VER. 12-14.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 107
duties which manifests and makes naked that miserable degeneracy which Christians in general, in these latter evil days, are fallen into. Who almost hath any regard unto them? Instead of these fruits of spiritual love, men for the most part follow “divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one an- other.” The practical duties of Christianity are amongst many derided. To watch over one another, to warn, to exhort one an- other, are looked on as things, if possible, beneath contempt. And it is ashame to mention or report the ways and means of dealing with and about the sins of men, which by some are substituted in the room of those appointed in the gospel unto their utter exclusion. But the rule is stable, and will in due time, through the strength of Christ, prevail against the lusts of men.
Obs. III. [2.] It is the duty of every individual believer to be intent on all occasions, lest at any time, or by any means, there should be found in him “ an evil heart of unbelief.”
This, as was showed, follows on the former, and is a necessary consequence of it. But this so directly falls in with what will be offered from the next clause that thereunto we refer it.
(3.) The evil thus earnestly cautioned against is expressed, [1.] In the principle of it, and that is, Kapd/a wovnpe ris dmoriag: and, [2.] In the work or effect of that principle, in these words, ’Ey rai aroorjvar ax O20d Cavros.
[1.] The principle of the evil is “an evil heart of unbelief.” What is meant by zapdia, “the heart,” in the sense wherein it is here used, was declared on the verses preceding; what is meant by wovnpé, “ evil,” shall be showed in its proper place. In special, it is said to be “an evil heart ris d&riorias,”—“ of unbelief;” that is, say most, érioro¢, “cor malum et incredulum,” “an evil heart, and in- credulous,” or “ unbelieving,’—an evil and unbelieving heart. So the genitive case of the substantive is put for the adjective,—dioriag for émoros, by a Hebraism not unusual. In this sense “unbelieving” is either exegetical, declaring what is meant by the “evil heart” in this place, even an unbelieving heart; or it is additious, and so a heart is signified which in general is evil, and in particular unbe- lieving. But there seems to me to be more in this expression; and that dmoriag here is “ genitivus efficientis,’—denoting the principal efficient cause rendering the heart so evil as that it should “ depart from the living God.” Kapdia daoriag, then, “a heart of unbelief,” is more than xapd/a éaoros, “an unbelieving heart;” for this latter word is sometimes used to express a defect in believing, and not unbelief absolutely. So John xx. 27, Mj yivou dmioros, GAAG a1Or6¢,— “ Be not unbelieving, but believing.” They are the words of Christ unto Thomas, who, though he failed in his faith, yet was not abso- lutely without faith. I confess the word is generally used in Scrip-
108 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
ture to express a negative unbeliever, or an infidel; but there is something peculiar in this expression, “ A heart of unbelief,’—that is, under the power of it, principled by it in its actings. What this unbelief is, and how the heart is rendered sovypd, “ evil,” thereby, we must now inquire.
As for unbelief, it is usually distinguished into that which is ne- gative and that which is privative.
1st. Negative unbelief is whenever any man or men believe not, or have not faith, although they never had the means of believing granted unto them. For when men believe not, they are unbe- lievers, whether they have had any means of believing or no, or whether their unbelief be culpable or no, whatever may be the na- ture or degree of its demerit. So the apostle calls him an unbe- liever who comes in accidentally to the assembly of the church, who never heard the word preached before, 1 Cor. xiv. 28, 24. In this sense, all those persons and nations who have never had as yet the gospel preached unto them are infidels, or unbelievers; that is, they are so negatively,—they believe not, but yet cannot be said to have in them “an evil heart of unbelief.”
2dly. It is privative, when men believe not, although they enjoy the means of faith or believing. And herein consists the highest acting of the depraved nature of man. And it is on many accounts the greatest provocation of God that a creature can make himself guilty of. For it is, as might be manifested, an opposition unto God in all the properties of his nature, and in the whole revelation of his will. Hence the gospel, which is a declaration of grace, mercy, and pardon, though it condemns all sin, yet it denounceth the final con- demnation of persons only against this sin: “He that believeth shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned,’ Mark xvi. 16.
Now this privative unbelief is twofold :—(1st.) In refusing to be- lieve when it is required; (2dly.) In rejecting the faith after it hath been received. (Ist.) The first is, when the object of faith, or that which is to be believed, is according unto the mind of God, and in the way of his appointment proposed unto men; when sufficient evi- dence is given unto the truth and goodness of what is so proposed; and when the authority is made known on which faith is required; yet they refuse to believe. For these three things,—a revelation of the things to be believed made known in the way of God, sufficient evidence given unto the truth proposed, and a just assertion of the authority of God requiring faith and obedience,—do render the un- belief of men privative. Now, as this hath its root in the natural darkness, blindness, and depravedness of the minds of men, so it is educed and acted not without new sinful prejudices, and stubborn- ness of the will, refusing to attend unto and consider the evidences