i. 5. _Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt
more and more._
+I. The danger of despising the Divine chastisements.+ Heedlessness
destroys the very power of taking heed. +II. The terribleness of the
peace which is often the portion of the wicked.+ Like the cessation
of pain in a sick man, which indicates that mortification has set in,
it may be only a sign that God has given them up as irreclaimable
(Hos. iv. 17).[1] +III. The folly of expecting sanctification as the
inevitable result of suffering.+ Contrary to the expectation of the
Universalists, the sufferings of the lost may only confirm them in
their impenitence (Rev. ii. 9, 11, 21).[2]