426 THE WRATH OE THE LAMB. [DISC. V. eminently, and completed in this dispensation of the gospel. God can send no greater messenger than his own Son, and he concludes and finishes the whole scene and period of grace with the gospel of Christ. There remains nothing but wrath to the uttermost for those who have abused this last offer of mercy. This was ex- emplified in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews, a little after they had put Christ to death, and rejected the salvation which he proposed ; and this wrath will be more terribly glorified in the final destruction of every sinner that wilfully rejects the glad tidings of this salva- tion. 5. It is such wrath as arises from the patience of a God tired and worn out by the boldest iniquities of men, and by a final perseverance in their rebellions. It is the character and glory of God, to be " long-suffering, and slow to anger." Exod. xxxiv. 6. "The Lord God, mer- ciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good- ness and truth ;" and Jesus, his Son, is the minister of this his patience, and the intercessor for this delay of judgment and vengeance. He is represented as inter- ceding one year after another for the reprieve of obsti- nate sinners, and, at his intercession, God the Father waits to be gracious : But God will not wait, and delay, and keep silence for ever, nor will. Jesus for ever plead, Ps. I. 22. Consider this, ye thatforget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. God will say then to obstinate sinners, as he did to the Jews of old, Jer. xv. 6. I will stretch out my hand against thee,. anddestroy thee, I amweary of repenting; Arid even the abused patience of Jesus the Saviour, shall turn into fury, when "the day of recompence shall come, and the day of vengeance 'which is in his heart," Is. lxiii. 4. O let eachof us consider, " How Iong have I made the grace ofGod wait on me ? How many messages of peace and pardon have I neglected ? How many years have I delayed to accept of this salvation, and made Jesus wait on an impenitent rebel, with the commission of mercy in his hand, while I have refused to receive it ? Let my soul be this day awakened to lay hold of the covenant of grace, to submit to the gospel of Christ, lest to- morrow .the days of his commission of mercy toward me expire,
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