2. Respectu pcencc, In respect of the punishment.
First, Condemnation, with respect to the fault, is the casting of the person as guilty of the crime charged upon him ; condemna- tion, with respect to the punishment, is the sentencing of the con- victed offender to undergo such a punishment for such a fault ; to bear a penal for a moral evil. This forensic word, condemnation, is here applied unto the case of a guilty sinner cast at the bar of God, where the fact is clearly proved, and the punishment righteously awarded. Thou art an unbeliever, for this sin thou shalt die eter- nally. Condemnation with respect to the fault, stands opposed to justification, Rom. v. 16. Condemnation with respect to the punishment, stands opposed to salvation, Mark xvi. 16. More par- ticularly,
First, Condemnation is the sentence of God, the great and ter- rible God, the omniscient, omnipotent, supreme, and impartial Judge, at whose bar the guilty sinner stands. It is the law of God that condemns him now : he hath one that judgeth him, a great and terrible one too. It is a dreadful thing to be condemned at man's bar; but the courts of human judicature, how awful and solemn soever they are, are but trifles to this court of heaven, and conscience, wherein the unbeliever is arraigned and condemned.
Secondly, It is the sentence of God adjudging the unbeliever to eternal " death, than which, nothing is more terrible. What is a prison to hell ? What is a scaffold and an ax, to " go ye cursed into " everlasting fire ?" What is a gallows and a halter, to everlasting- burnings ?
SERM. XXXII. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 43.5
Third! (J, Condemnation is the final sentence of God, the su- preme judge, from whose bar and judgment there lies no appeal for the unbeliever, but execution certainly follows condemnation, Luke xix. 27. If man condemn, God may justify and save; but if God condemn, no man can save or deliver. If the law cast a man, as a sinner, the gospel may save him as a believer : but if the gospel cast him as an unbeliever, a man that finally rejects Jesus Christ, whom it offers to him, all the world cannot save that man. O then what a dreadful word is condemnation ! All the evils and miseries of this life are nothing to it. Put all afflictions, calamities, sufferings, and miseries of this world into one scale, and this sentence of God into the other, and they will be all lighter than a feather.
Thirdly, In the next place, I shall shew you that this punish- ment, viz. condemnation, must unavoidably follow that sin of un- belief. So many unbelieving persons as be in the world, so many condemned persons there are in the world ; and this will appear two ways.
1. By considering what unbelief excludes a man from.
2. By considering what unbelief includes a man under.
First, Let us consider what unbelief excludes a man from ; and it will be found, that it excludes him from all that may help and save him. For,
First, It excludes him from the pardon of sin, John viii. 24. " If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." Now he that dies under the guilt of all his sins, must needs die in a state of wrath and condemnation for ever. " For the wages of sin is " death," Rom. vi. 23. If a man be saved without a pardon, then may the unbeliever hope to be saved.
Secondly, Unbelief excludes a man from all the saving benefits that come by the sacrifice or death of Christ. For if faith be the only instrument that applies and brings home to the soul the benefits of the blood of Christ, as unquestionably it is, then unbelief must of necessity exclude a man from all those benefits, and consequently leave him in the state of death and condemnation. Faith is the applying cause, the instrument by which we receive the special saving benefit of the blood of Christ, Rom. v. 25. " Whom God " hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." Eph. ii. 8. " By grace are ye saved through faith." So then if the unbeliever be acquitted and saved, it must be without the be- nefit of Christ's death and sacrifice, which is utterly impossible.
Thirdly, Unbelief excludes a man from the saving efficacy and operation of the gospel, by shutting up the heart against it, and crossing the main scope and drift of it, which is to bring up men
436 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SERM. XXXII,
to the terms * of salvation. To persuade them to believe, this is its great design, the scope of all its commands, 1 John iii. 23. Mark i. 14, 15. John xii. 36. It is the scope of all its promises; they are written to encourage men to believe, John vi. 35, 37. So then if the unbeliever escape condemnation, it must be in a way unknown to us by the gospel ; yea, contrary to the established order therein. For the unbeliever obeyeth not the great command of the gospel, 1 John iii. 1 7. Nor is he under any one saving promise of it, Gal. iii. 14, 22.
Fourthly, Unbelief excludes a man from union with Christ, faith being the bond of that union, Eph. iii. 17. The unbeliever there- fore may as reasonably expect to be saved without Christ, as to be saved without faith. Thus you see what unbelief excludes a man from.
Secondly, Let us next see what guilt and misery unbelief includes men under, and certainly it will be found to be the greatest guilt and misery in the world. For,
First, It is a sin which reflects the greatest dishonour upon God, 1 John vi. 10. " He that believeth on the Son of God, hath 4i the witness in himself. He that believeth not God, hath made " him a liar ; because he believeth not the record that God gave " of his Son."
Seco?idIy, Unbelief makes a man guilty of the vilest contempt of Christ, and the whole design of redemption managed by him. All the glorious attributes of God were finally manifested in the work of redemption by Christ ; therefore the apostle calls him " the wisdom " of God, and the power of God," 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. But what doth the careless neglect, and wilful rejection of Christ speak, but the weakness and folly of that design of redemption by him.
Thirdly, Unbelief includes in it the sorest spiritual judgment that is or can be inflicted in this world upon the soul of man ; even spiritual blindness, and the fatal darkening of the understanding by Satan, 2 Cor. iv. 4. of which more hereafter.
Fourthly, Unbelief includes a man under the curse, and shuts him up under all the threatenings that are written in the book of God ; amongst which, that is an express and terrible one, Mark xvi. 10. " He that believes not, shall be damned." So that nothing can be more evident than this, that condemnation necessarily follows unbelief. This sin and that punishment are fastened together with chains of adamant. The uses follow :
Inf. 1 . If this be so, then how great a number of persons arc- visibly in the state of condemnation ! So many unbelievers, so many
* I e. Those things which accompany salvation. Editor.
SERM. XXXII. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 437