When the
struggle comes, if three or four passages do not suffice, a hundred
surely ought to make us proof against all contrary temptations.
But if God can not will us to Himself by gentle means, must we not be
mere blocks if His threatening also fail? Jesus Christ summons all those
who from fear of temporal death shall have denied the truth, to appear
at the bar of God his Father, and says, that then both body and soul
will be consigned to perdition. (Matt. x., 28; Luke xii., 5.) And in
another passage He says that He will disclaim all those who shall have
denied Him before men. (Matt. x., 33; Luke xii., 10.) These words, if we
are not altogether impervious to feeling, might well make our hair stand
on end. Be this as it may, this much is certain; if these things do not
move us as they ought, nothing remains for us but a fearful judgment.
(Heb. x., 27.) All the words of Christ having proved unavailing, we
stand convinced of gross infidelity.
It is in vain for us to allege that pity should be shown us, inasmuch as
our nature is so frail; for it is said, on the contrary, that Moses,
having looked to God by faith, was fortified so as not to yield under
any temptation.
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