Discourses on Sin and Unbelief

by Stephen Charnock

Table of Contents

A DISCOURSE OF CONVICTION OF SIN

---- I. He was to convince of sin.

---- II. The Spirit was to convince of righteousness.

---- III. The Spirit was to convince of judgment.

---- IV. The fourth thing; what sins, or what in sin the Spirit doth
chiefly convince of!

---- V. The fifth thing is, What the difference is between the
convictions of the Spirit by this or that instrument, by nature, law,
and gospel.

---- VI. The application.

A DISCOURSE OF UNBELIEF, PROVING IT IS THE GREATEST

SIN

A DISCOURSE OF THE MISERY OF UNBELIEVERS

A DISCOURSE SHEWING WHO ARE UNBELIEVERS

 A DISCOURSE OF CONVICTION OF SIN
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believed
not on me.—JOHN 16:8, 9.

OUR Saviour in this chapter shows what was the intention of his
discourse in the former, which was, first, to forewarn his disciples of,
and forearm them against, the violence they should meet with in the
world after his departure from them, in the chapter foregoing, ver.
20; which violence should be the hotter against them, because it
would be thought an acceptable service unto God to assault them
with the sharpest persecutions. He therefore wisheth them to
remember what he had said, in the fourth verse of this chapter: 'But
these things I have told you, that when the time shall come, you may
remember that I told you of them.' He knew the jealousies of men's
hearts, how apt upon every occasion they are to make unjust
reflections. Therefore, saith he, consider it well, and do not have hard
thoughts of me, when you come to feel these sufferings I now speak
of. I tell you before of them, that you may have no cause to blame me,
as one that dealt falsely with you in concealing the sting, while I
present you with the honey. No; I acquaint you with the worst as well
as the best part, the bitterest as well as the sweetest. Then, secondly,
he supports his drooping disciples, who began to faint at the
thoughts of his departure, John 15:26; and also in this chapter, which
he doth by the promise of a Comforter to be sent unto them.

You may observe, first, that God doth not send any affliction upon
his people, without providing them also a cordial; as a wise
physician, who prescribes a purge to carry away the corrupt
humours, and a cordial to support the spirits. Our Saviour tells them
of the Comforter that should refresh them, as well as acquaints them
with that misery that might deject them. The same was God's
procedure with our first parents after the fall: first, he revives them
with a gracious promise, before he denounceth a grievous standing
sentence upon them. And,

Secondly, Observe that God sends afflictions on his dearest children.

These apostles that were the salt of the Jewish nation, preserving
them from a total putrefaction, those that Christ had laid in his
bosom, revealed the secrets of his Father, and the mysteries of
redemption to, and prayed for their preservation, and intended to do
it further in a solemn manner (as he did in the following chapter),
had culled them out as witnesses to bear up his name in the world,
and given them an assurance of being in glory with him; yet these
must be hated, and killed, and depressed under the violence of the
wicked world.

The miseries they should endure are two, John 16:2:

First, Excommunication: 'They shall put you out of the synagogues.'

The Jews should not think them worthy to be in the church.

Secondly, Destruction: 'Whosoever killeth you will think he doth God

service. They should not be thought worthy to live in the world.

And the grounds of this violent proceeding are two:

(1.) Superstitious zeal. They shall think they do God good service in
so doing.

(2.) Blind ignorance: ver. 3, 'These things will they do unto you,
because they have not known the Father.' These are the two great
grounds of all persecutions that are in the world, superstitious zeal
and blind ignorance. You may observe,

First, How often is religion pretended to justify cruelty! God had not
any church in the world but among the Jews at that time, yet the
body of them do set themselves in opposition against those few
disciples that bore up the name of Christ in the world, and under the
pretence of religion they would send them out of the world. So
contrary to the main design of God, which is to promote charity to
man, as well as love to himself.

Secondly, Nothing is so great an enemy to true Christianity as

ignorant zeal; nothing so hurtful as passion, clothed with the purple
of a seeming piety. A zealous Paul will be a persecuting Paul, because
zealous in the external part of the Jewish religion. The superstitious
Jews did more oppose the progress of the gospel than either the
profane sort among them, or the blind heathen.

Thirdly, We may observe in the chapter how Christ giveth them the
reason why he acquainted them with these things now, and withal,
why he did not tell them of them before: ver. 4, 'These things I have
told you, that, when the time shall come, you may remember that I
told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the
beginning, because I was with you.' He was with them, and by his
personal presence did give them a remedy upon any emergency. He
was a screen to keep off the rage of men from them, by receiving it
upon himself.

Fourthly, He searcheth into the causes of their sorrow: ver. 5, 6, 'But

now I go my way to him that sent me, sorrow hath filled your hearts.'

(1.) His departure from them, ver. 6, that had filled their hearts with
sorrow, the thoughts of that. And who could blame them for grieving
at the parting with so good and tender a master, and to part with him
when a deluge of misery by his own prediction was flowing in upon
them, and to part with him upon such terms, and by such a death as
to outward appearance would reflect on them as his followers, as well
as on him their master? Such apprehensions of the storm could not
but stagger an ungrown faith, and nip their budding hopes and joy.
Probably their carnal conceptions of a carnal kingdom being foiled
by our Saviour, was the ground of all. Alas! have we left all to follow
him, and expected great outward advantages, and that we should be
near him, and be his friends; and are we thus mistaken in his person
and design, and fallen from the top of our hopes into the depth of an
unexpected misery? Such conceptions they might have, and therefore
their sorrows were the greater.

First, Observe, that spiritual apprehensions are an antidote against

unbelief, and the sorrow consequent upon it. All such sorrow in a
Christian ariseth from ignorant, and false, and mean, and sordid,
and unworthy notions of the design and the truths of God. Had these
weak and heavy apostles had right and spiritual conceptions of their
Master's work, they had rejoiced as much as now they grieved. None
can live to Christ, as dying and rising for them, who have no other
knowledge of him but 'after the flesh, 2 Cor. 5:15, 16. Carnal
conceptions of the deeps of God do leave a very gloomy darkness
upon the soul. Therefore he searcheth into the causes of their sorrow,
the first of which was his departure.

Secondly, Their carelessness in inquiring whither he went; which he

tells them of in a way of reproof: ver. 5, 'Now I go my way to him that
sent me; and none of you ask me, Whither goest thou?' Had they
inquired of him the reason of things, their grief had been prevented,
and their joy established. It was to heaven he was to go, upon their
account as well as his own, to a Father that loved him, and them also.

1. Observe. Those things which are ground of joy in themselves are,

by our neglect of a due inquiry, and our mistakes, matter of grief to
us. How apt are good men to draw matter of sorrow from grounds of
joy! The best man is a very ignorant interpreter of the designs of
providence. We cannot see the beauty of providence, because of the
black mask that veils it. For want of inquiring of Christ the end of his
death and ascension, the reason of his going, and the place whither
he went, they tasted not that comfort which this might have afforded
them, and missed at present the design and intendment of it.

2. We may observe, that the way to true comfort is to inquire into,

and consider well, the reason of divine mysteries. Had they
understood the reason of his death, the reason of his ascension, the
reason of his going to his Father, they could not have grieved, but
rather have rejoiced. A slight knowledge will make but a slight grace,
and flashy staggering joy: 2 Peter 3:18, 'But grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' Know how he is a
Lord, and how he is a Saviour, and upon what accounts and grounds;
and growing in such a kind of knowledge is the way to grow in grace.

Fifthly, He informs them of the necessity of his departure for their

advantage. It was necessary for him to take possession of his
kingdom, sit down upon his throne; necessary for them, that thereby
they might enjoy the choicest fruits of his purchase: ver 7, 'It is
expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you.'

1. He illustrates this necessity by the contrary, 'If I go not away, the

Comforter will not come unto you;' therefore, if you would have the
Comforter come, it is necessary that I go.

2. He confirms it by an asseveration, 'I tell you the truth,' I speak

truly to you, 'If I do not go, the Comforter will not come.' There is one
to come after my departure to supply my absence, who shall carry on
the work of redemption I have laid, with greater success to the
conviction of the world, who shall be in your ministry with you, and
shall convince men of their sins, and of that remedy I have provided.

We may observe,

First, How tender is our Saviour of grieving his weak and distressed
people! He doth not rate them for their unbelieving sorrow, and
forbear any further dealing with them; he might have child them for
not believing him upon his bare word, but he condescends to give
them an affirmation, next to an oath, 'I tell you the truth.' He is
always very careful not to break a bruised reed; and is like his Father,
who by his oath hath given us strong consolation, and a mighty prop
for our tottering faith.
Secondly, observe this, the death and ascension of Christ were highly
necessary for the descent of the Spirit.

(1.) This choicest benefit we receive from God could not have come,
unless the justice of God had been satisfied, and his favour procured
by a sufficient sacrifice. How unreasonable is it to think God should
bestow the highest of his favours, while his justice was not
contented! Christ by his death appeased the anger of his Father, and
bare the punishment we had merited, and opened those treasures of
grace which by reason of our sins had been shut up from us. Besides,
the death of Christ was so perfect an obedience, that it gained all the
love and affection of his Father as a requital; it was so highly grateful
to him, and the pleasure he took in it was so great, that because of
that he would give to Christ and his people whatsoever was most
dear and precious to him. To have this right of sending the Spirit, it
was necessary Christ should die. The rock was to be struck by the rod
of Moses before it did send out water; and Christ, the spiritual rock,
was to be struck by the curse of the law before the Spirit (which is
often in Scripture compared to water) could flow out. And though the
Spirit was sparingly communicated before the death of Christ, yet it
was communicated, and that upon the promise which Christ made of
dying for men in the fulness of time, upon the account of that death
which was to be suffered in due time.

(2.) The Spirit could not come unless Christ had ascended; for by his
going to the Father, he means his death and ascension. The Spirit
could not come but by the gift and mission of the mediator, on whose
head he was first to be poured, and flow down from him on all
believers. Besides, Christ received not those rich gifts from the hand
of his Father, to communicate to us, till he had entered into the true
sanctuary not made with hands. He received them for himself before,
to fit him for that obedience he was to perform by the death of the
cross; but he received them to communicate unto us after his
ascension, then he received gifts for men. What he purchased by his
death, he took possession of at his entrance into heaven. The end of
the Spirit's coming could not be carried on without Christ's death
and ascension; for the Spirit was to manifest the infiniteness of God's
love to man, and declare the means of salvation. Now, the principal
reason upon which this manifestation was to be built, was the death
of Christ; he must therefore die, and rise again, and ascend, before
the grounds of this reason could be valid; which appears afterwards
in the reasons rendered of his 'reproving the world of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment.' His death was necessary to satisfy
God's justice; his resurrection and ascension to manifest God's
acceptation and approbation of his death. The sending the Spirit
being a part of his royalty as mediator, it was not convenient he
should be sent till Christ was crowned, and sat down on his throne in
his kingdom. There are two benefits by Christ: acquisition of
redemption, which was by his death; and application of that
redemption, which is by his intercession in heaven, and his Spirit on
earth. So that if he had not ascended, we had wanted the Spirit to
make application, and to render us fit for it; we had wanted the
preparation for it, and the comfort of it. Then,

Thirdly, we may observe, that the presence of the Spirit is a greater

comfort than simply the presence of Christ in his flesh. 'It is
expedient for you that I go away; if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come.' It is better for you I should go, because then the
Comforter will come. Christ is a comforter; but the Spirit is more
intimately a comforter than Christ in his fleshly presence. Christ in
his first coming did possess himself of our flesh, and converse with
his disciples outwardly; but the Spirit is to possess himself of our
hearts inwardly: Gal. 4:4–6, 'When the fulness of time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the
adoption of sons; and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.' Christ dwelt
among us in the flesh; the Spirit doth not only dwell with a believer,
but in him, John 14:17; not only dwell with you by outward
declaration, but he shall be in you by inward motion and inspiration.
And you see he giveth him here the title of Comforter. The name
signifies one that speaks eloquently, persuasively, with much facility,
elegancy, and affection, in such a manner as mightily works upon
others, and pleasingly gratifies them. It signifies both a comforter
and instructor, both which agree well to the Holy Ghost. For,

First, He was to acquaint the world with the highest mysteries of God
manifest in the flesh; to open the secret of God's love to the world,
and the resolves of eternity; to draw the curtain from before those
truths which neither the eye of nature, nor the more open eye of the
Jews were able to pierce into because of the veil, ver. 13. He was to
'guide them into all truth,' the knowledge and observance of all truth
necessary.

Secondly, He was to witness of Christ; and therefore might well be

called an instructor. As Christ unfolded the treasures of his Father's
love, and purchased divine blessings by his passion, so the Spirit was
to bear witness to the commission Christ had to offer up himself, and
the validity of that offering, and the nature of his purchase. It was a
thing incredible in itself, that a God of infinite tenderness should
expose his innocent Son to sufferings and death for rebellious
creatures. It was necessary the Spirit should be employed to
persuade men inwardly of the reality and truth of this, of the
authority of Christ, his sincerity in dying, and the efficacy of that
death, and the necessity of their interest in it by faith, and to apply all
to the believing soul with comfort, and fill it with peace by virtue of
this expiation.

Now what is this Comforter, advocate, or instructor to do? He will

reprove, or rather convince, ἐλέγξει; the word here translated
reprove is sometimes so rendered: 1 Cor. 14:24, 'He is convinced of
all.' It is the same word which is here, and also in Jude 15, 'To
convince all that are ungodly of their ungodly deeds.' It signifies to
reprove by way of argument, to manifest by an undeniable
demonstration the truth or falsity of such an opinion, so as to stop
the mouth of the guilty or erroneous person, that he cannot find so
much as a fig-leaf of an excuse, or a starting-hole from it. It is to
charge a thing so home and so close as to bring the conscience under
the power of truth, and to make it self-condemned, to convict us by
our own conscience; so the word is rendered in John 8:9. So the
Spirit was evidently to demonstrate the guilt of sin, and the beauty of
righteousness, and the certainty of judgment.

To convince the world. The Spirit was not only given to the apostles,
to set up light in their hearts, but to the world in a large sense, to
justify Christ before them. Not only to those that shall be seriously
affected under a sense of sin, and turn to Christ, but to convince
others in the world of sin, who will never step any farther, nor yield
to the power and authority of it, nor acknowledge the truth, nor
accept of Christ and his righteousness.

What is the Spirit to convince of? Of sin, of righteousness, and of

judgment. A threefold object the Spirit was to be conversant about.

I. He was to convince of sin.

The light of nature was not so extinct but some sins were to be
discerned. All the most barbarous nations, agreeing in some common
notion of justice and righteousness, they knew that many things they
did were worthy of death by divine judgment; and they perceived by
sharp punishments inflicted on some notorious offenders in a
particular manner, how odious some actions were to God, and how
criminal before him. But,

First, The world understood not the extent of sin. They knew some
sins, but not all the kinds of sin to which wrath is due; they looked
upon some sins as part of their happiness, rather than their misery.
What were clearly against the light of nature, crimson and scarlet
sins, they could discern, and acknowledge themselves for them
worthy of death; but there were some molehill sins, peccadilloes,
against which they had no help, by consideration of the mercy of
God, by laying hold of the righteousness of Christ, and the necessity
of faith in him. They armed themselves with the mercy of God,
without considering the righteousness of Christ. It opens not the
malignity of sin, nor understands all the aggravations of it, which are
necessary deeply to affect the soul.

Secondly, The world did not understand the sin of their nature. The
world would not acknowledge it for unrighteousness, would not
apprehend itself in a state of sin, because of their commendable
qualities in the eyes of others. The world is not sensible of its change
from the image of God by creation into the image of the devil by
corruption. It understands not the extent of original sin, the
depravation of their rational faculties, the lameness and impotency
of their free will, nor the sinfulness of the first motions of their
hearts; nature applauds its own power and self-ability in the midst of
its weakness, and an affection to God under a boiling enmity.

Thirdly, The world did not understand the sin of unbelief. As the
light of nature could not discover a Christ to them, so it could not
discover the sin of unbelief to them; how could it convince of their
unbelief, when it did not discover the object to be believed in. But the
Spirit shall convince of a state of sin, of the depths of it in the heart,
the streams of it in the life, and especially of unbelief, which renders
the disease incurable, since there is no other medicine but the blood
of Christ, and no other way of partaking of that medicine but by
faith; it will evidence they are born in sin, can do nothing but sin,
and cannot but by faith be delivered from those bonds of sin, but
must die in them; that if they believe not in Christ, that came to
redeem fallen mankind, their sins will lie on them, they will perish in
them, and lie under the curse of God. Now that sin in general is here
meant—the Spirit shall convince of sin—as the object of the Spirit's
conviction, is clear, because,

First, He names it in general, as noting the whole mass of sin.

Secondly, Because it is in vain to convince men of the sinfulness of

their unbelief, unless they be convinced first of the necessity of faith.
And what ground have they to be convinced of the necessity of faith,
unless they find such loads of sin upon them as they are never able to
bear, such guilt as they are never able to answer for, or remove from
themselves?

Thirdly, Because the Holy Ghost condemns all other sins, as well as
unbelief, and therefore convinceth of them; not only of unbelief, but
other sins that stand in the way of salvation.

Fourthly, The Spirit in the text was to pronounce the whole world out
of Christ to be in a state of sin and death; because, when the world
would plead its righteousness, and seem to establish trophies to
itself, shield itself by its own righteousness, the Spirit should
condemn that righteousness as not sufficient, because else it had
been in vain for God to send his Son to work another righteousness.
That is the first thing, the Spirit was to convince of sin.

II. The Spirit was to convince of righteousness.

1. Some refer it to the righteousness of Christ's person; that is, his

going to the Father was an evidence that he was a just person;
heaven would not else have entertained him; it would have been no
receptacle for an impostor, and one that to his last gasp should
persist in a known crime. The Spirit should convince the world by
undeniable testimonies and demonstrations, that he was an innocent
person, that he was no malefactor when he suffered.

2. Others refer it to the righteousness of Christ's office, and his

merits imputed to believers. And, indeed, the coming of the Spirit
was a testimony of his acceptation with the Father, for the Spirit had
not come in such a miraculous manner as was manifest in the
apostles, had not Christ in heaven had an acceptation of his
sufferings from his Father.

3. Others understand it thus, He shall convince of the insufficiency of

human righteousness. By the light of nature men had some
particular notions of justice. By nature, they knew in some measure
what was right; they knew they were not to do wrong, that they were
to be advantageous to the community; they knew they were to
cherish those that had been beneficial to them: hence they deified
those that were public benefactors, either by the discovery of arts
that were useful to human societies, or the defence of their country in
an invasion, or the delivery of those that were oppressed, from the
common plagues and scourges of mankind. These they boasted of,
their moral virtues, their invented worship, the service of their gods,
and their good intentions. Now, since by the light of nature men
could not conceive of a higher righteousness than justice between
man and man, and an external devotion towards God, the Spirit was
to convince them of the weakness of this conceited righteousness,
and the want of a better, shewing that Christ's righteousness is the
only true righteousness of God, because he is gone to the Father, and
shall not return again to be a sacrifice for sin. For if righteousness
should have been by works, Christ had died in vain.

III. The Spirit was to convince of judgment.

Some understand it that the judgment of this world concerning

Christ was unjust; and the Spirit was to convince that it was so.
Others, to convince of the damnation of the devil, and consequently
of all that adhered to him: 'Of judgment, because the prince of this
world is judged.' Others, of the deliverance of man, which was
evidenced by the condemnation of the devil, subduing him upon the
cross, taking away that sin whereby he had power over man. Others,
of the judgment of the world concerning oracles, superstition, and
the worship of idols, which they thought an acceptable worship. The
Spirit should convince that this was a false judgment, since the devil
was cast down from his chair of oracles, and the mouth of the father
of lies was stopped, and the prince that usurped the government of
the world, and to whom men paid ready obedience, was cast out and
stripped of his power; also, convince of judgment, of the consequent
of this righteousness and merit of Christ, and the certainty of God's
judgment concerning him; because the devil is cast out, which is a
sufficient evidence that God hath adjudged the victory to Christ,
since the devil is dismounted of his power; and that perfection of
holiness and freedom from sin shall be obtained at last, since the
great captain of sin is slain, and there is no hopes of his rising again
to secure his own standing, or destroy a believer's interest; for if the
power of the Captain of their salvation did in his humiliation break
the strength of the devil, much more in the state of exaltation will he
keep him from ever reducing his people to that misery wherein they
were before. And in this part of convincing, the Spirit did work as a
comforter. Now, to 'convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment,' and to shew the further extent of sin, and the necessity
of another righteousness, required a mighty power; since these
apprehensions which the world had, had reigned so long in them,
and the new propositions and declarations were in themselves
incredible to blear-eyed reason. Who could imagine that the Son of
God should take flesh, and die upon the cross, and the devil be
conquered and ruined by the death of the Son of God? Who could
have imagined these things? Had the Son of God come in triumph
into the world, with legions of angels, and visibly cast the devil from
his throne, and visibly given forth his laws, then the world could not
but have believed on him, and submitted to him: but to talk of a
victory over a living devil by a dying man; of the necessity of
believing in a crucified person, that suffered death as the vilest
malefactor; to speak of the righteousness of God, wrought by one
that was put to death as a criminal and a blasphemer, in the
judgment of a whole nation, and his own countrymen too; these were
such seeming contradictions to the weak reason of the world, without
the divine light of the Spirit manifesting the reason, and divine
methods, and the nature of the things which he was to instruct men
in, as a comforter, as a teacher of the world, that they could not
possibly take place in them by any less power than an almighty one.

One thing more: some think these convictions not to be by an inward

illumination, but by an objective testimony of the Spirit, by miracles
and extraordinary gifts conferred on the apostles, whereby the truth
of what Christ had said and spoke was confirmed and demonstrated.
Though this be true, yet it is not all: there was an objective conviction
by miracles; but was not there also a secret inward conviction by
inspiration? The Spirit was not only to dwell among men, or with
them by outward acts, but in them, John 14:17. The Spirit was to be
sent into the heart by an inward operation, as well as by an outward
demonstration of miracles, and the Father and the Son promised to
make their abode with the souls of believers, and manifest
themselves to them: how, except in this manner? All the works of the
Spirit are couched in this act of convincing of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. What is to be done here, but hating sin and
encouraging our faith in Christ, because of his merit and his
ascension to the Father, and heightening our hopes by the assurance
of the conquest of sin and Satan? And all these are the acts of the
Spirit in every believer, more or less, to the end of the world. The
convincing of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, do in a manner
comprehend all the acts of the Spirit in a believer. Therefore, it is
more than an objective conviction. Thus much concerning the words.
I shall pitch upon these two observations:

Obs. 1. That the Spirit of God is the author of conviction of sin. And,

Obs. 2. That unbelief (that being the reason rendered, 'of sin, because
they believe not on me') is a sin of the greatest malignity against God,
and danger to the soul. But for the

First, The Spirit is to convince of sin: not only in general, but in

particular, of unbelief, consequently of the root whence it grows, the
food that maintains it, and every sin that stops the entrance of the
grace of faith. He was to shew the demerits of sin, whereby men
might apprehend and be ascertained of the necessity of believing in
the Mediator proposed, when they saw the depths of filthiness
broken up, and the mountains of sin discovered, and not a mite of
solid righteousness visible either in their natures or actions. The
Spirit of God is the author of the conviction of sin. I shall shew,

First, That the Spirit doth convince of sin.

Secondly, It is necessary the Spirit should throughly convince of sin,

if ever a man be convinced.
Thirdly, How and by what means the Spirit doth work this
conviction.

Fourthly, What sin, or what in sin, he doth most convince of.

Fifthly, What the difference is between convictions proceeding from

the Spirit more immediately, and those from any other cause.

Sixthly, The use.

I. That the Spirit doth convince of sin. We shall speak to it in some

propositions.

First, All convictions of sin do, either mediately or immediately,

come from the Spirit of God. As it is commonly said, whencesoever
truth immediately cometh, it originally ariseth from the Holy Spirit;
so, whatsoever the instrument be, the principal cause of the
application of conviction is from the Spirit. There is a common and a
special work of the Holy Ghost. All convictions of men, though they
may some of them arise from some more immediate cause by the
word, are the Spirit's work efficiently, by the word instrumentally.
Conscience is naturally a dead and stupid thing, man a brutish
creature, being fallen; and, being flesh, he resists and disputes
against any convictions of sin; and therefore, if conscience be not
stirred up by the Spirit, it would never rise up in any self-reflection:
Gen. 6:3, 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for he is flesh.'
As man, being flesh, is perverse against the reasonings of the Spirit,
so, being flesh, he would never have the least distaste of any iniquity,
unless the Spirit did excite those relics of natural light which remain
in the soul. As those relics do remain in us by virtue of the mediation
of Christ, so all the awakenings of them to any sense, or the
reformations which have been wrought thereupon in the world, have
been by the Spirit of Christ. All the sense that any of those of the old
world had, was from the inward motion of the Spirit inviting them to
repentance: 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man;' implying
that it did strive, and it was in subserviency to Christ the Mediator
that the Spirit did strive with that generation of men. Upon which
account Christ is said by the Spirit to go and 'preach to the spirits in
prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when the long-suffering
of God waited in the days of Noah,' 1 Pet. 3:20.

It was that Spirit of holiness and truth whereby Christ was

quickened, which was no other than the Holy Ghost; and these
disobedient persons to whom Christ preached thus by his Spirit, are
called spirits, in relation to the state wherein they now are in prison,
before the resurrection, not in relation to the state wherein they were
when the Spirit did strive with them. Whatsoever sense there was
upon any in the old world, was from the striving of the Spirit of God
with them, as the Spirit of the Mediator, by whose interposition
those relics which were in them were kept up, and that reason which
they had was conveyed to them, and did remain in them. By this
Spirit Christ is said to go and preach unto them. So that all motions
of conscience, all convictions, whether upon those that reject them,
or those that receive them, are from the Spirit as the Spirit of the
Mediator. From this power did the terrors of Cain and Judas arise, so
far as it was the work of illumination, exciting their rational faculties,
though the sin and unbelief in those terrors did not arise from the
Spirit. The stick stirs the water by the child's agitation, the mud is
raised, though the stick doth not convey the mud to it, nor
immediately touch it, but by the water. When the discovery of sin in
its evil is made by the Spirit, that is a good work; but if men abstain
from that sin, the evil of which they see, out of a servile principle,
that is evil; the discovery and restraint is good, but the principle is
evil, being the effect, not of any love to God, but enmity to him, and
love to themselves. All the convictions of sin do either mediately or
immediately come from the Spirit of God in any person whatsoever,
it is from his striving with them that they do arise.

Secondly, This is the office of the Spirit. The word comforter,

παράκλητος, signifies an advocate, and is so translated when it is
used of Christ: 1 John 2:1, 'If any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.' Now, the office of an advocate
is to convince the party he appears against of his crime, and the
injury he hath done to his client; to answer his reason, and stop his
mouth, and make the matter of fact evident The convincing work of
the Spirit is an advocacy to the soul; he appears and manageth the
cause as an advocate; he arms himself with the curses of the law
against it. He is an advocate for God and his righteousness in the
law; but in the work of consolation the Spirit is an advocate for the
soul, and the righteousness of the gospel, against the rigours of the
law; so that, while the Spirit is an advocate against the soul, he must
as necessarily accuse and argue against it, as when he is an advocate
for the soul, he must refresh and pacify it, and plead for its support.
In regard of this office he is called 'a spirit of bondage': Rom. 8:15,
'Ye have not received the spirit of bondage,' &c.; which, though some
would understand only of the outward Mosaic dispensation, it seems
to be an inward work of the Spirit in the hearts of men. The intent of
the apostle may be sometimes to shew the liberty of believers from
the ceremonial law, to which the Jews were in bondage; but it doth
not appear that it was the intent of the apostle in this place. Yea, it is
to be considered that he wrote to the Christians in Rome, who were
not all Jews, and very likely but a few of them were so, and so were
never under the bondage of the Jewish ceremonies, but the burden of
Pagan rites. As he is a 'Spirit of adoption,' exciting the soul to cry
Abba, Father, he works orderly in the heart after faith; therefore, as
he is a Spirit of bondage, he stirs up fears inwardly in the heart
before faith. The apostle speaks in the former part of the chapter of
the actings of the Spirit in believers, of the Spirit's dwelling in them;
the necessity of a man's having the Spirit of Christ for 'mortifying the
deeds of the body' through the Spirit, which respects men in
particular in a state of faith; therefore what he means here is an
inward work in the hearts of men, as well as the other operations of
the Spirit, which he mentions both before and after it; so that the
Spirit of bondage respects men in particular before a state of
conversion; he is sent into the heart as a Spirit of bondage. Terrors,
therefore, which are inward in the soul, and are called the Lord's
terrors, Ps. 88:15, 16, are here called the Spirit of bondage; not as if it
bound the soul, but discovers those bonds which are by nature upon
it, lays open the judgments of God against it, sets conscience at work
to gall men for sin, and giveth not only a notional knowledge, but a
sensible feeling of the weight of them. As he is called the 'Spirit of
truth' and the 'Spirit of adoption,' because he applies the promises of
grace, so he is called the 'Spirit of bondage,' as he gives a sight of
those fetters that are clapped on by sin and Satan, and applies the
law as a ministration of death, as that whereby the man is concluded
or shut up under sin, and at present sees no way to escape. Now, the
natural consequent and effect of this work must needs be fear. As the
contagion of sin is discerned by the law, and the curses of the law,
without the appearance of the evangelical remedy, there must needs
be pangs and terrors. The law shews only the guilt, but not the
pardon; opens the command and threatening, but whispers not a
syllable of comfort without perfect obedience. In the application of
the threatenings, he is a Spirit of bondage; in the application of the
promises, he is a Spirit of adoption. As he flashes fire in the face of a
sinner, so he strews comforts in the heart of a. believer.

Thirdly, The Spirit is the infuser of all grace in the heart, and
therefore is the author of all preparations to grace, or anything that
hath any tendency that way. It is by the Spirit of grace any are made
sensible of their piercing Christ, Zech. 12:10, and brought to mourn
over him. The same Spirit that springs up their mournful tears, fixeth
their believing eye, both upon their sin, and on the person they had
abused by it: 'The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Ghost,' Rom. 5:5, as he manifests the love of God to us, or
raiseth up our love to God; which cannot be without loathing sin, and
a sense of it in the heart and life, to enable the soul to hate it. The
true sense of God's goodness cannot be without the sense of our
naughtiness. When the Spirit doth both these, it is a Spirit of
adoption; when it works only a sense of sin, it is a Spirit of bondage.
As all righteousness and truth are works of the Spirit, so all works
that are antecedaneous to, and necessary for, the attaining and
preserving true righteousness, are the fruits of the Spirit, among
which deep convictions are none of the least. It is by the Spirit that
we see, as well as crucify, the lusts of the flesh.
Fourthly, The Spirit of God is promised in the times of the gospel, for
such operations as this of conviction, as 'a Spirit of judgment,' and 'a
Spirit of burning:' 'When the Lord shall wash away the filth of the
daughter of Zion, and purge the blood of Jerusalem from the midst
thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning,' Isa.
4:4. A spirit of judgment to convince them, a spirit of burning to
refine them, and consume their greater and lesser iniquities. He cites
the soul before a tribunal, before he baptizes it with fire to refine it;
and that this is to be understood of gospel times, will appear from
the 2d verse, 'In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful
and glorious'; and this is part of that excellent fruit that shall be in
the earth. In regard of this the Spirit is called fire, to scorch in
conviction and self-condemnation by its heat, as well as to comfort
by its light and warmth: Isa. 40:7, 'The grass withereth, and the
flower fadeth, because of the Spirit of the Lord that bloweth upon it.'
Our carnal confidences stand firm until he hews them down; our
righteousness is amiable until the Spirit blows upon it, and dissolves
its paint; beautiful, until the Spirit snatches off the disguise. This is a
gospel promise, that flesh should appear what it is. It should be made
desolate, and convictions be wrought in men of the ugliness of sin,
and the emptiness of their own righteousness, and the insufficiency
of everything that comes under the title of flesh. This is a gospel
promise of what the Spirit should do when the glory of the Lord
should be revealed. Flesh should appear to be what it is, a manifest
conviction be wrought of the ugliness of sin, the emptiness of our
own righteousness, the insufficiency of everything that cometh under
the title of flesh. The

II. Second thing is to shew, that it is necessary the Spirit should do

this work of convincing. There is as much need of the Spirit to
convince us of the guilt of sin, while we are in a state of nature, as
there is of the Spirit to comfort us under the apprehensions of guilt,
and the charge of an accusing conscience. There is as much need of
the Spirit to do the one as to do the other. For,
1. The light of fallen nature is insufficient of itself to cause a thorough
conviction. It is true, there is a natural law in men's hearts, which
discovers some duties to be done, some gross impieties to be
avoided. There are common notions left in man which may conduct
him in a moral course, without which human society could not be
preserved. These are, that there is a God, that this God is to be
worshipped, that he is righteous, who rewards those that seek him,
that there are evil actions worthy of death, that there is a judgment to
be inflicted upon the commission of sin, a self-satisfaction and peace
in the avoiding of it, and performing such things as are good, and
comely, and honest, and of good report; and from such principles as
these, common in man, those laws in all nations against enormities,
which are praiseworthy, and are the bands and ligaments of society
and of government, did arise. Now, these habitual principles in the
mind, if read over, will judge and censure some acts of
unrighteousness: some 'works of the flesh are manifest, such as
these, adultery, fornication,' &c., Gal. 5:19, clear by natural light to be
the works of the flesh. Conscience must more or less naturally set in
order before a man's eyes some sort of unrighteousness, such
unrighteous actions which are contrary to those implanted notions,
and plainly tell them, without any other proof than what is in them,
that 'they that do such things are worthy of death,' Rom. 1:32;
because they are against the universal law imprinted in human
nature, and against the acknowledged principles placed in us by God.
For the knowledge of righteousness and sin, and also of God's
piercing eye, whereby he seeth all sin, and of his impartial justice,
which hath store of punishments for the violaters of his law, is
almost as deeply imprinted upon the mind of man by nature as the
notion of a God; for, indeed, they do naturally flow from the notion
of a supreme cause, the governor of the world. Wherefore, in many
cases, God appeals to men's reason, and the principles that are left in
them, Isa. 5:3, Ezek. 18:25, and is willing to stand to the unbiassed
judgment of their own minds. But natural light discovers not sin so
fully as it is necessary for a man to be convinced of it, in order to the
entertainment of Christ, and the grace of God in and by him. For
natural light,
First, Discovers not the root of sin. But there is a necessity a man
should be convinced of the root of sin. Men do not by nature
understand the universal pollution of their nature, nor feel the
heaviness of the sin of Adam. It shews us that something is amiss,
and much amiss, but whence this disorder doth arise nature of itself
is wholly ignorant, hath not so much as a regular guess, without
revelation. The light of nature is too dim to pierce into the depths of
evil; it acquaints not with the fomes of sin, and that inward strength
of evil that gave birth and nourishment to those uncouth actions;
some actual evils it discerns to be 60, but not the depraved principle
of them. Some actual evils are loathsome to men by nature, but not
the principle of them; men are not sensible what possession the evil
spirit of Adam hath of their souls. There must be, therefore, some
other light to pierce through the clouds of nature, and search into the
depths of the belly, and bring to view that habitual inconformity of
our nature, to that rectitude required of us, and once possessed by
us.

Secondly, It discovers not sin as the greatest evil in the world, neither
did ever nature hate sin as such, because nature is not endowed with
any spiritual affections by its natural descent. It never had a due
sense either of the authority or holiness of the lawgiver, nor ever
considered sin as a contempt of the sovereignty and purity of the
lawgiver and his law, wherein, indeed, the intrinsic evil of sin doth
consist, James 2:10, 11. Nature did excite some fears upon the guilt of
sin, but no grief for the filth of sin. Men by nature respect sin as it
stands in relation to the justice and omniscience of God, as it is the
object of his sight and knowledge, and the object of his revenging
justice and wrath, but not as it stands in contrariety to the purity of
God. As it is an afflictive evil they may regard it, but not as it is a
polluting evil; as staining their reputation, not as defiling their souls.
Nature giveth us but a little prospect of the beauty of God's holiness,
whereby we must measure the heinousness, malignity, and
odiousness of sin. As from the weakness of the relics of natural light
there are no strong and powerful motions to God, because, though
nature discovers something of God, yet not in all his perfections, and
the amiableness of his nature; so the convictions of sin are weak,
because there is not by that light a discovery of the abominableness
of it to God, and the intrinsic pollution, which is as essential to sin as
guilt. Neither, indeed, doth nature discover the consequents of sin in
their dreadfulness, and that wrath which will at last meet with it, and
overflow the sinner. The mind, therefore, must be enlightened by
some higher power to understand the holiness of God, thereby to
conceive the impurity of sin.

Thirdly, Nature discovers not the extent of sin in the invisible and
secret veins of it. Many branches of sin are invisible to nature; it doth
not discover sin in its latitude. Nature acquaints not with all the
duties to be done, nor the manner how to do them; therefore, tells
not of all the sins we are to shun, nor the manner how to avoid them.
It utters not a syllable of Christ the mediator, in whose name we are
to perform our duties, nor of the sanctifying Spirit, in whose strength
we are to perform them; nor of faith, through which principle we are
to do them; nor of the glory of God in all the ways of it, for which end
we are to do them; nor of the evangelical promises, from which we
are to take encouragement for the doing of them; and, consequently,
doth not shew the extent of sin, which consists in the failing in all
these. It did, indeed, dictate since the fall that God was to be
worshipped, and that with the best strength of the creature, but not
the manner and way of that worship, and therefore informs not of
sins committed against the true worship of God. It discovers not the
sinfulness of the first motions, and of the inward workings of lust.
The Jews, that had the improvements of nature by the discoveries of
the law, knew not the first inward motions, when stifled, to be sin.
They needed, though not the correction of the law, yet the
interpretation of our Saviour in his sermon on the mount. What sins
nature did make a discovery of, it did only manifest in some pieces
and parts, not in the whole scope of them. As the light of nature did
not shew the law of God in its wideness, so neither sin in its foulness.
It is necessary, therefore, that there should be some higher power to
discover those sins that are beyond the ken of natural light. By the
light of the sun we see the atoms and motes, that we can never
discern by the light of the stars.

Fourthly, Nature discovers not unbelief, the greatest sin of all.

Nature doth not convince of unbelief; what sight of it can nature
direct us to? The works of creation evidence not the mystery of
redemption, so the light of creation doth not evidence the sins
against that mystery. The light of nature discovers a Creator, but not
a Redeemer; because, though God made the world in order to that
glory he intended to get by redemption, yet he made not the world as
a Redeemer. And though it was made by that person who was the
Redeemer, yet it was not made in the way of redemption, nor with
the manifestation of those attributes of love, wisdom, and
righteousness, which were evident in the work of redemption.

A toad, upon the view of its image in a glass, knows not its own
deformity, nor the excellency of a man, or some other creature
superior to it, and therefore knows not how to measure its own
deformity; nor doth a natural man, with his depraved reason, know
himself by the glass of the word to be of a viperous brood, without
some common work of the Spirit. Men by nature are not ashamed of
sin as sin: Rom. 6:21, 'What fruit had ye then in those things,
whereof ye are now ashamed?' Now ashamed, intimating that in the
state of nature they were not ashamed. They were now ashamed
under the new light whereby they saw them in their nature, not
before, under their natural darkness, wherewith their eyes were
closed. Nature never discovers its own deformity. That is the first
thing; the light of nature is insufficient to discover or convince
thoroughly of sin. Nature is insufficient for this work.

(2.) The law barely of itself doth not convince thoroughly of all sin. It
discovers, indeed, more clearly some sins than the light of nature, in
regard it doth more evidence the sovereign authority and holy nature
of God, and consequently discovers the nature of guilt and the
greatness of the filth of sin, and brings to view upon an examination
of the heart those little sprouts and branches of sin in the first
motion which are not visible by star-light; yet this discovers not the
main condemning sin, it discovers not the work of redemption by
Christ. It commands faith in what God reveals, but not faith with
such a modification, directed to such an object as a dying Redeemer.
The voice of the law is not, 'He that believeth shall be saved,' but 'Do
this and live.' The knowledge of other sins is by the law, but the
knowledge of unbelief by the gospel. Yet this doth not convince us of
all actual sins of itself, not in regard of the inability of it as a rule, or
want of perfection in its prohibition of sin, but in regard, not only of
the multitude of our sins and infirmities, but the weakness of our
nature. Whence David, Ps. 19:12, cries out of secret sins, 'Who can
understand the errors of his life? Lord, cleanse me from my secret
faults.' He rightly imagined there were more sins in him than fell
under his discovery by that light. These properties of the law can
never be exercised but in the hand of God, as it is an instrument of
his managing and directing. How few souls, among those multitudes
of the Israelites, were rightly and thoroughly convinced by the
thunderings at mount Sinai, at the first publishing of the law! The
word is a sword, yet the sword of the Spirit, and can no more make
gashes in the conscience without the Spirit to wield it, than a sword
can pierce and cut without a strong arm to add force to its edge. God
himself appearing to a man by his bare word to his ear, without
exerting a power on his heart, cometh short of attaining to this end.
It was not presently that Adam came to a downright
acknowledgment of his sin, though charged with it by God in the
garden. Nor did Cain come to a kindly conviction and confession of
his sin, after all God's disputes with him about his sin, and
manifestations of his patience in making a hedge of his providence
round about him. So that the law, as it doth not discover all sin, sins
which are immediately against the gospel, so it is unable of itself to
convince without some powerful hand, the power of the Spirit of
God, to manage it. The reason of this insufficiency is,

First, The wrong notion of things, and the blindness of mind, in

natural men under the gospel. It is a notion that will not enter into
the hearts of men naturally, that sin is so odious and abominable to
God. Many things they count very light, and prop up themselves with
a hope of mercy, and it will not enter into their heart (it is so deeply
inlaid in their natures), that there is need of the death of the Son of
God to take away the guilt of sin, and the power of the Spirit to wash
away the filth of it. They are not ready to believe this, unless the arm
of the Lord pull up such notions, and root others in them. Hence
Isaiah cries out, 'Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed?' Who hath believed that ever sin is
attended with that guilt that the Messiah must be smitten of God,
stricken and afflicted, to repair the breaches sin hath made? We have
false opinions of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and
therefore the Spirit doth confute an opinion (as the word ἐλέγχειν
signifies) which had been settled in the soul; it shews us sins we
never dreamt of, a righteousness we never imagined, and a new
fountain of holiness. Rom. 1:21, 'When they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, and became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened.' Man believes he is as God created him;
he is ignorant of the corruption of his blood, believes himself holy in
his unholiness, righteous in his unrighteousness. Vice is hid in the
soul, worse than any outward disease in the body. Men easily find
their bodies ill-affected, but understand not the state of their souls
possessed by sin, because the understanding, which should judge of
the disease, is ill-affected itself. The foolish heart of man is darkened,
and being darkened cannot understand the disease, because that is
the power of judging, and that being corrupted, cannot judge in the
things it suffers. This makes soul-diseases naturally incurable,
causeth men to refuse the medicines, shun all means of recovery, and
be angry with them that apply remedies. Men may converse with the
law, understand the letter of it, while they are ignorant of the intent;
a man may see a glass without a reflection on himself. Paul, a
pharisee, was a student in the law, a doctor fit to teach the letter of
the law, yet there was a veil between him and the spirit of it, until the
Spirit held the law close to his conscience, Rom. 7:9. We may have
the outward letter and outward work too, when yet the brightness of
it, by reason of the thick mist on the mind, reacheth not the remote
part of the soul. Bring a man that hath lost sight and smell into a
nasty filthy place, he knoweth not but that it is a beautiful garden,
until his eyes be opened and his smell restored. Therefore there is a
necessity of the Spirit to enlighten the mind in this first work as well
as in all consequential acts. A necessity of the Spirit to enlighten our
minds, who, in regard of his omniscience, is able by the light of the
word to bring sins to view, out of their skulks and hiding-places. How
great is this ignorance of themselves in the best! We know but in
part, and as 'in a glass darkly,' either God or ourselves. And as we
stand in need of an high priest to pity us under our infirmities, so of
the Spirit to discover them to us, that we may have a spiritual
discerning of a spiritual mischief. For as there is a common natural
and a spiritual knowledge of God, so there is a natural and a spiritual
knowledge of sin: natural when men know such a thing to be sin, but
spiritual when they understand the spiritual filth, and pollution, and
mischief of sin. There is need of the Spirit that we may spiritually
discern the spiritual mischief, that we may know spiritual truths in a
spiritual manner, that we may know sins also with a spiritual eye.
Since the darkness of the mind is the cause of a vain walking, Eph.
4:17, 18, that can never be in any sort a remedy, which is the cause of
the disease, therefore the wrong notions of men make them un-
capable of working this conviction upon themselves by the law.

Secondly, Another reason is, a natural enmity to any such discovery,

which is universal in all men. There is nothing men more naturally
abhor than any thing tending to the rooting out those vicious habits
they are deeply in love withal. As men, when they know God, have no
mind to glorify him as God, so men, when they cannot avoid the
knowledge of the threatenings of God, have no mind to believe them
and consider them as the threatenings of God. Convincing arguments
always meet with contradiction from nature. It is for this very reason
men hate the light, lest their deeds should be reproved, their deeds
they be convinced of: John 3:20, 'Every one that doth evil hates the
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved;'
which light they would love well enough were it not attended with so
unpleasing an effect. Our Saviour pronounceth it universally of all
mankind, 'Every one that doth evil hates the light;' and who by
nature can pretend an exemption? Not a man by nature but abhors
more to have a conviction of sin, than the best believer abhors those
deeds he is convinced of; and this makes the conviction utterly
impossible by the mere strength of nature. Hence we are compared
to wild asses, that snuff up the wind, endure hunger and thirst,
undergo any inconvenience, rather than be convinced of a miserable
state, and submit to be reduced to a better. Hence where do you find
a man that yields to the first arguments brought against his lusts, but
struggles and strives against such conviction? Nay, do they not
cherish their beloved sins under rebukes, draw a curtain between
themselves and the law, and will see no faults in what they affect?
What an irrational folly did possess the pharisees, who, because
Christ by raising Lazarus had got a name and a greater number of
disciples, would have killed Christ and him, as though that power
that raised Lazarus, after he had been dead three days, could not
have preserved him from them, or, if they had killed him, could not
have raised him again, and restored life to him as often as they had
stripped him of it, or turned them into their graves! So hard is it to
convince men of sin, yea, and of common and rational truths, against
the overswaying love of their passions and interests. There is need
then of some superior power to set the light before men, and fix their
eyes upon it; for naturally men reject all impressions which come
upon them from any declaration of truth, and are no more friends to
it than darkness is in league with light, and cannot from themselves
have any due reverence to the word on the account of the authority of
it, and the holiness of God the author of it, but endeavour to
extinguish it as soon as ever they see any sparks of it in their hearts.

Thirdly, The weakness and falseness of natural conscience is another

thing that proves nature's insufficiency to such a work.

(1.) The weakness of it. Conscience, indeed, hath a natural power of

judgment, but not higher than the light in it. A clear light is
necessary to a right judgment; and when there is a light in it, yet
itself being dull and sleepy, must be roused up to perform its office.
As original corruption hath darkened the mind and enfeebled the
will, so it hath darkened this faculty (for there is no room in the
house that is privileged from infection), and the greater the strength
of sin, the weaker is the sense of it; for the defilement increaseth the
insensibility, Eph. 4:19, which is the state of men by nature, it being
the state of all the Gentiles. The fuller of dead works, the more
listless most it be in its office; for the strength of sin puts the
conscience under a restraint, and makes that a prisoner to it, which
should be a spy and monitor against it; 'who hold the truth in
unrighteousness.' There is an imprisonment of truth, and though
conscience doth sometimes reflect the light of the law upon the soul,
yet because of its weakness it is as unable to fire the soul as a small
spark is to inflame a reeking dunghill, or a burning-glass to fire
anything when the sun is masked with thick clouds and fogs.
Sometimes conscience makes false determinations and reflections
for want of knowledge; sometimes no reflections by reason of
stupefaction by sin, which is the effect of every sin, till it be roused by
the voice of God. Perhaps Adam's conscience might be put almost
into as deep a sleep by sin as his body had been by his Creator when
he took Eve out of it; for though he was sensible after his fall of his
being stripped of his righteousness, yet he doth not seem to be
convinced of his sin till God had spoke, which awakened his
conscience. Just after by his sin he fell from so great and so happy an
estate, the Scripture giveth no remark of any affrightment he had till
he heard the voice of God. Prisoners are jolly in the gaol till they hear
of the coming of the judge, though they know the crimes they are
guilty of. In some, conscience is so sleepy, or rather dead, that it may
he said of them, as of those, Acts 19:2, who when they were asked
'whether they had received the Holy Ghost,' they 'had not heard of
such a thing as the Holy Ghost:' so these have not heard of such a
thing as conscience.

(2.) The falseness of conscience, and its easiness to be deceived,

shews the unlikelihood of nature's ever convincing. An 'evil
conscience,' being opposed to a 'true heart,' by the apostle, Heb.
10:22, is a false conscience. The falseness of conscience lies in not
pressing what it knows. Every man by nature hath the same general
and natural notions which a renewed man hath; but conscience
makes not the soul sensible of what it knows, by urging things, and
bringing them to a particular application, and drawing them out in
rank and file. Though it hath a commission as God's deputy, yet it
neglects its charge, is bribed, and overawed, like an officer in a town,
who neglects the trust reposed in him by the governor. It is apt to be
deceived by outward performances, which doth incapacitate it to
convince men thoroughly; it is apt to have its mouth stopped by the
husk of a duty instead of a kernel; it troubles rather for gross sins
than for spiritual ones; nay, it doth not ordinarily rebuke for any
spiritual sin; leaves off reproving, and rather applauds men when
they engage in outward performances; saith, 'Well done, good and
faithful servant;' it is usually contented with the outward
performance, though there be more of self in it than of aim at God's
glory; with the work of the law, though there be not the power of the
law written in the heart. If it hath any voice at all, it is not loud, but
faint, like that of Eli to his sons, Do no more so; and it is apt to speak
peace when there is no ground of peace. This is universally the
disease of conscience in natural men. It conspires with the other
faculties, not to be injurious to the carnal interest in the soul. There
must therefore be, on the account of its falseness and weakness,
some higher power to rouse a sleepy conscience, rectify a depraved
conscience. Unless the eye be more piercing, the judgment more
sound, conviction can have no progress. Until the bullet be shot by
the Spirit, it will fall short of the mark.

Fourthly, A fourth reason which shews the insufficiency of nature to

such an end is the false disguises of sin, and the pretences for it,
which make the universal conviction of it impossible to nature.
Besides those notions of sin which naturally are in men's own minds,
they are swayed much by the common sentiments of others
concerning this or that practice; and when any vice is esteemed a
virtue, it is above the power of nature to affect the heart with that
which is commonly applauded as a matter of praise. The sinfulness
of actions which are attended with profit and honour is not easily
perceived; the whole bent of nature stands in defence of them,
interest, profit, and credit; whatsoever is dear to men, they are
mighty champions for it. Covetous, and ambitious, and proud men,
and whosoever are guilty of those sins that stream from these
fountains, do not easily acknowledge their crimes, because they lie
hid in the heart, they continually besiege the mind, fill up all corners
of the soul, that true reason hath not room to lift up its hand. Those
that are given to sensual pleasures and intemperance appear more
easily to acknowledge their sins in the intervals of lust, because these
are more brutish; but as for others their sins are more refined,
accounted necessary and generous; they have cloaks and covers for
them of frugality, fortitude, &c. Whence it appears men are more
easily brought to a sense of, and turning from, brutish vices than
from internal ones, those which spring up from a root more fast
settled in the heart, those vices which bring in honour, profit, and
esteem, such being more dear to men than those of pleasure, which
may be laid aside, and men being at great pains in undertaking to
nourish their ambition. In some things, men have an imagination
they act generously and bravely, even in their vices, which renders
them more inflexible to any reflections of conscience, and shews a
necessity of some higher power to take off the mask of sin, and
discover it without its disguise.

Fifthly, The subtle evasions of carnal reason render the universal

conviction of sin impossible to mere nature. What glosses will a
winding wit put upon sin, present evil as good, and good as evil! Ever
since man drew in the serpent's breath, he hath imitated the tempter
in this his masterpiece of false representations. Excuses for sin are
equally derived with the sin of our nature from our first parents in
their first sin. Adam and Eve did not deny their crimes, but cast the
blame from themselves, Adam upon Eve, Eve upon the serpent. And
Adam wraps God himself up in the society of his crime, charging it
on that snare that his wife was to him. Thus great sinners imagine
themselves innocent, when they can excuse their sin by the
inducement of others, and the constitution of their bodies, as if
anything could force the will; they will have subtle distinctions for
the extenuating of their sin, though their spots appear in all their
garments, and may be seen without searching for. Men will not many
times believe themselves sinners, by reason of the subtle distinctions
that a corrupt wit will find out, though their blackness be as visible as
that of a negro, and argue against strong rebukes as much as a
troubled conscience will against grounds of comfort. Men naturally
stand upon a sense of honour, are loath to condemn themselves
under apparent crimes, and for fear of punishment will rather reflect
upon God, and by distinctions blunt the edge of his word. And there
are other corrupt reasonings, by promises of future repentance,
hopes of mercy, entitling presumptuous sins infirmities, and such as
all men by nature are incident to, whereby they nonplus conscience
and delude their souls; and though they confess sin in the general,
yet they suspend as to a particular confession. Till this self-love be
discovered and overawed by the Spirit, little good is to be expected.
There is therefore need of the Spirit, ἐλέγχειν, to confute these
calumnies and stop men's mouths, and bring down the contrivers
and inventers of them to lick the dust. God only, who is omniscient,
and knows all the wards of the heart, can search the secret parts of it,
and bring sin to light, and the soul to spiritual reason.

Sixthly, The natural levity and inconstancy of the soul, renders it

impossible to nature to convince. It is from this instability, those
wrestings of Scripture, and evasions to turn away the dint of a
rebuking argument, do arise: 2 Peter 3:16, 'Which they that are
unstable and unlearned, wrest to their own destruction.' They are
naturally like clouds which have no certain basis, therefore as soon
can a natural cloud fix as they. Hence, men's convictions are like fits
of an ague, which have their intervals, and at last wear quite away.
Man can have no composedness nor consistency in himself, while he
is hurried about by various ends and objects, while in a state of
nature. All the power of nature can no more make an impression on
such fluid persons, than a man can draw a picture upon the water, or
plough the rivers, and make them receive seed and bring forth fruit.
Instability scatters and divides the powers of the soul, that they
cannot unite in any serious reflections. So that you see nature is
utterly insufficient, and there is a necessity of some higher power
than nature to convince the soul of sin. I shall add a,

(3.) Third argument. As neither nature nor law can do it upon those
accounts, and therefore there is a necessity of the Spirit for this
purpose; so it is necessary that this thorough conviction which ends
in conversion, should be the work of the Spirit, in regard of the
honour of God, that the whole new state, with all its antecedents, as
well as consequents, may be of God; that the hewing the stone, as
well as setting it in the building, the preparations of the members, as
well as uniting them to the head, may owe itself only to the divine
power, that all cause of glorying in ourselves may be cut off,
according to the intent of the gospel. If a man should convince
himself, and make himself sensible of sin, though afterwards he
should be brought to a through conversion and close with Christ, yet
the glory of the first sense and preparation will be the glory of the
flesh; but all flesh, in everything which concerns our recovery, must
be silent before God. As the Spirit doth all things about the head
Christ, so he doth all things about those he intends his members. As
Christ was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, that he might
have a sense of sin, and be acquainted with the craft and subtilty of
that adversary, which had brought all the dishonour upon God, and
sunk all mankind in misery; so the Spirit doth convince his members
of sin, suits the word providentially to make impressions, worketh
and preserves these impressions in them, that the whole work, the
ploughing up the fallow ground of the heart, as well as the sowing the
seed in it, may redound to the glory of God in the entire praise of it.

So that, you see, it is necessary the Spirit should convince of sin.

Nature cannot do it, cannot convince of the root of sin, and it cannot
convince of the evil of sin, and it cannot convince of the latitude of
sin, nor of unbelief. And the law, that cannot convince of unbelief,
nor indeed of any sin, without the Spirit's management of it, it being
the sword of the Spirit. The reason of the insufficiency of nature,
which is, the wrong notions of things, the blindness of mind under
the gospel, and a natural enmity universally in every man that doth
evil against any such discovery, the weakness and falseness of
natural conscience, and the false disguises of sin, pretences for it; all
which render universal convictions impossible; and so doth the levity
and unstedfastness of the soul; beside the necessity of it for the
honour of God.

III. The third question is, How doth the Spirit work these
convictions? And before I speak to that, take only this caution.
Though the Spirit doth work these convictions in the hearts of men,
and it is necessary he should, yet slavish fears, desperation, and
other sinful things consequent upon the knowledge of ourselves, are
not the work of the Spirit, and therefore do not flow from him by any
immediate impression of his upon the soul; but they are the
consequent of this sight and sense men have of the dreadfulness of
their state, which the Spirit shews them, by fixing their eye on the
glass of the law, and their thoughts upon their miserable condition.
As when a wild beast is tied to a post, or shut in a den, the hand that
fastens or shuts him in is not the cause of his snarling, and tossing,
and beating himself against the wall; this is a consequent of his own
wild disposition, as being in such a state; or, as the wrath of God,
which kindles hell, and locks and scorches the damned in the
perpetual prison, this as punishment and a physical evil belongs to
God, and is his proper act, but not those blasphemies and curses
which rise from the pain of the damned. If men in afflictions, which
may be remedied, do curse God, Isa. 8:21, much more will it be
consequent upon an endless misery, where there is no hope of
redress. It is impossible that a man under punishment, without the
hopes of a pardon, and being wholly corrupt, should have good
thoughts of a revenging God. Yet though God inflict what it just, he
doth not excite what is evil and unjust. So, though the Spirit makes
impressions upon men, discovers the misery of their state, sets their
sins in order before them, by the awakening of conscience, and by his
motion fixeth their minds on the consideration of them; yet those
sinful fears, accusations of God, charges against God, are not the
effect of the Spirit in them, but the babbling up of their own hearts
naturally incident unto that state they are apprehensive of. And now
to proceed unto that

Third question. How doth the Spirit work this conviction? The great
instrument whereby the work is wrought, is the law; he acts in such a
method in conviction as a Spirit of bondage, as he doth in assurance
as a Spirit of adoption. As he is a Spirit of adoption, the gospel is the
instrument whereby he works assurance; as he is a Spirit of bondage,
the law is the instrument, which is in a way of syllogism. When he
comforts, it is in this manner: 'He that believeth shall be saved;' but
the soul assumeth, But I believe, therefore I shall be saved. So it is in
this of conviction, 'Every one that believeth not, shall perish;' the
soul assumeth, But I believe not, therefore I shall perish. Every one
that is unholy shall not see God; I am unholy, saith the soul,
therefore I shall not see God. The first proposition is the evidence of
Scripture, the second is the evidence of conscience, the third is the
evidence of reason in a rational deduction. It is as a solemn court of
judicature: the first proposition consists of matter of law, He that
believeth not shall perish, the assertion of God; and, He that is
unholy shall not see God; this is matter of law, the assertion of God.
The evidence as to matter of fact, is given in the second proposition,
But I believe not, but I am unholy. The sentence is pronounced in the
third, Therefore I shall perish, therefore I shall never see God. In the
first, the soul is arraigned; in the second, tried and cast; in the third,
condemned. The instruments then which the Spirit useth in
convincing, are,

First, The law, which is the rule whereby to judge of the moral good
or evil of actions; and conviction is nothing else but the formal
impression of sin by the law on the conscience, or the reviving that
which was before imprinted; the blowing off the dust from the letters
of the law written in the soul. The

Second instrument the Spirit useth is the conscience, in the

conviction of the fact. This tells the soul of its breaking the law, and
contempt of the lawgiver; flies in the face with a Thou art the man,
and affects him as if the law had pronounced him by name accursed;
upon which account conscience is called a witness, Rom. 2:15. And
when this cometh and gives full evidence, the mouth is stopped,
Rom. 3:19, and the soul is said to die, Rom. 7:9, is no more able to
answer the accusations of the law, when applied by conscience, than
a man deprived of life is able to answer a word at the bar, but
remains as dead in law, under a sense of guilt. To assist conscience in
this work, is the greatest work the Spirit hath to do, which otherwise
would be silenced by men's lusts, or bribed to give in a false, weak, or
slight witness, ignoramus, or mince the matter. As in the syllogism,
whereby we come to assurance, it is the hardest matter to frame the
second proposition, But I believe, but I love God; the hardest matter
to find out the truth of grace; so it is the hardest matter in this way of
conviction to find out sin, to be sensible of the guilt of sin. As many
Christians do not own and find the truth of grace, by reason of their
fears, and doubts, and darkness, so many a sinner will not own his
sin, by reason of his self-love. Therefore the Spirit doth first work by
the law, this is the breath of his lips, wherewith he slays the wicked,
Isa. 11:4, which hath a greater force in the hand of the Spirit, than the
eloquence of the mightiest orator, and makes men fall down under
the power of it. As conversion is a knitting the heart and the gospel
together, so conviction is a knitting the heart and the law. As the
Spirit dwells in sons in a way of comfort, to make them call God
Abba, Father; so he is in sinners, in a way of conviction, to make
them regard God as a judge. As by the word men are forewarned
from sin, so by the word men are reproved for sin. This is the Spirit's
instrument, for God doth not in an ordinary way act immediately,
but useth instruments in all his works; not that we say that the law is
the cause of salvation (that is only by the gospel),—it is no more the
cause of it, than the lancing of a wound, letting out the putrefied
matter, is the cause of the cure,—but it discovers the depth of the
wound, and that corrupt matter which, residing there, would hinder
the cure, and fester, and end in putrefaction; or, as one saith, it is but
as a fisherman beating the river, or troubling the water to drive the
fish into the net. The Lord drives men into the net of the gospel,
whereby they are catched for God. There are three acts of the law,
justifying, directing, and convincing; the justifying act of the law is
out of doors, and a condemning act stepped into the room, since men
are 'concluded under sin,' Gal. 3:21–23. Man in his first creation
stood in an indifferency to the promises and comminations of the
law, according as his carriage should be, but when sin came, the
promise of the law was of no force, because the condition of
obedience was not performed, whereupon man lay under the power
of the curse. The directing power of the law remains, as a rule to
guide us; for the work of Christ was to reduce us to obedience. The
convincing power of it is of perpetual use, for the discovery of the
depth of sin in the heart: Ps. 19:12, 'Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from my secret faults.' Of perpetual use even to believers
too, in regard of the contest with spiritual sins, even for the discovery
of spiritual sins. There is a spiritual use of a spiritual law, to manifest
those sins to a believer; in which respect it is not a terror to a
believer, but a delight, because it discovers the enemies of God in the
soul, and makes it run to the fountain of Christ's blood in the gospel
for the cleansing of them; so that the more this revealing power of
the law is used, the more occasion hath faith to manifest itself in
recourse to the gospel promise. In these two latter respects the law is
of constant and necessary use: the convictive is necessary to affect us
with sin, and the insufficiency of our own righteousness; and the
directive is not destroyed, but enforced by the gospel. We must know
ourselves, and know God; the law giveth us a knowledge of God in
his authority and holiness, and a knowledge of ourselves in our
subordination and vileness. And,

First, The Spirit discovers sin by the law. It is the end of all laws to
inform the understanding of what is to be done, and consequently of
men's deviation from them: and so absolutely necessary the law is for
this discovery, that the apostle owns all his knowledge of sin to come
from thence: Rom. 7:7, 'I had not known sin but by the law;' by this
sin is revived: Rom. 7:9, 'When the commandment came, sin
revived;' as the moisture in wood is excited by the fire, wheezing out
at the end, which was not discerned before. The rectitude of the rule
discovers the crookedness of our nature; the perfection of the law,
the degenerateness of the soul; the purity of the law, the pollution of
the heart; the spirituality of the law, the carnality of our minds. The
rule being altogether excellent, discovers a man altogether vile: Gal.
3:19, 'The law was added because of transgression;' to discover the
filth, stench, and venom of a man's heart and actions, and make him
to lie under the condemnation of it, without any accusation of the
righteousness of God. Hence it is said, that 'The law entered that sin
might abound,' Rom. 5:20; not to make it abound by encouraging the
commission of it, but by impressing the conviction. A man before
thinks himself a scanty and mole-hill sinner, but after the sight of the
law, deep consideration, and the sense of it, he seeth himself a large
and mountainous sinner, though he may appear small to the eye of
man. And the Spirit discovers by the law the extent of sin; by the
breadth of the law, the Spirit helps us to measure the latitude of sin.
Naturally we think not sin to be so great as it is, but its dimensions
are seen through the glass of the word, which shews it to be
exceeding broad; as a star which a child thinks is but a little spark, is
known and discerned by an instrument to be bigger than the globe of
the earth. The Spirit shews the extent of the precept, and thereby
measures the wideness of the sins; he discovers the purity of the
precept, and thereby the filthiness of sin. And as he discovers sin, so,

Secondly, Secret and lurking sins he discovers by the law. The Spirit,
by this dissecting knife, opens the entrails of the heart, to manifest
the secret holes and traverses of this inward serpent; as when the
body is opened, all the little strings within are plainly seen to the
back-bone, τετραχηλισμένα, everything in the whole composition of
it lies open to public view, Heb. 4:12, 13. It divides soul and spirit; it
discovers what cattle litter in the affections and fancy. It doth
unmask those spiritualised sins which harbour in the understanding
and will; those lusts which appear abroad in the garb of virtues, as
acts of gallantry and generosity; though they looked like stars of the
firmament, it shews them to be but some unhappy vapours. The
Spirit by the word opens both heart, and mind, and affections; the
spiritual and sensitive part of the soul of man brings the conscience,
as he did Ezekiel, from chamber to chamber, to see the vermin which
crawl in every part; and as in dissection we see the valves and small
fibres of the body, so the thoughts and intents of the heart, the secret
aims wherein the spirit of wickedness lies, the counsels which gave
the first birth unto sin, the close intents that had a fair outside, like a
venomous serpent in a golden box, these the Spirit brings to light; it
rifles the very corners, and sheweth the inwardest and the least
things, and fetcheth up that mud which lay under a clear stream,
which conscience was not acquainted with before. And this discovery
of lurking sins is not from the innate power of the law,—that hath not
a power of omniscience,—but by the Spirit working by that law. It is
God that 'searcheth the heart,' Jer. 17:10 It is God's heart, like Elisha,
in 2 Kings 5:26, that goes with every man when he doth this or that.
The Spirit doth work by the law, in the discovery of sin, both as to the
extent of it, and as to secret sins. So,

Thirdly, It discovers the wrath of God due to sin by the law. As the
gospel is a glass reflecting the glory and love of God upon the heart,
so the law is a pure glass reflecting the holiness and wrath of God
upon the conscience. The gospel represents God upon a throne, with
a sceptre of grace and righteousness; the law exhibits him upon a
tribunal of justice, with a rod of iron and wrath. As the gospel is
called the 'word of reconciliation,' so the law is the word of wrath; it
shews a man lying under God's displeasure at the brink of the pit,
and holds him quaking over the smoke of hell. As the gospel is the
ministration of life, so the other is the ministration of death; it shews
wrath entailed upon the least as well as the greatest iniquity,
brandisheth and darts curses against the sinner. God is discovered in
arms against the soul, going forth conquering and to conquer, with
death and hell marching before him: Rom. 2:8, 9, 'indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul that doth evil.' Sin is
shewn in its filthiness, and wrath in its dreadfulness; sin, too, in its
guilt. By the law we discern our debts, and are assured they must be
paid. The law lays hold of every sinner, like that servant in the
Gospel, and, with a dreadful voice, claims the debt, 'Pay me that thou
owest!' That is the first thing the Spirit works by the law as an
instrument.
Secondly, The Spirit doth stir up the natural notions and acquired
knowledge in the mind in this conviction. He lets loose those truths
in the heart which were prisoners in the chains of unrighteousness,
to be assistant in this work, as invaders put arms into the hands of
those prisoners which had been under a force before. This work is
the exciting and reflecting the light and knowledge in the
understanding upon the conscience, whereby the creature feels the
heat of the light, which in its direct beams he did not; nor doth
knowledge swimming in the brain affect; he blows up the sparks of
reason to a height, and, like the sun, draws forth the sap of those
notions implanted in the heart, making them sprout up according as
he first set them. For, as the sowing this seed was by the hand of the
Spirit, so the improvement of these principles sown is, by the breath
of the Spirit, in a way of common grace. He caused the birth, and he
causes the growth too; that which he had sown he preserves and
excites, so that when these notions are excited by the Spirit, men see
double to what they did before discern of the secrets of wisdom and
righteousness, and accordingly that there are more transgressions
according to the law of nature than men usually dream of, which
makes them justify God in the way of his judgments: Job. 11:5, 6, 'Oh
that God would speak and open his lips against thee, and that he
would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that
which is! Know, therefore, that God exacteth of thee less than thine
iniquity deserveth.' It is an answer to Job's complaint, that his
afflictions were without ground; which Zophar answers, that if the
secrets of wisdom in the law of nature were excited, it would discover
sin enough to justify God in his proceedings. The law of Moses was
not in being in the time of Job, but in the original copy, the law of
nature, and the common notions of mankind. The Spirit stirs up
these in this conviction, and though the Spirit takes these, and works
by the excitation of natural light, yet he brings in also another light,
because the chief conviction he aims at is the corruption of the state,
not only that of corrupt acts; the necessity of a mediator and a sense
of spiritual sins, which cannot be wrought merely by that light which
is naturally in the mind. It stirs up, therefore, principles already
impressed, and introduceth principles not yet impressed, and binds
both of them on the soul; for it convinceth by way of argument, and
therefore its convictions must be founded on somewhat which the
soul knew before, or arise from a new light attended with a greater
evidence. Now, the Spirit of God doth not put out nature by the
shining of grace, but improve, perfect, and regulate it, putting it into
a right channel, making it to serve the ends of grace; so in this act of
conviction, he maketh the natural knowledge subservient, and
rouseth up that knowledge which lay rusty and useless. There is use
of this, for God acts in a rational manner, that reason may be
employed in this case; hence are his appeals to men (Isa. 5:3) of a
depraved reason, 'O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.' Had reason no
competency at all to judge of the unprofitableness and the bad return
the vineyard had made to God, the appeal had been fruitless; but the
appeal implies that even natural reason would have cast the verdict
on God's side; so in conviction the Spirit doth stir up that natural
light in the mind, and that acquired knowledge that it hath to be
assistant in this work.

Thirdly, The Spirit doth irradiate and enlighten the mind and
practical judgment. The Spirit brings a man to belief of the truth in
the word by clear and undeniable reason, and by rectifying and
elevating the understanding. As he makes the characters written
upon the heart legible, so he enlightens the dim mind, and snuffs the
candle of the Lord, that they may be read, Prov. 20:27, that thereby
'the inward parts of the belly' may be searched. In this regard he is
called a Spirit of bondage; not that he brings ns into bondage, but as
he opens the curtain of sin and the blind eye to see the bondage sin
hath brought it into. The truths of God in the word have an objective
light, and the Spirit doth enlighten the mind, not by discovering new
notions and giving new objects of knowledge only, but by creating a
dogmatical faith and an assent onto those principles, and helping as
to receive right and distinct notions of those things which are
represented. And it is such a faith which the Spirit in this work doth
create, which is not only apprehensive but quietative; it not only
apprehends the things themselves, but the soul rests in them for
truth, not that they are grounds of comfort in themselves, but doth
clearly assent to them for truth, and own them, and fully assent onto
them. There is a faith of assent common to men, but the Spirit
quickens this faith in conviction that it hath a fuller prospect of these
things which he doth discover, which were weakly and imperfectly
assented to before; and the soul weighs these particulars which the
Spirit sets before it more seriously than ever it did. This is a
necessary work of the Spirit, for a stupefied judgment is a bar to any
recovery; but when the light of the word and the light of the mind
meet together, the issue is a full discovery of the motes in the soul
and sink in the heart.

Fourthly, The Spirit excites and actuates the conscience, sets the
conscience to smite, as David's heart smote him, upon the Spirit's
touch by the ministry of Nathan. Most men know such and such
actions to be sinful; they know unbelief to be a damning sin, God to
be a righteous God, Christ the only Saviour, yet how few know these
things convincingly, with an application of them to the conscience!
How few have the descent from the speculative to the practical
judgment, to be affected with them and with their own deplorable
state! The Spirit, as it increaseth the light, it doth sharpen this faculty
of conscience for self-reflection; direct beams are darted in to shew
the object, and an edge is put upon the faculty to do its office. Light is
shot in upon the understanding by the Spirit in the word, and fire is
struck upon the conscience; suitable passions are raised in the heart
by that light in the mind. As the Spirit of adoption giveth efficacy to
the gospel, in affecting his soul with righteousness, so, as he is a
Spirit of bondage, he giveth efficacy to the law to affect the
conscience with guilt; he lets loose the natural activity of conscience,
he arms it with a renewed commission, he opens the mouth of this
herald of God, and makes it denounce dreadful things; he enlargeth
it to take in the impressions of wrath, and transmit them to all parts
of the man; he reviveth the guilt, and rouseth the conscience, the
serpent in the bosom ariseth and hisseth, and conscience in man
being awakened, lashes him. Thus sin being revived, and conscience
awakened, they lay the soul flat and breathless. 'Sin revived, and I
died.' Guilt is so strongly reflected, that a man doth not simply
understand himself to be in a damnable state, but feels in himself the
filthiness and misery of that state, and becometh a judge and witness
against himself, acknowledging the righteousness of God, and the
unrighteousness of his nature. Conscience, thus actuated by the
Spirit, pleads sharply from the law against the soul (as a king's
attorney doth against a prisoner at the bar), takes off all excuses,
beats it off from all apologies made in its defence, and reproacheth
him for it, Job 27:6. It brings not only the substance of sin but the
circumstances to mind, and what rebukes itself gave before to hinder
the commission, just as it will at the last day deliver those truths that
were suppressed and clouded in unrighteousness, and usher them in
as be many speaking witnesses; the memory is also revived to assist
conscience in this work. Now, the Spirit only can excite conscience;
though conscience hath a power to judge, yet it must have a light to
judge by, and because it is sleepy and dull, it must be soundly
roused; and therefore there is the same need that the Spirit should
set conscience right, as any other faculty; because that is depraved,
as well as the understanding is darkened and the will perverted.

Fifthly, The Spirit brings forgotten sins to mind, and presseth them
upon the conscience. As the Samaritan woman concludes Christ to be
the Messiah, because he 'told her all that ever she had done,' John
4:29, so the renewing upon us the sense of all that ever we did, is an
evidence of the Spirit's work. When old, forgotten sins are brought to
light in the mind, it is an effect of God's Spirit, who is greater than
our hearts, and knoweth all things. Thus the Spirit doth set in order
youthful sins in old age, makes men to 'possess the sins of their
youth,' as in Job; and gathers iniquities laid in the dust together,
upon the beating the drum of conscience, and fills the soul with the
sense and consideration of them, and brings in an old score of sin
with many items. Item, such a time a contempt of God; such a time a
speculative wickedness; such a time a quenching of the Spirit;
profane speech; swarms of vain thoughts and vile lusts; the many
aggravations of sin against mercies, in the very face of God, when a
pardon was offered; rebellion against the light of conscience; stifling
holy motions; breaking the bonds of love; the influence our sins had
upon others; principles and root of sin; enmity to God; secret rising
of heart against the purity of the law. Thus it brings sins that were
forgotten, and sets them home: Ps. 119:59, 'I considered my ways.'
He counted his ways and his sins one by one, as the word there
signifies, as much as he could, and as the Spirit of God directed.
Though many times the Spirit lays one sin closest, yet all the rest are
brought in, and severally charged; as in a pestilent disease all the
humours wherewith the body was troubled before run into that
infectious disease; and the soul is made to read those sins as plainly
as if they had been committed but the day before. A wicked man
'knoweth not whither he goeth,' 1 John 2:11; he hath no clear
knowledge of the nature of sin and the dreadfulness of wrath. But the
Spirit in this work makes us not only see sin, but giveth an intuitive
knowledge of it; draws the veil from the face of sin, washeth off its
varnish, pulls away its fine dress and attire, and presents it as the
greatest evil, and in its most Ethiopian deformity.

Sixthly, The Spirit fixeth the sense of the most terrible attributes of
God upon the soul in this work. His justice, eternity, holiness, are
brandished against him, and mercy seems standing aloof from him.
He makes him look upon justice incensed, holiness disparaged,
mercy slighted, power preparing a Tophet of wrath, and kindling it
against it, and eternity perpetuating the punishment; and hides all
considerations of God that might give hope of relief. Upon these
perfections of God, which breathe terror against the sins of men, is
conviction founded. Men naturally have a greater sense of God's
mercy than any other attributes, because mercy and patience are
more continually exposed to their view, in the warm sun, influences
of heaven, fruitful showers, and kindly provisions, which multiply
the notion of his mercy in the minds of men. And from those ideas,
fortified by these common works of kindness, and from self-love in
men's breasts, doth arise men's confidence and presumption in the
mercy of God. And therefore the soul is never soundly convinced of
its own natural state till self-love be shaken, and the other attributes
of God seriously pondered and owned. When the soul is in a dead
sleep, there is no consideration of justice; and when awakened by the
law, without the sight of the gospel, and a discovery of his mercy in
Christ, like Adam and Eve the soul runs from God's presence, and
every voice of God is terrible; and finding himself culpable, and
seeing nothing but a sea of sin, he fears the justice of God, that the
sovereign Judge of all the world will bring him to a speedy account,
and inflict that death that he knows himself worthy of. Now, the
consideration of these attributes have in the holiest men always
caused in them reflections on their iniquities. Hence holy men in
Scripture, upon some apparition of God, or an angel, were full of
apprehensions of God's holiness and their own impurity, which
possessed them with expectations of death, when they looked upon
God as a consuming fire, and themselves as dry stubble, Ezek. 3:6,
Judges 13:22, Isa. 6:6.

Seventhly, The Spirit of God removes, in this work of conviction, all

the former supports which the soul leaned upon. It blows up all the
little castles of defence, puffs them away as chaff, makes conscience
work through all the plasters laid on to assuage the grief, lays the
soul naked without any covering. The heart of man being stuffed with
self-love, frames a multitude of miserable comforters as weak as
Adam's fig-leaves; but when the Spirit ariseth in the ministry of the
law, he tears all those coverings, nonplusses all those subtile
evasions, breaks all those props and crutches in pieces, and casts
down the soul before the foot of God's righteous judgment, that it
dares not cast a glance, a loving look, towards that Sodom which God
hath fired; knocks off the hands from all those things whereby men
would compound with God and their guilty consciences; all the
strong reasonings for the life of their lusts, and the presumptuous
arguings for the salvation of their souls, fall before the battery of the
word, which like an engine plays against the high-built and pleasant
imaginations. He pulls up the foundation of their own righteousness,
strips it of its painted garment, and makes them look upon their
pretended beauties as loathsome deformities. When sin revives by
the commandment, the sinner dies in the former opinion he had of
himself; the sentence of death in himself is attended with death in all
his comforts. And upon this account afflictions are mighty helpful to
this work, when the Spirit sets in with them. When the supports of
sin are drawn away, the evil of sin is more seen, which was not
observed by men in the midst of their wealth and pleasure. When he
'holds them in afflictions,' then 'he shews them their work and their
transgression, wherein they have exceeded; he openeth their ear also
to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity,' Job
36:8–10. On this account God takes afflictions as the proper season
to carry on this convincing work. For the rod puts life into the word,
and makes men look inward to their consciences, and outward to
their actions. When their former supports are pulled down about
their ears, and conscience is quickened by the Spirit, then is the time
for it to shew its commission; whereas in the hurry of pleasures it
was wholly silent. And while the Spirit doth arm conscience against a
man, he doth suspend the force and fury of his lusts, which before
stopped the mouth of it.

Eighthly, The Spirit makes the soul intent upon the consideration of
its sin, and those evidences which are brought in against it.

(1.) Upon the consideration of its sin. The thoughts of his sin haunt
him like so many ghosts, and conscience, like Zipporah to Moses,
flies in his face; not once, but with a repetition, 'A bloody husband
hast thou been unto me.' It gives no respite, every thought is a
particular sting; wherever he looks, sin stares upon him; and
wherever he is or moves, conscience is with him, thundering in his
ears the curses of the law, and flashing in his face the fire of hell, and
presenting the black scroll to his consideration. His sin is ever before
him, which Job calls, chap. 13:27, a patting his feet in the stocks. He
cannot move but he feels the smart of his wounds at every motion.
The Spirit 'seals instruction;' he sets such a brand upon the
conscience, that all the art of men cannot raze it out; it is held in by
the law, Rom. 7:6, and 'filled with bitterness,' Job 9:18. The Spirit
stakes him down, and points him to his sins. Lo, these are thy sins,
and these will be thy plagues without a conversion. He will not let
him take one sweet draught, nor a mouthful of cool air; he fixeth his
eyes upon sin with sorrow, as much as his eyes were before upon it
with joy. The soul had heard a thousand times of its lying, swearing,
drunkenness, uncleanness, and other wickednesses; the necessity of
conversion, the misery of hell, and the pleasures of heaven; but all
were vanishing sounds, till the Spirit sounds the trumpet of the law,
and fixeth truths upon the conscience, and maketh reason perform
its office; then he 'holds the eyes waking,' Ps. 77:4, and the soul
cannot speak of anything but its trouble. For as the Spirit brings to
remembrance the promises of Christ, and fixeth them as a ground of
faith, brings to remembrance the precepts of Christ, and settleth
them upon the soul as a ground of obedience, so, as a Spirit of
bondage, he brings the threatenings of the law, and leaves the stamp
of them upon us, that we cannot look off from them; inlays the law in
the heart as a law of death, as in conversion and faith it is engraven
as a law of life. Thus Christ dealt with Paul; Acts 9:4, tells him of his
persecuting, 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?' When Paul would
know who it was who spoke to him: ver. 5, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth;'
yet holds his eyes still upon his sin, 'Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest.' These considerations break in like a deluge on the soul,
so that none can stop them, and they attend the person at his bed,
and table, and shop, and walk, and they incorporate themselves with
him. And the Spirit

(2.) Doth follow the soul with one word after another, and presseth
and urgeth more and more that which may make a thorough
conviction. The word to natural men is like a flash of lightning, that
scareth and vanisheth; it is like an arrow shot against a brazen wall,
that immediately falls down again; it is a glass wherein a man seeth
his face, and quickly forgets his own physiognomy. But the Spirit in
this work holds the glass before the face, presseth upon the soul the
pure interpretation, the sense and meaning of the law, drives it deep,
like a nail that cannot be pulled out, doth many times providentially
guide a man to those places of Scripture that sharpen the conviction,
and rend the soul wider, as a torn garment is by every nail that
catches hold of it; and never leaves it till he brings it to subscribe, I
am the man whose name is written here, I am the man who is meant
in this curse. But then,

Ninthly, The Spirit springs up fears in the soul at the consideration of

this state. Fears, so far as they are not sinful, are the work of the
Spirit, as a Spirit of bondage; he concludes it under a state of
unbelief, makes it understand the intolerableness and duration of its
misery in that state, puts the question to it, whether it can dwell with
everlasting burnings? The Spirit presents it with a pure law, a
righteous judge, and a deserved wrath. Now it is natural for any man
under the just sentence of the law for a capital crime, to be full of
dread. There is fire and thunder in the particular application of the
law, as there was in the first delivery of it on mount Sinai; and since
the transgression of the law, there is nothing but death, horror, and
the curses of it, ready to seize upon the soul. It may well set the
holiest men, when they examine themselves by it, on trembling, as
Moses did at the delivery of it, Heb. 12:21. And indeed it is
impossible for the Spirit to act, in an ordinary way, but according to
the nature of that word which is presented to the mind. If a promise
be applied, the proper consequent of that is comfort; if a threatening
be impressed upon the mind, the proper consequent of that is terror;
if a precept, the immediate operation of that is obedience. Therefore
the Spirit can be no other but a spirit of bondage, exciting troubles in
the soul, as it works by the law, because there is no promise of
reward in that, but to those that perfectly obey. If the law met with a
pure heart, free from all taint of sin, the Spirit would engender
comfort by it; but since there are deep spots in the hearts and
natures of all men, God by the law only persuades them of the truth
of that; and it is impossible that from the law alone anything should
arise but what is slavish. If the Spirit speak no other word but the
law, it can produce nothing but terror and condemnation. What
terrors must then seize upon the spirits of men, and what distresses
be rooted in their souls, when they consider themselves cut off from
all hopes of mercy by the law, having broken it, and no promise
giving any ground of comfort, but a curse pronounced by the
violation of it? And how severe that is you may see: Gal. 3:10,
'Curseth is every one that continueth not in every thing to do it.' Now
when a man seeth he hath no title to heaven in regard of the curse,
no disposition to heaven in regard of his nature, and that the curse of
the law is his right before the legal bar, and beholds the sparklings of
wrath, without any cloud to shelter him, can a man see this without
self-condemning, and a crying out, 'I am undone, I am undone'?
When conscience is thus awakened, sin thus presented, the law thus
manifested, and the soul held down to the consideration of all, it is as
impossible it can be without inward convulsions, as the ground
without earthquakes which hath air in its bowels without any vent.
This thunder from Sinai raiseth nothing else but blackness, and
darkness, and storms in the region of the soul.

Lastly, The Spirit, in a saving conviction, brings the soul after this
wounding to a self-debasing and humiliation. Man is the most
backward in the world to the charging guilt upon himself, he is more
skilful at self-excuses than self-indictments; but the Spirit brings the
soul to comply with the end of the ministration of the law, which is,
'that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God,' Rom. 3:19. By this revelation of the secrets of the heart,
and the urgency of conscience, the overpowering work of the Spirit,
the soul makes a positive conclusion against itself to the glory of God,
1 Cor. 14:25. Thus by sharpening his arrows in the hearts of his
enemies, Ps. 45:5, he makes his enemies fall under him, in an
acknowledgment of his righteousness and power, and the unlikeness
of their hearts to the purity of the law; not extenuating the guilt, but
loading themselves with it to a self-abhorrence; abhorring
themselves in dust and ashes, counting themselves as dead dogs, to
violate so holy, righteous, just, and good a law; and turning all their
self-righteousness to shame, heartily wishing those sins which gall
them had never been committed. And after this, when the gospel is
presented, the soul enters into debates with itself, and makes a
judicious comparison between the first covenant, and condemnation
by that, and the second covenant, and life by that. Here are flames of
wrath, and there are rivers of joy; here is a lake that burns, there is a
paradise that refresheth; here is a flying roll, full of curses, which will
seize upon me, there is a rich gospel, full of blessings, that is offered
to me; here is death to sinners that will not have God to reign over
them, there is life to believers that submit with the obedience of
faith. If I sin while I live, I must perish when I die; I must be saved by
grace, or be punished by wrath. And shall I sin away my hopes, to fall
into a miserable eternity? shall I sin myself to death, when the
promise of grace is freely made to me in order to my salvation? Thus
the soul is brought to a sense of sin by the law, and the insufficiency
of the creature, and then welcome Christ, and gospel, and covenant,
and promises of grace; welcome the yoke of Christ. And when it
cometh to this, then conviction ends, hath its perfect work,
concluding in a thorough conversion and acceptance of Christ.

