THE SIN OF UNBELIEF.

“And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if

the Lord should make windows in heaven might such a thing be?

And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shalt not

eat thereof.”-2 Kings 7:19.

ONE wise man may deliver a whole city; one good man may be the means

of safety to a thousand others. The holy ones are “the salt of the earth,” the

means of the preservation of the wicked, Without the godly as a conserve,

the race would be utterly destroyed. In the city of Samaria there was one

righteous man-Elisha, the servant of the Lord. Piety was altogether extinct

in the court. The king was a sinner of the blackest dye, his iniquity was

glaring and infamous. Jehoram walked in the ways of his father Ahab, and

made unto himself false gods. The people of Samaria were fallen like their

monarch: they had gone astray from Jehovah; they had forsaken the God of

Israel; they remembered not the watchword of Jacob, “The Lord thy God

is one God;” and in wicked idolatry they bowed before the idols of the

heathens, and therefore the Lord of Hosts suffered their enemies to oppress

them until the curse of Ebal was fulfilled in the streets of Samaria, for “the

tender and delicate woman who would not adventure to set the sole of her

foot upon the ground for delicateness,” had an evil eye to her own

children, and devoured her offspring by reason of fierce hunger.

Deuteronomy 28:56-58. In this awful extremity the one Holy man was the

medium of salvation. The one grain of salt preserved the entire city; the

one warrior for God was the means of the deliverance of the whole

beleaguered multitude. For Elisha’s sake the Lord sent the promise that the

next day, food which could not be obtained at any price, should be had at

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the cheapest possible rate-at the very gates of Samaria. We may picture the

joy of the multitude when first the seer uttered this prediction. They knew

him to be a prophet of the Lord; he had divine credentials; all his past

prophecies held been fulfilled. They knew that he was a man sent of God,

and uttering Jehovah message. Surely the monarch’s eyes would glisten

with delight, and the emaciated multitude would leap for joy at the

prospects of so speedy a release from famine. “Tomorrow,” would they

shout, “to-morrow our hunger shall be over, and we shall feast to the full.”

However, the lord on whom the king leaned expressed his disbelief. We

hear not that any of the common people, the plebeians, ever did so; but an

aristocrat did it. Strange it is, that God has seldom chosen the great men of

this world. High places and faith in Christ do seldom well agree. This great

man said “Impossible!” and, with an insult to the prophet, he added, “If the

Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be.” His sin lay

in the fact that after repeated seals of Elisha’s ministry, he yet disbelieved

the assurances uttered by the prophet on God’s behalf. He had, doubtless,

seen the marvellous defeat of Moab- he had been startled at tidings of the

resurrection of the Shunamite’s son; he knew that Elisha had revealed

Benhadad’s secrets and smitten his marauding hosts with blindness- he had

seen the bands of Syria decoyed into the heart of Samaria; and he probably

knew the story of the widow, whose oil filled all the vessels, and redeemed

her sons; at all events the cure of Naaman was common conversation at

court; and yet, in the face of all this accumulated evidence, in the teeth of

all these credentials of the prophet’s mission, he yet doubted, and

insultingly told him that heaven must become an open casement, ere the

promise could be performed. Whereupon God pronounced his doom by the

mouth of the man who had just now proclaimed the promise: “thou shalt

see it with thine eyes but shalt not eat thereof.” And providence-which

always fulfils prophecy, just as the paper takes the stamp of the typedestroyed

the man. Trodden down in the streets of Samaria, he perished at

its gates, beholding the plenty, but tasting not of it. Perhaps his carriage

was haughty, and insulting to the people; or he tried to restrain their eager

rush; or, as we would say, it might have been by mere accident that he was

crushed to death; so that he saw the prophecy fulfilled, but never lived to

enjoy it. In his case, seeing was believing, but it was not enjoying.

I shall this morning invite your attention to two things-the man’s sin and

his punishment. Perhaps I shall say but little of this man, since I have

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detailed the circumstances, but I shall discourse upon the sin of unbelief

and the punishment thereof.

