Benefactor Let us mark our past conduct also towards
the Lord Jesus Christ, who assumed our nature, and died upon
the cross to save us Let us yet further call to mind all
the resistance which we have given to the motions of the Holy
Spirit within us and we shall find ground enough for
our humiliation before God.
Yet who has humbled himself aright ? Who has sought the
Lord from day to day " with strong crying and tears ? "
Who has given up himself wholly and unreservedly to God, de- termining through grace to have no other will but his ?
Does not conscience testify against us in relation to these matters, and warn us that there is yet much, very much wanting, to perfect our humiliation before God ? — ■ — - — ]
We beg leave then, in the name of the Most High God, to expostulate with all whose consciences now testify against them —
[" How long will ye refuse to humble yourselves before God ? " Have ye ever fixed a time in your minds ? Do ye fix upon old age ? What certainty have ye of living to old age ? Do ye fix upon a time of sickness and of death ? How know ye that ye shall have space then given for repentance, or that the Spirit of God, whom ye now resist, shall be imparted to you for the producing of true repentance ? How know ye, that if you do then repent, your repentance will proceed any further, or be more effectual for your salvation than Pharaoh's was ?
Consider, I pray you, the guilt, the folly, and the danger of delaying your humiliation before God. Will you make the very forbearance of God which should lead you to repentance, the ground and occasion of protracting your rebellion against
him ? — Think ye that God will not overcome at the
last ? Will ye set briers and thorns in battle against the de- vouring fire ? or did ye ever hear of one who hardened himself
against God and prospered? Will not sin harden you in
proportion as it is indulged? And "will the Spirit strive with you for ever? " Have you not reason to fear, that, if you continue impenitent under your present circumstances, God will give you up to judicial hardness, and a reprobate mind?
Beloved Brethren, I entreat you to fix some time when you will cast down the weapons of your rebellion, and humble yourselves in truth before God ]
Two encouragements I would set before you:
1. It is never too late —
[At " the eleventh hour" those who give themselves up to Him shall be received. Let not the aged, or the sick, say, ' There is no hope.' Let not the vilest of the human race indulge despair. A Manasseh holds forth to every child of