IV. The fourth thing; what sins, or what in sin the Spirit
doth chiefly convince of!

The conviction by any other cause is partial, it is but half baked, roast
on one side, and raw on the other; the Spirit's conviction is universal,
he holds a right rule to the crooked heart; he measures all the
dimensions of the soul, and of sin in it, considers root and branch,
leaves and fruit. As the Spirit in a good man mortifies all sin,
cleanses from all sin, so in this work he discovers all sin.

First, The Spirit usually singles out some one sin at the first to set
home upon the soul; sometimes some base unworthy action, some
blasphemous word, some disparaging thought of God, some captain
and master sin, which is first brought out to face the soul, and
presented in its hideous shape: as crucifying the Saviour of the world
was charged by Peter upon the Jews, Acts 2; fornication upon the
woman of Samaria, by Christ, John 4:18. As the Spirit of adoption, in
working assurance, evidenceth to the soul some one particular grace
which is wrought in the soul, whereby he may be able to judge of his
state; so, as a Spirit of bondage, he presseth some particular sin at
first, whereby a man may judge of his deplorable condition. Some
one sin the Spirit takes hold of, to begin this work of conviction. But
though one sin chiefly sticks in the conscience at first, yet in the
Spirit's work all others do rush in afterwards to have their share.
When one bee cometh forth and stings one that hath disturbed the
hive, the rest come out to revenge the quarrel; or when one mastiff
sets upon a passenger, all the rest will come barking in. The guilt of
one sin is let loose upon the conscience; not that the work ends here
(for then the soul might be lost), but this is an introduction. Judas's
thought dwelt only upon one sin, Mat 27:4, betraying innocent blood,
that did affect him; but he never searched further into the kennel,
never into the depravation of his nature. But the Spirit begins at one,
and leads the soul from chamber to chamber, from lust to lust, till it
hath viewed the whole den by degrees; for he doth not shew all at
once, that the soul for whom he hath kind thoughts may not fail
before him.

Secondly, The Spirit usually convinceth the soul first of gross sins.
He begins with these, because they are more legible and obvious by
natural light, which of itself condemns them, and sets the soul
speechless. As in the siege of a town, batteries are planted against
that part of it which is weakest. Sins in the conversation are more
visible than those that lie secret in the heart, other sins are obscured
by these outward ones, as stars are by a bigger light, and a little spot
by a greater stain; these are more visible to the inward senses, and
more easily read by conscience, by principles of reason which rise up
in accusation of them. David's murder and adultery first affected his
conscience by Nathan's ministry, but in the progress he complains of
his hypocrisy, Ps. 51:10; of those sins which poured in their streams
to the increasing that river, those auxiliaries which had contributed
their assistance to maintain his heart in its hardness for that sin. As
in thankfulness one great mercy appears, but when that is dissected,
the whole train of mercies appear; so in conviction, one gross sin first
shews itself, and when this is discerned, the whole litter comes in
view. Christ rouseth Paul for his persecution first, but after, if spread
further on his conscience; for he acknowledges himself not only a
persecutor, but a blasphemer and injurious. The Spirit holds the
conscience to the visible letter of the law before he applies the
invisible spirit of it to the heart, and affects the heart with that which
is biggest, because of its nearness, rather than others, which, though
as bad or worse, seem less by reason of their remoteness.

Thirdly, The Spirit from thence proceedeth to the conviction of the

bosom sin. All men worship some golden calf, set up by education,
custom, natural inclination, or the like; and while a Delilah lies in the
bosom and engrosseth the affections, the soul cannot be set with its
love upon God; and if the heart be disaffected to this, the others are
more easily hated. When a general is taken, the army runs. This is
the great stream, others but rivulets which bring supply. The
disaffecting the soul to this, facilitates the remaining work, because
this is the strongest chain wherein the devil holds a man, the main
fort. The Spirit fights against the lighter parties that come forth, but
chiefly against that which hath been the great commander of all the
other forces against God, and the greatest confidence of the devil. As
a wise general directs his force against the stoutest body, wherein the
strength of the enemy consists, when that is worsted, the arms
presently fall out of the hands of the rest. Other sins are as the
stragglers of an army, by the routing of which the victory is not
obtained, but by the shattering the main body. The Spirit doth chiefly
convince of this bosom sin. Violence was the soldiers', extortion was
the publicans' sin, and the Spirit directs John Baptist against these;
hypocrisy was the darling iniquity of the pharisees, Christ plants his
battery most against this; Paul, in his whole progress after
conversion, abhors most his persecution. As sanctification is a
cleansing a man from his iniquity, so is a conviction of the Spirit, a
discovering to a man his proper iniquity, Ps. 18:21.

Fourthly, Thence the Spirit directs the soul to a sight of its corruption
by nature, opens the root of bitterness, makes us smell the sink of
sin, discovers the dunghill whence all these little serpents derived
their life and strength, shews us the rotten core as well as the worm-
eaten skin; that the nature of the person lies in wickedness, as a mole
in the earth, or a carcase in putrefaction, 1 John 5:19, all under sin,
no good spring in the heart; that there is poison in the heart, that
taints every work of the hand, imagination, fancy, thoughts of the
mind, and motions of the will. He brings a man from the chamber of
outward to the closet of inward sins, until he arriveth to the large
room of nature; bids him see if he can find out one clean corner in
the heart, and so conducts him to the first sin of Adam, makes him
behold the first fountain whence all issued, and all little enough to
make the proud heart stoop to God. He makes him consider he is
deeply concerned in that first sin, though so many revolutions of
years have passed. This makes a man vile in his own eyes, that he
cannot look upon himself, but with confusion and an universal blush.
God looks to this sin of nature as the ground of punishment: Gen.
6:5, 6, 'The imagination of the heart was only evil,' and therefore it
repented God that he made man on the earth; therefore the Spirit
doth affect most with this in conviction. As Christ came to cure the
wound of nature, so the Spirit shews the impurity of nature in order
to that cure; he would not else act upon the foundation Christ had
laid. He is sent to convince men of their need of Christ, therefore of
that which lays men under the greatest necessity of Christ, which is
the violation of the first covenant, and the evil consequents of it. As
the Spirit in mortification strikes to the root of sin, so in conviction
he digs to it; as in sanctification he cleanses from the sink of sin, so
in conviction he shews it. Christ, in his discourse with Nicodemus,
lays this open to him, who thought the doctrine of the necessity of
regeneration a strange kind of discourse, and must needs think so,
until he understood, John 3:6, that 'that which is born of the flesh is
flesh,' that nature was universally depraved. David begins with a
sense of his adultery in his conviction, but traceth up his sin to the
spring, his natural conception, Ps. 51:5. He followeth the young cubs
to the old one's den, where he found sin's mark upon every member
at his first formation. If the Spirit did not convince of this, he did
little or nothing to the purpose; for as long as we think there is any
good in us, we shall depend upon it, and never go to Christ. But when
we see the running issue of nature, as well as the outflowings of
nature, then we shall with open arms fly to him. To be ignorant of
this, and complain of other sins, is a sign of conscience but half
awakened. This is the proper work of the Spirit, and it cannot be
done without this; the branches and fruit are visible, so are the
beams and rafters of a house, but the root and foundation lies under
ground. The Spirit shews this corruption of nature not by a
glimmering but clear light; not only shews a man that he is fallen,
but makes him see the heavens in their glory, from whence he fell;
hell in its misery, to which he fell. He affects him with his nature, as
the seminary of all sin, as a womb to prepare and ripen sin, until a
suitable temptation is offered to give birth to it.

Fifthly, The Spirit convinceth of the evil nature of sin; and this is a
necessary work of the Spirit. As in striving against it, the renewed
soul quarrels with it as it is sin, so in a thorough conviction the Spirit
doth unmask it as it is sin; he presents it under those considerations
upon which the soul is to fight against it; he evidenceth it sensibly to
be enmity to God, to his essence, attributes, his law, turning the back
upon God with the greatest scorn, and lifting up the heel against him,
Jer. 32:33, endeavouring to despoil God of his government (whence
sinners are said to be without God in the world), casting the holy law
behind their backs, preferring a dirty creature before the Creator, a
base lust before a blessed Jesus. He doth evidence every sin to be
idolatry, an implicit adoration of Satan: ingratitude, because our
mercies are received after our lives were forfeited; theft, in robbing
God of that reverence that is due to him, and the revenues of his
glory; unbelief, not believing his promises whereby he allures, nor
his threatenings whereby he scares; unfaithfulness, in breach of
covenant, and abundance more bound up in the womb of sin; this
the Spirit doth convince a man is in the nature of sin, in every sin.
Now, the Spirit shews sin to be an injury to a gracious God, impurity,
disingenuity against a holy God, disloyalty to our supreme Lord, a
breach of a holy and righteous law, a stab to the heart of Christ, a
shedding the best blood that ever was, and such a heinous thing as is
not to be remitted without the blood of God. As the Spirit's second
conviction, of the righteousness of Christ, is as it is the expiating
cause of the sin of man, so his first discovery of sin is, as it appears to
be the occasion of the death of Christ. Without this conviction of the
evil nature of sin, the Spirit is not like to attain its end; for there
cannot be a conversion till a man be sensible of what sin is in its own
nature, aversion from God, alienation and contrariety to him.

Sixthly, The Spirit doth convince of the filthiness and pollution of

sin. Sin is the contagion of the soul, the universal stain of nature;
nothing but pollution succeeded in the place of original purity. The
Scripture doth set forth sin to us under all the vilest terms, calls it an
Ethiopian blackness, spots, mire, dirt, dang, plague, ulcer, sore. As
there is a saltness in every drop of water in the sea, so there is a
filthiness in every action of sin. The Spirit discovers the naughtiness
of the heart, and the nastiness of lusts, being more loathsome than
toads, and infections than plagues: Isa. 57:20, the wicked man's
heart is like the sea, 'casting up mire and dirt.' The Spirit in this work
doth (as it were) spread dung in the face of the sinner, he shews what
slime and frogs it hath left behind in every part it hath touched, that
he may feel as well as see the loathsomeness of it. When the Spirit
cometh thus as a judge into the soul, though we seem to be washed
with snow-water, and our hands appear clean, yet we shall be as
plunged in a ditch, that our own clothes will abhor us, Job 9:30, 31.
Then a man sees himself bemired from head to foot, like one over
head and ears in a common sewer. By seeing original sin, we see the
defilement of it, how it hath infected the whole nature; and that
human nature is not like a river to purify itself, but its mud is
increased rather than diminished. If the Spirit should stir up all the
stench of sin, and unmask all its ugliness, without making any
further progress, utter despair, fury, confusion, self-hatred, would be
the effect of it. The Spirit in this work must needs discover this
filthiness, if he attain his end in it. For as the soul in sanctification is
to purge out sin by the strength of the Spirit, so it is necessary by
conviction it should see the filth of that that is to be purged out, as an
incentive to cleanse it. No soul will hate it, no soul will move its hand
to its expulsion, till it be stripped of its painted colours, till it be
shewn in its native blackness, till the serpent be stripped of his skin,
and manifested in the venom and poison of its nature. Cain saw his
sin in the wrathful effects, as it was not forgiven, but not in the
polluting effect, as the blood of his brother had defiled his
conscience. When we see the guilt, it terrifieth us; and the filth, it
shameth us: the one makes us desire ease, the other cleansing.
Without this sight we cannot justify God in his righteousness, nor
admire him in his patience, that he did not long since fling such
nasty vessels on the dunghill; without a sight of this we can never
hate sin spiritually. Sensibleness of the wrath that is due to it may
make us fear it, but it is sensibleness of the filthiness of it that must
make us loathe it. Both these are the designs of the Holy Spirit in
conviction, to make God appear admirable, desirable, and sin appear
hateful. Then,

Seventhly, The Spirit convinceth of spiritual sins, and this is the great
work. It convinces of the corruption of nature, the nature of sin, and
the filth of sin; but it presseth most upon spiritual sins, the first
motions, self-conceit of our own worth, pride against God, unbelief,
and the like. Conscience hath a natural edge to wound a man for
those sins which render a man inexcusable by the light of nature; but
some sins lie remote out of sight, as spiritual wickedness in the high
places of understanding, will, and affections, yea, and of conscience
itself; a clearer light and a more piercing principle is requisite for the
discovery of these. Drunkenness, murder, luxury, theft, &c., are sins
condemned by the general consent of nature; the works of the visibly
defiled flesh are manifest, but the works of refined flesh lie closer in
the inward corner, and are not be easily discovered, though there is a
greater defilement in these than men commonly imagine. Other sins
disgrace us more in the eye of men, and these defile us more in the
eye of God. The soul, which ought to be a living temple for God, is
defiled by these sins, which is as if the throne of a prince should be
besmeared with dung. That is worse in the eye of God, which consists
in a conformity to the devil, God's great enemy, than that which
consists in a conformity to the brutish creature, as sins of the flesh
are. They are the strength of sin, the heart and life of the body of
death, the main fort, the other sins are but the outworks. The great
end of the Spirit is to convince of these. The outworks must be first
taken, therefore gross sins must be first known; yet there is no hopes
of conquest while the main strength remains invisible. As
sanctification begins at the sins of the flesh, but grows up to a
cleansing from spiritual sins, so must a sense of sin in order to
sanctification sail the same course. These being the subjects of the
Spirit's sanctification, as that wherein the enemy's chief strength lies,
are the subject of conviction too; and herein consists the spirituality
of conviction. As the strength of an eye appears in discovering the
spots in the sun, which lie covered with a rich robe of light, so the
strength of conviction in the spirituality of it is discerned in the eye's
discovering the stains in the heart, which are covered with a beautiful
cloak of outward morality. When sciences are learned, the rudiments
and more obvious principles are known before the mysteries are
understood, and men grow up from a common to an abstruse
knowledge; so the Spirit leads us from a sight and sense of more
visible, till it dives at length to the secrets of sin, to the
deceivableness of unrighteousness in the spiritual antichrist working
in the soul. No spiritual conviction without a conviction of spiritual
sins. A natural man may by natural conscience be convinced of great
sins against the light of nature, as a dim eye can read a great print;
but such are usually most sensible of sins against the second table, or
more open sins against the first; but the Spirit convinceth of the
more inward imperceptible sins, affects it with those against both
tables. Paul was convinced not only of the sins he acted without, as
his persecution, but of sins dwelling in him, springing up in him, and
discovering themselves by their motions in him. And,

Eighthly, The Spirit convinceth the soul of its own impotency and
weakness. He shews the sinner his filth and his chains; how lust
brings guilt and slavery; how his understanding is deprived of true
light, and his will of true liberty; whence there is an utter inability to
make up the breach between God and the soul, from whence his best
righteousness smells rank, and contracts a taint from that corruption
which is derived from Adam unto the whole human nature. Men
naturally glory in their own power, they think grace no more than
walking according to the rules of blinded reason, they understand
not the depth of their wound, nor their weakness by it. Sins of
infirmity they think they have, which are to nature only like the
scratch of a pin, not like the stab of a sword; they think their vitals
are sound and strong still. But the Spirit convinceth the soul that her
wings are broke, and her feet crippled, and her hands possessed with
a dead palsy; that man hath an universal impotency, spiritual
feebleness, his weakness as incurable as his wickedness, that he can
no more strengthen himself than purge himself, Rom. 7:15. The
Spirit convinceth man that his best strength is but a shadow of
righteousness, that as he was mutable in righteousness in innocency,
so since the fall he is immutable to sin, and unable to turn from it;
that he is a slave to his lusts, held in chains till they be knocked off,
shut up in a prison that he cannot break, and under the power of a
jailor that he cannot conquer. Without this he would think to lick
himself whole, and never lie sighing and sobbing at the foot of Christ.
Though a man naturally justify himself, yet when the Spirit deals
with him, overturns all his props, and discovers him overgrown with
feebleness as well as sinfulness, he cries, like Job, chap. 9:20, 21, 'If I
justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am
perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet
would I not know my soul; I would despise my life.'

Ninthly, He doth continually convince of the consequences and

demerits of sin. He doth dissect sin, and shew it in its circumstances,
and he doth convince and set home upon the soul the demerit of sin;
and (though he doth also propose the gospel) he sets home that
wrath which is deserved by it. For he speaks a language quite
contrary to that of the devil to our first parents, persuading Adam
that no wrath would ensue upon it; that he should meet with life in
eating the forbidden fruit. The Spirit's method is contrary to that of
the devil; death is the wages of every iniquity. You shall be as gods,
saith Satan; you have made yourselves like devils, saith the Spirit;
are transformed into the devil's nature, fallen into the devil's
condemnation. The Spirit sets home what it deserves at the hands of
God; although he doth propose the gospel, yet he affects the soul
with what sin hath deserved.
 V. The fifth thing is, What the difference is between the
convictions of the Spirit by this or that instrument, by
nature, law, and gospel.

What difference there is between the Spirit's setting sin before us in a

way of conviction, and Satan's setting sin before us, who doth
interest himself sometimes in this conviction of sin, when it is
attended with much terror; what the difference is between the sense
of sin barely from natural principles, and a sense of sin that is
wrought by the Spirit; then what the difference is between a legal and
an evangelical conviction.

1. Though there are some beams of candle-light in nature, which

make a discovery of some unrighteousness, whence arise rebukes of
conscience, yet nature is not able to furnish us with a full conviction,
and such a one as is necessary for our repair. Blind nature cannot see
the rubbish, much less remove it; depraved nature is not sensible of
all its crookedness, much less can it rectify it: it cannot hew and
prepare itself for the introduction of the image of God. The highest
natural improvements of our natural faculties cannot guide us into
the close dens and chambers of sin, and give us a true prospect of the
poisonous entrails of it. Nature may spring up some good operations
in the heart, take nature in its latitude, what a man may be in his
natural state, before his conversion to Christ; nature as it is propped
up by the mediation of Christ, and as there are some commendable
relics left in it, there are still some inbred principles which bring
forth many excellent things according to their proportion; as there is
virtue in the earth since the curse of it after man's fall, to bring forth
many excellent plants and medicinal herbs. But these convictions by
nature are,

First, Light and uncertain, of a short duration; they are sudden

qualms and fits upon some observation of outward judgments. As all
judgments are sent to make men sensible there is a God in the earth,
and that there are unrighteous actions that are displeasing to him,
upon these judgments there are some reflections in a natural
conscience, some sense of God, what is due to sin, and what
deviations are from him; but they continue no longer than the cause
that raised them; they are sudden frights and startings, which soon
settle again, as in a sudden fright and start nature is speedily reduced
to its former temper, and the blood that was put on the sudden into
another motion is quickly brought to its former consistence. They are
usually like a land-flood, which causes an inundation, but sink not
into the roots of the soul: Ps. 9:20, they are 'put in fear,' and while
they are in fear, they 'know themselves to be but men.' It is a work
not so much upon the judgment as upon the affections, therefore it is
like a fire falling upon flax, and other combustible matter, which
flames and expires, and you see its death almost as soon as it begins
to live; whereas, those convictions that arise from the Spirit settle
upon the judgment, and, like a fire in a log of wood, are kept alive in
the soul, eat into the soul, dive into the bottom, produce serious and
lasting affections. Conscience is staggering and unfixed, therefore
whatsoever ariseth from it, partaketh of the uncertain nature of the
cause. We shall be moveable in our affections, unless first stedfast in
our judgment; until then, there can be no abounding in the work of
the Lord. The apostle makes one the cause of the other: 1 Cor. 15:58,
'Be stedfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord.' First a stedfastness in judgment, and then a settlement in the
affections, and then an abounding in practice. No conviction can
fasten in a rolling and unballasted mind, no conviction that ariseth
from nature. Besides, fear is an unwelcome passion, as love is a
delightful one; nature is held longer in the chains of love than in the
fetters of fear: the one it hugs and embraceth, the other it knocks off.
The whole course of nature strives against flashes of fear, and will
not endure the object of it; not invite and encourage its stay, but
rather is up in arms against it; and, upon this account, those
convictions that arise barely from natural principles, from anything
of bare nature, are not of long duration. Any conviction from nature
is like the smart of a prick of a pin in the flesh, which is soon forgot; a
conviction by the Spirit is like the stab of a sword in the heart. The
arrows of nature are easily plucked out, but God's arrows stick fast,
Job 6:4. Nature likes not to retain anything of God in its knowledge,
Rom. 1:28; but the Spirit imprints things and holds them upon the
soul, binds his corrosive to it, that it cannot shake it off.

Secondly, Convictions by nature do at best but stand at a stay; they

are not growing. If the convictions by nature do remain, yet they are
not growing convictions, they gather not strength and perfection
every day; if they do not decay and fall, as a seeming star, into dust
and rottenness, yet they rise not up into a stronger light, are not in a
state of progress, but are stinted to low measures. If they do seem
bigger, it is by an external addition from multiplied causes and
renewed observation of judgments, not from any internal principle of
an enlightened mind; but, in the conviction of the Spirit, the light
yesterday was as the light of a torch, to-morrow as the moon, and
still rising till it be as the sun, which discovers the filthiness and little
motes of the heart, as the sun doth the filthiness as well as the beauty
of the earth; and this light will increase sevenfold, as the light of
seven days put into one: Prov. 4:18, 'The path of the just is as the
shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' His
path from his first stepping into anything that tends to it, is as the
shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day;
whereas the way of the wicked is as darkness: a sudden gleam of light
lighting upon him and vanishing, leaves his eye under more darkness
than before. The Spirit makes a progress from the first step towards
righteousness, till the dawning of the day of righteousness in the
soul. As Christ came not only to give life, but to give it more
abundantly, John 10:10, so the Spirit giveth not small flashes of light
in the mind and conscience, but an abundant and growing light.
Usually, convictions of nature do stand at a stay; nature will not row
long against the stream, but at last be carried down by its force.
Talents not improved are quickly lost, and plants, when they begin to
wither, never cease till quite blasted, unless influenced afresh by the
beams and showers of heaven.

Thirdly, Natural convictions arise from some external cause, spiritual

from the word imprinted upon the soul. Natural convictions are,
from some natural outward cause, only from the sight of judgments
on others, or some personal afflictions on themselves; but the word
is the sword of the Spirit, Ephes. 6:17, whereby he cuts open the soul.
By this he did execution upon those whose hands were red with the
blood of Christ, Acts 2. This is always his instrument to cut, though
he useth judgments and afflictions as whetstones to sharpen the
edge, or as a mallet to strike it in the deeper. David, a most
intelligent person, well skilled in natural notions, was not convinced
of his sin of murder and adultery by any immediate excitation of his
natural principles, or those spiritual notions in his mind, without the
instrumentality of the word in the mouth of Nathan; that man of
understanding was not sensible of his sin, till Nathan came with a
message from God, and upon this alarm the Spirit arms his memory,
and conscience, and understanding, to carry on the work, 2 Sam.
12:7, 8. The filthy soul and the pure word are brought together when
a spiritual conviction is wrought, and it discovers millions of
loathsome lusts which the dim light of nature could never discern.
That is the first thing; the difference between the convictions of
nature and the Spirit.

2. There are also differences between legal and evangelical

convictions. And,

First, In regard of the principles whence they proceed.

(1.) A legal conviction ariseth from a consideration of God's justice

chiefly, an evangelical from a sense of God's goodness. A legally
convinced person cries out, I have exasperated a power that is as the
roaring of a lion, a justice that is as the voice of thunder; I have
provoked one that is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, whose
word can tear up the foundations of the world with as much ease as
he established them. This is the legal conviction. But an evangelically
convinced person cries, I have incensed a goodness that is like the
dropping of the dew; I have offended a God that had the deportment
of a friend, rather than that of a sovereign. I have incurred the anger
of a judge, saith a legalist; I have abused the tenderness of a father,
saith an evangelically convinced person. Oh my marble, my iron
heart, against a patient, wooing God, a God of bowels! It makes every
review of acts of kindness to be a sting in the conscience; it makes
such a person miserable by mercy, and scorches him with the beams
of goodness; turns the honey into a bitter pill, and useth a branch of
the balsam tree as a rod wherewith to lash him. O wretch, to run
from so sweet a fountain to rake in puddles! to rush into a river of
brimstone, through a sea of goodness! What a cut is it, when
ingenuity is awakened, to reject a natural goodness, much more an
infinite goodness; to reject the goodness of a man, much more that of
a God; the goodness of a friend never provoked, much more the
goodness of a God that had been so highly incensed! There is a
torture of hell in both, kindled by the breath of the Lord; in the one
by the breath of his wrath, in the other by the breath of his goodness.
One is inflamed by justice to a sense of rebellion, the other by
goodness to a sense of his own vileness. This is that which was
promised should be in gospel times, that in the latter days men
should fear the Lord and his goodness, Hos. 3:5. That is a true
evangelical conviction, that springs from a thorough sense of God's
goodness, when the goodness of God excites ingenuity, as well as the
majesty of God strikes a terror.

(2.) A legal conviction springs from a sense of God's power, an

evangelical from a sense of God's holiness. Power is the relief of a
friend, and the terror of an enemy. Faith pitcheth upon the power of
God for its establishment, and unbelief sinks under the sense of
God's power with confusion; the believer stays himself upon the
name of God, but the sinner languisheth under the consideration of
the mightiness of that stroke that power can inflict. An evangelical
convict dissolves under the sense of God's holiness, the other falls
under the sense of God's power. I have offended majesty that can
punish me, saith one; I have offended purity that would have
sanctified me, saith the other. As the forgetfulness of God's power
and majesty is the cause of men's sins, we regard not how corrupt
our practices and offerings to God are, when we consider him not as
a great king and dreadful Lord, Mal. 1:14. As the forgetfulness of this
is the cause of sin, so the remembrance of his greatness is the cause
of man's reflection; but a beam of God's holiness shining upon the
understanding makes a soul more sensible of its dross than all the
flames of wrath. The angels solemnly applauding of God's holiness,
which they cried up in Isaiah's hearing, Isa. 6:3, 5;—one cried to
another, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts,'—cast him down in a
sense of his vileness. Then said I, 'Woe is me! because I am a man of
unclean lips.' The sight of their covering their pure faces with their
wings made him abhor, and cry out of the uncleanness of his soul. He
saw the sun in its purity, and himself in his darkness and filthiness. A
conviction by wrath is like a fire which only scorcheth; a conviction
by holiness is like that of the sun, which burns by its heat, and
discovers atoms by its light. The one measures his loathsomeness by
the judgment of men, the other his filthiness by the holiness of God.
Was I made for God? did not his holy as well as his powerful finger
frame me? and am I so base as to wallow in corruption? But,

(3.) Legal conviction ariseth only from a sense of the omniscience of

God, but an evangelical ariseth from a sense of the disaffection of
God to sin. The cause why men sin is the unbelief of God's
omniscience, and the cause why they are troubled is a sense of this
attribute, and not of God's hatred of their sins. The first impression
from the edge of the word is, 'that all things are naked and open
before him with whom we have to do,' Heb. 4:13; and that sins, even
secret sins, are set in the light of his countenance, Ps. 90:8. Men will
forbear their actions of folly when they think the eye of a grave man
beholds them, but are bold to commit them when his back is turned.
If a prince be unknown behind the hangings, when subjects speak
treason, they will be afraid when they discover he hath overheard
them; not because they spoke it, but because he heard it; they
consider it as the object of his knowledge, and the mark of his
vengeance. A legalist considers God only as privy to his iniquity, the
other as he is disaffected to it; he would never be troubled for his sin,
if it never came under God's notice; the other sinks under it, because
it is the object of God's displeasure. The one shakes, because he is
convinced God observes it; the other trembles, because he is sensible
God disapproves it.
(4.) A legal conviction is a sense of sin in the death of the soul, an
evangelical is a sense of sin arising from the death of Christ. One
person seeth sin in the misery of his soul, and the other in the cross
of the Redeemer. The moral law condemns sin, and the practice of
the ceremonial acknowledged that condemnation. The offerer saw
himself in those sacrifices which died for him, guilty of death; hence
in the renewing of them there was a remembrance of sin, Heb. 10:3,
and the killing of them was a bond or handwriting, whereby they
confessed themselves obnoxious to the curse, and debtors to
punishment, Col. 2:14. This was only a sight of sin in the death of a
beast, though it typified the death of Christ. An evangelical
conviction seeth sin in the sighs and groans, cries and agonies,
suffering and blood of the Son of God, an only Son, an innocent Son,
unspotted as to any inherency of sin in his person, only submitting to
the imputation of sin to him, and infliction of punishment upon him,
even to a commotion of soul and body. This giveth a clearer evidence
of the demerit of sin to a full conviction, than the whole latitude of
threatenings, or the roarings the damned utter, or the destroying
millions of angels and men. This giveth ground for a full sense of the
inviolable sanction of the law, the reasonable severity of justice
against us, and the unavoidable demerit of sin, more than thousands
of sacrifices could discover to the Jews. The voice of Christ's blood
discovers more the malignity of sin than all men or angels are able to
express. In this glass doth the Spirit shew it, to convince the soul in
an evangelical manner. One seeth sin in the handwriting of
ordinances against him, and the other sees it more meltingly in the
tearing and cancelling this bond and bill by Christ upon the cross.
That is the first thing, they differ in the principles whence this sense
doth arise.

Secondly, They differ in regard of the object of the conviction, or

matter they are convinced of.

(1.) A legal convict accounts his torture the greatest evil, an

evangelical his sin. Both indeed are burdened, the one with his
punishment, the other with his desert of it; one counts his torment
hateful, the other his sin abominable. The first is troubled there is
not a beam of mercy, but not troubled that he hath not a spark of
grace. He groans under the presages of damnation, but not under the
want of holiness; he is of the devil's temper, Why dost thou torment
us? but doth not desire to be restrained from sin, but to be kept from
torment; cries out as Lamech, Gen. 4:23, 'I have slain a man to my
wounding, and a young man to my hurt'; not to God's dishonour, no
complaint of that. It is true, he hath no pleasure in his sin, in the
remembrance of it at the present, not for want of affection to it, but
because it is embittered to him with the gall in his conscience; the
law spits fire in his face, and makes his beloved object too hot for his
holding; his allegiance to sin is not cast off, but at present only
interrupted in the exercise. The other, the evangelically convinced
man, cries out of his sin as the greatest burden, My God I have
dishonoured, his Spirit I have grieved, his name I have slighted, and
his mercy abused. And therefore the one, when his rack is laid aside,
and the storm in his conscience blown over, falls as roundly to his
former course as before; or if he abstains from that sin which was a
cause of his smart, he opens his heart for more spiritual, and
therefore more rooted iniquity, which breaks out into worse. Some
think Ananias and Sapphira were in the number of those that had
their hearts pricked at Peter's sermon, but their covetousness in a
great measure remained in their affections, and ended in lying
against the Holy Ghost. Such lay aside their apparel as players, to put
on a disguise that suits the part they are to act, but strip themselves
after, to put on their old garment again. Whereas the other, that is
evangelically convinced, is more tender and careful to avoid the
smallest slip as well as the grossest, not only when his conscience
torments, but when the heat is allayed; careful to avoid sin in his
duties, as well as in his more public conversation; he is afraid of the
sting of sin, as well as of the sting of punishment; he judgeth sin his
greatest evil, and next to that the want of God's favourable presence:
'How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord; how long wilt thou hide thy
face, for ever?' Ps. 13:1. But then,
(2.) A legal convict is convinced of some sin, but he is also conceited
that he hath some good. An evangelically convinced person is
sensible he hath no good dwelling in his flesh; his conviction is more
universal, the other's is more limited; a legal conviction lays a man
but half dead, an evangelical lays him wholly dead; he hath no
esteem of his sin, nor any of his righteousness. One is sensible of his
sin, but not of his utter insufficiency to redeem his soul from
everlasting death; the other sees fully what poor stuff his own
righteousness is to make a saviour of. The Spirit, as it discovers the
ugliness of sin, so it discovers the rottenness of that righteousness
wherewith a man stilted himself up; it makes all seem as grass, and
fading flowers, and of no value. The other, like the prodigal, though
he be sensible of his misery, yet he thinks to preserve himself by
husks. A true convict seeth himself under the curse of the law,
without ability in anything but Christ to take it off; he seeth a
necessity to have Christ to deliver him, or he must be for ever bound;
and Christ to raise him, or he is utterly lost; whereas the other thinks
he is able to raise himself. The one thinks to repair himself out of the
ruins of nature, and raise up a building of righteousness by materials
of his own hewing; the other, like Job, abhors not only sin, but
himself too, Job 42:6, and speaks not a word of that integrity he
boasted of before. The one knows himself a debtor to the law, but
thinks himself able to do something to content the creditor, and
patch up his credit by promises of reformation; he lies down in
sparks of his own kindling, wraps himself in a garment of his own
weaving, thinks himself rich by conceits framed in his own mint, and
fancies that he is able to silence the clamours of the law, and lick the
wound of his conscience whole; as Saul thought to redeem his credit
with God by the sacrifice of beasts, after he had offended in the case
of Amalek: he makes self a God, and idolises his own power. This is a
secret self-pride, that runs in the channel of the whole nature from
Adam; and as sin is irritated by the law, so these thoughts start up by
it, and make many that seemed to begin to be spiritually convinced,
to end in the flesh. As sin revives by the law, so doth this pride rise
up afterwards, and is the ruin of many. Hence arise those frequent
excuses of men before they will come to a downright confession;
whereas the other, that is evangelically convinced, is dead to his own
righteousness, as well as his sin; he is sensible he hath no activity in
himself, unless grace inspire him with a new principle. He performs
duties, but doth not idolise them; puts forth his power to the utmost,
but doth not rest in it; he seeth the emptiness of his righteousness, as
well as the foulness of his sin; and thinks the one as unable to deliver
him from the stroke of justice as the other to deserve it; and despairs
of help and relief from the spring of nature. Paul, when a Jew, was of
the same stamp with his brethren, thought to keep up his reputation
with God by an external observation of the law, but when the law
came in the band of the Spirit, he died; saw not only his damnable
condition, but the insecurity of his soul upon any legal foundation,
and the rottenness of all his former services to bring him to heaven.
Then all his natural and moral excellencies were as unvaluable as
before they were amiable; they were loss in his sight. And to heighten
his vile esteem of them, he adds dung, a dunghill righteousness,
things of no account as to justification; yet none more holy than Paul,
by a holiness derived from Christ by the Spirit after conversion, as
none was more moral before by the strength of nature. Thus was he
dead to the law, convinced of the vanity of any confidence in legal
services; not that he might live to sin, but to God, by a new power
derived from Christ, Gal. 2:19, for he was supplied with sap from that
crucified root. Now what was really the attainment of Paul, is so of
every true convert, and is the desire of every evangelically convinced
person. This conceit which the legalist hath of some good in himself,
ariseth from the consideration of himself, compared with those that
defile themselves more in sin. A sense of our own vileness, when
truly convinced, ariseth from our consideration of the perfection of
the law of God; for measuring ourselves with the holiness of God, we
see nothing at all that bears proportion to him. Morality is but as the
moon, which is glorious if compared with a candle, but faint if
compared with the sun.

Thirdly, There are differences in regard of the carriage of the persons

under each of these works of conviction.
(1.) Legally convinced persons snatch at comfort, though never so
false; an evangelical convict looks for comfort only from the month of
God. The one doth not kindly own the supremacy of God, and
therefore makes not full and close addresses to him for healing, but
seeks for shelter from every hedge, like Saul in his melancholy to
music, and in his distress to the witch of Endor; like Pharaoh to his
magicians, the charming pleasures of the world. He thinks, by thus
being in a fool's paradise, by the pleasures of sin to choke the sense
of conscience; take a receipt from any unskilful hand rather than
from the physician; worldly mirth, carnal advice; or at best he runs to
sermons, and fasts in hopes of remedy, catches at any passage in a
sermon to ease his soul. Sometimes he endeavours to stupefy his
trouble by sinful diversion; he moves hell for ease, and cries, Give me
comfort, or I die! Sometimes he snatches a promise wherein he is in
no manner concerned, and claps it on by a misapprehension, and so
charms his trouble for a time; and in this he is assisted by the devil,
who is skilful in this art, and so he makes a flower of paradise prove
poison. Such wrest the Scripture to their own destruction, and to
allay the storm is all they look for. Now, an evangelically convinced
person, he longs for comfort from that Spirit which first impressed
the sense of sin. As he was struck by the law, so he will be healed by
the gospel only. He longs for joys, not of the world, but of God's
salvation; his eye is fixed with Heman's only upon the God of
salvation, Ps. 88:5. He will wait God's leisure, and take nothing but
what the word offers; examine well whether the word belongs to him.
The Spirit makes him, like Christ, inquire into anything that is
alleged, that he be not deluded by Satan's fair pretences; he longs for
healing by the Sun of righteousness, that he may come and scatter
the darkness he sits in. All the good opinion of men concerning him
cannot give him a grain of true contentment; he is willing to do
anything with the gaoler for the saving his soul—'Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?'—resolved to undergo the hardest conditions prescribed
by the word of God; but he knows all the true spring of comfort is the
blood of Christ, the covenant of grace, the promises sealed by that
blood, and a sound and substantial faith in them, and till milk spout
from these breasts into his mouth he will not be contented; he is for
no other peace but that which is the fruit of God's lips; whereas the
other is satisfied with a slight answer, warms himself by his own
sparks, drinks of any puddle, so he may but quench his inflamed
bowels, and regards not faith in Christ. Such coolers make men go on
more resolutely in the ways of death afterwards, since they can
quickly have an allay for conscience when it begins to stir. These
legally convinced persons snatch at comfort though never so false.

(2.) A legally convinced person would only be freed from the pain, an
evangelically convinced person from the sin, the true cause of it. Like
swine, they would not have the cudgel, but they would have the mire;
would have a freedom from the lash of the law, but hate to come
under the yoke of Christ. They hate the iron that is come into their
side, but not the crime, as a malefactor doth the gaol or a thief the
gibbet. Such a one had rather have a rotten heart than a painful rack;
he had rather have a putrefied soul than a deep incision. The one
cries for a plaster to ease his conscience, the other for an axe to be
laid to the root of his sin. He would keep his right hand and eye,
provided they would not fester. The other would not have any corner
of his heart inhabited by any sin; he is desirous it might lose its
empire and dominion in the heart. He hath a respect to God's
testimonies, though tremblings at the considerations of God: Ps.
119:119, 120, 'My flesh trembles for fear of thee, and I am afraid of
thy judgments;' the other, like the man possessed in the Gospel,
would not have the devil tormented in him, and utters not a word to
have the devil cast out of him, Luke 8:28. He that is evangelically
convinced looks forward to sin that may tempt him, and is watchful
against the occasions of it; the other at best looks only backward to
those already committed, and spends this disaffection he hath only
on that for which he is racked; he singles out that to wreak his anger
upon; he doth not fall on the troops of sin, not upon sin in general,
but some particular sin which hath been painful to him; he hath no
disaffection to the pleasure promised in other occasions, though he
hath a distaste of the pain for that which is past. If the legalist be
wrung into some reformation, it is with as much regret to part with
his darling sin as David with Absalom, or Adam to be turned out of
paradise. Though he forbears it, he doth not abhor it; if he abhors it,
it is only the pain, not the sin; and the reason is, because there is no
higher principle in such a person than fear and self-love, and to one
or both of these all the reformation he hath owes its original. He is
only afraid of hell, and could he enjoy sin without terror in his
conscience or wrath in hell, he did not care if the glory of God were
lost for him, whether ever he came at heaven or the presence of God,
whether ever he had an hatred of evil or acted good; he distastes the
evil only. But one that is evangelically convinced distastes the
foulness of sin, relishes the excellency and beauty of holiness,
because of its suitableness to its Creator. Where there is fear only,
there is nothing but bondage and a legal frame. The voice of one
legally convinced is, How shall I do this wickedness, and open the
flood-gates of wrath? The voice of an evangelical convict is this, How
shall I do this wickedness, and sin against God, and spurn at his
bowels?

Fourthly, There are differences in regard of the effects of these, and

(1.) A legal conviction doth not of itself soften, but rather harden; an
evangelical is melting and submissive. The making a fleshy heart and
disposing it to such a frame, is the incommunicable property of the
covenant of grace, and was never within the verge and compass of
the law. The law, like a cannon, thunders only bullets and cursing,
not a word of a promise but to perfect righteousness; therefore a
legal conviction cannot be attended with any melting fruit. It is like a
hammer, that may break a stone in pieces, yet every part retains its
hardness. After a mere legal conviction, the heart is commonly
harder, as water; if it grow cold after it is heated, freezes harder than
it would have done if it had retained its native cold, without the
interruption of a contrary quality. All those strivings of the Spirit
with the old world abated nothing of that evil figment, those evil
imaginations, which lodged in the heart continually. And it is
observed, that though the Israelites heard the thunder, saw the
lightning, the mountain burning with fire, the blackness, darkness,
and tempest, as a preparation for giving the law, which made them
tremble, yet before forty days were over, they had not only forgotten
that law, but they sin against that God whose power they feared,
renounce God and his power over them, and make themselves a
golden calf, Exod. 32:1, 4. The scorching of the law makes the burned
place more brawny after the fire is out. The understanding may be
soundly convinced, yet the heart not melted; the one is from the
undeniable evidence of truth, the other is from the kindly influence
of the Spirit. But when the Spirit convinceth the heart in a spiritual
method, it shines like the sun in the heavens, which thaws the cold
and frozen earth, and makes a man to be as melting wax before God.
Oh how immense is this love of God, that should offer me a Christ,
provide a Redeemer, set him apart from all eternity for me that am
self-condemned, while I was a rebel, for me who am a firebrand of
hell! O inestimable mercy! O melting goodness! O free grace! Then
he calls to his heart, Down, rocky heart, down to the very dust; lie as
low as hell by abasement, since Christ hath made himself so low for
thee! This is always attended with humility; such a person falls down
on his face and worships God, 1 Cor. 14:25 and with submissiveness
will bear the indignation of the Lord, Micah 7:9. And therefore a
renewed man, that is past these pikes, is more humble under a sense
of his own vileness than all the legalists ever were; for the Spirit
keeps his foundation firm, which he first laid, whereon to build the
superstructure of grace and comfort. As this sense of sin, the root,
grows downward, so these noble fruits grow upward. The sense
David had at his conviction for the blood of Uriah, made him startle
at the numbering the people, and afraid of the water fetched from the
well of Bethlehem, but he poured it out before the Lord, lest he
should seem to countenance the shedding of any blood. Well, then,
the legal conviction is as a brick in the kiln, burned and hardened;
the other like gold, inflamed and melted, separating itself from the
dross.

(2.) A legal conviction of itself tends only to destruction, evangelical

to health and salvation. The law presents nothing but condemnation
and ruin, and can speak no other language; its mouth is filled only
with curses, without the mixture of any one blessing for degenerate
man: what can be the issue of this, but confusion and endless
torment? Not the least drop of comfort streams from it. It is
impossible but that when it chargeth home the violation of the law,
and brandisheth all its curses, self-condemnation and despair must
reign in the conscience; and conscience, the deputy of God, when
awakened, cannot but (like the Israelites) subscribe an Amen to
every curse. The law, like mount Ebal, is barren of comfort; blessing
grows only upon the mount of the gospel. Hence, many under sharp
terrors of the law have endeavoured to make away themselves, and
leaped into the flames of hell to avoid the sparks. This of itself, like
poison, works to the dissolution of the temperament of the body; but
evangelical is like physic, which, though it disturbs the humours, yet
it tends to the preserving and rectifying the complexion of the body.
And by this at last the soul is brought to such a frame that it is willing
to lie under affliction and torment, yea, under the fury of devils,
rather than sin against God; for fear and ingenuity in the soul join
hands to the keeping of God's commandments. The one discovers the
disease, the other the remedy; the one causes fear, the other hope;
the one shews the plague, the other discovers the plaster; the one is
like a dart in the side of a deer, that makes him run further from him
that shot it, the other is as a chain to draw the soul nearer to God.

(3.) A difference in regard of duration. The legal conviction is like a

convulsion fit of the earth, when it quakes and trembles, and affects
all that feel it with amazement, but holds not long ere it return to its
natural consistency and stability; but an evangelical conviction lasts
as long as we live, and is not cast off but with the mantle of the body;
then the sense of sin shall be left, and we wholly taken up with the
praises of a Redeemer. Without this, grace would not grow and thrive
to a due maturity.

3. Thirdly, As there is a difference between those convictions which

rise from nature, and which rise from the law, so there is a difference
between Satan's setting sin in order before us, and the manner of the
Spirit's presenting it to us (for Satan doth sometimes set sin in order
before the soul, and there is a difference between their methods). In
convictions begun by the Spirit, Satan doth interest himself, and if he
cannot stifle them, he endeavours to increase them. Though they are
not in themselves acts of comfort, yet they are the act of a comforting
Spirit, and in order to comfort; but the devil impresseth them only as
a terrifying spirit. God sometimes employs him as his officer after
conversion for a correction of his people, as a beadle to discipline
vagrants when they stray from their duty; but there is a manifest
difference between the impressions of guilt made by him, and those
stamped by the Holy Ghost.

(1.) Satan sets sin in order as an accuser, the Spirit as a comforter.

The tendency of a spiritual conviction is comfort, the intention of
Satan is only to charge us with our fault. Satan, as an enemy, with
violence brings his charge; the Spirit, as a friend, with tenderness
doth impress conviction upon the soul. Satan hath no mind to
awaken the conscience, but would rather lull men asleep in a carnal
and endless security as to this world, and not discover the danger
until they feel the stroke; he rather tempts to sin than accuseth for it,
and sets men before the cannon of wrath, and giveth them no
warning until they feel the bullet at their hearts, and are shattered in
pieces by it. When he hath a full possession of the heart, all things
are in quiet, and this great deceiver doth what he can to hinder true
conviction; and this great Pharaoh doth not double the burden until
he is like to lose his prey, and is afraid the soul should be snatched
out of his hands; then he charges, as before he charmed. He chargeth
violently, therefore his title is, 'The accuser of the brethren,' Rev.
12:10. He is also diligent in it, for he doth accuse them day and night:
he is no less an accuser, and a diligent accuser, of men to their own
consciences. His accusations do not precede, but follow, the Spirit's
conviction, to spoil the Spirit's work, and keep off the soul from
coming under any other government than his own. Satan doth only
accuse like a councillor at the bar, with violence doth implead the
prisoner that he is counsel against, rakes up all crimes that can be
found, presents them with the sharpest edge, blunts all his apologies
made in his defence, giveth no direction to procure a pardon; if the
man look after any, he puts him out of hopes of obtaining. This Satan
doth when he is afraid lest he should lose a man that he finds
soundly convinced by the Spirit, and ready to go off from him, when
other means are successless. He deals with such a soul as with Job:
after God had granted him liberty to afflict him, he dispatched not
one messenger with good news to him, but hastened one after
another with tidings of his loss and misery. He doth rather over-
accuse than under-accuse; he is a lying spirit, and being envious too,
that delights in the misery of others, he cares not what he saith to
strengthen his charge. He would not speak truth to God when he
accused Job, but makes a charge of hypocrisy, and a false
prognostication of Job's cursing God, if he were stripped of his
worldly riches, Job 1:11 and 2:5. And he accuseth Job to his friends of
more than he was guilty of; this he doth to drive to despair. But the
Spirit is a Spirit of truth; he sets sins in order as they are, and is a
Spirit of tenderness, convinceth the soul with a compassion to it.
Satan deals with the soul as the thieves with the man in the Gospel,
whom they left for half dead, but had no pity on his wounds. He acts
quite contrary to Christ, and the Spirit of Christ in the world. When
the Spirit is only a convincer, Satan will be a comforter, tells them sin
shall do thorn no hurt, there is no cause of fear; but when the Spirit's
conviction operates kindly, and is like to be a preparation to Christ,
when the Spirit begins to be a comforter, then Satan will be a
convincer; then his language is, Nothing will cure. Satan tormented
men; Christ, when he was on the earth, cured them. The Spirit, being
Christ's deputy, acts as Christ did when he was here, and with the
same affection as Christ did. Not but that the Spirit reproves sharply,
as Christ did upon occasion Peter and the Pharisees, and yet, upon
compliance, was as gentle as before severe. The Spirit doth accuse for
sin, but doth also shew a righteousness to answer those accusations,
if it be embraced.

(2.) Satan presents God only as a Judge to punish. The Spirit in the
progress of conviction represents him not only as a Judge, who hath
the power of punishment, but as a Sovereign and Father in Christ,
who hath the power of pardon. Satan presents God upon several
occasions, either armed only with fury, or covered only with a robe of
mercy; one, when he would drive to despair, the other when he
would settle the heart in presumption. To a soul convinced
thoroughly of sin, which is upon the threshold of conversion, he
represents God as the Lord of the world, calling him to account in the
strictness of justice; not as the reconciler of the world in Christ, not
as standing with a pen dipped in the blood of Christ to cross out his
debts upon his resignation to him. He tells the soul God is a God of
terror, without a mite of mercy, never shews God in all his
perfections; but the Spirit, being 'the Spirit of truth,' John 16:13,
discovers God in all his excellencies. Satan is the ruler of darkness:
Eph. 6:12, 'The ruler of the darkness of this world.' He discovers
nothing but what may increase the darkness in man, like that in
himself, that God is revengeful and false, not willing to make good
any word of grace; not only accuseth the soul to itself, but accuseth
God to the soul, and chargeth God falsely. He represents God as
armed with wrath; the Spirit represents him as calmed by Christ.
Satan tells the afflicted sinner only of an iron rod in God's hand; the
Spirit tells the sinner of a gracious sceptre; Satan shews justice
brandishing terror, and the Spirit goodness with melting bowels. Not
but that the Spirit shews the justice of God in the law against sin, but
it is to make way for the better welcome of the mercy of the gospel; as
Joseph carries himself like a judge, sends his brethren to prison, not
to keep them languishing there, but to shew the affection of a
brother, with the more comfort to them, and advantage to his own
designs.

(3.) Satan conceals the remedy for sin by the mercy of God; but the
Spirit discovers it. The devil may aggravate the disease, but not tell
us of the true medicine; the devil discovers sin as an executioner, and
nothing but the sin; the Spirit, as a physician in order to a cure,
discovers both the wound and the plaster, the disease and the
remedy. Satan shews only fire to inflame, but he never acquaints the
soul with the blood of Christ to quench that flame; he is only a fiery
serpent to sting, but never directs to the brazen serpent to cure that
sting. Since he knoweth that all the strength and activity to cast off
his yoke lieth in the knowledge of, and closing with, Christ, he useth
all arts to keep us from the knowledge of the gospel, and the gracious
condescension and good will of Christ, that we might not, by
becoming Christ's subjects, cease to be his slaves; therefore he uses
all the power he hath, as 'the god of the world,' 2 Cor. 4:4, to blind
the eyes of men, that they may not see a spark of the light of the
glorious gospel, which he doth by putting strange fancies into the
hearts of men; but the conviction of the Spirit is in order to the
manifestation of the things of Christ. To the convinced soul, the devil
shews only the curses of the law, but the Spirit shews the promises of
the gospel. The devil is an envious spirit, and since he is thrown
down from heaven, veils any light that comes from thence, that men
may not look that way. The Spirit's conviction is in order to the
manifestation of the things of Christ: 'He shall receive of mine, and
shew it unto you.' Not but that the Spirit, many times, first shews
justice with a drawn sword, and mercy with a veiled face, and doth
not discover the promises for a while, and entertains the soul with
this language: Look upon a doleful eternity, an unavoidable wrath,
consider the easiness of utter ruin, how life and endless misery hang
upon a small thread, and a puff of God can send thee among the
damned; but this is but temporary, and to make the remedy more
estimable; but the devil is always for obscuring the gospel, and
flashing the law in the face of the sinner.

(4.) When Satan cannot conceal the remedy, he endeavours to

disparage it, to keep the soul under terrors and a sight of sin, in
opposition to that remedy. But the Spirit convinceth of the foul evil
of sin, and also magnifies the excellency of the remedy provided
against it. Satan would make them believe the blood of Christ is too
shallow to cover the mountains of their iniquities; the Spirit wounds
to raise an esteem of the depths of that blood. Since the devil cannot
conquer Christ, he will endeavour to disparage Christ, and the merit
and value of his blood; the Spirit was sent to glorify Christ, which is
contrary to the devil's designs, to disparage him: John 16:14, 'He
shall glorify me.' As Satan would wholly hide the mercy of God, so
when he cannot, but that it breaks out, he extenuates the grace of the
covenant, fills men full of disputes and carnal reasonings against the
riches of grace, and latitude of the promise. He sets up pride in the
heart, as he did in Adam, against the grace of God; it was his old
trade to make men jealous of God: the same arts he doth exercise
still, with more subtilty, as being assisted with a large stock of
experience since the fall. Distrust of God was that he tempted Adam
to, and Christ himself, putting the thing to an If, 'If thou art the Son
of God.' Satan presseth upon them their sin, as unpardonable; at
first, to encourage security, he tells them sin is so small that justice
will not regard it, and afterwards so great that mercy cannot forgive
it, that they are past the limits of grace, that the candle of their lives
will not burn long enough for a true repentance; but the Spirit never
acquaints the soul with any such news; for this is against the nature
of the gospel, this is to bely the terms and tenor of it, for he always
proposeth the gospel in its true terms of faith and repentance. He
shews sin in its ugly colours, as an object of justice, while it is
cherished, and the sinner as an object of mercy in the gospel, when
repenting. The Spirit presseth it as a duty to believe, Satan presseth it
upon their consciences that they ought not to believe, that swine
must not meddle with pearls, nor dogs with jewels, that to believe is
to presume, that they provoke God in closing with mercy, before they
have a fitness for it. Such things are the language of many under
troubles, when Satan puts his finger into them, and by this means
keeps men off in a sight of sin, from closing with the promise. If a
promise appears, Satan darkens it; if the soul cometh to close with it,
Satan endeavours to beat off their fingers, and tells them they have
not, nor are ever like to have, qualifications for the promise; but the
Spirit is sent on the same errand that Christ came on, to manifest the
name of God, the freeness of his mercy, and that the gospel is as
large in blessings to penitents and believers, as the law is in curses to
impenitents and infidels, and clears up the things which are freely
given us of God, gospel grace and favour, gospel promises. These are
'the things freely given us of God,' 1 Cor. 2:12. But if the soul, like
Joshua, doth look towards the angel of the Lord, Satan will be at
hand to turn away his eyes from him, Zech. 3:1.
(5.) The devil always, in setting sin before the soul, endeavours to
drive it to despair, the Spirit to encourage it to faith; the one to sink it
in despair of pardon, the other to excite it to a mourning for sin.
Satan would drive it to blasphemy, like those, Rev. 16:11, that
'blasphemed the God of heaven by reason of their pains, and
repented not of their deeds.' But the Spirit instructs with the
conviction, teaching us to justify God, and condemn ourselves, to
quell our murmurings, and justify God's procedure, and make us
submissive to God's righteous judgment. Satan discovers sin, to drive
the soul to a worse sin than that which he hath discovered, and set
the soul more at variance with God. Satan is an evil spirit, and is 'a
roaring lion, going about to devour,' 1 Pet. 5:8. The Spirit seeks to
support, and discovers sin, to make men humble before God, and to
have good thoughts of God's tenderness. The language of the Spirit
is, thy case is desperate in itself, but there is balm in Gilead, there is
eye-salve. The language of the devil is, God hath forsaken thee, as to
Saul, who thereupon slew himself on his own sword; as he spurred
Judas to sin after self-conviction, so he hurried him as fast to the
halter, thence to hell. Thus ho endeavoured to engage Job in an open
hostility against God, and spared no way to gall him, and move him
to so cursed a rebellion. When such motions are found by any
persons lying under a sense of sin, and wrath due to it, they may
conclude them not to be any touches of the Holy Spirit, who, being a
Spirit of holiness, can never stir up such sinful motions. Satan hath a
great advantage to this end, to drive to despair, from the guilt of our
consciences; and an advantage to accuse us, from the darkness and
ignorance of our hearts, and unacquainted-ness with the largeness
and extent of the gospel. He is also skilful in all the terrible
threatenings of God in the word; he hath read them all over, and
draws what darts out of that quiver he pleases to answer that end. He
can open the fountain below, the spring of our sin, the window
above, the streaming of justice, and cause a deluge of despair; and,
being a perfect hater of God, he endeavours to imprint upon men the
same disposition. Whereas, the Spirit being love, and acts of love
principally ascribed to him, aims at the drawing the soul to such a
frame of love, and opens our sin to make us despair in ourselves, and
the treasures of the gospel, to make us run to God with open arms,
shews the greatness of sin, and also the attainableness of mercy,
upon our return and repentance. The Spirit being sent as a
comforter, his principal intent is, not to terrify, but that he may lay
more lasting and stronger foundations for comfort; and, being a
wooer and solicitor for Christ, when he tells us of our misery by our
match with sin, it is not like Satan, to make our union straiter, but to
break it off, and bless us with a better; and therefore, when he shews
the ugliness and misery of sin, it is to raise our esteem of Christ, and
promote our acceptance of him.

(6.) Satan works violently and suddenly in this case, and most by the
passions and humours of the body, rather than by reason; but the
Spirit works upon the mind, therefore he is an enlightening Spirit.
Satan works upon the reason by the passion, the Spirit upon the
passion by the reason; he first enlightens the mind, and brings light
into the heart, and the rational faculties, the proper subjects of light,
and by this means winds up the passions to what pitch and tune he
thinks fit. Satan first works upon the humours of the body, as
melancholy, and the like. Satan works violently, as upon passion, as
he buffeted Paul; boxes a man to and fro, so that he hath no time to
do anything but consider his misery: whereas the Spirit proposeth
the object, helps the soul to consider, and by degrees leads to a
further knowledge of the light of the gospel, from a glimmering to a
shining light, until the knowledge of the Lord break in in its full
glory. The Spirit also is more particular in his convictions, as acting
omnisciently, which Satan being a creature cannot do; who cannot
discern all sins, but guesses at some thoughts and actions, and
therefore his setting sin before men is more confused. The Spirit's
setting sin before men is more particular and orderly; but in the
whole, Satan acts as a convincer only, the Spirit as a convincer and
comforter: one aims at terror and despair, the other at comfort and
faith.

VI. The application.

Use 1. Of Information. If the Spirit of Christ be the author of
conviction of sin; if this is the order God proceeds in, then,

First, The gospel doth not destroy reason and rational proceeding. It
is agreeable to common reason, that old principles should be
exploded, and appear unworthy, base, unreasonable, and weak,
before new ones be introduced and entertained. The working of the
Spirit is according to the nature of man, moves not in contradiction
unto, but in an elevation of reason; he explodeth principles, which
were planted in the mind before, and discovers principles which
reason cannot disown, though it did not before apprehend; he doth
not extinguish reason, the candle of the Lord, but snuffs it, and adds
more light, reduces it to its proper manner of operation, and sets it in
its right state towards God; brings fresh light into the understanding,
and new motions into the will. He doth not dethrone reason and
judgment, but apply it to its proper work, repair it, sets it in its true
motion; as mending a watch is not to destroy it, but rectify that
which is out of order, and restore it to its true end. Religion is not the
destruction, but the restoration, of reason. The arguments the Spirit
useth are suited to the reason of men, otherwise conscience could not
be moved, for conscience follows judgment: it is not an act of
judgment, but imagination, that reason doth not precede. As the
service God requires is a rational service, so the method he uses in
conversion is a rational method.

Secondly, We may from this doctrine see the excellency of the gospel
state. The foundation of it is laid by the Son of God; the application
of it, and the preparations to that application, are wrought by the
Spirit of God. The whole Trinity concern themselves in man's
recovery: the Father contrives it, the Son lays the foundation of it in
his blood, the Spirit prepareth the soul for the participation of it. The
Father shews the evil of sin, by making his Son a sacrifice for it; the
Son acknowledged the demerit of sin, by consenting to his own
expiatory death; the Spirit bears witness against the evil of it, by
discovering to us the filthiness of its nature, 'For when he is come,'
'the Comforter whom I will send,' John 15:26, 'he shall testify of me,'
saith Christ. The Spirit doth it as the fruit of Christ's purchase, and
gift of Christ's royalty; he breaks the rock, subdues the heart, fills it
with the bitterness of sin, that it may taste of the sweetness of grace;
he shakes the rod of damnation over men, to make them fly to a
golden sceptre held out to relieve them. The first covenant spake
terror only, and spake no more comfort to men than devils, sealed
them up to destruction, without one spark of light to shew the way of
salvation; but the Spirit in the gospel giveth us light to see our
misery, but in order to our apprehension of the remedy; he makes us
know our state, that we may know our Saviour; he fills men with
trembling and amazement in a way of grace, for his service; not in a
way of judgment, as a preparation to their down-lying in eternal
flames. God hath provided an agent to do that, which Christ by
reason of his flesh was not so likely to do. The garb wherein Christ
appeared offended the world; it was incredible to man that God
should send his Son in so mean a condition. From this the world
drew pretences for their unbelief, but the glorious appearance of the
Spirit cuts off all these pretences. Man can have no excuse from the
convictions the Spirit makes. This seems to be part of the expediency
of Christ's departure, that the Spirit might convince.

Thirdly, All convictions and convincing discourses must not be

exploded as legal; they are the work of the Spirit, as the royal gift of
Christ, and the fruit of Christ's ascension; nay, the first work of the
Spirit as a comforter, a fruit of the promise of the Spirit as carrying
on the design of Christ. The convictions of the Spirit are no more
legal, than the blood of Christ a legal blood, the priesthood of Christ
a legal priesthood, the offices of Christ legal offices. The works of the
Spirit, in what way soever, are evangelical in their end, since the
foundation on which they are built is a gospel foundation.

Fourthly, We see the mighty power and excellency of the word in the
hand of the Spirit. The Spirit is the author of conviction, not
immediately, without the proposing any object, but in and by the
word. The Spirit, like Christ to the woman of Samaria, discovers 'all
that she had done,' John 4:29. The word in this hand is a hammer to
break the hardest rock, a fire to melt and devour the compactedest
metals, a spirit to enter through the closest bars, a rod to smite the
stoutest sinner, a breath to slay the highest wickedness. It makes
men to assent to what they loathed, sets them on fire, though they
use all their arts to quench it, Rev. 11:10. It doth torment those that
dwell on the earth, while they are in an earthly and carnal frame. The
holiness of the word is evidenced, in shewing us the filthiness of our
souls; the power of the word manifested, in pulling down that which
exalts itself, though it be never so strong a hold; the divine authority
is manifest, in revealing the secrets of the heart, though lying hid, not
only from the eyes of the world, but also from the present knowledge
of the soul itself, 1 Cor. 14:24. Like the sun, nothing is hid from the
light and force thereof; it edgeth a man's conscience, sets him a-
trembling, because it is the voice of the Lord. When the Spirit fastens
it on the soul, it will make the highest mountain to shake, the heart
of an incarnate devil to tremble; put such a cup of amazement in the
hands of a sinner, that all the pleasures of sin shall not put the taste
out of his; it will make a prince come down from a throne, let fall his
sceptre; make David throw his crown from his head, and Ahab
change his purple into sackcloth, and the jailer spring in trembling
before his prisoners. Wonder not at this powerful effect, since the
word is managed by the hand of the Spirit.

Fifthly, If the Spirit be the author of conviction, how weak then are
all means of themselves, till the Spirit set them home upon the
conscience! Could nature thoroughly convince, what need of the
Spirit? Threatenings will not savingly affright, nor promises
powerfully allure, without the power of the Holy Ghost to imprint
them. A man may read them ten thousand times over, and have no
full reflection upon himself, as concerned in them, without the
operation of this mighty arm. All the Jewish sacrifices were too
feeble to expiate sin without the death of Christ; all the powers in the
world are too weak to convince of sin without the arm of the Spirit.
How foolish is it for man to depend upon his own resolution, to think
the sense of sin necessary, and yet put it off until another day, when
this sense is not in his own power, but at the Spirit's pleasure, and
there is as much need of the Spirit to touch us with a sense of sin, as
of the angel's descent to move the waters, to the bestowing of health!

Sixthly, If the Spirit be the author of conviction, we may hereby judge

of the motions of the Spirit, and distinguish them from motions from
other causes. The Spirit never moves to sin, or anything that appears
sinful. That Spirit which is to display sin in its black colours, in order
to conviction, can never solicit to the embraces of it, in order to
damnation; that Spirit which shews sin in its hellish shape, can never
invite the soul to espouse deformity. He that is sent to convince of it,
can never be so false to his office as to daub with it. Impure
breathings are not the issues of a Spirit of holiness; injuries and
falsities against God never take their rise from a Spirit of truth.
Whatsoever therefore hath a tincture of sin, whatsoever is per se an
occasion of sin, can never come from the Spirit of God, let what
revelation soever be pretended; especially whatsoever disparageth
Christ in his undertaking, in the glory of any of his offices, and the
honour of God by him, this receives no encouragement at all from
the Spirit, whose employment it is to reprove for unbelief, and
whatsoever shelters itself under the wings of it. He is Christ's deputy,
and will not infringe the main end of Christ, which was to set up
holiness and pull down sin. The Spirit cannot move to anything that
destroys the foundation of Christ's gospel.

Seventhly, If the Spirit be the author of the conviction of sin, we see

then who is the great author of stifling convictions, and hindering
them from coming to a good issue. It must be something contrary to
the Spirit of God; who is that but Satan? It is a character of a child of
the devil to be an 'enemy to all righteousness,' Acts 13:10; much more
is the devil, the father of that child, an enemy to all righteousness.
And thus said Paul to Elymas when he withstood the apostle, and
endeavoured to divert Paulus Sergius from entertaining the word.
The devil hath no such enemy in the heart of man as faith, because
this brings the soul from under his power, to be subject to another
head; he sets his strength against the plantation of it, and likewise
against the preparation for it. His design is against righteousness and
holiness. He first assaulted the righteousness of Adam's nature in
paradise, and endeavours to prevent any restoration of righteousness
to the soul, by keeping men off from the means of it, raising the spirit
of persecution against it, instilling into men false imaginations of the
unpleasantness of it, the pleasures of sin, and the easiness of a
deathbed repentance, and stifling convictions, which are the first
step to happiness. He finds corrupt principles in men, which he arms
against the attempts of the Spirit. The Spirit first convinceth of sin,
and then of righteousness. The devil goes quite contrary: first he
endeavours to convince of a false righteousness, and, when that will
not prevail, then he convinceth of sin. When he cannot prevent a
sinner's seeing sin in its deformity, then he will endeavour to hinder
him from seeing grace in its beauty and lustre. When the sinner is
impenitent, he represents God as stripped of his justice, that he may
not fear. When conscience is soundly stirred, he labours to render it
fruitless, and stop the torrent of conviction; strips God of his mercy,
that he may increase the man's fears; he tells him his former sins are
swelled above mercy. He tells the bold sinner that he hath a
righteousness, and that God hath no arrows in store for him; he tells
the troubled sinner that he hath nothing but sin, and that God hath
no bowels reserved for him. He always contradicts the method of the
Spirit of God, and still is, what he was from the beginning, a liar; he
endeavours to comfort when the Spirit troubles, and troubles when
the Spirit comforts; he will speak peace when God cries guilt, and
cries guilt when the Spirit cries peace; he is all for the gospel when
the Spirit handles the law, and is all for law when the Spirit utters the
gospel. Hence he hath his 'fiery darts,' that is, the fear of death and
damnation by reason of sin and imperfect obedience, which he
suggests to the conscience, Eph. 6:16. Thus he walks contrary to the
Spirit of God. You see then who is the author of stifling conviction.

Eighthly, If the Spirit of God be the author of conviction, how sinful

is it then to resist the convictions of the Spirit! It is a new and worse
rebellion added to all the former, more immediately against God, and
offering violence to the Spirit, and in some degree a doing despite to
the Spirit of grace, by whose influence convictions are made. It is
something above a sin against mere knowledge, because it is against
the present dictates of the Holy Ghost, a depriving him, as much as a
man may, of a great part of his office, and consequently of all,
because he cannot be a comforter unless he be First a convincer. The
Spirit shews a readiness for your core, and it is a more than ordinary
provocation to slight a physician when he stands ready with his
medicines. It is a justification of ourselves in the face of God, and of
all those sins we have committed, when we will not regard anything
that God saith against them; it is to be the devil's second in his war
against God and our souls.

II. If the Spirit of God be the author of conviction, it affords a use of

comfort. It being the peculiar work of the Spirit, it is a mighty
comfort to them that comply with the operations of the Spirit, listen
to these convictions, and do admit them to take possession of the
soul.

First, It is a matter of comfort that the Spirit should take upon him
this office of curing us, that he will condescend to be a chirurgeon to
so many putrefied souls, deals with them in the word, and employs
his lance to let out the corrupt matter; that he will vouchsafe to bring
the law and our consciences, the gospel and our hearts, together. The
blessed Jesus submitted to be a sacrifice that he might be our
righteousness; the Spirit undertakes to be our instructor that he
might be our comforter, and stirs up the mud in our consciences that
is so loathsome in itself. The Spirit might have stood aloof of, and left
us and our sins to nuzzle together, without troubling himself about
our state.

Secondly, The convictions of the Spirit will have a good issue, if they
be not resisted. You need not fear a lance in the hands of love and
tenderness. He is God's agent, Christ's deputy, to rescue you. He
hews not those that submit to him for the fire, but for the building;
he cuts that he may heal, burns that he may cure; be is only to open
the passage into your hearts, to let in some of the blood from the
pierced heart of Christ. As wars in the world go before the end of all
things, so convictions and tumults in the soul are the presages of an
approaching redemption. There is good hopes, since he is entered
upon the first part of his work, the conviction of sin, that it will not
be long ere he proceeds to the second, which is the conviction of
righteousness. If the Spirit did not intend your good, he would never
have pressed so hard upon you at any time, never given a heart to
comply, but have left you blind in your sins till destruction had
seized upon you, and hurried you to perpetual imprisonment. But
though now you are prisoners it is a comfort, because you are
prisoners of hope. The Spirit wounds, and wounded souls are the
fittest objects for compassion. The sight of sin must precede the
purging of it, and then the fruit of it is true consolation. Isa. 66:1,
God dwells 'with the humble and contrite spirit;' not I will dwell, but
I dwell; I dwell there when I wound and bruise, but the end of my
dwelling there is not principally to bruise, but 'to revive the spirit of
the humble.' The Spirit is Christ's deputy, therefore doth nothing but
pursuant to Christ's office, and that is, to turn a 'spirit of heaviness'
into the 'garment of praise,' Isa. 61:1. He came 'to seek and save them
that were lost,' to bind up that which was broken, and strengthen
that which was sick, and deliver them from their destruction, Ezek.
34:12, 16, 'in a cloudy and dark day.' Such a temper was our
Redeemer of when God entrusted him; such a temper is the Spirit of.
Our Redeemer would not have sent one of a different nature from
himself; the same nature is in all the three persons; they are one in
nature, one in affection, one in design of the salvation of man. What
though the troubles of any man may be grievous at present, and he
may be like a hart hunted and standing at a bay, at a loss what course
to take! It is no ground of discouragement. When our sins were set
home upon our Redeemer, they put him to a stand: John 12:27,
'What shall I say?' Yet the issue was glorious to God and himself, and
to poor souls. The Spirit will deal no otherwise with the members
than God with the Head.

III. Use of exhortation. If the Spirit be the author of conviction, the

First exhortation is to those who have been convinced by the Spirit.
(1.) Be thankful to God. It is a matter of praise that God hath driven
you to him, though with sharp lashes, and a greater matter of praise
if he drew you only with cords of love. That God should employ his
Spirit to be his solicitor to sinners; that he left you not to find out the
filthiness and danger of your state by your own blind eyes. You have
had fairer draughts of his power and goodness. When you were
under troubles, did you ever think the mountains would have been
removed? did you ever think comfort would have dawned on you?
Since any of you have received light, you see the blessed skill and
power of the Spirit; you were 'brought low, and he helped you,' Ps.
116:6; bless your strong deliverer; bless that skilful chirurgeon that
cured though he lanced. When Peter was brought out of man's
prison, he considered it with great astonishment; much more
consideration is due when we are brought out of God's prison, Ps.
42:6. It was God's counsel in your reins, though sharp like the pain of
the stone, bless him for it. He hath given you but a drop of hell, when
he might have shot all his granadoes into you, and at last have shot
you out of his sling into hell. He hath brought you from prison that
he might bring you to a throne of grace, and give you a pardon.

(2.) Compassionate others, and assist the Spirit, when you find him
at work upon others, in such a condition. By this we become like
Christ, who learned pity to us by experience of our infirmities; and
we should learn it to others, by reflection on what we felt ourselves.
To quench smoking flax is to be unlike our Saviour, and thwart the
work of the Spirit; kindle it, therefore, into a quicker flame by your
breath. Nothing so tender as an afflicted conscience, which therefore
must be tenderly dealt with. Rake not in the wounds of any that are
afflicted for sin; to help forward affliction will be as little pleasing to
God in spiritual as temporal troubles. The Spirit acts in this office as
a comforter, and the comforts you have had are for others as well as
yourselves: 2 Cor. 1:4, 'Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the
comforts wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.' Pour in,
therefore, balm, and not vinegar.
(3.) Take heed of offending and quenching the Spirit. Let not new
sins make the Spirit take his old sword into his hand; the second
wound will be worse than the first. Love enraged strikes more keenly.
David had more sharp terrors after his fall into the sins of murder
and adultery than any time before that we read of. Anguish and
terror will fall on the doers of iniquity, to the Jew, the professing
party, as well as to the Gentiles, Rom. 2:9, 10, but glory and peace,
spiritual communications of divine goodness, and an unspotted joy,
attend the doing good. If you would avoid wounds of conscience,
avoid sins which grieve the Spirit. Conscience, that checks men for
acts of a sensual life, even for those that are more generous, never
checks the soul for its aspiring upward, and attempts toward a closer
communion with God. Peace is the 'effect of righteousness,' Isa.
32:17; the loving God's law affords great peace, peace in abundance,
Ps. 119:165. Peace can then only be as the river, when our
righteousness is as the waves of the sea; therefore quench not that
Spirit that hath convinced you, and do not by new sins drive him
away.

(4.) Exercise faith much. Faith was first acted by you before you were
brought from under those pressures you felt; it must be still acted for
keeping them from returning on you. Faith was the medicine that
cured your wounds, and faith is the only antidote to prevent new
ones; faith acted will make your inherent righteousness more
vigorous, and the more holiness the more peace. Christ constantly in
the eye will make Christ formed in the heart thrive and rejoice.

Secondly, The second branch of the exhortation is to those who are

under convictions for sin. If there be any that at present are under
conviction for sin,

(1.) Murmur not against God. It is the Spirit's work; murmur not,
therefore, against him; let not your hearts fret within you while the
Spirit is raking up the mud to make you view it; let there be no
breakings out of impatience whereby to quench the Spirit.
Murmuring is the way to lose the possession of our souls and the
expectation of our comforts. Deal not with God as Job's wife would
have had him to have done, 'Curse God, and die,' Job 2:9.
Tumultuousness of spirit against God is a diabolical temper, a
resemblance to that of the damned, who blaspheme God under their
torments, and curse God when sin gnaws their conscience. To lie
patient under the Spirit's hand is a Christ-like frame, who uttered not
a word against his Father, when the sins of all the world were laid
upon him to bear the punishment of them. Speak well of God, and as
bad of the loathsomeness of your hearts as the Spirit himself doth.
This is a holy compliance. To hinder pettishness, consider God as a
sovereign who hath power over you, and as a gracious sovereign who
hath an affection for a man under his rebukes; represent him to
yourselves, not only in his severity, but in his mercy also, laying the
foundation deep that he may make the building more strong,
beautiful, and lasting. Murmur not, unless you had rather remain in
league with the devil than have the band broken.

(2.) Run to the same hand for healing which wounded you. The
wounds of the Spirit may sometimes be skinned over by other helps,
and left inwardly rankling, but they can be cured only by the same
hand that made them: Isa. 57:17, 18, 'For the iniquity of his
covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth,
and he went on frowardly, in the way of his heart. I have seen his
ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts to
him, and unto his mourners.' It is the sense of God's wrath, the
forfeiture of his favour, and the sinful distance man stands in from
God, which chiefly chargeth the soul; the taking off his wrath, the
beaming of his favour, filling up the gulf between God and the soul,
belong only to God. The longing of a woman cannot be satisfied with
the most delicious fruit if she hath not the very thing she longs for,
but there will be indelible characters printed upon the fœtus. Since
our natural blindness by the fall, we are not able to find out truth,
there is need of his Spirit to enlighten and guide us; hence is he
called the Spirit of truth. And since sin raiseth storms in the
conscience, which no wit of mere nature or strength of reason can
compose, there is need of the Spirit to silence the storms of
conscience; hence he is called a comforter, to dispel them. As you are
wounded by the Spirit in the word, so look for cure from the Spirit in
the word. Nathan had assured David of a pardon by God's order;
David would expect the joy of it only from God by his Spirit: Ps.
51:12, 'Restore to me the joy of thy salvation.' Though he had an
assurance from Nathan of a pardon, he would have it also from the
Spirit of God. If the Spirit be silent, no other voice can be musical;
give God, therefore, the honour of his own prerogative. The key of
peace is held in the hand of God, not in the mouth of the creature;
peace is contained in the cabinet of the word, and God only can
unlock it; it is an effect of God's creating power, Isa. 57:19. Since the
conquest sin hath made of us, the heart is but a tempestuous place;
there is always matter for storms, as in the world for exhalations;
when they are raised, only Christ by his Spirit can say to the waves,
'Be still.' Spiritual storms will obey no other voice. Till you find
anything in the world that can equal God in a creative omnipotency,
expect no peace from it; sin must be removed before peace can be
settled. Only the blood of Christ can stop the mouth of conscience,
and none but the Spirit can drop it into the conscience. The
application of it is only by the Spirit, as the offering it on the cross
was by him. But it must not be in a way of enthusiastic expectation.
As he wounded you in the word, so he will heal you by the word also.
He is faithful to Christ that sent him, and takes of his to shew it to us,
that is, of his truths; he takes his healing herbs out of no other
garden. Though peace be the fruit of a creative power, yet it is the
fruit of the lips. And the Thessalonians received the 'joy of the Holy
Ghost' by receding the word,' 1 Thess. 1:6.

Thirdly, Have recourse to Christ's atonement. Troubles of spirit are

the arraignment and indictment of the soul before God. It is by Jesus
Christ only, in whom God hath writ all the characters of his mercy,
that we can be freed from the danger. In him you will see a wrathful
justice appeased, and a provoked God reconciled. It is this blood only
that quenches the fury of God and the fire of conscience; it is by his
blood only we are justified, and by this blood only can we be pacified.
An infinite wrath you fear, an infinite satisfaction must expel your
fears; that that quenches the fire of conscience, must be water from
the well of salvation. There are two things trouble a convinced
sinner, the sight of guilt and the weakness of righteousness. He sees
himself much in debt, and nothing to satisfy, is sensible he is come
short of the glory of God, that the righteousness of God will bar
heaven against his unrighteousness. He must then go to Christ to pay
his debt, and impart his righteousness. When David found iniquity
prevailing, he had recourse to this, Ps. 65:3. Christ is a physician for
the sick, a saviour for the lost, a redeemer for the captives, a refiner
for the filthy, a surety for the debtor, and a priest for the sensible
sinner. In him we may see both our weakness and our remedy; his
riches will make us sensible of our poverty, his fulness of our
emptiness, his medicines of our sickness, his ransom of our bondage,
his glory of our misery. This is the way to make a legal conviction
commence evangelical.

Fourthly, Those that are under conviction should wait upon God for
a good issue. Be not too hasty to break prison, but stay God's leisure;
call upon him, and he will be near you in a way of grace, though not
immediately in a way of comfort. 'The Lord is nigh to all them that
call upon him in truth,' Ps. 145:18. It is not for want of means that
God doth not presently comfort; he hath endless comforts by him,
but he stays for a fit season, that he may come with double love, for
his own glory and his creatures' advantage; as Christ deferred the
raising Lazarus till certainly dead, that the miracle of his resurrection
might be indisputable, and his glory in raising him more illustrious.
God leaves men under a cloud to exercise their faith, which many
times is most strong where there is least feeling, otherwise it would
not be faith but sense that would make us come to him by prayer; he
keeps the day dark that we may fly to him in prayer, which we should
not regard had we comforts at pleasure. Hannah's soul must be
poured out in tears before she can have the desire of her heart. God
keeps us under matter of prayer, before he giveth us matter of praise,
that we may praise him with higher strains: 'He that hath torn will
heal, he that hath smitten will bind up,' Hosea 6:1. Exercise what
little faith there is in such a case, Christ did so in his agony: 'He
offered up strong cries and prayers to him that was able to save him
from death.' God will knock off your fetters in time, when the soul
finds the greatest need, and is in the fittest posture to glorify him: Ps.
50:15, 'Call upon me in a day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and
thou shalt glorify me;' implying that God will deliver at such a time
when there is the greatest occasion to glorify him; when you are most
humble, he will hear your cry, 2 Chron. 7:14.

Fifthly, All the time of your waiting for the taking off your trouble
which may be upon your spirit, desire cleansing as well as comforting
grace. To desire only comfort is more selfish, to desire purging is an
aim more at the glory of God, who cannot be honoured without
holiness. David put up more prayers for purging than pardoning
mercy. The waters that proceed from the throne of the Lamb are not
only refreshing and cooling, but also purging and cleansing. A divine
nature is necessary to a divine peace; cordials are not so necessary,
but may be dangerous, when the humours are strong; purging is then
more needful. The comforting Spirit is first a Spirit of holiness, and
Christ is Melchizedek, a king of righteousness, before a king of peace.
Besides, restoratives are best when purgatives have gone before. Now
because men are apt to run to wrong means, and take ways of
stupefying rather than rightly appeasing conscience, it will not be
amiss to give some directions to avoid this rock on which some split.
Man is so full of enmity against God, that he takes hold of what first
comes to hand, and would rather gather ease from any thing than go
to a mediator of God's appointment. A sense of sin is always attended
with a look after a remedy: O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me? Take heed of some things in such a case:

(1.) Take heed of false opinions. As the word is the instrument of

comfort, so the truth upon which comfort is founded must be tried
by the word. The Spirit must take of Christ's, the truths of Christ, and
shew it to us: 'The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes,' Ps.
19:8. Poison may be fair to the eye, and delightful to the palate, but
hurtful to the life. Men in distress of spirit are apt to catch at every
rotten plank, like men ready to be drowned. Puddle-water will be
swallowed down in extremity, as eagerly as the juice of a delicious
grape; the appetite desiring something to cool the bowels, considers
only what may give it some refreshment. False judgments either of
the disease or of the proper remedy are equally dangerous. In this
case men are like sick persons, that ask advice of every friend, scrape
up many remedies, but never go to a skilful physician. Take heed of
false opinions.

(2.) Take heed of carnal counsel in such a case. For if the Spirit be the
author of conviction, cleaving to any carnal counsel is turning the
back upon the Spirit. Flesh and blood are bad counsellors in this
affair, they will consult their own ease and seek their own
satisfaction; to consult with them is to disobey God, Gal. 1:6. Christ
would not suffer one that desired to be his disciple to turn back, and
take leave of his friends, which was but an act of civility, Luke 9:61;
perhaps, because by them he might have been diverted from his
religious resolution, and his answer to him intimates as much: ver.
62, 'No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is
fit for the kingdom of God.' Unbelieving hearts, unbelieving friends
are the worst counsellors in the world, and the most miserable
comforters, their counsels are the devil's delight and the Spirit's
grief. Such will quench not only the fire in the conscience, but the
Spirit too that kindled it, and cause him to depart. The best way in
this case is, to have the counsel of the wicked far from you, Job 21:16.

(3.) Our own righteousness and a road of formal services is to be

taken heed of. In this case our own righteousness is so far from being
a means to ease us, that it is a bar to true peace, by keeping us from
that righteousness that can only purchase it, and only effect it in us.
Pride was the cause of our ruin in Adam, and what was the cause of
our ruin cannot be our remedy. This temper manifests the heart to be
full of the proud pharisee's, an enemy to Christ, for it grudges him
the title of a Saviour. An imperfect righteousness cannot afford a
perfect peace; the righteousness of a sinful nature is not the
righteousness of a pure law; a thorough conviction throws away a
man's righteousness as well as his sin, in point of justification and in
point of consolation; and to expect peace from a road of formal
duties is to trust in the arm of flesh. Paul calls all things so when he
opposed 'rejoicing in the flesh' to 'rejoicing in Christ,' Philip. 3:3. By
flesh he means all things different from Christ, and to go to a
creature is to depart from the Lord. Take heed therefore of valuing
your own tears in the room of Christ's blood, your own petitions in
the room of his intercessions, and applauding yourselves in a vain
righteousness, instead of the meritorious satisfaction of the blood of
God, as though a few good duties could expiate a multitude of sins.
What are a few tears but a drop to the sea of our guilt? What are our
petitions but as the breath of a child to the storms of our
provocations? our righteousness but as a mite to the many talents of
our unrighteousness? Sinful duties cannot make an infinite and holy
satisfaction. As these were not our saviour, so they cannot be our
comforter; they have no blood to shed for us, and therefore have no
power to heal us.

(4.) Take heed of carnal contentments and sensual pleasures. Saul

called for music to drive away the evil spirit; so do some for sensual
delights, to drive away the Holy Spirit; set up projects in the world to
avoid the noise in their own consciences; and sometimes sinful
merriments to expel the good Spirit by an impure devil, is as if a man
should endeavour to quench fire with burning pitch, or cure the gout
by a stab at the heart. Thus men use all arts to stifle convictions, but
the end of their mirth is heaviness, Prov. 14:13. What creature can
cure the wound that God makes? What can comfort when the
Almighty troubles? All carnal contentments can no more remove
inward and spiritual distempers than a crown can cure the headache,
or a golden slipper the pain of the gout. Therefore, go to none of
these things, but run to that hand which did wound you, unto the
Spirit of God, who is the author of conviction. The

Third exhortation, to those who are desirous to have spiritual

conviction; to be convinced of sin.
First, Desire the Spirit to pull the scales from your eyes which Satan
hath put on; beg of God, 'What I see not, teach thou me;' desire him
to lead you into the seminary of corruption, and cause you to possess
your sins, till you cry out, Guilty, guilty; to see them in their
filthiness, not as a dunghill in a picture, but as a real dunghill,
offending a delicate smell. This course Job took, Job 13:23, when he
considered the multitude of his sins: 'Make me to know my iniquity
and my sin,' not only with a simple but sensible knowledge.

Secondly, Meditate much upon the sense Christ had of sin. Consider
how his understanding was enlarged to the highest pitch of
knowledge; not a grain of malice or ingratitude in the bowels of sin
but was within the compass of his apprehension. He understood the
holiness of that God that was offended with sin. Conceive Christ in
his agonies; consider how much sin hath displeased and injured God,
sunk and rained the soul, and this may be some assistance, by the
means of the Spirit, for gaining a spiritual conviction. A spiritual
sense Christ had, and the consideration of him and imitation of him
is the way for us to have a spiritual sense of sin.

Thirdly, Study the law in its spiritual meaning, and in the extent of it.
Paul apprehended the law in its spirituality, which before he
understood according to the pharisaical interpretation, which dulled
its edge in its operations.

