we may seem better than others, this may be true only
according to our own standard. When we see the folly of these
positions the Spirit of God is doing his work; so be careful how you
treat him.

III

What would be the consequences of the Spirit ceasing his work? We
really could not express it in words. No man has power or energy to
make it plain. We can only just hint at the condition.

1. There would be an opposition to religion, for whenever you find a
man turning against that which has been the world's hope remember that
the state of that man is awful in the extreme and will grow worse.

2. There will be an opposition to revivals, to all preaching and to the
ministers of the Gospel wherever this spirit is made manifest. We
ought to tremble for ourselves if this is our spirit, or for others if
it is theirs.

3. Wherever men settle down into some form of error this is a
description of one who has sinned against the Spirit of God, for there
is a longing in every soul for something outside of and beyond one's
self; and the things of the world cannot alone satisfy.

4. When men continue to grow worse and worse and seem to glory in their
shame there is great cause for solemn thought. In the light of these
suggestions the text is given, "My Spirit shall not always strive with
men."

IV

Why should he cease his striving? Not because he is not compassionate,
for he is; nor forbearing, for that is his character; not that he is
without patience, for he is infinite in this grace; nor because he is
without mercy, for his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting.

1. But because it will do the sinner no good to continue his pleadings.
It is a known law of the mind that truth resisted loses its power. Why
should God continue when we only spurn his offers of mercy?

Agassiz, the great Christian scientist, tells of his work in the
mountains when his assistants lowered him to his work by means of a
rope and a basket. They always tested his weight before letting him
down; and yet he said that one day when they had lowered him deeper
than ever they found that they could not lift him, though they had
tested his weight before he had been lowered. They must go away over
the mountains to secure other assistance. "And then," said the
scientist, "when they did lift me they found that their failure was due
to the fact that they did not take into account the weight of the
rope." Every time you refuse Jesus Christ