[3.] It is the mother of all sin.^ The first sin was the fruit of unbelief. We may plainly observe a faltering of assent, Gen. iii. 3-.5 ; and still it is the ground of all miscarriages, of hardness of heart, and apostasy, Heb. iii. 12, 13. He that believetli not the judgments and threatenings of the word will not stick to do any evil ; and he that doth not believe the promises will not be forward to any good. All our neglect and coldness in holy duties cometh from the weakness of our faith. There is a decay at the root. Did we believe heaven and things to come, we should be more earnest and zealous. Many are ashamed of adultery, theft, murder, but not of unbelief, which is the mother of all these.
[4.] Final unbelief is an undoubted evidence of reprobation. See John X. 26, 'Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep;' and Acts xiii. 48. Unbelief is God's prison, wherein he keepeth the repro- bate world : Rom. xi. 32, ' He hath shut them up under unbelief,' &c. And shall I continue such a black note upon myself ? I know not hov; soon God may cut me ofi"; and if I die in this estate, I am miser- able for ever : ' Lord, I desire to believe ; help my unbelief.'
[5.] It is a sin that depriveth us of much good, of the comforts of providence. Nothing doth ponere ohicem, bar and shut out Gods operation in order to our relief, so much as this sin : Mark vi. 5, ' He could do no mighty work,' &c. So John xi. 40, ' Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God ? ' So also of the comfort of ordinances : Heb. iv. 2, ' The word profited not, be- cause it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it.' So for
^ ' Qualitas malse vitse initium habet ab infidelitate.' — Auj. VOL. V. M
178 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, " [VeR. 5.
prayer, James i. 7-9. Nay, it barretli heaven's gates. It excluded Adam out of paradise, the Israelites out of Canaan, and us out of the kingdom of heaven, Heb. iii. 17, 18.
Well, then, let us see if we be guilty of this sin : ' Take heed,' saith the apostle, Heb. iii. 12, ' lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief.' Many have an unbelieving heart when they least think of it. It is easy to declaim against it, but hard to convince men of it, either of the sin or of lying in a state of unbelief; it is the Spirit's work, ' The Spirit shall convince of sin, because they believe not in me,' John xvi. 9. There are many pretences by which men excuse them- selves, some more gross, others more subtle. Many think that all in- fidels are without the pale, among Turks and heathens. Alas ! many, too many, are to be found in the very bosom of the church. The Israelites were God's own people, and yet ' destroyed because they be- lieved not.' Others think none are iinbelievers but those that are given up to the violences and horrors of despair, and do grossly reject or refuse the comforts of the gospel ; but they are mistaken ; the whole word is the object of faith, the commandments and threatenings as well as the pro- mises ; and carelessness and neglect of the comforts of the gospel is un- belief, as well as doubts and despairing fears : Mat. xxii. 5, ' But they made light of it.' He is the worst unbeliever that scorns and slighteth the tenders of God's grace in Christ as things wherein he is not con- cerned. Briefly, then, men may make a general profession of the name of Christ, as the Turks do of Mahomet, because it is the religion pro- fessed there where they are born ; a man may take up the opinions of a Christian country, and not be a whit better than Turks, Jews, or in- fidels ; as he is not the taller of stature that walketh in a higher walk than others do. They may understand their religion, and be able to ' give a reason of the hope that is in them,' and yet lie under the power of unbelief for all that, as many may see countries in a map which they never enter into. The devil hath knowledge, ' Jesus I know, and Paul I know,' <fec. And those that pretend to knowledge without answer- able practice, do but give themselves the lie, 1 John ii. 29. Besides knowledge there may be assent, and yet unbelief still. The devils assent as well as know ; they ' believe there is one God,' James ii., and it is not a naked and inefficacious assent, but such as causeth horrors and tremblings. They 'believe and tremble ;' and they do not only believe that one article, that there is one God, but other articles also: ' Jesus, thou Son of God, art thou come to torment me before my time ?' was the devil's speech ; where there is an acknowledging of Christ, and him as the Son of God and judge of the world, and increase of their torment at the last day upon his sentence. Assent is necessary, but not sufficient ; laws are not sufficiently owned when they are believed to be the king's laws ; there is something to be done as well as believed. In the primitive times, assent was more than it is now, and yet then an inactive assent was never allowed to pass for faith. Confident resting on Christ for salvation, if it be not a resting according to the word, will not serve the turn ; there were some that ' leaned upon the Lord,' Micah iii. 11, whom he disclaimeth. It is a mistaken Christ they rest upon, and upon him by a mistaken faith. It is a mistaken Christ, for the true Christ is the eternal Son of God, that was born of