Fourthly, Set every doctrine you know home upon your conscience.
There is a double knowledge, dogmatical and affectionate. We may
know many things that do not affect us; we may be affectedly
ignorant, when we are dogmatically knowing. Paul knew the law by
the means of Gamaliel, at whose feet he sat, but had no sense of it,
till Christ came and brought the sense of it from his head to his heart.

Fifthly, Attend upon the means. God will honour the word with
convincing men of sin, even of those sins which the light of nature
would manifest: as David of murder and adultery, which God would
convince him of by the prophet.
Sixthly, Suppress not any convictions when they flash in upon you;
let them have their perfect work. Cherish every conviction the Spirit
fastens upon you while it is warm upon your affections. It is
dangerous to suppress it. The Spirit's operations will not be fruitless;
it will end in a full conviction, or in a curse. If the Spirit hath invited
himself, and hath been refused to be a physician, he may leave you
remediless; he may have no more hand to knock, but dust to shake
off from his feet, as a token of his final leaving you. And wait upon
God in the use of means; it is there that the Spirit doth breathe; it is
by the word he doth convince, as well as by the word he doth
comfort.
 A DISCOURSE OF UNBELIEF, PROVING
IT IS THE GREATEST SIN
Of sin, because they believe not on me.—JOHN 16:9.

THERE were two observations in this text:

1. The Spirit is the author of conviction of sin.

2. Unbelief is a sin of the greatest malignity against God.

For the second,

Of sin. Not of sins, but sin. The Spirit convinceth of all sins, but
chiefly of a state of sin, of unbelief.

First, As the fountain of all sin. It was the first sin of Adam. Not
unbelief of a mediator, but the not giving credit to the precept of
God, and the reality of God's intention in commanding. There was a
jealousy that God had not dealt sincerely and plainly with him in the
precept, as if he thought the prohibition was not so much an act of
his sovereignty, as an act of his envy. It was the cause also of all the
sin that grew up to such maturity in the old world; they had not faith
in that first promise made to Adam, and without question
transmitted by him to his posterity. The faith of Abel is applauded,
Heb. 11:4; consequently the unbelief of Cain, the head of the wicked
world, is marked. If Abel's sacrifice was more excellent in regard of
his faith, Cain's was more vile in regard of his unbelief.* The apostle,
shewing that faith makes the difference between the godly and the
wicked, begins his discourse with the two examples of faith and
unbelief in those brothers. Abel's faith seems to be thus in his
offering: 1. He considered his own sin transferred upon that innocent
victim, thereby understanding the demerit of his sin, as deserving
wrath and death for it. 2. He considered that this sacrifice, being the
blood of a beast, could not take away sin; but that it was typical of the
Lamb promised, upon which his sins were to be transferred, and to
whom they were to be imputed, and accordingly acted faith on that
promise of the seed, and desired God not to impute his sins to him,
but to that Lamb which was to be slain; and this the very nature of
his sacrifice, being bloody, and the character the apostle gives of his
faith, intimates. Cain had not faith in the promised seed; he brings
an offering to God of the fruits of the ground, not a bloody sacrifice,
whereby he might signify the acknowledgment of his own desert, and
his reliance on that Lamb of God whose heel was to be bruised, who
was to be made an offering. The kinds of their sacrifices imply two
different conceits in them. Cain's seems to be only a present to
acknowledge God the author of the good things he had, at the best, or
to oblige God rather; for the ground of all his wrath was, because
God did not respect his offering, did not testify a well-pleasedness
with it. His offering was do signification of his sin, nor a type of the
promised seed; he owned God as creator, not as redeemer.* Cain and
his posterity, which infected the old world, disregarded that promise
of the seed of the woman, slighted the offers made in it, and resisted
the strivings of the Spirit with them against their unbelief, which was
principally the matter of the Spirit's striving, because he acted with
them as the Spirit of Christ the Messiah, 1 Peter 3:18, 19, and
therefore to accept him with a sense of that sin, which was properly
against that person in whose name he came and by whom he acted.
The Spirit was then in the world striving against their unbelief in the
promise, as he is now in the world striving against unbelief in the
performance.

2. As the ligament and band of all sin: John 8:24, 'If you believe not
that I am he,' the Messiah sent of God, 'you shall die in your sins;'
unless you believe me to be that seed of the woman, promised by the
merit of my death to reconcile the world, you will sink with all the
mass of your sins upon you. If unbelief be removed from a soul, the
guilt of all other sins departs with it; if that remain, the guilt of all
other sins is bound and fastened with an adamantine chain upon the
soul, and that with more crimson aggravations; where the notices of
a mediator have been revealed, there is a superadded guilt to all the
rest. As faith is the only means whereby we gain a pardon, so
unbelief is the only formal cause of condemnation, though other sins
are the meritorious cause of eternal death. As no price had been paid
for our redemption, unless Christ had offered his blood, so no
application can be made of that price to us without faith in that
blood. Upon this, sins are flung into the depths of the sea; upon the
other, they remain with their whole weight upon the soul.

In general. That unbelief is the greatest sin, appears,

1. Because God employs the highest means to bring men to a sense of

it. This is in the text. It is the work of the Spirit to convince of this
sin. The odiousness of sin to God appears by his sending Christ to
expiate it; the odiousness of unbelief to God appears by his sending
the Spirit to reprove it. That which calls for the Spirit's descent from
heaven, in order to a conviction of it, is attended with black
aggravations. This is the great errand of the Holy Ghost to the world;
the first thing he does is to open the understanding, the eye of the
soul, to see the malignity of other things, in order to convince the
conscience of this before he changeth the will. This is the principal
fort against which the Spirit plants his battery, and it is the last that
is surrendered. A terrified sinner would run from the shot that is
showered about his ears; he would reform, he would be holy, but
cries out still, loath to believe. The prodigal will be next door to
starving, before he will come to his father; and the woman with the
bloody issue will spend all her estate before she will come to Christ.

And indeed it is a sin so deeply rooted that,

(1.) Reason cannot convince of it. Christ, the object proposed, is

above the reach of a rational eye, and therefore the sin against him is
not discerned in its blackness by mere reason. Reason will not
inform a man of the stupendous love of God in sending his Son to die
for men, that were and would be unprofitable servants. Neither doth
it consist with the natural notion men have of the justice of God, to
lay upon an innocent person the sins of guilty offenders. It cannot
naturally enter into any man's heart, that he that by power and
wisdom made the world, should design by the cross and the
foolishness of preaching to save it; that he that is infinite in love and
mercy should make his Son to suffer. It is not therefore by the
sparklings of bare reason men can see the blackness of this sin. Other
sins may be known by natural light, because the duties to which they
are opposite may he known by the light of nature. As the Spirit only
discovers the greatness of Christ, the excellency of his person, the
preciousness of his passion, so it also only shews what a sin it is to
reject Christ. As faith is 'the gift of God,' Eph. 2:8, a grace more
peculiarly the birth of heaven, so the extirpation of its opposite must
only be from God.

(2.) Natural conscience of itself helps not in this conviction. It indeed

maintains the quarrel against other sins, and plains the way for the
Spirit's victory. But in this case there is no auxiliary force from
conscience, nothing of a natural interest to plead for faith. It finds all
the powers of the soul prejudiced against it, maintaining a war
against the doctrine of the gospel; and the tide of our own natures
carry us forcibly against it. The Spirit enters the lists singly and
maintains the duel alone. So that what was said of the temple may
more properly be said of this, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, saith the Lord.'

2. It is a sin against the gospel; not as a killing law, but an healing

command; a blacker sin, because against a better covenant. It is his
peculiar gospel command; a precept of the highest valuation with
him: 1 John 3:23, 'This is his commandment, that we should believe
on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.' Not only in regard of his
authority (for so others were his commands), but in regard of the
affection he hath to it, it being most pleasing to him, as ver. 22
intimates. The disobedience of this command, then, is most
disgustful and hateful to him; it is his command, as being the last
that ever he will give; it is a dispensation from the rigour of those
commands in the covenant of works, but is to be followed with no
dispensation by any other. The sin against it, then, is against the
utmost gracious command that God will ever give. Other sins are
against the precepts of his sovereignty, this against the precepts of
his grace, as well as his sovereignty. The keeping this command
brings him near to us to abide in us, ver. 24, the breaking this
command sets him at a distance from us, and makes our persons and
services loathsome to him. Wickedness against the gospel is greater
than wickedness against the law, because the evangelical revelation
hath more of grace and more of glory, the sin against it hath more of
contempt and more of heinousness; a sin against that is a sin dyed
seven times blacker, and will have a furnace seven times hotter. It is
against the gospel, which is so holy a declaration of God's will that
there cannot be an holier; so good in itself, so profitable for man,
that nothing can be better; the sin therefore against it is so bad, that
nothing can be worse. The law or covenant of works never discovered
the object of faith, and therefore never enjoined any such formal act
of faith in a mediator, and therefore takes no cognisance of this sin of
unbelief. It, not making known the person to be believed in, cannot
make known the sin of not believing. If the law commanded faith in
relation to the object of Christ crucified, it must then acquaint us
with Christ crucified. It would be an unreasonable law to enjoin an
act about such an object, and never discover one syllable of that
object to us. It doth not appear that Adam had any knowledge of
Christ; the revelation of that bears date after his fall, at the time of
the first promise. If unbelief were a sin only against the law, then
those that reject the gospel would be liable to no more punishment,
than if they had been only under the law; but they will, as will appear
in the sequel of this discourse. This faith is the peculiarity of the
gospel; and when Christ is said to come 'preaching the gospel,' the
matter of it is, 'repent and believe,' Mark 1:14, two things that never
entered into the heart of the law to conceive. It is therefore a sin
against the whole gospel, since the design of that is to remove our
suspicions of God, and establish a trust in him; upon which account
the Gentiles, that are without the gospel, are described by the title of
men 'without hope,' 1 Thes. 4:13. Unbelief is a making ourselves
without ground of hope, contrary to all the encouragements of hope
which God gives us in the gospel.

3. Unbelief is a sin against the highest testimony. It is against the two

greatest witnesses that ever were, or can be, viz., the Father and the
Son. The Father in the Old Testament, the Son in the New: John
8:17, 18, 'I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that
sent me bears witness of me.' What did they witness? That Christ was
the light of the world, ver. 12. The Father witnessed this in the
Scripture: Isa. 49:6, 'I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles;' and by
the works he did, John 10:37. Christ the eternal λόγος (the word)
bears witness to his human nature. Since the testimony of two men
of credit is worthy of belief, much more the testimony of two persons
in the Deity, infallible in their testimony, in whom there can be no
suspicion of falsity. Therefore Christ saith to Nicodemus, John 3:11,
'We speak that we do know, and testify that which we have seen.' We,
i.e. my Father and I; in answer to Nicodemus, who, ver. 2,
acknowledged him a teacher come from God; therefore, saith Christ,
we, God who hath sent me, and I, witness this. The witness follows,
ver. 15, that 'whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.' It is a sin against the witness of the whole Bible.

4. As faith is the choicest grace, so that which is opposite to it must

be the greatest sin. It hath as high a place among sins, as faith hath
among graces, and hath the precedency of all other sins, as faith hath
the pre-eminence above all other graces; and what faith is in the
nature of grace, unbelief is contrary to it in the nature of sin. Faith
glorifies God, unbelief vilifies him; one justifies him, the other
condemns him. 'Faith works by love,' Gal. 5:6, excites a love of God,
and is excited by it; unbelief works by hatred. Faith is the spirit that
quickens all obedience; all the fruits of the Spirit grow upon the root
of faith; all the fruits of the flesh grow upon the root of unbelief.
Faith turns common works into acts of grace, as the chemist doth
metals into gold; unbelief turns all into dung and poison. Faith
makes every prayer, though weak, an acceptable sacrifice; our
prayers can no more enter into heaven by unbelief than the Israelites
could enter into Canaan. As Christ is 'precious to them that believe,' 1
Peter 1:7, so is he odious to them that believe not; as faith is a
consent to take Christ for an husband, so unbelief is a flat refusal of
him. Faith cuts off all self-exaltation: Rom. 3:27, 'Boasting is
excluded by the law of faith,' and by the grace of faith too; unbelief
supports it. It is a keeping up a pride greater than that of Adam's, a
pride against God; it is indeed the Beelzebub, the prince of all those
legions of sinful devils that quarter in the heart of a natural man.

5. It is more odious and loathsome to God, and hath in some respect

a greater demerit in it, than sins against the light of nature. 'The
killing an ox is as the slaying a man,' Isa. 66:3. Not simply the killing
an ox, but by reason of the unbelief in the Messiah, the ground of
keeping up the ceremonial worship by sacrifices after the exhibition
of Christ in the promise, which made a worship formerly instituted
as odious as murder, which was a disparaging the image of God.
Sodom was not defiled by its pollutions, as Capernaum was by
refusing Christ. Who can think of the sin of Sodom without
indignation and horror? Yet the punishment of unbelievers being
greater than theirs, implies the sin to be more grievous; because the
unspotted righteousness of God would not inflict a punishment
above the merit of the offence; he exacts no more than iniquity
deserves, Job 11:6. Now, 'it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and
Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for' a city or person that
rejects the offers of the gospel, Mat. 10:15. That city was an epitome
of hell both for sin and judgment, yet that defiling sin hath less guilt,
less filth than the rejecting, purifying gospel grace. The punishment
of Sodom should be like that of the whip to the punishment of rebels
under the light of the gospel, which should be as the torment of a
rack. The sin therefore is of a lighter tincture, like petty larceny to
murder. All other sins indeed strike at some one or two attributes of
God, and of God as considered as Creator; but this is a formal injury
to God in all his perfections, and as appearing in the richest dress.
Other sins being conversant about some created matter, preferring
some creature before God, this is a preferring that very sin, the
loathsomest thing under heaven, before a God of glory and an
excellent Saviour. Other sins are conversant immediately about some
inferior object, this strikes directly at God himself. It is therefore
called the sin: Heb. 12:1, 'Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us.' The name of weight is given to other
sins, but unbelief is called the sin. Most understand it of original
concupiscence; but since it is the use the apostle makes of the former
doctrine, Heb. 11, concerning the excellency of faith, I think it is
more consonant to understand it of unbelief, the sin contrary to that
faith he had been so highly commending. This is the provocation:
Num. 14:11, 'How long will this people provoke me, and how long will
it be ere they believe me?' They were guilty of many other
provocations, but God reckons their incredulity as the top of all. It
flings most dirt upon all the attributes of God, and doth not only
wrong the Deity singly considered, but bears a spite at all the three
persons.

In handling this subject, I shall shew,

1. What is to be understood by unbelief.

2. Wherein the sinfulness of it consists.

1. What is to be understood by unbelief.

First, negatively, what it is not.

We must not understand by it,

First, a want of assurance. Drooping spirits may be believers. There

is a manifest distinction made between faith in Christ and the
comfort of that faith; between believing to eternal life, and knowing
we have eternal life: 1 John 5:13, 'These things have I written to you
that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that
you have eternal life.' There is a difference between a child's having a
right to an estate, and his full knowledge of the title. There may be a
trust in God where there is a walk in darkness, Isa. 50:10. If faith be
not assurance, unbelief is not the want of it. If faith were assurance, a
man would be justified before he believed; he must be justified
before he can know himself justified. The object always precedes the
knowledge of its existence; the sun must be risen before I know it is
risen. If the want of assurance were this unbelief, a child of God
would be an unbeliever every time God is pleased to draw a cloud
between heaven and the soul, and deny him the present tastes of the
hidden manna. Unbelief is a sin, the want of assurance is not; to have
it is not our duty but God's dispensation; he hath obliged the believer
to seek it, but not to possess it. Assurance is a fruit that grows out of
the root of faith: the fruits in winter appear not upon the tree.
Because I see not a flourishing top, shall I deny the existence and
sappiness of the root? Mary, when she wept at Christ's feet, had no
assurance of his love, yet Christ sends her away with the encomiums
of her faith, acted before the comfort dropped from his lips, Luke
7:48, 50. The characters of faith may be written in the heart as letters
engraven upon a seal, yet filled with so much dust as not to be
distinguished; the dust hinders the reading of the letters, but doth
not raze them out.

Secondly, not every interruption of the act of faith. Faith may lie
asleep in the habit, when it doth not walk about in the act. A man
upon this account can no more be called an unbeliever than a man
asleep can be called a dead man. A believer may, like Samson, lose
his present strength while he retains his life. Christ's prayer propped
up Peter's faith from failing, when there was as little appearance of
faith in him at one time as of life in a dead man; yet all that time
there was a pulse of faith beating in him, which was made sensible by
his Saviour's look. Faith is the vital principle: 'The just shall live by
faith,' and where this is, though in a weak degree, such a person
cannot be denominated an unbeliever. Fogs and mists darken the
sun, but put not out that eye of the world; the sun shines though
there be an interception of his beams. Yet this is but temporary. A
true believer cannot be long without acting faith, no more than a
living man can be without breath and some kind of motion. Thomas
was not without faith, though his faith was at present asleep and had
a defect in it.
Thirdly, not doubts, which may frequently step up in the soul. Such
there are in the beginnings of faith, when the state of the soul is like
that of the twilight, a mixture of light and darkness. Such a condition
the soul is in, in its first conversion; as the Jews were when the
chains of their captivity were knocked off, 'like men in a dream,' Ps.
126:1, 2, scarcely believing the performance of that which they
vehemently desired, expected and believed in the promise, scarce
imagining that they, so lately dead in a civil sense, should live and
return to their land. When men are in a state of nature, they are most
swayed by self-love and presumption; when they come into a state of
grace, there riseth up jealousy and fear, and they think they cannot
run far enough from the other extreme. This is a jealousy principally
of themselves, but it redounds upon God. The mother and nurse of it
is a secret partial infidelity, the ignorance of the promise, power, and
extent of the mediation of Christ. This is not an unbelief habitually
settled; it is rather a misbelief than unbelief, and rather a start of
passion, a fit of infirmity, as Asaph: Ps. 77:10, 'This is my infirmity,'
when he had doubted whether there were any mercy left in God,
when he believed God had parted with all his bowels, it was from a
sudden storm, not a settled way of argumentation. Not only at the
beginning of faith, but after a full-grown faith, there may be some
doubtings. David was none of the lowest form; when in a fit he gives
the lie to God through the sides of his prophets: Ps. 116:10, 11, 'I said
in my haste all men are liars;' I did not seriously, and as my
judgment, say so. All men are liars, the prophets too, who have
brought to me the message of a kingdom. He casts the dint of his
passion in the face of the promise; this was the pang of unbelief, not
an evil heart of unbelief. He was a man after God's own heart in his
state, though not in that act. Doubting doth not imply a want of faith,
but a weakness of faith. Christ acknowledged the few grains of Peter's
faith when he reproves him for doubting: Mat. 14:31, 'O thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?' A divine spark may live in a
smoke of doubts without a speedy rising into a flame. When grace is
at the bottom of doubting, there will be reliance on Christ, and lively
petitions to him. Peter's faith staggers when he began to sink, but he
casts a look, and sends forth a cry to his Saviour acknowledging his
sufficiency: Mat. 14:30, 'Lord, save me.' Sometimes those doubtings
strengthen our trust, and make us take faster hold on God: Ps. 56:3,
'What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.' This was a fear of himself
or others, rather than a jealousy of God. Had he had unworthy
suspicions of him, he would not have trusted him; he would not have
run for remedy to the object of his fear. The waverings where faith is,
are like the tossings of a ship fast at anchor (still there is no relying
upon God), not like a boat, carried by the waves of the sea to be
dashed against a rock. If the heart stay on Christ in the midst of
those doubtings, it is not an evil heart of unbelief. Such doubtings
consist with the indwelling of the Spirit, who is in the heart, to
perform the office of a comforter against such fears, and to expel
those thick fumes of nature.

Fourthly, Neither are temptations to unbelief and unbelieving

thoughts injected, the unbelief I mean. If these be not entertained,
though in regard of their matter they are unbelieving thoughts, yet
formally they are not acts of our unbelief. If such thoughts in
themselves were acts of our unbelief, while they are disowned by us,
what shall we say to Christ, who had as great incentives to diffidence
proposed to him by the devil as are to any of his members, Mat. 4:3,
who yet was without the least spot? The proposal is Satan's, the
entertainment only makes them ours. A true believer will not
harbour such thoughts of God; they may be forced in, and paused
upon, but they can find no standing credit in the heart, but will be
regarded as the hissings of the old serpent. If you receive them as a
flash of lightning in your faces, shut your eyes against them, give
them their pass, and command them to depart with a Get thee hence,
Satan. If you pour out tears upon every assault, as Asaph did after he
had had a multitude of them (Ps. 73:21, 'Thus was my heart grieved,
and I was pricked in my reins,' his soul and all his affections were
wounded, because of those foolish imaginations of God); I say, if we
do thus, and run to heaven for help, it frees us from the charge of a
state of unbelief upon this account. That cannot be unbelief that
resists unbelief. Whatsoever votes against such thoughts is not a
friend to them. If they be entertained with a temporary delight,
unless they fully overcome the soul, they do not declare us in a state
of infidelity. But if they are received, delighted in, applauded, and
grow to a settled and rooted notion, and spread their fruits in the life,
the person cannot be excused from the charge of unbelief.

Fifthly, Nor is it an unbelief of some truths through ignorance,

provided they be not fundamental. Zacharias was a believer, and
expecter of the Messiah, Luke 1:6; he could not else be said to be
righteous, walking in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless, yet
believed not that particular word spoken to him by the angel, ver. 20;
and the disciples believed not the testimony of those that witnessed
the resurrection of Christ, Mark 16:11, 13, 14. Every error in the head
doth no more destroy the truth of faith, than every miscarriage in the
life through infirmity nullifies the being of grace, or every spot upon
the face impair the beauty and features of it. The apostles, those
glorious instruments of the propagation of the gospel, and the first
commissioned ambassadors of Christ, believed all the time of
Christ's life, and after his death too, according to the notion of the
Jews, that the Messiah was to rear a temporal kingdom. Herein their
errors were the same with the Jews'. But they had a faith in believing
this person Jesus to be the Messiah, and resting upon him for
salvation; so that they had an habitual faith in the person, with a
partial unbelief. The Jews had a total unbelief in the person, though
an assent to, and mistaken expectation of the promise; nay, after the
Spirit of God descended upon them, they would not believe the
conversion of the Gentiles, though the Scripture was more full of
promises of that than the conversion of the Jews; and they limited
that precept of Christ of preaching to every creature as if it were
meant only of that nation; yet those times were the richest for the
knowledge of Christ and faith in him that ever were; and though
before that they were ignorant of the design of the death of Christ,
and did not believe his resurrection upon a declaration of it, yet
certainly their habitual faith was not expelled. Peter's faith did not
fail at the time Christ lay in the grave, for both the promise and
prayer of Christ was a bar against it. Their faith, indeed, was
stupefied and nonplussed at present; but it is one thing not to believe
through weakness and ignorance, and another thing not to believe
through wilfulness and neglect of enquiries. They did not believe the
resurrection of Christ; but Peter, when he heard the news of it, did
not supinely rest in his unbelief, but ran to inform himself, Luke
24:12. If a fundamental truth be not believed, be not enquired into, if
a man is wilfully ignorant of it, I know not how he can be excused
from unbelief; nay, if we have a doubt of any truth of God, and
cherish that doubt with complacency, and are afraid it should be a
truth, and wish it false, I question whether this be consistent with
true faith. I am sure such an one is guilty of unbelief in that act,
because it is an act of the will, delighting in that which is contrary to
faith.

Sixthly, Nor is it a negative unbelief (carentia simplex fidei) which is

in the heathens, that is here to be understood. The schools
distinguish infidelity into negativa and privativa; the one is in the
heathens, who never had the means of faith; the other privative,
which is carentia fidei debitæ inesse, is in those who are acquainted
with the doctrine of the gospel, and therefore are obliged to believe.
The heathens' unbelief, say the schoolmen,* is not their sin but their
punishment, arising from the ignorance of divine revelation. There is
a natural incapacity of acknowledging and believing that which never
was discovered to them. A man may study sun, moon, and stars, yet
never learn such a lecture as the death of the Son of God for the
redemption of the world. Their ruin is not properly for the sin of
unbelief, but for the sins against the first covenant, and against the
law of nature, known and accepted by them; yet their ruin is for the
want of faith, because those sins cannot be wiped off, but by faith in
the blood of the second covenant; but they are not immediately
chargeable with it as a sin. But the unbelief of those who live under
the gospel, and believe not the report made to them, either from an
affected ignorance, gross laziness, not inquiring into the truth, or a
desperate contrariety to it, is a sin for which they are condemned.
The heathens are under a material infidelity, because they are utterly
ignorant of the matter of faith, never had anything of divine
revelation; yet their ignorance being so great as to exclude faith, it is
a true infidelity. But those who have had sufficient proposals of the
gospel, and receive it not in the truth and love of it, are guilty of a
formal unbelief. The former necessarily want faith, because they
want the object of it; the latter voluntarily want faith, because they
have the revelation of the object made to them, and will not embrace
it. This is not a sin in the heathens. If it were a sin not to believe, the
obligation to believe must arise from the law of nature, or from some
new declaration; not from the law of nature, because that could not
instruct them in the doctrine of justification by a mediator. There are
notions of morality writ in men's hearts by nature, but none of the
gospel, and naturally men are obliged to no other obedience than
what Adam in innocence was bound to; but Adam in that state was
not bound to believe in a mediator, not because of any natural
inability in him, but because of the unfitness of such a declaration of
redemption to him in such a state, which needed no recovery, he
then standing by another title. But since Adam was obliged, as a
rational creature, to believe whatsoever God should reveal, and so
bound to believe in Christ upon the revelation of Christ to him, such
an obligation indeed lies upon all men, as they are rational creatures,
and the posterity of Adam, to believe when a revelation is made to
them; and when such a revelation is made to the heathens, they
would be condemned for not believing, because in Adam they had
power to believe, and lost it. But till that revelation be made,
infidelity in the heathens is not their crime, no more than it is a
crime to disobey a law which was never published and made known
to the people. They can no more be condemned for not believing
than you would punish a man in the night for not seeing the sun
before it is risen, or for not dancing at the sound of music he never
heard. The light of the gospel never dawned upon them, nor the
sound of it ever arrived to their ears, yet they are condemned for
want of believing in Christ, as a sick man dies for want of medicine to
cure him, but his own sickness is the cause of his death. They are
only obliged by the law of creation, but the gospel was not delivered
to Adam by the law of creation, as he was a common person, but
after he had put himself out of that capacity by his fall, and the
headship put into other hands, the hands of Christ. The Scripture is
clear in this. If it be 'the condemnation that light is come into the
world, and men love darkness rather than light,' John 3:18, the
rejecting this light is not their condemnation, unless it shines upon
them. And Christ tells his apostles, John 15:22, that if he 'had not
come and spoken to the Jews, they had not had sin;' they had not had
the sin of unbelief, which is the highest condemning sin; they had
not been guilty of it, if they had not had declarations of the gospel by
the mouth of Christ and his ministers. And though some think the
heathens will be judged according to the gospel, because of Rom.
2:16, 'God will judge all men according to my gospel,' yet that is to be
understood only according as it is revealed in the gospel; for, ver. 12,
he speaks of the judgment of the heathens by the law of nature, and
the judgment of the Jews by the law of grace. He speaks of their
being judged by Christ as it is declared in the gospel, but not of the
gospel as the rule whereby they shall be judged who never heard of
it; for God doth not bind any to a mere impossibility, nor require
more of men than what he hath given man by creation power to do.

Secondly, But positively by unbelief we must understand,

First, A denial of the truth of the gospel. When men assent not to the
doctrine of the gospel by an act of the understanding;* when, like
Julian the apostate, they regard it as γέλωτά και ̀ φλυαρὸν, a matter
of laughter, a mere trifle; or, as the Jews call the gospel, ‫גליון און‬, a
volume of lies; or as a French papist said of the epistles of Paul, that
he believed them no more than he did Æsop's fables. I doubt there
may be many such among us. I am sure the practical unbelief among
us argues this dissent in the understanding to lurk in more than we
imagine, as the foundation of all the other unbelief. The first
temptation Satan assaults the soul with, after some awakenings of
conscience, is to question the matter to be believed. If he can hinder
men from laying the foundation of truth in their understanding, he
prevents all the superstructure, which cannot be raised without it.
Many there are who, because they cannot comprehend the
mysterious ways and counsels of God, which seem unlikely and
improbable to reason, deny the whole word; whereas it would be
more suitable to submit to God's will than to question it. Such a
dogmatical unbelief, which is not very rare among us, is an exploding
the whole doctrine of the gospel, which is inexcusable and irrational,
since men every day believe other things upon far less evidence than
they have for the gospel, whose divine authority is witnessed by the
manner of its propagation in all ages, contrary to the power,
strength, parts, and eloquence of the world, and supported by a
concurrence of providence against and under the violences of men.

Secondly, A doubting of the truth of the doctrine of the gospel. Many

who will not openly deny it, yet question whether it be true, and
think that which is true uncertain and dubious; this is unbelief. Such
a doubtful opinion is no full assent, but a floating judgment, a
suspicion that it may be true, and a suspicion that it may be false,
like a pendulous weight which swings to and fro, as much on one side
as on the other. There is an uncertainty in the speculative judgment,
when a man knows not what he should assent to. There is indeed
sometimes a doubting of admiration, which riseth not from any
contrariety in the heart to the matter proposed, but implies a
suitableness of the heart to it; but by the greatness of the thing
offered it is dazzled, as the eye by the splendour of the sun. Such an
admiration was Abraham's at the power of God to raise seed out of
such a dry root, Gen. 17:17; such a doubt had the blessed Virgin,
which was joined with a modest inquiry for better instruction, Luke
1:24, her reason being nonplussed in the manner of the thing
revealed to her above the course of nature. But where there is a
doubt of diffidence of the great truths of the gospel,* regarding them
as of doubtful credit, this is unbelief, because it is a judgment
contrary to the doctrine of faith; for we are not only to believe that
the things revealed are true, but that they are certain and infallible.
As all suspicion is an opinion of evil with light conjectures, so a
suspicion in matters of faith is an opinion of falsity upon light
conjectures. Such a suspicion includes a judgment contrary to faith,
because, without some judgment in the case, there cannot be an
opinion of one thing or other. Since all men are in the rank of
believers or unbelievers, a suspension of our belief of the doctrine of
the gospel cannot be ranked under the banner of faith; it is at best,
for the present, a more modest refusal, rather than a downright
rejection. As a man is thought to refuse a proposition when he seems
unwillingly to comply with it, and will take time to consider, he that
is not with Christ is against him, he that receiveth him not refuseth
him. If faith be a certain knowledge,—John 17:8, 'They have known
surely that I came out from thee,'—then an uncertain opinion is
unbelief. In many men there is uncertainty from an acuteness of
understanding, whereby they are dextrous in raising objections, as
Mark 11:31, 33, which makes them uncertain how to steer
themselves, like a needle between two loadstones, which refuseth
neither, nor closeth with either of them. Such an unbelief there is
among many of us, a believing a probability of the gospel, not the
certainty; nay, scarce the probability, but owning it outwardly, as
they would do a fashion.

Thirdly, Refusal to accept heartily of Christ upon the terms of the

gospel, which is opposite to justifying faith, when there is not a
fiducial motion to Christ as the centre. There may be assent, and, as
some divines say, upon a divine motive, yet a man still under the
notion of an unbeliever; for a dogmatical faith is not always
accompanied with a justifying, though a justifying faith always
supposeth a dogmatical, or assent to the truth as antecedent and
preparatory, or else including it in its essence. The devils, from
evident experience, believe there is a God, and believe the principles
of the Christian religion (as we believe the wind blows, the sun
shines, and the air freezeth); and they have had experience of the
power of Christ wasting their kingdom. Both these faiths, dogmatical
and justifying, must go together. There is a double act of the soul, the
understanding to propose, the will to embrace, suitable to the double
object in the promise, which must be considered as true, and so
move the understanding as good, and so affect the will. This
dogmatical faith is necessary, as a glass window that lets in the light.
This unbelief is when, though men profess an assent to the truth with
their understandings, yet they consent not to it with their wills, and
by reason of corrupt habits, embrace it not as good; when, though
there is not an evil head, there is 'an evil heart of unbelief,' Heb. 3:12.
They may may well be said not to believe a thing, who, though they
believe the truth of it, yet have no due estimate of the goodness of it;
when there is a sufficient evidence made to them, both of the truth
and goodness of the matter revealed, they will not come up to the
terms of the gospel. Such as those are in every assembly, who,
though they dissent not from the truth of the Scripture, and the
dogmatical points in it, yet they never seriously reflect upon them,
have not valuations of them. They may have approbations of the
truth as it is rational, but not an esteem and application of it as holy.
They have no sense of the need of Christ, nor of the worth of Christ;
value not the commands to obey him, nor the promises to rely upon
him, nor Christ to embrace him, nor the threatenings to fear him.
The precepts, as well as the promises of Christ, are the objects of
faith, so the precepts, as well as the promises, are the objects of
unbelief. The precepts are not the formal object of faith, but of
obedience; yet he that believes not the precept believes not the
promise, which is an encouragement of obedience to the precept.
They then are unbelievers who, though they would have the safety
Christ hath purchased, will not pay him the service he hath merited;
who postpone the commands of the gospel to the indulgences of the
flesh; who would have salvation, but reject the yoke. They renounce
the articles of the gospel, that would preserve their sins, which Christ
principally came to save from; and God counts such no less
unbelievers than he did the Jews, who cried, 'The temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord,' and would have nothing of the image of the
Lord in their hearts. So then unbelief is properly a sin in those places
where the gospel is preached; they are guilty of it who have heard the
gospel. We must not cast it off from ourselves to the heathens; it is,
indeed, their punishment, but our sin. That is disobedience to a law
which is against that law, when it is revealed and known; and that is
unbelief which is disobedience to the law of faith when discovered to
men. Denial of the truth of the gospel, or contempt of the terms of
the gospel, are properly and truly unbelief.
But of this practical unbelief I shall speak further in the sequel of this
discourse. None will deny that the Jews were guilty of positive
unbelief, who, though they did believe the gospel as it was veiled in
their Mosaical rites, and firmly believed a Messiah, yet were
opposers of him when the mask was taken off. What they believed in
the Old Testament they rejected in the New. So among us men
believe Christ to be the Messiah; they believe him with their heads
and deny him with their hearts; they assent to him in the notion, and
deny him in the application; they believe his person, and reject his
doctrine.

2. Wherein the sinfulness of unbelief doth consist.

I. First, It is against God.

II. Secondly, It is worse than the sin of the Jews against Christ.

III. Thirdly, It hath many other reasons of sinfulness in it.

I. First, It is against God.

It strikes peculiarly at God. Whatsoever is done against any

institution of God is interpreted by God as done against himself.
When the Israelites, weary of Samuel's government, desired his
resignation, and the electing of a king, God calls it a rejecting of
himself, 1 Sam. 8:7, that he should not reign over them. The slighting
a mortal creature in the ends whereto God hath appointed him, being
a contempt of God, by whose authority he acts, a rejecting of Christ,
who is the highest ordinance of God, whose words are the words of
God spoken in his name, as God foretells, Deut. 18:19, is a breathing
forth the highest disdain of God. Though it be an enmity immediately
against Christ, it redounds to God, because Christ is his Christ, his
anointed. The conspiracy is joint against both, a 'taking counsel
against the Lord and his anointed, to break their bands asunder, and
cast away their cords from them,' Ps. 2:2. Let us cast away the
promises of an eternal kingdom, and those threatenings of hell,*
whereby they would allure us or scare us into an allegiance, to
submit our necks to the yoke of their laws. Let us slight all those
reasons, and spurn away those vain hopes and fears, those cords
whereby they would draw us unto their power. It casts a dishonour
upon God more than all other iniquities; it is a departing from him
after the highest and clearest declarations of his nature, a
representation of him under all the disparagements imaginable, and
under all encouragements of complying with him. As those that trust
Christ are 'to the praise of God's glory,' Eph. 1:12, so those that
distrust him are to the dishonour of his name.

1. It is the greatest reproach and undervaluing of God. He calls it a

wearying of him more than other sins: Isa. 7:13, 'Will you weary my
God also?' The sin of Ahaz, upon which this speech was uttered, was
a distrust of God, not properly this unbelief we are speaking of. God
had declared his intent to preserve Judah against the invasion of the
Syrian, and to defeat the counsels of the league against them. To
strengthen Ahaz his belief in the promises, he commands him to ask
a sign as a seal of this assurance, and gives him the choice of what
sign he pleased; wisheth him to put his power to the utmost trial,
either in heaven or earth: ver. 11, 'Ask it either in the depth or in the
height above.' Judgments against the enemies, from the bowels of
the deep to the windows of heaven. And as he gives him liberty to
employ his power, so he assures him of the tenderness of his mercy:
ver. 11, 'Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God;' though thou hast been
so wicked an idolater, if thou wilt repent, confide in me, walk
according to my will, I will be a God in covenant with thee, I will be a
God to preserve thee, and a God to judge thine enemies; thy Jehovah
in being their Elohim, and manifesting my power for thee against
them. Ahaz his answer seems to be a start of a modest humility,
though indeed it was disobedience not to do as God commanded
him: ver. 12, 'And Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the
Lord;' he would not tempt God, or as some read the word ‫אנסה‬, I will
not exalt God; the words import, I will not trust God, I will send to
the king of Assyria, who can better save me than the Lord. As he did,
2 Kings 16:7. I will fortify my cities, train my soldiers, crave
assistance of my neighbours. Observe, though God, in his message to
him, offered himself to be his God in covenant with him, Ahaz would
not accept of the proffer, owns him not as his God in his answer, 'I
will not tempt the Lord;' not, I will not tempt my God, which had
been an argument of his trust, and so had altered the tenor of his
answer to an humble resignation. Ahaz would not be beholden to
God, he would not honour God so much as to give him an
opportunity to glorify his great power; if we read the words, 'I will
not exalt the Lord.' Upon this God promiseth a sign, ver. 14, that 'a
virgin should conceive and bear a Son, and call his name Emmanuel,'
and this should be a sign. I will not discourse how this was to be a
sign to Ahaz, or the body of the people then in being; but take notice,
every unbeliever is an Ahaz, reproacheth the kindest offers of God.
God calls to men to turn to him, to place their whole confidence in
him; but men reject the offer, run to creatures, and thus weary God.
If it was so great a scorn of God, not to accept his proffer for a
temporal deliverance, not to regard any sign from him, how great is
it not to regard the sign of his greatest power, wisdom, and love,
which he hath manifested in that Son born of a virgin, who is
Emmanuel, God with us! An unbeliever is such a scorner of God, that
he is not willing that that dirt he hath cast in the face of God by his
other sins should be wiped off; not willing to sanctify that name by
believing, which he hath profaned by other sins against the law; will
not embrace that Christ which God offers him, whereby he may in
some sense render him a satisfaction for all the wrongs God hath
sustained by him. As faith 'gives glory to God,' Rom. 4:20, so unbelief
casts reproach and scorn upon him.

2. It robs God of the honour of all his attributes. He that believes not
God, doth fling dirt in the face of all those attributes which were
illustrious in the work of redemption: of his wisdom which contrived
it, of his righteousness which executed it, of his mercy which is
infinitely commended by it, of his truth which is engaged to make
good the intent and purchase of it to every one that believes. Either
men believe not that God will perform what he saith, and then it is an
injury to his truth; or they hope for salvation by some other means,
and then it is a contempt of his wisdom; or that the things proposed
by him are not amiable and desirable, and then it is a reproach to his
goodness; or they trust to some creature helps against his command,
and then it is a disobedience to his sovereign authority, or they think
him not able to effect the things he hath promised, and then it is a
disparaging his power and sufficiency. Whatsoever attribute in God
is a ground of, or an encouragement to, faith, is struck at by unbelief.
The grounds and encouragements of faith are these: God is infinitely
wise, and cannot be deceived; he is infinitely true, and cannot
deceive his creature in declaring what is false; he is infinitely good,
and will not deceive his creature, for deceit is most opposite to love
and goodness; he is infinitely happy, and hath no reason to deceive
his creature, which could not add to his happiness; whereas deceit
among men sometimes improves their interest, but deceit in God
would dissolve the Deity; he is infinitely powerful, and well able to
make good what he asserts, to confer what he promiseth, inflict what
he threatens. As all these are indisputable grounds of faith, and are
owned and honoured by it, so they are blemished in their reputation
by unbelief, and marked with a base alloy; they are all foolishly
charged by it, and made the common scoff of it. There is not an
attribute but may draw up a particular indictment against an
unbeliever, for an offence against its crown and dignity. And as there
was not an attribute but God intended to glorify in Christ, so there is
not one but this sin doth really vilify.

3. It is an undeifying of God, as much as lies within the compass of a

creature's power. He that denies any one attribute of God, seems to
deny God himself, to ungod him, strips him of the glory of a deity.
Take but one pin, necessary to the frame of a watch, and you take
away the perfection of it. Those attributes which unbelief stabs, are
essential to the being of a deity. God can no more be a God without
them, than the sun can be a sun without light, or any of us men
without a rational soul. Unbelief is not so indulgent as to divest God
of the honour of one perfection, but of many; nor so mild as absolute
atheism, which denies the being of a God. It is a less scorn to deny
that ever there was such a man as Cæsar, than to affirm indeed there
was such a person, but he was a fool, coward, false, cruel, and the
vilest man that lived: it is better to deny his being, than to count him
infamous. Unbelief strips God of his richest robes, his highest
virtues,* which were more singularly glorified in redemption, than
they were in the creation, or could be in the creation of innumerable
worlds, more glorious than this without the death of his Son for
them. Not to acknowledge God in Christ, is to deny him that glory
that the creation and common providence cannot afford him. As our
Saviour was tormented by the Jews in every part of his body,—head
with thorns, face with spittle, hands and feet with nails, and wholly
with reproaches in what was dearest to him,—so is God dishonoured
by unbelief in every perfection. As their actions denied Christ to be
the Saviour of the world, so the acts of this sin deny God to be the
God of the world.

4. It strikes at all the three persons. As all have an hand in the

salvation wrought by Christ, so the rejecting that redemption dashes
a blot upon all. They all sat in joint consultation about man's
redemption; they were joint in counsel, joint in publication of it; the
Father in his first promise to Adam, and in a voice at Christ's
baptism; Christ in his person, and the Holy Ghost bearing witness by
the gifts conferred upon men after the ascension of Christ, which was
a testimony of his glorious entertainment: Acts 5:31, 32, 'And we are
his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, which
God hath given to them that obey him.' The Father sends, Christ dies,
the Spirit offers to apply; the neglect of this is against the wisest
counsel, the greatest persons in being. The Spirit was the great
witness after the ascension of Christ, by the collation of eminent
gifts, whereby a divine approbation was given to the doctrine of
Christ from heaven. He revealed nothing but what Christ had before
done, and wrought, and built upon that foundation, John 16:14, he
glorifies Christ, for he receives of his. He discovers the eternal
counsels of God, the depths of divine wisdom, which 'the heart of
man could not conceive,' 1 Cor. 2:9, 10; The Father bears witness to
Christ by undeniable miracles; the Spirit adds his testimony by
internal operations, and urging the truths of Christ upon the hearts
of men; Christ bears witness to himself by his obedience and death.
So then, any slight of Christ is a slight of the Father and the Holy
Ghost.

But particularly,

First, It blemisheth the truth and veracity of God. He that believes

'sets to his seal that God is true,' John 3:33, i.e. he approves and
declares solemnly the truth of that revelation God hath made.† Men
fix their seals to contracts to ratify them; faith is as the subscription
to the word of God, protesting that what God speaks is true. And it is
the highest glory a creature can give to the Creator, to acknowledge
him a God of eternal and immutable verity. Since Christ, 'whom God
hath sent, speaks the words of God, ver. 34, since what he declares is
not simply his own, but the instructions of his Father; the
acknowledging those declarations to be true, is an acknowledging the
truth of God in Christ. Now, as the true believer glorifies not only the
truth of the Son, but of the Father, so the unbeliever outrageth not
simply Christ, but God the Father, whose counsels and commands
are published by him. As assent is a justifying God, as the people and
the publicans, by assenting to the truth John Baptist declared, are
said to do, Luke 7:39, so a dissent is casting an aspersion of falsity on
God. In common sense, when we say we believe not a man, we
declare him to be false; and no better a title than that of a liar doth
this sin give to God: 1 John 5:10, 'He that believes not God, hath
made him a liar, because he believes not that record that God gave of
his Son.' It is as certain that he gives the lie to God, as it is certain
God cannot speak a lie to him. Thus men write deceit upon the
promises when they do not believe them: 'Though I have redeemed
them, yet have they spoken lies against me,' Hosea, 7:13; ‫אפדם‬,
though I redeem them, though I have promised them redemption by
Christ, yet they slander me as if I were the falsest person in the
world. We bely God when we believe not his threatenings, and
promise ourselves impunity under sin: Jer. 5:12, 'They have belied
the Lord, and said, It is not he, neither shall evil come upon us;' as if
his promises were like the picture of a sun, without heat and light;
his threatenings like the sound of pot-guns, as if the one were toys,
and the other bugbears. This is to reprepresent God a cozener and
impostor, though he hath engaged his royal word; to make the whole
Bible an heap of fallacies. The glory of a man is his credit; it is an
honourable character, such a man is a man of his word; it is a
disgraceful character of God to fancy the first truth guilty of lying; it
is a title he hath joined with his honour as a Creator, that he 'keeps
truth for ever,' not to part with it any more than with any other
perfection, no more than with the title of Creator: Ps. 146:6, 'Which
made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all that is therein, which keeps
truth for ever.' These represent him with no truth to keep, or no
heart to preserve it.

The guilt of it in this regard will appear,

First, It is in this respect a greater sin than despair. Despair is

deservedly counted an horrid sin, a wrong to the mercy of God; but
this is greater. Unbelief is against a divine good as it is in itself,* for
as much as in us lies, we make God the author of a lie. Despair is
opposed to a divine good as communicable to us, and therefore is a
less wrong to God; despair questions not the stability of divine
faithfulness in itself, but the communicableness of that good
promised to the soul; but unbelief lays a battery against the divine
nature. Despair acknowledgeth the truth in regard of the object, but
doubteth in regard of the subject; they count the divine proclamation
true, but think themselves without the compass of it.

Secondly, It strips God of the glory of his nature, who can as soon
cease to be, as cease to be true. Some say that if God should appear in
a human shape, light would be his body, and truth his soul; so
essential is truth to the Deity, 'it is impossible for God to lie,' Heb.
6:18. If we fancy him a liar, we fancy him no God, because we
represent him doing a thing impossible to the divine nature,
changing an unchangeable goodness into a hateful unfaithfulness.
What is his power, knowledge, sufficiency, if truth and faithfulness,
the glory of all, be wanting? As sincerity is the beauty of all graces, so
veracity and holiness is the lustre of all divine perfections. To give
the lie is incivility to an inferior, insolence to a superior, a kind of
treason to a prince; yet this may be done without unmanning a man,
or deposing a prince, but it cannot be done to God without degrading
him to the condition of those lying vanities we trust to. It is, indeed,
so heinous as that it puts upon God the character of the devil, who is
called 'the father of lies,' as though God should be projecting nothing
else from eternity (as the devil hath been from the time of his fall)
but to mock and cozen the souls of his creatures into everlasting
destruction. It is to count him worse than the devil, by how much
they fancy him more powerful, but equally false. It is strange that a
man who knows in some measure what God is, should be so insolent
and blasphemous as virtually to charge him with a dissembling
nature; yet so unbelievers do, though not in positive opinion, yet by
interpretation and practice. And as they make God as bad, so they
make themselves worse than the devil, who believes the truth of God,
though he feels only the terror of it, and nothing of the comfort.

Thirdly, It makes God guilty of perjury. God hath not only obliged
himself by his royal word, but his solemn oath, 'two immutable
things,' Heb. 6:17, 18. His promise, considered alone, is of eternal
verity; he is true and unchangeable; he doth not promise one thing
and purpose another. To this he hath added his oath, to remove all
controversy and doubt which may arise in the mind. Not to believe a
man of an honest repute, when he swears the truth of a thing before
a magistrate, is a gross uncharitableness, unless we certainly know,
or have strong presumptions, that what he swears is false. How black
is it then not to believe God speaking? how much blacker not to
believe God swearing? As the oath of God, the calling all his
perfections, his very being as a testimony to the truth of his
assertion, is the highest ground of assurance that can be given, so the
not believing it is the highest injury that can be offered to a God of
truth. He annexeth his oath to his word for the encouragement of
sinners to faith and repentance: Ezek. 33:11, 'As I live, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked.' As I am an eternal, immortal
being, so surely do I delight not in the death of a sinner, but in his
conversion and life. How great a charge of perjury doth unbelief
bring against God, whose condescension hath been so infinitely
wonderful as to give us his oath for a cure of our mistrust, to invite
men to faith and repentance upon the security of his own eternal life
and being!

Fourthly, It is aggravated from the clearness of the revelation. The

higher the revelation is, the stronger arguments there are of the
divine authority, and the greater contempt of the truth and authority
of the person so revealing. If an angel should bring a message from
heaven, what man would be jealous of the truth of it, when brought
by so pure a creature? But this revelation was made by the Son of
God, who lay 'in the bosom of the Father,' John 1:18, and is truth
itself; to the propagation of which truth, neither the wit and
eloquence, the strength and valour, the wealth and interest of the
world can lay any claim. It hath appeared in the whole progress with
a divine stamp in the forehead of it. The first declarations of it were
laid in the sufferings of the publishers: Could such multitudes be
thought to lose their lives, so dear to man, for a mere falsity? No man
is so mad as to invent a fable, and to stand to it to the loss of his life,
and whatsoever is of most account with him in the world. Would any
affection to Christ have animated them to expose themselves to the
sharpest sufferings, had they had but any jealousies that Christ was
an impostor? No, they would rather have expressed their hatred than
their love (who can love another for a gross abuse of him?) or had
they been so extravagant as to be desirous to keep up the credit of
their Master, would they for it have made themselves the public
scorn and off-scouring of the world? It could not be covetousness or
ambition, or any other lust, which could be the principle of their
publication of Christianity; the little wealth they had, they forfeited
for it. No ambition could build any hopes of worldly honours upon
the doctrine of a crucified Christ. The Jews had lately crucified the
Master, and were not like to honour the servants for a charge of
murder against the Son of God. The Gentiles were not likely to
receive it, and applaud them for it by any strength of nature.
Ambitious men take rational courses for attaining honour; but this
was against the rooted customs of the world, which are hardly parted
with; and contradicters of ancient religions use to be violently
persecuted to death for the honour of their acknowledged gods. But
had such principles excited them to a publication of this doctrine,
surely they would gladly have desisted, after they had found their
hopes without success, when they found blows instead of honours; or
they would have armed the professing multitudes, and conquered
countries; but they used not their swords against their enemies, but
received the strokes of their enemies' swords into their own breasts,
for the defence of the doctrine; and that not for a time, but during
their whole lives. Not one sword was drawn in the defence of it by
any votary to it. They resisted no force used against them, though, by
reason of their multitude, they were capable of preserving
themselves, and of offending their enemies. Their discipline was
strict, the maxims of their doctrines were advantageous to mankind;
they thwarted no moral precepts that were amiable by the light of
nature, but highly advanced them; there could not be a way of
publishing it more clear and full, to manifest it to be the truth and
doctrine of God, than this. Had it been uttered by the voices of angels
in the air, we might have suspected them to be impure devils as soon
as holy angels. When the way of the revelation of the gospel hath
been altogether divine, without any taint of worldly means for the
propagation of it, the not believing it, the not complying with the
precepts and promises of it, is an high contempt of divine truth.

Fifthly, It is aggravated from the performance of God's gospel

promises. It is a great sin not to believe the truth of God when it is
declared, but a greater not to believe it when it hath been made good.
It is not only a word, but 'a tried word, as silver tried in the fire,'
which hath been found to be good and sound metal, and free from all
mixture of baser metals, as lead or tin, with it, Ps. 18:30. 'The word of
the Lord is tried,' Ps. 12:6, and there have been experiences of this in
all ages. Not one among all those multitudes that have sincerely
professed him, could charge him with falsity. God hath given the
highest evidence of his veracity in making good the promises of
assistance to our mediator in the exercise of his office. The promises
were made to him as mediator and undertaker of that great work of
suffering for us. The performance, therefore, of them to Christ is a
manifestation of God's truth to us; for though Christ was the
immediate subject of those promises, yet God's glory in our good was
the ultimate intendment of them; and what was promised and
performed in the head, is influential upon all the members, and is
the main ground of faith, and so proposed in Scripture. The
resurrection of Christ is everywhere set out as the strong foundation
of faith in him. God carried him through the gulf to a glorious
immortality. Since, therefore, God hath performed the greatest
promises, wherein his power could be engaged (for his power and
truth were then tried in the highest manner), it is a great
disparagement to him to distrust his truth in those things which
require less power to effect them, after so great an experiment of his
faithfulness. Unbelief denies that truth is crowned with a rich
performance.

Again, This sin would frustrate the truth of God in the promises
remaining to be fulfilled by Christ, or but in part fulfilled. God
promised him a seed, a generation to serve him. This was an article
in the covenant of redemption, as the great encouragement of Christ
to undertake that work. If all were of the unbeliever's mind, would
not the truth of this promise lie in the dust? Every unbeliever would
have it so. He is a child of the devil, and like him envies God a glory,
the glory of his truth and power; and, like Ahaz, Isa. 7:12, 'I will not
exalt the Lord,' if the word tempt may be so read, as some read it.

The power of God was the chief ground of faith in the promise in
Abraham's time, Rom. 4:21; but since the performance, not only the
power of God, which he had given an evidence of in the creation, but
the truth of God, whereof he had given an evidence in Christ; and in
this sense the fathers' not knowing God by the name Jehovah is
meant, Exod. 6:3. They did know God by that name; for Abraham
calls the mount Moriah so, Gen. 22:14. But they knew him not by
that name in regard to the faithfulness and truth of God, which that
name signifies. As the unbelief of the Jews, after the deliverance
from Egypt, where God had manifested himself Jehovah, was greater
than before, so it is greater now, because it is against the highest
manifestations of God as Jehovah, in accomplishing his promise in
the assistance of Christ, and bringing forth the mediation promised.

Sixthly, This is aggravated from our believing creatures before God,

whereby we lessen the esteem of his truth below that of a creature.
Have not we many times trusted the honesty of man, who in his best
estate is vanity, and given him credit for many pounds? Not to
believe the great promise of God in Christ, wherein he hath made
himself in a sort our debtor, is to debase the credit of the unerring
God below that of a mutable mortal. How corrupted is that nature
that will believe man, a wicked man, a lying man, rather than God,
who is under so many obligations of promises to make good his
word; nay, believe man's falsities before God's verities? Do not men
believe often the vain predictions of men, and their premises of help
and furtherance of business of concern, and receive them with more
gladness and confidence than ever we received the clear promises of
the gospel? The credit of God, that cannot lie, is of less value with
men, and hath a lighter influence upon them, than the word of a
deceivable creature. What a reproach to God is it for a man to give no
credit to his word, sealed by the blood of his Son, and confirmed by
various repetitions, and yet will trust an inconstant element with
thousands, which may be lost by the fury of winds and waves? A
patent of an earthly honour from a temporal prince is highly valued,
when the great gospel charter, where the truth of God is engaged for
security, is slighted, the highest faithfulness not esteemed worth the
crediting. When God is not believed, we must needs give credit to the
devil; if we believe not Christ, we believe the devil, there being but
those two heads, one by God's authority, the other by his own
usurpation: Unbelief, then, changeth the devil into a god, a liar from
the beginning into truth, and the truth of God into a lie, and the God
of truth into a liar; it prefers the dictate of the devil, and so owns the
faithfulness of the devil above the faithfulness of God.

Seventhly, It is the greater contempt, because God doth highly value

his truth, yea, above all his name: Ps. 138:2, 'Thou hast magnified thy
word above all thy name.' Whatsoever of God's name should drop to
the ground, this shall remain glorious in all successions of ages; it
shall stand firmer than the ordinances of heaven, without the
staggering of one iota or tittle of it. Nothing is so dear to God as his
truth; he will fold up the heavens like a garment, and crumble the
earth to dust, before one tittle of his word, of his gospel as well as his
law, shall vanish and pass away, Mat. 5:18. God values the promises
of the gospel no less than the precepts and threatenings of the law;
his truth hath an interest with his love in the one, as well as with his
authority and justice in the other. The wrong is greater to us when we
are struck through the sides of that which is most precious in our
esteem. This sin, therefore, as being against the truth of God, is
odious to him. As it is irrational not to love the chiefest goodness, so
it is irrational not to believe the supreme truth. No man but
disesteems another that will not take his word, when yet himself
knows he is a mutable creature. How much greater is the offence
against the God of unchangeable faithfulness, to put the lie upon him
by not believing those truths he hath so solemnly proclaimed and
miraculously confirmed? Has not the eternal truth reason to be
offended with men for not believing him, when he promiseth and
swears too? It is strange that if God had a deceitful and dissembling
nature, he should discover it at no less expense than the royal blood
of heaven, and not deceive men without such solicitous entreaties of
them to believe in him through his Son. To count a man a liar is to
stop all passages to a conversation with him; to conceive of God
under such a notion is not only to deny any commerce with him
ourselves, but to count all foolish that address to him or are willing
to believe him.

Secondly, It casts a black aspersion upon the wisdom of God. The

wisdom of God appears not singly in the gospel, but with admirable
variety of mysteries and contrivance, Eph. 3:10, 'manifold wisdom of
God,' a depth of counsel in the forming it, a glorious contexture of
means for the completing it, wisdom in the drawing out the glory of
his grace from the rubbish of sin, in breaking the neck of the devil's
designs, by those means whereby he wrought our ruin, even by the
human nature, in bringing about man's redemption by the disgrace,
infirmities, weakness of human nature, means seeming contrary to
so glorious an end; the admirable uniting justice and mercy in one
point, reducing them to one end with an entire consent, the
manifestation of the highest hatred of sin, and the choicest love to
the sinner by one and the same act; all these are treasures of wisdom
opened in Christ. His wisdom is more glorious in the contriving
redemption than in laying the platform and model of creation. That
God might create millions of worlds is obvious to the conceptions of
men that understand him to be omnipotent, and give more sparkling
evidences of his wisdom in the fabric. But how he should make
justice and mercy conspire together with a joint consent, and salve
the honour of all his attributes in the recovery of guilty man, is an
abyss of wisdom which transcends the conceptions of men and
angels till it be revealed, and after the discovery most needs leave
them in eternal astonishment. This must be no inconsiderable affair,
which is the object of the highest wisdom in the Deity.

Now, unbelief chargeth God either,

1. With folly in regard of the unnecessariness of it. If men think they

have ability to save themselves (as all justiciaries and fondlers of
their own righteousness virtually imagine), what a needless work was
this in God, to make his Son a sacrifice for man's salvation! No wise
man would spend his time to contrive a way to make birds to fly,
which have both wings and a power to exercise them to that purpose,
or to make cork to swim, which hath an aptitude because of its
sponginess. What is the secret ground of the rejecting Christ, but a
conceit in man that he hath a power to save himself without him?
For since salvation is highly desirable, if we will not accept it from
another upon his terms, we imply we can attain it by our own power.
What is the language of this, but that God busied himself to no
purpose, and was employed from eternity in a needless affair, which
is a most unworthy reflection upon God and Christ; since God, being
infinitely wise, he would not have purposed it, and Christ, being the
wisdom of God, would not have debased himself to death, had it not
been for the highest concern both to God and man. It had been
inconsistent with the wisdom of both, the one to purpose, the other
to undertake, such a task, but for the most weighty necessity and the
most advantageous benefit. It was the will of God that Christ should
take a body for our sanctification: Heb. 10:10, 'By the which will we
are sanctified' (i.e. by the will of God which Christ came in his body
to perform) 'through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.' What
doth unbelief but blot out the characters of God's wisdom, the orders
of his will, accounting it unnecessary for God either to prepare Christ
a suffering body, or for Christ to offer up himself to God in it? It
imputes the rejoicing of Christ at this body to an ignorance and folly
in him, as if it were a folly in God to command it, and a folly in Christ
to obey such a command, a fruitless design and an unnecessary
employment. Unbelief indeed is nothing else but a cavil with the
judgment and reason of God. Upon this score the apostle chargeth
the incredulity of the gentiles; they counted the gospel foolishness;
the choicest mysteries of divine skill were of no better repute with
them than the nonsense of fools and the extravagancies of madmen:
1 Cor. 1:23, 'Unto the Greeks foolishness.'

2. Or, if men do account the coming of Christ necessary, and so free

God from the charge of folly, they at least charge his wisdom with a
mistake in the means of salvation, as if it were undertaken without
precedent consideration. Either Christ hath sufficiently performed
his office or not; if he hath, why is he not accepted by faith? If he be
not accepted, there is a tacit imputation in the refusal of believing
that the wisdom of God was defective in the person he appointed,
that God was frustrated in his expectations, that he pitched upon a
weak and unworthy person, unfit for so great an honour, and unable
for so vast a weight. Hereby they impair the credit of Christ and
prudence of God. It must be an act of wisdom to entrust Christ with
the weight of all his glory, since God can no more be deceived himself
than he can deceive his creature. But doth that man think it so, that
will not trust Christ with his soul according to those terms upon
which he is offered? Doth he not reproach God of weakness by a
refusal to imitate him, and deposit the concerns of his soul in the
same hands wherein God hath trusted the honour of all his excellent
perfections? If God depended upon Christ for his richest glory (for
where there is a trust reposed there is a kind of dependence upon
that person upon whom the trust is devolved), doth not that man
count himself wiser than God, that will not depend upon Christ for
the chiefest happiness? He cannot possibly be freed from the guilt of
accusing God of an high imprudence, who will not believe in and
trust that person to whom God hath given credit for all his glory; that
thinks not Christ fit to be trusted by him, who hath been trusted by
God with that which is of more value than the salvation of thousands
of worlds, and by this ascribes a greater wisdom to his own reason
and understanding than he will acknowledge in God's, when he seeth
no comeliness in him in whom the wisdom of God beheld the
greatest beauty and a fulness of grace and truth; when that which is
gold in God's eye is dirt in his, and that which is dirt in God's eye is
gold in his.

3. By this sin the unbeliever doth, as much as in him lies, frustrate

the design of God's glorious wisdom, in not consenting to that which
the wisdom of God hath contrived. The wisdom of a man, as also the
wisdom of God, lies in choosing the end and suiting the means.
When we approve not of the one or contradict the other, we deny the
fruit of a man's wisdom to him. In this case we do the like to God,
when we neglect the end of his wisdom, salvation, and reject Christ,
the means and way to it; it is to defeat his design, and tread under
our feet the whole scheme of his counsel; for if all men were of the
same mind, God would have discovered himself to be an all-wise God
in redemption to no purpose. As faith is a justification of God in his
counsel, so is unbelief a condemnation of God's counsel, and
rendering it vain: Luke 7:29, 30, 'They rejected the counsel of God in
themselves.' It is spoken of the pharisees' not being baptised by John
Baptist. They did not publicly contemn it, but their non-compliance
with it was a rejecting immediately the doctrine and baptism of John,
and ultimately the counsel of God. When God saw man sunk into
misery by sin, and under an impossibility to recover himself, God in
his boundless mercy and infinite wisdom contrived a way of
restoration, proposeth it to men, and acquaints them with his resolve
how he would have men saved; when men refuse it, rebel against
God's decree, they reproach his counsel as well as his goodness. The
word ἀθετεῖν, there used, signifies not a simple refusal, but rejecting
a thing with reproach, and a dissolution of it, a bringing it to nought;
as the word is used by the Septuagint, Ps. 33:10, 'The Lord brings the
counsel of the heathen to nought.' As God brings the counsel of
wicked men to nought, dissolves the whole frame of it, and makes
their devices of no effect, so doth an unbeliever, as much as it is
possible for him to do in himself, unravel the whole web of divine
counsel, and would make it utterly insignificant. Against themselves;
some render it in themselves, in their own thoughts by inward pride.

Well, then, consider how great a sin unbelief is in this regard.

Here is the wisdom of God making a match in heaven between the

divinity and humanity,* Christ by the wisdom and will of God
stripping himself and becoming a worm, that you may be as glorious
as an angel. God might have employed his wisdom in contriving your
ruin, but he sets it on work to build a scaffold for your salvation.
Shall this wisdom be despised, which doth as far surpass the
comprehensions of angels as the apprehensions of infants? When a
scholar hath made a curious book, wherein he hath wrapped up all
his learning, an artificer a beautiful watch, wherein he hath laid out
all his skill, what a contempt of the learning of the one and art of the
other is it to tear the book and break the watch! Oh how is the
workmanship of God, which is admired by angels, dashed by
unbelief! How is the unconceivable art of God blotted by the
wilfulness of man! God may well say to us, Is the masterpiece of my
counsel of so slight a value as not worth your consent? Have I caused
the beams of my adorable wisdom to shine so bright in the gospel, to
have no other return but a charge of folly? You see what blackness
there is in the bowels of this sin.

Thirdly, It slights the goodness of God. Unbelief vilifies that which

God designed to the praise and glory of his grace, and renders God
cruel to his own Son, in being an unnecessary shedder of his Son's
blood. Unbelief consists either in presumption or despair.
Presumption on his absolute mercy, which, while it seems to
magnify, it doth slight the constituted methods of his declared
goodness in Christ; and, in a relying upon an undiscovered kindness,
impairs his sovereignty, by prescribing other ways of communicating
himself to his creature than what he hath appointed; or despair,
which represents God under the appearance of a cruel tyrant, glad of
the destruction of his creature, and changeth infinite mercy into
infinite fury; as if a great multitude of iniquities could throw mercy
into the depths of the sea instead of being thrown by it; as if the
clouds could dissolve the sun instead of being melted by him.
Presumption turns mercy into carelessness, and despair into cruelty.
Unbelief, in the general notion of it, casts a scorn before men and
angels upon the unsearchable riches of grace; it would hew in pieces
the throne of grace, and wipe off the blood of Christ wherewith the
mercy-seat hath been sprinkled.

First, Thus it is a diabolical sin; a receiving the devil's accusations of

God before God's declarations of himself. When the devil was a
murderer, he was a liar, John 8:44; he belied God and murdered
man. An unbeliever belies God's goodness and murders his own soul.
He represented God an hard master, envying man a felicity
belonging to him; an unbeliever comes nearest his nature: he
slighted God's goodness in forming man; an unbeliever slights God's
goodness in redeeming him. The one envied God the glory of his
work, and the other envies God the glory of his grace.

Secondly, It is against absolute and sincere goodness. God can have

no more addition to his perfections by redemption than he had by
creation, but a more illustrious communication of them to his
creatures. If he could have any real increase, he had not been the
chiefest good, infinitely perfect. The sin might claim some excuse if
God had any selfish aims, if his essential glory could have been made
brighter by believing. But since he requires faith as a necessary
disposition for receiving the communications of his favour, and what
he doth offer is an advantage to the offender, none to the offerer, to
convey a goodness to us, but not to receive anything from us, it is an
inexcusable contempt of sincere goodness, a hewing at that
redemption which grew up like a tall cedar from the root of pure
mercy, when God needed not have sent his Son to die, nor a
messenger to entreat, but have mustered up an army of destroying
judgments against sinners.

Thirdly, Against the highest goodness that ever appeared to the sons
of men. No greater act of love could spring from boundless eternity,
than the parting with his only delight in heaven out of his bosom for
the redemption of man; so that he may well say, 'What could I have
done more to my vineyard?' Isa. 5:4. Unbelief, then, is a reproach of
that love which God designed to commend to the world in the
mission of his Son; and therefore the ingratitude in refusing it is as
unparalleled in the rank of sins, as the kindness it slights is in the
rank of mercy. It is against a law more animated with love than any
other dispensation of God was filled with. The giving his Son to die
was the most stupendous evidence of his goodness, whence faith
draws the highest encouragement, and unbelief contracts the most
dismal aggravation; and the greater, since it is a contempt of a
greater kindness to us than what was shewn to the ancient
patriarchs, who only had a promise of the Messiah, when we have the
performance; yet naturally we do as frowardly reject the thing
performed, as they did heartily embrace the assurance of it. Christ is
a gift, Rom. 5:16, a gift of love, John 3:16, the royallest gift of God,
springing from unconceivable treasures of goodness. Is it a little sin
to turn our backs upon the choicest gift that God can bestow, as
though this pearl were of no more worth than a pebble? What really
is the language of this scorn, but as if a man should blasphemously
say in so many words, God might have kept his gift to himself, and
never have troubled me with such a present?

Fourthly, A goodness ready to flow in upon as. The bosom of God is

opened, the treasures of his goodness dispensed, the fountain of his
grace running.* For men to be as deaf adders under such charms,
blind moles under such beams, is as great a wonder of wickedness as
the mercy is a miracle of goodness. And when the tenders of grace
are made with that affection and importunity, that love rides upon
wings and meets us at every turn; when we cannot open the
Scripture but we see a transcript of his heart as it breathed toward us
from eternity, and view the deep counsels of God, and the
transactions of old between the Trinity about man's redemption laid
open; how great a sin is this, to scorn treasures not only stored up,
but ready to be given out, with the most pressing arguments and
strongest obligations to an acceptance!

Fifthly, And this perpetually. It is an everlasting goodness, a

kindness firmer than the foundations of the earth, or the battlements
of the heaven, which God offers; it is an 'everlasting mercy,' Isa. 54:7,
like light in the sun that is never diminished, the element of fire
never extinguished, water in the sea never emptied.

Sixthly, When we have absolute need of it. How inexcusable is the

contempt, when rebels in chains trample under foot declarations of
pardon! The necessity of the subject, as well as the excellency of the
thing, and the unbounded goodness of the offerer; a necessity
accompanied with an inevitable ruin without a leap into the arms of
this goodness, still adds blackness to the refusal. How great a sin is
it, then, to spurn at the beatings of God's heart, to account all the
thoughts of mercy as if they had been thoughts of vanity, to spurn at
that which angels wonder at and devils wish for? This is to treat
unsearchable riches, bound up in Christ, as we would do the most
loathsome dung. For God to find out this way, to offer his Son, to
manifest such condescending grace as to entreat us to believe, and
for us to make our excuses that we cannot come, to resolve not to
handle the word of life, this, this is a sin of the deepest dye, this will
at last silence the voice, of mercy, and rouse up a roaring fury. If we
could unhinge the world, cast a blot upon the whole creation, raise a
sedition of all creatures against God as Creator, dash in pieces the
whole frame, consume it to ashes, that no relics of a God should
appear in it, it could not be so high an indignity as the striking at his
bowels. What is the glory of creation but as a mite to that of
redemption? What is the destruction of the world to the contempt of
his Son, the demolishing the work of his hands to the spurning at
that of his heart?

Fourthly, Or, it disparageth the power and sufficiency of God. Man is

naturally apt to question God's power, as though he were unable to
bring his word into act. God, therefore, doth preface his covenant
with Abraham by the title of his almightiness: Gen. 17:1, 'I am God
almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect.' All distrust grows up
from a jealousy of weakness or wickedness in the object of it; either
that a man is not honest and will not, or weak and cannot, perform.
Unbelief, therefore, sometimes strips God of his power, and
represents him impotent. It scantles almightiness according to the
narrow apprehensions of the creature, as they, Ps. 78:41, who
questioned whether that strength that had secured them in the Red
Sea, and fed them in the wilderness, could conquer the possessors of
Canaan and give them seisin of the country. As though that God who
had bridled the waves could not as well fell down the Anakims, who
breathed by his leave, as well as the waters moved by his providence.
If there be a belief that God hath an intention to perform his
promise, the diffidence doth arise then from a doubt of his
omnipotence; if there be a belief of his veracity, there must be a
jealousy of his ability. The apostle bottoms the faith of Abraham,
whereby he believed he should have a son, upon the 'power of God,'
Rom. 4:21. Unbelief is then sometimes bottomed upon a secret
unworthy conceit of inability in God, as if he could not be as great as
his word; as if he were, like the idols of men, without eyes to see and
arms to relieve.

Indeed, all unbelief doth entrench upon God's power and sufficiency.

First, In not coming to him. It is a departure from God, not simply as

God, but as a living God, Heb. 3:12,* a God that hath life in himself,
and is able to communicate it to others; he departs from a spring to a
puddle, and denies a fulness of life and satisfaction in that which he
departs from. Certainly unbelief, as it respects Christ, is a virtual
denial of his deity; discards him from being the living God, from
having a power and sufficiency to save, and as it is a sin against his
divine person, is a wrong to the power, life, and sufficiency of God.
He that runs from a prince that offers to protect him against his
enemies, declares to all the world, that either the prince is not
sincere in his offers, or unable to give him the protection he
promiseth. All unbelief at least denies God the honour of his power,
and doth depose him from the exercise of his saving omnipotence as
to the unbeliever, and declares he can shift well enough with himself:
'He could not do any great work there because of their unbelief.' If all
faith gives glory to the power of God, all unbelief vilifies it. If the
power of God, as well as his faithfulness, be the object of faith in
prayer (as it was of the faith of Christ: Heb. 5:7, 'He offered up
prayers unto him that was able to save him'), then unbelief must
needs strike at that which is the great ground and object of the grace
which is contrary to it. An unbeliever thinks his soul safer in his own
hands than in God's, and therefore will not commit it to his keeping.
This is very visible in convinced souls before they come to Christ;
how often do they cry out, Can God pardon? Can he remit? Are not
my sins too great for him? Upon a diffidence of his power they are
loath to lodge their souls in his arms; they cannot believe he hath an
arm strong enough to cast a blot and dash upon all their sins, † as
though a mighty rock could not bear up a bruised reed.

Secondly, In trusting to something else. Man is like a vine, he cannot

subsist without some prop. A trust and faith he must have, if not in
God, in something else, either in himself or abroad; he cannot depart
from God, but he hath recourse to something else. Every motion hath
a terminus ad quem, a term to which it tends. What then we trust
unto, besides God and above God, we render in our thoughts more
powerful than God. We cannot go to anything for relief with a neglect
of God, but we depose the true God and create a new one; we
acknowledge a greater fulness in some inferior good than in an
eternal spring. A man's own righteousness, weak ordinances relied
on with a neglect of faith in God upon his own terms, are as well
deified as the belly is made a god by a glutton, or money by a
covetous person.

Thirdly, It receives an aggravation from the demonstrations of God's

power exercised about Christ the object of faith. Unbelief is a
contempt of all those attributes which were signally manifested
about the effecter of our redemption, whereof the power of God in
assisting him in his whole course, and unloosing the bands of death,
and setting him at his right hand, was none of the least glorified in
our redemption, since the power of God in raising Christ is set forth
to us as a ground of faith for the imputation of righteousness: Rom.
4:24, 'If we believe on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead.' His doing the greater work in the resurrection of Christ,
wherein infinite power was manifested, considering what a charge of
imputed guilt Christ lay under, is an evidence of his ability to do that
which is less. Since it is thus, unbelief is a reflection upon this power
of God, depriving it of the due glory which belongs to it. God hereby
shewed himself willing to be our God upon our faith, as he shewed
himself the God of Israel in bringing them out of Egypt; and doth
frequently, upon their incredulity and murmuring, mind them of his
power manifested in that deliverance, as if in all their infidelity and
unbelief they did unworthily reflect upon the glory of his strength in
that work. And, certainly, since we are commanded to believe in him
who by the power of God raised the dead to life, restored sight to the
blind, conquered the legions of hell; who hath done things
impossible to be acted by the strength of men or angels; one that
hath made the power of princes and the wisdom of the world to bend
to him, and lie prostrate before him, and come under his footstool;
the not believing in Christ is a denial and contempt of all this power,
or a tacit ascribing those acts to some occult causes rather than the
power of God. This is the language of unbelief. If those things were
acted by the power of God, why do we not firmly, really believe, and
act according to such a faith? If we do not, it is evident that we do not
think such things were acted, or that the power of God was engaged
in them. What an unworthy charge is this upon God, when we will
believe man, who is able to do nothing without God, and will not
believe in God, who hath manifested himself able to do all things by
his own arm, without any partner?

Fifthly, It strikes at the sovereignty and authority of God. It is a debt

we owe, as subjects, to God as our sovereign, to give credit to what he
doth reveal, and to obey what he doth command. There is not only a
revelation to encourage faith, but a command to enjoin it, 1 John
3:23. If men believe not, they pretend some reason for their unbelief.
Whatsoever any man's reason is, it deposeth God from the
sovereignty in his soul; because it hath a greater power over him to
cause him to refuse God, than God's word and command hath to
make him accept his Son. He that comes not for shelter, recovery,
and protection to that head God hath exalted, disowns the authority
as well as the wisdom of that person who constituted him in that
office and dignity. Since Christ is enthroned by God, and 'exalted to
be a Prince and a Saviour,' Acts 5:31, and acts in it as vicarius Dei,
God's vicegerent, he that refuseth to be gathered under his wing casts
a contempt not only upon the person of Christ, but the authority of
God, who fixed him in his royalty. Murder is a defacing the created
image of God, unbelief is a contempt of the natural image of God, a
treason against the Head of the redeemed world. It implies either a
supremacy over God, or an equality with him; either that he hath not
power to make a revelation, a law, or to enjoin a belief of it and
obedience to it.

First, It is a contradiction to the resolute and fixed will of God. All

unbelief is a dislike of God's terms, Rom. 10:3, a non-submission to
the righteousness of God, affecting a power of choice ourselves,
debasing the royal authority to our demands, and that not to the
demands of our reason, but of our lust. It is to make the Lord of glory
kiss the sceptre of our wills, and his sheaf bow down to ours. We
would be blotting out what articles he hath drawn, and putting in
what conditions we please, when we consent not to what he
proposeth, and submit not to what he commands. Is not this to pull
down his colours, and set up our own? It is not a simple
disobedience, but an evasion of his authority, not to acquiesce in and
comply with his conditions, imposing our own upon him, and
indenting with him. We will have so much of Christ, and so much of
our own righteousness to join with him. Other sins are against his
sovereignty as a creator and a lawgiver, this against his sovereignty
in a merciful design to reduce his creature to its happiness as well as
duty. This sin therefore implies a denial of God's dominion, or having
anything to do with his creature. It opposeth the return of the soul
under his sceptre, and would keep man at an irreconcilable distance
from God. How malicious would this contradiction be, if our
redemption had proceeded from some other hand! Such an efflux of
goodness, in restoring from slavery upon such light conditions,
would have deserved from us an entire subjection. Such a mercy had
merited an absolute sovereignty. How much more malicious is it
against God, who besides the authority merited by this mercy, has
naturally an absolute supremacy over us!

Secondly, It is an imitation of Adam's rebellion against God, in being

a god to ourselves, or choosing another. God will have the soul of
man in a state of dependence on him; it cannot be otherwise, unless
man were a god. To make an independent creature is a contradiction,
for that is to make him a god. Adam's sin seemed to be an affecting
an equality with God, to be God's companion and equal in
knowledge, which would infer an equality in everything else: Gen.
3:5, 'You shall be as gods,' or Elohim, 'as God'; not as the angels, for
God interprets it an affectation of equality with himself in the
ironical speech, ver. 22, 'The Lord God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us.' Unbelief would still keep up this independency
which Adam aimed at, and whereby he quenched his own happiness
and that of his posterity, and attempts a salvation by his own
righteousness, which God denied him when he drave him out of
paradise, that he might not invade the tree of life, after the new
covenant made with him of faith in Christ, and so have any hope to
attain eternal life by any other means than what God had proposed.
This sin is an approbation of Adam's act, in an imitation of it. Pride
against God doth as necessarily attend unbelief now as it did then.
Unbelief was the first sin, and pride was the first-born of it. Adam
first cast away his belief of the precept, and flung away humility at
the heels of it.

Thirdly, Unbelief renders God, as much as in it lies, unworthy of any

sovereignty. It doth not only deny his authority, but it represents him
as false, foolish, careless, cruel to his own Son, and strips him of the
honour of his truth, the glory of his wisdom, the designs of his grace,
the arm of his power; and so represents him unworthy of obedience
from the unbeliever himself or from any else. For who can be obliged
in reason to obey a God so coloured as unbelief represents him, one
that is not to be credited, that is mistaken in his contrivances, that
hath no thoughts of goodness, that is too weak to protect his
creature? Nay, God himself would not judge himself fit to be obeyed,
if he were any of those which this sin would fasten upon him, since
all the perfections in God which are abused by it are declared in
Scripture as inducements to obedience; and God makes appeals to
the reason of men to judge of his faithfulness, righteousness,
wisdom, and goodness in them. To call a prince a fool is by the law of
some countries made high treason, because such language concludes
the prince incapable of government. The wiser heathens looked upon
the fabulous gods of the vulgar, being represented vicious, unworthy
of any acknowledgment, and ridiculous deities. Unbelief renders God
ridiculous to the world, and more among us than among the
heathens, who have absolutely denied Christ to be the Redeemer and
Son of God; for they own not the revelation from God, and therefore
cast not that imputation upon him, as the practical infidelity of those
that believe it to be God's revelation doth; for they acknowledge it in
a pretended opinion to be the revelation of God, yet act as though
there were nothing but falsity, folly, and unrighteousness in the
whole design.

Sixthly, It affronts the holiness and righteousness of God. If the

setting forth Christ to be a propitiation for sin was to declare his
righteousness, Rom. 3:25, i.e. his holiness as well as his justice, what
doth unbelief signify but that this act was unrighteous in God, that
God was not holy and righteous in punishing his Son as our surety?
Continuance in a state of nature by unbelief, after the revelation of
God's holiness in so eminent a manner, is an approbation of that sin
Christ suffered to expiate, a preferring it before the imitation of
God's holiness, so much glorified in the death of his Son; an affecting
that which is the just object of God's disaffection, since God, in the
highest manner that possible can be, yea more than in the damnation
of the whole world, hath manifested his hatred of sin in the death of
Christ. The keeping up notoriously gross practices, or unbelief,
though attended with morality, is a valuing a state of nature, against
which God hath manifested his hatred; and therefore unbelief, after
the declaration of Christ, draws a greater guilt upon a man than all
sins before the coming of Christ in the flesh, and the declarations of
the gospel.

Seventhly, It is a stripping God, as much as lies in man, of all his

delight. The service Christ did, which was delightful to God, is
contemptible to an unbeliever. God's delight and his stand in direct
opposition; it is a representing God cruel to the object of his delight;
it makes God a murderer of his Son; it taxeth him with the greatest
act of cruelty in sacrificing his obedient Son, the object of his delight,
and renders that act of God, which was the greatest pity to sinners
and the glory of his mercy wherein he rejoiceth, not only a vain and a
fruitless, but a tyrannical execution.

First, It is a refusal of Christ, the 'man that is God's fellow,' Zech.

13:2, his 'daily delight,' Prov. 8; it is contrary to that which is most
dear to God, slights that which is most precious in his esteem. It was
all God's aim in all his actions in the world, ever since the first
promise, to magnify himself in his Son. The revelation of his
righteousness in and through him, and the compliance of men with
it, was the chief end of God in the manifestation of Christ to the
world. The conversions of men to him are his pleasure: Isa. 53:10,
'The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.' What, then, is
this sin, but a thwarting God in his main end; robbing him of the
fruit of his counsel, the incomes of his love; making him a loser by
his grace; depriving him of a joy in his works, by slighting Christ,
who is the centre of his delight, the joy of his heart, the top of his
glory; chasing away all gladness from his soul, that he should have no
pleasure in that which he hath contrived with so much wisdom,
effected with so much power, but have an eternal grief in the
miscarriage of his work? It is true this cannot be actually done; the
counsel of the Lord stands firm, the delight of God is above the
injuries of men; but this is in the nature of unbelief; and if this sin
should have reigned in Adam, and every branch of him, from the
beginning of the world to the last man born upon the earth, would
not this be the effect of it? Therefore every unbeliever, as to his part,
doth that which would really be the issue if all the sons of Adam were
in his state. It frustrates the expectation of God, because God, in
sending Christ, had an expectation that men would lay down their
arms, accept of peace, reverence his Son, and manifest a joy in the
reception of him suitable to the joy of God in his mission: Mat. 21:37,
'But last of all he sent his son, saying, they will reverence my son.'

Secondly, It is a privation of faith, a grace so pleasing to God. Next to

the delight God hath in Christ, because of the glory accruing to him
by it, he hath a delight in faith, because it owns the glory of God in
the redemption by his Son, and honours those attributes in a peculiar
manner which were eminent in it. Is there any grace he is more
pleased with than faith? Is there any grace he hath put such a dignity
upon? It is called a justifying faith, Rom. 5:1, a kind of an
incommunicable attribute of it; other graces are the attendants, this
the mistress. God is so infinitely pleased with it, as it stands in
relation to the object, Christ crucified, that upon the appearance of it
with a Christ lifted up in its hands, God blots out all the sins that
stand upon record, accounts the soul righteous, opens his arms to
embrace it, and seems to own it as a recompence for all the wrong he
hath sustained. And what a delight it is to Christ I shall have occasion
to shew afterward. The soul that draws back by unbelief affords God
no pleasure: Heb. 10:38, 'If any man draw back, my soul shall have
no pleasure in him.' It deprives God of all pleasure in his creature; it
disturbs the rest of God. This is spoken of those that were within the
church, and made profession of Christianity.
Thirdly, As it is a refusal of his mercy in Christ. Because mercy is the
perfection he delighted to manifest in Christ, Micah 7:18, it bars all
communications of it to such a soul, because he hath linked his
mercy only to faith in Christ, where the gospel is revealed. So that
when Christ is not believed in, the unbeliever, as far as in his power,
frustrates the end of God in sending Christ, deprives him of that
delightful glory he intended by his Son's death, makes void the
merciful contrivance of God from eternity, which was the
stupefaction of angels, the envy of devils, the expectation of the
ancient fathers, and the satisfaction of believers, and, above all, the
delight and glory of God. So that you see what a vast injury unbelief
offers to God.

Secondly, It is a sin peculiarly against Christ. It is a piercing him

again, Zech 12:10. Some think this prophecy respects, as to the time,
the day of judgment; others, the time of Christ's being upon the
cross. It respects, I suppose, some time between. The prophet speaks
of Christ's piercing as a thing past; and at the time of his passion,
there was not such a mourning among the Jews as is here described;
neither doth it respect the times of the day of judgment. The
mourning, then, of the condemned world, shall not be from a spirit
of grace and supplication, but from a spirit of horror and despair.
The result will be, since those that had not an hand in the death of
Christ's body are said here to pierce Christ, it must be understood of
a piercing by unbelief, which is an approbation of the Jews' cruelty
towards him. Any man is guilty of an act who doth approve an act,
though he was not formally an agent in it. And indeed the Jews did
not actually pierce him, but the hand of a Roman soldier; yet they are
said to do it, because they consented to the act. It is a piercing of
Christ.* An unbeliever is a Jew in his heart and life, though a
Christian in profession; though he doth verbally acknowledge the
coming of Christ, he doth really deny it. It is an unworthy usage of
Christ; it is a using him, as he speaks of himself in the Psalms, as 'a
worm and no man,' trampling upon him with more violence and
contempt than they would upon a worm. The vilest man in the world
never suffered so many reproaches as Christ hath suffered by
notional and practical incredulity since he went to heaven. Judas,
that betrayed him, was never so much hated by the highest professor
and sincerest Christian, as Christ betrayed by him is slighted by
unbelief, as if he were set up for a sign to be spoken against. 'As his
visage was marred more than any man's' while he was upon the
earth, Isa. 52:14, so his glory is stained more than any man's since he
went to heaven. The natural darkness of men is so thick, that instead
of being dissipated by the light, as other darkness is, it is so
obstinate, that it excludes all the divine brightness of Christ from the
understanding and consciences of the most part of men:*John 1:5,
'The light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it
not.' It contemns by a desperate ingratitude the person of the Son of
God, the truth of his word, the bowels of his love, the power of his
miracles, the ministry of his death, the glory of his ascension, and the
majesty of his offices; and accounts the whole history of the gospel
no better than a narration of lies.

