they might be saved,) God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie : that they all might be damned who believe not the truth."

These denunciations against unbelief may, perhaps, to some men, appear very severe; for some are inclined to say, Is it not extremely hard that any one should thus suffer for not receiving a particular scheme of religion? Faith, in the general, is an assent to the truth of a proposi tion, on such evidence as the nature of it adınits. Faith in Jesus Christ is an assent to the truth of the following propositions, namely, that he is the Messiah, foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament, that he came forth from God to declare his will to mankind: but, say they, it is certain men cannot believe what they please, and always judge as the evidence appears to them: why then, they will argue, should any man be condemned to everlasting punishment, because he did not discern the truth of such propositions?

We may answer, that the condemnation of unbelievers would indeed be severe, nay, evidently unjust too, if the truth was not clearly proposed to them, and sufficiently attested; if they had not capacity to judge of this matter, or if it was an error merely speculative, for which they will be condemned. If their unbelief did not proceed from a vicious principle, and cause them to continue in the practice of such sins as naturally tend to deprive them of true happiness, and, by their unavoidable conse

quences, prepare them for a state of anguish and torment. But this is far from being the case supposed in the threatenings already mentioned. The infinite goodness of God, manifested in giving existence to mankind, his wonderful grace in sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to deliver them from their sins, and to bring them to a state of perfect and endless feli city, gives us substantial reason to conclude, that he will not make any thing the cause of their exclusion from heaven, but what has in its own nature a tendency to render them incapable of it. Of this kind we may justly suppose unbelief to be, against which damnation is denounced in the Christian institution.

Let us consider more particularly the nature of that unbelief, against which future condemnation is denounced. The design of Christ's coming into the world was to effect the regeneration and reformation of men. Peter told the Jews, "Unto you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."Therefore faith in him was required, because it was absolutely necessary in order to produce those effects. They who believed not in him, would not reform their lives by turning from their sins, and for this reason remained under the pressure of guilt.

But that the nature and aggravation of this sin of unbelief may more clearly appear, let us consider, that in all those places in the New Testament where future punishment is denounced

against unbelievers, it is supposed the Gospel had been preached to them, and the evidences of its truth laid before them. Christ himself preached the Gospel to the Jews; he showed all ranks of persons their sins, and exhorted them to repent. "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." He professed that he came from God, and was that prophet whom they expected; "I am come in my Father's name. "Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true." He taught them a more spiritual worship, and delivered to them the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. So he abundantly justified his pretensions, confirming his doctrines by numerous miracles, which were performed in their presence. And if the miracles of Moses proved that he was sent of God, to deliver his will to the Israelites; if the wonderful things performed by the prophets were valid proofs of their Divine mission; surely the more numerous and useful miracles of Jesus sufficiently demonstrate that all his doctrines are true, and that he is indeed that prophet whom the Jewish lawgiver had foretold God would raise up.

It is true, the Jews were forbidden to regard 'signs," and "wonders," which were done by false prophets to seduce them. But from hence it will not follow, that they ought not to regard the miracles of Jesus, who did not attempt to

draw them from the worship of the true God, but taught them to worship him in a way more pure, and better suited to his spiritual nature. He professed likewise to be that prophet who was to come from the true God, and who, when he appeared, was to prove the reality of his mission by undeniable miracles done in his name. He might therefore justly appeal to these astonishing effects of his power for the truth of his doctrine: "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not."

The apostles also of our Lord preached the Gospel in Judea, and afterward to the Gentiles, showing them the unreasonableness and absurdity of idolatry, and exhorting them to reform their worship and their lives. They did not require their hearers implicitly to believe that they came authorized from the only true God: but they preached a religion worthy of him, and attested the truth of their mission by a surprising succession of miraculous works, that there might be no doubt of what they taught and affirmed concerning the resurrection of Christ, and the general resurrection of the dead. Nay, Christ and his apostles actually raised several dead bodies to life before their eyes. No means of knowledge, therefore, no means calculated to produce conviction of the truth of Christianity, were withheld from Jews or Gentiles, among whom the apostles came: but every thing was done which could be deemed necessary to convince them of their sins, and illuminate their minds with the knowledge of Christian truth.

But notwithstanding all this, they stubbornly refused seriously and attentively to consider what they heard, and would not impartially and deliberately inquire into the truth of Christ's doctrine. They would not honestly examine the evidences proposed to them, but obstinately resisted all the means of conviction. When our Lord healed the man who had the withered hand, they did not attend to the greatness of the miracle, but maliciously endeavoured to contrive how they might take away his life. "The Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him." When he had raised Lazarus from the dead, instead of fairly weighing in their minds this instance of Divine power, the chief priests consulted how they might put him also to death; because that by reason of him, "many of the Jews believed on Jesus."

They did not therefore discern the truth, because they would shut their eyes against the light; nor did they understand, because they stopped their ears that they might not hear the truth so plainly preached, and so frequently inculcated. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should