2. How fearful we should be of unbelief —
[As there is no grace which so honours God, as faith, so there is no sin which so dishonours him, as unbelief. Other sins, though they oppose his authority, do not deny his right to command : but unbelief questions the very existence of his truth. Hence does St. John so frequently speak of it, as " making God a liar^." Ah ! little do the sceptic and the unbeliever think what guilt they contract : and little do they imagine what chains they are forging for their own souls ! How, I would ask, will any man get his sins forgiven ? it can only be by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ; and by a living faith too: for it is not a dead faith that will suffice; but such a faith as unites the soul to Christ, and derives out of his fulness all that grace, and mercy, and peace which we stand in need of. Most awful is that declaration of God, that " all the fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake that burnetii with fire and brimstone ; which is the second death *^." Whether we believe this or not, it will prove ti'ue in the end : and the sentence, once denounced against Israel with an oath, shall again be repeated against all that abide in unbe- lief; " I swear in my wrath, that they shall not enter into my rest."]
3. How earnestly we should pray to God for the gift of his Spirit —
[It is by the Spirit of God alone that we can either " be convinced of unbeliefs," or be enabled to exercise a living faith''. O! beg of God to give you his Spirit. Seek it in
<= Jam. i. 23, 24. '^ John iii. 19—21. Prov. xx. 27.
« 1 John ii. 22. and v. 10. f Rev. xxi. 8.
p John xvi. 8, 9. »' Eph. ii. 8. Phil. i. 29,