And though men never saw the person of Christ, yet they offer
violence to it by slighting the marks of it he hath left in the world. As
a man is guilty of treason by abusing the statue or image of the
prince, by defacing his seal, though he never saw the person of the
prince;† he violates his authority that regards it not, owns not any act
of grace from him, though he never saw his face; so are men guilty of
trampling on the blood of Christ when they count it as a trifle, and
unprofitable for their salvation, though they never saw Christ, nor
ever had any communion with him, Heb. 10:29, when they 'count the
blood of the covenant an unholy thing.'

First, It is a nullifying the work of his mediation and death. It denies

him the honour of his meritorious passion, vilifies the glory of his
mediation, from the first counsel to the last act, sheds his blood
afresh, and pours it slightly upon the ground, and tramples that
inestimable sacrifice like dirt under the feet. No sin doth so
immediately oppose Christ as mediator. This is the great antichrist in
the world; though this sin, among Christians at large, denies him not
in his person, it doth in his offices. As faith puts a value upon the
priesthood of Christ, eyes his death as a perfect atonement, leans
upon him as a sacrifice upon the cross, and an advocate in heaven; so
unbelief, being contrary to this grace, undervalues all that faith
esteems. It frustrates the end of his coming, which was to reduce us
to God, from whom we had receded by unworthy jealousies of him.

First, It renders the design of his coming a vanity, when it receives

not the fruits of it. As he that will not use the creatures for those ends
for which God created them, that shuts his eyes against the sun, that
stops his mouth wilfully against his appointed food, writes a vanity
upon the creation of God; so he that doth not receive Christ upon
those terms God offers him, and for those ends God sets him forth,
writes vanity upon the whole work of redemption, and 'makes the
grace of God to be in vain,' 2 Cor. 6:1. Neither the pains of Christ, the
blood of Christ, nor the righteousness of Christ, attain their end in
such a person, who offers to him the indignity of unbelief, and makes
him 'spend his strength in vain and for nought,' Isa. 49:4. Some
think it is Christ's complaint of the incredulity of the Jews, and it will
extend to all men that make no account of the travail of his soul, his
unwearied pains and bloody passion, whereby they argue him to be a
fruitless and a needless mediator, working miracles and shedding his
blood to no purpose; and fix themselves in a state, as if Christ had
never died in respect of benefit, though not in regard of guilt.

Secondly, It is a vilifying the price of redemption;* accounting that

blood wherein Christ was sanctified, demonstrated to be the Son of
God and Saviour of the world, and for which he was absolved from
guilt, and counted righteous before God, and advanced that he might
save them that come unto God by him, a common, an inefficacious
thing, Heb. 9:28.

Thirdly, Yea, a regarding it as the blood of a malefactor. It is

impossible that an unbeliever can regard it only as the blood of an
innocent man, that may cry for vengeance like Abel's, and be as weak
as Abel's blood to purchase salvation for the soul. It is impossible
that this, though bad enough, in denying the efficacy of his blood,
can only be the reflection; but he must needs regard it as the blood of
the highest malefactor that ever yet was in the world. In not
accepting it as the blood of God, he renders Christ more criminal
than Judas, and chargeth him with a falsity in declaring himself to be
the Son of God, and the mediator of the world. If Christ be the Son of
God, and the mediator of the world, why is he not cordially owned to
be so? If he be not accepted heartily under those notions, the refusal
of him declares he is not the person and officer of God, as he
affirmed himself to be, and so renders Christ, not only void of
innocence, but guilty of the highest affront to the majesty of God. He
that refuseth him, disowns his filiation, denies him to be the Son of
God, sees not a glory in him 'as of the only begotten of the Father,'
John 1:14; what faith the apostle asserts, † unbelief denies. An
unbeliever implies the truth of what the Jews falsely writ to the
synagogues after the death of Christ, that he was ἄθεος και ̀ ἄνομος,
an atheist.‡

Thus do all persons that think to attain salvation by any

righteousness of their own. Whosoever thinks he is able to enrich
himself with spiritual blessings, to weave a covering of his own
righteousness, and make payments of his old debts by a heap of good
works, despiseth Christ's payment, slights the righteousness of the
God of heaven, abuseth that Saviour who came to knock off our bolts,
heal our wounds, and clothe our souls. He that thinks to enter into
heaven, and not by him, is a thief and a robber; he robs God of the
honour of his own constitution, and Christ of the glory of his
mediatory office, and the right of his purchase. And thus do all
persons who walk contrary to the end of Christ's coming, who are
enemies to that spiritual life Christ came to set up, and friends to
that sensual life he came to pull down. Such may pretend friendship
to his person, but are enemies to his cross, Philip. 3:18, 19; they
defame the end of his suffering, as much as the Jews defamed him in
it.

Secondly, It is a denying the love of Christ. It is a stab at his heart, an

outrage of his tender bowels. He suffered willingly all those torments
which were inflicted on him, to remove from us the necessity of
suffering, which sin had involved us in, had he not stepped in to take
our burdens upon his own shoulders. If we will not believe in him,
we deny those choice affections which engaged him in the
undertaking, and were illustrious in the execution. It is as if we
should think the covenant of grace more severe than that of works; as
if Christ were our enemy rather than our Redeemer, and came rather
to kindle a hell for our torment, than to quench hell for us by his
blood; as if he came to suffer for our misery, and not for our
happiness. Was there any need of his coming to make us more
miserable than we were before? Did it consist with the goodness of
God to expose his Son to suffering, to make the creature more
wretched, since the misery we were sunk into was more than we were
able to bear? If it were an act of love in Christ, why is he not
embraced by the choicest and most affectionate faith? If he be not
thus embraced, it clearly implies that you have no imagination of any
affection in him, that he is rather a formidable person than an
affectionate Saviour. It is as great a slight of his love, as if he should
open heaven and make the proffers of the gospel from thence. If
Christ should speak from heaven in an audible voice, and propound
the gospel articles in the most affectionate strains, would not the
contempt of it be judged by all men to be an ungrateful scorn of his
love? He doth speak from heaven in his word, as really as he bled
upon the cross in his person (Heb. 12:15, 'If we turn away from him
that speaks from heaven'), and unbelief doth insolently abuse the
riches of his unspeakable goodness, and slight the blood shed with an
adorable love, without which the anger of God could not be
appeased, nor the fire of hell, prepared for sinners, extinguished,
without which the filthiness of the soul could not be cleansed, nor the
glories of heaven opened. In despising this love, we despise all the
fruits of it which the believer enjoys. Since Christ was so willing to
offer up himself to death that we might be freed, and the power of
the devil put to an end in us, the keeping up the power of the devil in
its full strength, as unbelief doth, is a slighting the main kindness our
great benefactor intended to bestow upon us.
Thirdly, It denies the wisdom of Christ. It chargeth him with folly
and inconsiderateness, in undertaking a task that was not worth his
pains, in suffering for the purchase of pardon and salvation, which
might be gained without so much ado. What did Christ aim at in the
shedding of his blood, but the appeasing of the wrath of God,
sanctification of the souls of men, the opening the gates of heaven,
which justice, provoked by sin, had barred against them? If men do
not believe, certainly they have some conceits, that either these
benefits are not desirable and worth the inquiring after, and
labouring for, or that they may be procured by other means at an
easier rate than faith in the blood of Christ. And is not this a charge
of folly brought against Christ, who paid so dear for that, which they
suppose they can have upon a cheaper account, and without being
beholden to him? Thus some interpret that place, Isa. 42:19, 'Who is
blind as my servant, or deaf as my messenger that I have sent? who is
blind as the Lord's servant?' As if God should introduce the
unbelieving Jews, charging Christ with blindness and folly, who is
the wisdom of God, and regarding that as contemptible, which was
honourable in God's account. And, indeed, it seems to be the true
sense of the place, since all the foregoing part of the chapter is a
proclaiming of Christ, who, ver. 1, is particularly called God's servant.
An unbeliever injures the wisdom of Christ in not following his
pattern; he trusted God upon his bare word, and oath, and promises
of assistance in his work, and a good issue and success. He that will
not give credit to the promise of God for salvation by Christ, implies
that God is unworthy to be trusted, that his word is of no value, that
all that trust him are unwise, and consequently that Christ himself,
who exercised the greatest trust of any in the world, was the most
unwise of any. When we follow not the practice of another, we imply
some defect in the wisdom of that person we refuse to imitate. This is
truly the language of unbelief; and the Gentiles at the first preaching
of Christ were so besotted with their own imaginary wisdom, that
they thought the preaching of the cross foolishness, and a mere
extravagancy of man.
Fourthly, It wrongs the authority of Christ. It receives an aggravation
from the greatness of the person that published the doctrine of faith.
All laws are to be attended with a greater veneration, by how much
the more eminent the wisdom and authority of the person is. It was
the Son of God who died by the command and commission of the
Father. It is the Son of God that hath left the command of faith upon
record. It is the Son of God who is the object of that faith we are
commanded to have and exercise. The not believing, therefore, is a
crime of the highest nature, in denying all the authority derived to
Christ from the Father. Upon this score Christ chargeth the
unbelieving Jews: John 5:43, 'I am come in my Father's name, and
you receive me not;' you have evident marks of a divine authority in
me;* but because my doctrine accords not with the interests of your
ambition and imperious lusts, therefore you receive me not. 'If
another shall come in his own name,' who shall flatter your ambition,
and preserve the dominion of your beloved lusts, 'him you will
receive.' Thus is the authority of Christ slighted by this sin, when the
terms upon which he offers himself are disliked, when we would
bring down Christ from his throne, to condescend to the conditions
we would impose upon him; when we set the crown upon the head of
some darling sin, which we should set upon the head of Christ.

Fifthly, It denies the excellency of Christ. To work faith there is

necessary, first, a clear proposal of the object, supported with such
reasons and allurements that have a strength in themselves to work
upon the mind. But unbelief denies any such attractives in the nature
of the object presented, to move the will to the embracing of it; it sees
more righteousness in a Barabbas, soul-murdering lusts, than in a
soul-saving Redeemer, when all the labour, study, thoughts, are for
the pleasures of sin, the satisfaction of self, the increase of profit, and
men scarce let Christ have a thousandth part of the thoughts. If draff
and swill be preferred before a pearl, it is because a swine sees no
excellency in it. As faith 'counts all things dung for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ,' Philip. 3:8; so unbelief accounts the person,
offices, doctrine, and laws of Christ dung and dross in comparison of
the excellency of self-righteousness, self-wisdom, self-dependence,
pleasing temptations, and gilded nothings. As faith accounts all
things dross to Jesus Christ, so unbelief accounts Christ dross to self.
How injurious is this to the worth of an heavenly object! to value a
feather above a mountain of gold, a box of poison before a pearl of
the greatest price, when nothing can come in competition with him,
but what is infinitely inferior to him! This unbelief sees no glory,
tastes no pleasure, conceives no fulness, in that which God hath
furnished with an unconceivable glory, and rests in with an eternal
delight; it represents Christ empty, whom God stored with a
communicable fulness, a poor nothing who is a rich treasure; it
esteems Christ, who is an overflowing fountain, as if he were no
better than a broken cistern. It is most certain that, while God is not
chiefly affected, whatsoever is in esteem above him is valued as more
excellent than God; so when Christ is not trusted, but a creature
hung upon as the object of reliance, that creature so received is more
excellent in esteem than that Christ who is refused.

Sixthly, It denies the sufficiency of Christ: the greatness of his

priesthood, the fulness of his satisfaction, the sufficiency of him as
the Son of God to make a prevailing intercession, as if he had not a
fulness of living waters to bestow, or not goodness enough to
communicate them; as though he were too scanty to free us from all
misery, and fill us with all felicity. Where no trust is reposed in him,
it implies that no benefit can be expected from him. The satisfaction
of Christ was more efficacious to take away sin and please God, than
the sin of man had guilt to displease him, and of more value to
outweigh the sins of the whole world, than they had weight to press
man down to the lake of fire; because of the marriage between the
divinity and the humanity, whereby that person, who was man, was
infinite in regard of his divine nature. Faith owns the fulness of this
satisfaction, pleads it to God, acquiesceth in it. What doth unbelief?
It either thinks the satisfaction too short, or that a man hath no need
of it, or that he hath some other invention to content the creditor;
but the first is as likely as any else, for, since Abraham's faith
respected the power of God, Rom. 4:21, unbelief questions the ability
of God. The apostle, pressing the Jews with many arguments to make
them sensible of the ability of Christ to 'save them to the utmost,'
Heb. 7:25, witnesseth that the secret sentiment in the heart of this
sin is the insufficiency of the blood of Christ for this great end of
salvation: that it is of no more efficacy to the purging away of sin
than the blood of bulls and goats; nor can reach the soul any more
than the waters of a river can purge the filthiness of the Spirit. This
sin therefore receives a mighty aggravation from the dignity of
Christ's person, whereby he was able to make a valuable satisfaction,
and actually did so. It is a 'light esteem of the rock of salvation,' Deut.
32:15, ‫ ישעתו‬of his Jesus who conducted them in the wilderness; as if
the rock of God's salvation had no more strength than a feeble
pebble. It disgraceth his power in the whole web of his design, as if
his merit were not strong enough, his satisfaction full enough, to
procure our discharge, but we must have something of our own to
eke it out. The blood of Christ cries to us, we regard it not; it streams
out fresh from his heart in the virtue of it, and flows through the
pipes of the gospel in the offers of it, yet unbelief stops the ears
against the voice, shuts the heart against the approach of it, as if the
sacrifice of Christ were a sacrifice of no value. And since this sin
denies the virtue of the sacrifice of the Son of God for the expiation of
sin, the justification and sanctification of the soul, it would expose
him to another death to make his blood efficacious; since there is no
means imaginable for the attaining those ends but the death of the
Son of God.

Seventhly, It denies Christ his right and reward. The restoration of

souls is a part of his reward for his work: Isa. 53:11, 'He shall be
satisfied with the travail of his soul;' God promised it to him.
Unbelief would make Christ a loser, as well as God a liar; for, if this
leprosy did totally overspread the hearts of every son of Adam, all the
travail of Christ's soul would have been in the service of the devil.
Christ would take the pains, and the devil have the harvest. What an
injury is this, to steal Christ's reward from him, to bestow it upon his
enemy; to gratify the destroyer, as though they envied the honour of
the Redeemer! It is his glory to have a numerous posterity; when 'he
was taken from prison and judgment, who shall declare his
generation?' Isa. 53:8. Generations, in Scripture, are put for a people
or family: 'the generations of Adam,' 'the generations of Noah,' i.e.
the posterity of Adam and Noah. It is the glory of Christ to have his
dying body spring up into a multiplied seed: John 12:23, 24, 'The
hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.' How? In his
dying, that he may bring forth much fruit, as ver. 24 intimates. The
occasion of our Saviour's speech was the desire of some Greeks to see
him, ver. 20, and, in his answer, he intimates that the conversion of
the Gentiles after his death was part of his glory, and the end of his
death was to draw a train of believing disciples to him, ver. 32. If the
faith of men makes the thoughts of Christ's death pleasant, and the
death itself glorious to him, unbelief doth in its nature snatch this
honour from Christ, and would hale him down from heaven, to stake
him in a humiliation-state for ever, to continue him the scorn and
derision of men, which, as it is injustice in depriving him of his right,
is also ingratitude to him, who hath done so much to make himself
dear to men. If the hire of a labourer was to be given him the same
day, and the sun was not to go down upon it, because he had 'set his
heart upon it, and lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be sin
unto thee,' Deut. 24:15; if the depriving a labourer of his hire, for a
small time, is a sin God marks, how black is that sin in the eye of
God, which hath not once, but often, defrauded Christ of the hire he
laboured for, both in his life and death, and will not return the soul
to him for whose welfare he travailed? What is this but to defeat him
of the fruit of his sweat, pain, blood and death, to disappoint him of
the satisfaction he hath set his heart upon; or, as it is in the Hebrew,
lifted up his soul unto, has a vehement desire for? What made him
bear up in his dreadful sufferings, but the joy and hopes of having a
generation to serve him? It was to this purpose he did groan and
bleed. But unbelief would have him an unattended Redeemer, a man
of sorrows without a spark of joy, when it will not come to Christ that
the soul might have life, and Christ might have glory.

Eighthly, It puts Christ to the greatest grief. His soul was never more
deeply impressed with grief before the hour of his passion than when
he saw men would not come to him that they might have life. That
his table was spread, and his invited guests would not accept of his
feasts, did both grieve and incense him. When he gave his disciples
so sharp a check, and calls them fools, it was not for their timorous
and ungrateful forsaking him, but for their slowness of heart in
believing, Luke 24:25. Not their leaving him in the hands of his
enemies, or their present charging him with imposture, but their not
giving credit to what was predicted of him by the prophets. It was not
the buffets he received, the thorns whereby he smarted, the
reproaches of his enemies, the wounds from the hands of the
soldiers, which did so much damp his soul, as the unbelief of his
disciples; he seemed not to be afflicted with them so much as with
this. This seems as grievous to him as the wrath of his Father, not to
be trusted, and to be charged with falsity. To be ungratefully dealt
with is more bitter to a generous spirit than death. This grieved him
before ever he came into the world, when he conducted the
incredulous generation of the Israelites through the wilderness;* it
may now grieve him more, since it is against more incomparable
marks of his kindness. Is there any grace that Christ doth more
earnestly inquire after than that of faith? If he finds it, he regards
nothing else, John 9:35. When he had found him that was
excommunicated by the pharisees, he saith, 'Dost thou believe on the
Son of God?' He inquires not after this poor man's zeal in defending
him so strenuously before the council, vers. 30–33. 'Dost thou
believe?' is the only question he asks him in order to his admission
into his family. What other grace doth he admire in the centurion?
Mat. 8:10. Humility, marching in the first rank, 'I am not worthy,' &c.
seems more obvious to view. But Christ looks at the faith which gave
birth to his humility. If faith be the grace on which he fixeth his eye
with affection and delight, unbelief must be the object of his greatest
grief as well as anger; it is a grieving him after God hath wiped tears
from his eyes.

3. As unbelief is an injury to God, as it is a particular injury to Christ,

so it is also a wrong to the Spirit of God. It slights the witness he
bears by his common illuminations to the dignity of Christ and the
truths of the gospel, and therefore when men refuse to yield
obedience to the terms of the gospel, they are said to 'resist the Holy
Ghost,' Acts 7:51. It is a sin more against the Spirit of God than any;
it is not the sin against the Holy Ghost, but the sin against the Holy
Ghost may be without many other sins, as it was in the pharisees,
who were free from many immoral vices, but it cannot be without
this as the main ingredient. It is a sin more against the Spirit of God
than any, because it is the peculiar office of the Spirit to receive of
Christ's, and shew it to men, to declare of the things of Christ, to
bring the truths of Christ to a remembrance, to convince men of the
necessity of Christ and his righteousness. Unbelief crosseth all those
purposes of the Holy Ghost, the end of his coming into the world,
writes vanity and folly upon his mission, by not subscribing to his
motions. As it reflects upon the Father for sending Christ, so it
reflects both upon the Father and the Son for sending the Holy
Ghost. The more honourable the messenger is, the more base is the
affront both to the messenger and to him that sent him. This sin, as it
is against Christ, is also against the Spirit of God, because Christ was
fitted by the Spirit, and furnished with all fulness in his human
nature, for the accomplishment of his work in the world. It was by
the strength of the Spirit that he first entered the lists with our great
enemy, who had first moved the rebellion of man, Mat. 4:1, and the
same Spirit acted Christ in the whole course of his prophetical office.
It was through the eternal Spirit that he offered up himself a
propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, Heb. 9:14; but it is also more
immediately against the Spirit exhorting to faith, pressing the
doctrine and truths of Christ upon the souls of men, repeating again
and again the things which concern salvation, offering himself to
change the soul that is without form and void into a comely and
beautiful workmanship. How great is this sin, then, that gives the lie
to the Spirit of truth, who is infallible himself and cannot deceive,
nor could no more be employed about a trivial and unworthy affair
than Christ about an unnecessary redemption! And since this sin is
that which the Spirit directs his battery against, it is more peculiarly
a maintaining the fort against the power of heaven and the summons
of that Spirit, whose least motions we ought to obey to a full
surrender. To cast away his solicitations, to put bars in his way to
hinder him an entry, is to quench the Spirit,' 1 Thes. 5:19, as if the
resisting his office were a blowing out his life, and as much a stifling
of him in the soul as when the Jewish fury crucified Christ upon the
cross. This is as great a sin, as appears by the punishment of the
Jews, who were not cast off so much for the crucifying the Lord of life
as for resisting the Spirit, who would have applied for their cure that
blood they had shed in their madness. Thus Stephen charged them
when they stoned him, 'Ye always resist the Holy Ghost.' The Spirit is
the ambassador of the Father and the Son too; he is sent by the
Father, John 14:26, 'whom the Father will send in my name;' and
sent by Christ, chap. 15:26, 'whom I will send unto you from the
Father.' To stand against an ambassador that represents two states
or princes is more than to resist him that represents only one. Christ
was sent by the Father, and it is nowhere in Scripture said that the
Spirit sent Christ, though it was given to him, not by measure, for the
fitting him for his mediatory work, and so it is against the Spirit, as
furnishing Christ with gifts and graces for his employment. But there
is a further aggravation in its redounding upon the Holy Ghost, as
authoritatively sent both by the Father and the Son, to build upon
that foundation which Christ laid.

II. The second thing in the demonstration of the sinfulness of this sin
was, that it is as bad, or worse, than the sin of the Jews in crucifying
Christ.

It is as bad as the Jews' crucifying Christ. It is as if we had been

partners with that cursed generation at Jerusalem, that stained their
hands in the blood of the Son of God. There is a spiritual crucifixion
of Christ as well as a corporal one: Rev. 11:8, 'And their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called
Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.' It is a speech
concerning the death of the witnesses, and a description of Rome,
the seat of antichrist. As it is spiritually called Sodom, and spiritually
called Egypt, so the crucifixion may be understood spiritually,
though there be something also literal in it; for Christ may be said to
be crucified at Rome, not in regard of the place, where Christ never
was, but in regard of the Roman authority, whereby he suffered, all
power of capital punishment being taken away from the Jews after
their subjection to the Roman empire. The crime pretended against
him was against Cæsar, the Roman magistrate; he was crucified by
Pilate, a Roman president, and crucifixion was a Roman
punishment. It is called Sodom because of luxury and lust, in regard
of the idolatry of it, which is spiritual uncleanness (as Jerusalem is
called Sodom in regard of her filthiness, Isa. 1:10, Isa. 3:9, Ezek.
16:49, 50), and called Egypt in regard of idolatry, and in regard of the
similitude between the oppressions of Israel in Egypt, and Christians
under the Roman jurisdiction. Now, as the name of one place is
metaphorically translated to another, because of the likeness of their
sin, so, by the same rule, the similitude in sin transfers the name of
one sin to another. Christ is crucified by the Romish power, when he
is deprived of the honour of his mediatory office, by justling in the
intercessions of the virgin and other saints; of the glory of his
satisfaction, in mingling with it the merits of other creatures; in his
kingly office, by assuming the power of dispensations for sin, and
pardoning the punishment due by his laws to it. And Christ is as
much crucified by an unbeliever, when he rejects or doth not accept
him as a sufficient sacrifice, a propitiating priest, a commanding
king, and a teaching prophet. A man is as deeply guilty of crucifying
Christ in a spiritual manner, as the Jews were in the reproaches and
scoffs of him and the nailing him to the tree. As there is a spiritual
entertainment of Christ, and supping with him by believing, and a
spiritual bringing forth Christ in the womb of a soul, as a mother
doth an infant, so there is a spiritual lifting up Christ upon the cross,
and piercing his side.

Another place which proves this, is 1 Cor. 11:27, 'Whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord.' If a man hath the guilt of any
known sin upon him unrepented of, if he comes not with a suitable
frame, when he hath no high thoughts of the excellency of Christ's
body in the sacrament, he is partaker of the Jewish crime instead of a
Saviour's merit, and acts as one that nailed him to the cross, and
pierced his side,—as an affront to the picture or statue of a prince is
interpreted an affront to his person. Now if the unworthy receiving
the signs of the body and blood of Christ, when a man hath no formal
intent to be guilty of so great a crime in his approach, but he hath
some pretences of holy ends, and addresses himself to it with some
kind of seeming seriousness, make him guilty of the death of Christ
how much more must he be guilty of it, who hath no value for it, doth
not accept of it as the death of the Son of God, and mediator of the
world?* He intimates that Christ did not suffer as a propitiation for
sin, but as a malefactor, and so is like to them that crucified him. So
that there are other ways of being counted before God the murderers
of Christ, than if our hands had been as deeply imbrued in the blood
which ran in the veins of his body, as the hands of the Jews were. It is
true, all had a hand in the killing Christ, for our sins armed the hands
of the executioners; they put the hammer into the right hand of the
instruments, and the nails into their left hand, and, as it were,
compelled their cursed hands to pierce his body.* Our sins
demanded the death of the Son of God. But only unbelievers are
guilty of his death, because they make that blood to be shed again in
vain, which they shed when he was crucified for them.

1. Unbelief is as bad as the Jews' act in crucifying him.

2. It is worse.

1. It is as bad, in being a virtual approbation of what they did. Every

voluntary sin is a justification of all acts of the same nature done in
the world. The sin of the Jews was a justifying the sins of Samaria
and Sodom: Ezek. 16:51, 'Thou hast justified thy sisters in all thy
abominations;' those sisters, ver. 46, were Samaria and Sodom.

(1.) It comes from the same root. There is the same disposition of
soul in one as in the other. They were no more of Adam's descent
than we are, and no more corrupted in their nature than any other
nation. We have no more good naturally than was to be found among
them, and they had no more evil naturally than what is to be found
among us. Unbelief was the principle from whence all their rigour
against him did arise; and had they not first been unbelievers, they
had not been the Redeemer's murderers.

If there be the same disposition, and an interpretative approbation of

an act, there is the same guilt in the exact eye of God's justice; for
God doth not judge by outward fact, but by the inward frames of the
heart, and dispositions of the soul. The blood of all the prophets,
from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, was to be required
of that generation of the Jews in whose times Christ lived, though
not a man of them had ever known Abel or Zacharias but by the
history of the Scripture, Mat. 23:35, Luke 11:51; yet Christ tells them
they had shed the blood of Abel, and all the rest to Zacharias. Neither
did they formally approve of those actions; no doubt but they would
in words have testified an abhorrency of Cain, as well as many
among us will their indignation against the traitor Judas, and would
have disowned the wicked and cruel facts of their ancestors, who had
dyed their hands over and over again in the blood of the prophets
and messengers of God; yet they were still guilty of all that blood,
because they had the same disposition of heart, by their unbelief, to
do the same act as Cain did, who was the head of the unbelieving
world; and they did imitate Cain in his hatred of his brother, by
hating Christ, who was to be the grand sacrifice typified by the
sacrifice Abel offered, and by Abel's blood too; and, having such a
frame, would have used the same person with as much rigour, were
he then alive, as Cain did. So no doubt but there is the same
disposition in every unbeliever to use Christ as cruelly, were he now
alive upon the earth in the same state as he then was, and should fall
foul upon the reigning sins of men's hearts, as the Jews did then use
him; for the reason is the same. If those Jews, notwithstanding all
their glavering affection to the prophets that had been slain by their
ancestors, would have handled them as sharply, and persecuted
them to the death, had they been alive in their time, and had as
faithfully performed their office and message as they did then, no
doubt but men having the same disposition would do as much to
Christ; and, having the same root in them, and bringing forth the
same fruit, where it is in their power, they would do the same to
Christ or any other object, if it were as obvious to them as that which
is the mark of their fury. As those Jews had the spirit of their
murdering fathers in them, though themselves did not believe it, so
every unbeliever hath the spirit of the crucifying Jews in him, though
they themselves think no such thing, and would with as much
abhorrency detest such a fact as the Jews did that of their fathers.
There is still the same rancorous root of bitterness latent in the heart
and nature, as was in theirs.

(2.) It hath the same object now, the person of Christ, though in
another manner. Whatsoever is done against the commands, and
doctrine, and people of Christ, against his inward motions in the
soul, is done against the person of Christ: Acts 9:4, 'Why persecutest
thou me?' How could the persecution of believers by Saul be more
against the person of Christ than unbelief, the root from whence that
furious zeal did branch? As the Father appeared principally in the
creation of the world, forming the design of it, and upon that
occasion settled the law as a rule of man's obedience, every sin
against the law is an offence against him, a blasphemy of the Father.
But redemption being the work of the Son, by his suffering and
resurrection, and the Son being the matter and subject of the
doctrine of the gospel, and set forth as an object of faith, and
appointed by the Father the lawgiver of the world, the gospel refers
properly to the person of Christ; and unbelief is a sin committed
against the person of the Son, and an outraging him. Apostasy and
denying Christ to be the Messiah is by the apostle called a crucifying
to themselves the Son of God afresh: Heb. 6:6, They crucify to
themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.' It
is such an act as is by interpretation a crucifying the person of the
Son of God; it is a rejecting his person and offices, and counting him
a deceiver, as the Jews did, Mat. 27:63, and not the Son of God; for if
we do count of him as one sent from God, why do we not believe in
him? why do we run from him? Ἑαυτοῖς, to themselves, or in, or with
themselves, as much as in them lies. All his common works, which
were upon their hearts, they kill, which is as much as a killing his
person; what they do to his truth, and the convictions they have, they
would do to his person were he in their power. They put him to an
open shame, for as he was derided and reproached as an impostor
when he was upon the cross, so men by their unbelief shame him
before the eyes of men. The action in refusing him and departing
from him asserts that there are no allurements in him, nothing
worthy of love, but worthy of that reproachful usage he had among
his crucifiers. As apostasy is attended with this guilt in the account of
the apostle, so is all unbelief, according to the degrees of it, more or
less, because it is a virtual denial of Christ's being what really he is,
the Son of God, and Saviour of the world; which was that the Jews
denied, and therefore crucified him, and therefore is a sin against the
person of Christ as well as theirs. As faith pitcheth upon the person
of Christ as its proper object, so the refusal of the person of Christ is
that which doth constitute this sin of unbelief.

(3.) It hath the same end, the indulgence of some carnal lust and end.
Is not our love naturally as strong to those corruptions which lie
nuzzling in our natures? Are we not as fond of them, as indulgent to
them, as the scribes and pharisees were to theirs? They did not pay a
greater homage to their beloved sin, and adore their heart-idols with
a greater veneration, than every one of us endeavour to pleasure ours
naturally; and this is the main end of every unrenewed unbelieving
person. Therefore, if Christ were among us in the same garb as he
was among the Jews, and shewed his dislike of our vices and
corruptions, and laid the axe to the root of them, though edged with
so many miracles as he did among them, what reason have we to
think that he should not meet with the same rude entertainment
among us as he did among them? Our nature is no better than theirs,
our lusts as dear to us as theirs, principles of education as strong in
us as theirs; we have the same spiritual progenitor by nature as they
had, even the devil, and his lusts we do as well as they: John 8:44,
Eph. 2:2, 3, 'The spirit that works in the children of disobedience
(ἀπειθίας, unpersuadableness), among whom also we had our
conversation in times past, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of
the mind,' and are as much guided by his inspirations as they; for the
apostle pronounceth it of all, of himself and the Gentiles, as well as
Christ had before of the Jews. Would we not befriend our father,
especially when he would put forth his utmost power and malice in
us upon such an occasion, as he did at that time in them? And we
rather should use him more despitefully, because if he did come in
the flesh, it would be contrary to expectations, whereas they expected
the Messiah, and gloried in the promise of his coming. Had any told
them before, that they should have used him so barbarously as they
did, they would have thought themselves wronged and defamed.
What! to crucify him whose coming they longed for, and had
expected in their successive generations, from the time of Adam's
being cast out of paradise! Yet for all this, you know how they used
him, because he came in another garb than they expected. They
looked for him to come as a conqueror, and he came as a person not
knowing where to lay his head. And what unbeliever is there among
us that can assure himself he would not do the like, were Christ in
person present, and struck as cross a blow at his darling corruptions
as he did at those of the Jews in that time? What pharisees would not
swell against him, if he should tell them of loading men with grievous
burdens, and charge them with their hypocrisy and formal devotions,
and thunderingly tell them they should die in their sins? Is there not
the same reason? Have not men the same love to their vices as they
had then? What can alter their affections? Nothing but faith. While
men, therefore, remaining in unbelief, have the same dispositions,
the same ends, and the same motives to unbelief as they had, they
would do the same acts against Christ, out of the same disposition,
and for the same ends, which managed them in all that tragedy. They
would still fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Those that
sacrifice the truths, precepts, ordinances of Christ to their Delilahs,
would sacrifice Christ himself, whose truths, precepts, and
ordinances they are. If Christ were again upon the earth in the same
state, he would be as faithful to his Father's instructions as he was
then; and unbelievers would be as faithful to their father's, the
devil's, instructions, as the Jews were then.
As we see in what sense unbelief now is as bad as the Jews'
crucifying, as having the same disposition, being set against the same
object and guided by the same ends and motives, so we shall see that

2. Unbelief now is worse than the unbelief of the Jews, and worse
than that act of crucifying Christ, and more grievous to him. They
crucified him by the authority of Pilate, and pretended a law among
them whereby he ought to die. But what pretence can there be for
any man's unbelief among us? Our unbelief at the last day will be an
excuse of theirs.* The Jews resisted a truth offered to them, but we
resist the force and power of that truth which in the notion we own.
While we receive it in our assent, we reject it in our consent; we
profess him to be the Son of God and Saviour of the world in our
doctrine, and proclaim it a mere imposture in our practice. Theirs
was a rejecting him; ours a scorn and mocking of him. Besides, we by
our baptism are obliged votaries to him; we have given up our names
to Christ in an outward profession, and promised faith in him and
obedience to him. The Jews did not formally so, though implicitly
they did, as the doctrine of it was contained in the ceremonies of the
law of Moses and the writings of the prophets. But our unbelief is
manifested after solemn promises to stick to him.

(1.) Our unbelief is against the spiritual discovery of Christ; theirs

was not. Their sin was against his personal discovery, ours against
his spiritual, in the miraculous appearance of the Spirit in the
apostles' preaching. The coming of the Spirit depended upon Christ's
glorification, John 7:39; their sin therefore could not be so great as
ours, it being against a less, and ours against a greater, discovery of
Christ by the effusion of the Holy Ghost. It is a contempt of Christ
after a full revelation. The Jews had better excuses to plead for the
mitigation of their crime, the prophecies concerning the Messiah
were obscure till cleared by the event, and delivered in such
expressions that a natural understanding might conceive them to be
meant of an outward splendour rather than a spiritual glory. The
condition of Christ was so mean and disguised in the world, that they
could scarce discern the Lord of glory for the mask of infirm flesh,
could not tell how to imagine him to be the Son of God, who was
meaner than an ordinary man in his outward appearance. There
were, indeed, some sparks of his divinity flashed out in his words and
actions, but short of those illustrious beams wherewith he afterwards
chased away the darkness of the world, short of that power whereby
afterwards he broke open the gates of hell, and hurled Satan, the
prince of it, from his long-possessed throne. They crucified him,
when as yet the Spirit had not spread the light abroad, discovered the
reason of all the foregoing methods, had not yet shewed him to be
the Lord of glory, nor animated some men to preach him in the world
and bear witness to the truth of his mission against their worldly
interest, and whatsoever was dear unto them there. Not a nation in
the world had then submitted their sceptre to the Son of God; the
world as yet lay steeped in idolatry, and wallowed in the sink of hell.
But our unbelief being after the clearest discovery of him, and his
appearance in the power of his royalty, since he hath a long time
reigned in the midst of his enemies, is rendered more vile,
unreasonable, and inexcusable. The Spirit doth not speak of Christ to
come in an obscure style, as the prophets did, but manifests things
past, things accomplished, in unveiled and clear expressions, and
with an undeniable light. He discovers not Christ on earth in a mean
flesh and form of a servant, but in the glory of the Son of God, and as
a mediator for man, invested with the government of the world, and
hath sealed the truth of his mission with the conversion of many
nations, and spread it over all parts of the world, contrary to human
methods, whereby false religions and errors have been propagated in
the earth. The promise of the Spirit's mission, made by our Saviour
on earth, being performed, is an evidence of the acceptance Christ
finds with the Father, and of the stability of all his declarations as a
foundation of faith. It is against this appearance of his our present
unbelief is, which makes it more criminal than that of the Jews in
crucifying him when he was under a veil. We have seen the conquest
he hath made by his Spirit for so many ages since his being upon the
earth; how prodigious, then, is our heart-refusal of him after so many
records of his power, and troops of miracles wrought by the strength
of his name!
(2.) They crucified him when he was in a state of humiliation; our
unbelief is against him, since he is exalted at the right hand of his
Father. There is a great deal of difference between the contempt of
one upon a dunghill and upon a throne. They sinned not against a
Christ crucified for them; he had not then died for them when they
apprehended him and sought his death. Theirs was against God's act
in sending Christ; ours against God's act in sending him, and
glorifying him also. Theirs was against Christ in his low estate; ours
against Christ in his exalted nature. Theirs against Christ as a man
on earth; ours against him as the Son of God in heaven, and in his
approaches to the fulness of his kingly authority in judging the
world. They crucified his humanity, and we, in a manner, his
divinity. They believed not in him when he was clouded in the form
of a servant; we believe not in him when he hath reassumed the glory
of the Deity. He was as a contemptible shrub among them, making
no appearance of rising into a full-grown tree; there was not that
manifest grandeur wherein he seemed to be promised: he appeared
not in such a garb as to seem desirable to them: Isa. 53:2, 'He was as
a root out of a dry ground.' But we have heard of him in his glory
mounting above the violences of men, dropping off the infirmities of
the flesh, shaking off the fetters of death by a victorious resurrection,
and triumphant ascending above the heavens to live for ever, and all
this that he might be believed on, confided in as the Redeemer of the
world. Judge, then, which unbelief is more sinful. They crucified him
whom they supposed to be a man and a malefactor; we crucify him
who was glorified after he was crucified for us. We crucify him since
his divinity hath been manifested above his humanity; they when his
humanity had veiled his divinity. Which of the Jews, that should
have seen Christ at the right hand of God, as Stephen did, would
have dared to utter those words, 'Crucify him, crucify him!'* Every
unbeliever, that dares not speak it, dares do it. They will be
confounded, when they see him glorious whom they have pierced.
Many of them bewailed their crime when they believed his
resurrection; we reproach him while we pretend to believe him
glorious, and crucify him again by rejecting his promises and
precepts, whom we confess to be risen from the grave. Had the Jews
had the Messiah only promised them by the prophets,† and had not
believed it, it had not been so great a sin as not to believe him after
he came, and prefer Cæsar, an earthly king, before him, and the life
of Barabbas, a murderer, before his. It was an higher sin to refuse
him, not only since he was promised, but was come, and had
preached and wrought miracles among them, and had lived holily;
yet it was a greater sin than of crucifying him, not to believe on him
after he was dead, raised again, ascended into heaven, had sent the
Holy Ghost and converted a world. Peter denied Christ, Judas
betrayed him, Pilate condemned him, the Jews crucified him, but not
one of them had then seen him dead, raised, and ascended into
heaven, and sending the Holy Ghost, as we have full evidences of. As
if the Jews did not believe Moses, when he pretended in Egypt to
deliver them, by taking the Israelite's part, and killing the Egyptian,
it was no such great thing. But after he had been, as it were, dead by
his absence, and returned again, by a course of miracles, knocked off
their chains, brought them through the Red Sea, for them then to
carry themselves so to him, as if he had not delivered them, was a
great injury to God and him. So it is a greater injury, since Christ, by
his death, hath freed us from evil, brought the kingdom of heaven,
his gospel, among us, and that for many years, that we should not
heartily comply with his terms, but behave ourselves towards him as
if he were a mere man, an unworthy man, had done nothing for us,
had not been taken notice of by God, but in a way of punishment. So
to carry ourselves after his high exaltation, is unparalleled, even
among devils, and by the sin of the Jews in crucifying him. And our
notional owning him, or assenting to the articles of the creed
concerning his death, resurrection, ascension, and sitting at the right
hand of God, and his coming to judge the quick and the dead, is so
far from alleviating the crime, that it renders it more base and
unworthy, not to cast ourselves upon him for salvation, resign up
ourselves to be saved in his way, and guided by his precepts, after our
acknowledgments of his death and exaltation. I say, it renders it
more unworthy than the Jews' murder, or the present unbelief of
their posterity, because it is a contradiction to our own professed
sentiments.
(3.) Our unbelief is more palpably against the offices of Christ than
theirs was: it was not of that black hue then. Christ had not a full
investiture in his offices, he had not all royal power settled upon him,
till after his sacrificing himself. For the full exercise of those offices
belonged to his state of exaltation, and he was not perfected till he
was offered up, Heb. 5:9; it is now against his priestly office settled
upon him for ever, and against a special part of it, his intercession.
They sinned against Christ ready to offer up himself a sacrifice; we
against Christ who hath offered himself a sacrifice of a sweet-
smelling savour to God; we sin against him as an advocate settled at
the right hand of God. It is true, Christ did intercede before his
coming in the flesh, and evidences of it there are in Scripture, but
that was not evident to the Jews. It was then upon the account of
what he was by compact to suffer, it is now upon the account of what,
according to that compact, he hath suffered; it is a sin, therefore,
more peculiarly against his priestly office, in his pleading for all the
fruits of his oblation, and appearing in the presence of God for us, as
well as appearing for God to us; theirs was against the latter, and
ours against both; theirs was against Christ, when as yet the contract
was to be performed; ours against him, when, according to the
contract, the price and ransom is paid; theirs was when the debt due
to God remained unsatisfied; ours when God hath given Christ an
acquittance for the payment of it, and made him king, priest,
prophet, prince, and saviour, and for ever invested him in each
particular office. It was not by any force, but with the greatest
willingness, that he offered up himself 'to destroy the works of the
devil,' 1 John 3:8, and to be, in all respects, an officer of mercy at the
right hand of his Father. If we shall endeavour to preserve him,
whom Christ came to cast out by his death; if we preserve any of
those works by unbelief, Christ came to destroy; if we continue the
sceptre of Satan in his hands by our want of faith; nay, if we preserve
that unbelief, which was the first work that the devil framed in our
first parents by his subtlety, we do that which hinders the glory of his
offices, and that which is more contrary to his honour than the death
the Jews inflicted on him.* His death did not discontent him, he was
highly willing to bow down his head under it, it was the way to the
glory of all his offices; he was to pass through the cross to the throne,
and be first a sacrifice before he could be an advocate, and yield up
the Ghost before he could send the Spirit. Unbelief, then, which
would deprive him of the glory of all this, is more injurious than
those Jews were which nailed him to the cross, and more grievous
than the ignominious death he suffered.

(4.) Our unbelief is against Christ after he hath finished his work,
their act was against him when he was moving towards the
performance of it. He had not then manifested the grandeur of his
affection; he had, indeed, taken human nature, and humbled himself
to the infirm condition of our flesh; but his death, which was the
commendation of his love, and the discovery of his affection in
redemption, was not then suffered; their sin could not be against
this, because it was not yet manifested; they made way by their sin
for a discovery of that love we sin against. They sinned against Christ
as he was preparing himself to be a sacrifice for them, and
sanctifying himself to be an atoning offering; we sin against him as
already consecrated by his own blood, and consecrating for us 'by his
own flesh a living way,' Heb. 10:20. In the crucifying of him they
sinned against Christ as the Son of God, but not against Christ as a
sacrifice; they rather contributed, though not intentionally, to this
oblation of himself. but we sin against the only sacrifice for sin,
which hath been offered for us, so that there is a greater ingratitude
and contempt in our sin than theirs; neither the priests nor people,
Pilate nor Judas, had seen Christ dead for them, before their own act
in crucifying him. Judas betrayed him, the people voted him, and
Pilate condemned him to death; but an unbeliever betrays, votes,
condemns the death of Christ to death; he betrays the ends of it,
condemns that to a nullity which God accepted as a price, and votes
against those offices which were founded upon his death, and which
he could not have exercised if he had not died, and thereby virtually
pulls him from his throne, unto which he was to pass by the cross:
for 'ought not Christ first to suffer, and so to enter into his glory?'
Luke 24:26.
(5.) Our unbelief is against a more signal manifestation of God's
attributes in their highest perfection. God hath not opened the
treasures of his wisdom to man till the sufferings of Christ were over,
nor was his love manifested in the highest manner till our Saviour
bled, nor his justice discovered till the stroke was given, nor did his
power triumph but in the resurrection of our Saviour. The glory of
those attributes lay hid and wrapped up in him, till Christ came
down from the cross, and rose from the grave. We sin against that
goodness which pitied us more than it seemed to pity his own Son.
We sin against that justice that sheathed a sword in his bowels to
spare our souls. We sin against that blood that sealed our pardon,
against that truth which had brought the promises upon record for
so many ages to an happy accomplishment, and made them yea and
amen, fully irreversible, by our Saviour's blood; against a wisdom
that astonished angels more than that in the whole creation, and
against an almighty strength that never bared its arm so much as in
raising our surety loaden with our guilt. Since nothing of those
appeared so eminent but in and after the crucifixion of Christ, their
sin could not so sully the honour of those which did not then appear.
They were ignorant instruments in the hands of God to promote
rather than violate the honour of those attributes. But doth not our
unbelief endeavour to take off the wheels of their triumphant chariot,
and lay the honour of them in the dust? The Jews, indeed, after the
death of Christ, sinned against all these in their brightness as well as
any of us; but not in the very act of crucifixion, because by the death
of the Son of God these excellencies were brought in all their glories
to our view, which had else lain invisible in the secret place of the
Most High, and never should have shewn their faces to the sons of
men. Without it, neither men nor angels could have had any prospect
of them. And though we imitate not the Jews in the act of crucifixion,
it is not for want of natural disposition, but for want of opportunity.
Christ is not here in person to be crucified by us, but we tread in the
steps of the Jewish unbelief, which was more gross after the passion
of Christ than before; and we crucify the glory of those attributes of
God, which received their life from the blood of the Redeemer.
(6.) Our unbelief is aggravated from the accomplishment of the
promises and threatenings for unbelief, which their sin was not
against. We have greater assurances since Christ's ascension of the
performance of promises than they had before. The gospel hath,
according to the prediction of Christ, from a grain of mustard-seed,
risen up to a mighty tree. It hath been by various providences carried
into remote corners, spread farther than the Roman eagles. It hath
been made known in the then unknown parts of America. It hath
visited all nations, Mat. 24:14, and a great harvest hath sprung up in
all ages since, from the seed of our Saviour's body cast into the
ground, according to his prophecy, John 12:24. We have known the
Jews sinking under the truth of his threatening, and the destruction
of Jerusalem, the fatal place of his suffering. We see them to this day
stripped of the badges of God's ancient favours, without a king or
prince, without a sacrifice, without image, ephod, or teraphim.* We
see the scars of God's just anger upon them for above 1600 years, not
yet seeking the Lord their God, and David their king, Hosea 3:4, 5.
And besides, we have known churches degenerate in their faith, and
(as the fruit of it) laid in the dust; the tabernacle of God removed
from them; their lands desolated, and their posterity laid in thick
darkness. How have we known him in the glory of his mercy and
truth, and the rigours of his justice! Have we not seen him with his
iron rod crushing his beloved people, and alluring with his golden
sceptre nations alienated from the life of God, and strangers to the
covenant of promise? There hath not failed one word of all his good
promise which he promised by the hand of Moses, the prophets, and
his own Son, 1 Kings 8:56; no, nor one word of all those sad
threatenings which were thundered out against that unbelieving
nation, who lie yet under that wretched distemper of slighting the
Son of David, the promised seed, and under the fearful curse of God's
oath, that they 'shall not enter into his rest,' Heb. 3:18, 19. And is our
unbelief, that spurns at all those evidences of his truth or
faithfulness, and his wrath against incredulity, less criminal than
theirs was? They sinned against the word of his promise and
threatening, and we against the work and performance of both. They
believed not, when no nation had been cast off, nor could be cast off,
for that sin. But we believe not, when we know that for this sin God
hath taken away the birthright from the Jew. Our sin is therefore
against the mercies which believers upon record have had for their
faith, and against the judgments God hath poured out on the Jews
and others for their unbelief. How grievous is it to commit that sin,
for which persons bear the tokens of God's wrath before our eyes!
And never palliate the business by pleading that none of us are as the
Jews, because we profess Christ to be the Messiah, and own him to
be the Son of God, and the Redeemer of the world; our unbelief is
worse than theirs, because we orally own him, and cordially deny
him. It is the same with theirs in the inward disposition, though not
in the outward profession.

(7.) Our unbelief is against greater knowledge than theirs was.

[1.] The act itself. They put him to death through ignorance, whom, if
they had known in the excellency of his person, they would not have
crucified, 1 Cor. 2:8. Peter bears the same witness, Acts 3:17, 'I wot
that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers;† and Christ
himself in his dying prayer bore witness to this: Luke 23:34, 'They
know not what they do.' They crucified him when his divinity was
under a veil, and therefore there are milder expressions of their
crucifying Christ than there can be of ours. Would the apostles speak
truth were they living, and should utter the same expressions of our
infidelity, 'Had they known him, they would not have slighted him'?
or can Christ put up the same prayer now for those that contemn him
under all the glorious marks of his deity? can he say, 'Father, they
know me not, have not had any revelations of me to be the Son of
God'? Without question, no. It must be thus, Father, they have seen
the trophies of my death in the world, they have known the
transcendent effects of my glorification, they have read, and read
again, in the records of Scripture (which they confess they do not
question) the conquests I have made, the multitude of disciples I
have gained, and the treading devils under my feet; yet remain worse
devils than those I have subdued. We do believe his ascension and
session at the right hand of God, and answer not the ends of them.
We refuse Christ against knowledge, which they did through
ignorance. It was a mitigation of Paul's sin that he persecuted
'ignorantly in unbelief,' 1 Tim. 1:13; he did not believe Christ to be
that person that really he was. Theirs, as well as his, was an ignorant
unbelief, ours a knowing one; theirs was a crucifying Christ
ignorantly in unbelief, ours a rejecting Christ knowingly in faith; i.e.
we consent not to that unto which we profess our assent. They
thought him to be mere man and a criminal, and did not assent to
the dignity of his person; we acknowledge him to be God and
Redeemer, and we consent not to the reasonableness of his terms.
The guilt is greater when it is against clear manifestations, gracious
offers, sweet wooings, multiplied essays of love and power, than
when against some few tastes; and to heighten it, a guilt under a self-
condemnation.

[2.] The examples of converts more. The examples of converts in the

time of Christ were produced as living witnesses against the Jews in
that time: Mat. 21:32, 'Publicans and harlots believed John, and you,
when you had seen it, believed not;' and no doubt they will be
brought as testimonies at the last day. Was it so high an aggravation
then, and is it less now, against those who have had not only those
testimonies upon record, but many other testimonies of faith in the
ages since and their own age; yea, the turning the scales of the whole
world, and the glorious conquests of Christ by ways different from
the methods of men? The unbelief after the sight of Christ's
converting power upon any heart is a charge as great, if not greater,
than the refusing to believe upon a single declaration of the doctrine,
because every conversion in our sight is an evidence of the power of
Christ, and the end of his coming and suffering. Such works are his
standing miracles now, which bear witness of him. The evidences
whereby Christ chargeth the Jews' unbelief with a greater guilt come
short of those which we have had: John 10:25, 'The works that I do in
my Father's name, they bear witness of me.' It is in this respect
against greater miracles than Christ performed among them; for
greater works were done by the apostles than by Christ, John 14:12,
which must be meant of the conversion of men, and the great success
they had in that work, more than Christ while he was upon the earth
in his person. The Jews had great means, the power of his miracles,
the sweetness of his conversation, to assist against their infidelity,
yet they vilified his person, misinterpreted his doctrine, ascribed the
sparks of his divinity to the powers of hell and the strength of
Beelzebub, and at length exposed him to the cross. Is not our
unbelief a virtual approbation of all that they did against those hints
and means which might have persuaded them to another kind of
carriage? But ours hath something to make it more base and
unreasonable, it being against the power of his doctrine in converting
a world, and supporting myriads of martyrs in bearing their
testimony to his truth under the flames and severest punishments.
The conversions in the days of his flesh were some few sprinklings
within the compass of Judea and Samaria; the evidences we have had
have been whole shoals upon the surface of the earth. The miracles
he wrought were unanswerable testimonies of his mission, but
altogether not so great as that of his resurrection, which was a
miracle after they had put him to death. It is this we sin against,
which they did not in the crucifixion of him.

[3.] Theirs was against a shorter time of instruction than ours. It was
but between three and four years; about three years and a half Christ
taught among them. It is ten, twenty, or more years Christ hath been
polling at our hearts, and proposing the terms of the gospel. We sin
against the instruction they had, for we have them transmitted to us
by faithful witnesses; against the teachings of the apostles, which
were comments upon the gospel; against multitudes of sermons
sounding in our ears. What is the crucifying Christ after three years'
hearing of his words and seeing his miracles, to twenty or thirty
years' vilifying his person, and disparaging his office, and treading
under foot the Son of God?

[4.] Suppose they had known what they did, yet their crucifying of
him was but one act. But since every act of unbelief, and every single
refusal of his gracious terms, is a crucifying the Son of God afresh, is
the guilt of multiplied acts put together less than one single one,
especially when every act hath a knowledge to aggravate it?

(8.) They in crucifying Christ did what God had determined, what
Christ was willing to, but it is not so in our unbelief. I do not intend
this to lessen their sin (for they had no respect to the decree of God
in the execution of Christ) but it aggravates ours. God is said to
deliver up Christ (Acts 2:23, 'Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain') not only as an act of his prescience, but his counsel, and
that determinate, i.e. stable and irreversible. He makes a distinction
between these two acts; in God it was an act of counsel, in them an
act of wickedness, 'by wicked hands.' There was a previous act of
counsel, and after that an actual tradition: Rom. 8:32, 'He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.' God decreed
the sufferings of Christ, but he never positively decreed any man's
unbelief, though he decreed to permit it.

[1.] It was necessary. It is not imaginable that the death of Christ

could be brought about but in some such way as it was, by the
wickedness of man, to answer all the gracious purposes of God.
There was a necessity of it to the satisfaction of his justice, in regard
of the sanction of the law, and the inability of any or all mere
creatures to restore the damaged honour of the law. He could not in
his own person deserve death; for could it be supposed that our
Saviour should be guilty of any capital crime, whereby, according to
the righteousness of the Jewish laws, he had forfeited his life, the
whole frame of redemption had cracked asunder, the person wanting
that innocence in himself which was necessary to make satisfaction
for others? Had God put him to death by some remarkable stroke
from heaven, without the intervention of man, the voluntariness of
Christ, which was necessary to the perfection of his oblation, had not
been evident, his innocence would not have been assured to us. The
remarkable stroke would have presented him to man under the
notion of a notorious sinner, that heaven could patiently bear no
longer. The gospel could not have been propagated. Who would have
entertained that person as a Saviour, whose innocence could not be
cleared? None who, according to the common sentiments of men,
appeared as a malefactor, would have been embraced as a Redeemer.
If it be said, God might have raised him again after such a stroke, and
his resurrection would have made him entertainable as one beloved
of God, but what evidences could there have been that it was a
resurrection, or that he had been really dead? But in this way of
God's procedure, the innocence of Christ, his freeness to suffer, the
reality of his death and resurrection, are undeniably assured to us.
There was therefore a necessity of the death of Christ, and in some
such way as that whereby it was executed, both in regard of the
counsel of God, and the fulfilling of the predictions which had
foretold the circumstances. But our unbelief is in no manner
necessary, either necessitate pacti, by necessity of contract, as that
was, or necessitate medii, of means, as that was to the salvation of
men. For this sin is point blank against any covenant of God, and
renders damnation certain, and salvation impossible. The death of
Christ was necessary for the satisfaction of God's justice, though it
was not formally necessary that those very persons should crucify
him. The sufferings of Christ were necessary to his glory; his heel was
to be bruised by the devil, as well as the devil's head by him. But
unbelief is not a due to him as a means for the glory of his person; he
was to suffer, for 'ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and
to enter into his glory?' But ought cannot be set on unbelief. It
cannot be said, Ought not Christ to have been rejected, contemned,
and so to have entered into his glory? His death was necessary in
order thereunto, but not our unbelief.

[2.] Besides, there was an 'obedience unto death' enjoined to Christ,*

and his will complied with it, both his divine and human will; his will
as he was the Son of God, and his will as he was the Son of David. But
his will neither as he is the Son of God, nor as he is the Son of man, is
for unbelief. Since he was to be obedient to death, the suffering the
death then inflicted on him was a part of his obedience; but the
suffering a new crucifixion and disparagement by infidelity, since he
went to glory, is no part of the obedience owing by Christ to his
Father. We do that in not believing which doth more displease him,
and is more against the interest of his glory, than they did in putting
him to death, to which his will, with the greatest freeness, and the
impulse of a divine law in his heart, persuaded him, and which
indeed was the chief end of his coming.

[3.] If we may judge of sin by the consequences of it, our sin is far
greater than theirs. The salvation of man, the glory of God's love,
justice, wisdom; the glory of Christ's patience, tenderness, the
mission of the Holy Ghost, the accomplishment of promises,
prophecies, were the consequents of this; not simply fruits of the
Jews' action, but of Christ's passion; not the consequents
intentionally of their wickedness, but of God's grace. God extracted
this glory to himself, and an immense good to man, from the malice
of the devil and the Jews. Can any man's unbelief, since Christ hath
suffered, be ever an occasion of so great a good? It cannot be
imagined how the infinite power of God can make any man's unbelief
instrumental to such glorious ends, unless he should send a Saviour
to suffer the same tragedy over again in his own person. Nothing but
the glory of God's justice, the manifestation of his truth in his
wrathful threatenings, the satisfaction of the devil's malice, and the
eternal misery of the immortal soul, can be the consequents of
present infidelity. Their sin was a means ordered by God to do that,
which procured the most inestimable blessings for us; but our sin is
against all the blessings purchased by that death, and all the tokens
of Christ's love bestowed upon the world at his ascension.

III. The third thing in the sinfulness of this sin was, besides the
sinfulness as it respects God, and as it is as bad, and in some sense
worse, than the sin of the Jews; so there are many other reasons
which manifest the sinfulness of this sin of infidelity.

1. This sin of unbelief is much of the same nature with the first sin of
the devils. It is probable by the Scripture that pride was the sin: 1
Tim. 3:6, 'Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the
condemnation of the devil.' If we take it passively, lest he fall as the
devil fell by his pride against God, there is indeed pride in every sin,
but the formality of the devil's sin seems by this place to consist in
pride, who being puffed up with his dignity in the creation, was
hurled into a lake of fire. What was the occasion of his pride, or the
particular formality of his pride, is not easily determinable.

There are four ways* of his sinning conjectured by men.

(1.) That seeing himself the highest of created beings, and most
approaching in likeness to God, he affected an equality with God,
Ezek. 28:12, 13, &c. to 17, which, though literally it be spoken of Tyre,
yet some understand it allusively of the chief angel; because he
speaks of his being in Eden, the garden of God, an anointed cherub
that covers, and was upon the holy mount of God, perfect in his ways,
till iniquity was found in him. He set his heart as the heart of God,
his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and he corrupted his
wisdom by reason of his brightness, wherein, say they, the sin of
Tyre, as well as his excellency, is compared to the excellency of the
devil in his creation, and his sin at his fall.

(2.) That the devil endeavoured to obtain a blessedness by his own

strength, without dependence on grace. As if he had been sufficient
to make himself happy by the strength of those natural perfections
God had first endowed him with at his creation. He apprehended
nothing else needful for him but the portion at first bestowed upon
him, and trusted to obtain that by himself which he could only have
by the grace of his Creator. He would be like God in being the
fountain and principle of his own happiness, and equal himself to
God in deserting any dependence upon God's sufficiency to rely upon
his own.

(3.) Others say, that the devil affected a pre-eminence over every
creature; and seeing the legions of angels created with him, and
himself in the highest rank, he would be singular, subject to none,
and ruler over all; choosing rather, saith Austin, to delight in the
subjection of others to him, than in his subjection to God; affecting
that royal dignity which was only due to the Son of God, and would
not be a ministering spirit to the heirs of salvation, creatures of an
inferior rank and baser alloy than himself, over whom he expected an
absolute authority, when all the angels, without exemption of any,
were designed to this office: Heb. 1:14, 'Are they not all ministering
spirits?' as the elder children are ordered to take care of the younger
in a family. He envied Christ the dignity of being set in the human
nature 'above principalities and powers,' Eph. 1:19, 20. This hath a
likelihood in it, since he sets himself chiefly against mankind, as
having a particular enmity against them, whose dignity in the
hypostatical union was envied by him, which was his sin, and the
cause of his fall. Men always have the greatest animosity against
them, upon whose account and occasion they suffer.

(4.) Others say, that the sin of the devil was a refusal to be subject to
Christ, when the revelation was made to him and the other angels of
his future incarnation: Heb. 1:6, 'And again, when he brings in the
first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God
worship him,' πάλιν εἰσαγάγῃ. This particle again they join with
brings in, and the Greek favours this, 'when he again brings in his
first begotten into the world;' signifying that he had brought his Son
into the world before as an object of worship, by a particular
revelation made to the angels, and required the worship of him in a
peculiar manner, not only as one with himself in the Deity, which
they could not be supposed to refuse, but under another relation, as
the head of their confirmation, and the fountain from whence they
were to derive their blessedness. God intended to 'gather in one all
things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even unto him,' Eph. 1:10; this being proposed to them was refused
by Satan and his adherents, glorying in their own natural perfection,
and conceiving they had strength enough of themselves, and needed
no additional grace, and were loath to be subject to a nature inferior
in natural perfections to their own, and worship an inferior nature to
theirs in union with the Son of God. 'Let all the angels of God
worship him,' is as much as to say, Let all the angels of God follow
his direction, which, upon the account of their natural perfection,
they refused to submit unto, because they were then to be subject to
the human nature.

In all these ways unbelief has a resemblance to the devil's sin. It

affects an equality with God in a self-dependence, rests in the
sufficiency of its own righteousness, without bowing down the will to
the acceptance of grace, delights not in subjection to God, refuseth
Christ, the head and mediator of God's appointment. In all which
pride is signal; and indeed pride of reason, and pride of will, are the
two arms wherein the strength of unbelief lies.

This latter way, whereby the devil is said to sin, seems to be more
probable. They are said to fall through pride; not a pride of aspiring
to be equal with their Creator, for they, being created with the
clearest intellectuals, and knowing themselves to be creatures under
an almighty power, would not attempt that which they could not but
know at the first appearance to be an utter impossibility. This would
suppose an error in their understanding, which their perfect nature
could not incline to. It is not, therefore, likely that their sin was to
desire the Godhead, or to be partaker of the nature of God in an
equality with him. Nothing in God or his nature could displease
them, or be any occasion of their pride, and they had power over
corporeal things; but there might happen something in the disposal
of the lower things of the world which might not be so agreeable to
them, and therein their desires might be averse from that which was
the design of God; and so it is easy to conceive that a revelation of the
incarnation of Christ being made to them, and the human nature
being deputed in that union to rule over the angels, this might
displease them; for among all objects whereby any occasion of
aversion from God might arise in them, this is most likely. It was the
most considerable thing to preside and rule over mankind, and God's
disposing of it otherwise in subjecting them to that nature, which,
because of the excellency of their own nature they expected to rule
over, is the most probable ground of their aversion. It was pride, and
pride immediately against God cannot so easily be supposed, as pride
upon this occasion we have spoken of.
And that such a rejecting Christ might be their sin may have some
reasons for it; however, they will evidence this sin to be a conformity
to the devil,

(1.) Because of the constant and uninterrupted opposition he has

always manifested to the Son of God. He hath always discovered
more enmity to the nature and mediation of Christ, and the faith of
men in him, than he hath against the nature of God. He never so
much opposed the notion of one supreme God in the world;
supremacy of one God was acknowledged by all the heathens; but he
endeavoured to block up any way of their entertaining the true
mediator, by filling them with notions of many mediators between
God and mankind, in which rank all the deities they worshipped
were accounted by them, and looked upon but as mediators between
the one supreme God and his creatures in the world. He hath always
set himself in opposition to Christ, both among Jews and Gentiles,
that he might not be believed to be the Messiah. Though he be
against the whole Trinity, yet he seems to have a more particular
spite against the second person, as if he had suffered more upon his
account, for some crime against him, than against any other of the
blessed persons in the Trinity. He raised up persecution against him
from his coming into the world; he sets Herod against him when he
was an infant; the rulers and rabble of the Jews, when he entered
into his office; singles him out to shoot his greatest temptations
against; acted Judas to betray him; raised storms against the apostles
and his disciples in all parts of the world; broached errors against his
deity, against his humanity, and corrupted his ordinances; so that
Christ in his doctrine hath not been at quiet from this great enemy
since he came first into the world. Upon which account Christ and
Satan are set in direct opposition in Scripture; Christ is called the
Son of man, as being the friend of man; the devil is called Satan, as
being the adversary of man; he endeavours to destroy man, and
Christ came to destroy the works of the devil; he is the accuser of
man, and Christ the advocate of man. Upon the account of this
opposition he is said more particularly to work in the first time of the
gospel: Eph. 2:2, 'Now works in the children of disobedience;' now,
the gospel is come, and a crucified Saviour preached as the mediator
between God and man, and the fountain of grace, he works with
more strength and vigour than before. He had his empire formerly in
the world; but now he works as if he had not wrought at all before;
now he works in the children of disobedience (or ἀπειθίας, of
unpersuadableness), to hinder them from the embracing Christ. The
angels are the ministers of Christ in his mediatory kingdom; if the
service of Christ be the office of angels, it is probable, the refusal to
serve Christ in that office was partly the sin of devils.

(2.) Satan is the head of the unbelieving world, and men are said to
be the children of the devil with a respect to this particular sin: John
8:44, 'You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father
you will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in
the truth, because there is no truth in him.' And the first murder
committed in the world, by the power of the devil in the heart of
man, was in contempt of faith and the object of it, as viz., the murder
of Abel by Cain, the head of the unbelieving world. They had been
disputing against the doctrine of faith which Christ had preached to
them, ver. 12 and ver. 24, and with respect to his discourse with
them, and their unbelieving disputes against him, he tells them they
were the devil's children, and they did his lusts. The lusts of the devil
were suitable to the lusts the pharisees acted in this dispute; 'he was
a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth;' he was a
moral murderer of the angels that adhered to him, and were solicited
by him to a revolt and mutiny; he brought them as well as himself
into a spiritual death; he abode not in the truth, the truth which the
pharisees now opposed, and which Christ had heard of God, ver. 40;
and when they charged him that he had a devil, ver. 48, he renders a
reason why he had not a devil, ver. 49, 50, because he sought not his
own glory, intimating thereby that the devil's sin was a seeking his
own glory; and certainly he may be well said to seek his own glory,
that resolves to stand by his own natural righteousness. This place
doth intimate to us, that the pharisees, in their opposition to Christ,
sinned that sin which the devil sinned from the beginning, i.e. the
beginning of his sin; and that sin must be a resemblance to this of the
pharisees, which was an unwillingness to own Christ as their head to
stand by. And the whole mass of unbelievers are included in Satan as
their head: Gen. 12:8, 'I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
him that curseth thee.' Them, in the plural number, him in the
singular. Him respecting Satan, cursed in that first promise, as
opposite to the seed of the woman in a peculiar manner; this him the
Jews understand of Satan; he was the first unbeliever in the world,
who draws a train after him, and propagates that interest of unbelief
among the sons of men. He is the curser of all those who have any
faith in Christ, and may well be counted the head of all unbelievers,
as he was the first broacher of that sin of unbelief which is directly
contrary to the blessing of Abraham. And in regard of this unbelief in
Christ, Judas is called a devil: John 6:70, 'I have chosen you twelve,
and one of you is a devil.' He hath the devil's nature and spirit in him
in this sin.

(3.) The peculiar sense and reflection the devil hath upon himself at
the appearance of Christ, seems to intimate this: Mat. 8:29, 'They
cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of
God? art thou come to torment us before the time?' They intimate
their great sin in a slighting of him, 'What have we to do with thee?'
which is a speech of contempt and indignation, as 2 Sam. 16:10,
'What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?' so Joshua 22:24,
'What have you to do with the Lord God of Israel?' They could not
endure the sight of that person they had peculiarly refused, and for
the refusal of whom they were involved in their misery. The
expecting a signal torment at his hands upon his appearance, implies
that their sin was more particularly against him; it flying in their face
at that time, and filling them with a fresh expectation of indignation
at the sight of the Judge, whom they had offended, by refusing his
headship and direction.

Now, this sin of the devils, which seems to be this of refusing Christ
as the foundation of their standing, and which was anciently
generally supposed to be their crime, is not formally the same with
our unbelief, but materially it is. They rejected not Christ as
redeemer, because they stood in no need of redemption, having not
then sinned, but rejected Christ as confirmer, choosing rather to
stand upon their own bottom and righteousness than have any
assistance from confirmation by grace in the method of God's
proposing.

So that unbelief,

(1.) Is first an imitation of the devil's sin. It is a particular invasion of

the rights of God as a governor and benefactor, who hath power in
both regards to appoint his own ways and methods of doing his
creatures good, and directing them how they should serve him, and
be preserved or saved by him; so it is an imitation of the devil, who
would not be subject to God's direction, but either not serve him, or
else serve him according to his own understanding. We are like him
in this, when we would save ourselves according to our own
methods. If the sin of the devils were a priding themselves in their
own created excellency, as their chief good and ultimate end,
depending upon those admirable perfections of their nature by
creation, and refusing the grace offered to them for their continuance
in their created happiness, then unbelief is still the same with the sin
of devils, because the root of it is a seeking our own glory, a glorying
in our own natural or moral perfections, or sinful affections, and
thereupon refusing to come under the rule of God, and submit to his
grace discovered in Christ. The building ourselves and hopes upon
our own righteousness, is equivalent to that of the devils, resting
upon their own natural perfection in a way of independence upon
God. But howsoever, since the first sin the devil discovered upon the
earth after his fall was a questioning the truth of God, which he
particularly contradicted in his discourse with Eve, fastening a lie
upon God,—Gen. 3:4, 'You shall not die,'—our unbelief is a
resemblance to him in this, which though it slights all God's
attributes, yet strikes sorest at his truth, both in his promises,
precepts, and threatenings.
(2.) It is an obedience to Satan. The devil roles in every unbelieving
person. His lust we do in this sin, John 8:44. And this sin is his
stronghold whereby he governs men according to his pleasure. It is
faith he chiefly assaults in the believer. The truth of God's commands
he disputed with Eve, and the truth of the gospel promises he
disputes with every true Christian. He put it into the heart of Judas
to betray Christ, and he obeyed him; he puts it into the heart of every
unbeliever to contemn Christ, and he submits to him. Every sin
indeed is an obedience to the devil; but since the height of his malice
is to cast dirt upon God's glory in the work of redemption, infidelity
is a compliance with him in his principal design. He aimed at
nothing more in his first temptation of man than to draw him into an
ill opinion of God, and designs nothing more than to keep him in it.

All his endeavours were to hinder the redemption of man by the Son
of God. Since he hath failed in that, his skill and pains are employed
to stop the application of it, and stave men off from the acceptance.
To that purpose he solicits men to continue under his banners with
hopes of better pay than under the standard and yoke of Christ.
Every unbeliever implicitly swears an allegiance to him; there are but
two heads, disobedience to one is obedience to the other; he that is
not with Christ is against him; he that comes not under his
government is a sworn vassal of the devils.

(3.) It is like the sin of devils in the manner of their sinning. They
sinned in a state of entire felicity, we sin in a capability of the highest
happiness in regard of divine offers. They 'forsook their own
habitation' with God, Jude 6, and we contemn a return to the fruition
of God, after many experiences of the miseries of our fall, and the
gracious indulgence of our offended Creator. And by how much the
more unmerited the grace is, and the less claim can be pretended to
it, by so much the more contemptuous is the violation and refusal of
it.

(4.) It is a sin greater than that of devils. They refused the headship
of Christ over them, when they had no experience in themselves or
others of the miseries attending their refusal, till their lost happiness
was past recovery; we refuse it, when we know in some sort what
devils suffer, and unbelievers will suffer for their contempt. How
may the devils plead, Lord, we sinned but against one covenant, we
never were under a covenant of grace, we were offered to come under
the head of thy appointment, but our pride ruined us. Howsoever,
this head never assumed our nature, nor was punished in our stead;
we were left to the doleful sound of our own chains, while those had
liberty again and again proclaimed to them; thou didst stand ready to
strike off their fetters and fasten ours. Had we had the mercies
offered to us which those wretches have despised, and had we had
hopes after some ages to be delivered from our punishments, we
should have lived joyful in our future hopes, though in present
misery. Our sins were not at such a rate as the sins of those guilty
unbelieving souls. We did indeed refuse the covert of the wings of the
Son of God. But we never refused a Christ bearing our sins in our
nature, for none was offered to us, after the experience of the misery
of our first contempt. Can any such plea be made by an unbeliever
under the sound of the gospel?

The devils never sinned against God, that was made an angel for
them; nor ever experimented so great a goodness;* they never sinned
against a God that conversed with them thirty years in the midst of
sorrow and misery, repeating instructions to repentance, and
encouraging them with hopes of pardon; but our unbelief is against a
God who hath multiplied his goodness, lamented our sins in the
garden, and bore the guilt of them upon the cross. The contempt of
such astonishing goodness renders our unworthy carriage towards
him more inexcusable than that of devils.

2. It is of the same nature with the first sin of Adam and Eve, which
so highly provoked the anger of God, and brought such a deluge of
miseries upon mankind; and in some regard it is greater than theirs.

(1.) It was the first sin of Adam. Not that it appears that Adam had
the same formal object of faith as we have, viz., Christ a mediator;
since there appears no discovery of Christ till after the fall, in the
promise of the seed of the woman to bruise the serpent's head. Some,
indeed, say that Christ was typified by the tree of life in paradise,
because he is called in Scripture 'the true vine,' 'the bread of life;' and
by 'the tree of life,' Rev. 2:7 and 22:14, they understand Christ the
foundation of all happiness of man in innocency. This seems to have
no foundation in the history of Adam's creation and fall, yet I know
not what may be in it upon the supposition of many, and most of the
schoolmen, that the devil's sin was, as hath been spoken before, a
pride against Christ as their head; and perhaps, had Adam waited,
Christ had been revealed as head of his standing. But this is clear,
that Adam endeavoured to stand upon his own bottom, to be a rule
of righteousness, and of the knowledge of good and evil to himself,
and was not content to wait upon God in the way of his precept for a
farther revelation from him of his mind and will. To wait upon God
in the revelations he hath made, and believe his veracity in his
promises and threatenings, is one part of faith; not to depend upon
him, but choose a dependence on ourselves, to turn our backs upon
his revealed will, to be our own carvers, is unbelief, which Adam was
highly guilty of. The first poison which was diffused by the breath of
the serpent, brought forth this cursed monster: Gen. 3:1, 'Yea, hath
God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' exciting Eve
to a diffidence of the mind of God, that he had not so contracted a
goodness, and so little love to his creature, as to deny him the
enjoyment of that fruit which seemed so good for food and pleasant
to the eyes above any tree of the garden; that since God had created
paradise for man, and put him in possession of it, man surely
mistook the speech of God to him, and was a wrong interpreter of
God's intentions. Afterwards, the serpent descending from a
question, ver. 1, 'Hath God said?' to a plain assertion, ver. 4, 'Ye shall
not surely die,' engenders unbelief, and consequently the misery of
all mankind. Some anciently did,† and the papists now do, assert the
first sin of Adam to be pride; who hearing from his wife, that upon
eating that fruit he should be as God, conceived aspiring thoughts in
his own mind, affected a self-excellency and dependence, and left
waiting upon God to bottom upon himself; for unless he had aimed
higher than he ought to aim, he had continued in his innocent state.
But what was the cause of this pride? Was it not giving credit to the
words of the devil before the command and commination of God,
regarding the precept as a falsity, and the threatening as a bugbear?‡
The first solicitation was to doubt of the veracity of God in his
threatening, which they greedily swallowed, without any reflections
upon the word of God spoken to them before; whence there was first
an error in the understanding, before there was a corrupt appetite in
the will: for since the devil's assertion, that they 'should be as gods,'
was contrary to God's threatening, that they should die, they could
not receive that assertion for a truth, unless they first doubted of the
truth of the divine threatening, or had quite forgot it. So that it can
scarce be imagined how Adam should have a proud appetite without
some act of infidelity preceding; though after that pride grew up to
some strength, the infidelity and aversion to God was increased.
Pride and unbelief do mutually support and prop up one another.
The first bait the devil laid was for unbelief: ver. 4, 'Ye shall not die.'
And pride followed upon the heels: ver. 5, 'Ye shall be as gods.' Pride
had scarce rose so high, had not infidelity first given it a lift. Now,
when the fallen spirit had got more credit with man than the Creator,
and had instilled into him a false notion of God, nothing appeared as
a bar to any rebellion. When infidelity had set foot in the breach, it
prepared the way for all the black legion which followed; then the
dominion of God is slighted, the law of creation broken, dependence
on God rejected, man would be his own lord, his own all, and God
should be nothing to him. And upon the account of this unbelief, and
the consequents of it in Adam, he is not reckoned among those
heroes commended for their faith, Heb. 11, not that Adam was void
of faith in the promised Messiah; for had he not believed that
promise of a Redeemer, he would not have been careful to have
transmitted it to his posterity, nor have taught Abel to sacrifice, who
was instructed by his father in that religious service, as typical of the
mediator, since we read of no new revelation made to Abel about
him.* And it appears that God had instructed Adam in the offering of
him; whence should he be clothed with the skins of beasts, without
the killing them, and that not for food, since no license was for that
granted, that we read of, till after the deluge, but for sacrifice: and it
cannot be supposed that Adam should be one hundred and twenty-
nine years without regarding the great type of the mediator in
sacrifices; for in that year it is supposed Abel was killed, because Seth
was born the one hundred and thirtieth year of Adam, Gen. 5:3.† But
the reason perhaps is, because his first unbelief, whereby he was the
author of the ruin of mankind, obscured the glory of his after faith,
the Scripture continually setting him forth as the original of all our
miseries, and opposing him to Christ the restorer: Rom. 5:14, 'Death
reigned from Adam,' 1 Cor. 15:22, 45, as also because the Scripture
records no personal act of Adam after his fall, whereby his faith is
evidenced to us. Unbelief was the sin of Adam, and faith the grace of
Christ. Adam did not believe either the necessity of the precept, or
infallibility of the threatening; our Saviour believed the precepts,
both of the moral and mediatory law, to obey them, and the promises
of God in the covenant of redemption, to rest upon God in them. And
by the way, we may see a reason why God will recover us in a way of
faith, because we first apostatised from him for want of it; he will
have his honour restored by the creature's believing him, as it was
first sullied by the creature's belying him.

[2.] Our unbelief is greater than Adam's, either than that before his
fall, or in any act of it after the promise of redemption, or greater
than his could be, supposing him to be a total unbeliever.

(1.) Greater than that before his fall. His was against a threatening,
for we read of no promise made him before, though a promise is
implied: Gen. 2:17, 'Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die,' and he was to live by his obedience; ours against
threatening and promises also; his sin was against creating goodness,
not against a crucified Saviour; that was ingratitude to God as
Creator, ours ingratitude to God as Creator and Redeemer; our
redemption was with greater difficulty than our creation; this was
done by a word, and it was a verbal declaration Adam denied credit
unto; but the other was not without the death of the Son of God, a
real testimony of God's veracity, superior to a bare verbal one. The
creation met with no reluctancy in any attribute of God; this,
according to the scheme of divinity, for our more clear apprehension
of the order of redemption, met with a reluctancy from justice. It
could be no spot on the honour of God to create, it was a
manifestation of his goodness, without any appearance of
contradiction; it might seem a blot upon his honour and kindness to
his Son, to prefer the rebel world before the life and peace of his only
begotten: his goodness to his creature seems to interfere with his
goodness to his best beloved. Our unbelief and sin against the gospel,
is of a more grisly hue in this respect than his, because against a
manifestation of greater goodness. Ours is against a better covenant;
and if that brought confusion on the world, much more will this
increase our confusion, as well as our sin. That was but against one
threatening, ours against many threatenings and promises; that,
when the only person he had to converse with, viz., Eve, persuaded
him to it; ours, when many dissuade us from it; not but that Adam's
sin was very great, he not having a corrupted nature, the task
appointed him being not hard, abstinence from one tree only
enjoined him, with more ease to be kept than broken. To break it,
therefore, was a presumptuous sin,* which is aggravated in that he
received the restraint immediately from God, which Eve did not;
neither doth God speak with an audible voice from heaven to us, but
by the mediation of his word transmitted to us from age to age; yet in
the former respects, our unbelief is of a deeper aggravation than his.

(2.) Greater than any act could be after his fall, or supposing him to
be a total unbeliever. It had been still only against a word, and ours
against a deed; it had been against the mediator in a promise, ours
against a mediator on the cross, and on the throne; it had been
against God promising, ours against God performing; his had been
against God assuring it, ours against God acting it; his had been but
against one promise, ours against many; it had been when there was
not one to give him an example of faith, ours is when we are
encompassed with a 'cloud of witnesses,' Heb. 12:1, referring to the
catalogue of believers mentioned in chap. 11. Indeed, Adam's faith,
and the faith of believers in the old world, condemns our want of it.
He believed, when he had no experience of the performance of any
truth but that in the threatening, nor the experience of any other that
went before him; but we have had the experience of God's making
good his promise, and maintaining his gospel. We find the promise
made to Adam, and all those concerning the Messiah made to the
fathers, eminently performed; the threatenings of God upon the
unbelieving Jews, the crucifiers of the Redeemer, executed;
additional incentives to believe more than Adam had. We read but of
one promise Adam and Abel, and the rest of the patriarchs before the
flood, had, and we find not any one promise upon record made to the
old world besides that first to Adam; and, therefore, supposing Adam
and the rest had been unbelievers, their unbelief had not been so
black as ours, because we have so much more encouragement than
they had, by how much a real performance doth exceed a verbal
promise.

Consider, then, upon the whole, that every act of unbelief in us is an

acting over the sin of Adam, an approbation of his miscarriage,
which provoked God to pour down so many miseries upon the
corrupted world. It is a sin, indeed, of that magnitude, that it equals
everything in greatness, but that infinite mercy which can pardon it,
and embrace the returning penitent.

(3.) Unbelief is a sin against the law of nature. There are two
principles evident to man by the natural law;—

1. That God is to be believed.

2. Our happiness is to be desired and secured.

[1.] As unbelief is against a divine revelation, it is against the light of

nature. Though nature cannot ascend to many truths before a
revelation by God, yet, when the revelation is made, and reason sees
the characters of divine authority upon it, or hath no cogent
arguments against it, to deny it to be the mind and promise of God,
not to believe it is a violation of the law of nature; because the
poorest reason dictates this, that supposing God hath made a
declaration of his will in any promise, or precept, or threatening,
man is to believe what God promiseth or commands; because reason
will tell him, that God cannot deceive, that veracity or truth is a
necessary perfection of the divine nature; that God is able to perform
what he promiseth, and therefore man is bound to believe what God
promiseth, assent to it, accept of it; and believe what he commands,
assent to it, and obey it. No reason can be rendered to prove anything
in the world so certainly true as this principle, that I should believe
God; if I do not believe him, I offend against the most indisputable
principle of reason, against that which nature dictates. As no nation
changeth their gods which they think to be gods, Jer. 2:11, so no
people can slight that which they think to be the mind of their God,
without making a breach upon their own reason. In this case faith is
to be considered two ways: as it is an assent to a revelation of God, or
as it is a special instrument of apprehending, and laying hold on
Christ for justification, &c. In the first sense, faith is a virtue we are
obliged to by the light of nature; in the second sense, it is purely an
evangelical grace. Now, the law of nature tells us, our Creator is to be
credited in any proposition he makes; that our belief of him is a
carriage due to him; that it is infinite goodness, he will condescend to
reveal himself in ways of mercy to his creature; and that this divine
goodness requires an answerable and suitable return; that
whatsoever is revealed ought to be entertained by all the faculties of
the soul, believed in the understanding, embraced by the will, and
welcomed by all the affections; for all the faculties of the soul being
created by God, ought, by the law of their creation, to rise up in a due
respect to everything that flows from him. If so be, then, men do
assent to the gospel to be of divine revelation, and pretend to believe
the promises, precepts, and threatenings contained therein, to have
the stamp of a divine authority upon them, and yet rise not up in a
heartily welcoming the terms of it, and pay not a suitable allegiance
to that which they account the will of God, they must needs consider
themselves as violators of the law of nature, and have reason to be
sensible that the law of the creation will strengthen the evangelical
sentence against them; for it is against the nature of a rational
creature to neglect that which he is satisfied the author of his reason
doth propose to him. And those that are not allured to God by that
which they think to be an act of his love, are worse than beasts: they
are not men, because they neglect that love which is the cord of a
man, proper for the drawing him to God. Unbelief is a plain
contradiction to divine revelation. If a man think the gospel to be of
divine authority, his not embracing it ariseth from a conceit that the
things proposed in it are not necessary to the attaining of happiness,
or that they are not as conducing to it as other means of his own
invention; that they are either useless, or not necessarily useful; and
in this he contradicts the law of nature, which prescribes an
acquiescence in, and veneration of, anything which we have ground
to think is of divine authority.

