Gerhard and Walther

If we will not take to heart the lovely, amiable promises and thereby let ourselves be drawn and induced to obedience, then we should still contemplate the terrifying threats and thereby let ourselves refrain from disobedience.—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis III:247.

Even when man did not desire to be connected with God, God bound Himself to man. By an act of divine mercy, God Himself became a man who was capable of suffering so He could atone for man’s rebellion against Him. He redeemed all and united all who would be sought and found by Him, by the working of His grace, into His congregation of pardoned children, bound together in holy love and unity.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 559.