VER. 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 65
fited them, even unto Hormah,” verse 45. Their change of mind was not repentance, but a new aggravation of their sin. Repent- ance also in this matter is hid from the eyes of God. When Saul had finished his provocation, Samuel, denouncing the judgment of God against him, adds, “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent,” 1 Sam. xv. 29. God firms his sentence, and makes it irrevocable, by the engagement of his own immutability. There is no change, no alteration, no reprieve, no place for merey, when this day is come and gone, Ezek. xxi. 25.
Let persons, let churches, let nations, take heed lest they fall unawares into this evil day. I say unawares to themselves, because they know not when they may be overtaken by it. It is true, all the danger of it ariseth from their own negligence, security, and stubbornness. If they will give ear to previous warnings, this day will never come upon them. It may not, therefore, be unworthy our inquiry to search what prognostics men may have into the approach of such a day. And,—
[1.] When persons, churches, or nations, have already con- tracted the guilt of various provocations, they may justly fear that their next shall be their last. ‘You have,’ saith God to the Is- raelites, ‘provoked me these ten times, —that is, frequently, as hath been declared,—‘ and now your day is come.. You might have con- sidered before, that I would not always thus bear with you.” Hath God, then, borne with you in one and another provocation, tempta- tion, backsliding ?—take heed lest the great sin lies at the door, and be ready to enter upon the next occasion. As God told Cain, Gen. iv. 7, “If thou dost not do well N8Sh nnd ya” 4s peccatum ad ostium cubat,’—“ sin lies down at the door,” as a beast ready to enter on the next occasion, the next opening of it. After former provoca- tions so lieth that which shall fill the ephah, and have the talent of lead laid upon it. Take heed, gray hairs are sprinkled upon you, though you perceive it not. Death is at the door. Beware lest your next provocation be your last. When your transgressions come to three and four, the punishment of your iniquities will not be turned away. When that is come, you may sin whilst you will or while you can; God will have no more to do with you but ina way of judgment.
[2.] When repentance upon convictions of provocations lessens or decays, it is a sad symptom of an approaching day wherein ini- quity will be completed. Useful repentance,—that is, that which is of any use in this world for the deferring or retarding of judgment, —is commensurate unto God’s dispensations of patience. When the fixed bounds of it (as it hath fixed bounds) are arrived at, all springs of repentance are dried up. When, therefore, persons fall into the guilt of many provocations, and God giving in a con-
VOL. XXI. 5
66 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
viction of them by his word or providence, they are humbled for them according to their light and principles; if they find their humiliations, upon their renewed convictions, to grow weak, decay, and lessen in their effects,—they do not so reflect upon themselves with self-displicency as formerly, nor so stir up themselves unto amendment as they have done upon former warnings or convictions, nor have in such cases their accustomed sense of the displeasure and terror of the Lord,—let them beware, evil is before them, and the fatal season of their utmost provoking is at hand, if not prevented.
[3.] When various dispensations of God towards men have been useless and fruitless, when mercies, judgments, dangers, deliver- ances, signally stamped with respect unto the sins of men, but especially the warnings of the word, have been multiplied towards any persons, churches, or nations, and have passed over them with- out their reformation or recovery, no doubt but judgment is ready to enter, yea, if it be into the house of God itself.
Is it thus with any, is this their estate and condition?—let them please themselves while they please, they are like Jonah, asleep in the ship, whilst it is ready to be cast away on their account. Awake and tremble; you know not how soon a great, vigorous, pre- valent temptation may hurry you into your last provocation. And this is the first head of sin instanced in.
(2.) They are said also to have tempted God: “ In the tempta- tion; when your fathers tempted me.” Wherein their provoca- tion did consist, and what was the sin which is so expressed, we have declared. We must now inquire what was their tempting of God, of what nature was their sin therein, and wherein it did consist. To tempt God is a thing frequently mentioned in the Scripture, and condemned as a provoking sin. And it is generally esteemed to consist in a venturing on or an engaging into any way, work, or duty, without sufficient call, warrant, or rule, upon the account of trusting God therein; or, in the neglect of the use of ordinary means in any condition, desiring, expecting, or trusting unto any extraordinary assistances or supplies from God. So when men seem rashly to cast themselves into danger, out of a confidence in the presence and protection of God, it is said that they tempt God. And sundry texts of Scripture seem to give countenance to this description of the sin of tempting of God. So Isa. vii. 11, 12: When the prophet bade Ahaz ask a sign of the Lord in the depth or in the height above, he replied, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lorp;’—that is, ‘I will rest in what thou hast said, and not tempt God by seeking any thing extraordinary.’ And so when Satan tempted our Saviour to show his power by casting himself down from a pinnacle of the temple,—which was none of