[2.] As it is against the principles of self-love. Since God hath

revealed the way of the gospel, and men fancy to themselves either
that they are not miserable, or that they can have some other remedy
for their misery, they offend against that natural principle of self-
preservation, and that in the highest concern imaginable, their
eternal happiness and avoiding an eternally doleful misery. In the
gospel, there are set forth pardon, peace, blessedness in heaven to
the believer; death, hell, judgment to the unbeliever. The natural
principle of self-love, if listened to, will direct a man to dread the
misery and thirst for the happiness. There is so much light in every
man, as to affect and desire a blessed immortality; for he believes
there is a God, he believes that his soul is immortal, he hath natural
arguments to evince that there is a state of happiness or misery after
this life. He may know that he could never come out of God's mint in
such a rude and filthy posture wherein he finds himself, that he was
created for higher ends than those he doth commonly pursue; that
there is no blessedness but in the enjoyment of some higher good
than any he finds in the world; that this blessedness doth consist in
the fruition of God; that there must be some way of attaining this: Ps.
4:6, 'There be many that say, Who will shew us any good?' Who will
free us from this labyrinth of misery wherein we are involved? is the
voice of sensible nature. Then, natural reason may step in and
conclude that this way proposed in the gospel is the most rational
way, and though there be some mysteries in it above the ken of
natural reason, and too dazzling for it; yet, taking it in the whole
combination, it gives a fuller content to natural and unbiassed
reason, with salvoes for the honour of God, and means for the
happiness of the creature, than any religion doth. Now, when the
gospel proposeth things naturally desirable by man, with means to
attain those good things, and motives, from the transcendent love
and grace of God to the creature, to excite his industry, for a man not
to believe, is to put himself in a way of contradiction to his own
natural desires, to cross his own happiness, fall out with himself, and
stifle that principle of self-preservation which is natural to him, with
all other creatures in their several kinds; and this principle is
contradicted in every step unbelief takes in the world. I do not, by
this discourse, ascribe any clearness to natural reason in the things
of the gospel, or that man hath by nature a principle of a ready
compliance with it, but that the happiness the gospel proposeth is
naturally desirable and desired by all men; but it is not entertained
by men because of their natural enmity against it, not against the
good things proposed in it, but against the means and methods
which God hath ordered for the attainment of them, viz. by a way of
faith, a principle the pride of reason cavils with. It is man's enmity,
and not his ignorance, makes him reject that in the gospel, which he
desires by his natural constitution as a rational creature; and this is
such a folly, which admits of no excuse, to refuse those things which
are the most gratifying excellences in themselves, for a vanishing
trash, a lust, which is but a magazine of torments, and treasury of
everlasting wrath.

So that to conclude this, since it is confessed, I suppose, by all of us,

that the gospel is of divine revelation, that the happiness the gospel
doth propose is desirable, if we do not heartily embrace it in the
terms of it, we contradict the two clearest principles acknowledged
by all men in the world by the light of nature; we practically deny
that what God reveals ought to be entertained, and we act against
that natural love to ourselves, which is the rule of the love we owe to
others, and which is so riveted in the creature that it cannot cease,
but with a dissolution and annihilation of its being. It can never be
blotted out of the damned in hell, and in both respects we violate the
clearest dictates of nature.

(4.) Unbelief is the cause of all the abominations and neglects of God
committed by men under the gospel. Besides that unbelief hath been
the cause in Adam of all the sins whereby the law is violated and God
grieved, it is the cause of all sins where the gospel is preached. As
man first fell because he did not believe God's threatening, so, since
the revelation of Christ, he continues in sin, because he will not
believe God's promises. He is not like to be controlled by any reason,
or diverted from letting loose the reins to any lost, who will not give
any credit to God, either promising, commanding, or threatening; for
as faith unites us to an holy God and a spotless Saviour, whereby we
become holy, so unbelief unites us to an impure devil, who, by the
help of this, engenders monstrous iniquities in the soul; so that it
may be said of this, as the apostle, James 3:6, saith of the tongue, 'It
is a fire, a world of iniquity; it defiles the whole soul, sets on fire the
course of nature, and is set on fire of hell.' It is the ringleader of all
sin in the world, and the common incendiary that puts to the fire
when any bullet is shot against God, and therefore hath a sinfulness
in it above other sins, because it gives life and spirit to them all. The
reason is plain, because the will moves to the embracing of things
according as the understanding judgeth them to be good, and
refuseth them as the understanding judgeth them to be evil.* If the
motion of the will, therefore, be not towards God, but to the filth of
the world, it is because the understanding is erroneous, not fully
possessed with a belief that God is, and that he hath promised those
good things declared in the gospel; for the will cannot have any
motion which is not one way or other determined by the
understanding; and when the understanding is possessed by ill
notions of things, it is an ignis fatuus, and the will is apt to be misled
by it into any slough.
Which appears several ways.

[1.] Faith is the root of all other graces; unbelief must, therefore, be
the foundation of all other sins.† Faith and unbelief are contrary, and
therefore have contrary effects; fear of God, or faith in God, is the
beginning of wisdom, Prov. 9:10; infidelity is the flood-gate through
which all impiety enters. When we want faith to give credit to God,
we shall have enough to give credit to the devil, who suits our
humour. By faith Abraham obeyed God, Heb. 11:8. Had not Abraham
had faith in the promise, he had never obeyed God in sacrificing his
Isaac; and where there is a want of faith in God, there will not be a
sacrificing one Isaac for him. Not one sin but will be engendered in
the womb of this, as well as not one grace but grows up from the
womb of faith. As faith purifies the heart, so unbelief fills it with
loathsome guests. No grace can be planted where unbelief is rooted,
no more than corn can thrive where the ground is overgrown with
weeds. Branches may as well flourish without a root, as any grace be
planted without faith. An unbeliever is a dead man, deprived of the
image of God, and liable to all kind of putrefaction, bearing the mark
of the devil upon his soul, void of the Spirit of God, which is the
principle of life. As it is the property of faith to work by love, so it is
the contrary property of unbelief to work by enmity to, and hatred of,
God. As faith is a going out of ourselves to God to please him, so
unbelief is a departing from the living God, to ourselves and
everything that is at variance with him.

[2.] If we consider every particular sin, this of unbelief will appear to

be the cause of it. Why are men proud? Because they believe not God
resists them. Why are men covetous? Because they believe not that
God abhors it at the same rate with the sin of idolatry. Why are men
uncharitable to others in their necessities? Because they believe not
that he that gives to the poor lends to the Lord. Why are men
ignorant? Because they believe not the word concerns them;
therefore ignorance and unbelief are put together, 2 Cor. 4:3, 4. Why
are men lulled in security in their treacherous ways with God?
Because they bely the Lord, and count the prophet's words no firmer
than wind, Jer. 5:11–13. Why do not men fear him? Because they
believe neither his goodness nor justice. Why do not men seek after
God? Because his judgments are far above out of their sight, Ps. 10:5;
they believe not their march towards them. What is the reason men
neglect addresses to God, or pray so rarely or coldly? Because they
believe him not to be a God hearing prayer, or believe not Christ to
be an advocate. Why do men make show of religion to serve an
interest or lust? Because they believe not God to be a searcher of the
heart and a trier of the reins. Why did Sarah laugh and mock at the
promise of God? Because she considered more the weakness of her
age than the faithfulness and power of the promiser, Gen. 18:11, 12;
she first imagined the promise false, that God mocked her, thence
she fell to mocking God, and then to lying. Why did the Israelites
murmur against God? Because they did not believe him for all the
signs he had shewn among them, Num. 14:11. Do not our hearts in
afflictions sink into fears, because we believe not God's sovereign
wisdom and fatherly love in the ordering of them? Why do we fear
man that shall die? Because we forget the Lord our maker, Isa. 51:12,
13. And why do we seek unlawful means to help ourselves? Because
we believe not either the tenderness or all-sufficiency of his
providence. What is the reason men are unreasonable and wicked,
always persecuting them that would live godly? Because they have
not faith, 2 Thes. 3:2. Apostasy and hardness of heart are the births
of this fruitful monster, Heb. 3:12, 13. The evil heart of unbelief
causeth to depart from the living God; he that undervalues the
promise will not cleave to the precept, and makes no scruple to hurl
away that which he believes not to be true, and change religion as the
state changes profession. All miscarriages may be traced to this as
their prime spring; it is therefore called not simply unbelief, but an
evil heart of unbelief, that which gives advantage to the devil to pour
all the floods of wickedness into the heart. What rebellions against
God, resistance of the Spirit, contempt of ordinances, will he not
engage in who believes God a liar? Not any sin in the world but may
be found in this sink; I may therefore call it the original sin under the
gospel, as infidelity was the original sin in Adam under the covenant
of works. Where this unbelief is partial, all defects in believers
themselves must be ascribed to it. Whatsoever deviations there are
from the precepts of the gospel are either from an habitual unbelief,
or the remainders of it in the heart; they are either from a want of
faith in the habit or in the act. Christ evidenceth this in his prayer for
Peter, that his faith might not fail, Luke 22:32. Where faith fails, the
soul will sink into any sin. His weakness of faith was the cause of his
sad fall, and a total want of it had kept him under the power of it for
ever as well as Judas; and though a total dissent from or a
contradiction to the truth of the gospel, as considered as truth, be
inconsistent with the nature and temper of a true Christian, yet there
is too often such an unbelief, which is a want of a due esteem and
value of the things of the gospel, which is the wicket and breach
whereby sin enters, and plays rex sometimes in them.

[3.] Unbelief slights that which can only enable us to conquer sin.
The end of Christ's coming was to 'finish transgression and to make
an end of sin,'* to stop the flood of iniquity which had overflowed the
world from the day of Adam's fall, to restrain it from exercising that
empire and authority it had usurped in the earth. Though this was
not the motive to God to send Christ, yet it was a main end of his
mission; for it consisted not with the holiness or sovereignty of God
to have a satisfaction made for sin without a destruction of the body
of sin. It had also been a design below the love the Redeemer bore to
his Father and to us, to free us only from our guilt, and let us remain
under the power of our sin. And indeed Christ freed us from the
curse of the law, that we might with more cheerfulness walk in the
precepts of it; and reconciled an offended God, that we might be
capable of a new and spiritual service of him. Faith is the first grace
wrought in the soul in pursuance of the end of the death of Christ, to
pull down thereby the corruption which had swayed the sceptre so
many ages. Unbelief, then, being contrary to this, slights all those
helps and assistances against transgression, and preserves sin in its
full authority and command in the soul. It keeps a man from
complying with this design of God in Christ, and stakes the soul
down in its slavery to sin. An unbeliever cannot perform any real
service to God, because where the tree is not good, the fruit cannot
be good. He is off from, and hates the root, which can only convey
sap to him for the bringing forth such fruits which are acceptable to
God: John 15:3–5, 'Without me you can do nothing,' nothing savoury
to God. 'As the branch cannot bring forth fruit, except it abide in the
vine,' and partake of its juice. They cannot pray, which is a main help
against the power of sin; for 'how can they call upon him in whom
they have not believed?' Rom. 10:14. It keeps in vigour all the
principles of sin, encourageth and welcomes all the motions to sin,
though it doth not always put them forth visibly into act, because of
some external impediments. It bars the heart against true principles
of service, and the assistances the Holy Ghost proffers, and thwarts
God in that which was one of his principal designs. It repels those
promises and threatenings which are the arms of the gospel;
promises of life to the believer, and denunciations of death to the
unbeliever, Mark 16:16, whereby souls are conquered to a
submission to it, and a war against their lusts. The promises are
alluring, the threatenings affrighting; both suited to the nature of
man for the restoring his affections. Unbelief now disparageth the
promises of the gospel, slights the threatenings of the gospel, pulls
back from any consideration of them, whereby they lose their edge
and efficacy. Who will ever spend time in the consideration of that
which he thinks to be false? As the life of grace lies in consideration,
so the life of sin lies in a neglect of it, which is occasioned by unbelief.
It is by the means of the promises the heart is cleansed, 2 Cor. 7:1,
and by the not believing them the heart is kept stuffed with that filth
it had. † For it supposeth a want of faith, that intrinsic principle
whereby we can only obtain help and remedy against sin. The word
cannot be operative, because there is not faith to believe. Had not
Adam believed that promise God made him after his first infidelity,
of the seed of the woman, he had approved of his former unbelief,
and rejected God's design of restoring him to his service and duty;
which every son of Adam doth, that complies not with the
performance of that promise. God's end in sending Christ was to
bruise the serpent's head; unbelief would either shield his head, or
apply a plaster to it for a cure.
[4.] Unbelief maintains every sin in strength. Unbelief being a
departing from the living God, the further the separation from God,
the stronger the empire and tyranny of sin. For as grace is most
vigorous when faith is most firm, so, on the contrary, sin must be
strongest when unbelief is most powerful. It is the great support and
pillar of the devil's kingdom, which must totter and fall to the ground
if this did expire. So much strength, therefore, as unbelief hath in
any, so much strength hath every sin, which either the constitution
inclines to, or the temptation allures to. It is the protector of every
sin, which would else lie bare to the strokes of the Spirit. As faith is a
shield against the darts of the devil, Eph. 6:16, so this is a shield
against the sword of the Spirit. Faith is 'the victory whereby we
overcome the world,' 1 John. 5:4. Unbelief is the victory whereby the
world and every sin overcomes us. There is no unbeliever but, being
in his natural condition, hath the strength of all sin in his heart lying
in garrison. Where unbelief reigns, the heart is evil, Heb. 3:12;
though this strength is not always in exercise, as the forces of a
garrison are not always in action; restraining grace may check it, but
nothing but faith can kill it. Not one sin could maintain its ground
without unbelief. This, as a stout general, spirits the whole army. No
sin can receive its death's wound till this Goliath be laid grovelling in
the dust; then doth the army of the Philistines lose both their hopes
and courage. Sin, indeed, may suffer some damage by moral
considerations, and the soul be wrought upon by some affectionate
discourses; but as long as this champion stands in defence, sin will
not be utterly defeated: it will rally and recover its ground; for while
the main cause of drawing back from God continues, the effect will
follow upon occasion. And, therefore, when men, after much
profession, glowing affections, and godly reformations, and
continuance some time in them, fall back again to their old styles,
you may conclude they never had faith, which would have wounded
their lusts with a deadly blow, as well as moral considerations curbed
them with a weak bridle. Such reformations proceed from a work
upon the affections, not upon the judgment, which perhaps hath a
suspicion that the things of the gospel may be true, but never was
possessed with an entire belief of the truth of them. Unbelief is the
purveyor to feed sin, and the protector to defend it. As faith grows,
all other sins decay; as unbelief grows, all other sins, by virtue of
that, maintain their standing.

[5.] It excites all kind of sin in the heart. As the gospel received by
faith opposeth all sin, 'teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts,' Titus 2:12, so this principle, opposite to the gospel, teacheth us
to cherish all sin. As the more faith is exercised, the more other
graces traverse the stage (for as they depend upon faith in regard of
their being, so they do also in regard of their exercise), so the more
unbelief is exercised, the more all kind of sin is stirred up and
quickened in the heart. As the gospel is enriched with all motives and
directions to what is righteous before God, and comely before man,
wherein whatsoever hath moral beauty, or is of honourable esteem
among men, that desire to walk according to right reason, is
commended and pressed with the highest injunctions, which, if
observed by men under the gospel, would make the earth a paradise,
restore the honour of God, and the beauty of the creation. So unbelief
disgraceth these principles, degrades them from that esteem they
deserve in the hearts of men, discountenanceth that which is
spiritually noble and worthy, alarms the corrupt nature, brings the
force of it into the field against the principles of the gospel.
Therefore, where the gospel doth not refine and reform men by the
operation of faith, men are rendered worse, more awkward towards
God, and spiritually wicked by the operation of unbelief, which is,
per accidens, the effect of the gospel; as physic that doth not work
and expel the humours, gives them advantage to rage more in the
body. As the gospel profits when mixed with faith, so it is wholly
unprofitable when mixed with unbelief. Sin thereby draws rather an
encouragement from it, and takes occasion from thence to become
more furious. Hence is that rage commonly against the gospel, when
it comes into any place where before it was not. The devil works by
the unbelief of man to excite all the strength of corrupt nature
against it, to stop the course of it; and what hath been done in the
world in the times of the apostles, and will be done to the end of the
world, is a picture of what men do secretly in their own hearts
against the principles of it, by the strength of their infidelity, which
stirs up all the serpentine principles in the heart against it.

[6.] It denies all that evil which God hath testified that there is in sin.
When God, by the sending of Christ, hath witnessed to the world
what a boundless filth there is in sin, that could not be washed off by
oceans of blood, or purged by the firing of the whole world, or
pardoned upon the solicitations of men and angels, no, nor can by
the intercession of the Son of God, without his death too; as faith by
closing with Christ, and the terms of the gospel, acknowledgeth all
this evil in sin, so unbelief, by rejecting him, avows the contrary,
regards that as good which God declares to be the greatest evil,
respects that as comely which God hath declared to be most
loathsome and monstrous, prefers its own judgment of sin before the
holiness and judgment of God, which he hath manifested of it in the
death of Christ.

(5.) Unbelief possesseth the choicest faculties of the soul. Other sins
are more seated in the sensitive appetite: this in the understanding
and will. Other vices may arise from the humours of the body; anger
and pride owe their birth to a predominant choler; wantonness and
lust to a fulness of blood; laziness and idleness stream from a lake of
phlegm; fearfulness, jealousy, covetousness, and envy, from a dusky
melancholy; but unbelief ariseth from the ignorance of the
understanding and perversity of the will, and most from the latter,
where it hath its principal seat: John 5:40, 'You will not come to me
that you might have life.' In the proposal of the gospel there are two
things to be considered, the truth and the goodness; under which
double consideration it is proposed. As it is true, faith embracing it,
and unbelief rejecting it, are in the understanding; as it is good, faith
entertaining it, and unbelief refusing it, are in the will. The falsity
and ignorance of unbelief is subjectivè in the mind. Contraries are
conversant about the same subject. Faith is in the understanding,
and therefore infidelity, which is opposite to it, is in the same
subject; the malice of unbelief is in the will, as the principal act of
faith, whereby it receives Christ, is in the will. A man's wilfulness is
the cause that he doth not believe; he doth not believe because he
will not believe. That is a great sin which possesseth the supreme
faculties, and taints them more than any; and the more of the will is
in any sin, the blacker is that sin.

(6.) It is most odious to God. If he delights in 'them that hope in his

mercy,' Ps. 33:18, he must abominate them that think scorn to
entertain it. It would bar God from all opportunities of dispensing his
chiefest goodness; the fullest fountain would run in vain, and the
richest feast be in vain provided. 'Without faith it is impossible to
please God,' Heb. 11:6. Though a man had the quintessence of all the
moral virtues that any heathen was ever enriched with, no man can
please God but by Christ, no man can have Christ but by faith. Those
therefore that hear of Christ, and embrace him not in the whole
latitude as he is proposed as an object of faith, are the highest
displeasers of God. Without some sort of faith it was impossible to
please God, even in a state of innocence; Adam could not observe a
precept, fear a threatening, nor hope in a promise, unless he believed
him.* But unbelief, since Christ is proposed, contains in it the
greatest ingratitude to God, when God prevents the creature by the
offers of love, and when God is offended, yet seeks reconciliation, not
only with those who have offended him and begin to cease from it,
but with those that actually offend him while he is seeking peace with
them, 'when we were yet sinners,' Rom. 5:8. Men are called while
they are actually in arms. Christ doth most reprove his disciples for
this; they had ambition and passion, many infirmities; yet we find
our Saviour chiding them for nothing but their unbelief, or, at least,
not so severely, Mark 16:4, and 9:19, Luke 24:25. He upbraids those
cities wherein mighty works were done, 'because they believed not.'
God was most angry with Moses for his unbelief. This affronts God
most; this is the object of his greatest anger and greatest hatred, and
therefore the greatest sin.

Use. If unbelief be the greatest sin.

I. Of information.
1. We may here take a view of the infinite patience and
condescending grace of God, to those that have a weakness of faith
with a great mixture of unbelief.

(1.) His patience. This sin being so black as hath been described, a
reproaching him in all his attributes, and Christ in his gracious
design, worse than the unbelief of the Jews, much of the same nature
with the first sin of the devils, it is a wonder of patience that God
suffers such a mountain of sin to cumber the ground, since it
reacheth as high as heaven and dares the glorious throne of God, that
God should not cut off those thorns which are continually galling
him, and fling them into the fire. Man is not so impatient under
anything as disgrace; God bears infinitely more reproaches by this
sin than all the men in the world ever bore, yet he hath as infinite a
patience to bear them as he hath power to punish them. None but a
God could spare such affronting sinners, and endure so many scorns
without evidences of wrath, and have an unwearied patience under
such a wearying sin: Isa. 7:13, 'Will you weary my God also?' which is
spoken of Ahaz his unbelief, as was explained in the beginning of the
discourse.

(2.) His grace and condescension,

[1.] In the continuance of his gracious offers where the unbelief is

total. Astonishing kindness! that after the first refusal of Christ, and
repeated acts of infidelity, God should still call and cry, come down
from heaven and knock; that grace should still solicit the sinner,
when that, and all the train of attributes attending it, are thrust off
and violently struck at by this sin. The first offer of Christ is a fruit of
amazing grace, but the repetition after such indignities is more
hyperbolical, when he quickens his solicitations of men under a sin
of so high a provocation. Not any man possessed with the grace of
faith but hath withstood many invitations, disgraced the wisdom,
faithfulness, goodness, and holiness of God; accused him of the
greatest falsity, represented him more base and deceitful than the
worst of men or devils; and this after God hath raised the strongest
bulwark against it, and given the fullest assurance to make void their
suspicions of him; himself contriving redemption, his Son acting it,
his Spirit applying it, as if all their employment were about this
affair; yet they have maintained their incredulity. When we consider
this, and the doubts and jealousies when we first set foot toward
heaven, we cannot cease from wonder that ever God should receive
us.

[2.] In his gracious communications where there is a partial unbelief.

It is admirable that when this, though partial, is such a reflection
upon God, that he doth not alter his methods, forbear the
communications of his grace, when we are often doubting of the
stability of that grace. He is firm to his truth in the midst of men's
falseness to him, Rom. 3:3; the unbelief of men shall not make the
faith or fidelity of God of none effect; the unbelief of that nation did
not hinder his entrusting his oracles with them. As the truth of God
was immutable to those that believed of the Jewish nation, though
the unbelief of the most was very gross, so he will be faithful to the
believer, though there be a mixture of the sin contrary to that faith
wherewith he is endowed. Moses and Aaron believed not God to
sanctify him, Num. 20:12. Moses his unbelief was great, in striking
the rock twice when he should have but spoken to it; yet God was so
gracious as not to deny that effect to his unbelief which he had
assured to his faith; he stopped not the influence of his power,
though Moses had weakened the hand of his faith; 'he caused waters
to gush out of the rock abundantly,' ver. 11. When this hath put forth
itself in act, God hath been so indulgent as to repeat his promise for
the strengthening of a fainting faith. When Abraham, after a twofold
promise, Gen. 12:2, 13:16, began to question God's truth, because he
did not yet see the seed promised him, and his years increased, Gen.
15:3, 'What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?' a, querulous
speech, discovering an act of infidelity immediately after a third
gracious promise from God, ver. 2, 'Fear not, Abraham, I am thy
shield, and thy exceeding great reward.' To this his answer seems to
be, What reward wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the
Saviour of the world is not like to come out of my loins, since I have
not that seed promised so long since? God doth not chide him for
this so severe a charge, but graciously renews his promise and
strengthens his faith, vers. 3–6, 'He that shall come forth out of thy
own bowels shall be thy heir; and thy seed shall be as the number of
the stars.' And when after this no seed came so suddenly as he
expected, he listens to Sarah's counsel and goes in to Hagar, Gen.
16:4, as if he was resolved to wait upon the promise no longer; yet
God is so far from stripping him of that glorious title of father of the
faithful, that he condescends to shore up his faith by a new promise,
Gen. 17:1, 2, &c.; and the more to strengthen his drooping faith,
changeth his name Abram into Abraham,* which signifies a father of
my people, that he might remember the promise every time he
should think of his name. It was given him after his distrust of the
former promises in the business of Hagar. David takes notice of the
indulgence of God to him in this case, when his diffidence of God
hath hurried him so far as positively to assert that he was 'cut off
from before the eyes of God,' Ps. 31:22, that God had no more
kindness for him, or remembrance of his own promise, 'yet
nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications.' Though he
had had so many promises from God of a kingdom, yet he said in his
haste all men were liars, Samuel too, and in that reflected upon God,
whose errand Samuel delivered. Some of those weapons brandished
against me will one time or other reach me, and little hold is to be
taken of the words of the prophets, which are but a pack of lies; yet
as long as he left not praying, God left not answering. Scarce a
gracious answer a good man hath but he may put a nevertheless to it,
because of that distrust of God which is mixed with his petitions.
When by a partial unbelief, starting from us, we question his truth,
bespot his wisdom, forget his kindness, hare low thoughts of his
sufficiency; yet all the aggravations in this sinful act (if there be a
true faith, as a grain of mustard seed), silence not the voice of his
bowels, dam not up the torrent of his love, he will take occasion from
thence to magnify his grace. When Peter seemed to have had his little
faith covered with the rubbish of his unbelief, and the faith of the
disciples seemed to be dead and buried, with the apprehension of
Christ by the Jewish officers, he was then going to pay their debts,
redeem their souls, bind up their bones, and make an everlasting
peace between God and them. And when Thomas persisted still in
his infidelity of the resurrection of Christ, he doth not only shew
himself to him with particular evidences of the reality of his
resurrection in the marks of his hands and feet; but inspires him
with a particular sentiment of his Deity, which no man before did so
explicitly acknowledge: John 20:28, 'My Lord, and my God.' Not that
unbelief is a motive to Christ to do so, but he will take occasion from
it to make his grace triumph over the worst of sins. Since the nature
of this sin is full of so horrid a malignity, it makes the
condescensions and indulgence of God appear more admirable.

2. Information. Here is a high encouragement to faith and

acceptance of Christ. We cannot sin worse by coming to him than by
not believing in him. How many stave themselves off from an
acceptance of God's offers by a sense of their own unworthiness!
Suppose it were an offence to approach to him with a humbled
unworthiness, can there be that blackness in it as there is in drawing
back from him? We do not then fling dirt in the face of those
attributes which were illustrious in the work of redemption; we do
not then blemish his truth, and represent him as one that hath no
care of his royal word; we debase not the credit of his promise, nor
do we cast any aspersion upon his wisdom, or go about to frustrate
the design of his contrivance, nor do we vilify his grace, or spurn at
his beating heart, nor count the unsearchable riches of his mercy as
loathsome dung. Nor do we disparage the power of God, as if he
could not be as great and as good as his word; nor do we declare that
we can shift well enough without him, neither do we strike at his
sovereignty in contradicting his fixed will and royal law of faith, nor
do we rob him of his delight; nor do we pierce our Saviour afresh,
nor vilify the price he paid for our redemption; we deny not his love,
his wisdom, his excellency, sufficiency, or reward; we cast no dirt in
the face of the contriver and executor of redemption. But all this we
do in as gross a manner as if we should verbally disown him, if we
believe not. Nor can our sins be diminished one article in their guilt
by keeping from him. Can we pay the debt out of our small revenue?
A farthing a year cannot pay the interest of a thousand pound, much
less the principal. Doth God command us to believe in Christ? Why
should we disobey our God, add a greater weight to our load? Have
we not sinned against justice, wisdom, common providence? Shall
we draw the black colours of unbelief over all the rest, and despise all
his attributes in a higher manner by refusing the blood of his Son,
which his love offers us? Can we lessen our sins by turning our backs
upon his bowels, and have the fruit of the death of Christ by
endeavouring to disappoint him of the end of it? Is it not, then, an
encouragement to us to come over to Christ by faith, since in doing it
we come out of the territories of the most malignant sin, and the
most desperate enemy of God, and pay the honour which is due to
his glorious perfections from every creature?

3. How unworthy is the carriage of every unbeliever! He is digging at

the very foundation of the throne of grace. The delights of Christ
were among the sons of men, yet naturally we run from him as if it
were a death to be with him, as if he were our greatest enemy. We
cannot pull God out of heaven, we cannot nail Christ again to the
cross, we cannot pierce his heart with a spear, we cannot revile him
to his face as the Jews did; but slighting the purchase of his death,
despising the conditions upon which it is to be enjoyed, disowning
his authority granted by heaven over us, is the only thing, and it is
too much, that we do against him. This every unbeliever doth; he
despoils him, as much as in him lies, of his reward; frustrates the
design of his suffering, the expiation of sin, the propagation and
observation of his evangelical law. He that disowns and would
destroy the dearest thing Christ hath left in the world, that which he
gave the greatest charge for the preservation of, would act all the
villanies against his person were he again in the world. He doth as
much as the devil himself can do. All that he can do is to trample
upon his law, increase the unbelief of men in the world. He can do no
more, and every unbeliever doth as much: 'The lusts of your father
you will do,' John 8:44.
The dignity of Christ's person greatens the enormity of unbelief,
because 'he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God,' John 3:18. It outrageth not a man, nor an angel, but the only
Son of God, in the truth of his word, the majesty of his person, the
greatness of his undertaking, and the kindness of his sufferings.*
God hath but one Son, and him it despiseth, and in his person
contemns the Father. It is no less than marriage to his Son that he
propounds when he offers Christ; and who would not contemn† the
carriage of a beggar, that should refuse being a prince's spouse? This
is to refuse the imitation of angels who worship him, for the
imitation of devils who hate him.

Now the carriage of unbelief to God in Christ is,

1. Irrational.

2. Ingrateful.

3. Inexcusable.

4. Miserable.

1. Irrational. (1.) In those that own not the gospel as a revelation of

God, which many of the heathen philosophers regarded as a piece of
folly, 'to the Greeks foolishness,' 1 Cor. 1:23; they could not imagine a
crucified God, or so little affection in God to an only Son, as to let
him be put to death, and an infamous death too. But, alas! they had
more unreasonable notions of their gods than this could possibly
appear to be. It is true, their notions are exploded out of the world,
but we may thereby see how unreasonable men are in the rejecting
the gospel upon any principles whatsoever. They talk of their
adulterous gods, their cheating Mercuries, hectoring Marses, and
lustful Venuses, and of gods wounded in battles. Is not a dying God
for the ends of virtue, more reasonable than an adulterous god for
the ends of vice? Is not a God pierced for the happiness of mankind,
and preservation of human nature, more reasonable than a god
wounded in skirmishes? Is it not as reasonable to be believed that
God should become man, as a man become a god? which was a
notion frequent among them in their deifying men; but none now
have such gross conceits of the divine Majesty. But as some scarce
own the being of a God, so they quite disown the design and
reasonableness of the gospel, which is as ancient as the world within
a few hours, transmitted from one age to another by a succession of
promises, frequency of prophecies, all centring in, and receiving their
accomplishment in Christ. So that if any will receive the ancient
testimonies of the prophets, which no reasonable man can deny,
there being more clear evidence of the antiquity of the books of the
Old Testament, than for any writing whatsoever, owned by the
heathens to have something divine in it, and preserved by the Jews'
enemies, or that which they represented, and represented so clearly,
that whosoever shall read of a Messiah to be cut off after sixty-two
weeks, Dan. 9:26, from the building of the temple, and that to make
an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to put an end to any prophecy of the
Messiah, the Jews not being able to shew one prophet since the
crucifying of Christ; whosoever shall read the 53d of Isaiah, of the
tender plant without comeliness, despised and rejected of men,
acquainted with grief, carrying our sorrows, bearing iniquity,
oppressed and not opening his mouth, making his grave with the
wicked, and the rich in his death, making his soul an offering for sin,
and after having a portion divided with the great, because he poured
out his soul to death; whoever shall read the prophecy of one pierced,
one born in Bethlehem, 'whose goings out were from everlasting,'
Micah 5:2, and afterwards consider the story of our Saviour's life and
death, cannot reasonably deny that this is the very person described
in the prophecy.* Whosoever shall consider the prophecies of the
destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and the sanctuary, with a flood
of desolation, Dan. 9:26, after the cutting off the Messiah, and see
that people now without a king, without a prince, or high priest, an
image, an ephod, without a sacrifice, Hosea 3:4 more years than ever
both their temples stood, must reasonably conclude it a fruit of their
own wish, that the blood of him whom they would not own as their
Messiah, might be upon them and upon their children, Mat. 27:25.
One great reason men do not believe the gospel, or believe in Christ,
is because they are unacquainted with the prophetic part of
Scripture. Buxtorf, in his Synagoga Judaica, conjectures this is a
great reason of the Jews' obstinacy, they are so intent upon the law
that they scarce mind the prophets; and Christ himself, in his rebuke
of his disciples, intimates this, 'O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all which the prophets have spoken!' Luke 24:25. To deny a gospel
that hath been propagated with a glorious success, confirmed by a
train of miracles, acknowledged in the writings of the heathens who
lived in the primitive times, witnessed by the blood of martyrs, and
those of the wiser and learneder sort, who could not all surely be a
parcel of melancholy fools! And shall this have no better a reception,
than if it were a mere romance, and an impertinent fable? Common
reflections upon ourselves after this revelation, will lead us to think
some divine stamp upon it. It is obvious to a considering rationalist,
that man is not upon a right basis, that he is strangely amiss, that it
is inconsistent with the goodness and holiness of God, to let man
come in such a posture at first out of his hands. He sees how little he
can determine anything with certainty in his understanding, that he
hath not that affection to God which nature will teach him he ought
to have, that he doth not glorify God as his own reason will inform
him he ought to do; he must conclude, that if ever divine goodness
hath designed and revealed a way for the restoration of man to his
service, the restoration of the world to the end of his glory, for which
it was created, he can find nothing that doth propose it, promise it,
and assure it, but the gospel. But let such that disown the gospel
consider (and though perhaps there are none here that
opinionatively are infidels, yet there is no man but hath some
motions sometimes against the authority of the gospel, as well as
atheistical thoughts against the being of a God, which need
sometimes some consideration to stop the tide); I say, let them
consider, that those things they prefer before the gospel, are not in
their own account of any great and durable worth; they cannot
attend any beyond the gate of death; some thing there is of concern
in another world; the opinions they entertain have as little ground of
certainty, as anything else which the gospel doth not declare. The
best account of things, with the most likely reason that ever was
extant, is in the Scripture; for there is nothing seems to be wanting
for the glory of God, and the duty and happiness of a creature. And
therefore it is but a reasonable proposal that we should entertain
that, and conform our judgments and practices to it, till we meet
with a better account, that makes more for the divine honour and the
creatures' welfare. If any scheme more satisfactory for such high and
glorious ends can be proposed, it is fit it should be entertained. But
till such a one be found out, and have as many, and as manifest
confirmations as this hath had, it is reason that till then this should
have the pre-eminence. Who, that were under a raging disease,
would not use the best remedy he could find, till he met with a
better? For as it is unreasonable for any man to deny that debt of
obedience he owes to God as Creator, so it is unreasonable to deny a
rule to guide him in the way of obedience to, and worship of, God, till
he can find one more rational in itself, more honourable for God, and
more serviceable to the creatures' interest. Is it not unreasonable to
require the same evidence in things of faith as in matters of nature?
Is it not unreasonable to deny that which hath stronger arguments to
back the authority of it, than what can be drawn from sense and
reason, for the proof of the being of anything in the world? Is it not
unreasonable for us to follow our own humours, fancies, purblind
reason, groping for happiness in other things, while we refuse the
way that hath the clearest characters upon it of anything in the
world? It were worth our knowledge what religion such men would
have, who will not believe the matter of the gospel; a religion it is
supposed they would have, if they own the being of God; for a
religious worship is a natural consequence from such an
acknowledgment. The worship of the heathens cannot but appear
ridiculous; there is not a man to be found, unless among the more
stupid sort of nations, that will apologise for that. The Jewish cannot,
according to the rules of that religion, be practised; for they cannot
sacrifice, since they have no temple wherein to perform that service.
Besides, sacrifices being practised in all nations, for the expiation of
sin, it cannot be supposed that the blood of any creature can make
atonement for the sin of the soul, or outward purifications by water
wash off the impurities of an immaterial spirit. The Mahometan is
too sensual for any rationalist to embrace. There is none then left but
the Christian to be embraced: the great command of that is faith; it
forbids all those sins which moral nature loathes, and unbelief
besides. The rule of it is the Scripture, and whatsoever is not
according to that, whatsoever worship or doctrine men coin that is
not according to that rule, is not religion, is not worship, it is no
revelation of God.

(2.) No less irrational is it in those that own the gospel to be a divine

revelation for such high ends, and do not in heart and practice
subscribe to the goodness and methods of it. For men that hear the
language of God, pretend they believe the voice of the gospel to be
the voice of God, that Christ is the Son of God, that he shed his blood
for a ransom for souls; yet not to accept of this ransom, to slight the
benefit of it; not to conform to one of those conditions upon which it
is offered; not leave a lust for Christ, or forego a pleasure for him; to
believe no more than agrees with their humour, interest, or fancy,—
this is a most unworthy carriage to God, and to a man's self, to
pretend one thing, and do another; to profess an acknowledgment of
it in our understandings, and refuse a subscription to it with our
wills. It is a thousand times better for a man to strip himself of the
name of a Christian, than to have a practical unbelief inconsistent
with the truth of a Christian. With what face can a man profess
Christ to be his Lord and master, and yet regard not any order he
gives? The heathens will stand up in judgment against such a nation,
for they will confide in their idols, believe and conform to their
oracles: 'All people will walk every one in the name of his god,' Micah
4:5; and shall we deal worse with God than heathens did with idols?
Shall we believe wicked men? why else do we make contracts and
bargains? Shall we believe the earth? why else do we sow? Shall we
believe the winds and waves? why else do we traffic? And is it not
more reason to give credit to an infallible God? It is a great madness
not to come up to the terms of that, which we confess is sealed by the
blood of Christ, confirmed by the power of miracles, proclaimed by
the apostles, admired by the angels, and confessed too by the devils
themselves to be from God. What more unreasonable than to profess
that Christ was appointed by God to remove our miseries, relieve our
wants, purchase our happiness, expiate our sin, procure our peace,
which we could not find a way ourselves to obtain, had we been
befriended by the wit of angels, yet not comply with any one
condition upon which he offers those transcendent blessings?
Profession of him without a sound faith in him, is like the pharisees'
garnishing the tombs of the prophets, while they hated the Redeemer
they prophesied of. Gilded Bibles will not serve the turn with leaden
hearts; and is it not as unreasonable in an humble soul to doubt of
mercy? Surely as unreasonable as in an impenitent sinner to
presume upon it. What hath God commended more than his mercy?
What pleaseth him more than an humble confidence in it? What
offends him more than for such an one to distrust it? Have we not in
Christ the greatest encouragements to faith and confidence, since he
is so near us, of the same nature with us, and came from heaven on
purpose to 'take not the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham,'
Heb. 2:16, and felt the misery of our nature, Heb. 2:18, to the very
end that he might have compassion on us; and hath offered himself
up as a sacrifice for our sins? Shall not, then, that unbelief, that kicks
against those foundations of hope, and disparages that which hath
letters of commendation from heaven, be accounted an unreasonable
thing?

2. It is also ungrateful. What else is it, to fly in the face of that love,
which hath wrought out the way for us by blood? To slight him that
would relieve us, wound him that would cure us; to live as if
redemption had never been wrought, and disobey him for shewing
love to us, is an ungrateful frenzy. When the Jews preferred
Barabbas before Christ, and Judas valued thirty pieces of silver
above him, was it not an ingratitude as well as an indignity? And is it
not as great to value a soul murdering lust above him, to be allured
by a beastly pleasure to offend him, rather than by the heart-blood of
the Son of God to please him? How often do we see, when the sun
riseth to comfort the drooping earth, the earth sends out vapours and
mists, as if it scorned any assistance from that heavenly body, and
would strip it both of its life and influence, so necessary for the fruit
it bears, and the inhabitants it nourisheth? Do not men send out the
black vapours of their enmity and unbelief, at the appearance of the
Sun of righteousness, as if they had a mind to choke in him all
sentiments of kindness to them? Is not this unworthy, to dishonour
him that would honour us, smite him who hath been wounded for us,
pierce the heart of him who hath bled for our health? For 'by his
stripes we are healed,' Isa. 53:5, as if the cup he had drunk for us
were not bitter enough. What wounds he received, were for the
satisfaction of God's justice, which was armed against him; what
wounds our unthankful unbelief gives him, is to the disparagement
of that satisfaction. God did not stick to send his Son, but the world
sticks at receiving him. The world is lost in Adam; by the blood of his
Son he finds them when they do not seek him, Isa. 65:1; and the
unthankful world will not receive him when he offers himself to
them, nor refuse it with a common civility; not so much as a No, I
thank thee, in the case, which is common among men upon refusal of
an offered kindness.

3. It is inexcusable. There is no plea for it. The Jews had some plea
for theirs; he that was clothed with infirmities, and had no outward
form or comeliness, nor any beauty and glory according to their
expectations, might better indeed be 'despised and rejected' of them,
Isa. 53:2, 3. What plea can we have, since he hath shaken off his
infirmities, ascended to heaven in his majesty, hath propagated his
gospel, and hath been honoured, one time or other, in every part of
the then known world? They were under a law of riddles, could not
well tell the meaning of the types that represented him; nor were the
things the prophets spake clear to themselves, 1 Peter 1:10, 11, much
less to the people. The curtains now are opened, the veil removed,
the dusky cloud hath ended in a clear day; yet the ancient Israelites
and patriarchs had many of them so much faith as will render our
unbelief without any ground of apology. If those that lived under
shadows and the star-light of ceremonies had so much sight, and so
much faith, as is reckoned, Heb. 11, and proposed to us for an
example and encouragement to run our race, and 'lay aside that sin
of unbelief, which doth so easily beset us,' Heb. 12:1, what plea can
we have for our unbelief, since the Sun of righteousness hath
scattered the shadows of the night, cleared up the face of the
heavens, accomplished what they believed and wished for, destroyed
him that had the power of death, rooted up the foundation of the
devil's empire, and 'brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel'? 2 Tim. 1:10. Their faith under shadows will render our
unbelief under substance inexcusable.

4. How great will be the misery of unbelievers! The greatness of the

misery will be proportionable to the greatness of the sin; it is a sin
both against the law and against the gospel. By the law, we are bound
to believe God, and whatsoever revelation he makes; we are bound to
trust him, as he is a God of truth: by the gospel, we are bound to
believe that Christ came into the world to lay down his life as a
ransom. If the breach of the law makes us eternally miserable, the
rejecting the gospel makes the wound the deeper, and the smart the
sharper. No man refuseth the remedy, but he sharpens his wound. If
the sins of men, who have no knowledge of the gospel, condemn,
how much more shall the sins of those, who sin both against law and
gospel, have a severer recompense of reward for neglecting salvation,
and so great salvation? Heb. 2:2, 3, 'How shall we escape, if we
neglect so great salvation, which at the first was spoken by the Lord?'
Refusing the covenant of grace, he puts himself upon the trial by a
covenant of works; and what hope an exact law often transgressed
can give a malefactor, is easy to imagine. Millions have perished by
it, none can be secure in it: 'There remains no more sacrifice for sin,'
if this be slighted, Heb. 10:26. They are not in so good a state as they
had been if Christ had never died, but worse, for they have his blood
to answer for, as well as sins against the natural and written law, and
render themselves utterly unworthy of that grace they disparage.
Because of this, the Jews were broken off; the refusing this corner-
stone was the cause their foundations were tore up, and they hurled
down, from being a people, to become the reproach of the world.
Though God punished them for their sinful idolatries, yet he never
rejected them till they rejected his Son, and then 'wrath came upon
them to the uttermost,' 1 Thes. 2:16; and our unbelief comes not
short of theirs, but exceeds it. If we deny Christ, it is just he should
deny us, Mat. 10:33. It is an equitable law to have the same measure
meted to us that we mete to others. If unbelief oppose God, no
wonder God will oppose and punish unbelief. No man can imagine
but that God will be sensible of the wrong done to his bleeding Son,
and our dying Redeemer. How can he be regardless of the contempt
of his glorious nature, and let a final indignity to his majesty pass
with impunity? An indictment will be brought against such by every
abused attribute of God; all will condemn them, since all have been
condemned by them; not one will appear as an advocate for them.
Holiness must hate him that is filthy, and will not be otherwise; truth
will be glorified in the execution of the gospel threatening, since the
sinner would blemish it in not resting upon the promise, and
observing the precept; justice will punish such as will not accept of
the satisfaction appointed to be applied by faith; wisdom will frame a
hell for them that despised the great masterpiece of it; power will be
glorious in keeping them for ever under that punishment, and
burning up the stubble that would rise up against it. As there is a
power to save, so there is a 'glorious power' to destroy, 2 Thes. 1:9.
When wisdom, holiness, justice, grace, truth, shall not be owned, in
the glory of them, in Christ, they shall make themselves glorious
upon him to the cost of the unbeliever; for God hath a sovereign right
to the glory of his attributes; since the creature will not actively
honour him, God will make him passively to glorify the perfections
disparaged by him. The blood of Christ shed by this sin, in regard of
an implicit approbation, cries with as loud a voice to God for
vengeance as Abel's blood did against Cain, and to as good purpose,
for he that heard the voice of the one, will not be deaf to the cry of
the other. It speaks the language of mercy to him that receives it, and
the roaring of justice to him that refuses it.

2. Use of exhortation.

Let us be sensible of the malignity in this sin. It being a sin against

the gospel, we should be more sensible of it than of sins against the
law. Those are transgressions against a rule; this a transgression
against a rule and a remedy. There is more reason we should be
sensible of this, than if we had shed the most innocent blood,
ravished the chastest bed, or made an explicit compact or covenant
with the devil; these are sins mankind generally frown at, and think
such persons fit to be thrown out of the society of mankind. Yet
behold here an evil worse than all those singly or jointly considered
in themselves. These are against the sovereignty of God, but not as
this, a trampling upon the blood of his Son, infinitely above the most
innocent creature. Those against the authority of God, this against
his commanding authority and his condescending grace; those
against common sentiments of nature, this against special
revelations of a rich goodness. A murderer slays a man, an
unbeliever crucifies a God; a thief robs a man of worldly goods, an
unbeliever strips a God of his greatest glory; an adulterer defiles the
bed of his neighbour, an unbeliever defiles a soul which is courted to
be the spouse of God. Besides, unbelief is the breeder and fomenter
of such sins which are committed by any under the light of the
gospel.

1. Believers ought to be sensible of it. True faith is always attended

with a sense of unbelief, a weariness under it, a longing to be rid of it.
The poor man in the Gospel owned his faith, and yet confessed his
unbelief with tears in his eyes, Mark 9:24. And are there not heaps of
infidelity lie in our breasts? Is not the power of God sometimes
distrusted, his goodness unregarded? Is Christ valued according to
his transcendent worth? Do we always relish the excellency of the
gospel? Do we never value and love a creature almost at the same
rate we do the Creator and Redeemer? Are we not often more
forgetful of God than we are of ourselves? Is not the word and oath of
God too little sometimes to prop up a tottering faith? Are we not
often more confident of men than we are of Christ, and bestow more
credit upon the promises of men than we do on the promises of God?
Do we always pay as much respect to God as we do to ourselves, as
we do to men that shall die? How often do we find Christ
complaining of the littleness of his disciples' faith, and the slowness
of their hearts to believe, which were the only Christian church then
in the world? And are any of us yet got beyond the merit of such
rebukes? Are there no scents of this sin in the most cleansed vessels?
Have not the best here a partial unbelief? And can there be one grain
of it in the heart, without a proportionable sinfulness of it? The least
unbelief hath the sinful nature of unbelief, as well as the least grain
of poison hath the nature of poison. So much as we want of a perfect
faith, so much we strip God of the glory of his nature, blemish his
truth, asperse his wisdom, slight his goodness, disgrace his
sufficiency, snatch away his delight; so much as we want of a perfect
faith, so much we pierce the Redeemer, null the work of his
mediation, undervalue the price of redemption; so much we deny
those choice affections which engaged him in the undertaking and
were illustrious in the execution, so much we deny the excellency of
his person and design, so much we grieve him, so much we
dishonour him. If all this be clearly in a total unbelief, it is some
degrees in a partial unbelief, and every act of it. And ought this to be
suffered in the heart without sense, shame, confusion, and deep
humiliations? Let us pour out our tears for it, as we have poured out
our Saviour's blood by it. The fat of a sacrifice, which was a part
without sense, was to be consumed by fire; so should we endeavour
that our insensibleness should be wholly burned up by the Spirit.

2. Those that are yet in a state of unbelief ought much more to be

sensible of it; that we may not deceive ourselves, and raise hopes
contrary to the word, to bless ourselves when God curseth. Without a
sense of this there is no meeting can be between Christ and us. It is
as much a bar to any gracious work in our souls, as it was in the days
of his flesh to many mighty works in his own country, Mat. 13:58.
Every man that sits under the gospel is bound to believe the divine
truths revealed therein; he is bound to believe his infection by
original sin, and that the curses of the law are due to him; he is
bound to believe that God hath sent his Son to be crucified for the
sins of men that believe in him; that repentance and turning from sin
is a necessary duty; he is bound to repent, forsake sin, and with a
contrite heart cast himself upon Christ, expecting salvation from
him, and resolving sincerely to observe his commands, renounce his
own righteousness, and rely upon his power; and therefore ought to
be sensible of this obligation, and of that which is contrary to it and
keeps him from performing it. A sense of this sin will lead the way to
a sense of all the rest; this once quelled, the others expire; the death
of the mother viper is the destruction of the young litter.

(1.) Christ was most sensible of this sin in others; should not we,
then, be sensible of it in ourselves? It was a great part of his sorrow
that men refused him, and would not accept of him, and salvation by
him, Luke 19:42. It made him sigh more pathetically, and made him
speak as if he were weary of all his pains: Luke 9:41, 'O faithless
generation, how long shall I be with you?' His anger was for the most
part raised against this, and this only; and still it must, upon the
same account, be more painful to Christ than all the thorns which
were upon his head, and wound him more deeply than the nails did
his hands and feet. Should we not, then, write after our Master's
copy?

(2.) It is a sin easy to be slipped into by a believer. Man is born with

jealousies of God, which cause a distance, and render our particular
closing with him more difficult. Sin in the nature makes us suspect
every approach of God to be for our hurt: Luke 5:8, 'Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man.' The best have not been free from unbelieving
starts against God. David had a desperate reflection on God: 1 Sam.
27:1, that he should 'one day perish by the hands of Saul.' Though
God had assured him of the possession of the kingdom, and daily
experiences of God's providence in his preservation under the
pursuits and armies of Saul might have confirmed him, yet he feared
that some of the stones flung at him might reach him, and make him
uncapable of the designed royalty. Asaph, too, in regard of his
spiritual condition, questions the mercy and faithfulness of God: Ps.
77:3–8, 'Is his mercy clean gone for ever; doth his promise fail for
evermore?' The interrogation is at least a questioning of it, because,
ver. 10, he acknowledgeth it to be his infirmity, which he would not
have entitled his subsciption to the eternal mercy of God, and the
truth of his promise. We should therefore be sensible of that unbelief
which yet remains in our natures, that we may be preserved against
the encroachments of it.

(3.) No man can labour for faith till he be affected with the sinfulness
of unbelief. The sense of this is the first step to faith. We cannot have
a sight of the amiableness of a moral virtue, till we are sensible of the
deformity of the vice which stands in opposition to it. A conviction of
the sinfulness and misery of unbelief will make us endeavour after
the grace and happiness of faith.

(4.) Nor can any reformation secure us while we remain insensible of

the evil of this. Conviction of other sins leaveth a man in his natural
state as it found him. All men that are not sensible of this, though
convinced of all their other guilt, are in a state of sin. It is the work of
the Spirit to convince men of it if they do not believe. Reformation
takes away the ill savour of our lives, which made us stink above
ground; yet the life may be reformed, and the state not changed, but
be as deplorable as before. Though atheism and profaneness may be
left, yet a man by that is no more a member of Christ, and of the
family of God, without faith, than he was when he was besmeared
with his grossest vices; no more than the moral Jews were, to whom
Christ denounceth a dying in their sins because of their unbelief,
John 8:21. The guilt of all former sins cleaves to the soul under a new
life, till upon faith in the blood of Christ it be wiped off. We are still
in God's debt-book, without one farthing of our score crossed out; for
God must have his satisfaction, either from Christ or ourselves. He
hath none from Christ for us while we remain in unbelief; it is not
applied to us or pleaded for us; no remedy for this disease but in the
blood of Christ, and no way of having that blood sprinkled upon us
but by faith. Reformations garnish our lives, but the soul remains
still unsanctified if unbelief reigns. That clears the outward rubbish,
but doth not cleanse the inward sink. No true sanctification without
Christ; for 'in him we are sanctified,' 1 Cor. 1:2. Faith only is the band
that unites us to him, whereby we get cleansing virtue from him. As
faith only engrafts us into Christ, so unbelief alone keeps us off from
that bottom; as by this engrafting our actions become good, so
without it our best actions are bad. An ignorant heathen may as well
please God as a painted unbeliever, Heb. 11:6; this sin makes us
utterly incapable to please God. The world is apt to lie under this
error; because they have amiable qualities in the eye of man, they
think they have no spot in the eye of God; but, alas! this doth render
us more deformed in the eye of God, than all outward reformations
can render us beautiful.

2. As we ought to be sensible of it, so we should watch against it. This

is a lesson for believers. It is easy to distrust God; our own hearts
have dealt treacherously with him, and therefore we think he will
requite us in our own kind. Let us watch against the first motions of
it, because the devil by them endeavours to draw us to it. As all good
works spring from faith, so all evil works from a defect in it. If there
be a disturbance in the heart, other members cannot well do their
office. Habitual faith lays the first stone of a heart sanctification
—'their hearts purified by faith,' Acts 15:9—and every act of faith
raiseth it higher. So much of unbelief, so much of impurity; watch
therefore against everything that may weaken the foundation of your
sanctification. Unbelief only makes us sink under a temptation.
Jacob wrestled with an angel, or with the Son of God; yet still kept up
his faith in God's promise against the fear of his brother, and became
a conqueror, Gen. 32:24, &c.; Hosea 12:4. Jacob's fight was a
corporeal conflict,* because his thigh did shrink with his wrestling;
but it was also a fight of faith. Why else should the angel so value a
corporeal wrestling, as to give him a new name thereupon, and call
him Israel, because he had prevailed with God? Besides, who can
think a poor mortal could overcome an angel with an assumed body
in a corporeal wrestling? It was an internal conflict of the spirit of
Jacob with God, and the external wrestling was only a symbol of the
inward contest. As he wrestled against a man by the strength of the
body, so he wrestled against distrust by the strength of his spirit. For
Jacob hearing of his brother Esau's march against him, and
remembering his cruel threatening upon his forestalling the blessing,
he was afraid of the ruin of himself and family, and consequently that
the promised seed should be extinguished; and therefore wrestles
with God upon the account of his promise, desiring him to defend his
family from Esau's fury. Unbelief sinks us under devils, faith makes
us wrestle with God. In case of any fall into sin, watch against this
master sin.† Though our fall calls for sorrow, it calls not for unbelief.
To throw off an humble faith, is to gratify the author of sin, the devil,
by despair and unbelief, but doth not please him that wrought the
redemption; this is to heap a mountain of sin upon the former. If a
man sin, it is not said presently we have a devil to destroy, but an
advocate with the Father, who is the propitiation for our sins, 1 John
2:1. Watch therefore against every stirring of it upon all occasions;
and the more since you have found how gracious Christ hath been,
and that your former unbelief could not dispute away his grace, and
send it back to heaven from whence it came. Let not a distrustful
heart have more credit with you than a Saviour's promise. And that
we may watch against it, let us think meanly of ourselves. He that
esteems himself something, will quickly esteem Christ as nothing.
Regard the things of the gospel as the most substantial things, of the
greatest moment. Let the word dwell more richly in us than the
notions of nature. Meditate often on it; rest not upon the knowledge
we have by education, consider things in their reasons, not by
interest or affection, without Scripture reason; work such arguments
upon the mind as may strengthen the assent to the word; weak
consents of will spring from imperfect assents in the understanding.
The deeper truths are in our understandings by an explicit, and
formal, and renewed assent, the warmer and stronger will they be in
our affections and will; every wind or violent storm will blow down a
house that is weak in its foundation. There is an 'assurance of
understanding' precedes the 'acknowledgment of the mystery of the
gospel,' Col. 2:2. The fuller the assurance of understanding, the
closer the affiance of the will; a floating cork cannot be stable. Be well
acquainted with the nature, terms, and riches of the covenant of
grace, the mediation of Christ, his offices, the ends and fruits of his
death. This is the way to watch against unbelief, so great a sin. This is
necessary. As Christ will do no more miracles without faith, so the
devil can do no mischief without unbelief. The more of faith, the
closer our union, and the fuller our communications.

3. Let such as are in a state of unbelief endeavour to come out of it.

We shall then lay by the most offensive sin, the object of God's
greatest hatred, the dishonour of his attributes, the main prop of the
devil's empire. We shall not till then please him; nor will he sheathe
his sword, nor open his bowels. We then approve of the counsel of
God, who is as tender of the honour of his Son as of his own; for he
will have 'all men honour the Son as they honour the Father,' John
5:23. It will be the best return we can make to Heaven for the
message of joy heaven hath sent to us in the gospel. The success of
the gospel in the heart doth cheer the heart of Christ in his
exaltation, as well as the news of it did in his humiliation: Luke
10:21, 'he rejoiced in spirit.' This is the way to add another throne for
him to sit upon (as every believing heart is), instead of pulling him
from what he had. None but an unbeliever is despised by God; no
man but an unbeliever shall ever taste of his fury. Hath not God often
by his Spirit entreated us to consider what is for our peace? Hath he
not met us, and instead of offering to kill us, as the Lord did to
Moses, he hath opened his heart, shewed us the wounds of his Son,
desired nothing of us but that we would believe he had a design of
kindness for us, and that we would give him such an entertainment
as his affection doth deserve; that we would give credit to his
assertion, and walk according to it? He complains only of your
drawing back from him; he never quarrels with any man for sucking
the breasts of his goodness; his only grief is, that you will not come,
that you might have life. And can the spurning his grace be a means
to our blessedness, or this desperate sin instate us in the glory of
heaven? Shall the lions be ashamed to tear Daniel, and an unbeliever
not ashamed spiritually to tear his Redeemer? Shall the ox know his
owner, and man not know his crucified Saviour? Shall the stones
rend in pieces at his death, and our hearts stand unshaken at his
sufferings for us? Doth not God denounce a woe to them that
remember not the afflictions of Joseph? Can any less be expected by
those that increase the afflictions of Christ, and kick against the
greatest design God had to honour himself? Doth not our nature
gasp for a felicity? Is it not the sole inquiry of man, 'Who will shew us
any good?' And when the gospel presents us with the most
satisfactory blessedness, shall we resist it, and shut our eyes against
the light that would conduct us to bliss? If we will dishonour God by
unbelief, we shall vilify our hopes; were the gospel of no
concernment to us, yet unbelief in regard of the Author of it were a
sin worthy of the sharpest reproof. A belief of him we owe to him as
creatures; but when it is of the greatest moment to our souls to
believe the gospel, as that whereupon depends eternal happiness or
misery, shall any of us that acknowledge it to be of God, that hath
been bred up in the midst of its light, be so cruel to our souls as to
make light of the conditions of it? It is unreasonable, as it dishonours
our Creator, for whose glory we were made; as it disgraceth our
Redeemer, by whose blood we are ransomed; uncharitable to
ourselves, by murdering our souls, to which we owe the greatest care.
Or dare any persist in this way, and venture heaven and blessedness
upon a conceit that the gospel is not true? What hurt can there be in
believing it? An eternal mischief may be in refusing it. There is no
dishonour to God by believing it; we own one God by acknowledging
it; we own whatsoever is comely and praiseworthy, by the rational
sentiments of mankind, in regard of the precepts. By casting it
behind our backs, we hazard ourselves if it may be true; we destroy
ourselves if it be absolutely true. A resolution to persist in unbelief is
such that no man in his wits would ever think of.

4. Let such as are got out of the sink of this sin, bless God and prize
their faith. God only dispersed that cloud of darkness which seized
upon you, and drew you out of that mire, hateful to Heaven, wherein
your hearts were soaked. What a gulf hath God delivered you from!
He might have left you in that state, so reproachful to himself and so
dreadful to you. Prize your faith above all your treasures; above all
keeping, preserve and strengthen it. Before you could not but
displease him, now you may be a pleasure to him; before you warred
with every perfection of his nature, now you join issue with him in
the exalting of them. By this you are interested in the fruit of his
glorious counsels, the blood and mediation of his Son, the glory of
his attributes. By this he snatcheth you from a league with hell, sets
you above the head of the captain of unbelievers, knits your hearts to
himself, and fits you to be monuments of his grace, to be placed with
him for ever in heaven.
 A DISCOURSE OF THE MISERY OF
UNBELIEVERS
He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.—JOHN 3:36.

THESE words are a part of the discourse of John Baptist to his

disciples, which contains a summary of the gospel, and treats of the
dignity of Christ's person. The occasion of the discourse is a question
stated Between the disciples of John Baptist and the Jews about
purification: ver. 25, 'There arose a question between some of John's
disciples and the Jews about purifying;' what the question was is not
fully and plainly recorded. Some think the ceremonial purifications
appointed in the Mosaic law were the subject of the contest. But the
next verse (ver. 26) intimates the question to be concerning the
baptism of Christ and John Baptist, which of them was the most
efficacious for purification. Some preferred John's baptism in regard
of his priority of time, he being first sent to baptize, and in regard of
Christ's receiving baptism from his hands; the other might assert the
baptism of Christ to be as purifying as the other, because of the many
miracles wrought by him to confirm his mission, which seeing the
Baptist wanted (for he wrought no miracles, John 10:41), John's
disciples being jealous of their Master's glory, and troubled at the
lessening his authority, in the heat of their contest address
themselves to John to be an arbitrator in this affair, as being best
able to judge of that for which he was commissioned: ver. 26, 'And
they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee
beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold the same
baptizeth, and all men come to him.' The contest, it seems, had
engendered in their hearts an envy against Christ, because of the
multitude of his followers above what their master had, who, they
saw, was decreasing upon the other's rising, as the light of the stars is
obscured by the appearance of the sun. They frame their relation to
John with a contempt of Christ and a charge against him, as if they
intended to incense their master against our Saviour. The contempt
is in the title they give him. When they speak of their master, it is
Rabbi; when they speak of Christ, it is he that was with thee beyond
Jordan, not vouchsafing to name him. How apt is man by nature to
have low and mean thoughts of Christ in his heart! The charge here is
double:

1. Usurpation. He baptizeth, he invades thy office, and takes upon

him that function which belongs properly to thee, and after he
seemed to enter himself thy disciple, by receiving baptism at thy
hands, now is ambitious of an equal authority with thee, without a
call or any order from thee, and baptizeth in his own name.

2. Ingratitude. He to whom thou barest witness, and by that eulogy

gavest him an authority among the people who relied upon thy word.
Now he endeavours to obscure thy glory, and hath forgot the
obligation he had to thee by giving him so worthy a character. They
thought John's commendation of Christ arose from his humility, and
not from a knowledge of the excellency of his person. And they urge
it with the success of Christ, 'all men come to him.' He makes so
great a progress that he will draw from thee all thy disciples, and
diminish that honour thou hast gained among the people. By this
means they endeavoured to inflame the Baptist against our Saviour,
and cause him to change his note, and give such a character of him as
might lessen his growing reputation; but they found their
expectation defeated by the modest answer John returns to them.

Observe,

1. How do pride and passion often sway in the hearts of professors!

The Baptist's disciples fear any disgrace of their master should
redound upon themselves, and therefore endeavour to embroil him
in contention. The disciples of Christ were not free from the like
taint, when they were angry with one man's casting out devils,
because he did not follow them, Luke 9:49. John by his humility
rejoices at the appearance of Christ, ver. 29; but his disciples' pride
robs God of his present praise for sending the Messiah. We can never
value any mercy of God while we value ourselves too much. What
need have we to lay shackles upon the pride of nature, to watch over
our passions, and restrain them within due bounds, that they may be
serviceable to God and not to Satan! Grace must be upon its guard
against the designs of the old Adam in us. The devil directed strong
engines against the Baptist in the hands of his disciples, enough to
batter him, without abundance of grace and an awakened exercise of
it.

2. How often have pride and envy been the springs of the church's
calamities! These two have been the incendiaries of the church as
well as of the world. Pride in Adam overturned the worship of God in
the world just after the creation, and envy in Cain made the first
division after the promise, which led him to murder the holiest man,
and afterwards drave him out from the presence of God. How little
did those poor disciples think that in this they imitated the fallen
angel! He envied God a service from man, and those envy Christ a
glory from the creatures. How far will envy proceed if God do not
stop it! Envy in Cain at the appearance of his brother's sacrifice first
broached his brother's blood.

3. How forward are men to be drawn from Christ by an admiration of

the gifts and graces of the saints!* They admire here the servant
above the master. How long hath it been that the value set upon the
saints thrust almost out any estimations of the mediation of Christ?
Prayers to the virgin are become more numerous than supplications
to the Son of God.

4. How dangerous is contention about ungrounded opinions! Had

not John interposed, with what animosity against Christ had his
disciples' hearts been filled upon this contest! The weeds would have
grown strong, and taken deeper rooting, without a spiritual
prevention. What is John's answer to this report? Religious, humble,
and modest: ver. 27, 'John answered and said, A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven.' He is not inflamed with
any pride and passion, but ascribes to God the glory of his
sovereignty, and to Christ the dignity of his person. The words of
John may be formed into this argument:* Every one is to be
honoured in the place wherein God hath set him; God hath placed
him you complain of in the highest dignity; you are therefore to
count him for your Lord, and me for his servant. Do not think that
that person you charge doth invade this office without a call; he
could not have this success without the singular providence of God;
you must regard the author and original; things are not in our own
dispositions; whatsoever blessing is received, is dispensed by a
sovereign authority. Do not think, therefore, that I will arrogate that
honour to myself, which God never assigned me.

Observe,

1. God is the sovereign author of all good to men: James 1:17, 'Every
good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the
Father of lights.' All comes originally from him, whatsoever the
channels of conveyance are, as rivers from the sea, whatsoever veins
of earth they are strained through; all our springs are in God. Rest
not, then, upon anything below, though it be never so choice a
mercy; it is from above. Dart your eyes upward to the spring; what is
not the source of our blessings, should not be the prop of our souls.
Trust in other things hath a quite contrary effect to trust in God; the
more we trust other things, the sooner we lose them; the more we
trust God, the fuller we enjoy him. God will strip us of the comfort we
take in them, when we strip him of the glory due to him. Praise God
alone for any mercy; it is not fit the creature should run away with
the praise of that which we enjoy at the cost of heaven. What stock
could any have, if God had not set them up? Fear not man;
whatsoever is from above shall prosper. If God gives the gospel, man
cannot stop the progress of it. Heaven is able to maintain its own
grants. It wants no more a power to preserve it, than goodness to
bestow it.
2. The suggestions of Satan, and our own corrupt hearts to pride and
envy, are to be bridled by the consideration of the sovereign disposal
of God. This is the intent of the Baptist's answer. How loose and
shaking would those lusts be in our hearts, if we were practically
settled in this truth, that all dispensations are the fruit of the divine
sovereignty! In envying man, we envy God the disposal of his own
gifts; we invade his propriety, as if we had been God's partners in his
own possession; we would bring God down to our humours, and
make our fancies the rule of divine actions. We entrench upon his
wisdom, as though he were not wise enough to dispose of his own
goods; as though he should have asked our counsel, before he made a
distribution of what is solely his own. It is a presumption to prescribe
laws to our lawgiver. It is contrary to his goodness, as if we would tie
the hands of his universal goodness, that it should run only into our
cisterns. The consideration of the sovereignty and wisdom of God,
would hinder us from being envenomed by this fiery dart.

3. Every man ought to be content in the place where God has set him.
The will of our sovereign ought to be our rule; we are not our own
carvers; let us rather bless God for what we have, than murmur that
we have no more; since all are his gifts, he can better choose for us,
than we for ourselves.

4. How doth the wise God defeat the devil, and extract the greatest
good from his worst intentions, and the sins of men! The devil, by
God's conduct, doth us good against his will. His tempting those
disciples is the occasion of this excellent summary of the gospel,
which we might have wanted had the devil restrained his temptation.
The passions of those disciples are the occasion to produce the fullest
testimony out of the mouth of John, of the dignity of Christ's person,
the truth of his commission, fitness for his work, the necessity of
address to him, the means of enjoying the benefits purchased by him.
Thus the devil tempted Christ to conquer him, and God ordered it for
fitting of our Saviour to relieve us with more compassion, from an
experimental sense of his subtilty and our misery. Joseph's slavery in
Egypt by his brothers' sin is the preservation of the church in
Canaan; and the crucifying the Son of God, the redemption of the
world. Why should we distrust God, who can use the sins of men to
clear up the way of salvation, both to ourselves and others?

After this introduction, the Baptist more particularly instructs them:

ver. 28, 'Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the
Christ, but that I am sent before him,' and opposes to their ambitious
emulation his former testimony of Christ, and the doctrine they had
heard from him, acknowledging him the Messiah, and himself but
the herald or harbinger to prepare the way before him. I have often
told you, as well as others, that I am not the Christ, intimating
thereby that he it was whose glory was to outshine that of all the
former prophets, since he was the grand prophet promised to the
church. He retorts upon them their accusation of the ingratitude of
Christ to him: Since I have given him such a testimony, as you well
remember, that I did but baptize with water, but one coming after
me was to baptize with the Holy Ghost; it is he you complain of is the
person I meant; it is he to whom God hath given the Spirit not by
measure; it is he that is the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of
the world; you cannot think I should be so foolish, as to deny my
words. If you had respect for me, and good will to yourselves, you
would have believed me and believed in him, since it is necessary for
you so to do.

Observe,

How hard a matter is it to change the false opinions we have erected?

These disciples had entertained a notion that their master was the
Messiah; they dreamt of an earthly advancement by him, though he
had made declarations to them, and in their hearing, to a committee
sent from the Sanhedrim, that he was not the Christ, John 1:19, 20,
yet that sentiment stuck in their heads. Pride makes men foster
opinions against the glory of God, when they seem to conduce to
their own interest; we are loath to submit our reasons to the wisdom
of God. Man is a creature naturally apt to hold fast anything but
divine truth. Bran will remain in the sieve, when the finest flour will
drop through. The disciples of Christ would not part with the sweet
thoughts of an earthly grandeur under their Master, though he had
so often given notices of his violent death. Let us examine everything
well by the word, before we lodge it as a notion in our heads, and
measure every proposal by the respect it bears to the glory of God, as
well as to our own advantage.

He proceeds further to shew the difference between Christ and

himself: ver. 29, 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the
friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoiceth
greatly because of the bridegroom's voice; this my joy therefore is
fulfilled;' as much as there was between a bridegroom, for whom the
spouse is adorned and prepared, and a friend which served him in
that occasion, who rejoiceth that he hath contributed to the
satisfaction of his friend. I have prepared the people as a spouse for
him; it is to him therefore they are to have recourse, him they are to
love and honour; and it is my joy that I have rendered him any
service, according to the commission I received from heaven:*
intimating thereby, that they should follow his example, and be so far
from envying the glory of Christ, which they imagined to be the
obscurity of his, that they should rejoice, as he did, in hearing the
bridegroom's voice. Some understand it of the marriage between the
divine and the human nature of Christ; the divine being the
bridegroom, the human the bride, which the divine nature assumed
into union with itself. Most understand it of the marriage of Christ
with the church, which was promised.

Observe,

1. Some evidence of the deity of Christ. He is the bridegroom that

espouseth the church to himself. A thing promised by God to be done
only by himself, Hosea 2:16, 19–20; it is Jehovah, the Lord, saith, 'I
will betroth thee unto me for ever,' Jer. 3:14. The Scripture often
compares the union of the church with God to that of a marriage, and
never gives the name and quality of the spouse of the church, to any
but the true God.†
2. The end of Christ's coming into the world. To form a church, to
make a spiritual marriage between himself and the souls of men. The
church was not fit for his embraces, being defiled, polluted, of a
corrupt extraction; but Christ takes flesh, makes himself a sacrifice
for her, pours out his own blood to wash her, and render her fit to lie
in his bosom, Eph. 5:25–27. What love is this, to bring filthy man
into a perpetual band of love with him! He bore our sins that defiled
us, he is sensible of our afflictions that trouble us, he communicates
his goods to enrich us, he took our nature that he might
communicate his own, he is become one nature with us, that we
might become one spirit with him. Never did loving husband do so
much for his spouse as Christ for his church. How should we love,
honour, serve, and adhere to so good a Saviour, and pay him that
reverence and faith which is due to him!

3. Ministers are and ought to be the servants of Christ, to woo for

him, to persuade men to be espoused to him, by declaring their
misery without him, their happiness with him, his willingness to
entertain them. They are instruments to bring them to Christ, and
after they are brought, to persuade them to keep the conjugal
covenant with Christ. This ought to be our highest desire, and our
chiefest joy; 'This my joy is fulfilled,' saith John, since I have now
attained the end of my embassy.

He then comes to make this conclusion, quite contrary to the

intention of his disciples, and resolves to exercise his humility where
they would have excited his pride: ver. 30, 'He must increase, but I
must decrease.' He must grow up in authority; the opinion that I am
the Messiah must fall, that he may be owned to be the only person of
God's designation. The person of Christ could not receive an
increase, being infinitely great and glorious. Nor was there any
diminution of the dignity of the Baptist, who lost nothing, but gained
much by the appearance of our Saviour; his glory increased with his
humility, and his honour of being the forerunner of Christ remained,
though his office expired; but the increase and diminution was in
regard of the exercise of their offices, the moon is to rule the night,
and the sun the day, and in the opinion of the people, who ran after
John as the Messiah, who must learn that the honour of that office
only belonged to Jesus.‡ John decreased, as the stars may be said to
do when they are obscured by the sun; not that their native light is
taken away from them by the presence of the sun, and they lighted
up again as a candle when the sun sets; but because men need not
the light and direction of the stars in the midst of the sunbeams.*
Christ then increaseth in our hearts, when our knowledge of him,
affection to him, and valuations of his person, rise to a taller stature
in our spirits.

Observe,

1. All the glory, greatness, and righteousness of men, ought to veil to

the glory and honour of Christ. We should become nothing for
Christ's honour, as Christ became a worm for our benefit. The
Baptist was willing to be obscured, that Christ might fill the world
with a spiritual and divine glory. It is observable, that a little after
this John was cast into prison by the providence of God, when his
authority did clash with the authority and glory of Christ in the
esteem of the people; that the Baptist's disciples, being deprived of
their master, might fly to the Messiah, whose messenger their master
was. It is a comfort in the afflictions of God's servants, that they
make to the glory of Christ, as well as the benefit of their souls. What
Herod and Herodias did, out of enmity to John, God ordered for
increasing the authority and glory of the Messiah. Let us never value
anything as a comfort that is a rival with our Saviour.

The reasons why he must increase he delivers from ver. 31, all which
he lays down also as grounds of faith to build that conclusion on,
which he makes in the text, and contains the marrow of the gospel.

1. In regard of the difference of their originals, ver. 31.

2. In regard of the manner of the communications of their doctrine,

ver. 32.
3. In regard of the authority of his mission, ver. 34.

4. In regard of his excellent fitness, ver. 34, 35.

5. In regard of the special relation between the Father and the Son,
and the special affection of the Father to him, ver. 35.

6. In regard of the full power given him over all things.

1. In regard of the difference of their originals: ver. 31, 'He that

comes from above, is above all; he that speaks of the earth is earthly,
and speaks of the earth.' He is from above, heavenly in his original; I
am of the earth, earthy, born according to the law of Adam, by
natural generation. What I speak, therefore, is mean in comparison
of the declarations which shall be made by one of so illustrious a
descent.† As his original is from above, so his authority is above all;
but I am merely of a human descent, and have nothing in my nature
but what is common to mankind. I have made no other revelations
than what other men have made by the influence of God upon them;
but he of whom I speak is above all, in the dignity of his person, the
excellency of his office, the height and clearness of his knowledge,
the purity of his graces, the extent of his authority. It is fit, therefore,
that I should decrease, that he should increase. Earthly things are to
give place to heavenly; his being from above notes his divine original,
as the other's being of the earth notes his earthly original. It is not
said, he was above, but is above all. He lost nothing of the rights of
his dignity, by assuming our humanity; he was above all in reality,
though a worm in appearance.

Observe,

1. The Deity of Christ is asserted, in regard of his original, 'he comes

from above;' in regard of his dignity, 'he is above all;' in regard of his
original, he is opposed to all men, who are from the earth in regard
of generation. He was first in heaven before he was upon the earth;
he could not come from above, if he were not first above. It is not
therefore meant of his miraculous conception only, made by the
power of heaven,‡ and not from any earthly cause; because the flesh
of Christ was never in heaven when it was conceived by the Holy
Ghost in the virgin's womb; nor till after his resurrection, when he
ascended in his human nature far above the heavens. Though Adam
was formed immediately by the hand of God, yet it was never said
that Adam descended from heaven. But he is called earthy:1 Cor.
15:47, 'The first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the
Lord from heaven.' If there had been nothing heavenly in Christ but
his conception, he might be called earthy as well as Adam. Nor can it
be meant only in regard of his gifts; for the gifts of John Baptist and
all the prophets were from above, from the Father of lights; yet he
calls himself earthly, he distinguisheth himself as he was by nature
from what he was by grace. John was from heaven in regard of his
office, from earth in regard of his original; but Christ was from
heaven in regard of original as well as office. He comes from above,
not by a change of place, for his divine nature fills all things, but in
regard of manifestation, discovering his divinity, which before was
manifest only in the heavens, as God is said to descend from heaven,
when he manifests himself in ways either of signal mercy or justice.
In regard of his dignity, he is above all, above all creatures,* and
therefore God. None but God can be above all, and have the title of
supremacy; as much above all angels and men, as the heaven, from
whence he came, is above the earth, to which he descended, for the
manifestation of himself in our flesh; it could not be said of any
angel, that he was above all. If, therefore, Christ be above all, we
must pay that reverence and veneration to him, that is due to his
deity and infinite superiority. He that is above all must have our
affections and our services above all things, according to the
excellency of his person, and dignity of his office.

2. The highest saints must be sensible of original corruption. The

being of the earth is not only meant by John of his human condition,
but his corrupted condition, as he descended in away of ordinary
generation from Adam. Behold, here is one greater than the
prophets, Mat. 11:11, the immediate harbinger of the Redeemer of the
world, honoured with an employment above any that went before
him, to prepare the way before the Messiah; a burning and a shining
lamp, one sanctified in the womb, rejoicing at the approach of a
Saviour before he saw the light; acknowledging the depravation of
his nature, as he was the son of Adam, humbling himself under the
consideration of it. Was there ever any elevated soul but complained
of it? David, in the Old Testament, of his being 'shapen in iniquity,'
Ps. 51:5; Paul, in the New, groaning under his 'body of death.' Were
this more in our thoughts, pride would not be so flush in our hearts
and actions.

John expresseth here his humility, by considering himself as earthly,

which includes the miseries that follow an earthly extraction, viz.
corruption, blindness, rebellion against God.† He doth not assert his
baptism, and the doctrine he preached, to be earthly. They were from
heaven, and our Saviour gives that testimony of him; but he
pronounceth what himself and all men are in and by themselves, not
what they are by the gift and grace of God.

3. Where is perfection to be found? When such a person as John, the

greatest among those born of a woman, endued with such honour as
to be the herald of the King of glory, confesseth himself earthy, and
speaking of the earth, i.e. his words savouring and scenting of the
corruption of his nature, shall men of a less stamp ever lay claim to
that, which so humble and holy a person, one so charactered by
Christ, could not challenge? If such a burning and shining light were
not the possessor of a perfect state in this life, where is the man that
is inferior to him in his other titles, that can count himself superior
to him in this?

4. The gospel and word of Christ is worth credit. It is not the word of
a corrupted man, hut of an heavenly offspring. Who shall we hear, if
heaven can find no credit with us? Are we fit to enjoy the happiness
of the place, if we will not receive the precepts of it? He is from
above, he is above all, his words cannot be false while heaven is true.
Reason 2. The manner of the knowledge of Christ, or the
communication of the doctrine to him: ver. 32, 'what he hath seen
and heard, that he testifies.' John was inspired, but our Saviour had
not only heard but seen what he testified; and in this respect he is
superior to all men. The prophets saw the things upon earth, Christ
hath seen them in heaven. They saw them in streams, Christ in their
fountain; they saw the image of some things, but Christ hath seen the
eternal models of all. He was in the bosom of the Father, and drew all
that he knew from the depths of infinite wisdom. Yet, though the
things he speaks are so plain and clear, few receive his testimony. So
great a person, so fully understanding the mysteries of God, cannot
find a reception among men; very few believed in him, like the
gleanings of a vintage after the gathering of the grapes.

Observe,

1. The fitness of Christ for his prophetical office. He hath seen things
in the bosom of the Father, heard things from the mouth of the
Father, he hath seen them, not by revelation, but as the Son of God;
was interested in the debates and results of the Trinity. He was 'by
the Father when the foundations of the world were laid,' and the
course of all things ordered, Prov. 8:27–30; nothing is unknown to
him that is known to the Father. As he only knows him, so he only
hath ability to declare him. The things which Paul saw were
unutterable; he wanted ability as well as authority to declare them, 2
Cor. 12:4. Christ hath both; he hath seen and heard, and can and did
testify what he saw and heard; it was his Father's mind he should do
so. How worthy is God of all our praise for his wisdom in appointing,
and his love in sending, a person so fully accomplished, to make
known his eternal counsels concerning the pardon of sin, and
conferring eternal life on the lost sons of Adam? How inexcusable
doth it render the conditions of those that will not hear his voice,
believe his word, since he witnesseth the things he hath seen and
heard, in and from his Father!
2. From those words, no man receives his testimony, the paucity of
believers is asserted; few in comparison of those that receive him
not. Let not the general unbelief of men discourage us from faith. It
was foretold by the Baptist; forewarned, forearmed. The devil is the
god of this world; he influenceth most men; Christ is a mediator for
those that are not of this world. All in the world enjoy some benefits
of his mediation, but not the saving benefits of it. It is dangerous to
go with a multitude. Let no man plead, such wise and learned men
are of this or that opinion. If we follow the example of the most, we
cannot be believers.

The Baptist makes a digression to describe the nature of faith, and

the excellency of it: ver. 33, 'He that hath received his testimony,'—
there is the nature of faith,—'hath set to his seal that God is true;'
there is the excellency of faith.

1. The nature of faith. It is a receiving the testimony of Christ in the

certainty of it, and in the extent of it. The testimony of God's
promises to encourage us, of his precepts to direct us, of his
threatenings to awe us, and make us adhere faster to him: a resting
in this testimony as certain, as the centre of our souls, the only
foundation of our hopes. God is the ultimate object of faith, Christ
the immediate object of faith. Christ gives the testimony, God is the
subject of that testimony. When the witness Christ gives of the things
he hath seen and heard is received, to be rested in as the ground of
our hope, and the rule of our walk, this is faith.

2. The excellency of faith. It owns the truth of God, 'he sets to his seal
that God is true,'—a metaphor taken from contracts, to which men
testify their approbation by fixing their seal. Thus we honour God,
when we set to the seal of our faith to justify the truth of his word. No
man that owns a God did ever absolutely doubt of his veracity; but
the truth here meant is the fidelity of God in performing the
promises of the gospel, in sending the Messiah. He owns God to be as
good as his word, in sending a person every way complete for the
office he had undertaken, to effect our redemption. God seals his
covenant to us in the blood of his Son, and by sacraments; faith is a
sealing the counterpart to God. We acknowledge his truth in what he
hath done, and rely upon his truth in what he hath promised yet to
do; and the hearty acknowledging his veracity in what he hath
already performed, is the ground of our reliance on him in what is
yet to be performed. If we believe not the first, we cannot rest upon
him for the latter. We cannot honour God more than by owning his
truth. The glory of it is the design of the whole Scripture, from the
first promise to the close of the book. He that denies the
manifestation of God's truth in his Son, either opinionatively or
practically, denies the authority of the whole book, makes God as bad
as the devil, accounts him a greater liar than any creature, 1 John
5:10. As faith gives God the greatest honour that a creature is capable
to render, so unbelief fixeth the greater disgrace upon him.

3. In regard of the authority of his mission: ver. 34, 'he whom God
hath sent, speaks the words of God.' He is sent of God, which is also
an encouragement to faith in him. The prophets were sent of God but
as servants, Christ as a Son. He came out from God, as a beam from
the sun, the prophets came from God as matter kindled by a
sunbeam. He was sent by God with an immense fulness of Spirit, the
prophets were sent by God with some parcels of grace. The first act of
faith is to believe that God hath sent him: John 17:21, 'That the world
may believe that thou hast sent me.' He speaks the words of God, so
did the prophets; Christ always speaks them, the prophets
sometimes, as they were inspired according to the pleasure of God.
Whatsoever Christ speaks, is the word and will of God. The prophets
spake to the ear, Christ can speak with efficacy to the heart. He can
give eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand; he speaks to
the ear, and imprints upon the heart. He speaks the word of God
with such an evidence and certainty of truth,* than which, if God
himself should appear, there could not be greater.

4. In regard of his excellent fitness. Another motive to faith, 'for God

gives not the Spirit by measure to him,' ver. 34. He hath the Spirit in
the full source, the prophets in some little streams; he possesseth all
the treasures of the Spirit, the prophets some grains and lesser
parcels. This was the foundation of his fitness for the discharge of his
prophetical office, as he was to speak the words of God, Isa. 61:1–3.
The fulness of the Spirit he had not at the first bestowed upon him,
in regard of the gifts of it (though he had the fulness of it for the
sanctification of his human nature), but it was communicated to him
proportionably to his age and private state, whence he is said to grow
in wisdom, Luke 2:52. But when he was to enter upon the discharge
of his office, it was given without measure at the time of his baptism;
and this inward donation of the Spirit of God to the person of Christ,
was shadowed by the appearance and descent of the likeness of a
dove upon him, to which the Baptist might refer in this expression.

Observe,

1. Christ hath an abundant fitness from God for the discharge of his
office, and an abundant fulness for his people. God did not measure
to him a certain quantity of the gifts and graces of his Spirit, but
poured it upon him without stint. Besides the fitness of Christ by
virtue of the hypostatical union, whereby the divinity supported the
humanity in the whole work, there was a fitness by the grace of
unction, when he was 'anointed with the oil of gladness above his
fellows,' Heb. 1:9. The end of giving the Spirit in such a fulness, was
to communicate to his people, that we might 'receive of his fulness,'
John 1:16. It was given, not as a treasure to be preserved in a cabinet,
but as a fountain to send forth fresh streams for a supply. Our Joseph
hath the corn, not only for himself, but the supply of the people that
come to him. And thus is Christ fitted to be an object of faith. He
only is fit for this, that hath abundance of Spirit; a fitness to relieve
us, a fulness to supply us; our faith were else in vain: no man would
trust in a person, of whose ability, as well as sincerity, he were not
assured. He is faithful in speaking the words of God, he is able in
having the Spirit of God without limitation. And there is good reason
it should be so, because there is a special tie between God and him,
the relation of Father and Son.* He hath chosen us according to his
pleasure, for the glory of his name; but he is the Son of God, and
therefore the object of his unspeakable love. Hence is the 5th and 6th
Reason, viz.

5. In regard to the special relation of God to him as Father, and his

affection to him, ver. 35.

