To slight grace, to despise mercy, and to stop the ear when God speaks, when he speaks such great things, so much to our profit, is a great provocation.
He offereth, he calls, he woos, he invites, he prays, he beseeches us in this day of his grace to be reconciled to him; yea, and has provided for us the means of reconciliation himself. Now, this despised must needs be provoking; and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But some man may say unto me, Fain I would be saved, fain I would be saved by Christ; but I fear this day of grace is past, and that I shall perish, notwithstanding the exceeding riches of the grace of God.
Answer. To this doubt I would answer several things.
First, With respect to this day.
Secondly, With respect to thy desires.
Thirdly, With respect to thy fears.
First, With respect to the day; that is, whether it be ended with a man or no.
1. Art thou jogged, and shaken and molested at the hearing of the Word? Is thy conscience awakened and convinced then that thou art at present in a perishing state, and that thou hast need to cry to God for mercy? This is a hopeful sign that this day of grace is not past with thee. For usually they that are past grace, are also, in their conscience, past feeling, being “seared with an hot iron;” Eph. iv. 18, 19; 1 Tim. iv. 1, 2.
Consequently, those past grace must be such as are denied the awakening fruits of the Word preached. “The dead that hear,” says Christ, “shall live;” at least while Christ has not quite done with them; the day of God’s patience is not at an end with them; John v. 25.