(1.) The dishonour you do to God. Unbelief accuseth God not only of a lie, but of perjury ; you accuse him of a lie with respect to his word, and of perjury with respect to his oath and solemn engagement : 1 John V. 10, ' He that believeth not God hath made him a liar.' But God forbid, will you say. Why then are you so doubtful, notwithstanding so many offers of grace and mercy ? why so full of trouble and jealousy when difficulties do arise ? Oh ! base barbarous ingratitude ! you take a stranger's oath, but you deny God the honour that you vouchsafe to any that bears the face of a man. If a man pass his oath, his brother shall accept of it, Exod. xxii. 11, and will you not do thus to the great God that cannot lie ?
(2.) The damage you do to yourselves ; you frustrate the oath of God, and weaken your own comfort. Wherefore did God give us his oath ? What ! that we might rest in a possible salvation, and walk with him, as dancers do upon ropes, every moment to be in fear of falling ? Did God lay so great a foundation for so weak a building ? Who would build a hovel on such a foundation as would serve to bear a palace ? God's oath is a foundation for the highest confidence, and do you think God gave it only that you might rest in conjectural hopes and uncer- tainties? Nay, you run the hazard of a dreadful curse. God hath sworn in judgment as well as in mercy : Ps. xcv, 11, ' Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.' Do you think this rest onl' ' concerned Canaan ? No, but it reacheth the unbe- lievers of all ages. Oh ! it is terrible when God swears against us. The greater his conde? ension in the gospel, the greater is his wrath when it is refused and neglected. It is very sad when God is provoked to swear to the damnation of any creature. Who are the persons that may stand in dread of this oath ? Why, they that believe not : Heb. iii. 18, ' To whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not' It is the sin of unbelief after many tenders and offers of mercy, which provokes God to this indignation. Here is oath against
310 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS VI. IS.
oath, the one to drive us, the other to draw us, and j)ull in the heart to God, If 5'ou continue in this course, you sliall have neither part nor portion in Christ, nor in the land of promise. It is better to be satisfied with God's oath in mercy, than to run the hazard of his oath in judgment. Therefore speak to conscience, Do I come up to this certainty and confidence ? Is the controversy ended between God and me ? Are all suspicions laid aside ?
Object. But you will say, I do not doubt of the truth of the gospel, but of my own interest. I doubt that I am not the person to whom God hath sworn. The truth of God is sure, but my interest is not clear.
Sol. In answer to this, consider —
{1st.) It doth but seem so that all doubts are about our own interest, but it is not so indeed. If once you were heartily persuaded of God's good afi'ection in Christ, doubts and scruples about our own estate would soon vanish. Look, as the fire, when it is well kindled, bursts out of its own accord into a flame, so if faith were once well laid in the soul, if men could rest upon these two immutable things, consolation would not be so far from them ; if there were a firm assent to the doctrine of the gospel, there would not be so many huts ; if you did firmly believe his mercy in Christ, it would soon end in a steadfast confidence. This appeareth from the nature of the thing. All uncer- tainty ariseth either from a neglect of the great salvation, or else from trouble of conscience. Now carnal men neglect it, because they are not persuaded of the worth and excellency of it ; and men under horrors of conscience distrust it ; they are such sinners they dare not apply it, and are so full of doubts and scruples because they are not persuaded of the truth of the gospel. See how the apostle proposeth the gospel : 1 Tim. i. 15, ' This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.' If negligent and carnal men would but look upon it as ' worthy of all acceptation,' and troubled conscience look upon it as ' a faithful saying,' there would be more regular actings and effects found in their hearts and lives ; the negligent would give more dili- gence, and the contrite would rise up into a greater hope and con- fidence. If men did believe the worth of salvation, they would not run after lying vanities. If they did believe the truth of salvation for sinners there would not be so many scruples and fears. It is notable that the scriptures very seldom do press assurance of the subject, but assurance of the object in very many places, to believe the doctrine itself, for there is the greatest difficulty ; and in the word of God we have no precedent of any that were troubled about their own interest. If an earthly kiag should proclaim a general pardon, and an act of grace to all persons in rebellion, only on terms of submission and laying down their hostility and returning to their duty and allegiance, the doubt would not be of their own interest, but of the truth of his inten- tion to show them such grace and mercy. So it is with God ; he hath proclaimed terms of grace in the gospel, provided w-e will lay down the weapons of our defiance, and return to the duty of our allegiance. Now that which we suspect is the heart of God and the gospel in the general, whether there be mercy for such kind of sinners as we are.