6. In regard to the full power given him over all things, ver. 35.

Observe,

1. God has a special love to Christ in his office of mediatorship. He

loved him from eternity, as he was his Son by eternal generation; he
loves him as mediator, by special constitution; he bears this love to
him as mediator, as those words are understood, John 17:24, 'For
thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world;' and the words
in this verse are meant of a love to him under this consideration. The
gift of all things to him, and appointing him heir of all things, is a
fruit of this affection to him, as undertaking the work of redemption.
God loved him in his person; he loves him in his office; he is his
beloved Son, as he is sent as a prophet to be heard and obeyed, Luke
9:35. He loves him for undertaking our cause, for interposing for our
peace. As he was the Son of God, he was hæres natus; as he is the Son
of God in our nature, he is hæres constitutus, Heb. 1:2. He is the
principal object of God's love; he loves none but in him, as he chose
none but in him by his eternal decree, Eph. 1:4. Who can we then
trust better than him who possesseth the love of the Father? We
approve of the Father's affection to him, by bestowing our faith and
love upon him. How highly do we please God, when our affections
are pitched upon the same object with his, and run to the same term!
If he loves the Son, he will love every one that loves him, and hate
every one that contemns him. How comfortable is this love of the
Father to Christ as mediator! He loves all for whom Christ doth
exercise this office, all that believe in him; and his love is as
unchangeable to the one as the other. Our security is founded upon
the love of God to the Son, which is immutable, and consequently to
all that are embraced in that office by him. God will not repent of
what he confers upon us, because he gives it for the love he bears his
Son, which love redounds to his seed. As that love will never fail, so
his grace and favour to a believer will never fail.

2. Christ is entrusted with all things necessary to our salvation.

Some, therefore, interpret it, he hath given all things to man through
his hand; he hath the possession, but for the believer's use. God hath
given all things into his hand, all creatures to rule them, all treasures
to bestow them, all power to protect his people; he hath given him
the world of men and angels to govern, the world of his elect to
redeem; he hath put all things under his feet, and 'made him the
head over all things for the church,' Eph. 1:22. The consequence of
the Baptist in the next verse, of believers having eternal life, would
not be valid if he had this power only for himself, and not for their
use. How comfortable is this! Things were given into the hands of
Adam for his use and his posterity's; but he lost them, undid himself,
and drew with him all that were in his loins. They are now given into
the hands of Christ for our use, who cannot lose them; and therefore
we cannot be lost if we believe in him. It is our happiness they are in
his hands, and not in our own; in the hands of one who cannot lose
them by sin, as Adam did, because of the permanent holiness of his
nature, having the sanctifying graces of the Spirit without measure;
nor by the craft and power of the devil, because of his infinite
superiority above him, and having the enabling gifts of the Spirit
without measure. His humanity was opposed, but not conquered; he
hath an holiness infinitely distant from sin, and a wisdom to defeat
the subtlety of the serpent.

We know also where to go for the alms we want. Christ is God's

almoner to us, and our advocate to God; a mediator between God
and us; he hath a commission to ask, and a promise to receive, Ps.
2:8. We may be sure to receive if we believe. The unchangeable God
will stand to whatsoever the Son doth; he will not diminish his love
to his Son, nor deny his own grant to him. The gift given is without
repentance in the Father, and the management of the trust without
deceit in the Son. We have not what we want, because we go not to
the officer God hath appointed for distribution; a treasure is
deposited in his hand, but for want of faith we want the comfort. We
dishonour the wisdom of God's choice, as well as the pleasure of his
will, and deny the authority our Saviour is invested with, by
neglecting him, and not believing in him. Oh wonderful goodness! to
put our concerns into the sure hand of his Son, which were lost by
the weak hands of Adam.

Upon all this discourse, John Baptist founds this conclusion, ver. 36.
'He that believes in the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believes
not in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him.' Though all power be given to Christ, and he hath authority to
dispense the treasures of God, whereof everlasting life is the chief,
yet none can expect to enjoy it but upon the condition of believing on
him. It is very reasonable that whosoever expects the blessing he is
entrusted with, should assent and consent to God's choice of him and
the conditions of enjoying them.

The text is made up of a motive to faith, and a dissuasive from

unbelief.

1. The motive is drawn from the reward, everlasting life; spiritual life
de facto, eternal life de jure; one in hand, and the other in hope,
Rom. 8:24.

2. The dissuasive from the misery, which is double.

1. Exclusion from life; shall not see or enjoy life, or shall not have so
much as the least sense of it.

2. Permanency of wrath; the wrath of God abides on him.

Thus, after the description of Christ's person, dignity, and power, the
Baptist directs his disciples, who at first made the complaint of our
Saviour, to a belief in him, by the most forcible arguments. He being
so great as I have described, can give eternal life to his followers; and
being so dear to God as he is, the wrath of his Father will remain
upon his rejecters; and therefore, if the happiness of eternal life be
desirable, and the terrors of divine wrath formidable, be sure that
you receive his testimony, that you may acquire the one and escape
the other.

He notes the special and immediate object of faith in both his

conclusions: believes on the Son, and believes not the Son. Christ, as
the Son of God, and sent by God, is the object of our faith.

The word translated believes not, is ἀπειθῶν, which some render, he

that obeys not; the word properly signifies disobedient and obstinate,
but in the Scripture it is often rendered as it is in the text,
unbelieving, which is not without precedent in heathen authors.* It
may well be rendered 'he that believes not,' because it is opposed to
believing in the first part of the verse, and may be meant of final
unbelief, where there is not a simple ἀπιστία, but an obstinacy and
unpersuadableness against the gospel. It is not said, the wrath of God
shall come upon him, but abides upon him. Either,

1. To shew man's misery by nature. Every man is born in a state of

wrath, and remains under wrath, unless some expiation be made for
his sin. Now, since there is no relief against this state but by the
blood of the Son of God, which was shed for propitiation; if this be
refused or neglected, the soul lies under that curse original
corruption placed him in, and which he hath since frequently
merited by an addition of many actual sins. The debt due to the law
must be paid, either by believing in him who hath paid it, or by
suffering it in our own persons; it is faith only makes us pass from
that death our natural state hath subjected us to, unto that life which
God hath provided in and by his Son: John 5:24, 'He that believes is
passed from death to life.'

2. Or to distinguish it from the momentaneous wrath which

sometimes lights upon a believer, which is called 'a little wrath,' Isa.
54:8. There is a wrath which breathes upon a man like fire, which
doth not destroy but refine; but this is a permanent wrath, which
punisheth and preserveth the subject for ever under it. It is a wrath
that will not pass away, whereby the eternity of punishment is at
least implied; it shall never depart from him. In other expressions of
God's anger, there may be a mixture of tastes of comforts; but here
wrath encompasseth, and overflows like a sea of gall, without a taste
of joy, or a touch of blessedness.

The doctrine I shall insist on is this: continued and final unbelief

renders a man infallibly an object of the eternal wrath of God. The
communication of the life of God was broken off by the sin of man, to
which we are restored only by faith in the Redeemer; and without
faith we are at a distance from God, the fountain of life, and remain
under that wrath the state of nature put us into. As faith unites us to
God, so unbelief separates us from God. Whatsoever righteousness
there is in a man without faith in Christ, is vain and perishing; it is as
stubble, or a paper wall, which cannot defend any man from the
flaming sword of God's justice. It is of no efficacy of itself to eternal
life; it may render the wrath and punishment less sharp than
another's, but cannot remove it, and put a man into a state of life. It
is not all kind of unbelief, or dissent from some particular truth, that
subjects a man to eternal wrath; but unbelief that despiseth the Son
of God, that refuseth to receive his testimony. It is by this men perish
under the gospel, and not for want of declarations of divine
goodness, or want of provision in Christ. Those that refused the
invitation to the supper, so incensed the king, that he pronounceth
an irrevocable sentence against every man of them, that they should
not taste of the dainties he had provided, Luke 14:24. And our
Saviour, in the direction to his apostles for preaching the gospel,
orders them this theme: Mark 16:16, 'He that believes and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned,' as the
immutable decree of God, concerning the state and condition of
mankind, as to life or death. The latter follows upon the former; for if
he that believes shall be saved, then the contrary to salvation will fall
upon the unbeliever; and not only a bare privation of salvation and
exclusion from the blessed vision of God, but a sharper sentence of
misery, according to his ingratitude, in refusing the riches of divine
grace, offered to him in the gospel.

I shall premise two things.

1. Unbelief is not the only sin that damns. Other sins will condemn as
well as that. Adam's first disobedience was the ground of Adam's
condemnation. Man was condemned by the law, before Christ was
promised in the gospel. The world had come short of the glory of
God, before Christ took the infirmities of our nature for suffering. He
came to save, which supposeth man in a state of damnation; he came
to redeem, which supposeth man in a state of captivity; he came to
bring us to God, which supposeth our distance from God; he was
incarnate to free us from the law, which supposeth our being under
the curse of it.

2. Yet it is that sin, without which no other sin would damn a man
that hath heard the gospel. If a man be found guilty of felony, for
which the law allows him the mercy of the book, if he can read, he
prevents the sentence of death; if he cannot, he sinks under the
penalty of the law: his felony, and not his ignorance, is the
meritorious cause of his execution. The case is much the same; men
are condemned for other sins, which misery would have been
prevented by faith; yet it differs in this, that unbelief is our sin; it is
our duty to believe, since God hath authority to reveal his truth, and
command us to acknowledge it; but the prisoner's not reading is his
misery, not his crime. The sickness a man lies under would not have
killed him* if he had taken the physic offered him; though the
disease were mortal in itself, it might have been expelled by that
sovereign remedy. The refusal of the medicine may be counted the
formal or moral cause of his death, though the disease be the
procuring or natural cause of it. A malefactor is cast into prison for
treason; a pardon is offered and refused; had it been accepted, he
had not undergone the penalty due to his crime. No sin could destroy
us, if unbelief did not reign in us. Faith would instrumentally remove
the guilt of all other sin. Upon the embracing the expiatory sacrifice
of the gospel, our other debts would be cancelled; upon a refusal, our
guilt stands upon record, and charged upon us in full vigour, and
receives a greater aggravation, by the rejecting the most obliging
revelation of God, and counting the remedy for sin in the merit and
satisfaction of Christ a trifle. Other sins condemn meritoriously, and
this formally, say some. Though all graces are in a believer, yet his
salvation is principally ascribed to faith in the rank of grace: Eph.
2:8, 'By grace you are saved, through faith.' So, though a man be
guilty of all sins, yet his condemnation is attributed to his unbelief.
The guilt of the most monstrous enormities would not be laid to any
man's charge, if he did by faith and repentance turn to God; and the
most glittering righteousness, with unbelief, will not prevent his
being fuel for wrath. Who are excluded from the bosom of Abraham?
The sons of the kingdom, bred up and nourished among the
ordinances of God, but neglecting or refusing a Saviour. And who are
entertained there? Gentiles besmeared with the mire of idolatry, yet
expiated by the mediator they believed in, Mat. 8:11, 12; it is upon
the occasion of the faith of the centurion, that Christ speaks of the
happiness of the Gentiles and misery of the Jews. Men, strangers to
God for so many ages, are engrafted by faith, and prepared for
heaven, while those entrusted with the oracles of God are
disinherited by unbelief, and made vessels of wrath. In regard of
merit, every sin is the cause of condemnation; in regard of execution,
unbelief is the sole cause. Shimei reviles David,* is pardoned by him,
and his pardon renewed by Solomon, but with a condition that he
should not go out of Jerusalem; he breaks this condition, is,
according to Solomon's word, executed. The true cause of his death,
is his reviling of David; had he not been guilty of that, Solomon had
no ground of offence, nor had imposed any condition upon him. But
when he violates that condition, and goes out of Jerusalem, against
the command of the king, Solomon takes occasion to punish him for
his former crime. Shimei might have avoided the punishment, by
observing the condition commanded. Men are condemned by the
law, and executed by the justice of it; the condemnation of the law
would not take place, if faith, the cure of guilt, had possession of the
heart. No sin can condemn, if faith be present; and no righteousness
can save, if faith be absent. While unbelief remains, all sins are
retained; when this is removed, all sins are remitted. All that perish,
perish either by or for this not believing; those to whom the gospel is
not revealed, perish by reason of their not believing, through
ignorance; it is by reason of that the wrath of God abides on them;
and when there is but one medicine to cure a disease, the ignorant
patient perisheth for want of the knowledge of it; the knowing
patient perisheth for want of applying it. This the schools
understand,† when they say, the heathens that never heard of Christ
perish ratione infidelitatis; those, that hear of him perish propter
infidelitatem, in a state of infidelity, though not for it.

For the evidence of this doctrine, let us consider some propositions.

1. All men by nature are under condemnation. The insensibleness of

this, is the cause of unbelief; and without a due consideration of this,
there can be no entertainment of the gospel. Christ himself
preacheth this doctrine: John 3:18, 'He that believes on me is not
condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.'
He is condemned already, not shall be, but is, i.e. he is in a state of
condemnation. The sentence is pronounced by the justice of God
against every son of Adam. 'Death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned,' and 'judgment came upon all men to condemnation,'
Rom. 5:12, 18. All the branches of Adam were adjudged to eternal
death by that law, which he, by his original apostasy, transgressed,
and they, by their repeated offences, have further violated. All are the
children of wrath, all are become guilty before God: 'Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of
the law to do them,' Gal. 3:10. The whole race of mankind was bound
up in that sentence pronounced against Adam upon transgressing
the law, which God had enacted: Gen. 2:17. 'Thou shalt die the
death.' By the same act of justice which cast Adam out of paradise
were all his posterity expelled. We are an accursed generation by the
covenant of works; our hands and our heels are lifted up against our
sovereign Lord; we are utterly naked of original righteousness; all the
sins we have committed have every one damnation at the heel. We
are exposed to the curses of the law, the fury of God, the scoffs of the
tempting serpent; there is but an inch between us and devouring
flames; all are condemned, though all are not yet executed; God jet
gives respite to man to lay hold upon his mercy in the gospel. If a
man die without faith in the Son of God, he is as surely undone as if
he were under the full execution of all the threatenings of the law at
this instant. He is 'condemned already,' i.e. he hath the cause of
condemnation in himself, the sharp points of the law are full against
him; as a malefactor in the gaol for some capital crime may be said to
be condemned already, in the nature of the offence he hath
committed, by the equity of that law he hath violated. There is a
double condemnation, one by the law, another by the gospel. All men
are in nature condemned by the first, all unbelievers by both; they
are condemned at the tribunal of the law for transgressing it, and
even at the mercy-seat of the gospel for rejecting it. None are
exempted from it but by faith in the gospel, which is the only way to
escape the severity of the law. When a man appeals from the tribunal
of the law, whereby he stands condemned, to the throne of grace,
wherein mercy sways the sceptre dipped in the blood of Christ,
casting himself upon the merit of that blood, and resolving to obey
the voice of a Redeemer, he comes forth from his prison, and the
darkness of condemnation, into the light of life. He is condemned
already. Every elect person is thus in a state of condemnation, while
he remains in a state of unbelief; for if there be 'no condemnation to
them that are in Christ,' Rom. 8:1, then there is nothing but
condemnation to them that are yet out of Christ; and if a man depart
out of the world in that state, he for ever lies under the irrevocable
sentence of the law, for ever cursed, because for ever guilty. And the
reason is rendered, 'because he believes not in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.' He refuseth the only remedy God hath
provided, and excludes himself from the life, salvation,
righteousness, and happiness which Christ hath purchased, and
therefore lies under the judgment of the old sentence by refusing the
grace of the new administration, and acquires a new guilt; for the
more excellent the person that is neglected, the only Son of God, the
greater punishment is deserved. He further describes to us* that
faith which brings us out of that natural condemnation; he doth not
say, because he hath not believed that the only Son of God is come
into the world, which is a faith that many rest upon,—this would
exclude only absolute infidelity and dissent from the doctrine of the
gospel,—but 'because he believes not in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.' He receives not his word, relies not upon his
office, submits not to his authority, for name signifies this and much
more in Scripture. A man may believe the Son of God is come, yet
place no confidence in him, nor pay any obedience to him. A man
may believe such a man to be a physician, and able to cure, but if he
useth not his medicine he shall be never the better for his skill.

2. Man being thus naturally condemned, his unbelief binds all his
guilt upon him: John 8:24, 'I say therefore unto you, that you shall
die in your sins; for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in
your sins.' In the illative, therefore, he notes their natural
condemnation, because they were 'of this world,' ver. 23. And there is
no remedy to prevent this death, but to 'believe that I am he,' the
Messiah, the person appointed to bruise the serpent's head,
appointed to be the Saviour of the world. All sins are 'sealed up in a
bag,' Job 14:17, recorded with a pen of iron, and the point of a
diamond, Jer. 17:1. Every indictment remains in force; nothing but
faith in the blood of Christ can cancel the writing, deface the seal,
take the accusation off the file. Unbelief therefore locks all other sins
like shackles upon the conscience,* which otherwise by the help of
Christ might easily shake them off; all men's violations of the law
stick to them, and the wrath due to them hangs over them. When a
prince pardons all misdemeanours by his proclamation upon easy
conditions, and swears that if there be not an acceptance of it the
refuser shall answer the law for all his guilt; if a man will not sue out
his pardon, will not perform so easy a condition, he continues the
weight of all his former guilt upon him. The first promise was made
after the fall, to take away the guilt of transgressions against the first
covenant, Heb. 9:15. If the promise be not received, the mediator
applied, the guilt of those transgressions endures. We are
condemned upon the breach of the first covenant, and can only be
restored to a state of life by embracing the new. Sin remains in its
vigour, as a disease upon a patient, by refusing the only physician
able to cure it. It fastens guilt the more, because it is an approbation
of all the iniquities committed against the law; and increaseth the
guilt of those sins he was guilty of before, because he manifests a
greater fondness of them, a stronger unwillingness to part with them.
It leaves the unbeliever naked to the stroke of divine justice, without
a refuge to cover him. He that refuseth shelter against a potent
adversary exposeth himself to his fury. There is no pleading the
covenant of works; that hath been transgressed, and proclaims only
punishment, not pardon; nor the covenant of grace, the sanctuary of
that he refused to enter into. So that he is not only, as a heathen, in
the same condition as if Christ had never suffered, in regard of want
of relief, but in a worse, in regard of sharpness of punishment; he
hath not only no more title to happiness than if Christ had never
died, but a stronger title to punishment because Christ did die. His
sin remains in more vigour against him, because the only remedy is
refused by him. The weight of guilt is not removed, and the hour of
punishment is reserved for such an one.

3. The covenant of grace, in the hand of a mediator, is the last

covenant that God will make. The times of the gospel are called 'the
last times,' 'the last days,' Isa. 2:2, Heb. 1:2; no other relieving
administration is intended by God, or can be expected by us; this
contains the whole and utmost counsel of God about the salvation of
men, Acts 20:27. An anathema is poured out against any that 'preach
another gospel,' Gal. 1:9; 'No more sacrifice remains for sin,' Heb.
10:26, 27. There is but one sacrifice for expiation, but one mediator
for intercession, but one special officer appointed by God under
whose wing we can be safe. It is a covenant of infinite grace; there
can be none above it, because there cannot be grace above infinite.
There can be no refuge but in mercy; if mercy refuse, what can step
in for our relief? Mercy is the only bar to justice; if the bar be
removed, what stop to the overflowing surge? This covenant is
settled, that no man shall enjoy the benefit of the satisfaction the
surety hath made, without the conditions of repentance and faith. If
this law stand of force, it cannot be supposed that there can be any
salvation without a satisfaction for the breach of this covenant, as
well as a satisfaction was necessary for the breach of the first; for the
honour of God will as much or more require a satisfaction for the
breach of this, as being a greater contempt of him, than for the
breach of the first covenant, wherein the contempt of him was less,
and so many attributes were not disparaged by it. This satisfaction
must be by a stronger surety than ourselves; for ourselves we are as
unable to return a recompence for the violations of the second
covenant, as we were to do it for the first. So strong a surety we
cannot have, unless the Son of God should be sent to suffer again,
only upon this condition, that the sinner should be discharged
without anything done on his part. But as to the first, the sufferings
of the Son of God must never be repeated; he was to bear sin but
once, his second appearance is to be 'without sin unto salvation,'
Heb. 9:28, the salvation of believers, the damnation of unbelievers.
No more sacrifice remains for any sin in the world. Nor, suppose
Christ were sent to bear sin, and be again the chastisement of our
peace after the violations of the second covenant, it cannot be upon
such terms, that upon the account of his sufferings, without anything
done on our parts, we should be discharged. It seems not congruous
to the honour of God to send his Son to suffer again, or if he did, to
impose no conditions upon those that should enjoy the benefit of
those sufferings. There can be no less required than is now, which is
no more than the receiving the atonement, Rom. 5:11, a consent to it,
and acceptance of it. Nor is it consistent with the holiness of God to
discharge men upon the suffering of a surety, who will persist in that
sin for which the surety suffered, and make use of a Saviour to be
free from suffering but not free from offending. No more is required
now; in this consists faith and repentance; and no less can
reasonably be thought to be required if Christ should again be
exposed to suffering. What less can any prince, any man require, for
any favour he doth, but acceptance and gratitude? So that though the
transgression against the covenant of works is relieved by the
covenant of grace, yet the transgressions against this can have no
relief but in it. For it is the last, and if it were not, you cannot
suppose any covenant to succeed upon lighter terms than the grace is
offered in this. To suppose a covenant without conditions, is as much
as to suppose man to be created without a rule of obedience; and this
is to suppose God without an exercise of his sovereignty, and a
creature without subjection, both which are impossible.

4. It is impossible, according to the economy of the gospel, that an

unbeliever can be saved by mercy. A man must either be saved by
justice or mercy: by justice he might in the first covenant, had he not
provoked it; by mercy in the second covenant he may, if he doth not
refuse it. Now, justice cannot save him in the first covenant, because
he wants a righteousness of his own; mercy cannot in the second,
because he will not accept the conditions of it, which is, the receiving
the righteousness of another. Other sins offend justice, but this
provokes mercy, which is the severest attribute when provoked, as
the sweetest when received. It is not fit, indeed, that mercy should
save an impenitent, unbelieving sinner, God having appointed a
mediator, for the content of his mercy, as well as the satisfaction of
his justice (that mercy might not complain for the severe destruction
of mankind), and mercy fully acquiescing in the reasonableness of
the conditions of faith and repentance proposed in the gospel.
Justice and mercy having met together upon those articles, and
struck hands in a full agreement, it is not fit mercy should entertain
an unbelieving sinner, who refuseth the terms infinite mercy hath
been satisfied with in the compact between itself and justice. If
mercy should offer to embrace such a one, it would not be true to its
own condition; as, if justice should not punish the transgressions of
the law, it would not be true to the law, and consequently not true to
itself, because it is the rule of the law. Mercy to such a one after this
agreement would be an unequitable mercy. We must not fancy a
weak and dishonourable mercy—a God unrighteous in his acts of
compassion. Mercy cannot but be offended to see the conditions it
gained in its suit, and which it was fully contented with, despised and
trod underfoot. Mercy can no more save any that remains an object
of revenging justice under the first covenant, than justice can
condemn one that is an object of mercy by receiving the blood of the
second. The attributes of God cannot invade one another's rights. It
is fit he should be left to the hands of justice, that will not stand to
the terms and covenant mercy made for him.

(1.) This is not consistent with the truth of God. When God made the
law, he annexed promises and threatenings, and his truth was bound
to make them good upon the suitable behaviour of man; though we
find only a threatening upon record, yet that implies a promise, Gen.
2:17. If death be threatened upon transgression, life is implied upon
obedience. But when man broke the law, truth was engaged on the
side of justice, and had nothing to do in a legal way with mercy; for
man, by his sin, had rendered himself fuel for justice, and had
entailed upon himself the horror of the threatening. But in the work
of redemption, mercy and truth, which sin had separated in regard of
any joint acts towards man (asking truth to be a second to the justice
of God), met together, Ps. 85:10. These attributes, which were
severed, were joined again in an indissoluble knot—mercy to the
sinner, and truth to the threatening. Mercy took man's part, and
desired peace; justice took the law's part, and required punishment:
neither mercy nor justice could lose their nature; sin had severed
them, Christ re-unites them, and truth now is engaged on both sides.
If an unbeliever, therefore, in that state thinks to be saved, mercy
and truth mast be severed; but this happy union cannot be dissolved
for the sake of rebels against both. As the power of God, though
infinite, is regulated by his will,* so the mercy of God, though
infinite, is regulated by his truth: he hath made faith an unalterable
condition of the covenant; and God cannot deny his covenant,
because he cannot deny himself. The truth of God is engaged to
damn such a man more than before; it is as well engaged to make
good the evangelical threatening, as it was before to make good the
legal. Justice will condemn both by law and gospel; it is reason that
justice should satisfy itself upon that man, as far as he is able to give
satisfaction, who will not be contented with that which infinite
justice was satisfied with. Mercy will condemn him; that hath no
reason to afford any relief to that man that despiseth the evangelical
conditions, which fully pleased it, and re-united it with justice and
truth. God hath confirmed those terms by an oath, that those that
believe not 'shall not enter into his rest,' Heb. 3:18. But he never took
an oath that he that observed not the covenant of works† should not
enter into his rest. Though Adam was under a covenant of works in
his innocent state, yet he was not in such a state as to be under an
utter impossibility of salvation upon the transgression of it, because
God had provided a remedy in his Son. But he is now under an oath
to punish every man that doth finally reject that remedy. The highest
truth cannot deny one tittle of his word and oath.

(2.) Nor is it consistent with his wisdom. It is not agreeable to the

wisdom of a prince to be reconciled to any rebels that will not suffer
themselves to be reduced to their former obedience.

If God should change his dispensation, it must be because the terms

are too hard, or the benefits not valuable enough. Neither of those
can be; the conditions are most reasonable, the benefit the most
precious, that God, in the conjecture of any creature, can give. It had
been no act of wisdom to send his Son to satisfy his justice, if mercy
should be so cheaply prostituted; if rebels could enjoy the favour
while they cherished their rebellions; if the purchase should be given
to those that dishonoured the purchaser, and salvation conferred
upon those that contemned the Saviour. The wisdom of God would
suffer, in undervaluing the meritorious blood of his Son, if he
conferred the same favour upon those that despise it and those that
esteem it, and placed swine, that trample his jewels in the dirt, in the
same happy condition with those that lodge them in their dearest
affections. What ground of praise for that manifold wisdom, so much
celebrated in Scripture, in the mission of Christ, if any could be
admitted into heaven without faith in him and love to him? God
would declare his death to be rather an act of cruelty to him than
kindness to us, since, if any were saved without faith in him, it would
be evident that his death was unnecessary, since we could be as
happy without him as by him.
(3.) Nor is it consistent with the honour of Christ. The very end of
Christ's death is crossed by unbelief. He suffered the punishment due
to our sins, that sin might not reign in us, as well as that the
punishment might not reign over us. What benefit can we reasonably
expect by his death, if we will not believe in him and renounce our
sin, which is contrary to the end of his death? God would act contrary
to the end of our Saviour's death, in giving to the goats the benefits
his Son purchased for the sheep, John 10:15; and bestowing upon his
enemies what he designed for his friends, John 15:13; and sprinkling
that blood upon those that tread it under foot, which was shed for the
gathering together the sons of God, John 11:52; and imputing the
merits of it to impure wretches, that was intended for the purifying a
peculiar people unto himself, Tit. 2:14. When Christ died only for
believers, in regard of the actual communication and application, it is
a disparagement unto him, and a making his death in vain, to let the
despisers of it have an equal share in the benefits of it, and make it as
much a savour of life to them that will not value it as to those that do.
What king, that offers reconciliation to rebels, by the intercession of
his son, demanding the conditions of trust in his son and obedience
to him, promising them not only upon it the pardon of their crimes,
but the investing them with new favours, would not dishonour his
son, as well as himself, if he admitted any one person of that
rebellious pack without that trust and obedience to him upon which
the pardon was offered. Let us, then, appeal to our own consciences,
and ask them the question, whether they think it comely and worthy
of God to save any against his word, his oath, his threatenings, the
intention of the death of Christ, against all those terms upon which
he is proffered to man?

(4.) Justice cannot but punish an unbeliever. As goodness cannot but

smile upon an innocent creature, mercy cannot but hold open its
arms for a believing penitent, so justice cannot but flame out against
an obstinate rebel. As goodness would not be goodness if it rejected
an holy soul, mercy would contradict its own nature if it thrust back a
penitent believer, the proper object of it, so justice would be injustice
if it spared a final unbeliever. And, as the first, viz., to act contrary to
his goodness, it is impossible in the nature of God; the second, viz.,
to act against his mercy, is impossible in the settled method of God;
so the third, to act against his justice, is impossible in the nature of
God, say some, with much probability; but certainly impossible
according to the revealed will of God. As the holiness of God cannot
but hate sin, so the justice of God cannot but punish it: it would be
some degree of love to impurity wholly to spare it. That God spares a
sinner for a time, is for the manifestation of his patience, but
especially upon the account of the mediation of Christ; for, as by him
the world was created, so, after sin, by his mediation it did consist;
without this the world could not have stood under the curses of the
law. But to spare an obstinate rebel for ever, would evidence an
approbation of his sin, as well as an affection to his person. God,
therefore, having manifested that he will have sin punished, in the
sinner, or the surety, and that he will not pardon it without
satisfaction, the punishment of an unbelieving rebel will be as
unavoidable, as the punishment of Christ after he had entered
himself as our surety. Since God did not spare the Son that he loved,
when he would stand in the stead of sinners, can he spare the
unbeliever that he hates, when he slights the Son that he infinitely
loves, and thereby dares the justice of God, which he hath seen lie so
heavy upon the Son of his affection? could any dispensation from
suffering have been granted, his only Son, a spotless surety, should
have enjoyed the benefit of it; but that could not be, in regard of his
immutable justice, after he was accepted by him in that quality. Since
it was necessary his only beloved Son should be exposed to sufferings
for the remission of the sins of others, it is as necessary the final
unbeliever should be exposed to dreadful punishments for his own
transgressions, and the slighting so great a remedy. The justice of
God is inflexible in the punishment of sin.* when the sinner remains
obstinate and impenitent: the inflexibility is declared in the
sufferings of Christ, which were necessary for remission. And though
his sufferings, and the satisfaction thereby, were of infinite value, yet
they are wholly useless for the eternal benefit of those that wrap up
themselves in their infidelity and impenitence; faith and repentance
being required as necessary conditions for the enjoyment of the fruit
of these sufferings. When this mediation and satisfaction of Christ is
wholly refused, or not embraced upon the terms on which it is
offered, the only bar to the inundation of God's justice is taken away,
whereby the soul lies naked to the overflowings of it.

(5.) That person which was the offered Saviour, shall be the judge
and condemner of such as neglect the terms of salvation by him.
What sanctuary can an unbeliever have, when the mediator of mercy
appears as the inflicter of punishment? 'He appears the second time
to the salvation only of those that look for him,' Heb. 9:28 † (that
affectionately look for his appearance), of those whose sins he bore
upon the tree. Christ did never obtain any peace and pardon for
those that persevere to the end in their infidelity. Such Christ is said
not to know: Mat. 7:28, 'I never knew you;' not to pray for: John 17:9,
'I pray not for the world,' i.e. for such as remain in their sin, and are
separated from God by their unbelief. God hath promised to make all
his enemies his footstool; and as he hath conferred upon him a
power of asking for his people, so he hath given him a power of
destroying his enemies, and committed all judgment to the Son: Ps.
2:8, 9. 'Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,' is the fruit of
Christ's asking of God. As he gives him blessings for those that trust
in him, ver. 12, so he gives him judgments for those that set
themselves against him. God's mercy will not relieve any that are
mortally wounded by his Son; and be that gives Christ the whole
world upon asking, will not contradict him in his severest acts of
dashing his enemies like a potter's vessel. As he had a love to shed
his blood, so he hath a wrath to burn them that kiss him not with a
kiss of homage. They are so far from having any share in his
intercessions for mercy, that they have a dreadful interest in his pleas
for wrath. He indeed prayed upon the cross for the forgiveness of
some, he prays also for indignation to be poured out upon others, Ps.
69:23, 24. It is the cry of him to whom they gave gall for meat, and in
his thirst, vinegar to drink, ver. 21. His blood hath a voice for the
forgiveness of some, and for the punishment of others; it hath as
loud a cry against them that undervalue it as it hath for them that do
apply it. He cannot intercede for any but upon the account of his
blood; his intercession is no other than the voice of his blood which
speaks in heaven. His blood will no more speak for them that slight
it, than Abel's blood did for Cain that shed it 'It speaks better things
than the blood of Abel,' but only for those that are 'come to the
Mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling,' Heb.
12:24; nay, Christ is not able to save any but those that believe. 'He is
able to save,' but with a restriction, 'those that come to God by him,'
Heb. 7:24, 25. Not able morally, as it is said, 'it is impossible to
renew' apostates from the gospel 'to repentance,' Heb. 6:4, 6. Not but
that God can by his absolute power renew one that doth totally
apostatise from the profession of the gospel, but in regard of his
wisdom and righteousness it is impossible. So Christ is able to save
none but those that come onto God by him. God hath put such a
limitation in the covenant, agreed between himself and our Saviour;
those only are to be justified that have the 'knowledge of his
righteous servant,' Isa. 53:11. He saves only his seed, those that are
'begotten to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.'
He can save only those that are his members, and faith only gives us
an union to Christ, and so entitles us to salvation. Christ can never
run counter to his gospel, and bless them whom the gospel curseth,
or save them whom the gospel condemns. This would be a
contradiction, to confirm the covenant by his death, and break it by
his life; to walk according to the counsel of God when he was in the
flesh, and defeat it when he is upon his throne. He that gave mercies
according to men's faith when he was upon earth, will not give
salvation to unbelief since he is ascended into heaven. His usual
language was, 'Be it unto you according to your faith,' 'Go in peace,
thy faith hath saved thee.'

(6.) That which makes the sin against the Holy Ghost unpardonable
in this world, makes final unbelief unpardonable in the other. A
denial of Christ is joined with the sin against the Holy Ghost, Luke
12:9, 10. Not that unbelief, and the sin against the Holy Ghost, are
the same; for the one is pardonable in this life, and the other not. The
sin against the Holy Ghost is, I suppose, accounting Christ an
impostor, or a total apostasy from the doctrine of the gospel, after
some approbations of it, and tastes of its sweetness in the
understanding, Heb. 6:4–6. But the final unbelief of those that sit
under the doctrine of the gospel, puts them in the same state with the
other: Mark 3:28–30, 'He that shall blaspheme against the Holy
Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.' 'All manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,' Mat. 12:31, i.e. may be
pardoned;* there is nothing in the economy of God to hinder it. The
transgression against the law was a transgression properly against
the Father, to whom the creation is ascribed, and who settled the law
upon that occasion. Nothing in the wisdom of God repugns, but that
the pardon of this kind of sin may be presented to men, and a
Redeemer may be appointed to make a satisfaction to the Father for
it, and the benefit of it may be enjoyed by men, upon their turning to
God from whom they had revolted (and upon less conditions than
this, no benefit could reasonably be expected by it, as was shewn
before). As creation is ascribed to the Father, and consequently the
law, so redemption is appropriated to the Son, and consequently the
gospel. By his sufferings he paid the price, and by his resurrection he
received the discharge, and an approbation of his sufferings, and of
the conditions upon which the fruit of them was to be received by
men. Unbelief is a sin properly and immediately against the Son; as
Christ is the immediate object of faith, so he is the immediate object
of unbelief. The sin against the Father is clearly more pardonable,
according to this dispensation, than the sin against the Son; because
here is a satisfaction made to the Father for the sins against the law.
But though it he made and offered to men, yet they may give no
respect to it, and by reason of the natural darkness of their minds not
understand the high concern of it. But when the Spirit doth by a
common work enlighten their minds, and make them in some
measure see the comeliness, excellency, and necessity of the things
the Redeemer hath done and suffered; if after this they prefer their
trifling pleasures before him, and will finally deny him in opinion,
profession, or practice, what help can be expected? The justice of
God required satisfaction by blood for the breach of the law, because
the law was, 'In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death.'
The Son therefore relieves men by his death for transgressions
committed against the Father. The law of Christ requires belief in the
satisfaction he hath wrought: faith is called therefore 'faith in his
blood,' Rom. 3:25. The Spirit presseth men to accept of this
satisfaction made by the Son, doth accompany the ministry of the
word, gives some touches to men, instils some motions into them,
and this frequently; for the law of Christ is not as the law at the
creation was, the very day wherein thou neglectest or refusest to
accept of this satisfaction, thou shalt die the death. The patience of
God concurs with the offers made by Christ, and gives time of
respite; and the Spirit falls in to inform men of their undone
condition, and persuade them to comply with the design of God. If
then the new order of the Father, the satisfaction of Christ, the
persuasion of the Spirit in the word, are all set at nought, what help
can be looked for? There is not a fourth person to step in with any
operations. The whole Trinity, and their personal operations, are
particularly offered and slighted, the mercy of the Father, the
satisfaction of the Son, and the importunity of the Spirit; since
therefore there is no other God, no other Father, no other Son, no
other Spirit superior to those, no other world under the government
of another God, that any man can transport himself into (as a man
may do upon the earth, pass into one country, when he hath offended
the laws of another), where is there any relief? It must be in acting
those methods over again, exposing his Son again to suffering, and
that doth not consist with the wisdom and majesty of God. But
suppose he should do so, there is as little hopes that a man will
accept of it then as now, considering the natural enmity against God.
And upon the same account that he should die a second time, there
would be no end put to the reiteration of his sufferings. Besides (as
was said before) the conditions cannot be more favourable; for God
hath condescended to the lowest terms that you can suppose not only
an infinite majesty, but a prince, nay, an inferior person can
condescend unto, in the case of the revolt of a subject or servant. But
the Scripture concludes the contrary, and therefore there must be a
new scripture, a new declaration of God to give you intelligence of
any design of God to reverse the sentence of this. When the law was
broke, he made but one promise of the seed of the woman, and all
the other promises in the word are but streams flowing, and channels
cut, from this fountain; upon the breach of that law the Redeemer
stood between consuming vengeance and the law-offending creature,
and God was willing to repair the breach of the first law by the grace
of a second, and sent his Son to close the gap, and reunite him and
his creature. But where is there any provision made for the retrieving
the final contempt of this? No revelation of God ever acquainted us
with one counsel, or thought of God about it; it is denied by the
mouth of our Saviour. If there were any other remedy, the wrath due
to the contempt of this would not abide; but because it abides,
therefore there is no remedy.

To conclude this and the rest, a man can expect no relief from any
attribute of God. A man must have a bar put to it, either by justice or
mercy: by justice he cannot, because he despiseth that wherewith
justice was satisfied, and puts from him that screen God placed
between the flames of his wrath and the fuel of a sinner; by mercy he
cannot, for he hath sinned against the highest pitch of it, and refused
the terms wherewith mercy is contented. The wisdom of God cannot
relieve him, for he hath rejected that which was the birth of an higher
wisdom than ever was discovered in the creation. His wisdom is as
much bound to keep up the honour of his justice and truth, as the
honour of his mercy. Shall he have it from patience? Patience and
longsuffering are not, in the very notion of them, eternal, but
temporary. Shall he fly to goodness? Justice is a part of God's
goodness, for he were not good if he were not righteous. The truth of
God to such is a very comfortless attribute, that turns the edge of all
the threatenings against him, who hath despised his veracity in his
promise. Is there any more hopes in the power of God? It is that
people frequently talk of, God is sufficient and able. It is true, he is
able to do more than any creature can conceive. But though God hath
a natural power, he hath not, we say, a moral power after his word is
past; he would not be just if he used his power against his truth; as
we would not count a man just who would do that by strength which
he could not do with honesty. The great reason of men's security is
their singling out one attribute of God, without considering the
concurrence and combination of the rest.

(7.) The law strengthens the sentence of the gospel against an

unbeliever. The moral law condemns every man that doth not believe
what God reveals.* We are to have no other gods before him, nor set
up any graven image, nor fancy any [other] way and means of
salvation than what God hath ordained. The gospel reveals the object
of faith, the law then steps in and enjoins an entertainment of it,
because it is the revelation of God. Christ tells the Jews that Moses
accused them: John 5:45, 'Do not think that I will accuse you to the
Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you
trust;' i.e. there is no need for me to charge you before God, you have
one whom you think is your defender, will be your accuser for not
believing in me. Moses, i.e. the law of Moses, meant properly of the
ceremonies prefiguring him, and the prophecies in the books of
Moses predicting him. But the law, taken singly for the law of nature,
enjoins to believe whatsoever God discovers; and the condemnation
of men for unbelief will be by the law of nature, not as singly
considered in itself, because it can so condemn only for the neglect of
what it discovers; it doth not discover Christ the object of faith, and
therefore of itself cannot condemn for the neglect of Christ; it
judgeth men only for the violation of the immediate precepts of it,
nor can the conscience of the best heathen, that never heard of
Christ, accuse him for not inquiring after Christ, nor ever did, which
doth accuse him for the breach of those rules which are evident by
the light of it. But it condemns in concurrence with the gospel; when
the object of faith is discovered by that, and the evidence appears to
be of divine authority, the law of nature urgeth the command to
believe, both as we are bound to believe and obey the supreme
governor, and also to preserve ourselves. And as it strengthens the
command, so in the condemnation it strengthens the sentence. The
law is quickened and spirited more by the gospel in its curses against
an unbeliever. He must needs be miserable, which is condemned by
the law, for the violation of its immediate precepts, and condemned
by the law, in concurrence with the gospel, for the refusal of that.
(8.) God hath discovered his anger more against this sin of unbelief
than any, both in his own children and in the Jews.

[1.] In his own children upon an act of unbelief. Moses was barred
out of Canaan for one act of distrust of God; and he whose prayers
had prevailed for the reprieving a murmuring nation from
destruction, was not heard for himself because of his unbelief. God
refuseth in the least to listen to him, but commands him silence
when he did but desire to go over Jordan to see the good land: Deut.
3:26, 'Let it suffice thee: speak no more to me of this matter.' This
resolution God backed with an oath, Deut. 4:21. The reason is
expressed to be, 'because he believed not God to sanctify him in the
eyes of the children of Israel,' Num. 20:12. Moses had not such a firm
faith but he did sometimes stagger at those great things which were
predicted to him. But this act of distrust being public, striking the
rock when he should have but spoken to it, might have encouraged
the infidelity of the people, to which they were prone enough,
without the example of their governor to support them in it. This
unbelief of Moses kindled God's anger against him. Before, God
patiently bore all his excuses, when he first appointed him to deliver
his people Israel, and answered his pleas, Exod. 3:11, Exod. 4:1, 10–
12; but when after all he desires God to stretch out his own hand, as
he had promised,—Exod. 3:20, 'I will stretch out my hand,' which is
the meaning of Exod. 4:13, 'Send by the hand of him whom thou wilt
send;' send by that hand that thou wilt send or stretch out; stretch
out this hand of thine, for the hand of man is not able to perform it,
wherein saith Dr Lightfoot,* he denied the mystery of redemption,
which was to be wrought by a man, the Godhead going along with
him,—upon this, 'the anger of the Lord was kindled against him,' ver.
14. But his unbelief still took its progress, in taking Zipporah and his
children along with him, which he would not have done in that
condition, had he believed the promise of God, Exod. 3:12, that the
people should come to that place where he then was, in Midian, and
serve God upon that mountain. Had he believed that promise, he
would have left them still with Jethro till his return. For this distrust
God sought to kill him, Exod. 4:24, and not for the delay of
circumcision, as some think, since God bore with the Israelites in the
wilderness so long in the neglect of this ordinance, because of their
frequent travel. If a particular distrust of God doth so incense him
against his people, how must a gospel unbelief inflame him, which is
a refusal or neglect of his Son, and the riches of his grace in him?

[2.] In the misery of the Jews. Why were they broken off from the
root? Because of their unbelief, Rom. 11:20. Not the crucifying of
Christ, which was but a fruit of this sin. Had they believed after that
guilt of blood, they had enjoyed the fruits of the mercy of God, by
their faith in the Redeemer. This was the sole reason their ancestors
were shut out from the typical Canaan. Not for their murmuring,
idolatry, and multitude of provocations, but for their unbelief, the
root of the other sins; no mention is made of their other rebellions,
this only is the ground of God's oath against them: Heb. 3:18, 19, 'So
then we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.' What
privileges had those people who are now cut off for this sin? They
were chosen to be God's inheritance and portion, his vineyard, his
spouse; he had 'chosen them above all people upon the face of the
earth, to be a special people unto himself,' Deut. 7:6. 'Them he had
known of all the families of the earth,' Amos 3:2. He was their
lawgiver and their king, had nourished them in his bosom as a father,
conducted them into Canaan, prescribed them a peculiar form of
worship, secured them from their potent enemies round about them;
overturned Egypt for their deliverance, 'gave Ethiopia for their
ransom,' defeated the designs of their enemies against them. When
God sent enemies to oppress them for some grievous crime
committed against heaven, as when they fell into idolatry, and filled
Jerusalem with the blood of the prophets, and for that were carried
captives to Babylon, yet after they repented and sought his face, he
was gracious to them, repented him of the evil, restored them to their
inheritance, rebuilt their temple, made their enemies to be their
friends, provided a succession of prophets to acquaint them with his
will, yea, left them not without prophets in the time of their greatest
desolations. He Had besides this chiefly promised the Messiah to this
nation, of the seed of their fathers. His first intention of sending him
was to them: Mat. 15:24, 'The word of God was first to be spoken to
them,' Acts 13:46. Christ did come of them according to the flesh,
lived among them, distilled his doctrine in person for three years'
space upon them, when he taught the Samaritans but two days, John
4:40, chose the apostles out of that nation, that were to spread the
gospel over the world. But since they would not believe in the
Messiah, neither by his own sermons, nor the sermons of the
apostles, their own land hath spued them out. They are exposed to
the miseries of the world, the derisions of men; their temple, and
with that their main worship destroyed. And though they have
sought him, in their manner, a longer term of years than ever they
were a people before the coming of Christ (they came out of Egypt
about the year of the world 2470, were destroyed about the year
3990; so that there were about 1520 years from the time of their
coming out of Egypt to the destruction of Jerusalem), yet they have
no voice to relieve them, no prophetical message to comfort them,
the face of God is veiled from them, as their hearts are veiled from
him, no nation hath been destroyed for them as before, but they are
harassed by all, not the least dawn of deliverance appearing to them.
All the covenants and agreements made with their fathers seem at
present to be cancelled; and from their rejection, God took occasion
to call the Gentiles, and to engraft the wild olives into the covenant of
salvation. The destruction of their city was remarkable. God picked
out one of the most merciful emperors that ever swayed the Roman
sceptre to be the instrument of his justice, rather than some
notorious tyrant steeped in blood, and fleshed with slaughters, that
the punishment might more evidently appear to be the hand of
heaven, and not the effect of the cruelty of man.* This heathen
emperor took notice of the anger of God against them, by many
prodigies, so that he said, he feared God would be angry with him, if
he should spare them; and when he saw the blood spilt in Jerusalem,
and the heaps of carcases, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, calling God
to witness, that it was none of his work and design to have so much
blood shed. Eleven hundred thousand perished by the sword and
famine, ninety thousand were sold for slaves. Never was the hand of
God so heavy upon any people, as upon them, and this for their
unbelief. And whereas their other captivities were not above twenty,
thirty, or forty years in the book of Judges, and seventy years in
Babylon, they have now lain above one thousand six hundred years
as a forlorn and forsaken people: 'Wrath is come upon them to the
utmost,' 1 Thes. 2:16; he hath 'set on fire the foundations of the
mountains,' and spent his arrows upon them, Deut. 32:22, 23. What
did their adoption, their glory, the law, the divine oracles deposited
among them, the promises to the patriarchs profit them, after their
unbelief? 'If God spared not the natural branches,' shall he spare the
strange branches that believe not? Rom. 11:21. How sharp will his
eternal wrath be upon the unbeliever, since his temporal wrath upon
the Jew hath been so dreadful! He will 'pour out his indignation,' and
his wrathful anger shall take hold of them, Ps. 69:24. This discourse
about the Jews proves our Saviour to be the Messiah, as well as the
provocation of unbelief. This punishment must be for some grievous
crime, greater than the causes of their other captivities. After their
return from Babylon, they were not guilty of idolatry, or the
slaughter of the prophets, till Christ came, whom they used worse
than any of the prophets that went before him; and all this is come
upon them, not simply for the crucifying Christ, but not knowing or
believing 'the things which concerned their peace,' Luke 19:42. And
they are in that destruction set forth as an example of the eternal
wrath of God upon all final undervaluers of Christ, and neglecters of
the things that concern their peace, as well as Sodom and Gomorrah
in their temporal punishment, and destruction of their bodies by fire
from heaven, are set forth for an example, 'suffering the vengeance of
eternal fire,' Jude 7. In the Scripture there are always some things of
a greater and eternal concern couched under the historical part of it.
Who, in reading the story of Melchisedec's coming to congratulate
Abraham for his victory, would have thought him to be so great a
type of Christ, had not David, Ps. 110, and after him the apostle, Heb.
7, informed us of it? Who would have regarded the destruction of
Sodom, but as an effect of God's temporal justice, had not the apostle
here informed us of its being a type of eternal fire? In like manner
this deplorable desolation of the Jews, is but a type of the miserable
destruction of unbelievers to eternity, whatever privileges they might
have enjoyed on earth, and howsoever dear to God they might have
imagined themselves.

2. Why doth final unbelief render a man infallibly the object of the
wrath of God?

1. Because of the greatness of the sin. It is greater than any breach of

the covenant of works can be.

(1.) It is a more manifest enmity to God's government of the world.

When the covenant of works was transgressed, God as the rector
required satisfaction by death and blood, according to the tenor of
the violated law, and as a tender Father provided a surety to give a
sufficient one, whereby to preserve his own rights which had been
invaded, and relieve his creature which had been ruined. In not
accepting the surety God had procured, we deny him the honour of
his sovereignty, and the restoration of the rights of his government.
We count him unworthy of any satisfaction, maintain our rebellion
against him as justly grounded, and account ourselves innocent
when we are criminal, since we will not own the satisfaction he hath
procured, as if no satisfaction were due to him; which must imply
that either we account ourselves no offenders, or God none of our
governor, or that we are able to make him a requital ourselves, which
is also a contradiction to the rights of government, since he hath an
authority to appoint what satisfaction he pleaseth, according to the
law which was settled by him, and broken by man. Since God
provided a surety for us wherein he could acquiesce, he had a double
right, both as rector and benefactor, to appoint what conditions
should be performed by the creature before he should be admitted to
the benefit of this charter he had sealed by the blood of his Son. The
not accepting these conditions is a manifest injury to him, as he is his
governor, and a gracious governor; because it is against not only a
sovereign command, but a command of grace. It is as much his
command to us to believe, as not to commit murder and adultery;
and the breaking this command speaks more of enmity to him than
the breaking the others. He hath settled it as an eternal law, and his
full resolve 'that all men should honour the Son as they honour the
Father,' John 5:23. That every man without exception should honour
the Son in the work of redemption, as the Father in the work of
creation; and 'he that honours not the Son honours not the Father
which hath sent him.' He that denies the honour of faith to Christ,
denies the honour of homage and fealty to God, and disparageth the
government of his Father, who as rector of the world appointed him,
and under the same quality accepted him. Christ is the immediate
representative of God, the image of the glorious God. The laws of
God and the laws of Christ are the same, Ps. 2:3; the cords and bands
belong jointly to 'the Lord and his anointed;' to reject the laws of the
one is to violate the authority of the other. What is done against the
representative is against the majesty of the person represented by
him. The Lord and his anointed can no more be separated in their
authority than they can in their essence. If the Father be in the Son
and the Son in the Father, John 10:38, the reproach cast upon the
one redounds upon the other, as well as the entertainment of the one
is said to be the reception of the other: Mat. 10:40, 'He that receives
me, receives him that sent me.' If God pleads the cause of his
servants, if those who rise against Moses are said to speak against
God, Num. 21:5, and the murmurings against him are called the
'murmurings against the Lord,' Exod. 16:2, 7, and the rejecting of
Samuel was a rejecting the government of God, 1 Sam. 8:7, can less
be said of the neglect of him whom God hath sent, not as a servant
from a lord, but a son from a father? What greater evidence of a
rooted enmity can there be against the sovereignty of a prince, than
after multitudes of rebellions, tenders of gracious terms, a long series
of invitations to accept of him, a desire that they might be restored to
the happiness they had forfeited; after all this not to be reduced to
his sceptre? The case is the same with us: God hath provided all
means necessary to our restoration; nothing is wanting but our own
concurrence with it. The enmity is greater, since there is no failure on
God's part, since he hath done more than he was bound as a creator
to do, or had need to do; and is it not just that obstinate rebels, who
will not observe the rules of his government, should fall under the
rod of his wrath?
(2.) It is a high ingratitude. The transgression of the law was against
the authority and goodness of God; this against his authority, and
against a goodness of an higher elevation, springing up in bowels of
compassion, spreading its arms wider than in creation, and offering
to confer a more excellent and durable happiness; it is against the
tenders of remission in the blood of the Son of God, which in the first
transgression man had no knowledge of (for there was nothing of
grace mentioned in the first covenant). And who will not judge it
more criminal in itself to slight or neglect the grace of a prince, in
conjunction with his authority, than to violate only the authority of a
prince in breaking his lawful and just command? Would it not be a
crime worthy the indignation of all men, if twice, thrice, nay,
innumerable times, the sincerest tenders of the greatest good should
be refused? Who would have compassion for such a refractory
person? Is not unbelief the more horrible crime in them who
acknowledge Christ for the Son of God, the mediator between God
and them, whereby they are so far from rendering it in the least
manner excusable, that they highly aggravate it?

[1.] Consider the greatness of the mercy. God prevented us by his

love: 1 John 4:10, 'Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and
sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins;' procured a surety for
us, who valued our redemption above the pleasure of the body he
assumed, and appointed him for us when we had a desire to persist
in our rebellion, not only after we had offended him, but when we
were in actual offences still against him: Rom. 5:8, 'when we were yet
sinners;' not only when we had sinned, but when we were still adding
one crime to another; and this surety hath expended his treasures to
purchase our deliverance, hath submitted to death to prevent our
suffering of it; he hath 'abolished death, and brought life and
immortality to light through the gospel, 2 Tim. 1:10. He destroyed
death, that had a power over us by the immutable sentence of the
law, took away the right it had, despoiled the law of its power to
condemn us, by condemning sin by the effusion of his blood on the
cross, whereby the law had acquired a right of condemning us, and
discovered the way to an immortal life, which we were estranged
from by the darkness of sin, brought a message of peace from the
bosom of the Father, whereby we might be eternal gainers. It is such
a free mercy, that, if it had not been manifested, not God but we
should have been the only losers. No mercy like it, no mercy can
exceed it, no other mercy can equal it. 'So God loved the world that
he sent his only begotten Son,' John 3:16; a so beyond expression, a
so beyond imagination; nothing can surpass it but the sending him
again to suffer; and this only would be in circumstantials of
repetition, not in the essentials and nature of the mercy.

[2.] From hence measure the greatness of the sin. The height, depth,
length, and breadth of the mercy is the only rule to measure the
dimensions of the sin against it by. The stronger and louder the
bowels of mercy are which are slighted, the greater and blacker is the
sin of despising him. The goodness of God in procuring, and the
grace of God in accepting, a surety, are denied by this sin. Every act
of it contemns the provisions of grace and contentments of justice,
the attendances of patience, the tenderness of bowels, and the
satisfactory blood of the Son of God. Is it not a strange carriage that
when God is so merciful to offer remission, man should be so
obstinate as to refuse it, and would rather die in his sin, hateful to
God, and miserable for himself, than live by the Son of God, so
acceptable to God and beneficial to man; and when, besides the
outward preaching of the gospel, there have been, by the common
grace of the Spirit, some inward stirrings and approbation of the
terms, which yet have vanished into a non-compliance? The
frequenter those motions, the greater the ingratitude added to the
debts of all other sins contracted before. This unthankfulness for
such a benefit is alleged as the cause of men's condemnation: John
3:10, 'When light is come into the world, men love darkness rather
than light.' When God hath provided a way to remove the guilt of
their sins, the world will not part with the pleasure and profit of their
sins. Can there be a baser requital than to be a partner with Judas in
betraying him, with Pilate in condemning him, with the Jews in
crucifying him? What do we else but approve of all the barbarous
usage he met with from the Jews, when we despise his authority in
his evangelical command, refuse his person in his gracious proffers,
and undervalue his sufferings by not applying them?

Is not then a dreadful punishment of this sin very righteous? By the

law of nature, the greater kindness a creature receives, the greater
punishment he doth deserve if he prove ungrateful. Since gospel
grace exceeds all the benefits of creation, it is reasonable that the
neglects of it should be attended with the greater punishment. When
men will refuse the acceptance of it, and conformity to the will of
God, which can only fit them for true happiness, a fuller measure of
wrath is due to them that slight the fullest expense of mercy. Justice
would not be justice if it used not them with the greatest severity that
abuse grace with the greatest indignity: what is greatest in the rank
of sins, deserves the greatest misery in the rank of penalties. The
greater benefit is conferred, the greater guilt is contracted by the
neglect, and a stronger subjection to punishment in the order of
justice. If it be a crime deserving a severe reflection to outrage an
innocent person that never did us wrong, it is much more to spurn at
a person who hath laid the foundation of our greatest good, and
offereth that good to us upon the easiest terms. Such a carriage to a
prince would be a greater indignity; how inconceivable a crime is it
then against the King of kings, the Lord of glory, God blessed for
ever, under all those inexpressible circumstances of innocence in his
person, flames in his affection, kindness to the last drop of blood,
and continued patience in waiting for our receiving the atonement!
The rebellion of all other sins is wrapped up in this: John 15:22, 'If I
had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin;' so the
gall of all other miseries is distilled into the punishment due to it. It
is fit the furnace of wrath should be heated, to answer the flames of
love which have been shooting towards them.

[3.] It is a sin against a clearer and fuller light and undeniable

revelation. The gospel hath been first published by the Son of God in
person, spread over the world by his apostles and their successors as
the commissioners of Christ, entertained by multitudes in all ages
since, transmitted to us in writing, delivered down to us by the
contentions of our ancestors for the faith and the blood of martyrs.
Nothing we believe in the world but it is upon less reason than we
have to believe this. The belief of other things, for which we have
little reason, and in some no reason, will aggravate our unbelief of
those great things for which we have so much reason.

(1.) Heathens have had a less light, and abused it, and shall not
escape punishment. This way of argument the apostle useth,*Rom.
1:16–19, to assure unbelievers of a dreadful vengeance. Though the
design of the gospel be nothing but righteousness, life, and salvation
to the believer, yet it breathes as much wrath against the neglecter as
it doth happiness to the embracer; and without any charge of
injustice upon God. For others who had a less light than that of the
gospel, which discovered to them the power and eternity of God, it
rendered them without any apology for themselves. The closing their
eyes against that natural light, or abusing of it, and keeping natural
truth in unrighteousness, i.e. lying in their sins against all the beams
of light from the creation, will subject them to eternal punishment.
The heathens had nothing but the dim light of nature, the effluxes of
divine patience; but they could not read the covenant of grace in the
motions of the heavens and orderly seasons of the year; they could
not behold the Sun of righteousness in the material sun in the
firmament; the heavens discovered the glory of a creator, but not the
grace of a redeemer; there were characters of divine wisdom and
power in the frame of the world, but nothing of his grace and
pardoning mercy; therefore they are not condemned for not
believing in Christ, since a mediator was not made known to them.
They were bound to no more than Adam was; but Adam was not
bound to believe a supernatural mystery till God had revealed it: and
it cannot be expected that they, who never had an account of Christ,
should believe in him. 'How can they believe in him of whom they
have not heard?' Rom. 10:14; and if they be under an impossibility of
believing for want of a revelation, how can they be condemned for
not believing? But the sentence against them is grounded upon their
despising the voice of the works of nature, the common mercy of
God, and his patience manifested in them, whereby he called them to
some reflection upon themselves, and repentance for their iniquities.
Since the law of nature was given man as a rule in creation,* they
shall be examined whether they have done the things agreeable to
the law written in their consciences, and they shall be judged
according to the several measures of the light of reason which they
had; for it cannot be supposed that the barbarous nations that lived
in a thick darkness, and had not the advantage of a polite and
learned education to improve their reasons, shall have the same
measure of judgment with those who had the waterings and
dressings of a sounder education. (But neither one nor the other
shall be judged according to the gospel, which exacts faith in the
Redeemer). And according to this rule, not a man of them can
escape; and if it were the only rule to try all men by, not a man, from
Adam to the last that shall be born upon the earth by natural
generation, can avoid the just condemnation of God, because not a
man of them but hath, one way or other, and that several times,
transgressed that law; for all are become guilty before God.

(2.) The Jews have had a less light than those under the gospel,
though clearer than that of the heathens, and upon the abuse of this
they shall not escape. The Jews who died before the coming of Christ,
shall be tried according to the law of nature expressed in the
decalogue, and that particular law of ceremonies given to them,
wherein the Mediator was veiled. The Jews had the gospel printed in
types and allegories, wrapped up in the pillar of a cloud; Christ was
not come in the flesh, nor the Spirit poured out upon the world; they
could not see the beauty of a redeemer for the smoke of their
sacrifices, nor have a full prospect of his face through the grates and
lattices of the ceremonies. There were also different measures of light
among them, which may mitigate the condemnation of some, but not
be a sufficient bar against a sentence of death. † For those of the
Jewish religion, that did not believe in those promises or prophecies
of the Messiah, in the time of the first entrance into Canaan, shall not
have so great a punishment as those that lived after, when clearer
prophecies were added. All judgment shall be according to the
measure of light afforded; according to the measure of it, God
expects a suitable return; for 'to whomsoever much is given, of them
shall much be required,' Luke 12:48. Nor shall those that died in the
wilderness, or first entered into Canaan, have so light a sentence as
those of the old world, with whom the Spirit of Christ strove, but
upon the account of one single promise given to Adam; whereas the
other had an increase of promises to Abraham, deliverances to
themselves, an addition of types to represent the things promised,
and the intention of them, to their eyes, which were stronger and
more unanswerable grounds upon which the Spirit did strive with
them in those times. Those of the Jews who had the least light of
revelation, shall have a smarter punishment than the heathens, who
had the strongest light of nature: 'Tribulation and anguish upon
every soul of man that doth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the
Gentile,' Rom. 2:9. As the Jew had the priority in privileges, so he
shall have in the anguish prepared for the wicked. And many of them
in the days of Christ in the flesh neglected him, not so much wilfully
as out of ignorance, and prejudicate opinions of a conquering
Messiah. If they could escape upon the witness of Paul, or rather
upon the witness of the Holy Ghost, they should find relief; Paul
would not deny his own writing, nor the Holy Ghost his own inditing:
1 Cor. 2:8, 'Had they known it, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory;' no, nor Christ his own testimony upon the cross, that
they knew not what they did, Luke 23:34. But can we call the Holy
Ghost or the Redeemer to witness for us, if we believe not?

(3.) We have a clearer light than any of them had. It was indeed by
his own Son that God spoke to the Jews, Heb. 1:2, but he did but
begin to speak it; the stronger confirmations were afterwards by the
gifts of the Holy Ghost poured out upon men: Heb. 2:3, 4, 'God
bearing witness from heaven' to the truth of his doctrine. We have
the light of nature to answer for, we are bound to this as much as the
heathen; they had no more of the light of nature than we have; the
Jew had less understanding of the ceremonies than we have, they
saw the types, and we have the manifestation of the substance, we
have Christ in a plain letter and fairer print. We have the light of
heathens, the light of the Jews, and a glorious light superadded to
both those.

Now, it is according to this light God doth proportion the

punishment of unbelievers under the gospel. The judgment,
according to the apostle, respects two sorts of persons: 2 Thes. 1:8,
'Those that know not God,' and those 'that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ.' The heathens that knew not God, when they had
light enough in the creation to know him: and they that obey not the
gospel, whether veiled or open; as veiled, it takes in the Jews before
Christ; as open, it comprehends all to whom the gospel is preached.
The question shall be asked such persons, whether they did believe in
the name of the Son of God as the only mediator; and those that shall
be convinced of a final unbelief, or disobedience to the evangelical
declarations, shall incur the more grievous condemnation, because to
the transgression of the law of nature, will be added over and above,
the transgression of a special command of God, respecting their
recovery. According to the rule of justice it must exceed the
condemnation of the rest; since they have lived in the bosom of the
church, and besides the neglect of that common to them with the
heathen, have rejected the mediator made known to them, and not to
the heathen. If the light of the darkest of them be sufficient to convict
them before God without any excuse, much more must the light,
revealed by the word, aggravate the guilt of men that close their eyes
against it. They have not only the discoveries of God in nature, but
the discoveries of God in grace, to answer for. The more excellent the
truth is that is disobeyed, the greater the sinfulness of the
disobedience; Hosea 8:12, 'I have written to him the great things of
my law, but they were accounted as a strange thing.' If the choicest
revelation that God ever made, did not aggravate the punishment,
why should the apostle say, 2 Peter 2:21, 'It had been better for them
not to have known the way of righteousness,' if they were in the same
condition, wherein they were before they knew it? But how
reasonable and righteous is the misery of those who have not only
had the outward declarations of the gospel, but some common
illumination of their minds, some motions of the Spirit, some
approbations of the doctrine? If Paul had mercy because his unbelief
was in ignorance, what mercy can they expect whose unbelief is with
knowledge? 1 Tim. 1:13. Not that his ignorance deserved a pardon,
for who can ascribe any merit to ignorance? The crucifying of Christ,
the most horrid wickedness that ever the world saw, heaps not that
guilt upon men whose hands were red with his blood, that unbelief
doth upon men, who in opinion pretend to acknowledge him. The
crime of the one was extenuated by their ignorance, and the crime of
the other aggravated by their knowledge, as also, by the frequency of
the impressions made upon them by the word. Well, then, if
heathens shall be condemned, who had only the material heavens,
and the sensitive, and insensitive creatures upon the earth preaching
to them, who had only God in his works, and the Jews who had God
speaking to them in legal ceremonies, what will become of those who
have had the voice of God, Christ, and redeeming blood calling to
them in the word, and neglected all?

(4.) This sin is a refusal of the only way of expiation of sin. When the
law was violated, a relief was provided in the gospel. Because the law
uttered not one syllable of forgiveness, the transgression of the law
was not an offence against pardoning mercy, as the unbelief of the
gospel is. This relieving mercy could not have appeared in the world
in a contradiction to the justice of God; this, to speak according to
the manner of men, would have made a war in the divine nature,
without the sacrifice of the Son of God in our nature. For because he
assumed not the nature of angels, the fallen spirits are exposed to the
rigours of justice, without any relief of mercy. If Adam had truly
repented of his crime, he could not have obtained pardon without the
satisfaction of the law, which was as silent in the command of
repentance, as it was in the declaration of a pardon. When, therefore,
there is a remedy provided, and no other remedy but this, nor can be
any other remedy; since no valuable sacrifice can be imagined for the
taking away of sin but this, those that neglect it, render themselves
uncapable of security, by shutting themselves out of the only refuge.
In all human contracts, a promise is only received* by assenting to
and believing it. Though something may be taken from a man
unwilling to part with it, yet nothing can be given to a man unwilling
to accept it; what right soever is transferred by the donor in a way of
promise, is established by the other's assenting to it. If a prince
promises a courtier a gift upon the performance of easy conditions,
and he will not believe the word of the king, nor perform the
reasonable conditions, the promise is not only void in itself, but the
prince justly offended with his behaviour. Had the terms of the
covenant been very hard, provided they had not been impossible, the
damnation had been just had they been wilfully neglected; but they
are as reasonable as can be: repentance and faith. Is it not fit the
justice of God should be acknowledged in its equity, and the holiness
of God in its beauty, by a sensibleness of our crimes; his grace in its
freeness, by an acceptance of its provision; and his sovereignty
acknowledged by the payment of an homage to him? Who would not
count that rebel a sufferer by double justice who refuseth the pardon
of his great rebellions, which he might have only for the acceptance
of it, a sensibleness of his offence, and a sincere promise of his
utmost service? They are such reasonable conditions, that the
honour of God, as well as the honour of a prince, would not be
provided for, or have a salvo without them. If men will sell
themselves to the slavery of a condemned sin, and a conquered devil,
they can charge none with boring their ears to a perpetual misery,
but their own folly. He that will choose to die by the sting of a fiery
serpent, rather than live by the sight of the brazen one, can impute
his ruin to no other but himself.

Christ hath made an expiation for sin, quenched the flaming sword
that stopped the entrance into paradise. If men will not set their feet
in that way, nor make any inquiries after it; if they cast behind their
back all exhortations to it, and never consider them in their minds,
upon whom can they charge their destruction but upon themselves?

If a man be in love with his misery, and will not stoop to him that
would relieve him; if he prefer his guilt before the expiation, his
deplorable condition before a Saviour, his filthiness before a
righteousness, it is juster that he should perish by the sin he chose,
than be happy by a Saviour he refused. His own act is in the nature of
a confession of the equity of God's sentence, since God hath linked
the gospel and everlasting life so close together that the one cannot
be received or refused without the other. They 'judge themselves
unworthy of everlasting life,' by 'putting away the gospel' from them,
Acts 13:46. He tacitly declares that he would rather have God angry
with him than pacified, when he refuseth the only means of a
reconciliation. And the justice of his punishment is evident by the
value of the propitiation which he refuseth, it being that which was
the salvation of all the ancient believers before the oblation of the
sacrifice, valuable enough to be the salvation of devils; that which
was so prevalent with God in our Saviour's first consent to it, as to
turn the tribunal of justice into a throne of grace; that blood which,
sprinkled upon the soul, can turn the edge of the angel's destroying
sword; that pure and spotless sacrifice which is the feast of God in
heaven, which is daily presented to him by our Saviour in his office of
advocacy, 1 John 2:1, 2. Can there be less justice than to inflict
damnation upon those who wilfully neglect that which hath been the
only way for the salvation of millions, and might be efficacious for
theirs, if they would accept of it upon God's terms? Nay, they impose
upon themselves a necessity of damnation, who cast away the means
of salvation. How can his chains be knocked off, that slights
redemption? How can he be washed, that stops by his infidelity the
blood of Christ from flowing out upon him? What disease can be
healed, if the only proper remedy for it be not applied? Is not he as
much guilty of his own death, that rejects a medicine, tears a plaster
off from his wounds, as he that cuts his own throat with a knife?
They have but the fruits of their own wilfulness, and must at last
subscribe to the equity of God's judgment, because the desert of it
was their own choice.

3. What kind of misery this is.

It is
1. Inevitable. The end of the enemies of the cross of Christ is
destruction, Phil. 3:18. The righteous hath a 'sure reward,' Prov.
11:18; the unrighteous must have as sure a punishment: 'perishing
from the way' is the absolute issue of the 'kindling of his wrath,' Ps.
2:12. Death will certainly enter in at that door; there is no more
possibility of escape than for a man mortally wounded in a vital part
to avoid death entering in at his wound. Every man must render an
account before the judgment seat of Christ. Shall men render an
account of their time, wealth, the abuse of the faculties of their souls,
and members of their bodies? and shall they not as certainly render
an account of that which is more precious than all these: the grace of
God, and the blood of Christ offered to them and injured by them? Is
there any shelter from the all-seeing eye of God, in the caves of the
deep or under the mountains of the world? Poor Adam sought it in
the thickets of paradise, but was forced to come out at the call,
'Adam, where art thou?' Gen. 3:9, 10. What refuge can be imagined?
The covenant of grace is the city of refuge against the pursuit of the
covenant of works; that is our hope under our fetters for the breaches
of the law, Heb. 6:18. Where can we fix an anchor of hope to secure
ourselves from the storms of this? The apostle puts the question
indeed, 'How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?' Heb.
2:3. But the resolution of it was above his invention; he knew not one
tittle of encouragement in the whole book of God, though no man
better acquainted with it. What do I speak of the apostle? The Holy
Ghost himself, who indited what the apostle did write, knew none.
The transgressions of the law subject men to a desert of
condemnation; but this sin exposeth men to a necessity of
damnation, since all the methods of God for procuring remission
have been rendered useless by the refusal of that merit that
purchased it, and that mercy that appointed and offered it. When
justice condemns in the law, a liberty of appeal is reserved to mercy
in the gospel; if mercy in the gospel condemns for want of the
conditions necessary to the enjoyment, what reserve is left? No way
of relief but by injustice, which is not to be found in the divine
nature.* After man had wounded himself, and sunk down at the feet
of the law, a promise was clapped in as a plaster; but is there a
syllable in the whole Scripture of any other remedy? It never yet
thought of any other security; God never revealed any other for the
repair of his own honour, which suffered by sin; and why should the
creature imagine any other for his own recovery? Yes; but we know
not but God may have a reserve in his own counsel. Certainly men
that pretend to believe the gospel must have some such conceit; they
could not else be such desperate enemies to themselves as not to
labour after a thorough work of faith. But would any but a
prodigiously mad man run the hazard of such a conceit? What
footing can such an imagination have after all God's declarations to
the contrary? If the laws of a king threaten an unavoidable
punishment for a crime, would not that man be a bedlam that would
venture the transgression of it upon hopes of a reserve, when he
finds not a syllable in the law for such an encouragement, but the
whole design to the contrary? Necessity of state sometimes is a bridle
to restrain the punishment of an offender; but the eternal order of
God is so constituted that there can be no necessity upon him, for the
advantage of heaven or earth, to remit the punishment of a final
unbeliever.

Consider,

[1.] It is a God who hath passed his word. God never speaks but he
intends to perform; his words shall stand before men's imaginations
of security; his conditions he will not alter. He cannot save such men;
his oath stands in the way; his repeated declarations are a bar against
it. What greater obligations than an oath, and the oath of God, which
is a swearing by himself? and as sure as I am God, and as sure as I
live, I will do such a thing? Shall God deny his own deity for a rebel's
security? Heb. 3:18, 'To whom sware he that they should not enter
into his rest, but to them that believed not?' They shall not enter into
a gospel state, to have the benefits of Christ, who is the rest of God.
Since the Scripture is written for our instruction, it concerns every
man in a state of unbelief, and assures them, if it be final, they shall
not set a foot within the gates of heaven. God never passeth his oath
but to confirm what he is resolutely bent to perform; he swears to the
promises, that the believers may have strong consolation; he swears
to the threatening, that unbelievers may have dismal apprehensions.
Some humbled souls think God is not so merciful as he declares; he
swears to expel their doubts. Presumptuous persons think God is not
so just; he swears to expel their vain conceits. This sin ties up, as it
were, the hands of an omnipotent mercy from saving such a one. The
apostle intimates that God is not able to save without faith (Rom.
11:23, 'If they bide not still in unbelief, they shall be grafted in, for
God is able to graft them in again'), in asserting that God is able to
graft the Jews in upon their faith. God is not morally able to do
anything against his word and settled methods of his grace; and
because God hath passed his word, and denounced those judgments
which he executes, he is said to slay men 'by the word of his mouth
and the breath of his lips,' Isa. 11:4; and the sharp sword wherewith
he smites the nations goes out of the mouth of Christ, Rev. 19:15.

[2.] God hath promised to take the punishment of final unbelievers

into his own hands. The revenge of injuries done by one man to
another belongs to God, and he will recompense them; the vengeance
of injuries done to his Son doth as much belong to him. He values the
obedience of Christ in his death too high to suffer men to slight it
without the recompence of a certain indignation; and who can avoid
the recompence he will inflict? Heb. 10:30, 31. What sanctuary can
there be against the wrath of an all-knowing God, who hath promised
Christ to take the work into his own hands, and be the destroyer of
all his enemies? Ps. 90:1, 'Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy
enemies thy footstool.' He will employ all his power against them.
This power is ascribed here to the Father, not that the Son is unable
to conquer his enemies, but to shew his mighty affection to the office
of priesthood he had settled his Son in, and his resolution to
maintain the rights of it, and revenge any indignity offered to it; also
because acts of power are ascribed to the Father, as acts of wisdom to
the Son. God cannot be true to his Son, nor true to himself, having
passed his word to his Son, and published that word to us, unless he
punished unbelievers. This is part of the honour God intends him,
wherein he will take pleasure, as well as in seeing him sit gloriously
at his right hand; and this he had assured men of before, that he
would require exactly an account of their refusal to listen to the
words of the great prophet which should speak in his name.* And
lest any think that, though it be unavoidable, if they fall into the
hands of the living God, yet they may have some shelter from his
fury; no, the right hand of God, his hand of strength and power, shall
find out the enemies of Christ in their most secret recesses: Ps. 21:8,
'Thy hand shall find out all thy enemies, thy right hand shall find out
them that hate thee;' none shall escape the being hurled into a fiery
oven by the power of his hand. The psalm was anciently applied by
the Chaldee paraphrast to the King Messiah. Who can rescue the soul
that is grasped in the wrathful hand of God? What champion can
keep off the blow, unless it be one that can match God in strength
and power? Nor will God be diverted by the cries of obstinate rebels,
when he was not persuaded by the strong cries and prayers of Christ
to take the cup of suffering out of his hand.

Besides, though Christ be clad in his priestly garments, he hath 'feet

like brass, as if they burnt in a furnace,' heavy and hot to trample
upon his enemies, Rev. 1:13, 15; he hath 'eyes like a flame of fire' to
find them, and 'feet like brass' to crush them; so that upon all
accounts the misery is unavoidable. The condition of the heathens
renders them inevitably miserable; for, being 'without Christ,' they
are 'without hope,' Eph. 2:12. Faith in the promise is the foundation
of the hope of blessedness; no freedom without it from the sentence
of death to which the law hath adjudged us; no freedom from the
spiritual death which sin hath engendered in us. It is as inevitable as
the misery of devils; they perish because they have no mediator, and
men perish because they will not receive a mediator.

2. Speedy misery. As Christ is a swift help, so he is declared to be a

'swift witness' against the unrighteousness of men, Mal. 3:5. God is
quick in his judgments where the gospel is contemned; the black,
red, and pale horse—plague, war, and famine—followed the heels of
the white horse, to cut off them that would not be conquered by the
rider on it, Rev. 6:2, 4, 5, 8. God is more quick and severe in his
justice under the gospel than before; the former times before the
exhibition of Christ were the times of God's patience, wherein 'God
winked at the times of ignorance; but if his command of repentance
and faith be neglected, nothing is to be expected but a severe
judgment, Acts 17:30, 31. As he hath revealed his righteousness 'from
faith to faith,' so he hath 'revealed his wrath from heaven,' Rom. 1:17,
18. When he made a promise of the effusion of his Spirit in the times
of the gospel, Joel 2:28, 29, he couples with it a threatening of
judgments as the fruit of the contempt of the gospel: ver. 30, 31, 'I
will shew wonders in the heavens, and in the earth, blood and fire,
and pillars of smoke, before the day of the Lord,' i.e. from the time of
the pouring forth the Spirit, and the contempt of his grace, there
shall be a confusion in all parts of the world where the gospel is
contemned, and that in a constant succession till the great day of the
Lord. We may know to what cause to ascribe the turning of the sun
into darkness, and the moon into blood in a nation. The same reason
of the speediness of judgment holds in the case of a particular
person; whosoever 'bears thorns and briers, is nigh unto cursing,'
Heb. 6:8. The good earth is said to be blessed by God; but the bad
earth is not said to be cursed, that we may not despair, but 'nigh to
cursing,' that we may hasten our fruitfulness. It cannot be long
before the power of God will vindicate his injured mercy, and deliver
men up into the hands of justice, to answer for the violations of his
law and contempt of his grace. The time of God's waiting is bounded
in narrow limits. The life is a short vapour, which appears a while
and quickly vanisheth. What are a few days or years—yea, or
Methuselah's age—to keep off the plague which shall last for ever?
Unconceivably less than a grain of sand, compared with the whole
mass of heaven and earth, if pounded into dust.

3. Sharp misery. It abides; the first wound is not so smart as a

constant gnawing of a vulture. As the apostle could imagine no way
to escape it, so he could not imagine any way to express it: Heb.
10:29, 'Of how much sorer punishment?' He leaves it to every man's
fancy to screw it to the highest. So sore, that the malefactor shall feel
it without being able to declare the torture of it. And thus Peter
leaves it to men to imagine, since he was enable to express it: 1 Peter
4:17, 18, 'What shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel?'
and 'where shall the ungodly and sinners appear?' We can no more
conceive the terror of the wrath due to this, than we can conceive the
grandeur of that love which has been abused, and the dignity of the
person of his Son which is injured by it. The most scorching
receptacles in that fiery oven seem to be reserved for unbelievers:
Luke 12:46, 'The Lord shall appoint him his portion with the
unbelievers.' A vengeance is due to such, Heb. 10:30, which is not a
simple punishment, but one with rigour. It knows no mitigation; not
a drop of a water will be allowed to temper the devouring flame. Hell
would rather solicit for a further addition of wrath to one that
despised the only begotten of the Father; a man's own conscience
will tell him it is rather below than above his demerit. Though the
punishment of sin against the law was a separation from God, yet
this separation may admit of degrees; one may be further cast from
God than another, into the depths and lowest dungeon of hell. The
young man was in a nearness to the kingdom of heaven, yet not in it,
but in a state of alienation from God.

(1.) God takes the punishment of such into his own hand. God will be
a 'consuming fire,' Heb. 12:29. Fire is the sharpest of all the
elements, insinuates into every part of combustible matter, and the
wrath of God into every part of the soul; it devours with an invincible
force whatsoever it lays hold on. Though God be full of goodness and
mercy to them that believe, yet he is like a consuming fire to those
that scorn the covenant of his Son; and with no less, but much more,
fury will he consume the slighters of that, than he did the despisers
of the old administration. This sin puts God upon the discharging all
his fury. The breath of his mouth, that before invited men, shall blow
the fire: Isa. 30:33, 'The breath of the Lord, as a stream of brimstone,
doth kindle it.' It is not a simple punishment, but wrath abides, the
wrath of an infinite God, infinitely understanding to invent, and of
infinite power to inflict the bitterest pains; which must be more
sharp than any in this life, because all the bars of patience which
stopped the overflowing scourge, and the long-suffering of God upon
the account of the mediation of Christ, shall abstain from any further
exercise. It must be as sharp as justice armed with infinite power can
render it, according to the capacity of the subject. What cannot
Omnipotence do? As when the covenant is received, God is our God
in the employment of his infinite perfections for us; so when the
covenant is outraged, God is our judge in the employment of his
infinite perfections against us. Patience shall not stir a finger, mercy
will look contemptibly* upon them. When the first covenant was
broke, justice punished and mercy relieved; when the second is
finally despised, justice inflicts the punishment, and mercy contemns
the sufferer. That mercy which called them will laugh at their
calamity, Prov. 1:24, 26, 27, 28. It is not vindictive justice, but tender
mercy, which calls men to repentance. It is not vindictive justice men
will seek in their distresses, but pity and compassion from their
judge. But that attribute whereby God stretched out his hand in
kindness, that attribute which men in their anguish will call upon for
relief, will not only be speechless, but mock, when their fear comes.
As justice joins hands with mercy in the pardon of a believer, upon
the satisfaction of Christ, so mercy will join hands with justice for the
punishment of an unbeliever that either spurns at it or neglects it.
Justice shall hurl them in, and mercy roll the stone upon the mouth
of hell. Mercy will mock them, and mocking is none of the lightest
ingredients in the punishment of a malefactor. How heavy must that
condemnation be, which is pronounced by a mercy turned into fury!
Since God inflicts it, the punishment for the neglect of his grace will
be suited to that joy he had in the effusions of it. We may measure
his anger against the rebels by the delight he had in his Son for
undertaking the work of redemption, and the joy he expressed upon
his performing it. No greater honour could be bestow upon his return
to heaven than the seating him at his right hand, giving him power
over all the angels, more terrible judgments than must fall upon
them that despise the priesthood of Christ, so acceptable to God,
which shall, by the decree of God, like Aaron's rod, the type of it,
flourish for ever.
(2.) It will be suited to the greatness of what hath been contemned.
As much as the covenant excels the other in grace and glory, so much
shall the vengeance for the despising it exceed the punishment due to
the transgression of the other. A heinous sin deserves intolerable
plagues. Sins against the light of nature are of a meaner tincture than
those against the gospel. There was a death without mercy for the
transgression of the law of Moses, Heb. 10:28, composed only of the
shadows of this; must there not then be an addition of vengeance to
those that make light of the substance? The punishment in order of
justice must be suited to the greatness of the crime. As it is a total
injustice to let a crime pass with impunity, so it is a partial injustice
to let it pass with a punishment less than it merits. The dignity of the
person injured, the Son of God, and God in him, greatens the crime,
and consequently the punishment. With what an infelicity must such
an indignity to God be attended! We are not only to answer to justice
for the violations of an holy law, but the expense of a tender mercy.
And if an offence against God, as the author of our being, deserves at
the hands of an infinitely offended majesty a just recompence of
reward, much more must the rejecting the tenders of his grace,
whereby as a fountain of goodness he would send forth richer
streams of happiness than at the creation. We abuse that which we
had not the least right to demand, nor God the least obligation to
give. Some things the nature of God obligeth him onto. God might
choose whether he would create man; but when he resolves to create
a rational creature, the holiness of God obligeth him to create him
holy. He may choose whether he would make a covenant of grace;
but when he hath made it, his nature will not permit him to start
from it. God might choose whether he would offer grace; and
therefore the freer the grace, the blacker the abuse of it, and the sorer
the punishment due to it. As there were liberal showers of grace,
there shall be fuller vials of wrath; as grace to the utmost, so wrath to
the brim. The devil, who had not the least share of created wisdom,
by his abuse of it, rendered himself most accursed; and men by the
abuse of grace, render themselves most abhorred by God. As where
sin hath abounded grace is sweeter, so where grace hath abounded,
and is not received, wrath is sharper, and the heat of wrath is
proportioned to the flame of love. And as it is against the greatest
mercy, so it is against a greater evidence of God's holiness and justice
in the death of his Son. The end of the death of Christ was that 'God
might shew himself just;' Rom. 3:26, 'that he might be just,' i.e.
known to be just. Now, after this public discovery of his justice, this
sin is a daring his justice more than any sin under the law. Then
there was only a verbal declaration of the justice of God; but in the
death of Christ, the highest sensible demonstration of it to the sons
of men.

(3.) It will be suited to the excellent rewards of faith. As the rewards

of faith are so great, that neither ear hath heard, nor heart can
conceive, so must the plagues for unbelief answer the greatness of
those. The reward of Adam's obedience appears not to be any other
than a continuance in that happy state in paradise wherein he was
created; wherein it is like he might after some trial of his obedience
have been confirmed by the grace of God, as the angels are in their
glorious estate in heaven. As his reward seems not altogether to be
the same which is promised in the gospel, viz., a being with Christ for
ever to behold his glory; so the punishment threatened upon his
transgression of the command is not the same with the punishment
threatened in the gospel; and though it was more than a temporal
death, or a separation of soul and body, which seems to be too light a
punishment for an offence against the infinite majesty of God, and
would not have answered the enormity of the crime (could the pain
of a few hour's satisfy God for a sin, whose guilt and filth would be
perpetual without pardon and sanctification?); yet it was not so
bitter a death as is threatened upon the breach of the new covenant;
for all punishment follows the measure of the ingratitude and
greatness of the obligation, which was not the same in his sin as it is
in ours; and therefore it is expressed by the addition of death unto
death: 2 Cor. 2:16, 'The savour of death unto death;' a death with
more pangs superadded by the gospel to the death inflicted upon
Adam by the law. As those that have believed in the name of the Son
of God, and walked according to that faith, shall be eternally freed
from all the curses of the moral law, and the dreadful threatenings
sprinkled in the gospel; so those that shall die in their unbelief, shall
for ever lie under the curses of the one, and the executed
threatenings of the other. We find that as the promises in the Old
Testament were not so spiritual and clear, respecting for the most
part the land of Canaan, and temporal goods; so the threatenings are
not so sharp, respecting for the most part temporal losses and
outward judgments. As the joys of heaven were, under that
dispensation, veiled under temporal promises, so the terrors of hell
were veiled under temporal curses. But in the gospel there are clearer
promises of an eternal glory, and answerable to them, there are more
dismal threatenings of an eternal loss. There is 'utter darkness' to
answer an 'inheritance in light;' a never-dying worm to answer to
everlasting joys; rivers of brimstone to answer to rivers of pleasures;
an eternal separation from God, and the everlasting society of devils,
to answer to an eternal Communion with God and the blessed angels.

