It obstructed his miraculous works when he was on earth, and it obstructs his gracious work, now he is in heaven. A Saviour is come into the world, but poor unbeliever, thy soul can neither have union nor communion with him till this bar of thy unbelief be removed. The gospel is come among us with mighty arguments; to convince, and powerful motives to persuade, but little saving effect follows : its main design is to many frustrated, and all this through unbehef, shutting up, and hardening men's hearts under it. The word preached did not profit them because of their un- belief Ah cursed bar ! which shuts up thy hearts, shuts out thy Saviour, and will effectually shut thee out of heaven, except the Almighty Power of God break it asunder. " They could not enter ^' in because of unbelief," Heb. iv. 2. The ruin of souls is laid at the door of unbelief; it is the damning sin, Mark xvi. 16. and truly called so, because no other sin could damn but in virtue of this sin. That is the second bar to Christ.
3. The third bar denying entrance to Christ into the hearts of sinners, is 'pride and stoutness of spirit. The natural heart is a proud heart ; it lives upon its o^vn stock, it cannot stoop to a sin- cere and universal renunciation of its own righteousness : " Bemg " ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to esta- " blish their own righteousness, o-jy^ {)':rzrayn<soLv, they have not sub- " mitted to the righteousness of God,'' Rom. x. 3. Pride stiffens the will that \x, cannot stoop or condescend to declare their own
emptiness, discover their own shame, and Hvc wholly upon the righteousness of another. Proud nature had as live be damned, as deny itself in such a point as this is : This makes faith so ex- ceeding difficult, because it involves such deep points of self-denial in it : To give up all to Christ, to draw all from Christ, and to be willing to part with all for Christ. What will can be brought to ai deliberate consent to such things as these, unless an Omnipotent Power bow it ? It is natural to men rather to eat a brown crust, or wear a coarse ragged garment which they can call their own, than to feed upon the richest dainties, or wear the costliest garments which they must receive as an alms or gift from another. O how hard is it to subdue this pride of the heart, even after light and convictions are come into the soul ; to convince men of their un- done condition, and the absolute necessity of another and higher righteousness than their own ? When souls are in a treaty with Christ, and the match is almost made ; this is the sin that makes the last opposition. Fain would they come to Christ, ten thousand worlds for a Christ ; but yet they think they must not approach him without some qualifications which are yet wanting. But soul, if ever Christ and thou conclude the match, thou must deny self even in this, the most refined form and interest of it, and come as Abraham did, naked and empty-handed to him that justifieth the ungodly. Down with this house-idol, thy self, thy righteous self, trimmed up, like another Agag, with such precious pretences of humility.
4. The fourth bar, forbidding Christ's entrance into the soul, is custom in sin. Sin hath so fixed itself by long continuance in the soul, the soul is so settled and confirmed in its course, that all argu- ments and persuasions to change our way are swept away by the power of custom, as straws and feathers are by the rapid course of a mighty torrent ; Jer. xiii. 23. " Can the Ethiopian change his ** skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good that *' are accustomed to do evil." Soap and nitre may as soon make a blackmoor white, or fetch the spots out of the leopard's skin (which are not accidental, but connate) as the reasonings of men can prevail to remove the mighty power of customary sin. Physi- cians find it a hard thing to cure a cacheocia or ill habit of body. It is a grave and serious note of Seneca, a teneris assuescere, multum est It is a great matter to be accustomed this way or that from our childhood ; every repeated act of sin confirms and strengthens the habit ; and hence it is that we see so few conversions in old age. It was a wonder in the primitive times, that Marcus Caius Victorius embraced Christianity in the sixtieth year of his age. Take an habituated drunkard, a self-righteous moralist, lay before them the necessity of a change, and you shall find it as easy to stop the
course of a river with the breath of your mouth, as to stop them in a customed course of sinning. That is the fourth bal: to Christ.
5. The fifth bar, opposing and resisting Christ's entrance into the soul, is the sin o^ presumption ; this is the sin that parts Christ and thousands of souls in the world ; presuming they hope ; and hoping they perish. When men presume their condition is safe already, their souls never make out after a Saviour. This was the ruin of Laodicea, Rev. iii. 17. " Because thou sayest, I am rich, *' and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest <* not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, " and naked.*" This damning presumption is discovered in three things, (1.) Many think they have that grace which they have not, mistaking the similar for the saving works of the Spirit ; a fatal mistake never rectified with many thousands till it be too late. (2.) They presume to find that mercy in God, which they will never find ; for all the saving mercies of God are dispensed to men through Christ, in the way of regeneration and faith, Jude, ver. 21. (3.) They presume upon that time for repentance and faith here- after, which their eyes shall never see. And thus presumption doth lock up the heart against Christ, and leaves sinners perishing even in the presence of a Saviour. They make a bridge of their own shadow, and so perish in the waters.
6. The sixth and last sin, barring up the heart against Christ, is a strong prejudice against holiness, and the strict duties of reli- gion. Thus, in the very infancy of Christianity, the world was scared and driven off from religion by the common prejudices that lay upon the professors of it ; As concerning this sect, we know thai every where it is spoken against. Acts xxvii. 22.