72 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeE. XXIV.
2. Let the ])romises of God be your encouragement. All the sweet thoughts of a christian arise from the ample and gracious thoughts of God, expressed in the promises : Ps. xciv. 19, ' In the multitude of my thoughts within me (saith David) thy comforts delight my soul ; ' when his thoughts were interwoven and intricated like the boughs of a tree. It is good to see that you fetch all your comforts and encour- agements from God's promises, and not from carnal hopes: 2 Cor, v. 7, ' We walk by faitli, not by sight.' This is to live by faith, to have recourse to the promises of a better life, when we have any burden upon us. A christian's comforts all lie within the veil ; they are not taken from visible enjoyments or carnal hopes ; the promises of God are his enjoyment.
3. You should make the glory of God your chiefest end, or you Avill be very irregular, and cannot keep pace with God in a constant course of duty. Look, as a man that liath a nail in liis foot may walk in soft ground, but when he comes to hard ground he is soon turned out of the way, so when a man hath a perverse aim, he will soon be discouraged with the inconveniences that will trouble him in religion. The spiritual life is called 'a living to God,' Gal. ii. 19. The end must be right, otherwise the conversation will be but a vain pretence, that will please men, but not God : Prov. xvi. 2, ' All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits.' The chiefest thing God puts into the balance is the temper of the mind, the bent of the heart; what you are moved by, and what sways you. Therefore your chiefest care must be to set the heart right in all actions, those that are of the most trivial concernment ; in the use of our chris- tian liberty, the necessary actions of our life ; in our duties: 1 Cor. x. 31, ' Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.' This must be the bias upon the christian spirit, that he may be led on with a constant respect to the Lord's glory ; as we act from him, so we should act for liim and more to him — a by-end will make you eccentrical in your motions.
SERMON XXIV.
But loiiliout faith it is impossible to please Him ; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a reicarder of them thai diligently seek him. — Heb. xi. G.
The Apostle had spoken of Enoch's translation as a consequent of his pleasing God, and upon the supposition of his pleasing God he proves his faith. The reason is rendered in this verse, because ' Without faith, it is impossible to please God ; for he that cometh to God,' &c. In the words there are two general parts —
1, A proposition — Without faith it is impjossihle to please God.
2. The reason of it — For he that cometh to God must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that dili{)enthj seek him.
VeR. 6.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 73
To begin with the proposition — ' Without faith it is impossible to please God,' which, being a formal doctrine of itself, I shall use this method —
1. Explain the words.
2. Give the necessary inferences and corollaries, both doctrinal and practical, that may be gathered hence.
First, For the explication, ' without faith ; ' that is, without saving and justifying faith, without faith in the Messiah, I prove it, because that is the faith spokeu of in the context ; it is the drift of the apostle to prove that the elders, the fathers of the old testament, were saved by the same faith that we are. Again, this kind of faith is expressed in the following words — in 'coming' and 'seeking;' he that ' cometh to God,' and that diligently ' seeks him.' Again, we cannot conceive God to be a rewarder out of Christ : guilty nature presagetli nothing but evil. The apostle speaks of the gentiles, Rom. i. 32, • That they know the judgment of God, that they that commit such things are worthy of death,' You can look for nothing but death by God's justice without a Christ and a mediator ; but because this is a weighty matter, and the apostle seemeth to make the catechism or summary of necessary points very short ; for he mentions only two articles — God's being and God's bounty — his essence and his reward, without any mention of Christ, as if this were enough to please God. or enough for acceptance to salva- tion ; therefore I shall discuss and. examine the matter. Many in these last times of the gospel are weary of the christian profession, and are ready to revolt into libertinism and atheism, as if nothing was neces- sary to please God but a general faith in his being ; and therefore I shall
1. Prove that this general faith is not enough.