(4.) It will be suited to the knowledge or means of knowledge men

had. The heathens will have a single condemnation, for not
improving the light of nature; the Jews a double, for neglecting that
light, and the instructions of the law. A treble condemnation remains
for them that neglect both these, and the discoveries of grace more
glorious and plain, than nature or law with a richer manifestation
ever could be. The damnation of the first will be a pleasure to the
miseries of the last, who will have more than an ordinary damnation.
To have Christ and his blood preached to men, engenders more
knowledge than the instructions of the heavens, and the creatures of
the earth, with a conscience guided by a dimmer light. Tyre and
Sidon shall have a lighter sentence than Chorazin and Bethsaida;
they might have reformed upon less means, when those were not
converted by greater, Mat. 11:21–24. Tyre, a place of knowledge,
famous for excellent arts, from whence a greater part of the Grecian
learning was derived; a place of notorious idolatry, whence the Jews
had sometime drawn the contagion; a place of great pride and
luxury, threatened with grievous plagues by God, Ezek. 26; yet this
place, though sinning against much natural knowledge, shall fare
better than the cities of Judea. Sodom, the stain of mankind, a place
soaked in the dregs of villany, who sinned against an eminent
deliverance bestowed upon them for the sake of Lot, and also against
many admonitions from that person, who could not but testify the
vexation of his righteous soul for their wickedness, that would have
committed wickedness with the angels, and that when they were
under the judicial hand of God striking them with blindness, guilty of
those abominations which likely not a man in Capernaum was guilty
of; yet this hell upon earth shall have a milder hell at the day of
judgment than unbelieving Capernaum, a place that had often given
entertainment to Christ in the days of his flesh, blasphemed not his
doctrine when they heard it, nor ascribed his miracles to the devil
when they saw them, as the pharisees did; yet those, for want of
faith, shall be more inexcusable than the other; the one offended
against the light of nature, the other against the light of grace,
published by the mouth of the only Son of God. The means of grace
men have had, will sharpen the sting of conscience to pierce more
deep: 'The word shall judge men at the last day,' John 12:48. The
doctrine of grace, and the instructions of the gospel, struck in upon
their minds, shall rise up in their consciences, as so many witnesses
against them. And though suppressed here by unrighteousness,*
shall, like fire buried in a heap of ashes, sparkle again, and make
their consciences as a fiery oven, as the expression is, Ps. 21:9, and
engender a more enflamed hell within them, than all other miseries
can without them. Every principle of truth, whether approved of or
no, shall be as the sting of a scorpion; all which meeting together,
shall render them more self-tormented creatures than the worst of
the Tyrians, or the most villanous rakehell in Sodom, though there
were no outward pain or misery to afflict them.

Well, then, it is a sore punishment: 'Then will he speak to men in his

wrath.' When? When they 'take counsel against the Lord and his
anointed, and cast away his cords from them,' Ps. 2:5, he will
'swallow them up in his wrath,' Ps. 21:9. The curses of the law brake
men in pieces, but the rejected Son of God in the gospel, like a stone
from an high ascent, grinds them to powder, Mat. 21:44. So that it
had been happy for them if grace had never appeared to them, since
they have gained nothing by it but a more stinging damnation.

4. Irreversible wrath; it abides, permanent, not transient, not a

volatile but a fixed wrath. As it is fire for severity, so it is
unquenchable for duration, Mark 9:43, 45. There is no more
recovery from it than there is for a man shut up in a red-hot oven. If
it be reversible, it is only so by God; all the creatures in heaven and
earth, in a joint combination, cannot blow away the fire that is not
blown by man, as the expression is, Job 20:26. God hath declared
himself to admit of no remission without blood, Heb. 9:22, what
hopes, then, unless another redeemer can be provided to match
Christ in as valuable a satisfaction, by the price of his blood? This
hath already been accepted as sufficient by the Father, seconded by
the Holy Ghost in his solicitations, as an advocate to men to accept it.
But suppose it were possible to offer an infinite ransom to God for
the recovery of our souls. How is God obliged to accept that, since
that which he hath appointed and accepted hath been refused? There
was no obligation upon him to appoint and accept the first, it was
purely an act of grace; there can be as little or less upon him to
accept a second. He might have exacted the sentence of the law, that
the soul that sins shall die, and never have granted any to stand in
the room of the sinner; and so he may still, if we consent not to what
he hath approved. The sufferings of men for transgressions must be
as bitter as the sufferings of Christ; the law requires it; but they must
be more durable than his, in regard of our impotency for satisfaction.
This impotency being eternal, the suffering must be of the same
duration; and though Christ suffered for the transgressions against
the first covenant, and the temporary transgressions against the new,
yet he suffered not for final unbelief and impenitency. 'After death
the judgment,' Heb. 9:27. The embracing the sacrifice of Christ is
limited only to this life; no offers are made after death. 'The axe is
laid to the root of the tree,' in the time of the gospel, Mat. 3:10.
Patience under the law suffered the tree to stand, justice under the
gospel brings the axe to the root, and what is not fit for the building
is reserved for the fire. A tree cut off from the stock cannot be
fastened on again to grow; and it is not a wayfaring, but a 'dwelling
with everlasting burning,' that every unbeliever is adjudged unto, Isa.
33:14. But suppose God should give a respite, and restore a man to
life, and to hear the preaching of the gospel, what assurance is there
that men would comply with the truths of God, if they had the habits
of their old sins as strong in them as before? Is it not too frequent to
break solemn vows, as easily as Samson snapped in pieces the cords
that bound him; and that while they have been sensible of the
gnawings of conscience? If men 'believe not Moses and the prophets,'
nay, a greater than Moses and the prophets, they would not believe
the report of one licensed to come from the place of torments; and as
little believe, or quickly forget, their own feeling.

Use. First of information.

1. May we not see and admire the patience and goodness of God
towards us? Doth the wrath of God abide upon every unbeliever;
doth he lie under the iron mace of the law, ready to be crushed every
moment, if God speaks the word; hath a sword, edged with the
bitterest curses, hung over our heads by the brittle thread of a frail
life? What if God had let the iron mace fall upon us and broken the
thread, and made us possess the wrath that we had merited, not only
by nature but by our infidelity? This patience would not have waited
on us one moment had not that Christ we despised interposed
himself for our reprieve, and presented the merit of his blood to stop
the flood of divine fury. How have we been beholding to that God,
whose grace we have abused, in bearing with us; and to Christ, whose
bowels we have spurned, in soliciting for us while we were kicking at
him? None of us but have been mightily beholden to God for his
patience, and some no question for a pardon. How hath riches of
goodness and forbearance waited upon us without any regret, to lead
us to repentance, while we have stood it out in rebellion, Rom. 2:4.
He did not reckon with us for our debts, and by his long-suffering
stopped the vengeance that longed to seize us. Had not our natural
corruption rendered us fit to be clapped up in his eternal prison,
when we were in our cradles, and our perversity exposed us to a
greater punishment, when we have stood out in the maintaining of
our forts against him? His threatenings continually pointed at us, yet
are not put in execution upon us. It is not that we were not fuel fit
enough for his wrath, it is not that he was ignorant of our crimes; for
none but he, no, not our own consciences, knows what scores of
talents we were indebted, and what demerit there was in every act of
sin. Has he not arrested some who were less in his debt, put others'
bonds in suit, and let ours lie by? Had he snatched away any present
believer in his former state of infidelity, his condition had been
eternally deplorable. Blessed be God for unwearied patience, that
hath hitherto reprieved us; and blessed be God for overpowering
grace, that hath secured any of us from that wrath which is due to
infidelity!

2. May we not take notice of the extreme folly and madness of those
that remain in a state of unbelief? It is folly in the judgment of our
Saviour, for he couples 'fools, and slow of heart to believe,' in the
rebuke he gives his disciples, who had already some principles of
faith in them, though buried under the clods of some prejudicate
opinions, Luke 24:25. So folly and disobedience, or unbelief (as the
word is sometimes rendered), are put together: Tit. 3:3, 'Foolish and
disobedient.' To follow any sin, upon which misery is entailed, is a
senseless course; but to lie in this, which stakes us down to that
misery, is as great a madness as it is a sin. As the loss of the soul is
the most dreadful loss, so the neglect of the soul is the most
unreasonable neglect. Men that will deliberate, and toss things of a
worldly concern in their heads, will not employ time in the
consideration of the things of another world; nay, will not so much as
inquire into the corruptions of nature, or provisions of divine grace,
and have their excuses ready framed to put back any invitation to the
true path of their own happiness, as in Luke 14:18; as if they had
entered a league, offensive and defensive, with the pleasures, profits,
and lusts of the world against God.

(1.) Is this because any question the truth of the Christian religion,
and think the maxims of it to be mere fables? which perhaps may be
in the secret of many hearts, though the way lies not plain for an
outward expression. Are you sure it is not of a divine stamp?
Suppose it were not, is it any prejudice to your happiness? You are
exhorted by it to live virtuously. This is that which philosophers by
the light of reason have prized and practised. No man dishonours
God by receiving a doctrine, so far as it obligeth to such a carriage; is
there anything in the whole scheme which makes to the dishonour of
the deity? Doth a Trinity seem too mysterious? Some heathens did
not think it incredible, since something of that nature hath been
published by them, derived from those that had, mediately or
immediately, conversed with the Scripture. Do we understand the
nature of angels; yea, the nature of our own souls, and what the
distinction of the faculties are? and shall we presume to deny a
doctrine linked with so many others highly agreeable to the reasons
of men, because it is above our reach, as the nature of God is
infinitely more than the nature of angels? Or doth the death of the
Son of God seem unreasonable? Is there anything in it disparaging
the honour of God? Is not his faithfulness to his law, his love to his
creature, the purity of his nature, and hatred of sin, mightily
manifested hereby? Is it repugnant to reason that a divine person
may voluntarily assume a body, be in a low condition for a time, in
that nature which he assumed, that he may be happy in that nature
for ever after? Or is it a thing altogether unknown among men, for
one to answer for the faults of another, by an excess of friendship?
But if those things which you will not believe prove to be true at last,
that the Son of God hath suffered by God's appointment for the
expiation of sin; that those that believe in him, and resign up
themselves to his government, shall receive the benefits of it, and
none else; what a madness will you then think yourselves guilty of!
There is nothing in the whole frame of the Christian religion can
make against your real happiness, supposing it were not true. But if
it be true, the opinionative or practical slighting of it exposeth you to
a most unexpressible misery. If the things revealed prove true, when
it is too late to gather the blessed fruit of them, will a bottomless
lake, a perpetual stinging conscience, be balanced by a few transitory
pleasures on earth? Is it not an unreasonable folly to deny a doctrine
you cannot demonstrate to be false, and be in danger to feel a misery,
that you cannot demonstrate but it may come upon you, rather than
comply with those doctrines which cannot do you any prejudice in
the great concerns of your souls, supposing they were not true? It is a
folly utterly to deny them till you can demonstrate there is no such
thing as a Redeemer, that the Scripture is not the word of God, that
no such condition as faith is required of men. But let me ask the
question, Is there nothing that troubles your consciences sometimes?
Have you not some fears in your retirements? (if such men have any
retired inspection into themselves) do you believe those fears
springing up in your consciences to have any ground or no? If you
think them groundless, why do you trouble yourselves with them
without a cause? Why can you not expel them? If there be any just
cause for them, and that they haunt you whether you will or no, why
do you not look after a remedy? Would you not yourselves account
that man mad, who, lying under a troublesome distemper, would
inquire after no medicine?

(2.) Or is the reason of this neglect because you expect happiness

from something else? No man in his right wits can build his felicity
upon any earthly foundation; scarce any sort of rationalists ever did;
in God was felicity placed by them. It is as great a folly to expect
happiness from anything else, as to expect water from dry ashes, or a
heap of gold from a burden of straw. And can any more rational
method be framed to bring us to God, than what Christianity affords
us But since we acknowledge the truth of the Christian religion, and
the authority of the Scripture, can we propose any good to ourselves
by neglecting the grace of God offered in it? Do you think Christ a
Sun of righteousness? Do you acknowledge that he is the purchaser
of blessedness, and God the fountain of it? Why, then, do any
foolishly neglect the rejoicing in, and walking by that light, and
drinking of those streams? Would you not laugh at that man that
would turn his back upon the sun, to warm himself by a candle, as
though there were more heat to be expected from that than from the
other? Would you not stand astonished at one that should thrust
away a rich wine from him, to drink of a miry puddle? What we
blame in others, we may charge ourselves with in spiritual things. To
keep a distance from the fountain of life, is the way to continue in a
perpetual death. How can we expect to benefit ourselves by anything,
when we despise or neglect the only fountain wherein God hath
placed salvation? What good can be proposed to ourselves by resting
upon anything else, but the strengthening our fetters, gratifying our
grand enemies, and binding over our souls to a perpetuity of wrath?
Mercy will be displeased, God more provoked, and reigning sins
strengthened to bring damnation.

(3.) Is it not a folly to neglect a necessary happiness which you may

have? It is not only offered, but pressed; God importunes you, your
consciences goad you on. It comes near to you, the divine mercy of
the gospel encompasseth you round. Can there be a greater folly than
to starve when we may have bread? to be willing to be shipwrecked
in our bottom, rather than to pass into another vessel for a certain
security? What do you think of Adam? Do you think him wise for
preferring an apple before the delights of paradise? Let us put
ourselves in the same rank, if we prefer a feather before a pearl, and
endless misery before an happy immortality. No folly like that, to
affect to be damned rather than be saved, when salvation may be
procured, in some respect, upon easier terms for us than ever
damnation can. Who can deserve a better character than that of a
fool and madman, whose soul is not awakened to mind eternity by
the sword of justice that glitters in his eye; but rather dares the sharp
edge to do its worst, and this upon vile terms, to gratify some swinish
affections? If our natural enmity to God, as governor of the world,
hinders us from complying with his kindness, yet self-preservation
should make us fear and endeavour to avoid his wrath; and no folly
like that, to prefer our enmity to another before the security of
ourselves. It is an unreasonable folly, and insensibleness, not to
come up rally to the terms of that religion we expect salvation only
by.

3. A believer must be infallibly happy, if an unbeliever be infallibly

miserable. The same word that assures the deplorable state of the
one, assures the blessed estate of the other. The remission which was
conditional in the declaration, is upon faith made absolute, because
the condition is performed; what was proffered to all upon the
condition of believing, If you believe, you shall have eternal life, is
made absolute upon believing, You believe, therefore you have
eternal life. If the faith of believers under the Old Testament were
saving in that obscurity, our faith under a clearer light, and more
certain manifestation, must be much more saving. Salvation is as
much the issue of faith by God's order, as damnation is the issue of
unbelief; it is called, therefore, a 'believing to the saving of the soul,'
Heb. 10:39. It takes hold of the mercy-seat, and hath both the
veracity of God, and the pleas of Christ, to defend it, and keep its
hands from being knocked off.

(1.) Is not that man happy who hath an union with Christ; who is
transplanted from Adam, the condemned head by law, into Christ,
the justified head both by law and grace? Shall a member of Christ
perish any more than the head? or can the head be happy without the
members? Was his natural body only concerned in that prophecy,
that not a bone of him shall be broken? or shall his mystical body
fare worse than that? Can hell ever be the dwelling-place of that
which is the habitation of Christ? Eph. 3:17. Shall wrath ever pierce
into the intimate recesses where Christ resides? Shall the living
waters which flow out of the belly, John 7:38. (which is nothing but
the Spirit received by believing), stream anywhere but to the ocean of
blessedness? The fatness sucked from the olive-tree, Rom. 11:17, is
not to render any combustible matter for wrath, but a preparation for
glory. Oneness with Christ renders a believer in a manner as safe as
Christ's righteousness doth himself; how can a believer miss of
happiness, since by his union with Christ he is united to God, who is
infinite blessedness in his nature, and the only felicity of his
creature?

(2.) Is not he infallibly happy, who hath everything removed that

may render him eternally miserable? Justice is stopped from any
inundation upon such a person, since he answers the terms
wherewith justice was satisfied. It would not longer retain the name
of righteousness, if it acted so high a piece of unrighteousness as to
deny its own agreement, and refuse the plea of that satisfaction it
hath already accepted, and demand the debt Christ hath already
paid. The tribunal of justice is to faith changed into a throne of grace,
where justice and mercy sit both together, justifying and embracing a
believer, Rom. 3:26, for such Christ hath fixed a rainbow about the
throne of God (as was elsewhere observed), an emblem of peace,
Rev. 4:3 to shew his mindfulness of the covenant when he comes to
judge upon his throne. That whereby any son of Adam is condemned,
is silent in regard of a believer. The law can no more plead its curses,
against the blood of the Redeemer. Honey comes out of the belly of
that lion instead of its fiery terrors, since Christ pronounced a
freedom from guilt; for justification is at the instant of a sincere
believing: John 3:18, 'He that believes on him is not condemned.' Is
not, in the present tense. He is not in a state of condemnation,
therefore in a state of justification. Sin also (which is the corner-
stone and foundation of hell) hath received a deadly wound, and is
every day more feebly gasping; for believers 'walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit,' and 'therefore there is no condemnation to
them,' Rom. 8:1. The venom of his nature is cured, as well as the guilt
contracted by sin; the biting of the old serpent infected the blood of
mankind with a serpentine venom, so that every man may in some
sort be said to be the seed of the serpent; but by faith the guilt is not
only taken away, whereby we become obnoxious to God, but the
venom of our nature, which corrupted the mass of blood.

(3.) Is not he infallibly happy, whose person and services are

accepted by God? Eph. 1:6. If faith in Christ makes any an amiable
object of God's love, it must certainly make him a prepared subject
for God's glory. How can God make a person eternally miserable,
with whom he is well pleased? As justice cannot but thunder against
an obstinate rebel, so mercy cannot but embrace a penitent and
believing supplicant, who brings a righteousness before God, that
pleaseth him infinitely more than the whole world. He that stands
unblameable before God, by the righteousness of his Son, cannot be
eternally miserable by his own sin. What tender father can condemn
his own child? Such a relation doth faith make between God and the
soul, by a double title, both of regeneration and adoption, John 1:12.
Sonship is upon receiving of Christ, 'He that trusts in the Lord,
mercy shall compass him about,' Ps. 32:10. Mercy twines about every
part of him.

(4.) Is not he infallibly happy, whom Christ, who is the Judge of the
world, nether can nor will condemn? As he is not able, in regard to
the unalterable method of God, to save an unbeliever, so he is not
able, in regard of the same method, to condemn a believing person.
The order of God is settled, and this is the rule of his proceeding;
when he comes to judge, flaming vengeance is to be rendered to
those 'that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ,' 2 Thes. 1:8, neither of which characters a believer falls under.
He is by covenant to justify men by the knowledge of himself, Isa.
53:11, or by faith in himself; will Christ violate the covenant of
redemption so solemnly made? Would he proceed so far as to
confirm it on his part by his death, to break it by his life? walk
according to the articles of it when he was in the flesh, and defeat it
when he was upon the throne? He cannot but be as willing to bestow
mercy upon earth, now he is in heaven, as he was when he was upon
the earth; and his language was then, 'Be it unto you according to
your faith;' not only let that disease be removed, or that mercy
granted, but intimating by that general grant the established order of
his Father, that faith should not be denied the highest blessings that
can be given.

(5.) Is not he infallibly happy whom God cannot condemn, neither in

regard of his truth, nor in regard of the honour of Christ? Not in
regard of his truth, since all the promises in the book of God belong
to believers, because they are 'yea and amen' in Christ their head.
God hath spoke it, and will never repent of what hath passed from
his lips: Ps. 2:12, 'Blessed are all they that put their trust in him,' i.e.
in his Son; and God wants no more a faithfulness to make good his
word, than he wanted mercy to pass his word. His truth, which was
before on the side of justice, is now second to his grace, and stands as
firm to make good the evangelical promise to him that performs the
condition, as it is engaged to make good the legal and evangelical
threaten id is upon them that want it. He puts the interest of men in
the hands of Christ, 'that the promise might be sure to all the seed,'
Rom. 4:16. Nor in regard of the honour of Christ: if God cannot save
an unbeliever, who crosses the ends of Christ's death, without
disparaging the undertaking of his Son, he cannot, according to his
eternal order, destroy a believer, who answers the ends of it, without
the same reflection. It would not be a just dealing with him in the
rights of his purchase, to refuse the benefit of it to those that answer
the conditions of enjoying it, and place the sheep that hear his voice
in the same calamity with the dogs that snarl at him. Shall the blood
of his Son be shed for the 'gathering together the sons of God,' John
11:52, and not sprinkled on them? God is more in love with the
person of his Son, and more pleased with the blood of his Son, than
to cast a dishonour upon the one or the other. The honour of God is
as much concerned in saving every soul that bathes itself in the blood
of the Redeemer, as in condemning every one that tramples upon it.

(6.) Is it possible that he should be miserable, who designs and

endeavours to glorify God according to his own direction? How can
we glorify God but by faith, since man by his fall had made himself
unfit to glorify him any other way? This honours God more than
Adam could, had he stood in innocency, who could never have
returned God an higher honour of his perfections, than he could have
gleaned and collected from the creature; whereas this owns him in
his glorious manifestation in his Son, and returns him an
acknowledgment of the more glorious expense of his grace, and fuller
display of his excellency. He that trusts in Christ, is 'to the praise of
the glory of God,' Eph. 1:12. Is it possible God should put that soul to
the greatest misery, that endeavours to bring him the greatest glory?
Faith kills the enmity in the heart towards God, and shall a God of
infinite love, who inspired the believer with all the faith and love he
hath, cherish enmity in his breast against one that lodgeth him in his
dearest affections, and destroy his own production? Who can
imagine that a God of infinite goodness should be behind-hand with
his creature in affections?

Well then, the salvation of a believer stands firm; hell and wrath
shall not touch those that are anointed with the blood of Christ, and
sheltered in so inviolable a sanctuary. Adam might sooner have been
condemned in his innocent estate, than a Christian in a believing
state, since God hath, besides a single word, laid upon himself great
obligations by frequent repetitions of his promise by all the prophets,
Acts 10:43, and besides hath confirmed it by the blood of his Son.
Again, as the punishment of an unbelieving rebel is as unavoidable as
the punishment of Christ, after he entered himself as an undertaker
for ns, so the salvation of a penitent believer is as certain as the
acceptation of Christ, after he performed what as a surety he
undertook for. He hath unlocked the gates of heaven, that were shut
till the shedding of his blood. The angel's sword that guarded
paradise, turns every way to let the believer in, as it turned every way
before to keep a rebel out from the tree of life. The veil of the temple
was rent in twain by the force of the cross, whereby there was a view
of the holy of holies. A believer hath a prospect of heaven while he
lives, and an entrance into it when he dies; it is 'through his name' if
we believe in him, that 'we receive remission of sins,' Acts 10:43; he
that hath remission cannot lie under damnation.

Use 4, is of exhortation. Be sensible of it.

1. Be sensible of the misery. Let every unbeliever consider that he

hath the character of a condemned person upon him, for without
faith Christ speaks no more comfort than the thunders of the law, but
more terror than all the curses of that can speak. The text speaks it
plain: 'He shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him;'
pœna damni, in the first, pœna sensus, in the second; there is a God
of life, a heaven a place of life, but he shall never see the face of God
with comfort, or enjoy the satisfactions of heaven. The deprivation of
the heavenly Canaan, when a man comes to understand it, must
much more affect the soul, than the deprivation of the earthly
Canaan affected Moses. How sad will it be to be hurled from a
pinnacle of prosperity, to a dunghill of poverty in a moment! What
do you think were the sentiments of Adam, when on the sudden he
found himself fallen from a serene state into a sea of horrors? Such
will be the thoughts of men, when they see themselves cast from
heaven for want of faith, who before seemed to be in the suburbs of it
by an external profession. Men are naturally now secure, and have
rather a faith in their own hearts, than a faith in Christ, and cry
Peace, in spite of God, who proclaims a curse: Deut. 29:19, 'Bless
himself in his heart.' But with what rage will conscience at length
lash and spring up a perpetual hell within them, that will condemn
upon a deathbed, as God's viceroy, and God at last condemn as the
supreme governor; that will ten thousand times more gnaw an
unbeliever for his infidelity, than the worst heathen for all his other
sins. The nearer a man is to happiness, the more afflicting is the loss
of it, and the more tormenting when it is for a vile and an unlovely
lust. How I am expelled from the presence of God, who lately had a
door opened to it, by the blood of the Redeemer! Justice locked not
the door of heaven upon me, till I turned my back upon it, and pulled
it after me. That which might have made me as happy as an angel, I
refused wilfully, to make myself as miserable as a devil. This will be
the sad lamentation of a man obstinate under the preaching of the
gospel. How great will the misery be, when justice shall plead the
dishonour of God, and mercy charge thee with the abuses of his
grace! When all the attributes of God shall pursue him, whom a little
before they waited to receive; when Christ, who would have been a
stone of building, shall be a stone of bruising, and shall crush by his
wrath those that would not be wooed by his mercy; when he shall
appear in the majesty of a judge, he will cut the hearts of those that
despised him in the quality of a Saviour. Those that have been only
under nature's light, without the least twinkling of the gospel, will be,
in comparison of such, in a state of innocency, and under a more
easy damnation. As Christ shed not his blood in vain, was not exalted
in vain, pleads not in heaven in vain, so he is not entrusted with a
power in vain; 'all power is given him in heaven and earth,' in
pursuance of the gospel, upon which he founds the commission of
the apostles, and assures them of his assistance in their work, Mat.
28:18, 19, either for the happiness of the entertainers, or the misery
of the neglecters; to break in pieces by his rod those that will not bow
down to his sceptre: for in refusing ourselves the happiness of
salvation, we refuse Christ the glory of his death and the honour of
his authority. And consider, the more Christ is resisted, the deeper
will the condemnation be. When we find Cain sinking under the load
of the blood of an innocent person, murdered by him once, and see
men whose hands have been imbrued in the blood of wicked
wretches, to be in hell alive, when their consciences are awakened to
a consideration of their guilt; what will it be then to be many a time,
as by every act of infidelity, guilty of the blood of Christ? Nothing but
woe can remain for that man, who hath the blood of Christ, so highly
valued by God, pleading against him; it is greater than all the misery
which can happen in this life. If we are sick, sickness is but a
deprivation of health; if poor, the poverty is but the deprivation of
wealth; but if unbelievers, we deprive ourselves of God, and of
ourselves: the good we lose by it is a greater good than we can lose by
any worldly misery. We offer the highest violence to ourselves, and
reject the true felicity of our nature, by refusing an adherency to God
as the chiefest good, and to Christ as the only way to the fruition of
him. Faith only kept David's heart from fainting, Ps. 27:13. Unbelief,
then, can be no cordial for any in a dying hour; since by refusing a
Saviour he makes himself utterly uncapable of salvation.

2. Be sensible of the equity and justice of this misery. We can never

be affected with any pronounced woes, unless we first judge God
just; and truly the punishment is as deeply merited at the hands of
God, as his kindness in his Son was undeserved by us. If justice
might equitably punish men for breaking the laws of the Creator, it
might much more punish them for slighting the overtures of an
appeasable Creator, and the performances of an appeasing
Redeemer; and what is more reasonable than to have that inflicted
upon men, which was inflicted upon the Saviour they make so light
of!
(1.) There is no want on Christ's part. There hath been by him
satisfaction enough for the payment of our debts, and merit enough
for our restoration to our happiness. He hath done all things
necessary for the salvation of the world: he hath expiated sin, which
plunged it into misery; he hath presented his death to God as a
sacrifice of infinite value, sufficient for all the world, and by opening
the throne of grace, hath given liberty to approach to God, and solicit
him for the application of the benefit he hath purchased; he hath also
purchased the Spirit, sent him into the world to renew his
solicitations to men, who seriously calls them to the partaking of this
salvation, and declares it to be a thing very agreeable to him, that
men should come in to him. He came not intentionally to condemn
any man: John 3:13, 'For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved;'
to proclaim the riches of the grace of God for the salvation of men.*
But in regard of the event, indeed he is their judge, to which men
provoke him by their obstinacy; whence it is said, John 9:39, that he
came 'to judge the world,' i.e. in regard of the event. As the intention
of a physician in prescribing sovereign medicines for the mastering
the disease is to heal the patient; but if the patient neglects those
restoratives, and swallows poison in their stead, this is not the
physician's, but the patient's fault. The title of our Lord Jesus in his
first coming was Saviour, not Judge; he presented men with that
which might warrant them from condemnation; but if they will not
rejoice in their happiness, they exclude themselves from the benefit;
and by not embracing the ransom God hath provided, they expose
themselves to pay that satisfaction in their persons which the law
exacts. The satisfaction of Christ they cannot plead, because the
conditions of it are not embraced; they must therefore pay what the
law demands, which would else be insignificant, and the honour of
God's justice would suffer in their safety. When, therefore, every
offer of mercy shall accompany men to the tribunal of the judge, and
this charge be heard from his mouth:* I have redeemed you by my
blood, and you have trod it under foot; I have invited you to faith and
repentance, but you would rather wallow in the excrements of sin; I
have called you by the motions of my Spirit, and you have proved
rebellious; I have encouraged you by promises of great reward, but
you made no account of them; wherein have I been wanting? With
what face can any man now lay the fault upon God? As when a king
proclaims pardon to a rebellious city, upon the condition that they
yield up themselves to his son; as it is equity that those that
surrender themselves should have the promised benefit, so it is just
that those that wilfully resist so easy and reasonable a condition,
should fall under the threatened penalty; they have no reason to
charge their ruin upon any want of clemency in the king, since the
proffer was made to all, but upon their own obstinacy, because they
perish by their own folly.

(2.) No want of evidence and declaration of the salvation purchased.

If there were not sufficient arguments to work upon men's
understandings, nor persuasive motives to induce their wills to
embrace it; if there were not a demonstration of an invincible
necessity of their belief, their condemnation for infidelity would not
appear to be just. But there is sufficient evidence; 'light is come into
the world,' and hath exposed to the view of men the treasures of
grace and glory, the most alluring motives to prevail upon their wills;
but their affections carry them to error and darkness, upon which the
Scripture lays the cause of men's condemnation, John 3:19, and calls
it a self-judgment: Acts 13:46, 'You judge yourselves unworthy of
everlasting life.' Ignorance sometimes excuseth, † either when the
things we are ignorant of we are not bound to know, as what is the
just magnitude of the sun; or when they are not sufficiently revealed,
as who Melchisedec was; but when that which concerns our clear
duty, and choicest happiness, is with a full evidence of truth set
clearly before our eyes, is it not our own fault if we regard them not?
Such an ignorance is affected and voluntary, and leaves a man in
judgment without excuse; and is so far from diminishing the fault,
that it rather aggravates it. Why are any ignorant, when the doctrines
of the gospel have been represented to them, and it was their
undeniable duty to know and receive them? If the sun shines upon
the world, and discovers the treasures of the creation; if men will
shut their eyes, and will not behold them, is that the fault of the sun,
or of the men?

(3.) It is a voluntary and wilful refusal, and therefore a consent to the

punishment. Unbelievers are excluded from heaven, and locked up in
misery by their own consent; not formal and explicit, but virtual and
implicit. They voluntarily neglect the performance of those
conditions upon which a right to heaven is founded, and willingly
continue in that state which subjects them to eternal misery.
Whosoever refuseth the conditions, refuseth by that act the privileges
which depend upon those conditions. He that will not pay a pepper-
corn per annum for an estate of a considerable value, when it is all
the rent demanded, wilfully deprives himself of the right of tenancy.
He that will not sue out the pardon of his crimes upon easy
conditions enjoined him, deprives himself of the benefit of the
prince's proclamation, and justly perisheth, because, as the
conditions are the fruits of the greatest mercy in the prince, so the
refusal is a demonstration of the greatest hatred in the rebel. Those
that choose to gratify Satan in his triumphs over them, rather than
please Christ who hath bled for them, perish by their own wilfulness.
The Scripture chargeth it upon this score: Christ would gather men,
but 'they will not,' Mat. 23:37, 38; God doth not destroy Israel, but
Israel 'destroys himself,' Hos. 13:9. The Holy Ghost, in the close of
the canon of the Scripture, lays it there: Rev. 22:17, 'Whosoever will,
let him take of the waters of life freely.' If any man will, he may have
it; if he hath it not, it is because he doth not will it; and he that doth
not will it, doth consequently will the waters of death; and what is
more reasonable, than that those who will not accept of a tendered
salvation should not enjoy it? The whole design of Scripture is to
publish God's willingness to impart the fruits of the death of Christ,
and upon the close the Holy Ghost puts the question, whether they
will partake of them or no. As much as to say, God hath discharged
himself; let men look to it, they will be found at last the wilful cause
of their own ruin.

Obj. But we have no strength of our own to will; God only gives faith.
Ans. God may urge us to believe; we are bound to be obedient to
whatsoever is his declared will, as a rule for our obedience. He gave
Adam strength to believe whatsoever he revealed; he is no more
bound to repair that strength (but where he pleases) than he was
bound to send Christ to redeem, after man by his revolt had plunged
himself in misery. He may require of man the honour due to him,
and is bound to bestow no more upon man than man can challenge
as his due. It is true, when God would create a rational creature, the
holiness of his nature doth oblige him to create him holy; but his
holiness doth not oblige him to repair man, who hath forfeited all to
justice, and had his blessings seized into the hands of his offended
Lord. God is not therefore bound to turn every man's, or any man's
will. Yet the refusal of God's gracious tenders is in every unbeliever
wilful, because he makes not use of that strength which was left in
him, after the fall, by the mediation of Christ. There is indeed an
utter impotency in man as fallen; you find no footstep of one good
thought, one good inclination, in Adam after his fall; he had no mind
to approach to God to implore his mercy. Instead of confessing his
sin, he palliates it, Gen. 3:9–12. Conscience forceth him to
acknowledge it; not to charge himself humbly, but to discharge
himself upon God; he mentions not the name of God with any
respect in all that discourse. Thus man considered in Adam, purely
as fallen, hath not one thought morally good; so that the apostle
might well say, that 'we are insufficient of ourselves to think a good
thought,' 2 Cor. 3:5. But there is some restored power by the
interposition of Christ, as he is 'the light that enlightens every man
that comes into the world,' John 1:9; whereby he may have some
thoughts and inclinations materially good, if he will follow the
conduct of that common light; he hath a faculty to think of what God
reveals; he hath sometimes some kind of velleities, but he doth not
improve and pursue them. He puts by those things when they are
represented to him by the Spirit of God; he cannot endure to have his
thoughts dwell upon them, and is unwilling to direct his affections
and inclinations to a divine object. The corrupt habits in his will
wholly sway him another way. If a man were willing, and God
unwilling; if he did seriously seek God, and call upon him (as he
might direct his cries to God, as well as to creatures), and God had
said, he would give him no share in Christ, then man had reason to
complain. But it may be truly said, that no man at the day of
judgment can, with a full witness of conscience, say, Lord, I have
sought thee to the utmost of that power thou didst vouchsafe to me
after the fall. I would have believed in Christ; I prayed for faith with
strong cries and tears; many a time I went to ordinances with a
desire and hopes to have it bestowed upon me; I have waited at thy
gates for the moving of the Spirit upon the waters of my soul; I have
grieved that I have not been seized by him, and thou wouldst not
bestow faith upon me: can we think any man can say so at the last
day? Without question, no unbeliever can have that plea; his own
conscience will fall in with the judge, and charge his unbelief upon a
would not.

(4.) This voluntary refusal is out of affection to some unworthy lust.

And this reason clears the equity of God's justice in their
punishment. If tories and robbers will not accept of a pardon,
because they would live idly by their rapine, and pilfering their
neighbours, rather than content themselves with some honest
employment, they increase by such a carriage the equity of that
justice which shall be armed against them. This is the case, John
3:19, 'men love darkness;' they will not believe, because they will not
be hindered from breaking the divine law without any regret. No
question but many would receive the gospel for the benefit of
remission which it offers, but not for the mortification of the old man
with its lusts, which it enjoins. A true believer rejoiceth in the benefit
of pardon by the gospel, and tastes the sweetness of that doctrine,
but embraceth it as well for the renewing grace of it, for the
unloosing his chains, changing his spiritual death into a spiritual life,
and an heart imprinted by sin into an heart engraven with a new law;
for he embraceth Christ for the main ends of his death, which were a
restoration of the holiness as well as the happiness of nature; to
'purify a peculiar people to himself, zealous of good works,' as well as
to 'redeem them from all iniquity,' Titus 2:14. The unbeliever is quite
contrary, and neglects a Saviour because he would retain his sin; he
would be willing to have Christ for a pardon, but without a yoke. But
doth not such a frame put an end to all disputes against the equity of
God's justice? Is it just that he that will not have a restoration of
God's image should have a restoration to the felicity of paradise, to
live for ever with the original? Or that he should be exempted from
the misery due to his sin, who would retain his violent inclinations
against the honour of God, and practically declare he would rather
lose all the fruits of the blood of God than the pleasures of sin? And
will not the consciences of many men charge them with this at the
last day, and force them to say, Lord, I had some apprehensions of
the truth of thy word, and the necessity of Christ, yet I was loath to
forsake a beloved Delilah for them. I was willing to believe in him for
salvation, but not to conform to him in obedience; fleshly and
spiritual lusts engrossed my will, which should have been inclined to
thee.

(5.) The dignity and peculiar design of the person proposed clears the
justice of the punishment. The Son of God, and his design peculiar
for man. If a prince should take a great journey to deliver a galley-
slave from his fetters, and he refuse acceptance, would not all men
judge him worthy of the chains he loves? Or if a king should go a
thousand miles in much hardship to court a nasty beggar, and
receive a refusal, would not all men count her worthy of perpetual
rags and sordidness? The case is the same here. The design of Christ
was peculiar for man: devils are excluded. A reward was promised
him: pardon and justification was promised as a reward to him,
which he, being innocent in his own person, was not capable of, and
therefore was peculiarly intended as a gift to man.

Let every man, then, in an unbelieving state, be sensible of the equity

of this misery he exposeth himself unto. Be sensible that Christ hath
not been wanting; that there is sufficient revelation of the will and
kindness of God, that your refusal of him is voluntary and wilful, and
with the greatest indignity, undervaluing him by low and base
affections, and such a person who is of infinite dignity, and intended
his kindness peculiar for man; and therefore he that will wilfully
refuse so rich a sacrifice of God's provision for the satisfaction of his
own justice, cannot but acknowledge it reasonable to be made a
sacrifice himself to that justice he hath offended. An eternal misery is
merited by him who rejects a God of infinite goodness, a Christ of
infinite value, and an heaven of infinite duration.

3. Let your sense of unbelief rise up to a detestation of it, and a

labouring after faith. Why should God be kept out of the exercise of
his sovereignty, and Christ hindered from the rights of his purchase?
Why should not the Redeemer have the things that belong to him,
since he hath 'bought us with a price'? 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. Put not off the
seasons of grace. Let us not harden our hearts against the offers of
mercy, lest we come short of the promise, as they did to whom the
gospel was preached in types, because they mixed not the word with
faith; they looked upon the typical part, and looked not beyond it to
the thing signified, Heb. 4:1, 2. If they entered not into rest because
they believed not a gospel in types, how shall we be admitted into
rest, if we believe not a gospel in substance, stripped of the obscuring
shadows? As there was no remission unless Christ had shed his
blood, so there is no participation of that blood without applying it
by faith. It is to this the Spirit presseth us: it is a pity to resist so
comfortable a solicitor. Can we behold a Saviour bleeding upon the
cross for our security, and not give him the small honour of the faith
he requires? Christ as crucified doth not save us, but Christ as
believed on. Though the fire hath a warming property, yet we must
approach to it if we will partake of its heat. Though a medicine hath
an healing virtue, yet it is not healing as it is in the glass, but as
received in the stomach. We partake not of Adam's contagion but by
natural generation; we partake not of Christ's holiness but by
spiritual regeneration, the form whereof is faith. Without faith we
continue under the power of Satan. There are but two kingdoms, the
kingdom of darkness, and the kingdom of Christ, Col. 1:13. Unbelief
subjects us to the one, and faith estates us in the other. If faith
quencheth the fiery darts of Satan, Eph. 6:16, unbelief exposeth us as
a mark to every arrow. The longer any man continues in unbelief, the
more unfit will he be for faith. The natural hardness will grow into
judicial, and the stone we bring with us into the world more rocky,
more insensible of the strokes of the law, or the balsam of the gospel.
As walking unworthy of the light of nature provokes God to give men
up to a sensual brutishness, Rom. 1:21, so opposing the light of the
gospel provokes God to give men up to a spiritual devilishness. The
more spiritual the discovery of grace, the more spiritual are the
judgments upon neglect. No duties are acceptable without faith. It is
as impossible to please God by the humblest devotions without faith,
as it is to get to heaven by the most soaring righteousness without
Christ. God smiles upon nothing unless offered to him in the name of
his Son, Col. 3:17; and who can offer anything in his name that hath
not faith in his blood? Without Christ we can do nothing, John 15:5;
without union to him, which is only caused by faith, whole heaps of
sacrifices are cyphers, and amount to just nothing. God did not
enjoin Adam prayer, confession of sin, and sacrifices at the first
meeting after the fall, till he had uttered the promise of a Mediator as
the object of faith, whence all those other duties were to flow, which
were natural to him in a state of innocence, or instituted with a
particular respect to the Mediator, and present state of Adam. Faith
was to be the ground of his obedience; for, having by his apostasy
rendered himself unable to obey any, he must first believe, that he
might have a new strength, and a new principle of obedience to other
commands; which evidenceth the vanity of those men that depend
upon a self-righteousness, and a formal set of duties, without
regarding the Mediator of God's appointing. No duty acceptable
without faith. Faith rendered Abel's sacrifice more excellent than
Cain's, and made it accepted, while unbelief rendered the other
fruitless. Miseries attend this state in this life, which prepare for the
miseries of a future. Let us, therefore, embrace the grace of the
golden sceptre, lest we be crushed by the weight of the iron rod, and
kiss the Son, lest we feel his wrath. 'He that believes on the Son hath
everlasting life; and he that believes not the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abideth on him.'
 A DISCOURSE SHEWING WHO ARE
UNBELIEVERS
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from
the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should
betray him.—JOHN 6:64.

AFTER Christ had discoursed of the necessity and advantages of

faith in him, whereby a right to eternal life is acquired, ver. 47, he
declares himself to be the bread of life, more excellent than the
manna their fathers ate in the wilderness, which was not able to
secure them from the invasion of death.* But 'this,' saith he, 'is the
bread which came down from heaven,' ver. 50, as if he had pointed to
his own body in the speaking those words; and not only the 'living
bread,' that have life in myself, but the enlivening bread, 'which came
down from heaven to give life' to the sons of men, ver. 51, and this
bread is 'my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world;' when
this flesh shall suffer and become a sacrifice to God, if it be eaten by
faith, it shall be capable to communicate life to as many as do so. But
the Jews who heard him, had carnal conceptions of this discourse of
our Saviour, and raised matter of scandal from that which should
have been a ground of their faith: ver. 52, 'How can this man give us
his flesh to eat?' How can the eating the flesh of a man be a thing
agreeable to God, and an efficacious means to gain eternal life?
Christ then perceiving their hardness, and ignorance, and their
misinterpretations of his speech, understanding that of an oral eating
which they might by his former discourse have understood
figuratively of believing in him, he doth more positively assert what
he had spoken before, and that by a strong asseveration, which some
think to be in the nature of an oath among the Jews: ver. 53, 'Verily,
verily I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, you have no life in you.' It is an undoubted truth,
that I am only able to give you life; and besides, if you believe not in
me, it is impossible that ever you should have any life in you; but if
you do believe, eat my flesh and drink my blood, by, or in believing,
whosoever he be, of what quality and condition soever, he 'shall have
eternal life; and to this end, that he may completely enjoy it, 'I will
raise him up at the last day' from the dead; for whatsoever your
fathers did before eat or drink, manna, and the water from the rock,
was neither meat nor drink indeed, but types of me, of my flesh and
blood, which is the true meat, and the true drink to enliven you, and
preserve you in life; and, you know, the food you eat, and the drink
you drink, are united to your bodies, so as to become a part of
yourselves, yet not so perfectly but there is a decay again, so that
there remains nothing of that nourishment you have took before, but
other must succeed in the room to keep up your bodies in good
plight; but the meat and drink which I give are of another kind, for
they are the cause of an inseparable union, and inviolable
communion: ver. 56, 'He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood,
dwells in me, and I in him.' Natural food, not remaining always in
the body, doth not preserve without fresh meals; but this meat
continues in its force and vigour perpetually, uniting the soul to me,
and me to it. The source of this life is in the Father, who hath
communicated a power to me, to enliven those that have communion
with me; so that if any one believe in me, he shall live by me, because
the spring of life in the Father is communicated to me as the Head,
and by me conveyed to all those that are members of me by faith. We
are united by faith to Christ, and therefore not united to him as God,
or as God-man, but as God-man crucified and risen again for us, ver.
56. And though you have a great opinion of the manna God sent
down to your fathers, and it was indeed a great miracle, and mercy,
and a confirmation of the ministry of Moses, yet you can take no
great pleasure in that, since those to whom it was particularly
communicated were not preserved from death, and did not live for
ever, which this bread I spake to you of will certainly effect in you,
ver. 57. 'These things,' saith the evangelist, 'he spake in the
synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum,' ver. 59, publicly, and in the
midst of his enemies, declaring thereby his power, that he knew,
when he pleased, how to repress the violence of his adversaries, and
restrain their fury from breaking out against him, ver. 60. Now, after
Christ had spoken these things, the multitude were so far from being
satisfied, that even some of his disciples, who had before heard him
in other discourses with much contentment, are offended at this as a
strange discourse. They could not conceive how the flesh of Christ
could be eaten, and his blood drank,* since the law forbade them to
drink the blood of any creature; nor how his body, if sliced into many
pieces, could satisfy so great a multitude that were desirous of
eternal life; nor could any conceive that his body was better than
manna, whereof the Scripture speaks so highly; and which way
soever their reasons turned, they could not conceive the meaning of
Christ's words, and therefore said, 'This is a hard saying;' † it is
incredible, no sober ear can endure such discourses as these, or yield
any assent thereunto. And though, out of some veneration of Christ,
they did speak this publicly, and enter into a dispute with him about
this argument, yet Christ, who knew the motions of their hearts, and
what thoughts they had of his discourse, obviates this offence,
remitting them to his resurrection and glorification: ver. 62, 'What
and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?'
and asserting his own deity. The import of it is this,‡ Have you such
carnal conceits of my discourse, as to understand the eating my flesh,
and drinking my blood, of an oral eating? When you shall see that
this flesh shall ascend to heaven, you will see your error, and find it
impossible to chew my flesh with your teeth; and then you will
understand, that that which you conceive was not my meaning, but
that it is to be meant of a spiritual eating and drinking, i.e. in
believing; and therefore be not troubled at this distance of my body
from you at that time, for if you believe, I shall still make good my
word and promise of life to you, for it is the Spirit whom I shall send
after my ascension into heaven, who shall communicate this life to
you, by sanctifying and purging yon: ver. 63, 'It is the Spirit that
quickens; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak to you,
they are spirit, and they are life.' Should you eat my flesh in that
manner which you weakly imagine, it would profit you nothing,
neither for the comfort of your souls, nor resurrection of your bodies;
you therefore very much abuse me, and abuse yourselves, to put such
a construction upon my words, for 'the words I speak are spirit and
life'; they are spiritual, and ought to be understood spiritually, and
he that receiveth them in a spiritual manner, will find them to be the
means of life, and assurance of life to him, and a continual seed and
principle of eternal life in him. But it is to little purpose that I should
thus comment upon and explain what I have said, since 'there are
some of you that do not believe,' and will not believe in whatsoever
manner the doctrine of the gospel should be proposed to you, ver. 64.
Upon which the evangelist adds a remark and observation of his own
concerning the deity of Christ, that being his principal scope in
writing this Gospel, which appears to be his purpose in the beginning
of his discourse, chap. 1, and therefore he records those speeches of
Christ, wherein his deity is plainly asserted or implied; and upon
several occasions in the whole book, points us to those things which
may manifest the truth of it, whereof this is one.

Observe,

1. How blind is man naturally in the things of God! How hard is it for
us to understand spiritual truths, not by reason of their obscurity,
but our own corruption, wherewith the eyes of our minds are
blinded, and our understandings darkened! Had an heathen
understood the discourse of Christ in this manner, he had been more
excusable than those Jews that were taught from heaven, had the
Messiah been wrapt up in their types, might have learned something
of him by the paschal lamb, the ceremonies whereof might have
informed them of this doctrine. The lamb signified Christ, the killing
it signified the death of Christ, the eating of it signified faith in his
blood, and thereby a participation of him, and conjunction with him;
but they being bewitched with an opinion of a worldly grandeur,
neither regarded the type of him in the lamb, nor the discourses he
frequently made to them. How few of the Jews understood the
meaning of the types of the Messiah; nay, how little can we give a full
account of the analogy between the type and the antitype, since they
have both met together!
2. How apt are we to have carnal imaginations of spiritual things,
and look upon the word of God with false optics! What reason had
those people to imagine that our Saviour, whom they saw without
spot, whose actions manifested his tenderness and kindness, who
was an exact observer of the law, should preach a necessity of their
being cannibals and man-eaters, and propose to them the drinking
the blood of a man, when the blood of any creature was forbidden in
the law to be swallowed by them, and which none but the most
barbarous nations have ever practised! What need of prayer and
importunity for the Spirit, and diligent inquiry, to make us have right
notions of the words of God! The Spirit quickens, the light of the
Spirit is only efficacious to give us an understanding of the gospel.

3. The deity of Christ is here asserted; thrice in the space of four

verses: ver. 61, 'Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it.' He never heard their voice, nor was informed by the report of
others; he knew it by the divine nature communicating that
knowledge to his humanity: 'He needed not that any should testify of
man, for he knew what was in man,' John 2:25. He did not only know
that the Jews, which were his enemies, were offended, but that his
disciples murmured at it; he knew the motions of the hearts of his
open enemies, and his unbelieving followers; not the heart of any in
the multitude was locked up from his notice; he knew it in and by
himself, not by another. And ver. 62, 'The Son of man ascends up
where he was before;' he was in heaven before his incarnation, he
therefore had an existence before his incarnation; he ascended into
heaven in his humanity, where he was before in his divinity. Christ
God-man is one person; the Son of God and the Son of man is one
Christ,* in regard of the unity of the persons; he tells us, while he
spake on earth, he is in heaven, John 3:13, the Son of God on earth in
susceptâ carne, the Son of man in heaven in unitate personæ; he was
in the earth, yet in heaven at the same time. If he were a creature, it
were not possible that he could be in two places at one and the same
time. Every creature hath a limited essence, and a limited place, he
cannot be in it and out of it at the same time. If he be on earth and in
heaven at the same time, it is certain that he is God, of an infinite
essence, and by consequence eternal;† since the reason of time is the
same with that of place, an infinite nature can no more be bounded
by time, than it can be limited by place. If he were before in heaven,
it could not be in his flesh that he took of the virgin, he could not be
existent in flesh before he had flesh; he had no flesh but from the
virgin, for he was 'made of a woman,' Gal. 4:4. It must be then in
another nature, wherein he was existent in heaven before he was
incarnate on earth. There is no other nature but the divine, angelical,
and human: angelical nature he had not, that nature he took not,
therefore was not of it, Heb. 2:16; the human nature he assumed at
the time of the standing of the Jewish temple. It must be by the
divine nature then wherein he was in heaven before. A third
testimony there is in the text, 'for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.' From
the beginning, i.e. ab œterno, saith Ferus. He did so, indeed, as God;
or from the beginning, i.e. ab initio conversationis
discipulorum:Luke 1:2, 'As they delivered them to us, which from the
beginning were eye-witnesses,' so Brugensis, from the beginning of
any one's following him; his divine nature communicated to his
humanity their sentiments and secret opinions of him. The
knowledge of thoughts is a perfection peculiar to the Deity; man may
conjecture, God only knows them. He knew also who should betray
him, when Judas had not then the least thought of such an action, or
any intention to it; ‡ nor doth it appear that he had that design, till
the high priests had discovered their resolution for his death; yet
Christ knew before that he should do it, before Judas knew that he
would do it, as he knew Peter's denial of him before ever Peter
thought of such a thing, and predicted it to Peter, when Peter was
resolved against it; when Christ foretold it to him, then it was, 'I will
not deny thee, though I should die with thee,' Mat. 26:35. But
afterwards, his speech, 'I know not the man,' verified the certainty of
Christ's foreknowledge.

There are some of you that believe not. He brings upon the stage the
true reason of that offence they had taken at his words. He charges
not their ignorance, but their unbelief. He doth not say, there are
some of you that understand not, but he dives into the cause of their
dulness, they did not believe. The fountain of the wrong notions men
have of the word, is their want of faith. And this he speaks to his
disciples; many of them murmured at him for this discourse: ver. 60,
'many of his disciples.' They might join themselves to Christ upon
many motives, either because of the greatness of his miracles,
expectation of preferment from him in his temporal kingdom they
looked for, out of the desire of novelty, a natural curiosity, perhaps
from a weariness of the legal discipline, or for gain, as Judas did.
Some kind of faith or profession they had, for they were disciples.
But when the unbelief is greater than the assent, such a faith is
esteemed as nothing;* it is a faith that will be easily laid aside upon a
small occasion, and another profession taken up in the room of it, as
they did, ver. 66, 'many of his disciples went back, and walked no
more with him;' and though they did follow him for a time, yet all
that time of their following him, they had the principle of apostasy in
their unbelief, though it broke not out into act.

The observation that I shall handle, lies plain in the words.

Doctrine. Many under the preaching of the word, and that seem to be
professors, are real unbelievers. There may be a professed assent,
when there is not a firm one, or at least a full consent; a painted
faith, without any sound persuasion of the truth of those things in
the heart. Many stand idle in the market, and gaze upon the
commodities Christ sets to sale, but open not their hearts to receive
the treasures that are opened to them. That prophecy concerning the
miserable reception he hath in the world, is of a standing and lasting
truth to this day, that 'there is no beauty in him that we should desire
him,' that the faces of men are hid from him, that he is despised and
not esteemed, Isa. 53:2, 3. It was verified in our Saviour's time, John
12:37, 38, and is not ended in ours. There is a secret unbelief in the
hearts of men, which is not expressed with their tongues, but writ in
their actions: Luke 7:30, 'They rejected the counsel of God against
themselves.' Calvin takes εἰς for ἐν, in themselves; there was not an
open declamation against John's baptism, but a secret dislike of it by
an inward pride swelling up in their minds. There are not only many
dead stakes in the hedge, but some flowers upon the hedge, which
are not part of the garden, or transplanted into it, as their proper
soil. Those that have the deepest engagements to God, are often the
greatest rejecters of Christ. There was not a nation which owned in
their worship the unity of God, but the Jews. No nation expected and
longed for the redemption by the Messiah but they. No nation had
the promises of him but they; they had more particular obligations to
Christ than any: they were his own, John 1:11, they were conducted
by him through the wilderness, were entrusted with his oracles,
heard his word, all other nations were in regard of them none of
Christ's. The whole world indeed belonged to him by the right of
creation and government; but in regard they had not such particular
obligations to him as the Jews, they are not here called his own. Yet
those that longed for him, wished for his coming, instead of receiving
him, with the greatest welcome, rejected him with the greatest spite;
as though he that came to redeem them, and perfect the kindness
shewn to them in the first administration of the covenant with them,
had designed nothing but their ruin. And so now Christ is more
contemptible among his own than among strangers; he is not so
much wronged and slighted among heathens that have not known
him, as among those to whom the gospel is preached.

I shall shew,

I. That it is so.

II. Who are they that are unbelievers.

III. The causes of this unbelief.

IV. The use.

I. That it is so. In this I shall consider unbelief in general; not only as

it is a non-acceptance of Christ, or a refusal of him, but as it is a
denying credit to any revelation of God; and therefore when it is
generally granted that God doth make revelations of his will, and it
was a notion owned by men naturally, and that men do not naturally
comply fully with such revelations as from God, it is no wonder that
men are so often found to be guilty of the refusals of Christ, since
there is nothing in nature that can make any discovery of him, or
assist our belief in him, the whole stream of nature being against it;
yet whenever the Scripture speaks of unbelief, it intends this
resistance of Christ in his person, or shadows representing him, or
promises concerning him. But that many or multitudes under the
word and common profession of Christianity are unbelievers is
evident, because,

1. The Scripture always accounts the faithful but few. The Scripture
mentions but two of Adam's race at one time, and one of them Cain,
an unbeliever, and the head of the unbelieving world after; and in
nine generations from Seth, the world was so corrupted, and God's
Spirit so striven against by that generation, that he pronounceth of it
that' all flesh had corrupted their ways,' Gen. 6:3, 12, and only Noah
was found with whom he would establish his covenant, viz. that he
should enter into the ark, and rely upon God in a way of faith and
obedience, which was a type of the eternal security men have in
Christ, the true ark. That covenant made with Adam in the promise
of the seed of the woman, was rejected by the whole world, and there
was none in the earth that owned it, and with whom God would
establish it, but Noah. This was the covenant of grace under the
shadow of the ark, as the sun under a cloud. It was for their unbelief
in the Mediator that the old world was condemned to perish in the
waters. For the great work of the Spirit of Christ, by which he
preached to them in those days, 1 Peter 3:18, 19, is against this sin.
Christ hath not only suffered by the unbelief of men in these last
times, but from the beginning. So that if his divinity had been as
capable of suffering as his humanity, he had suffered by the violence
of men in former ages, as well as in the latter; for the old world
spared him not, but provoked him by their incredulity of his promise.
Of six hundred thousand Israelites, there are but two expressly
mentioned that believed in Christ, shadowed under the promise of
entering into Canaan. It was their unbelief in Christ made them
uncapable of entering into rest, Heb. 3:19, for the apostle discourseth
there against unbelief in Christ, and brings the misery which fell
upon their ancestors as a motive against it. A remnant only in the
time of Ahab, in that populous nation; about seven thousand among
a great multitude; for the ten tribes could not well be fewer than
Judah and Benjamin, who were in one army one hundred and eighty
thousand chosen men, 1 Kings 12:21. And in the apostle's time the
case was much the same, for which he cites this passage out of the
Kings: Rom. 11:4, 5, 'There is a remnant according to the election of
grace,' λεῖμμα, a small piece out of a whole cloth. Christ is a stone of
stumbling, a rock of offence, even to the house of Judah and Israel,
the only church God had in the world, Isa. 8:14, and believers so rare
among them that they were as wonders and prodigies, which are not
often seen, ver. 18. In the days of his flesh few believed in him. John
Baptist affirms that' no man receives his testimony,' John 3:32; no
man comparatively to those that refused him, the number of
believers being as a few grains of a commodity scattered out of a
scale. A few of the common people believed in him, and but one
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea of the higher sort. But the
generality of the Jews, to whom both the promise and offer of the
Messiah were made, are charged with unwillingness to come under
his wing, Mat. 23:37; with foolish excuses to absent themselves from
his feast, Luke 14:18; with a resolute resistance against his call, Mat.
22:3; and some that were very forward, and in general seemed to
accept of all his terms, and to be content to do whatsoever he
required, when it came to the push, did strike off and went away
grieved, as the young man, Mark 10:17, 21. Judas professed and
preached him, and had not a mite of faith in him; and some at the
last shall plead their prophesying in his name, casting out devils, and
doing many wondrous works in his name, who were never united to
him by faith, nor shall ever reign with him in glory, Mat. 7:22, 23.
And when he comes at last, though there may be a lair harvest of
professors, there will be a famine of faith, Luke 18:8.

2. Unbelief is natural to man, and therefore it is no wonder that

many under the preaching of the gospel, and that seem to be
professors, are unbelievers.

(1.) There is an enmity in nature to the grace of faith in Christ. Since

in a state of nature men are in constant arms against God, they have
no natural inclination to give credit to any revelation of God. Men do
not usually believe their enemies, or trust them without a caution.
Since we first left God, it is natural to us in all straits to have recourse
to sensible objects; and because we once left him, we are loath to
return to him, because our natural pride refuseth to charge ourselves
with the folly of our first revolt. Man despiseth Christ: Isa. 49:7,
'Thus saith the Lord to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the
nation abhors.' Man in his fallen estate would have a bottom of his
own to stand upon; he is abhorred by the nation, i.e. by the nation of
the Jews, called the nation as being more peculiarly under God's
conduct, the nation to whom he was peculiarly sent; and therefore
when Christ came, it is said there was no man, none to answer his
call, Isa. 50:2, no man naturally. And this is not so much from a
dulness of understanding as a natural disaffection. Since man can
understand things that are abstruse, and with a liveliness search into
those things which are pleasant to his nature, and easily believe
them; his not believing the mysteries revealed by God is from the
reluctancy of his nature against him, and unwillingness to acquaint
himself with those things which may over-rule his sensuality and
natural inclinations to pleasure. A man may sooner suffer for a truth
of Christ than believe, because there may be many motives in corrupt
nature to persuade a man to suffer for an opinion, as a repute of
constancy, courage, an affectation of a fame (such a vanity as acted
that person that burnt Diana's temple, that he might not be forgot in
the world); yea, a man may in distrustfulness of God's providence be
weary of his life, and be desirous in some creditable way to be
stripped of it; but faith finds no assistance in nature. Pride can be no
encouragement to it, as to suffering. It is a grace which wholly
empties a man of himself, lays him in the dust, suffers not any
ambition of a righteousness of his own, strips him of all his own
excellency. Since pride is a man's darling in nature, everything that
lays it low is abhorred by nature. There is as great an opposition
between the heart of man and the mysteries of God, as there is
between fire and water. Our resistance of the Spirit is natural, the
Holy Ghost never overcomes without striving, Gen. 6:3. The
principle of the flesh opposeth that of the Spirit in a good man, much
more in an unrenewed heart; nay, there is an enmity in the heart
against the truth of Christ, because it is truth: John 8:45, 'Because I
tell you the truth, you believe me not.'* Not that men think that they
hate the truth when they reject Christ, but they are led by an instinct
of the devil, who is their father, and the father of lies, against the
truth, as there is something in it that doth not please their natural
affections. As those that are prone to contention cannot endure the
counsels of peace, because they are the counsels of peace; and those
that are given to drunkenness cannot endure admonitions to
sobriety, because they tend to sobriety; so when men love lies by
nature, and the power of the devil their father, they hate anything
that tends to divine truth.

(2.) The attendants on faith are against the grain of nature; unbelief,
therefore, and the attendants on it, are suitable to nature. No man is
naturally willing to part with a dear member, a right eye, mortify
carnal affections, deny his dearest self; nay, men are hardly brought
to consider the things of faith, examine themselves about the nature
of faith; they are drawn to the touchstone as hardly as a man to some
sharp punishment. Who is naturally willing to crucify that which is
incorporated with him, the flesh? to deny what is dearest to him,
himself? If the apostle 'delighteth in the law of God after the inward
man,' Rom. 7:22, an unrenewed man by the rule of contraries
delights in the law of sin after the inward man (sin hath the chief fort
in his soul); and he that doth so is as unwilling to have it slain as to
lop off one of his principal limbs, or fling his whole estate into the
sea. Hence Christ pronounceth it hard for a rich man, or one that
trusts in his riches, to enter into heaven, Mat 19:23, 24. We are
naturally enemies to holiness, which is the fruit of faith, and
therefore to the person of Christ, as holy, which cannot, because of
his holiness, be embraced by one deeply in love with sin. The laws of
Christ are too spiritual to be entertained by a carnal mind; his ways
too strict to be trod by a loose spirit. The inward as well as the
outward man must come under his sceptre; and this is a hard task,
the stomach swells against it. The righteousness of Christ is a thing
without us; it is counted a dishonour to us to be beggars at another's
door for happiness; there must be a righteousness also within us, and
against this the whole legion of devilish corruptions riseth up in
arms. Not any part of the train belonging to faith that nature can
look friendly upon; we are unlike God, and we naturally hate
everything that would render us comformable to him.

(3.) Corrupt reason is an enemy to faith, and a friend to unbelief. The

life of sense is the first life we live; after that a life of reason, which
forestalls faith. Reason is the supreme principle in a man before faith
gets footing; it manageth all the actions, and therefore opposes that
which would impair part of its sovereignty. Therefore the oppositions
that are made to the gospel are called reasonings against the
knowledge of Christ, which are strongholds: 2 Cor. 10:4, 5, 'Pulling
down strongholds, casting down imaginations' (λογισμοὺς,
reasonings). Reason exalts itself, and will not submit to revelation,
unless it finds marks upon it suitable to its own principles. Not that
God doth impose upon men; but whenever he hath made a new
revelation of his will, he hath attended it with signs and undeniable
evidences that it was of divine authority. But after once it is manifest
that the revelation itself is from God, the principles and doctrines
delivered in it are not to be cited and tried at the bar of our reason.
Yet as man sets his will against the law of God, so he lifts up his
reason against the wisdom of God. As enmity to God in the will is as
natural to man since the fall as the will, so contradicting reasonings
against the knowledge of Christ are as natural as his understanding.
As it is impossible a man can be a rational creature without
understanding and will, so it is impossible he can be a carnal man
without prejudices in his mind and dissatisfactions in his will against
God: Rom. 8:7, 'The carnal mind is enmity against God: it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' Unbelief, therefore,
is natural to man. Therefore, when God subdues the soul to the
obedience of faith, it is in a way of conquest, captivating the
reasonings and thoughts of the mind to Christ. Besides, reason is the
excellency and glory of man: the more rational men are, the more
they are in esteem; and it is not easy to part with a dignity in
submission to that which the heart naturally counts foolishness.
Adam, by his affecting to know as God, hath conveyed a principle to
men, whereby they think themselves as wise as God. Thus they in the
text censured Christ's discourse by their own mistaken reason,
believed him not, and at last departed from him.

(4.) The common unbelief of men in things evident to sense

manifests the naturalness and easiness of it in the higher mysteries
more remote from sense. This is cleared by that one instance of
men's flattering themselves into hopes of a perpetual life on earth.
Though they seem to assent that they shall die, yet how doth the
whole course of many men's actions speak another language, and
give the lie to themselves, acting in the extremes of their lives as
though they were to linger out an unlimited term of years! If we do
not seriously believe that whereof we have every day fresh objects
and undeniable testimonies beating in upon our sense, how naturally
inclinable must we be not to believe that which is at a distance from
us, and whereof we have not such immediate sensible
demonstrations! 'If we believe not earthly things, how shall we
believe heavenly?' John 3:12. If we believe not things that are
agreeable to the light of nature, that arise from the dictates of our
own consciences, but manifest our own unbelief of them by a
practice quite opposite to them, how shall we believe the heavenly
things Christ acquaints us with? How shall we believe those things
which are not seen by a natural light, that have no foundation in the
nature and reason of men, but are purely to be discerned by the light
of heaven? What hath some foundation in nature is far easier to be
believed than what hath only supernatural revelation for its bottom.
The gospel is a remedy which neither men nor angels could find out;
a way which man in a state of innocence was not acquainted with,
nor in a state of corruption without special discovery.
(5.) We have naturally jealousies of God. Since enmity to God was
planted by the devil in the nature of man, no friendly act can pass
from the creature to God. Without a change of nature, suspicions of
God do as naturally arise in the heart as fire ascends upward, or a
stone falls downward. Who in a state of distance from, and
contradiction to, God, can readily believe that God should love men
so much as to give his Son for those he had no need of, that were
lumps of vanity and enemies to his glory? and yet, if he would give
his Son for them, that it should be to a death so painful and
shameful? The fear that Adam had* when, frighted at the voice of
God, he hid himself amongst the trees of the garden, hath remained
in part with his posterity when they reflect upon their crimes. We
measure the nature of God by the qualities of our own; and because
we are not forward to remit men's offences against us, we are apt to
imagine that God hath not clemency enough to pardon the faults
committed against him. Hence it is that persons deeply humbled
under a sense of the curses of the law are ready to lick up the dust
under the feet of Christ, and beholding an absolute necessity of him,
are with much ado brought to believe. Though the design of God in
setting out Christ for a propitiation be declared to them, the
sufficiency of his merit, the acceptation of it by God, the fruits others
have found of it, that the design of Christ's coming was to ease those
in that condition, yet they are hardly induced to lay aside those
jealousies they have of God. For this cause perhaps God doth not put
us off in his promise with a single 'I will betroth thee unto me,' but
repeats it three times to assure us of his reality, Hosea 2:19, 20. How
doth Abraham's incredulity break out after a spiritual promise: Gen.
15:1, 'I am thy shield and exceeding great reward. And Abraham said,
Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?' as much as
to say, I would have deeds and not words; I have had such promises
before, yet they are not performed. After God's discourse with him, it
is said, ver. 6,' he believed in the Lord,' after this second repetition of
the promise. But when it was declared to him before, we have not
that remark upon him that he believed. And God complains of this
carriage, Hosea. 7:13, 'I have redeemed them,' (‫אפדם‬, 'I will redeem
them,' it is my purpose to redeem them by my Son, as some
understand it,) 'yet they have spoken lies against me;' they think I
have no good intentions towards them, but thoughts of evil. We think
him false, when he is true, and cannot lie; we think him an enemy
when he is a friend. We are apt to think God hath designs upon us,
and wants sincerity in his proposals. So after the deluge, though God
had promised that he would no more drown the world, the people
would not believe it, but would be erecting a tower to preserve them
from sinking again in those mighty waters. Though Noah's sons were
at that time living, had known the promise of God, and they had
often seen the rainbow, the sign of that covenant in heaven, yet, Gen.
11:4, 'Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto
heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered again upon
the face of the whole earth.' If this were the reason, as some think, it
shews, that they were as unbelieving of the promise of God after the
deluge, as the old world had been of his threatening before it. But it
is evident in the Israelites, for whom God hath done as much as
might be to bind them to a belief of him: he had showered plagues
upon their enemies, and miraculous mercies upon themselves, fed
and watered them in the wilderness, yet they apprehended God had a
design upon them to destroy them, and were scarce ever free from
expressing their jealousies by their murmuring, till at last their
unbelief was a bar to their entering into Canaan, and the utter ruin of
that generation.

(6.) Affecting to stand by a righteousness of our own is natural to us,

and therefore unbelief is natural. Adam was to have lived upon his
own righteousness in the state of innocence. Since we are fallen, this
relic of nature is in us, to desire to rise by our own strength. We
would find matter of acceptance and acquittance in ourselves. Some
throw themselves upon a heap of external duties, as the heathens
had recourse to in their sacrifices, thinking to appease God by the
blood of brutes; and believers themselves are sometimes too apt to
cling as fast to their inherent graces as to Christ himself,—'We have
forsaken all and followed thee, what shall we have therefore?' Mat.
19:27,—and set Christ's crown upon that head. What pains had the
apostle to work the Romans and Galatians from their own
righteousness! A desire of a legal justification is inbred. This might
be the case of them in the text, when Christ would take them off from
their admired shadows, to feed only upon him the substance; to eat
his flesh and drink his blood, to believe only in him for eternal life.
Sure I am, the Jewish nation split themselves to shivers upon this
rock, in a calm sunshine of the gospel, in endeavouring 'the
establishment of their own righteousness of God,' Rom. 10:3. This
seems to begin early. Before the flood, it is uncertain whether
idolatry was set up in the world, or whether after the flood, before
the confusion of languages; but resting upon their services, and
neglecting the promise of the mediator, seems to be that wherein
their unbelief did consist. The patriarchs,* Adam, Seth, &c. had the
promise of a mediator, and of pardon of sin in him, and had external
rites and modes of sacrificing delivered to them by God, as signs of
the promise and props of their faith; these rites and sacrifices, they,
i.e. the old world, kept up and performed, without considering the
doctrine of the promise and faith; and it is likely that they
entertained an opinion, that by those ceremonies they did merit the
favour of God, and pardon of sin. This is likely to be Cain's
miscarriage; he did offer to God, but without that faith which
seasoned Abel's sacrifice, Heb. 11:4; his eye therefore was not fixed
upon the promised seed, but probably expected God's acceptance of
his offering and favourable return to him upon the account of the
offering itself. The object of the worship was the same; Cain brought
his offering to the Lord, Gen. 3:3; the difference was in the sacrifice,
and in the inward principle of offering. His offering did not represent
the mediator, as a bloody sacrifice would have done; the principle of
his offering was not faith in the Mediator; for though he desired to be
accepted, yet he desired that acceptation without respect to the
promised seed. After the deluge, the boldness of men grew to a
greater height, they framed other deities, and so departed from the
knowledge of the true God, and the promise of a redeemer. And so
likewise after Moses, when ceremonies were instituted to be
mementoes of a mediator, the multitude, though they professed their
belief in the promise of a Messiah, and were the only church God had
in the world, yet were forgetful of the intent and design of this
promise, and rested not upon it for the free pardon of their sins for
the sake of this mediator; but fancied that their sins were forgiven for
the sake of the rites and sacrifices under the law. After the gospel
shone upon the world, yet the professors of it were very inclinable to
expect a justification by their own works. To oppose which was the
great design of the apostle in his epistles to the Gentile churches.
And afterward, men professing the Christian religion swerved from
the main principle of it, and expected to gain pardon by monastic
vows, oblations in the mass, intercessions of dead men, rather than
by Christ. So that this principle of a self-righteousness and
dependence upon external services, with the neglect of the mediator,
being the thing God contended with the Jews for, as well as their
idolatry, before the incarnation of Christ, and with others after his
death and resurrection, and this being an evil which runs in the
stream of nature, we may well suppose it to be the main thing which
was the cause of the wickedness, and the destruction of the old
world, since it is not clear that they had framed any idols to worship.
And since barefaced idolatry is exploded among us, this principle of a
self-righteousness is more spiritually lurking in us, whereby we
invalidate the redemption by Christ.

(7.) The naturalness of unbelief is evidenced by the difficulty of

believing under the highest means, and greatest testimonies of a
divine authority.

[1.] The eloquence of Christ was admirable. Grace was in his lips.
Since he was both the Word of God, and Wisdom of God, his words
were enough to divide the soul, and break the rock; they were like a
hammer to bruise, like a gentle shower to mollify; yet how few were
either broken by his thunders or melted by his lightnings! He
acquainted them with the truth, yet they did not believe, John 8:46.
His miracles were stupendous, and above the united force of men
and devils; they were undeniably the works of his Father, John 10:37,
38, yet they believed not. Nicodemus, who had some respect for him,
and inclinations to him, thinking him 'a prophet come from God,'
John 3:2, understood no more the doctrine of faith in Christ, and a
new birth, after Christ's explanation of it, than he did at the first
declaration: ver. 9, 'How can these things be?' He was a man of
eminency, and in Israel too, ver. 10. It had been no wonder if one of
the common people had been ignorant, or a great heathen
philosopher, bred up in the sink of idolatry, should neither have
understood nor believed; but a master, a doctor in Israel, a reader of
the prophets, so lately taught by John Baptist, who was sent to
prepare him for the doctrine of the Messiah, not to believe that which
was clear in the prophets, is a declaration of the natural stupidity of
men in the things of Christ. It was but a little faith the apostles had,
who were constant attendants upon Christ, spectators of his
miracles, hearers of his instructions, and those more plainly
delivered to them than to the multitude. How often doth our Saviour
upbraid them with the slowness of their hearts to believe.* The death
and resurrection of Christ are the two necessary foundations of our
redemption, the one of his satisfaction, the other of his discharge; yet
his disciples were hardly brought to believe either of these; and
though Christ did plainly assert both, especially the certainty and
necessity of his death, in several discourses with them, yet Peter, who
had the greatest insight into the mystery of Christ, presumed to
rebuke him for speaking of so incredible a thing as the death of him,
who by his own confession was the Son of God. And for his
resurrection, though he had often asserted it should be, in as plain
words as might be, and fixed the time, within three days, yet they had
not the least thought of it, and when it was reported to them that he
was risen, they had not faith to believe it, though confirmed by
witnesses of their own company, whose honesty they knew to be
without exception; and it was so great, that he gives them a sharp
rebuke for it: Mark 16:14, 'He upbraided them with their unbelief
and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had
seen him after he was risen.' After the apostles were risen to a great
height of faith, they found it difficult to persuade men, with all the
miraculous assistances of the Holy Ghost. That first great miracle of
the descent of the Spirit upon them, Acts 2:6, 11, wherein the majesty
and power of God, and the divine authority of Christ, were evidently
manifested, in endowing poor fishermen with the gift of tongues,
who were never out of the confines of Judea, were skilled in no
language but their own, could now speak not one or two languages,
but many, not those of the neighbours, but those of the greatest
distance, with which nations they could not have had any commerce;
yet what an unreasonable construction do the unbelieving Jews put
upon it: ver. 13, 'These men are full of new wine.' No reason could
second their reproach; such an excess had rather hindered their
speaking plainly in their own tongue than furnished them with an
ability to speak sense in languages they never before understood.
Unbelief invents foolish reasons against that which hath the clearest
reason to support it. Are our souls less overgrown with an enmity to
God? Is unbelief less Natural to us than it was to them under the
power of so many miracles, the miracles of Christ, when they called
him a wine-bibber, and the miracle of the descent of the Spirit, when
they assert the heavenly gift to be the effect of drunkenness? If it
were not settled in nature, what is the reason that among multitudes
to whom the gospel was preached, so few embraced it, though the
things proposed were in themselves desirable, and suited so well, in
respect of the blessedness promised, to the natural appetites of men?
It was the complaint, that few believed their report. In all ages many,
nay, most, have been so far from embracing Christ, that they
persecuted the gospel and professors of it. He hath been despised not
only by the blinder sort of people, but by many of the most elevated
understandings in earthly affairs. By the Jews, too, who had the
promises of the Messiah made to them, who expected him about that
time, who had so many prophecies deciphering him, which all had
their accomplishment in his person; who were amazed at the
miracles wrought in his life, and those which attended him at his
death; and can unbelief now be less natural to us, who have those
things by report, than it was to them who were eye-witnesses of
them? I might add also, that the production of faith by an almighty
power is a testimony of the naturalness of unbelief. For were it not
so, there would be no more need of the arm of omnipotency to be
revealed in the engendering this grace in our hearts, than in
furnishing us with any human science, for which we have a natural
capacity in our understandings. Since faith cannot be infused but by
an almighty strength, unbelief cannot be dispossessed but by the
same power, and therefore is rooted in our nature, and friendly
embraced by it. It is therefore obvious enough, I hope, that since the
Scripture hath told us of the paucity of believers in all ages, and that
the exceeding naturalness of it to us is so great and plain, it must be
granted, that there may be in this age, and among us, as great a
number of unbelievers under the preaching of the gospel, and among
professors, too, proportionally, as there have been in other ages and
places of the world.

II. Who are unbelievers?

No question but there are many among us inwardly guilty of a

notional unbelief, many more guilty of a practical. We have no open
idolatry among us,—I mean those of the Protestant party in
opposition to the Romanists,—yet is there not an inward practical
and interpretative idolatry in the conversations of men? There is not
an absolute atheism, or a plain and open denial of a God, yet there is
a denial of him in works, Titus 1:16. As God, so Christ, may be denied
in works under a profession of him. The testimony of works is deeper
and clearer than that of words; the frame of men's hearts is rather to
be measured by what they do than by what they say. As such men
therefore are more notorious atheists who believe a God and walk
contrary to that belief, than those that deny the being of a God and
do those things which are more agreeable to the laws of God than the
other; so those are more notorious unbelievers that profess an assent
to the doctrine of Christ and faith in him, than those that deny his
person and office, and yet walk in ways more corresponding with the
strictness of his precepts. All that profess faith in Christ, without the
vital operations of faith, are unbelievers. We can no more say a man
believes who hath no essential act of faith, than that a man lives who
exerciseth no function of life. There may be a nominal life with a real
death, like those of Sardis, Rev. 3:2, a faith in appearance without a
faith in reality. There may be an abhorring of Christ with the soul
even by Judah: Zech. 11:8, 'My soul loathed them, their soul also
abhorred me.' It is as impossible there can be faith without fruits, as
that a tree can live without bringing forth fruits proper to its kind.
There is no question but those are infidels that have an opinionative
contradiction against the gospel, who are a gainsaying people, as the
Jews are termed, Rom. 10:21, who at this day call the New Testament
a heap of lies, ‫בליון און‬.* Such that may be of that pope's mind,
Gregory IX., who is reported to have called Moses and Christ, as well
as Mahomet, tres Balatrones, the common barreters or incendiaries
of the world. And as little are they to be counted believers that
esteem the Christian religion no better than a certain suspicion of
'one Jesus being dead, who is affirmed to be alive,' Acts 25:19; that
have some floating imaginations of the truth of it, but not a settled
certainty. Those that resist the grace of God, that value Christ no
more than a dog doth a heap of spices or a bag of delicate perfumes;
those that strike the blood of the Lamb of God upon their thresholds
to be mixed with the dirt of their feet, which they should sprinkle
upon the posts of their doors, the faculties of their souls.

But to waive these at present. Let us consider those that pretend to

be disciples of Christ.

1. How many that go under the name of Christians are ignorant and
inconsiderate! He that is not rooted in spiritual knowledge can never
be rooted in faith; those that see not the beauty of Christ can never
account him a fit object of trust. Faith can never be the daughter of
ignorance. Only those that know Christ will put their trust in him—
Ps. 9:10, 'They that know thy name will put their trust in thee; for
thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee'—and that know
him to be one that doth not forsake them that seek him. Belief is an
intellectual act; how can any believe till they know what they are to
believe? The object must be known before any faith can be exercised
about it. If we would believe a man, we must first know him to be a
person of credit. The ground must be known to be firm before any
man will trust the weight of his body upon it. We must know God in
his ways, so as to judge him faithful, before we can rely upon his
promise: 'Sarah judged him faithful that had promised,' Heb. 11:11. If
there be no light in the mind, there can be no motion in the will: 'He
that walks in darkness knows not whither he goes,' John 12:35, nor
what to lay hold on for his support. How can they be counted
believers that know not what Christ is, what offices he is invested
with, that cannot give an account of the doctrine of Christ, that never
considered the nature of a Christ, the necessity of a Saviour, the
corruption of their nature, the immortality of their souls, the
judgment to come; who have only some loose thoughts of these
things, and therefore cannot have but a loose and shadowy faith at
the best, which is an unbelief in the account of Christ? And are there
not many among us that understand not what Christ and a spiritual
righteousness is, that know not their own wants, and so cannot value
Christ's worth?

2. How many receive not the gospel upon a divine account? There are
several outward engines which move men to profess the Christian
religion: authority of magistrates and superiors, education and
custom, respect to some persons valued by them. Some are
Christians because Christianity hath been handed to them from their
ancestors, and can give no other reason why they are so but because
they were bred up in it. The religion of the state is the rule also of
many men's religion. What else should make those tribes of Israel,
who were fond of the temple-worship in Solomon's time, turn speedy
votaries to the calves at Dan and Bethel under Jeroboam's reign, and
at last totally revolt from God? Such a founded Christianity is no
more sufficient to denominate any man a believer, than a flock of
sheep, used to the voice of the shepherd from their first yeaning, and
to follow his whistle wheresoever he goes, can upon that account be
said to be rational creatures.

(1.) The motives of this faith are merely human. The object of faith is
divine, but the motive human; the faith therefore produced by it
cannot be divine; the effect cannot be of an higher nature than the
cause. This belief is as vain as Christ declares the worship to be
which is 'taught by the precepts of men,' Mat. 15:9. Though they have
the material object of faith,* yet they have not the formal object,
which is the divine authority or truth revealed in it. They take it up
from custom and the instructions of their childhood, but not from
the true motive of faith. As some men may perform acts of moral
virtue, not from principles and motives of virtue, and so may do a
righteous act, though not righteously, so those have the object of
faith without a principle of faith, and pretend a belief of the truth,
but not believingly. The material part of Christianity, without the
formal, is just like a carcase, which hath the matter of a man, but not
the enlivening and quickening soul. Though they hit upon the
profession of the true religion by some human inducements, this
makes them no more Christians and believers than if a company of
wandering cattle, gone astray from their owner, should break into
some ground belonging to their true master in that place whither
they are run, should be understood to do it with an intention to come
into their master's possession, it being an act of chance in them, and
not of choice. It is not the excellency of Christ, but the happiness of
an education, the piety of parents and magistrates, the birth and not
the judgment, makes them Christians. They are believers by
conformity, not by principle. He that embraceth the Christian
religion upon such slight or wrong grounds is so far from being a
believer, that he rather sins, because he doth not use his reason God
hath endowed him with aright in the things of God; was the speech of
a philosopher* whose new notions have been thought to minister too
great an occasion to the atheism of our times.

(2.) This kind of faith hath no stronger a foundation than the belief of
any heathen or idolater in the world. The same motives that excite
the papists to observe the superstitions and idolatries of Rome, a
heathen to adore the idols of his country, a Turk to cry up the divine
authority of Mahomet, a Jew to hate the Lord of life, because they
have received those ways of profession from their ancestors, and
have sucked them in with the milk of their infancy,—such and no
higher motives have common Christians for their faith in Christ. The
same arguments which make others refuse him, make them profess
him, and had they been educated in any of those ways, they would
have been as fond adorers of idols, as now they are professors of
Christ, and would have been as ready to drink blood as wine, as
sheep will follow their first leader into a slough as well as a fat
pasture. This is no better than to be heathens in Christianity, since
they both agree in the same inducement of their faith, which can be
no more called a true faith, than the Athenians' altar 'to the unknown
God' could be called a true worship, Acts 17:23; they worshipped they
knew not whom, and they knew not why. This is an unbelieving
belief, and a childish Christianity, if it proceeds no further. True faith
may be ushered in this way, as the faith of the Samaritans was by the
report of the woman, testifying that Christ had told her all that ever
she did, John 4:39, but afterwards was transplanted to another
ground, and set upon a stock of knowledge,—ver. 42, 'Now we
believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard, and know that
this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world,'—and indeed was a
greater faith than we find at that time in the apostles; for they believe
him not only to be the Messiah, and a Saviour of the seed of
Abraham, as the apostles did, but of the world; acknowledging
thereby the whole world sunk into misery, under a necessity of a
redeemer, and this Jesus to be the person appointed by God for the
redemption of it.

