which God wished to show the boundlessness of his mercy. But, ordinarily, sinners who wish to continue in sin, are, in the end, cast into hell. On them are executed the threats of the Lord against obstinate sinners. ” You have despised my counsels, and neglected my reprehensions. I also will laugh in your destruction. . . . Then they will call on me, and I will not hear." (Prov. i. 25, 26, 28.) I, says the Lord, have called on them again and again, but they have refused to hear me. ” But they did not hear nor incline their ears; but hardened their neck, that they might not hear me." (Jer. xvii. 23.) Now they call upon me, it is but just that I refuse to listen to their cries. God bears, but he does not bear for ever; when the time of vengeance arrives he punishes past and present iniquities. ” For the Most High is a patient rewarder." (Eccl. v. 4.) And according to St. Augustine, the longer God has waited for negligent sinners the more severely he will chastise them. “Quanto diutius expectat Deus, ut emenderis; tanto gravius judicabit, si neglexeris." (Lib. de util. ag. prcn.) He who promises to amend, and wilfully neglects to return to God, is unworthy of the grace of true re pentance.
But God is full of mercy. He is full of mercy; but he is not so stupid as to act without reason: to show mercy to those who continue to insult him would be stupidity, and not goodness. ” Is thy eye evil because I am good ?" (Matt. xx. 15.) Will you persevere in wickedness because I am bountiful? God is good, but he is also just, and exhorts us all to observe his law, if we wish to save our souls. "If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments." (Matt. xix. 17.) Were God to show mercy to the wicked as well as to the just, and to give to all the grace of conversion before death, he would hold out a strong temptation even to the saints to commit sin: but, no! when his mercies have reached their term he punishes, and pardons no more. "And my eye shall not spare thee, and I will show thee no pity." (Ezec. vii. 4.) Hence he says: Pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath." (Matt. xxiv. 20.) We are prevented from working in the winter by the cold, and on the Sabbath by the
