The Savior calls by his word, his providence, his ministers, conscience. But ye refused. Not till his calls have been refused, does he thunder forth his warnings. But such grace, so rich and free, yet rejected — who can take the gauge of this guilt? All creatures beside are his servants. (Psalm 119:91.) Man alone resists his yoke. He stretched out his hand (Isaiah 65:2) to afford help; to confer a blessing; to beseech its acceptance; yea, even to command attention to his call. (See Acts, 21:40.) But no man regarded. The wisest counsel, the most solemn reproof, all is set at nought. Thus does he “endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” (Romans 9:22.) But, O sinner! The day cometh, when he, who once yearned, and wept, and prayed, and died, will have no pity (Ezekiel 5:11. 8:18, with 33:11); when he shall be as if he laughed and mocked at your calamity (Compare Judges 10:14. Isaiah 1:24); when he shall delight in the exercise of his sovereign justice over you. (Compare Deuteronomy 28:63. Ezekiel 5:13.) All will then be the desolation of realized fear (Chapter 10:24); sudden as a whirlwind;† the distress and anguish of utter despair. (Job 15:24. Daniel 5:5, 6, 30.)

This is his solemn denunciation. And then, as if he could bear these despisers no longer in his sight, he changes his address, and pictures the scene itself in its strongest colors. They would not hear when I called. Then shall they call upon me, and I will not answer. They would not listen to my warnings; I will not listen to their cries. They shall call upon me  — yea, they shall seek me early; but they shall not find me.† Prayer, once omnipotent, will then be powerless. ‘The last judgment before the very last of all is come; the very outward court or portal of hell;’† the misery of deserted souls. To be forsaken of God at any time is awful woe (Hosea 9:12); how much more in the time of trouble! (1 Samuel 28:15.) But to have his countenance not only turned from us, but turned against us, his eternal frown instead of his smile — this will be hell instead of heaven.

Does this unmeasured wrath seem inconsistent with a God of love? “The LORD our God is a consuming fire.” (Deuteronomy 4:24.) And think of his knowledge, instead of being a delight, being hated; his fear not chosen; none of his gracious counsel regarded; all his reproof despised. It is not just, that the sinner, thus obstinately bent upon the choice of his own way, should not only gather, but eat the fruit of it? (Chapter 13:2); that it should enter into him, and become his substance; that he should be filled with it, even to satiety;† and that  — not only during his road (Numbers 11:4, 20. Psalm 106:13-15), but at the end, throughout eternity? (Isaiah 3:11. Galatians 6:7.) The moral elements of sin constitute a hell of themselves, apart from the material fire. ‘The fruit of sin in time, when arrived at full and finished maturity, is just the fruit of sin through eternity. It is merely the sinner reaping what he has sown. It makes no violent or desultory step from sin in time to hell in eternity. The one emerges from the other, as does the fruit from the flower. It is simply, that the sinner be filled with his own ways, and that he eat the fruit of his own devices.’†

This picture might seem to be the foreboding of despair. Yet, such miracles of Divine grace have we seen; nay — such are we ourselves — that we despair of none. We must not, however, soften down God's own words by a misplaced presumptuous tenderness. Have we never seen them verified in the dying sinner, who has neglected and scoffed at the Gospel, and never sent up one cry for mercy on his soul? Is this no warning of the danger of a protracted repentance; of the worthlessness of confessions extorted by terror; “howling on the bed, not weeping at the cross”? (Hosea 7:14, with Luke 18:13.) And does it not solemnly tell us, that the day of grace has its limits (Genesis 6:3. Hebrews 4:7); that there is a knock, which will be the last knock; that a sinner may be lost on this side of hell; intreated, pleaded with, wept over — yet lost! lost even in the day of salvation? To “do despite to the Spirit of grace” (mark the endearing name) — the Spirit of all kindness, of alluring love; who pleads so tenderly with us — to wound him, as it were, to the soul (Hebrews 10:29, Greek) — this is a provocation beyond words, beyond thought. “There remaineth” only that, which might strike into the very centre of the man, “the fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Ib. Verses 26, 27, 31.)