(3.) Such a belief is rather a disparaging of God and Christ, than a

believing in them. If we embrace divine truths out of affection or
interest in persons or parties, and for the sake of the instruments
which convey them, rather than of God who reveals them, we believe
not in God but in man; our faith terminates in the publisher, whether
parent, or magistrate, or neighbour, not in God. If the motive of our
belief is not the authority of God, but the influence of some creature
on us, or because wise, learned, and holy men believe it, we postpone
the credit of a wise and holy God to that of a wise and holy creature,
and ascribe a greater veracity to that than to the Creator; so that
though the matter of our faith be divine, yet the manner of our
acknowledging discredits the authority and faithfulness of God. As if
we believe this or that divine truth delivered in the word, not because
it is there delivered, and hath the stamp of God's authority upon it,
but because it is in itself undeniable to principles of reason, we
believe ourselves rather than God, and thereby reproach and
dishonour him, by setting our reason, not as a subject to him, but as
a judge of him, and what he dictates. The creation of the world is a
matter of faith revealed in the word: Heb. 11:3, 'By faith we
understand,' &c. It is also a truth assented to by reason. But if we
acknowledge the creation of the world only upon the account of
reason, and not in the respect of the revelation of God, God accounts
it not as an honour to him, for it is not a respect to the word of God,
but to our own rational principle. To believe, therefore, a divine truth
upon human grounds, is to regard man as more infallible, true, and
honest, than God himself. As we are to obey because God commands,
though men may command the same things too; and if we perform a
thing merely because our superiors enjoin us, though it be a divine
command also, and part of the law of God, it is not an obedience to
God, but to our superiors; so when we believe a divine truth revealed
to the world by God, not upon the credit of God, but the credit of the
persons that acquaint us with it, it is not a belief of God but of man:
as if a master orders his servant to go upon such an errand, and he
cheerfully and willingly goes, because he hath some business to do
that way by the by, this cheerfulness ariseth not from a principle of
obedience to his master, but from the opportunity of serving his own
turn. As it is thus in obedience, so it is also in the belief of men. Also,
when men will assent to no more of the articles of the word than
what is made clear to them by natural reason, as well as Scripture
arguments, this is not a faith. Though they believe some of the
fundamentals, yet if they believe not all those that are fundamental,
they truly believe not any one; because if they did believe one upon
account of the divine authority revealing it, they would believe all.
For as it is a certain maxim, He that breaks one law of God breaks
the whole, James 2:10, because he despiseth the authority
commanding, so he that discredits one article of faith believes not
any, because he undervalues the authority revealing one as well as
the other. Though the materials of faith be divided into many things,
even as many truths as are revealed, yet the foundation and motive
of faith is but one, viz., the authority of God; as, though the law be
divided into several commands, yet the authority commanding all is
one and the same. He that refuseth a belief to any one article, though
he doth not deny all, yet he believes none with a divine faith; for if he
did believe any one with a divine faith, he hath the same reason to
believe every one, because the same authority runs through the veins
of all, and is as infallible in one as another. If we received any one
truth as testified by the Spirit of God, we should receive all the truths
the Spirit witnesseth to. Those that are charged in the text with
unbelief, might believe many things that Christ said, for they are
called his disciples; but not receiving them from him as a person
appointed by God as the Messiah, they are said not to believe; all
their faith in other things was no faith.

Let us then try ourselves by this, what are the motives of our
profession of Christianity? If they be merely human, we are
unbelievers in our believing, and are the disciples of men, not the
disciples of Christ. A profession now cannot lay such claim to
sincerity as those sudden conversions to and acknowledgments of
Christianity could in the primitive times; because then the civil
power did not countenance it, no carnal interest could encourage
them in it, none but inward and spiritual motives could prevail upon
them for the owning of it. But since it hath been delivered to us
through a long succession of ages, and it is become, in part, our
outward interest to be external professors of it, the profession is not
sufficient to entitle a man a believer, unless his motives be as divine
as theirs.

3. All those who do not diligently seek after that which is proposed in
the gospel, come into this rank of unbelievers. As the psalmist argues
the atheism of men from their not seeking God, Ps. 14:1, 2, and the
apostle the unrighteousness of men from the same ground, Rom.
3:10, 11, so the unbelief of men may be demonstrated from their non-
inquiry after Christ, the benefits offered, and the precepts enjoined
by him. When we have no valuations of it, when the gospel is not
esteemed as the richest jewel, the sweetest dainties, the most
ravishing comforts; when it is not sought after with ardent affections,
it is not thought worthy of acceptation by the whole man. Can he be
supposed to believe he hath a soul, who never minds it? Or can he
believe that there is a Saviour, who can go whole months and years
without inquiries after him? He that is desperately sick and
wounded, I and hears of an infallible medicine without employing all
his industry to procure it, is either in love with the wound, or doth
not believe the medicine so sovereign as is reported! Can we believe
that to be necessary for us, that we have no heart to think of?
Whosoever is more diligent in things of an inferior concern,
supposeth them in his judgment more capable to administer
satisfaction to him than the things of Christ. Can we be called
believers, if we be no more moved than stones with the purchase and
promise of Christ? Insensibleness and unbelief are inseparable
companions: Acts 19:9, they 'were hardened, and believed not.' If we
were informed of a place full of all earthly advantages, and rich
commodities at an easy rate, how ambitious would men be to set out
ships to be interested in the trade, or at least inform themselves of
the truth of the report. If men did believe the gospel, and the rewards
of another world, could they sit yawning, with folded arms, without
making inquiries after them? Would they not be full of great
undertakings for them? How can our understandings be fully
possessed of the goodness of that which our wills do not ardently
pursue? If our minds believe it, why do not our wills embrace it?
What bar is there between the understanding and the will? In other
things, the last judgment of the mind is followed: what that
pronounceth good, the will is presently upon the track of; what
makes the stop here, if the gospel were assented to. The order of
God's working is according to the order of nature, the understanding
first enlightened, then the will inclined. If then the will be not
inclined to the things of Christ, the understanding was never fully
prevailed upon to assent to the truths of Christ. Belief among men is
a vigorous act, that makes them govern themselves according to their
persuasions; and why should it be less in matters of religion? If Paul
believe the knowledge of Christ so excellent, he will 'press forwards
towards the mark,' Philip. 3:8, 12, 14. He will follow after, he will
thrust through a crowd of temptations to gain Christ. Can we then be
said to believe that Christ hath expiated our sins, calmed the wrath of
God, stands ready to knock off our chains, and hath prepared a
blessed residence in paradise, without seeking the enjoyment of such
necessary benefits? The sottishness of the Jewish rulers is a picture
of that which will be in some men to the end of the world. They sent a
committee of their Sanhedrim to John Baptist to know whether he
was the Messiah, John 1:19; they were persons of authority and
learning among them, 'priests and Levites;' they were sent from
Jerusalem, from the great council, to know what his calling was:
'Who art thou?' John told them he was not the Messiah, but that the
Messiah was come, and among them, 'whom they knew not,' ver. 26.
Now it is strange that those men who expected the Messiah about
that time, and came to John for that end, to know whether he was
the person (for when they asked him, 'Who art thou?' he answered, 'I
am not the Christ,' ver. 20, intimating that the intent of their coming
to him was to know whether he was the Christ), should not ask him
where the Messiah was, who was this person that he said was among
them, and greater than he, how they should know him that was so
near to them, and how he himself knew him. But they depart without
asking one syllable of this nature, which John gave them so full an
opportunity to inquire into, as if they were resolved to reject him
before they knew him. They are imitated in the world to this day. If
we seek him with loose affections, it is a sign we have only some
suspicions of the necessity of him, not a certainty; a faint search
ariseth from a weak conjecture.

4. Profane persons are unquestionably unbelievers. A diabolical life

and a believing heart are contradictions. No man can with any reason
lay claim to a faith in Christ, who prefers the pleasures of the world
before the sweetness of a Redeemer, that which is an offence to him
before that which is his delight, the weight of sin before the yoke of
Christ. How can they believe in Christ that are carried down with the
violent current of their own lusts, and regard not one little of his law?
If faith be full of good works, a scarcity of them implies an emptiness
of faith.

(1.) The proper effect of faith is to purify the heart, Acts 15:9; where
therefore the kennel of the life and the sink of the heart are not
purified, there is no faith. What wants the essential effect hath
nothing of the cause. If 'unfeigned faith' be always attended with 'a
pure heart and good conscience,' 1 Tim. 1:5, then that faith which is
attended with an impure heart and a defiled conscience is a
counterfeit faith. If a good man fall into any sin, there is first a flaw
in his faith; the soundness of that would prevent the disease of sin.
Hence Christ prays that Peter's faith might not fail, implying that if
that kept firm he would give no kindly glance to a temptation, to
cursing, swearing, and denying his master. Let no man boast
therefore of his faith, if it leaves him in the mire of vice. It is an idol
of faith, such an one that the apostle calls but a carcase of faith,
James 2:26, a dead faith, nay, ranks it with the faith of devils, who
believe and tremble, who have no profit by it but a sense of
damnation before the time. Is it not a faith worse than that of devils?
They have a belief with a fear; some boast of a faith in Christ, but a
want of fear. A profane faith, an adulterous faith, a drunken faith, are
contradictions.

(2.) 'He that commits sin is of the devil,' 1 John 3:8, not of Christ. He
that is under the devil's empire never was Christ's subject by
believing. The language of their practice is the same with that of the
evil spirits, 'What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?'
Not to believe the truth, and have pleasure in unrighteousness, in the
unrighteousness of nature, in the unrighteousness of practice, are
made one and the same thing, 2 Thes. 2:12. The knowledge of God
makes men at least escape the pollutions of the world,' 2 Peter 2:20.
This is the lowest degree; whence in consequence is clear that those
that are bemired with the pollutions of the world have not the
knowledge of Christ. We have no acquaintance with Christ if we
cherish those works which Christ came to dissolve and melt away by
his blood, and go about to settle the sovereignty of the devil against
the authority of the Redeemer. Can you imagine him to be a loyal
subject who gives himself that character, when you see him with
arms in his hands against his prince and country? Nor is he a
Christian, whatsoever he may call himself, who is a rebel against
Christ his sovereign. Such are loath to be thought to doubt of the
truth of the gospel, but their lives proclaim that they do not in the
least doubt of the falseness of it. Is it possible that those should
believe that God sent his Son to die for them, who will not let a lust
die to salve his glory in the world? A descent to brutishness can never
be an assent to Christianity,; a filthy swine may as well be a believer
as a sensualist in that state; 'as brute beasts they corrupt themselves,'
walking in the ways of their own heart. Whatsoever some of the
Philippians might profess, yet making 'their belly their god,' the
apostle affords them no better character than 'enemies of the cross of
Christ,' Philip. 3:18, 19. It is not opinion but practice distinguisheth a
Christian from a pagan. Vile lusts are appropriated to the Gentiles as
their will; they are not the qualifications of a believer's will, 1 Peter
4:3. No man can receive Christ, but he must receive him as a refiner,
Mal. 3:3, with the blood of sprinkling, which purgeth the inwards of
the heart, as well as the skirts of the conversation, and sets an edge
upon the conscience against everything that is contrary to the plain
precept of Christ, and brings the thoughts and desires under his law
and yoke. Profane men are the disciples of Epicurus, not the disciples
of Jesus. It is as impossible for a man to be an invisible believer and a
visible atheist, as to be a man and a toad at the same time.

5. All that live in a constant omission of known duties (though they

are not guilty of the grosser open sins), are unbelievers.* Every
omission of good, or commission of evil, is not an evidence of
positive infidelity (who could, then, have the noble title of a
believer?), but when the omission is a constant course. As every
actual omission is a fruit of partial unbelief, so all habitual omissions
are signs of habitual unbelief, when they are not accompanied with a
self-condemnation in the case, and resolutions of reforming for the
future. How can we be said to believe in Christ, if we own not the
power of that religion he hath instituted, and the holiness of it in the
duties it requires, as well as the pleasure of it in the privileges it
bestows? When our sloth will not permit us to rise at Christ's call;
when our thoughts do but now and then hit upon him, as a bird upon
a branch; when his service is a vile thing in our eyes; when we can
with as good a heart overlook duties as perform them; when we make
other things our business, and the precepts of Christ our burden, is
this a believing on him? Faith fights against all iniquity, and obeys
not God by parcels and retail. He that cannot endure the injunctions
of the gospel in the fulness and extent of their holiness, is an
unbeliever: 2 Peter 2:21, 'they turn from the holy commandment,'
because of the purity of its commands, and the universal obedience it
requires: there is an enmity to it in the hearts of men. The gospel is a
'doctrine according to godliness,' 1 Tim. 6:3–5. If we do not consent
to the godliness of it, but doat about questions and curiosities; if we
receive the light of it into our heads, and not the religion of it into
our hearts, we are destitute of the truth, know nothing, believe
nothing. If we make light of what God commands, we are no more
Christians than the most ignorant Indian and heathen in America;
we are not so good as a Jew, who believes the Old Testament,
practiseth those duties it enjoins, and the legal rites which he
supposeth still in force. Worse we are, if our hearts be not moulded
according to the form of the gospel; for Christianity is not a
speculation, or a dead notion, but an active principle, mastering
every faculty of the soul; as active in the will as it is clear in the
understanding. He is more an infidel that assents to the truth of a
proposition, and the doctrine of the gospel, and yet denies obedience
to it, than he that denies the divine authority of it, yet walks morally,
and performs the duties incumbent upon him to man; because he in
some measure doth that which he denies, the other denies that which
he doth profess. The one's denial is verbal, the other's real; one hath
a moral conscience, the other a vain religion, James 1:26. Habitual
sins are evidences that we are not implanted in Christ by faith, but
still under a covenant of works: Rom. 6:14, 'Sin shall not have
dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.'
The reign of any one sin in the heart, whether of omission or
commission (though it be not of the grosser sort marked by the
world), is inconsistent with that faith which interests us in the
covenant of grace; for true faith expels sin from the heart, as a candle
doth darkness from the lantern wherein it is placed. All the doctrines
and propositions in Christianity do in their own nature lead to an
holy practice. The articles of the conception, incarnation, and life of
the Son of God, are incentives to be like our great head and master.
The gospel frees us not from the natural obligation upon us as
creatures to obey God; nay, Christ by his death could not free us from
it, because the law of nature is immutable and perpetual. As by his
death he did not free us from being creatures, so neither could he
free us from the obligation which lies upon us as creatures; but the
satisfaction Christ made to God increaseth the obligation; for
whereas before we were to obey God as creatures, we are now bound
to obey God as redeemed creatures; therefore he that is as
disobedient to the precepts of Christ as if Christ had never died, hath
not a faith in his blood, nor any sense of the obligation of it. How is it
possible a man should believe Christ to be the true prophet of God,*
without embracing his doctrine? How can we believe him to be an
High Priest dying to expiate our sin, without loving him, reflecting
often upon our sin with sorrow, and shewing our gratitude in a
course of habitual obedience? How can we believe him to be a mighty
and gracious King, without reverencing and fearing him? How can
we believe the gospel to be a divine truth, without devoting ourselves
to that holiness which it enjoins, under the penalty of never seeing
God without it? We cannot be persuaded of his divinity without
giving credit to his doctrine, nor believe his doctrine without
conforming to his law. If, therefore, the will of Christ be contemned
in any one thing, we may be assured we believe not the gospel of
Christ. If we would put such base conditions upon him, as to have a
reserve of any one lust in our hearts, we dislike his terms, disown his
royal dignity; and though we would acknowledge him our Saviour,
we make him an insignificant Lord. If we have no love to him and his
commands we have no faith in him.

Therefore they do not believe,

(1.) Who wholly neglect the means of grace. He that rejects his word,
rejects his person, because he rejects all the means of the discovery
of himself, which he after his ascension left upon the earth. What his
messengers declare according to his order and the rule of his word, is
as if he himself declared it; whence the apostle tells the Ephesians,
Eph. 1:17, that Christ preached peace to them; not by himself, for he
was never in person there, but by his apostle. Those that contemn all
the means God hath appointed, may be rationally thought not to
believe any one article of Christianity, though they usurp the name of
Christians. By the same reason that faith purifies the heart, it puts a
man upon all those means which may promote that purification, and
increase the vigour of a divine life. They that will not 'know the joyful
sound,' have no mind to 'walk in the light of God's countenance,' Ps.
89:15.

(2.) Who never look into the Scripture. Have they a faith in Christ
who have no mind to know his will? What a contempt of a prince
would it be to neglect the reading a kind letter from him, or a
commanding order! The gospel brings men to obedience by its
promises and threatenings, as by moral instruments: 2 Cor. 7:1,
'Having those promises, let as cleanse ourselves.' If we never look
into them, it is a sign we have no mind to believe them, or be under
the influence of them. When the credit of them is weakened, the
efficacy of them is lost; for no moral instrument can work without an
assent to it. Who can be said to believe in Christ, that hath no mind
to understand his doctrine, and read the records of his will? What
little credit hath God with us, when we do not constantly take hold of
that cord which God lets down from heaven to fetch our souls up to
him! The belief of an eternal life is little or none, if the Scriptures are
not searched, which point out the way to it, John 5:39. He that will
not dig into it, doth not imagine any treasure laid up in it, and
believes not anything of a legacy of grace in the will and testament of
Christ, that flings it at his heels, or only reads it as a story, and a
thing of course.

(3.) Who never pray to God, or content themselves with formal and
customary addresses to him. This sin of unbelief, being in its own
nature 'a departure from God,' Heb. 3:12, a total neglect of any
approach to him, or an unwillingness to have any commerce with
him, testifies this sin to be predominant in the heart. He scarce
believes there is a God, that will not offer him a spiritual sacrifice,
and give him in this duty the glory of all his attributes. Prayer is the
first act of faith, the vital act of the new creature; 'a spirit of grace
and supplication' are inseparable, Zech. 12:10; God gives not one
without the other. A still-born child is a dead child; a prayerless
Christian is a dead Christian, that hath nothing of the life of faith;
crying is natural to a child, it is not learned by art. Where there is a
full assent to the truths of the gospel (which is the first act of faith), it
engenders a vehement appetite for the benefits of it. Prayer is
nothing but a reducing this appetite into act, and proposing it to
God; the total omission of it, or constant slight performance, is a sign
of a dissent from the gospel. We cannot but be zealous for those
things we believe to be true and necessary; but when we think the
benefit will not recompense the pain and labour, we shall be cold and
dull. Where there is a performance of this duty out of natural
conscience, but a faintness and languishment in it, it is a sign of too
great a predominancy of it, Luke 18:7, 8. Christ, speaking of prayer,
and crying day and night, adds, that he should scarce find faith on
the earth at his second coming; they should be grown dull in prayer,
out of a belief that God would not avenge them.

(4.) Who never exercise any serious sorrow for sin. Where there is a
faith in Christ, there will be a delight in his law; and a delight in his
law cannot be without a resentment of the violations of it. It is
impossible he can seriously believe that Christ came to expiate the
sin of the world, the sin of nature, and the streams of it, that is not
affected with the evil of that sin which put Christ to such sorrow. As
the Spirit of grace and supplication are inseparable, so a look upon
Christ, and a mourning for sin, are undivided companions, Zech.
12:10; the sense of the sweetness of Christ is not without a bitterness
of soul. Every believer imitates Christ. If Christ groaned under it, he
will groan for it; he will look with a wet eye upon all corrupt
propensions to that which is contrary to him. If a true believer would
not have a lust live, he cannot but mourn, that notwithstanding all
his pains, he cannot make it utterly die. No man can believe that
Christ died upon the occasion of sin, and condemned sin by his
death, that doth not grieve that ever he cherished such an enemy to
Christ, and lament also that it is not thoroughly executed as well as
condemned. If we believe he is risen, should we not bewail our clogs,
which hinder us from following him in a resurrection to a newness of
life? Faith and love are inseparable both in habit and act. Peter's
faith flagged before he denied his Master; his love did not revive till
his faith was out of its swoon; and both joining together presently
engendered a mourning for his sin; and we scarce find Paul, in his
highest exercises of faith, without humbling reflections upon his
former sin.

6. All that are wholly sunk into worldly affections are unbelievers. He
that hath an high opinion of the world's fulness, hath an opinion of
Christ's emptiness. Where men's longings are most for the goods of
the world, they are little or nothing for the benefits of the gospel;
they cannot amount to that hungering and thirsting, that vehemency
of desire, for the benefits of redemption by Christ. Would not he
neglect the lesser things that believed greater? Can any man be very
earnest to be temporally blessed, who believes Christ came to
purchase an eternal happiness? Would any man spend his time in
the making of puppets, that believed that, with as much earnestness,
he might gain a crown? Who would ever rake dunghills, that believed
a substantial treasure might be possessed at an easier rate? Who
would ever sell his birthright for a mess of pottage, that believed it to
be an excellent privilege? Who would drink of a puddle, that did
believe a fountain accessible to him? He cannot be a believer that
values everything above that Christ he pretends to believe in; that
thinks vain riches or pleasure worthy of industry, and overlooks the
blood and righteousness of Christ. I appeal to any, whether such can
be accounted believers. A filthy swine may as well claim the title. The
apostle joins the swinish belly-gods and the covetous earth-worms
together, among the professing Philippians, as 'enemies to the cross
of Christ,' Philip. 3:18, 19. Can enemies to the cross of Christ be
believers in a crucified Saviour, who is the formal object of faith?
Earth is the furthest distant from heaven, and earthy affections at the
greatest distance from Christ. Job approves the sincerity of his trust
in God, by not having confidence in the things of the earth, as well as
in avoiding the common idolatry of the age, Job 31:24–26. All our
revolts from God arise from two causes: unbelief of the blessings of
the gospel-promise, and deceitfulness of sin, in regard of the goods of
this world, Heb. 3:12, 13. To turn from God infers that there is not a
belief that he is an infinite good,* sufficient for our happiness, and to
be valued above all other things; and to turn to the creature, as if that
were the source of our blessedness, implies a deceitfulness of sin in
the understanding, i.e. wrong opinions of God and Christ, and the
things of this world. He that doth not make God his chiefest good,
but placeth his confidence in anything else, is an unbeliever; and he
doth not make God his chiefest good that thinks anything can make
him happy without God, or that thinks God alone cannot make him
happy without earth. If earthly things be preferred before
supernatural objects, it is easy to conclude such an one understands
not the excellency of that which he so slights. No man but will judge
him ignorant of the virtue and worth of a diamond, that believes a
brass ring to be of greater value, or chooseth a Bristol stone before it.
It is as impossible to believe in Christ, and rely upon the world, as to
love God and the world in an equal supremacy; the love of this is
inconsistent with the love of God, 1 John 2:15. If Moses had preferred
the pleasure of the Egyptian court and kingdom before the reproach
of Christ, it had been sufficient evidence of no faith in the Messiah,
Heb. 11:24, 26. Well, do we believe that the least particle of glory is
better than the empire of the whole world, and yet will not deny
ourselves the least pleasure for heaven? Do we labour without
ceasing, and with a world of trouble, for a little worldly pelf? this
could not be, if we did believe the excellency of Christ, that he came
to overcome the world, and hath writ contempt upon it, both in his
life and death.

7. Distrusters of the providence and promise of Christ, and

murmurers at his proceedings. There is a constant murmuring and
distrust which shews the reign of unbelief, as a partial murmuring
shews a relic of it: Ps. 106:24, 25, 'They believed not his word, but
murmured in their tents;' as if it were more desirable to be under the
Egyptian scourge than God's protection in the wilderness. This was
partial in Abraham; his faith faltered in the courts of Pharaoh and
Abimelech, when he would save himself by a lie, owning Sarah to be
his sister, who was his wife. But it is from a total unbelief, when there
is a despondency without seeking to God, when the heart faints, and
the hands are not lifted up, when men can weep and howl under
their afflictions, as totally undone, and be shut up in a perpetual
silence towards heaven like a senseless stake, when they venture
upon some forbidden path for their remedy, and move hell rather
than heaven for their relief. This was the posture of the heart of Job's
wife in that blasphemous advice to him: Job 2:9, 'Curse God and die;'
or a bloody mockery of him, if the words be translated, as some do,*
'Bless God and die.' You have served God indeed for a fine reward,
you had best go on blessing him still, and meet with death for your
pains. But are you so brutish as not to discern God's disaffection to
you, who else would never have reduced you to those extremities?
And by the like temptation, Satan hoped he should be our Saviour's
conqueror: Mat. 4:3, 6, 'Command these stones to be made bread.'
The voice from heaven which told you you were the Son of God, was
a mere illusion. Can the Son of God be exposed to such a condition as
to live in a desert, without refreshment for his hunger, and repose for
his body? Would a good father refuse bread to his famished child? If
you are therefore the Son of God, for whom the heavens were
opened, and upon whom the Holy Ghost visibly descended, turn
those stones into bread to appease your hunger: thus he tempted him
to impatience with his heavenly Father. Promises are not believed
where there are disputes against providence, and an unwillingness to
wait upon God for his wise conduct of affairs and successful event.
Faith crucifies discontents, and unbelief arms them against God and
others. When the soul is out-witted by the smallest crosses, and
questions the providence of God upon every occasion, as though he
had left the government of the world to chance and the power of
men, he hath little evidence to shew for his faith. How can we think
Christ stored with a fulness to redress our necessities, if upon every
light disappointment we murmur against him, and complain of his
want of truth and love? How can any trust him with their immortal
souls, when they will not trust him with their perishing concerns?
Can we believe he has shed his blood for the expiation of our sins
(the greatest affair his divine person could undertake) if we cannot
submit to him for our earthly comforts? If we resign not ourselves to
his wisdom for the management of these, we shall hardly believe his
merit sufficient for the purchase of other. This being the fruit of too
much anxiety, which is but the stream of this poisonous fountain,
evidenceth a man as little a believer as a heathen who knows nothing
of the provision made by Christ. By this Christ distinguisheth the
Gentiles from his disciples: Mat. 6:31, 32, 'Take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? and what shall we drink? and wherewithal shall
we be clothed? for after all those things do the Gentiles seek.' If there
be then a predominant impatience (which is a fruit of this
solicitousness, a quality proper to a Gentile), it will render the
professor of no higher elevation in faith than the pagans, who were
darkened in their mind, and in the rubbish of carnality. We cannot
think him a sufficient security for that part of us which must run
along with eternity, when we will not trust him with the little clay we
possess in the world. Little credit can be given to the promises of the
gospel, where there is a prevailing diffidence of his providential care.

8. Doubters of the grace of God in Christ. Not every doubt of

something contained in the word before it be clearly known to be in
the word; the Bereans had then merited a dispraise rather than a
commendation. If we do not examine things before we embrace
them, we may receive we know not what, and we know not why. Nor
are doubts for resolution and clearing things revealed tokens of
infidelity. Mary's question upon the angel's message to her of
conceiving Jesus, who should be called the Son of the Highest—Luke
1:34, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?'—was not a
question of unbelief, but of a desire of clearer information in the
manner how this should come to pass. Nor are strong motions of
questioning the being of a God, the truth of redemption, and
faithfulness and fulness of the promise, testimonies of infidelity,
provided they be abhorred and repelled with an holy indignation.
Christ had then been an atheist himself, and a distruster of the
promises made by the Father to him, who was as strongly moved to it
by Satan, as also to fall down and worship that head of rebellion, as
ever any man was, Mat. 4. Nor are those doubts which arise at the
first conversion, and beginnings of faith, when the state of the soul is
like to that of the twilight, a mixture of light and darkness. Nor those
which sometimes assault strong believers, as when Asaph doubted
whether there were any mercy left in God, when he imagined God
had barred up any motion of his bowels towards him. This was a
start of passion, a pang of unbelief, not an evil heart of unbelief; his
infirmity: Ps. 77:10, 'This is my infirmity.' A divine spark may live in
a smoke of doubt before it springs into a flame; this is a partial
unbelief, because there is imperfectio actús. But when there is a
prevailing doubting of the goodness and truth of the gospel, which is
the property of an absolute unbelief; or though this be not
questioned, yet there is a doubt of the relation and extent of the
promise as to our particular, till the soul closeth with the promise of
God in the gospel, it is an unbelief.* It is not like Peter, who
staggered when he began to sink, yet casts a look and sends forth a
cry to Christ, acknowledging his sufficiency: Mat. 14:30, 'Lord, save
me.' But the soul is like a ship tossed with the waves of the sea,
without an anchor, dashing against every rock and upon every shelf.
It stays not on Christ in the midst of those doubtings, but like Cain
cries out, 'My sin is greater than I can bear,' Gen. 4:13. This is an
utter rejection of the abundance of grace, and a scanty contracting
the infiniteness of God's mercy and Christ's merit, as though our
iniquity were more efficacious than divine goodness. Though this is
not so openly frequent among us, there being more presumers than
despairers, yet this is included in a recourse to anything but Christ.
When we are sensible of the fiery tempest of God's indignation for
sin, as though there were not shadow and shelter enough under the
wing of the Lord Jesus, there is not a belief that he is able and willing
to save all those that come to him, but jealousies of God and of the
authority and divinity of the Scripture entertained and cherished, as
when we are jealous of a friend, we shall be so far from believing
him, that we shall misconstrue the plainest and clearest declarations
he makes; as the Israelites, under the promise of mercy and
experience of a deliverance, imagined God intended nothing but
their destruction; that the mercy of manna, quails, and water in the
wilderness, were the presages of God's anger with them. Such
habitual doubts and habitual misconstructions, are evidences of
habitual unbelief. All unhumbled persons are not only to doubt, but
despair, of the grace of God while they remain in that condition, and
wallow in the mire of the old Adam. God doth not require that we
should immediately rely on Christ without falling out with sin, nor
can there be a relying act of faith without a resigning act; but when a
soul is deeply sensible of its undone condition, accounts itself guilty
before God, and will not reach out a hand to lay hold upon the
promise of the gospel, nor bring a vessel to receive its treasures;
though such may be in the way of faith, yet they are at present in a
state of unbelief, confusion, and darkness, and at best like meteors
hanging in the air, and fixed nowhere. They understand not the
perfections of God shining forth in Christ as an object of trust and
confidence. As some doublings are a sign of little faith—'Why doubt
ye, O ye of little faith?'—so habitual doubtings are a sign of a want of
faith. When we question the whole tenor of the gospel, and reason
against the design and intention of it, we cannot in that act be
accounted believers.

We might further instance

In hypocrites. No man could be so prodigiously mad to put on a

mask and personate the outward garb of a convert, without
endeavouring after the inward frame, if he did believe the
declarations of the gospel in its commands, promises, and
threatenings.

In apostates, that begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh; who have
an Hosanna for Christ one day, and, upon a turn of the wind, Crucify
him the next; that seem to value his blood in their hearts, and shortly
trample it under their feet; that take their leave of him when the sun
shines hot, or the storms blow hard, and prefer sin before the
reproach of Christ, imagining that to embark in the same bottom
with him is to be cast away for ever. Such a generation is adulterous,
Mark 8:38; they absolutely violate the covenant, and declare they
have no mind to keep it. When our professions rise and fall according
to a worldly interest, it is a faith like the motion of a weather-glass.
All indeed who have not the operations of faith are unbelievers. Faith
is an active thing, and can no more lie idle than fire in an heap of
tow.

III. The third inquiry is, What are the causes of unbelief?

1. Original corruption. From the womb we go astray from God, Ps.

58:3. Departure from God is rooted in our nature;* it grows with us
in the womb, springs with us into the world. An evil heart of
infidelity is as old as our life. We are as much disputers against the
promises of God by nature, as we are rebels against the law of God,
and have as little reliance upon his truth, as we have conformity to
his holiness; as little will to be beholden to his mercy, as we have to
acknowledge his sovereignty. Our whole man is enmity to him; and
the object of our enmity is not one, but all, the perfections of God.
The state of our hearts is such by nature that we are more prone to
believe anything, though an irrational and idle fable, than the truth
of God. Adam did so, and our misery is that we are his children, and
exceeding like him. He would stand by the strength of his own
understanding, and aimed at a self-sufficiency more than life. He
might have eaten of the tree of life, which, say some, was a type of
Christ, from whom he was to expect his confirmation, and to whom
he was wholly to subject his understanding. It was by Christ as his
head, though not as the seed of the woman, that Adam was to be
confirmed in an innocent state, as well as the angels are by him
confirmed in a perpetual grace and blessedness. If it be so (which I
do not assert, though it would deserve consideration), our unbelief of
Christ, and the benefits offered by him, runs more directly in a blood,
and is more rooted in our nature, than any other sin. It is certain that
the first sin was pride, and unbelief of God's threatening. But upon
this notion his sin was a refusal of Christ as the root of his standing,
to settle himself upon his own bottom, and not wait for his
settlement from the wisdom of God, by whom he was created. And,
as we have declared before the probability of this being the first sin
of the devil, so it is not unlikely but that this was the first sin of
Adam, by the temptation of the devil, endeavouring to engage man in
his party against the Son of God. But that the tree of life was a type of
Christ, the Scripture seems to deny, Gen. 3:22; the reason rendered
of his expulsion from paradise was, lest he should eat of the tree of
life. And God would not have hindered him from acts of faith on the
seed of the woman, which he had so lately promised and proposed to
him as an object of faith.

But howsoever this be, there are two effects of the depravation of
nature that are the causes of unbelief.

(1.) Darkness of the understanding, Eph. 4:18, whereby it is unable to

see and judge of the spiritual objects presented to it, as the eye
possessed by a beam is to exercise a visive faculty. Though a natural
object hath such excellent qualities, that if it be understood, it will
attract the will and affections to it, and open the arms of the other
faculties for the embracing it; yet if the mind be ill disposed, and
doth not judge of that object according to its merit, it will refuse it: as
offer a man gold and diamonds, who understands not their worth, he
will not be allured by them: a vitiated mind can as little behold the
beauty of spiritual things, whereby to embrace them with
satisfaction. There must be a concurrence of both the plainness of
the object, and the clearness of the mind, for uniting them together.
Though the sun shines in its glory in the firmament, yet if the eye be
blind, there is no perception of it, or rejoicing in it.* As the apostle
saith of the Jews, 'They would not have crucified the Lord of glory,
had they known him,' 1 Cor. 2:8, so men would never reject the
gospel, were they sensible of the excellency of it. What hinders them
from seeing and acknowledging it but sin, which hath blinded their
minds? as nothing hinders a man from admiring the brightness and
lustre of the sun but the want of his eyes. Vain things are the objects
the mind made vain by sin doth only understand, and such things it
hunts after for satisfaction. Since it is alienated from the life of God,
it perceives not the light of God. And this natural darkness is too
thick and powerful for the light or beams of the gospel which shine
into it, without a spiritual illumination, and an opening the inward
eye by the same almighty power, which can only restore the eye of
the body when the light of it is wholly extinct: John 1:5, 'The light
shined in darkness,' i.e. upon the dark minds of men, 'but the
darkness comprehended it not.' From this darkness of mind springs
that alienation from the life of God, or that life which we should live
by the faith of the Son of God, Gal. 2:20; so that they do not desire
the spirit of revelation, which can only open the eye, renew them in
their minds, and make them capable of discerning the excellency of
spiritual objects. When Adam was in innocence, he did not judge
rightly of what he ought; there was a flaw in his understanding,
whereby he did dissent from the truths of God's command. So the
corruption of our nature is first and primarily in our understanding,
and flows from thence into the lower faculties, as many diseases do
from the head by catarrhs into the members of the body.

(2.) Perversity of will, whereby it withstands the impressions of

truth, and beats them back, as the hardness of a wall doth the ball
flung against it,* and runs as much counter to the will of God's
mercy, whereby he would gratify us, as to the will of his authority,
whereby he would have us serviceable to him. This is expressed by
the apostle in the same place: Eph. 4:18, 'Through the blindness of
their hearts (πώρωσιν).' The word translated blindness, signifies
properly a callousness or hardness, and it is so translated, Mark 6:52,
'They considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was
hardened;' and John, 12:40, where the hardness of the heart, which
is expressed by this word, is distinguished from the blindness of their
eyes. There is a callousness and brawniness in their heart, whereby it
is rendered insensible of spiritual mysteries. The enmity to God is
seated in the will; it is seated by the apostle in the mind, Rom. 8:7; it
is indeed radically there, as liberty is, but formally in the will. We
cannot be said to be enemies to any with our understanding, but in
regard of prejudices, principles, wrong notions, which give birth and
breeding to that aversion we have in the will to anything; and the
Scripture lays our not coming to Christ upon the obstinacy and
inflexibleness of our wills altogether; which is evident in that when
God hath expressed himself in the most indulgent manner, offering
those blessings which man in his lapsed condition is in absolute need
of, which his own reason in some measure informs him he wants,
and when his own heart tells him in his retirements he can have no
true acquiescence in anything below; yet there is a backwardness to
entertain the gospel with choice affections, a refusal of that with
contempt which should be entertained with joy; not only an
indisposition in the will to receive it, but a contrary disposition and
stout-heartedness against it, which makes them 'far from
righteousness,' Isa. 46:12; a love of darkness, and resistance of light;
that though the word be in part understood, the heart is not
presently converted. The chains of sin are affected by the soul, it
resists Christ when he comes to file them off, loves the bondage of
the one better than the service of the other. 'It is 'desperately wicked,'
Jer. 17:9; it hates Christ for speaking the truth, for pressing a return
to God; it desires not the knowledge of God's ways, and likes not to
retain God in its knowledge. From this depravation of the will it is
that the gospel meets with the greatest opposition when it first sets
footing in a place, or is presented to a person; as there is the greatest
cold in a morning (say some) about the time of the rising sun,
because the vapours exhaled are resisted by the sunbeams, which,
being not powerful enough to conquer and dispel them, do
accidentally unite and strengthen them. So all the sin in man's heart
rouseth and arms itself against that gospel which would destroy it.

2. Insensibleness of our state is another cause of unbelief. A

congealed soul can no more receive the gospel, than frozen flesh can
take in salt, whereby it may be preserved. The Pharisees would not
believe but that they could clearly see, though they were absolutely
blind: John 9:40, 'Are we blind also?'

(1.) Insensibleness of our lapsed condition, and the miseries

attending it. We have a notion of the fall of man, the propagation of
his corruption to us by generation; but the notion in our minds, and
a suitable impression upon our hearts, do not meet together: our
heads and hearts are at a greater distance in regard of the influence
of the one upon the other in this case, than the heavens from the
earth. If we understood the deplorableness of it, it were impossible
but we should seek for a remedy; and when we can find no other to
satisfy our curiosity, we should acquiesce in the way of the gospel as
the fullest, safest, and most gratifying medicine. The physician is not
valued when sickness is not felt; when we understand not ourselves
'poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked,' it is no wonder that we
account the gospel foolishness; and no man can do any other till he
feelingly understand what he lost, and what he contracted, by Adam.
This was the great obstacle in the Jews; they so prided themselves in
their noble extraction from Abraham, that they never remembered
they were the offspring of Adam: John 8:33, 'We are Abraham's seed,
and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou, Ye shall be
made free?' Do we sensibly understand how much we have incurred
the displeasure of the Lord, defeated the end of our creation,
enslaved ourselves to vile lusts, subjected ourselves to the devil, the
most desperate rebel against God, and the incendiary of the world?
Are we sensible how by Adam's transgression of the precept, we, as
well as himself, are exposed to all the curses of the law, become guilty
before God, as full of a stout enmity against that God we have
offended, as we are full of a thick ignorance how to work out our
reconciliation with him? Are we sensible that we lie in our blood, are
estranged from the life of God and holiness of God, possessed by a
carnal mind and a perverse will, overgrown with poisonous weeds in
our nature, and jolly with that sin which is the cause of our misery?
These are the things the apostle preacheth, Rom. 3, before he insists
on the doctrine of faith, intimating that the only way to faith was a
due impression of that wretched condition by nature; and the great
cause of unbelief is an insensibleness or inconsideration of it; and
Christ intimates in that sweet exhortation, Mat. 11:28, 'Come unto
me, all you that labour and are heavy laden,' that men must feel the
weight and load of the curses of the law, before they will have
recourse to the refreshments of the gospel.
(2.) Insensibleness of the severity of God's justice. We fancy a God
made up only of mercy, without reminding ourselves of his wrath,
and think that, because he hath put bowels into creatures, he hath
nothing but bowels in himself to the worst of rebels. Are we sensible
of the steadiness of his truth to the word of his threatening, the
dearness of his honour to him, and the dreadfulness of his wrath?
Will God make a nullity of his own threatening, bear the affronts of
his creatures, suffer the honour of his law to lie without regard in the
dust; let the creature triumph in rebellion, and add to his former
ingratitude new darings of heaven? How can we forget to mind the
punishment due to our sin? How can we think the great God, the
pattern of all excellency in his creatures, can be guilty of that
weakness and falseness to his own honour as to break his word, and
that his justice so heinously provoked, presently after his goodness
had put his creature into a condition of serving him, as well as
arming against him, should tamely put up the injury? Yet this is the
true cause of unbelief; we consider not the power of his wrath (Ps.
90:11, 'Who knows the power of his anger?'), believe him not to be a
consuming fire, and understand not the greatness of his anger in
such a measure as it is to be feared.

(3.) Insensibleness of our own insufficiency to free us from this

miserable condition, and the necessity of some other remedy than
what our own nature, or all other human assistances, can furnish ns
with. Are we not naturally insensible that we have contracted a
weakness of our satisfying one tittle of the law? that we can increase
our debts and pay none, under an impossibility of remedying
ourselves, or proposing a remedy to our offended Creator? Alas! we
neither feel our wants nor know how to find supplies. We cannot
satisfy that justice we have provoked, nor content that holiness we
have displeased. We know not how to reduce ourselves to that God
from whom we have wandered, nor regain that heaven we have
forfeited. It is as impossible for us to find a place of rest, to which we
might invite our souls to return, as it was for the dove sent out of the
ark to find a place where to set her foot while the waters were upon
the earth. This kind of inconsiderateness was the cause of the Jews'
unbelief; they rested in the shell of their sacrifices, their outward
washings, and purifications, and lifeless ceremonies, which had as
little ability to bring them to God, as by nature they had a will to
come to him: John 5:45, 'Moses, in whom you trust.' They trusted
not in the person of Moses, but in the doctrine delivered, and
ordinances enjoined, by Moses. What sinful or innocent creature
hath so much power or favour as to interpose for us? Can any man be
able to answer the just demands of the law, or stop the cries of it, by
bearing the punishment it requires? Can we remove the loads of our
guilt, and stifle the cries of our innumerable sins against us? If we
consider the nature and circumstances of sin, the nature of the
majesty offended, should we not be sensible that no created strength
was able to pay our debts, or bear our punishment and secure our
standing? But we are insensible of this; we naturally think a few
outward devotions, a pack of legal services, glavering prayers, and
heartless reformations, can make God a compensation for all the
affronts he hath sustained from us, retrieve our loss, and uncloud the
face of God; and we apprehend not how sin hath mastered our
faculties, and rendered them impotent to any perfect obedience, and
unable to effect the everlasting redemption we absolutely need.

It is this, then, is another cause of unbelief. We believe not that we

sprang from Adam, or else we believe not that Adam was so putrefied
a root as the Scripture represents him to us. And how can the second
Adam appear beautiful to any who is not sensible of the deformity of
the first, and his own filthiness by him? Who would look for an eye-
salve, that believed himself perfect in the organs of sight, or search
for a treasure, who thinks he hath wealth enough already by him?
The want of conviction by the law is the cause of the want of
conversion to the gospel. We know not the disease, and therefore we
regard not the remedy. Had we due apprehensions of this, we should
be restless till we had an account of some salvation from it, to escape
the wrath of God which is due to such a state. Let each man of us,
therefore, in our private retirements, fancy ourselves in the stead of
Adam, each woman of us in the state of Eve, and consider what we
should have thought after God's conferring a being upon us with so
much honour, our committing an offence with so much heinousness,
and the terrors of conscience, and fears of punishment felt in
ourselves. If we had a full sense, as they had, of the blessedness they
had lost, the misery they had contracted, with what affectionate
devotion and greediness should we enclose in the arms of our souls
the offended Redeemer, with all his conditions! as no question they
did the promise of the redeeming seed, which could only pacify their
lately offended Creator, and calm their stormy consciences.

8. Pride of corrupted reason. Hence ariseth the opposition to, and

slight of, the gospel, in great wits and the princes of the wisdom of
this world. They cannot believe anything which hath not some
affinity with the false principles rooted in their minds, nor with the
interest of their wills and passions. They contemn the revelations of
God, because they are not suited to the opinions and notions of
decrepit nature. The disproportion of the truths of the gospel to the
principles of the received philosophy, made the Greeks count it
foolishness in regard of the design of the sufferings of Christ, which
had not entered into the heads of any of the masters of their sects, 1
Cor. 1:23.

(1.) This was the cause of the Jews' opposition to Christ. As the
Greeks expected a doctrine savouring of the wisdom of their
philosophy, so the Jews expected a Messiah with a magnificent
retinue; and therefore the preaching of a crucified Christ was a
scandal to them, because of the ignominy of the cross, contrary to the
reason or fancy whereby they conducted themselves in the
expectation of him. And the greatest wits among them, the pharisees,
dashed upon this rock, John 9:40, 'Are we blind also?' We know the
common people are ignorant, but will you charge us with ignorance
of the mind and will of God, who are so far above their rank? But,
ver. 40, Christ tells them, because they boasted of their wisdom, their
sin, i.e. their unbelief, remained. The pride of their knowledge was
the mother and nurse of their incredulity. The opinion of the
excellency of the law given by Moses, above any revelation
whatsoever, fixed them in this sin. They always fenced against the
edge of Christ's and the apostles' discourses with their arrogant brags
of Moses: John 9:28, 'We are Moses his disciples.' 'We know that
God spake unto Moses.' The great doctors of that nation deride the
Son of God, while the people adore him; the insolent disciples of
Moses condemn him as a seducer and a partner with Beelzebub,
while the simple-hearted receive him as the great prophet and son of
David, and submit their reasons to the declarations of God; the wise
men of the Jews crucify him, while the wise men of the east, the
shepherds of Bethlehem, with the wisest creatures in heaven, the
angels, rejoice and worship him.* Men swelled up with an opinion of
their science, are unfit for faith. This is one of the strongholds
exalting itself against the knowledge of God. The babes, and not the
wise and prudent men, conceited of their natural wit, have, by the
grace of God, the fullest store of the mysteries of the gospel, while he
lets others fall, by the subtleties of a proud knowledge, into the
snares of the devil. They will not believe, lest they should incur a
censure of folly, imprudence, and credulity, though they have a
rational ground of believing.

(2.) No question but this is a secret let in many among us. Though
they cannot in reason deny the being of such a person as Jesus,
cannot but own his miracles, life, death, and the wonders wrought by
the apostles, because the testimonies of them are undeniable. Such
as believe not this, must believe nothing, not that there is such a
country as Spain, East Indies, America, which they never saw; nor
believe that there were such persons as Alexander and Cæsar, which
were conquerors of nations, which they have only by report; since
there are more evidences that there was such a person as Christ, such
doctrines taught, such miracles wrought, confessed by the enemies of
the Christian religion among the heathen, and to this day by the
Jews. But their reasons are nonplussed in the doctrine how Christ
should be the eternal Son of God, of one substance with the Father,
that the divine and human nature should be so miraculously united
without confusion of properties, how an innocent person should die
for offenders, that God would not pardon by a free act of grace
without a satisfaction, that he should exact it of his Son, and by so
bitter a death as that of the cross. These things have no footing in the
common received principles of rationalists; and men are loath to
captivate their reasons to the obedience of faith.

But how unreasonable is this pride of reason, upon which the

unbelief of many is founded! Because we can understand some
things, are our reasons capable of everything? Are they as infinite
and unlimited in their capacities as God himself? Do we not owe that
respect to our Creator as to believe he might keep some things to be
revealed at what time he pleased, and that the discovery of his
infinite wisdom might exceed our scanty comprehensions? Would
not such rational men skilled in astronomy, laugh at those that
should measure the greatness of the sun, and moon, and stars by
their eye? If sense be too weak to comprehend the things that belong
to reason, may not reason be as much too weak to comprehend the
things that belong to revelation? If there be some things above our
sense, why may there not be as many things, or more, above our
reason? A man's eye cannot behold that which an eagle's can. As
reason cannot comprehend the unbounded essence of God, no more
than a man, if he were near the sun, could grasp it in his arms, so
neither can it comprehend all the revelations of God, no more than a
man can enclose all the beams and emissions of the sun in his eye,
the infinite wisdom of God being infinitely more above our reason
than the sun can be above our sense. We have natural proofs that
there is a God, but have we capacities to comprehend the infinite
perfections of his nature? Can we understand the depths of his
wisdom, the lustre of his holiness, the steadiness of his truth, his
boundless immensity, and the abyss of his counsels? We know he is,
and hath all this; but we know not how nor the manner of his acting.
So we have rational proof that the Scripture is the word of God, that
the Christian religion is the revelation of God; but shall we, therefore,
think to span and measure all the discoveries of God in Christ? As
the nature of God cannot, so neither can the actions or truths of God
be grasped in our reason, no more than the waters of the ocean can
be included in a nutshell. If men's reason will not own revelation till
they understand the manner of all the truths revealed, they must be
unbelievers for ever. If they were admitted into heaven in that state,
with as great a perfection of reason as Adam had, they could no more
have a full view of those things than the angels have of God, who (we
know) cover their faces before him; Isa. 6:2; 'His ways are above
ours, his thoughts above ours,' and his wisdom infinitely above our
reason, Isa. 55:8, 9. Besides, the natural light of the understanding is
impaired by the fall (not to speak of the loss of that supernatural
light man had), and men must not think to be as apprehensive and
comprehensive of the reasons of things as if they were in innocence;
as if any man could see things as clearly with a beam in his eye as he
could if he had a clearness of sight and a fulness of spirits. Let us not
think we can comprehend the revelations of God, till we can
comprehend the nature of creatures. If men could fully understand
the latter, yet those are but natural things, and will not infer that
men can comprehend heavenly mysteries by earthly reason. Unbelief
springs not from the incredibleness of the object, but the weakness of
the eye, and a foolish opinion that it is clearer and sharper than it is.
As in the text, the things were true which Christ spake concerning the
necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, i.e. believing in
him; but their understandings were weak, and could not conceive of
them as Christ meant them, and were more fond of that they
esteemed reason, than ready to wait submissively upon him for
further information, though they counted him a prophet sent from
God, by reason of his miracles, which might have overruled their
foolish imagination of his discourse.

(3.) This pride of reason is manifest in humbled persons at the

beginning of a gracious work upon them. How ordinary is it for them
to reason themselves from taking hold of the promise of life in
Christ, find out witty inventions against the mercy of God, support
their unbelief with pretences of unworthiness, wrest the promise to a
contrary sense to what God intended it, as Manoah argued from the
appearance of God that they should die, Judges 13:22, and indulge
any ungrounded imagination against the promise of God! A corrupt
nature, and a weak understanding, meeting with a doctrine so
sublime, render us liable to mistake; as the weakness of our eye,
when the height of an object transcends it, is the reason of
misconceptions. The transcendent excellency of the thing promised,
being in itself so glorious, and the soul finding itself so vile, the
proffer is as a dream to it, as the greatness of the deliverance was to
Sion, Ps. 126:1. When men are soundly convinced of the nature and
evil of sin, they become vile in their own eyes, their sin galls them,
the law terrifies them, the notions of God's justice are awakened in
them, and lie close to them; they are sensible of the degenerateness
and rebellion of their nature; they think God cannot but hate them,
and they expect from him only the severity of a judge; and when
evangelical mercy is declared, it seems incredible to them, because it
exceeds their nature and dispositions; the greatness of the mercy
proffered, makes them stagger; they believe not God to be so
merciful, because they cannot be so (for in all conditions of men, it is
natural to limit God according to their own petty dimensions, and
not elevate their thoughts to his, but judge of his thoughts by theirs);
and although his mercy is above the mercy of a creature, we are apt
to think his nature as uncapable of a largeness as our own. Since man
is become vain in his imaginations, he is apt to measure divine things
according to those principles which are in his own fancy. Hence God
calls to men to forsake their thoughts, their disparaging conceptions
of him, since his thoughts were different from theirs, as much as the
heavens from the earth, Isa. 55:7–9. He had higher thoughts of good
to them, than either they had for themselves, or could think God had
for them. Thus the greatness of the provision God promised the
Israelites in the wilderness, made Moses his faith dizzy, he could not
imagine how God should send food for such a vast number as six
hundred thousand men, besides women and children, for the space
of a month: Num. 11:21, 22, 'Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered
together, to suffice them?' The greatness of the thing dazzled his
thoughts, which were not proportioned to the mighty power of God,
and measured the infinite majesty by a created line. Such humbled
persons are like the disciples, who believed not the resurrection of
Christ for joy when he appeared among them, Luke 24:41; there was
a twilight of faith, but obscured by the darkness of reason, the
strugglings of this obstructed the victorious breaking out of the
other. They had known their Master dead, his heart pierced, his body
buried, they thought they saw him now present among them; their
joy sprang up at the sight, but they could not tell how to believe it
was he, against so many natural sentiments which might start up in
them. Thus poor souls, scorched by the apprehensions of the curse
due to their sins, hearing the greatness of mercy, wish it were so
great as it is reported; come after, upon a nearer approach to the
object, to hope it is so. But as too great an object dissolves the spirits,
the strength of the sense, as the lustre of the sun dims the eye, the
greatness of the sound deafens the ear; so the transcendent
excellency of the spiritual object overpowers the understanding. It is
this, therefore, puts God to his oath, that as he lives he hath no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, Ezek. 33:11; it was after an
objection made by them, ver. 10, that if their transgressions were
upon them, and they pine away in them, how should they then live?
It is by an oath too that he settles our high priest, that we might have
a strong consolation, which our scanty and suspicious natures, when
once awakened, would scarce admit of. All this doth arise from a
fondness of our own reason, or rather rooted imaginations exalting
themselves against the wisdom of God, and a natural corruption
whereby man is desirous to darken the glory of God. To produce,
therefore, and excite faith, to quell and conquer unbelief, let us look
only to the word, as God sends them to the word who measured the
thoughts of God by their own: Isa. 55:11, 'So shall my word be that
goes forth of my mouth;' consult not flesh and blood; follow not the
ignis fatuus of our own corrupted reason, a thing compacted only of
earthly vapours. He that seduced the reason of Adam, when it was
innocent, will much more be able to mislead ours when depraved
and filled with a thousand follies. Let all our whys and wherefores be
subjected to the word.

4. A self-fulness and conceit of ability, high opinions of other things,

and resting upon them. This was a bane of the Jews, an outward
observance, a bodily compliance with the commands of God; they
thought enough to bear them out before his exact tribunal. This was
the righteousness of the pharisees, which Christ would have ours
exceed, Mat. 5:20; this was the righteousness the Jews pursued,
whereby they missed of the other, Rom. 9:31, 32. Their seeking after
righteousness by the works of the law, hindered their pursuit of it in
a way of faith.

Two things are to be considered in this:

(1.) Reliance upon outward privileges. The Jews bolstered up their

hopes by their pompous worship, their circumcision, the law and
ceremonies prescribed immediately by God to Moses, privileges
granted by God to no nation under heaven besides, Ps. 147:19, 20;
and upon the account of those, never left till they had brought the
Messiah to the cross and grave. As they had before resisted the
prophets who called them to the observation of the moral law above
the ceremonial, and commanded them to offer their hearts more
than their sacrifices to God, they dreamed of a justification by them,
and forgot the kernel. There were four names possessed the minds of
the Jews:*People; they thought God was so bound to the seed of
Abraham, and that his seed was so holy by the holiness of their
ancestors, that it was impossible for God to reject them, and choose
another people. The law; that they thought was so pleasing to God,
that whosoever observed it, was by that acceptable to God, and
righteous before him; hence it is that they so often boast of and
oppose their circumcision, and being the seed of Abraham, against
the prophets, Christ, and the apostles. The temple; they imagined
that God had fixed his perpetual habitation in the material temple,
and was so delighted with the stateliness and richness of that edifice,
that he could not be persuaded upon any account to desert it, and
choose a place of worship anywhere else: Jer. 7:4, 'Trust not in lying
words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The
temple of the Lord, are these.' They trusted in the temple as the
preservative of the city, and the security of the nation from
judgments, and therefore they constantly cried up the temple of the
Lord, against the threatenings by the prophets. Land of Canaan; they
imagined this land so delightful to God that he could not endure to
be worshipped in any other territory; and fancied that God was so
tied to that order of priesthood among them, that he would never
suffer them to err; and therefore boasted that the law should not
perish from the priest, nor the word of the Lord from the prophet.
This is the veil which is upon their hearts to this day, and darkens
their eyes from beholding the excellency of the gospel, and the true
interpretation of the design and meaning of their ceremonies. They
thought it enough to sacrifice their oxen, kindle their incense,
observe their feasts, and hold up their hands to heaven, though filled
with blood. Is not man as apt now to pin his hopes upon modes of
worship, the baptismal laver, lukewarm devotions, as if those indeed
did propitiate God, wipe off their guilt, and secure their souls, thus
making those things which are means, to be ends, centres,
foundations of blessedness? Do not the papists at this day depend
upon their sacrifice of the mass, the treasures, intercessions, yea, the
carcases, bones, rags of the deceased saints, pilgrimages to shrines
and sepulchres, as if those were expiations of sin and satisfactions of
justice, the rod of their strength, which is an impediment to their
settling their faith and confidence only in Christ!

(2.) Upon moral virtues. How many imagine that because of the good
things found in them, God cannot but receive them, though they set
not their faces toward, nor fix their eyes on Christ? They think they
have no need of the benefits of a Redeemer. Who will look after the
righteousness of another, when he thinks he hath enough in his own
chest to carry him out, he hath enough in his own bag to supply his
wants? Those that think they have no need of Christ, will cast him at
their heels. There are two sorts, wherein this natural confidence in a
self-fitness appears: such who exalt their own righteousness, and
think themselves too good to have any need of Christ; and such who,
after some conviction, think themselves not good enough to come to
Christ. One is so proud he will not be beholden to him, because he
hath a portion of his own; the other is so proud, that he will not be
beholden to him till he can bring something of a valuable
consideration; for that he expects to receive from him some box of
ointment to pour upon him; both which proceed from a natural
stout-heartedness against God. We would be Christ's partners, not
his almsmen, as if we envied him the sole glory of our justification.
Paul laid the whole weight of his soul upon the slender beam of his
own righteousness while he was a Jew in religion; but when he
became a Christian, it was then, 'Not I, but the grace of God in me.'
His circumcision, his being of the stock of Israel, of the sect of the
pharisees, and his righteousness in the law (all which he terms flesh),
were his gain before, but accounted his loss afterwards, Philip. 3:4–
7. And the reason of this is the ignorance of the perfection of that
righteousness which God requires, that his holiness cannot endure a
spot, that thousands of services and moral excellencies cannot make
a recompence for one sin; they understand not the exactness of God's
justice, the extent of the law in its precepts, nor the dreadfulness of it
in its curses; they understand not the nature of sin to be so great as
to need an atonement by the blood of God, or their righteousness to
be so foul as to need a covering before the holiness of God. If they
have not a notorious stench in their lives, they regard not the
noisomeness of the fumes in their hearts. A trusting in any fleshly
excellency is a cause of departing from God, Jer. 17:5, a robbing God
of the credit we ought to give to him. While we would make our own
peace, hew a prop out of our own rock, we shall never value, or place
our trust in, the Redeemer.

5. Affectation of worldly things. When Israel was grown fat and

plump, he 'lightly esteemed,' or disgraced, 'the rock of his salvation,'
Deut. 32:15, ‫ישועתו‬, his rock Jesus. The Spirit of truth, which
engenders faith in the heart, 'the world cannot receive,' John 14:17;
men of worldly principles and worldly affections. The whole world
followed antichrist, Rev. 13:3; not only the world in regard of
multitude, but in regard of the cause; men whose hearts were linked
to the world, and thirsted after a worldly grandeur. As the devil is the
god of this world, he blinds the eyes of men that believe not, 'lest the
light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine into them,' 2 Cor.
4:4. Not understanding that natural blindness which all men derive
from Adam, but some additional blindness contracted by his means,
as he was the god of this world; not physically, by quenching the light
of their minds, but morally, by presenting to them some false image
of the world in its allurements or affrightments, whereby they were
hindered from acknowledging the truth of the gospel, though clear in
itself, and resplendent as the light. He is called the god of this world,
not by right of possession, but as making use of the things of this
world to propagate and maintain his empire in the hearts of men; by
those, he bemists their understandings not to know the Redeemer.

Two things of the world are the roots of this sin.

[1.] The riches of the world, the objects of covetousness. The

pharisees, which were covetous, derided him after he had preached a
searching sermon against it, Luke 16:14. What made the young man
turn his back upon our Saviour, after some fair show of a willingness
to be his disciple, but the love of his possessions? Why did the
Gadarenes pray him to depart out of their coasts, but that they loved
better to remain with the devil than to live without their swine? What
restrained the invited guests from accepting the dainties provided for
them, but the immoderate affection to the husbanding a farm, and
proving of oxen? Mat. 22:5. Why did the third ground so easily part
with the word? Because they valued the profits and pleasures of the
world above the happiness it proposed. And why did the Jews
prosecute Christ to death, but because they feared the Romans
should come and take away their kingdom? And what was the reason
then, is no less a reason now; when the heart is stuffed up with the
dregs of earth, there is no room for the impressions of heaven.
Whoever is under the government of this lust, can no more believe
than a man lying under a heap of rubbish, or at the bottom of the sea,
can see the glory of the heavens. The intentness of the eye upon one
object hinders it from the view of another, and that may be more
excellent. When men hunt after the wealth of this world, they will
hardly gasp for the riches of another. They would make Christ a
happiness, by the by, when other things fail.

[2.] The honours of the world, the objects of ambition. This was and
is still the root of the Jews' opposition to Christ. They dressed up a
Messiah in their fancies, with the accoutrements of a gallant general
at the head of his troops, by his conquering sword to make them
lords of the world, and all other nations their slaves; and being full of
those vain-glorious hopes upon his coming, they were so enraged
against the person of Christ, because the meanness of his appearance
did not gratify their carnal expectations of grandeur. And though he
wrought many great miracles as testimonies of his commission,
whereby their judgments might have been swayed to a belief of him,
yet he not having that good they conceited, they rejected that good he
proposed. The meanness of his person was the occasion of their
contempt; he appeared as a despicable shrub, Isa. 53:2, 'as a root out
of a dry ground,' giving no marks of rising to a full-grown tree, to
shadow that nation from the fury of their conquerors: 'he hath no
form nor comeliness;' there is no comeliness like that of the Messiah
we expect, nor that splendour, wherein he seems to be promised.
There is neither the grandeur of the world in his person, nor the
eloquence of the world in his preaching. His discourse and practice
was to cast contempt and scorn upon it: he allured them not with the
sensual delights of the world. The corner-stone is therefore rejected,
because it squared not with that fabric of worldly greatness and
wealth they had erected. Had he promised them the pleasures of this
life, assured them they should set their feet upon the necks of their
enemies, the whole nation had listed themselves in his troops. They
cracked none of the promises to taste their spiritual sweetness; fed
only upon the husk, and never regarded sin, or any deliverance from
it. This stakes them down in their unbelief to this day; their eyes
cannot pierce to the spiritual things veiled under temporal promises;
they are so fond of the shell that they neglect the kernel; and though
they have seen their desires and hopes frustrated beyond the time
fixed by any of the prophets, yet this dazzling expectation flatters
them out of any thoughts of a Redeemer, but what is framed
according to their own model. What was that which made the
disciples flag in their faith after the death of Christ? The thoughts
that Christ was to redeem them, not from the tyranny of sin, but the
usurpation of the Romans. When they saw him dead, their hopes
were crucified and buried with him: Luke 24:21, 'We trusted that it
had been he that should have redeemed Israel.' Now they had no
trust left. What made some of the rulers (when they could not in
their judgments resist the force of the miracles) silence their
confession of him, but the 'loving the praise of men more than the
praise of God'? John 12:42, 43; and our Saviour tells them,' John
5:44, that one passionately affected to vain-glory doth not only not
believe, but cannot believe; it is not possible, while he is so disposed,
that he should pay to Christ any thing but a disdain. Ambition and
faith cannot join hands together; for faith humbles, and ambition
puffs up; faith glorifies God, and pride magnifies itself. None that
make their reputation their god, can endure anything which they
suppose will blemish it, and expose them to the scorn of the brave
spirits of their age.

We see then another cause of unbelief. 'Not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble,' 1 Cor. 1:26. Not many wise, because they
will not submit their reasons; not many mighty, δυνατοι,̀ or rich,
because they will not be weaned from their worldliness; not many
noble, because they will not sacrifice their honour. Pride and
covetousness have taken possession of the noblest parts of them;
pride of the understanding, and covetousness of the will. If we are
biassed by both, or either of those, we are as much deriders of Christ
in heart as the Pharisees were in their lies and gestures, Luke 16:14,
ἐξεμυκτήριζον; and we can no more believe in him now, if ruled by
those principles, than they did then who beheld the glory of his
miracles; they are both bars against any gospel faith, howsoever clear
the truth shines in the midst of men.

6. Sensuality and corrupt habits settled in the soul. The fleshly

interest hath produced evil habits, and strengthened them in the
souls of men; they become natural to them, and men are loath to be
divorced from them. 'Men love darkness rather than light, because
their deeds are evil, John 3:19; they are loath to see the vileness and
ugliness of their sins, as some are loath to behold the disfigurement
of their faces. Let light, the most excellent thing in the world, glare
upon one that hath sore eyes, he will shut his eyes against it, or turn
away from it; though he understands the worth of it, yet it is a quality
offensive to him in those circumstances. As the gospel is too clear for
a darkened mind, so it is too pure for depraved affections; as men are
wedded to this or that particular vice, they are estranged from the
doctrine and purity of the gospel. Those passions are dearer to them
than truth and goodness, they blear the eyes of their mind that they
cannot behold them, weaken the intention of the mind that it cannot
pursue the apprehension of them, and arm the powers of the soul in
opposition to them. Appetite imposeth upon the judgment. As there
is a conjunction or opposition between men's carnal affections and
points to be believed,* so is there an assent or dissent from them. If
there be anything in any part of the gospel which they can wrest to
favour their darling lust, they will esteem it as a sweet and delightful
voice. But when Christ offers to make them happy,† only he will take
away their vice; this they cannot endure; they will take their leave of
Christ, and love rather to live without him, than without the swine
which they idolise, Mat. 8:34. They would depend on his sacrifice,
but cheer themselves with their pleasures; they would be saved by his
cross, but ruled by their lusts; they would part the offices of Christ,
which God hath joined together, not to be separated for the pleasure
of the rebellious creature; they would lay hold on his promises, but
not observe his precepts; and have a faith of reliance without a faith
of resignation. To follow the conduct of our affections hinders a
conduct by the understanding, and consequently believing, since
faith is an intellectual act. The harp and the viol in the feasts hinder
any regard to the 'operations of God's hands,' Isa. 5:12, any serious
reflections on the designs of his providence in the world; much more
any sentiments of Christ, the sum and centre of all his providences.
Corrupt affections cloud the understanding, as vapours from the
stomach dim the eye. They are like coloured glasses, changing the
species of the object which is seen through them; ill judgments of
good things are engendered by them, because contrary to those
vicious habits which are rooted in them.

7. The devil. As the devil opposes the kingdom of Christ, so he

opposeth that which is the great prop of that kingdom. As he would
make Christ doubt whether he were the Son of God, so he would
make us doubt whether he were sent of God. The devil's sin seems to
be a rejecting of Christ as head, and therefore he endeavours to
conform men to his own image by unbelief, as God conforms his own
to the image of his Son by faith; and this contempt is so properly the
devil's image, that he is said to work more particularly in opposition
to Christ in the first times of the gospel: Eph. 2:2, 'Now works in the
children of disobedience.' Now that a crucified Saviour is preached as
head of the world, now that the Spirit works in men to draw the
lineaments of a divine faith, and restore them by it to the happiness
they have lost, so Satan works to hinder faith, that he might
perpetuate men in that state to which he at first reduced them; for he
knows there is no way of recovery but by faith; there is no way to
happiness but by a perfect obedience commensurate to every tittle of
the law, or a satisfaction for the breach of it; the first we cannot
perform, because we have offended; the second we cannot do by
ourselves, because we are creatures. God proposed not the way of
working to Adam for his repair after the fall, but that of believing in
the seed of the woman. If the devil, then, can keep us from faith, he
keeps us under his own empire, because there is no other means but
faith of settling us under another head. Besides, by keeping us from
this, he keeps us from paying any obedience to God. Without this
grace we can do nothing but sin, Heb. 11:6; and with it we may pay
him some poor kind of obedience in our own persons, and glorify
him in owning the obedience of another which he hath exposed to
suffering in our stead. Faith is all the weapons a man can have to
resist him, 1 Peter 5:9. He therefore will endeavour to hinder us from
it, or disarm us of it. If he cannot prevent it, he lays siege to batter it;
he will second the perverse reasonings we make against the grace of
God, and stake down the imagination to him. When we are in the
dregs of nature, he makes as believe our state is good; when we are
looking out of the pit, and begin to consider the proffers of Christ,
and the glory of another world, he stirs up an awakened conscience,
presents God as an armed enemy, and casts veils upon the merciful
bowels of God. As he sowed jealousies of God in the heart of Adam,
and endeavoured to plant suspicions of God in the heart of our
Saviour, Mat. 4, so he kindles and blows up ill apprehensions of God
in the hearts of men. All have a tendency to nuzzle them in good
conceits of themselves, and either to allure or bar them from faith in
the Redeemer.

IV. Use.

1. How lamentable is this frequency of unbelief! Is it not an

astonishment that the devil should find such strong inclinations in us
to his kingdom and our own misery, and Christ so little dispositions
to his own glory and our own happiness; that we should rather
choose to die slaves in the chains of the devil, than to live gloriously
in the bosom of a Saviour; that the Redeemer should be so willing to
shed his blood, and men's nature so averse from accepting it, upon
conditions as much advantageous for their own happiness as the
Redeemer's glory? Are not all the good things we enjoy from his
mediation—whatsoever natural light we have in our minds,
whatsoever good motions start up in our wills? Is it not a thing to be
bewailed, to be ignorant of him who is the procurer of such benefits?
Like the inhabitants of Egypt, who enjoy the streams of Nilus, and
the fruitfulness of their land thereby, and know not from what spring
the river doth first arise. If faith were a rich manor, a wedge of gold,
or a Babylonish garment, exhortations to it would be needless, the
desires of men would outstrip one another in the gain of it. Doth not
everything besides man obey Christ's voice; did not the winds, seas,
diseases, hear his voice, and march or stand still, at his pleasure; and
shall we only, who have reason to obey him, use our reasons to rebel
against him; we who are capable of believing in him, refuse a real
and practical credit to his word? Is it not sad, that many that profess
a kindness to him should hate him worse than their sins, worse than
their spiritual tyrant? Christ himself wonders, that when he 'told
them the truth,' they did not believe, John 8:46; when he made not
only a simple declaration, but demonstrated it by many signs, a truth
of the greatest moment which respected a blessed eternity! Thus it
was when his divinity, shining through his miraculous actions, might
have persuaded men to receive his doctrine with veneration; but not
only the obstinate sort rejected him, but some of his followers in the
text; and they are offended at his discourse, when they should rather
have charged their own ignorance. His miracles might well have
persuaded them there must be a divine meaning in what he
proposed, of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, though their
understandings were at present too short to comprehend it. Is the
world at a better pass now? Are the inclinations of men more natural
towards Christ than in that age wherein he lived? Do they not rather
seem to vie with Christ's voluntariness in undertaking redemption,
by their wilful disdain of the conditions of it? Why should not that
gospel, which hath been successful in many ages, in some of all
conditions, be received in all the terms of it? Why should not his
truth move us more, who have been bred and nourished among
Christians? Why should they affect us no more than fables? It is
lamentable that Christ, after so many proofs, miracles, and grace,
cannot be believed but by a few; that most should prostitute
themselves to vile temptations, let a Saviour stand without, while
they are playing the wantons with the roysting mates in their hearts;
as if the mercies he offered, were his crimes rather than his kindness,
and he wronged us by shedding his blood for us.

2. See the madness and folly of men under the gospel. What an
indifferency there is in many men whether they should believe or no!
What folly would it be for any to be indifferent whether he should
accept of life when he might have it upon honourable terms; to be
indifferent whether they should be saved or no? Is it not a folly in us,
and a high crime against God, to be so hardly brought to honour him
in that way wherein he hath honoured himself, and would advantage
us? Yet this is the folly of many men, yea, of most men. Is not that
man worse than brutish, that believes sin damnable, and yet is fond
of it; that believes God righteous, and yet offends him; that believes
God good, and yet abuseth him; that believes Christ a Saviour, and
yet honours him neither in heart nor life? Pretences are vain, if
practice be not accommodated to them. Such believe none of those
things, they believe not God good or righteous, sin damnable, or
Christ a necessary Saviour; they drive on to hell, and turn their backs
upon the only Redeemer, as if they envied themselves a happiness,
and Christ the honour of their salvation.

3. Let us examine ourselves whether we be true believers or no.

'Prove whether you are in the faith,' 2 Cor. 13:5. Much faith is
counterfeit; the colour and flame of fire may be so represented by the
art of man, that at a distance it may deceive our eye, but upon an
approach to it, and touching of it, we shall find nothing of the quality
of fire. Faith must be examined by the effects and fruits; what
displeasure with sin, what affection to Christ, what flames in the
heart, what regulation of the life? Let no man take his outward
honesty and morality to be faith; there may be much of that where
there is nothing of this. No reason to account all infidels that have
been rebels to Christ, and fools to themselves, to be false to men. We
may well suppose those in the text to be no debauched persons, they
had then forsaken Christ before, when he dissected, in several
discourses, the gross lusts of the world. Many civil persons may be
without a knowledge of the true intent, ends, and conditions of the
coming of Christ; they may own the person of Christ, and oppose the
Spirit of Christ, as well as the Jews owned the shadow of Christ, and
opposed the substance; acknowledged the types, and refused the
antitype. Try your faith by your love to Christ and his truth. It is the
common sentiment of men, that whatsoever thing a man counts his
sovereign good, he doth necessarily love, and it is impossible he
should do otherwise.* Men differ in their choice; one chooseth
pleasure, another honour, another wealth, some an image of moral
virtue; but, let it be what it will, the affections follow it. If any man be
convinced that God is the chiefest good, that Christ is the only
Redeemer, in whose death is our life, in whose resurrection is our
justification, and that this Redeemer can only bring us to the
enjoyment of God, our chiefest good, then the setting our chiefest
love upon God the centre, upon Christ as the means, is unavoidable.
If we believe those things really, it is as certain that we shall love God
supremely; and our love to Christ as the way, would be equal to the
desires of the enjoyment of God as the end. If there were many
means to bring us to it, there might be a debate which to pitch upon.
But if we believe there is but one, and that Christ is this true and
living way, that necessity which determines our love to the sovereign
good, will carry us to affect, and follow, and pursue the only means to
bring us to the fruition of it. If a man were desperately sick, and
knew of but one medicine to cure him, and believed the cure certain
upon the application, the love that he hath to his health would make
him affect and value the only means to procure it. Do our hearts
come under the influence and authority of the gospel? are the
counsels of God esteemed and treated by us as the greatest wisdom?
are the conditions of it entertained with readiness? do we rejoice in
the light and flames of it? do we stifle those fleshly suggestions that
would choke the appearance of it in our hearts, or stop us from
obeying the precepts of it in our lives? Is the person, death,
resurrection, yoke of Christ precious to us? 1 Peter 2:7; have we
works of faith as well as the professions of it? would we obedient to
his commands, as well as interested in the happiness of his
promises? John 14:21, 'He that hath my commandments and keeps
them, he it is that loves me.' Can we deny ourselves for him, our right
hand or right eye, whatsoever is dearest to us? offer up the most
affected corruption we have, to be crucified by the power of his
cross? These are the operations of faith. But is it so, that we have a
confidence in the flesh? that we are fond of a righteousness of our
own, or indulgent to some secret lust, and would rather break with
Christ than break with either? are we unwilling to come up to the
terms of Christ? we would accept some but refuse others; is there
anything more savoury to us than Christ? have we higher valuations
of the things of the world than of him? are we content he should bear
the divine wrath for us, but we would not imitate his divine
righteousness, or leave some endeared lust for him? would we have
his salvation, but put off the service of him to the dregs of our lives,
when we cannot serve ourselves? would we only serve our turn of
him, but pay no service to him? do we like his sacrifice and dislike his
service, love the sweetness of his cross, but not the weight of his
yoke? would we have the benefit of redemption with a liberty of
sinning, make the gospel the ground of our confidence, but not the
rule of our walk? While our wills are thus unconquered, we are
unbelievers. No man believes, that hath not a bended will to Christ,
even to his very feet. Our neglects of him render us guilty of this sin,
as well as our oppositions to him. The guests invited to the feast, did
not absolutely refuse to come, but made their excuses: Mat. 22:5,
they 'made light of it;' ἀμελήσαντες, were careless of it. What society
hath faith with profaneness or a resolution of disobedience? 'What
agreement hath Christ with Belial?' There are but two standards to
come under, Christ's or Satan's; Christ is only the public head
appointed by God. Who do we fight for? He that is not with him is
against him; he that is not with him by a gracious will, holy desires,
affectionate valuations, holy meditations, resolutions to cleave to
him, is against him, and no believer in him. No man can be in league
with Christ and the devil at the same time. As Christ said to the Jews,
'If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of
Abraham,' John 8:39; so if we are Christ's followers, we shall do the
works of Christ; works of obedience to him, and imitation of him.

4. Use is of exhortation.

(1.) Let us endeavour to be stripped of our unbelief. The least thing

we can be obliged unto, upon any declaration of God, is the belief of
it; an assent to the truth, and consent to the goodness. The law of
nature teacheth us, that every revelation of God is to be believed as
true, and embraced as good. We are as much bound to believe God,
because of his truth, as to love him because of his goodness. What
can be more reasonable than to turn to God, trust in him, accept of a
righteousness from him, that we may be freed from guilt, and glorify
his name? The owning the Christian religion (supposing there were
reasons to doubt of the truth of it), and a faith in Christ cannot
render a man worse than he was before. All confess the necessity of
an holy life, the approbations of it they have in their consciences. But
what infidel can say his life is agreeable in every particular to the
dictates of his conscience, and to the law of nature in him? what
infidel can imagine he may appear before God with confidence upon
the account of his own works, who knows he hath not paid a tribute
to him according to his law, according to his own sentiments of God?
Though he accounts God kind, because he sees the tokens of his
goodness in the world, yet he must account him just, who sometimes
sees the arrows of his vengeance darted in the world. If he hopes to
be happy by the mercy of God, is he ever the further from it by
believing in Christ as the way of communicating that mercy? The
satisfaction he thinks to make to God by a righteousness of his own,
his own conscience, if he will silently hear it, will tell him is not
perfect; is he ever the further from perfection by accepting of the
satisfaction Christ offers him in the word, which hath so many marks
of a divine stamp upon it, as may easily stagger him; is the
righteousness he builds upon impaired by it, or not rather advanced
to higher strains of love to God, desires to glorify him, referring all to
the Creator, whereby his own righteousness (though not thereby
satisfactory to God, or to be rested on, yet) is rendered more
agreeable to his own conscience, and more contenting to himself?
Faith in Christ impairs nothing that a man's conscience, upon just
ground, can call good and comely. But as for those who believe the
doctrine of the gospel, there is much more reason they should really
have that faith they pretend to. We confess God hath appointed no
other to be the Redeemer, why should we not believe it with our
hearts and affections, as well as confess it with our lips? Shall he who
we believe is advanced by the Father above the highest heavens, be
set lowest in our hearts? As there is but one God we must own, so
there is but one priest, one sacrifice we must rely upon, one king
whom we must obey. Pray therefore against your unbelief. As we
need a Christ to free us from the curse, so we need the Spirit to open
our eyes, that we may see our misery, the attainableness of
happiness, and the way to it, and that we may acknowledge all those
admirable qualities and suitableness in the Son of God to all our
necessities. We have as great an impotency to faith without grace, as
we have an emptiness of it by nature; there is such an estrangedness
from God, such an aversion to him, that not a man in the world
would ever turn to God without an overpowering grace. No man is an
unbeliever but because he will be so; and every man is not an
unbeliever, because the grace of God conquers some, changeth their
wills, and bends them to Christ. Every man's heart is by nature of the
same metal and temper; no man is more pliant than another, but by
the fire of grace melting him. Pray for it; God never denied it to any
wrestler with him; he knows how to give good things to them that ask
him, and are importunate for them. Pray for it as for your daily
bread; wait upon the means where grace pours forth itself. Lie at the
foot of the throne of grace for this necessary grace, and study much
the guilt of sin, the deformity of your souls by it, the extent of the
law, the justice of God, and the satisfaction of Christ in the gospel.

(2.) Let believers be ashamed both of their old unbelief and the
remainders of it in their hearts. Let us reflect upon ourselves, and
remember how Christ called us in his word, and how long it was ere
we listened to it; how he made some impressions on our hearts, and
the next temptation blotted them out; be offered his blood, and we
would have our sins; he promised heaven, if we would believe, and
we would have a hell; with what earnestness did he call, and with
what earnestness did we refuse; how gracious was he in his
invitations, and how perverse were we in our slightings! A great
Redeemer soliciting, and a vile wretch would not be entreated! How
often have we misunderstood his word, opposed his will, loathed his
ways, nor would admit of the levelling a mole-hill lust, much less a
mountain! Were we not like most in the eastern parts, that upon the
appearance of the star at the birth of Christ, did not stir to present
him with their services! Many might see the star, but only three wise
men followed the motions of it. How often hath a star risen upon us
to conduct us to Christ, darting out its motions to invite us to seek
our Saviour, and we have lain in our old country, our old sins, and
would neither bring ourselves, nor send our presents, to Christ! And
have we been loyal to Christ since he freed us from the chains of the
devil, and snatched us from the lion's paw; have we exercised that
faith he desired, and paid him that affection he deserved? Shall not
this be matter of shame to us? How little faith is there in the world,
and how much unbelief; how little faith is there in the hearts of
believers themselves, and how much unbelief! What complaints of
this sin have we often heard of in holy men, and that even the nearer
they came to God!
(3.) Watch against the stirrings and appearances of it. All God's
works, from the beginning of the world, have been to draw out our
hope and trust in him. He created man a noble creature, and made
the world for his service, that he might depend upon the goodness,
wisdom, and power of his Creator; he suffered man to fall into
misery, that he might give in redemption a stronger ground of
confidence in him, and encouragements of recourse to him; he
chased man out of paradise after his sin, that by experimenting the
miseries of the world, he might pitch his faith more upon the
promised seed; he delivered Israel from Egypt with a mighty hand,
an essay and type of what he would do in the deliverance of their
souls from a spiritual tyranny. At last, he sends his Son to die upon
the cross to satisfy for our sins, that no occasion might remain to
doubt of his goodness. It is a sin natural to us, therefore should be
watched against. The only people in the world acquainted with the
promises of God, and receiving the most eminent deliverances from
God, yet how did this sin creep in upon them against all arguments
to the contrary, and possess their souls! When they heard of the
strength of the Anakims, they consult about returning to Egypt, and
would rather submit to the mercy of a provoked enemy, than depend
upon the promise of a tender and faithful God. They lose the benefit
of the former experience of God's kindness. They had seen the
Egyptians sinking to death in the waters, and they think the same
power cannot match the Anakims upon land; he had spread a table
for them in the wilderness, and they think he cannot as well whet a
sword to defend them against their enemies, as though his power
were spent upon the Egyptian carcases. How soon doth a sottish fear
starve their faith? The promise of their deliverance from Egypt well
performed, did not make them expect the donative of the land of
Canaan promised to them by the same word of truth from God, who
had as much power to perform the latter, as to accomplish the
former. Watch against this sin therefore: a sin, as well as an enemy
that is slighted, is most dangerous, and often victorious. Grow in the
knowledge of God and Christ; the more we know him, the more we
shall trust him. Our confidence in a man increaseth, as our
acquaintance with his honesty and ability advanceth. The grounds of
faith are the perfections of God, and the actions and sufferings of
Christ; the more ignorant we are of them, the less we shall confide in
him. Check unbelieving suggestions at the first appearance; such
weeds if suffered to be set will quickly grow. Oppose the truth of God
to the suggestions of Satan; Satan is a false spirit, but he is not more
false than God is faithful. Take heed of predominant suspicions of
God's fidelity, and Christ's sufficiency. Consider which is most
worthy of credit, the true God or a false heart; a God we never found
false, or a heart we scarce ever found faithful. His charter of mercy is
of the same force as ever; he hath not cancelled a bond he stands
engaged in. The gospel shall not be drained of its milk till God be
emptied of his fidelity; nor the promises cease to be yea and amen,
till the seal of the blood of Christ wants an efficacy to confirm them.
When you are assaulted by unbelief, you know what power to
address. That omnipotent arm that first planted faith, can only
protect it against the powers of hell, that would pull it up by the
roots. 'Lord, increase our faith' should be as much in our mouths, as
'Lord, pardon our sins.' Let us grieve for it. Our Saviour grieved for
the incredulity he perceived in the hearts of the Jews, let us grieve for
that we find in ourselves. The mourning under what we feel is a good
preservative against any further encroachments. Let us never lay
down our arms against it; as God will not cease till he hath put all the
enemies of Christ under his feet, so let us not cease till we have put
our unbelief, his greatest enemy, under his and our own.

4. Let those that have faith, strengthen their faith the more, by how
much the less there is in the world. Let us more straitly embrace the
Redeemer,* renounce all other hopes either in heaven or earth,
expect happiness and comfort from nothing but the sufferings of the
cross, advance continually in that faith whereby we are united to the
Saviour of the world, and let temptation be so far from snatching it
from as, that they may be occasions of strengthening it in us, as the
blustering of the wind makes men wrap their garments closer about
them. The more Christ is slighted by others, the more let him be
prized by us, that we may, by adhering to him, endeavour as much as
in us lies, to repair the glory he loses by others rejecting him. Let that
blood be the more cherished in our hearts, when we see others more
desperately treading it under their feet. While we believe he pleads
for us in heaven, let us not suffer anything to plead against him in
our own bosoms. Joseph of Arimathea owned Christ boldly, when he
was crucified, who never did, that we read of, own him before, or
ever spake with him, though he was a disciple in secret, Mark 15:43.
This use the disciples that remained with Christ made of the apostasy
of those in the text: those that were here offended at his word, did,
ver. 66, 'turn their backs upon his person.' did the other disciples
stagger by the fall of their neighbours? No, they are knit the faster to
him: 'Whither shall we go? thou only hast the words of eternal life;'
and their revolt drew out that glorious confession from Peter, in the
name of the rest, 'We believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ,
the son of the living God,' John 6:68, 69. Strengthen it the more by
how much unbelief grows in the world, since we are told by our
Saviour, that just before his appearance, for the recovery of the
church from the hands of men and devils, and bestowing that glory
upon it which he hath promised, there shall scarcely be 'found faith
upon the earth,' Luke 18:8; as at the time of Christ's resurrection,
which was a token of the resurrection of the church, the disciples did
not believe they should ever see his face again. Since therefore Christ
hath told us how predominant unbelief should be, let us the more
strengthen our faith. And why should we not do it, as well as the
disciples did upon this occasion in the text? Is it not the same gospel
upon which our faith is founded, on which theirs was; doth not the
cross and resurrection of Christ furnish us with greater
encouragements than they had at the time of this profession; have we
not the same Jesus to look to, who is the author and finisher of our
faith as well as of theirs? Why should any of us suffer ourselves to go
along with the corruption of the age, instead of resisting it; why
should we be borne down by the temptations of the world, instead of
combating with them? Let us be fuller of thoughts of the cross of the
Redeemer than of the delights of the world; and the stronger our
faith, the sweeter will be our comfort in the worst of times.
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MONERGISM BOOKS

Discourses on Sin and Unbelief, by Stephen Charnock, D. D.,

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