and shall we not be inexcusable if we turn a deaf ear to such entreaties ? ]
But God, knowing our extreme backwardness to go
to him, urges us yet further by,
II. An expostulation —
Our infatuation justly calls for a severe reproof — [The contemners of God's invitations may be comprised under two classes, the worldly-minded, and the self-righteous. Both of these despise the offers of the Gospel ; the one, because they have no relish for spiritual things ; the other, because they think they already possess them : the one find their happiness in the pursuit and enjoyment of earthly things ; the other in self-applauding reflections on their own goodness. But we may appeal to both, whether they have ever attained any abiding satisfaction in their respective courses ? Have pleasures, riches, or honours ever proved a source of solid peace ? Are they " bread" proper for the soul? Does not the comfort, derived from such things, fail us in the hour that we most need it ? And will any satisfaction arise from the remembrance of them, when we stand at the bar of judgment? Nor however laudable the conduct of the self-righteous may be in the sight of men, can it yield them the comfort they aspire after: it cannot satisfy either God or their own consciences ; not God, because it does not fulfil the demands of his Law; not themselves, because they never can know that they have done enough to procure them acceptance with God: in the midst of all their boasted confidence, they have many misgiving fears lest they should have laboured for nought, and " spent their money for that which is not bread."
To impress this thought on our minds, God contrasts the blessings he offers with those which we foolishly prefer. He calls them " good," and declares that they will " delight the soul with fatness." And are they not good? What so wor- thy of this character, as a free and full pardon to the guilty ; a peace that passeth all understanding to the troubled ; re- newed strength to the weak; and everlasting glory to the lost? Can these be received into the soul, and not comfort it ? or can they be promised to us by a faithful God, and not satisfy the mind ? Surely they are " meat indeed, and drink indeed ;" nor can they fail of filling us with "joy unspeakable and glorified."]
Let us then call ourselves to an account for our conduct —
[Who amongst us has not had abundant experience of the insufficiency of every thing except the Gospel, to make us happy ? And shall we yet persist in our error ? shall we never