption." Ps. 130:7.

Wherefore, let the divine clemency and grace move thee to sincere and unfeigned repentance.

24. Secondly, the prophet declares that G.o.d is _merciful_. To be _merciful_, is to be easily moved by the miseries of another, and from the very heart to compa.s.sionate his case. This is to be seen in parents, who, not only with unfeigned tenderness love their children, but are at the same time so deeply touched with their misery and weakness, as to be willing even to die for them, if that were possible. Thus David, when he lamented the death of his son Absalom, mournfully exclaimed: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would G.o.d I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!" 2 Sam. 18:33. But these bowels of mercy, this ardent, cordial, and tender affection, are infinitely more conspicuous in G.o.d himself, who, from an abounding sense of love and kindness, has given up his Son to death, and thereby transcended all the affections of earthly parents. This is declared by the prophet: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compa.s.sion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Isa. 49:15. And by another, "Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord." Jer. 31:20.

And again by another, "The Lord thy G.o.d is a merciful G.o.d; he will not forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them." Deut. 4:31.

And David confirms it: "The Lord is merciful and gracious." Ps. 103:8. And again, calling to mind this mercy, when of three punishments he had it in his power to choose which he pleased, he answered, "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great." 2 Sam. 24:14. Would to G.o.d that his paternal mercy might also allure us to unfeigned repentance!

St. Paul himself refers to this most powerful inducement, when he beseeches us "by the _mercies_ of G.o.d, etc." Rom. 12:1.

25. The third appellation given to G.o.d by the prophet is, that he is patient, or _slow to anger_. He is not easily moved to wrath; he suffers many provocations offered him, and gives time for repentance and conversion. All which he has abundantly evidenced by many real demonstrations, powerful enough to convince us, that even in G.o.d himself, "Love beareth all things, endureth all things" (1 Cor. 13:7), even as parents bear with their children. To this purpose says St. Peter, "The Lord is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Pet. 3:9. And again, "Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation." 2 Pet. 3:15. And Paul wishes, that "the goodness of G.o.d may lead us to repentance." Rom. 2:4. To this long-suffering of G.o.d it was entirely due, that he granted the old world a hundred and twenty years in which to repent; bearing all that time with their provocations, and waiting for repentance. Gen. 6:3. And O! how much time hath he given us to repent in, and to work out our salvation!

But this divine grace is abused by those who only grow more wanton by mercies, and "turn even the grace of G.o.d itself into lasciviousness."

Jude, ver. 4. But by this they only hasten their ruin, and render more grievous the punishment which they deserve. If one, and then another of these many and provoking affronts, with which men offend an omnipotent G.o.d, were daily put upon a mere mortal, nothing certainly could be expected but the utmost severity of his resentment. How inconceivably great then must be the patience of G.o.d, who not only pardons offences so numerous and so heinous, but also returns all manner of kindness to the offender himself. O! that the inconceivable patience of the Lord might inspire us with a hatred of sin, and lead us all to repentance!