But you will say, What is this to us ?
I answer — Our doom is indeed to be debated according to another rule, which is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. But yet that which is perfect doth not destroy that which is imperfect, but imply it rather, as the reasonable soul doth the sensitive and vegetative. And that which we are to learn from hence is —
(1.) That the ignorance of God doth excuse no man from judgment ; for the cause of the condemnation of the wicked is that they know not God ; and therefore it is a more bloody sin than we usually think it : Isa. xxvii. 4, 'It is a people of no understanding ; therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favour/ Whether foreign nations or God's own people, he will severely punish them for their ignorance in necessary things.
(2.) That it is not enough to know Gotl, unless we know him as we ought to know him ; as the heathen knew God, but glorified him not as God, did not worship him, and serve him, and trust in him. So christians: Titus i. 16, 'Professing to know God, in their deeds they deny him.' They live as if they knew not God ; what could they do more or worse if there were no God ?
(3.) That the more means there is to know God the greater is the crime if they do not his will ; for sin is more aggravated by the clear- ness of the revelation made to us : Luke xii. 47, ' He that knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, and did not according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.' According to the degree of know- ledge or means of knowledge, so is both our sin and punishment
VER. 8.] SERMONS UPON 2 THESSALONIANS I. 247
greater ; for here God considers not de facto, what knowledge we have but de jure, what knowledge we might have or should have. So that though the first character doth more directly concern the heathens, yet we christians are concerned in it also.
2. Some having a discovery of Christ, and salvation by him, are judged by the gospel.
To evidence this to you, I shall show — (1.) Who may be said not to obey the gospel ; (2.) Who shall be judged by the tenor of the gospel dispensation.
[1.] All such may be said not to obey the gospel —
(1.) Who obstinately refuse to entertain the doctrine of Christ, and salvation by him, but oppose it rather. So it is taken, 1 Peter iv. 17, f If judgment begin at the house of God, what shall be the end of them who obey not the gospel of Christ ? ' will not come under the faith and profession, but are enemies and persecutors of it.
(2.) Such as acknowledge and profess the belief of the doctrine of Christ, but are remiss and careless in christian practice, do not heartily give up themselves to Christ's obedience, but live in their sensual lusts : Eph. ii. 2, 'Walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience ; ' Eph. iii. 6, ' Children of disobedience.'
(3.) Such as apostatise and revolt from it after they have known the way of -righteousness, fall off from the christian profession and practice, and depart from the living God : Heb. x. 39, ' We are not of them who draw back.' All these may be said not to obey the gospel.
[2.] Who shall be judged by the tenor of the gospel dispensation ?
(1.) Certainly those who have lived in the clear sunshine of the gospel, and have heard of Christ, and the grace of God dispensed by him: Mark xvi. 16, 'Go, preach the gospel to every creature ; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned.' There is the rule of God's process ; they are condemned upon a double account — because of their sins against God, and their re- fusal of the remedy : John iii. 18, 19, ' He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already/ &c. In their natural estate they are under the wrath of God, and after they have heard of the offers of pardon and life, will not embrace the offered remedy, and give up themselves to the obedience of Christ, or suffer themselves to be drawn off from worldly vanities or fleshly lusts, that they may live unto God. "<If the end of all wicked men, even of those that have not so much as heard the gospel, shall be everlasting destruc- tion, because they made not use of that natural knowledge they had of God, and those impressions of their duty which were left upon their hearts, Ps. ix. 17. If all that forget God shall be turned into hell, surely the danger will be greater of those who have the gospel clearly preached to them, and will not give obedience thereunto ; for to their other sins they add impenitency and unbelief, and so are liable to the vengeance of the gospel, as well as the curse of the law.