God. In this particular case unbelief took the form of a doubt of the divine

veracity, or a mistrust of God’s power. Either he doubted whether God

really meant what he said, or whether it was within the range of possibility

that God should fulfill his promise. Unbelief hath more phases than the

moon, and more colors than the chameleon. Common people say of the

devil, that he is seen sometimes in one shape, and sometimes in another. I

am sure this is true of Satan’s first-born child-unbelief, for its forms are

legion. At one time I see unbelief dressed out as an angel of light. It calls

itself humility, and it saith, “I would not be presumptuous; I dare not think

that God would pardon me; I am too great a sinner.” We call that humility,

and thank God that our friend is in so good a condition. I do not thank

God for any such delusion. It is the devil dressed as an angel of light- it is

unbelief after all. At other times we detect unbelief in the shape of a doubt

of God’s immutability; “The Lord has loved me, but perhaps he will cast

me off to-morrow. He helped me yesterday, and under the shadows of his

wings I trust; but perhaps I shall receive no help in the next affliction. He

may have cast me off; he may be unmindful of his covenant, and forget to

be gracious.” Sometimes this infidelity is embodied in a doubt of God’s

power. We see every day new straits, we are involved in a net of

difficulties, and we think “surely the Lord cannot deliver us.” We strive to

get rid of our burden, and finding that we cannot do it, we think God’s arm

is as short as ours, and his power as little as human might. A fearful form

of unbelief is that doubt which keeps men from coming to Christ, which

leads the sinner to distrust the ability of Christ to save him, to doubt the

willingness of Jesus to accept so great a transgressor. But the most hideous

of all is the traitor, in its true colors, blaspheming God, and madly denying

his existence. Infidelity, deism, and atheism, are the ripe fruits of this

pernicious tree; they are the most terrific eruptions of the volcano of

unbelief. Unbelief hath become of full stature, when quitting the mask and

laying aside disguise, it profanely stalks the earth, uttering the rebellious

cry, “No God.” striving in vain to shake the throne of the divinity, by lifting

up its arm against Jehovah, and in its arrogance would

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Then truly unbelief has come to its full perfection, and then you see what it

really is, for the least unbelief is of the same nature as the greatest.

I am astonished, and I am sure you will be, when I tell you that there are

some strange people in the world who do not believe that unbelief is a sin.

Strange people I must call them, because they are sound in their faith in

every other respect; only, to make the articles of their creed consistent, as

they imagine, they deny that unbelief is sinful. I remember a young man

going into a circle of friends and ministers, who were disputing whether it

was a sin in men that they did not believe the gospel. Whilst they were

discussing it, he said, “Gentlemen am I in the presence of Christians? Are

you believers in the Bible, or are you not?” They said, “We are Christians

of course.” “Then,” said he, “does not the Scripture say, ‘of sin, because

they believed not on me?’ And is it not the dawning sin of sinners, that they

do not believe on Christ?” I could not have thought that persons should be

so fool-hardy as to venture to assert that “it is no sin for a sinner not to

believe on Christ.” I thought that, however far they might wish to push

their sentiments, they would not tell a lie to uphold the truth and, in my

opinion, this is what such men are really doing. Truth is a strong tower and

never requires to be buttressed with error. God’s Word will stand against

all man’s devices. I would never invent a sophism to prove that it is no sin

on the part of the ungodly not to believe, for I am sure it is, when I am

taught in the Scriptures that, “This is the condemnation, that light is come

into the world and men love darkness rather than light,” and when I read,

‘He that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on

the Son of God,” I affirm, and the Word declares it, unbelief is a sin.

Surely with rational and unprejudiced persons, it cannot require any

reasoning to prove it. Is it not a sin for a creature to doubt the word of its

Maker? Is it not a crime and an insult to the Divinity, for me, an atom, a

particle of dust, to dare to deny his words? Is it not the very summit of

arrogance and extremity of pride for a son of Adam to say, even in his

heart, as God I doubt thy grace; God I doubt thy love; God I doubt thy

power?” Oh! sirs believe me, could ye roll all sins into one mass,-could you

take murder, and blasphemy, and lust, adultery, and fornication, and

everything that is vile, and unite them all into one vast globe of black

corruption, they would not equal even then the sin of unbelief. This is the

monarch sin, the quintessence of guilt the mixture of the venom of all

crimes; the dregs of the wine of Gomorrha; it is the A 1 sin, the masterpiece

of Satan, the chief work of the devil.

