bondage. Like them, we have had spiritual food administered to us in rich abundance in the Gospel of Christ. And if, like them, we harden our hearts, and rebel against our God, like them, we must be excluded from the heavenly Canaan. They by their obstinacy provoked God to exclude them with an oath : O that we may never provoke him to " swear that we also shall never enter into his rest ! " That we are in danger of bringing this awful judgment on ourselves is evident from the intimation given us by the Apostle Judee, and yet more plainly from the
warnings which St. Paul founds on this very passage f
Let us then " hear the voice" of our good Shepherd, ere it be
too late. Let us " grieve him" no longer but let us
turn to him with our whole hearts Caleb and Joshua
were admitted into Canaan, because " they followed the Lord fully :" let us follow him fully, and we shall certainly attain the promised rest.]
After the example of St. Paul, we would with all earnestness caution you against,
1. Unbelief —
[The Jews believed neither the promises nor the threaten- ings of God, and therefore they perished. Let us beware lest we fall after the same example of unbelief g. If we will not believe that we stand in need of mercy to the extent that God has declared, or that the service of God is so reasonable and blessed as he has represented it to be, or that the judgments of God shall infallibly come on all who refuse to serve him, there is no hope : we must perish, notwithstanding all the offers of mercy that are sent to us : for " the word preached cannot profit us, if it be not mixed with faith in them that hear it V]
2. Hardness of heart —
[As Israel hardened themselves against God when his messages were sent them by Moses, so do many now harden themselves against the word preached by the ministers of Christ. They " puff at" all the judgments denounced against them1. But " who ever hardened himself against God, and prospered?" O! " will your hearts be stout in the day that he shall deal with you ? and will you thunder with a voice like his ? " Be persuaded : humble yourselves before him, yea, " bow down and kneel before him," and never cease to cry for mercy, till he has turned away his anger, and spoken peace to your souls.]
3. Delay —
[" To-day," says the Psalmist : " To-day, while it is called To-day," says the Apostle Paul : and " To-day," would I say :
e ver. 5. f Heb. iii. 7 — 19. and iv. 1. e Heb. iv. 12.
h Heb. iv. 2. • Ps. x. 4, 5.