3. Consider the manner how the gospel proposeth unto us the object of faith, or the things which it requireth us to believe. It doth not do this by a mere naked revelation or declaration of them unto
VER. 15-19.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 191
us, attended with a severe command, It adds entreaties, exhorta- tions, reasonings, encouragements, promises, threatenings; every way it proceedeth that is meet and suited to prevail on the minds of rational creatures. All the things of our own eternal concernment are proposed unto us with that gentleness, tenderness, condescen- sion, that love, that earnestness, that evidence of a high concern in us and our good, that patheticalness and compassionate affection, as will assuredly aggravate the guilt of rejecting the tender which it makes.
4, All these things the gospel proposeth, urgeth, presseth upon us in the name and authority of God. It requireth, exacteth, and commandeth faith in men, in a way of obedience unto the supreme authority of God.
Now, if these things, and sundry others of the like consideration, do concur in the proposals and commands of the gospel, it is evi- dent that sinners’ unbelief must have disobedience, contumacy, and rebellion accompanying of it. For can a man refuse that which is so proposed unto him, upon such reasons and considerations, in the way and manner intimated, all enforced with the authority of God, but that he must contract the guilt of the highest rebellion against him? And hence it is that the Scripture everywhere layeth the cause of men’s unbelief on their wills, their love of sin, their obsti- nacy and hardness of heart, as hath been before declared. And hence it will follow, that,—
Obs. II. Unbelief not only justifies but glorifies the greatest severities of God against them in whom it prevails.
The apostle having declared the severity of God towards the people in the wilderness, adds this as the reason of it,—it was be- cause of their “unbelief.” They provoked him by their unbelief, and therefore were so severely destroyed as he had declared. And besides, his principal intention is to manifest that those who follow them in the same éin, now under the gospel, would in like manner perish, and that eternally; and that in their destruction God will glorify himself. The truth of this proposition is sufficiently evinced from what hath been discoursed on that foregoing; for if there be that contumacy and rebellion attending unbelief which we have manifested, it will undeniably follow that God is exceeding righteous and glorious in his greatest severities against them who abide in the guilt of it; in this, that “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John iii 86. I shall add only one consideration more for the further evidencing of this truth: The design of God in the gospel, in and by the things proposed unto our faith, is to glorify himself and all the holy attributes of his nature. And this is the effect of his counsel and wisdom, after that many of them were, as it were, obscured by sin, unto the eternal
192 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [cHaP. 111.
ruin of sinners: God, I say, in the gospel, through the mediation of Christ, the principal subject of all the promises and immediate object of our faith, designeth to manifest and glorify his righteous- ness and holiness, Rom. i. 24-26; his power and wisdom, 1 Cor. i. 18, 23, 24; his mercy, grace, and goodness, Eph.i. 6; his patience and forbearance, 2 Pet. ii. 9; his faithfulness and bounty in reward- ing believers with eternal life, Rom. vi. 23. In sum, by this way and means he hath designed that manifestation of himself, his na- ture, his will, his goodness, his wisdom and counsel, wherein he will be admired, adored, and glorified by angels and men unto eternity, 2 Thess. i.10. This is the design of God in and by the gospel. And it is that which becomes him, because it is natural and necessary. unto him in all things to will his own glory. Now, unbelief is nothing but the attempt of sin and Satan to frustrate the whole design of God, to make him a liar, 1 John v. 10, to keep him from being owned, acknowledged, and worshipped, as God only wise, infi- nitely righteous, holy, faithful, gracious, and bountiful. And this upon the matter is to oppose the being of God. It is to deny that he was righteous and holy in requiring the punishment due to sin of our Sponsor or Mediator,—that is, in punishing sin; to deny that he was infinitely wise and gracious in sending his Son to save that which was lost; to deny that the way which he hath provided for the salvation of sinners is good, sufficient, and safe; to deny his faithfulness in the accomplishment of his promises, and his truth and veracity about what he hath affirmed concerning the salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ. And where, then, is the glory of God ? or what is left unto him for which he should be glorified or wor- shipped? And can this atheistical, rebellious attempt be too severely revenged? Is not God not only justified in that decretory sentence, “ He that believeth not shall be damned,” but doth it not in the hearts of all the creation cry aloud for the vindication of his glory from this great contempt cast upon it, and horrible attempt to frus- trate his design for the advancement of it? As sure as God is God, unbelief shall not go unpunished. Yea, from the gracious salva- tion of believers, and righteous condemnation of them who will not believe, doth arise that great and triumphant glory wherein God will be admired and adored by the whole rational creation unto eternity. And this further appears; for,—