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I shall attempt this morning, for a little while, to shew the extremely evil

nature of the sin of unbelief.

remember that it is the parent of every other iniquity. There is no crime

which unbelief will not beget. I think that the fall of man is very much

owing to it. It was in this point that the devil tempted Eve. He said to her,

“Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” He

whispered and insinuated a doubt, “Yea, hath God said so?” as much as to

say, “Are you quite sure he said so?” It was by means of unbelief-that this

part of the wedge-that the other sin entered; curiosity and the rest

followed; she touched the fruit, and destruction came into this world, since

that time, unbelief has been the prolific parent of all guilt. An unbeliever is

capable of the vilest crime that ever was committed. Unbelief, sirs! why it

hardened the heart of Pharoh-it gave license to the tongue of blaspheming

Rabshakeh-yea, it became a deicide, and murdered Jesus. Unbelief!-it has

sharpened the knife of the suicide! it has mixed many a cup of poison;

thousands it has brought to the halter; and many to a shameful grave who

have murdered themselves and rushed with bloody hands before their

Creator’s tribunal, because of unbelief! Give me an unbeliever-let me know

that he doubts God’s word — let me know that he distrusts his promise

and his threatening; and with that for a premise, I will conclude that the

man shall, by-and-bye unless there is amazing restraining power exerted

upon him, be guilty of the foulest and blackest crimes. Ah! this is a

Beelzebub sin; like Beelzebub, it is the leader of all evil spirits. It is said of

Jeroboam that he sinned and made Israel to sin; and it may be said of

unbelief that it not only sins itself; but makes others sin, it is the egg of all

crime, the seed of every offense; in fact everything that is evil and vile lies

couched in that one word-unbelief.

And let me say here, that unbelief in the Christian is of the self-same nature

as unbelief in the sinner. It is not the same in its final issue, for it will be

pardoned in the Christian; yea it is pardoned: it was laid upon the scapegoat’s

head of old: it was blotted out and atoned for; but it is of the same

sinful nature. In fact, if there can be one sin more heinous-than the unbelief

of a sinner, it is the unbelief of a saint. For a saint to doubt God’s word-for

a saint to distrust God after innumerable instances of his love, after ten

thousand proofs of his mercy exceeds everything. In a saint, moreover,

unbelief is the root of other sins. When I am perfect in faith I shall be

perfect in everything else: I should always fulfill the precept if I always

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believed the promise. But it is because my faith is weak, that I sin. Put me

in trouble, and if I can fold my arms and say, “Jehovah-Jireh the Lord will

provide,” you will not find me using wrong means to escape from it. But

let me be in temporal distress and difficulty, if I distrust God, what then?

Perhaps I shall steal, or do a dishonest act to get out of the hands of my

creditors; or if kept from such a transgression, I may plunge into excess to

drown my anxieties. Once take away faith, the reins are broken; and who

can ride an unbroken steed without rein or bridle? Like the chariot of the

sun with Phaeton for its driver, such should we be without faith. Unbelief is

the mother of vice; it is the parent of sin; and, therefore, I say it is a

pestilent evil-a master sin.

men can keep their sin under the thunders of the Sinai preacher? How is it

that, when Boanerges stands in the pulpit, and, by the grace of God, cries

aloud, “Cursed is every man that keepeth not all the commands of the

law,”-how is it that when the sinner hears the tremendous threatenings of

God’s justice, still he is hardened, and walks on in his evil ways? I will tell

you; it is because unbelief of that threatening prevents it from having any

effect upon him. When our sappers and miners go to work around

Sebastopol, they could not work in front of the walls, if they had not

something to keep off the shots; so they raise earthworks, behind which

they can do what they please. So with the ungodly man. The devil gives

him unbelief; he thus puts up an earthwork, and finds refuge behind it. Ah!

