SERMON XXXI.
For lie that cometli to God must believe that he is, and that he is a reioarder of those that diligently seek him. — Heb. xi. 6.
I NOW come to the improvement of this great truth.
Use 1, If there be a God, let us charge this truth then upon our hearts, that we may check those private whispers and suspicions that do arise — too often, the Lord knows —against the being and glory of God. Many times we are apt to think that God is but a fancy, that religion is but a state-curb, and the gospel a cunningly devised fable — a quaint device to please fond and foolish men ; and all is but invented to hold men in awe. Oh, but to check these whisjDers of vanity, con- sider, in such truths as these, we may appeal not only to scripture, but to nature. You will never be able to recover your consciences out of this dread of the Lord's being. The devils are under the fear of a deity ; they believe there is a God, and they tremble at the thought of it — ' Thou believest that there is one God, thou dost well ; the devils also believe and tremble,' James ii. 19. The devil can never be a flat atheist in judgment; that will not stand with the state of a damned angel, because he hath a sense of the wrath of God tormenting him ; he feels that there is a God, and believes there is a God : there may be atheists in the churcli, but there are none in hell. And therefore charge this truth upon your hearts, that you may more check and humble yourselves for such atheistical thoughts and suggestions as these are, for they should not be passed over without humiliation, they are of so foul a nature. It is irrational to think that there is no God, the creatures confute us. We cannot look abroad but something offers itself to our eye to mind us : surely there is an infinite and eternal
134 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XT. [SeR. XXXI.
power. Oh, when thoughts rush into your minds, that have a tendency towards atheism, as denying of providence, let them be abhorred and rejected. See how David takes up his heart when his thoughts arose, not against the being of God, but against his providence : Ps. Ixxiii. 22, ' So foolish was I and ignorant ; I was as a beast before thee ; ' when he had ill and unworthy thoughts of the providence of God. So take up your hearts — Oh, how brutish and beastly is this ! When you go about to ungod God, and put him out of the throne, you do unman yourselves, you are as beasts ; common sense and reason will teach you otherwise. Thoughts which strike at the being of God are thoughts of a dangerous importance ; therefore you should not smother them, or lightly digest them.
A little to aggravate the sin. Wrath came upon the Jews to the uttermost for killing Christ in his human nature, but these atheistical thonglits strike at God and Christ, and all together. And therefore look upon these suggestions, when they rush in upon your minds, as dangerous ; and cry out, 0 what a foul heart have I, that will cast forth such mire and dirt ! Aggravate this sin, and make it odious to the soul, that we should think of him as nothing, who is so glorious in in himself, and so gracious to them that know him. Other errors may in part darken the understanding of man, but this, if given way to, will prove a total eclipse of all spiritual light ; others may tramj)ie on a precept, but this is to strike at God's very essence and being. Consider, too, that thoughts are liable to God's judgment; God hath provided for the safety and majesty of princes: Eccles. x. 20, 'Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought ; and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber ; for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.' Not only seditious and rebellious practices, but disloyal thoughts against magistrates, are liable to judg- ment ; how much more, then, are atheistical thoughts, which strike at the being of God ? There is a language in thoughts, and they are heard inheaven ; and therefore whenever such thoughts arise in your minds, make them odious, seriously humble yourselves that your hearts should cast up dishonourable thoughts of God.
Use 2. It reproves those that either wish down, or live down, this supreme principle.
1. Some wish it down: Ps. xiv. 1, 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God : ' the heart is the seat of desires ; they are the fool's wishes and desires, rather than his formal and explicit thoughts. ' The fool ' — that is the unrenewed man, so the apostle explains it — ' hath said in his heart ; ' tliat is, it is a pleasing thing for him to imagine and suppose it ; so that they are pleased with the supposition, if there were no God, none to call them to an account for theii- sins ; what kind of lives would they live ? then they might let loose the reins, and be freed from all those fetters and restraints, and those melancholy and sad thoughts which religion impose th upon them. Naturally desires and thoughts run that way. This argueth enmity and hatred to God, when we "wish that he were not. Look, as it is with a malefactor that is guilty of treason, it would be pleasing to him to think the court rolls should be burnt where his crimes are recorded, and the judge destroyed ; so it would be pleasing to carnal men, who are all become