Thirty-Third Argument.
abatement can be made in so equitable a precept? Therefore man, who breaks the righteous law of God as naturally as he breathes, is, and must continue, under its fearful curse, till he has secured the pardon and help offered him in the Gospel.
THIRTY-THIRD ARGUMENT.
Nor is the Gospel itself without its threatenings; for if the Lord, on the one hand, “opens the kingdom of heaven to all believers;” he declares, on the other, that “they shall all be damned who believe not the truth,” when it is proposed to them with sufficient evidence; and that “he who believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God,” 2 Thessalonians 2:12; John 3:18. From these awful declarations, I draw the following argument:— If faith is so essential a virtue, how depraved and wretched is man, who is so excessively “slow of heart to believe” the things that concern his salvation! Matter of fact daily proves that we readily admit the evidence of men, while we peremptorily reject the testimony of God. Commodore Byron’s extraordinary account of the giants in Patagonia is, or was, every where received: but that of Jesus Christ, concerning those who “walk in the broad way to destruction” is, and has always been, too generally disregarded, Matthew 7:13.
On reading in a newspaper an anonymous letter from Naples, we believe that rivers of liquid fire flow from the convulsed bowels of a mountain, and form burning lakes in the adjacent plains: but if we read in the Scripture that Tophet, the burning lake, “is prepared of old” for the impenitent, we beg leave to withhold our assent; and unless Divine grace prevents, we must fall in, and feel, before we assent and believe, Isaiah 30:33. Who that has seen a map of Africa, ever doubted whether there is such a kingdom as that of Morocco, though he never saw it, or any of its natives? But who that has perused the Gospel, never doubted, whether the “kingdom of heaven within us,” or that state of “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,” which God opens to believers upon earth, is not a mere imagination? though Christ himself invites us to it, and many pious persons not only testify they enjoy it, but actually show its blessed fruits, in heavenly tempers, a blameless life, a triumphant death, Mark 1:14; Luke 17:21; Romans 14:17; Revelation 1:6. With what readiness do we depend upon an honest man’s promise, especially if it is reduced into a bond! But with what reluctance do we rely on the “many great and precious promises” of God, confirmed by an oath, delivered before the most unexceptionable witnesses, and sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ! 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Hebrews 6:17.
And ye numerous tribe of patients, how do ye shame those who call themselves Christians! So entire is the trust which you repose upon a physician’s advice, whom perhaps you have seen but once, that you immediately abstain from your pleasant food, and regularly take medicines, which, for what you know, may be as injurious to your stomach as they are offensive to your palate. But we who profess Christianity generally quarrel with Christ’s prescriptions; and if we do not understand the nature of a remedy which he recommends, we think this is a sufficient reason for refusing it. From Christ only, if we can help it, we will take nothing upon trust.
One false witness is often sufficient to make us believe that a neighbour vows to do us an injury; but twenty ministers of Jesus cannot persuade us, God “hath sworn in his wrath,” that if we die in our sins, “we shall not enter into his rest,” Psalm 95:11, or that if we “come to him” for pardon and life, “he will in no wise cast us out,” John 6:37. The most defamatory and improbable reports spread with uncommon swiftness, and pass for matter of fact; but when St. Paul testifies, that “if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” Romans 8:9, who believes his testimony? Does not the same mind that was open to scandalous lies, prove shut against such a revealed truth?
Isaiah asks, “Who hath believed our report?” And Jesus says, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?” Alas! there would have been no room for these plaintive questions, if the word of God had not been proposed to our faith; for the most groundless and absurd assertions of men find multitudes of believers. We see daily that an idle rumour about a peace or a war meets with such credit as to raise or sink the stocks in a few hours.
It is evident that man hath a foolish and “evil heart of unbelief,” ready to “strain at a gnat” in Divine revelation, while he greedily “swallows up the camel” of human imposture. Now if it is part of the Gospel which Christ commands his ministers to “preach to every creature,” that “he who