sinners, when once the Holy Ghost knocks down your unbelief-when once

he brings home the truth in demonstration and in power, how the law will

work upon your soul. If man did but believe that the law is holy, that the

commandments are holy, just, and good, how he would be shaken over

hell’s mouth; there would be no sitting and sleeping in God’s house; no

careless hearers; no going away and straightway forgetting what manner of

men ye are. Oh! once get rid of unbelief, how would every ball from the

batteries of the law fall upon the sinner, and the slain of the Lord would be

many. Again, how is it that men can hear the wooings of the cross of

Calvary, and yet come not to Christ? How is it that when we preach about

the sufferings of Jesus, and close up by saying, “yet there is room,”-how is

it that when we dwell upon his cross and passion, men are not broken in

their hearts? It is said,

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Methinks the tale of Calvary is enough to break a rock. Rocks did rend

when they saw Jesus die, Methinks the tragedy of Golgotha is enough to

make a flint gush with tears, and to make the most hardened wretch weep

out his eyes in drops of penitential love; but yet we tell it you, and repeat it

oft, but who weeps over it? Who cares about it? Sirs, ye sit as unconcerned

as if it did not signify to you. Oh I bellow and see all ye that pass by. Is it

nothing to you that Jesus should die? Ye seem to say “It is nothing”. What

is the reason? Because there is unbelief between you and the cross. If there

were not that thick veil between you and the Savior’s eyes, his looks of

love would melt you. But unbelief is the sin which keeps the power of the

gospel from working in the sinner: and it is not till the Holy Ghost strikes

that unbelief out-it is not till the Holy Spirit rends away that infidelity and

takes it altogether down, that we can find the sinner coming to put his trust

in Jesus.

of any good work; “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin,” is a great truth in

more senses than one. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” You

shall never hear me say a word against morality; you shall never hear me

say that honesty is not a good thing, or that sobriety is not a good thing; on

the contrary, I would say they are commendable things; but I will tell you

what I will say afterwards-I will tell you that they are just like the Dowries

of Hindostan; they may pass current among the Indians, but they will not

do in England; these virtues may be current here below, but not above. If

you have not something better than your own goodness, you will never get

to heaven. Some of the Indian tribes use little strips of cloth instead of

money and I would not find fault with them if I lived there, but when I

come to England, strips of cloth will not suffice. So honesty, sobriety, and

such things, may be very good amongst men-and the more you have of

them the better. I exhort you, whatsoever things are lovely and pure, and

of good report, have there-but they will not do up there. All these things

put together, without faith do not please God. Virtues without faith are

whitewashed sins. Obedience without faith, if it is possible, is a gilded

disobedience. Not to believe, nullifies everything. It is the fly in the

ointment; it is the poison in the pot. Without faith, with all the virtues of

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purity, with all the benevolence of philanthropy, with all the kindness of

disinterested sympathy, with all the talents of genius, with all the bravery of

patriotism, and with all the decision of principle- “without faith it is

impossible to please God.” Do you no see then, how bad unbelief is,

because it prevents men from performing good works. Yea, even in

Christians themselves, unbelief disables them. Let me just tell you a tale-a

story of Christ’s life. A certain man had an afflicted son, possessed with an

evil spirit. Jesus was up in Mount Tabor, transfigured; so the father

brought his son to the disciples. What did the disciples do? They said “Oh,

we will cast him out.” They put their hands upon him, and they tried to do

it; but they whispered among themselves and said, “We are afraid we shall

not be able.” By-and-by the diseased man began to froth at the mouth, he

foamed and scratched the earth, clasping it in his paroxysms. The demoniac

spirit within him was alive. The devil was still there. In vain their repeated

exorcism, the evil spirit remained like a lion in his den, nor could their

efforts dislodge him. “Go!” said they; but he went not, “Away to the pit!”

