THE NEED OF ATTENDING TO GOD's GRACIOUS INVITATIONS.
Prov. i. 20 — 31. Wisdom crieth ivithnut ; she uttereth her voice
in the streets : she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates : in the city she uttereth her words, saying, IIoiv long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge ? Turn you at my reproof : behold, I ivill pour out my spirit unto you, I loill make knoivn my icords unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; hut ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also 7vill laugh at your calamity ; I ivill mock when your fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, hut I will not ansiver ; they shall seek me early, hut they shall not find me : for that they hated knoivledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: they tvould none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ivay, and he filled with their own devices.
TO expostulate with men respecting their evil ways, to point out the consequences of persisting in them, to urge the necessity of a speedy and thorough conversion to God, and to enforce the address with affectionate entreaties and encouraging assurances, is stigmatized as the effervescence of a heated ima- gination, the offspring of a weak enthusiastic mind. But, however it be foolishness with men, it is wisdom in the sight of God. No expostulations, entreaties, promises, or threatenings can be delivered with greater