II. What is the state of a soul thus abandoned by the Lord.
Truly its condition is most pitiable. God has said, "Woe unto them, when I depart from them1:" and verily it will be a woeful day for any one of us, if God should ever abandon us to ourselves ! for the deserted soul is from that moment given up, yes, and given up for ever,
1. To delusion —
[It is surprising what delusions an abandoned sinner will harbour in his heart : "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imaginations of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst, and sin to sinm." Refuges of lies he shall have in plenty, to administer to his composure : ' There is no future state : death is but an eternal sleep : or, at all events, God is too merciful to inflict punishment in a future state : or, at any rate, the punishment cannot be eternal. As for the Holy Scriptures, perhaps they are only the writings of fallible men, like our- selves : or, at best, they are so highly figurative, that you can- not depend upon them.' Thus men take refuge in infidelity, that so they may rid themselves of records, which, if credited, would be subversive of their peace. And to these delusions God will give them up ; as he has said : " They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abomina- tions : I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them n." In the New Testament, this judgment is yet more emphatically denounced : " They (the Antichristian powers) received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved," says St. Paul : " and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie ; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness0." Oh, terrible judgment! — and the more terrible, because they who are subjected to it have no conception that they are lying under it : but it will be the assured portion of all with whom the Spirit of God has ceased to strive.]
2. To bondage —
[To the power of their own lusts will they be given up, so that Satan shall lead them captive at his will. How awful is that declaration of Solomon, " His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself; and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sinsp !" Yet this must be the fate of all who constrain
1 Hos. ix. 12. m Deut. xxix. 19. » Isai. lxvi. 3, 4.
0 2 Thess. ii. 10 — 12. p Prov. v. 22.