While some do not hesitate to entertain these dis- honourable thoughts of God,
II. Others fear he may lie — This is common with persons,
1. Under conviction of sin —
[When men are deeply convinced of sin, they find it exceeding difficult to rest simply on the promises of the Gospel. God promises to cast out none who come to him by Christ Jesus ; to wash them from sins of deepest dye ; and to bestow on them all the blessings of salvation freely " without money and without price f." Now this appears too good to be true: they cannot conceive how God should "justify the ungodly s," and therefore they seek to become godly first, in order that they may be justified: and if they cannot bring some price in their hands, they keep back, and give themselves over to desponding fears ]
2. Under temptation or desertion —
[God has declared that " he will not suffer Iris people to be tempted above what they are able to bearh." But when they come into temptation, they are apt to say, as David, " I shall one day perish by the hands of Saul1." They see no way for their escape ; and therefore they fear that the very next wave will overwhelm them utterly
If God at these seasons hide his face from them, they con- clude " there is no hope;" they think "his mercy clean gone for ever, and his loving-kindness come utterly to an end for evermore k," notwithstanding God has so frequently and so expressly declared, that he will never leave them nor forsake them l
Now these persons do not, like the ungodly, deliberately think that God will lie ; but they have many misgiving fears lest he should : and that they do so is obvious ; for, if they did not, they would take God at his word, and " stay themselves on him when they are in darkness, and have no light m."
Thus generally is the veracity of him who is truth itself, either questioned or denied:
III. But God neither will nor can lie —
It is humiliating beyond expression that ministers should be forced to vindicate the veracity of God. But as he himself has seen fit to do so in the sacred
f John vi. 37. Isai. i. 18. and lv. 1. e Rom. iv. 5.
h 1 Cor. x. 13. ' 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. k Ps. lxxvii. 7 — 9.
1 Heb. xiii. ">. m Isai. 1. 10.