in that deplorable state? You would not dare to say so. That you have only to live tranquil in your debaucheries till God shall touch you, and till grace shall be given to you? But it is the height of folly to expect grace while you render yourself every day more and more unworthy of it. That you are not guilty before God of the delay of your conversion, seeing it depends not on you? But all delaying sinners who die impenitent would then be justified, and hell would no longer be but for the just who are converted. That you ought no more to concern yourself with your salvation, but to leave it to chance, without giving yourself any uneasiness or trouble with regard to it? But that is the resolution of impiety and despair. That the moment of your conversion is marked, and that a little more or less of debauchery will neither advance nor retard it an instant? But, according to that doctrine, you have only to pierce your heart or plunge yourself into the waves, under the pretext that the moment of your death is determined, and that such madness will neither hasten nor retard it a single instant. " O man!" cries the apostle, in replying to the folly and impiety of this pretext, " is it thus that thou contemnest the riches of the goodness of thy God? Art thou ignorant, that his patience in suffering thy debaucheries, far from authorizing them, ought to recall thee to penitence; and, nevertheless, it is his long forbearance itself which hardens thee in guilt; and through thine obstinacy of heart thou amassest an overwhelming treasure of wrath for that terrible day which shall surprise thee, and on which shall be rendered to every one according to his works?"
The only rational consequence, therefore, that you could be permitted to draw, supposing that grace is wanting to you, is, that you, more earnest than any other, ought to pray to obtain it; to neglect nothing to soften an irritated God, who has withdrawn himself from your heart; to overcome by your importunities his resistance; to remove, in the meanwhile, whatever removes his grace from your heart; to make straight the way for him; to throw aside all the obstacles which have hitherto rendered it ineffectual to you; to deny yourself every opportunity in which your innocence almost always finds new rocks, and which completely shut your heart against the holy inspirations: such is the Christian and prudent manner of rendering glory to God, of confessing that he alone is the master of hearts, and that every blessing and gift proceed from him. But to say, as you continually do, without changing in any respect your disorderly manners, " When God shall want me, he knoweth how to find me," is to say, P I wish him not as yet; I have no occasion for him; I live happy and contented; when he shall force me, and I can no longer avoid him, then I will yield; but, in the mean time, I will enjoy my prosperity, and the privilege which he granteth to me of delaying my conversion ." What a shocking preparation for that precious grace which changeth the heart! Such is, however, all that an impenitent soul can adduce for confidently awaiting it.
