whole nation were to be abandoned to utter ruinb. "Then," says our Lord, " ye will seek me, and shall not find me." He does not mean, that they would cry to him, and humble them- selves before him ; but that they would seek for their Messiah, and long for him to deliver them : and the fact was, that, when those calamities did come upon them, they were so desirous of the Messiah's advent, as willingly to receive any impostor that chose to assume that character. But they had slain the true Messiah, and would look for any other in vainc.
Besides, the great mass of individuals among them were to be given over to final impenitence ; and, when they should come before Christ at the last day, they would desire to find mercy with him : but, as " Esau, having sold his birth-right, desired afterwards to inherit the blessing, and was rejected, and could find no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tearsd;" so these wicked men would repent too late, and spend eternity in unavailing sorrows.
Whilst our Lord warned them of their impending danger, he taught them to consider their punishment as necessarily connected with their wickedness : " Where I am, thither ye cannot come." He does not say, " ye shall not ;" but, ye " cannot" come : for they would be excluded from heaven no less by their utter incapacity to enjoy it, than by the unaltera- ble decree of God. Heaven, if they were admitted to it, would be no heaven to them, whilst they retained their ma- lignant passions, and rejected the salvation offered them in the Gospel.]
2. In reference to ourselves —
[Jesus is yet present with us by the preaching of the Gospel ; and he will be withdrawn from us as soon as ever death shall separate us from the means of grace. When " the door of heaven shall be shut, we may stand without, and knock, saying, Lord, open to us :" we may even plead with him, and say, " We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets :" but it will be too late : he will say to us, " Depart from me, I never knew you :" ye sought me not, nor believed in me, when ye were yet on mercy's ground ; and now you must have " judgment without mercy."
But this may be the case whilst yet we are in this lower world. There is an " accepted time, a day of salvation," which we may irretrievably lose. We may "grieve" and "resist the Holy Spirit," till we " quench" his gracious motions, and provoke God to say, " He is joined to idols, let him alone." He may be so offended by our wickedness as to " give us up to a reprobate mind," and to " swear in his wrath that we shall
b Luke xix. 42 — 14. c Luke xvii. 22. a Heb. xii. 16, 17.