they cried; but he remained immoveable. The lips of unbelief cannot

affright the Evil One, who might well have said, “Faith I know, Jesus I

know, but who are ye? ye have no faith.” If they had had faith, as a grain of

mustard seed, they might have cast the devil out, but their faith was gone,

and therefore they could do nothing. Look at poor Peter’s case, too. While

he had faith, Peter walked on the waves of the sea. That was a splendid

walk; I almost envy him treading upon the billows. Why, if Peter’s faith

had continued, he might have walked across the Atlantic to America. But

presently there came a billow behind him, and he said, “That will sweep me

away;” and then another before, and he cried out, “That will overwhelm

me;” and he thought-how could I be so presumptuous as to be walking on

than top of these waves? Downs goes Peter. Faith was Peter’s life-buoy;

faith was Peter’s charm-it kept him up; but unbelief sent him down. Do you

know that you and I, all our lifetime, will have to walk on the water? A

Christian’s life is always walking on water-mine is-and every wave would

swallow and devour him but faith makes him stand. The moment you cease

to believe, that moment distress comes in, and down you go. Oh!

Wherefore dost thou doubt, then?

Faith fosters every virtue; unbelief murders every one. Thousands of

prayers have been strangled in their infancy by unbelief. Unbelief has been

guilty of infanticide; it has murdered many an infant petition, many a song

of praise that would have swelled the chorus of the skies, has been stifled

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by an unbelieving murmur, many a noble enterprise conceited in the heart

has been blighted ere it could come forth, by unbelief; many a man would

have been a missionary; would have stood and preached his Master’s

gospel boldly; but he had unbelief. Once make a giant unbelieving, and he

becomes a dwarf: Faith is the Samsonian lock of the Christian; cut it off,

and you may put out his eyes-and he can do nothing.

the Scriptures! I see a world all fair and beautiful; its mountains laughing in

the sun, and the fields rejoicing in the golden light. I see maidens dancing,

and young men singing. How fair the vision! But lo! a grave and reverend

sire lifts up his hand, and cries, “A flood is coming to deluge the earth: the

fountains of the great deep will be broken up, and all things will be

covered. See yonder ark! One hundred and twenty years have I toiled with

these my hands to build it; flee there, and you are safe.” “Aha! old man;

away with your empty predictions! Aha! let us be happy while we may!

when the flood comes, then we will build an ark- but there is no flood

conning; tell that to fools; we believe no such things.” See the unbelievers

pursue their merry dance. Hark! Unbeliever. Dost thou not hear that

rumbling noise? Earth’s bowels have begun to move, her rocky ribs are

strained by dire convulsions from within; lo! they break with the enormous

strain, and forth from between them torrents rush unknown since God

concealed them in the bosom of our world. Heaven is split in sunder! it

rains. Not drops, but clouds descend. A cataract, like that of old Niagara,

rolls from heaven with mighty noise. Both firmaments, both deeps-the deep

below and the deep above-do clasp their hands. Now unbelievers, where

are you now? There is your last remnant. A man — his wife clasping him

round the waist — stands on the last summit that is above the water. See

him there? The water is up to his loins even now. Hear his last shriek! He is

floating — he is drowned. And as Noah looks from the ark he sees

nothing. Nothing! It is a void profound. “Sea monsters whelp and stable in

the palaces of kings.” All is overthrown, covered, drowned. What hath

done it? What brought the flood upon the earth? Unbelief. By faith Noah

escaped from the flood. By unbelief the rest were drowned.

And, oh! do you not know that unbelief kept Moses and Aaron out of

Canaan? They honored not God — they struck the rock when they ought

to have spoken to it. They disbelieved: and therefore the punishment came

upon them, that they should not inherit that good land, for which they had

toiled and labored.

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Let me take you where Moses and Aaron dwelt-to the vast and howling

wilderness. We will walk about it for a time; sons of the weary foot, we

will become like the wandering Bedouins, we will tread the desert for a

while. There lies a carcase whitened in the sun- there another, and there

another. What means these bleached bones? What are these bodies-there a

man, and there a woman? What are all these? How came these corpses

here? Surely some grand encampment must have been here cut off in a

single night by a blast, or by bloodshed. Ah, no, no. Those bones are the

bones of Israel; those skeletons are the old tribes of Jacob. They could not

enter because of unbelief. They trusted not in God. Spies said they could

not conquer the land. Unbelief was the cause of their death. It was not the

Anakims that destroyed Israel; it was not the howling wilderness which

devoured them; it was not the Jordan which proved a barrier to Canaan,

neither Hivite or Jebusite slew them; it was unbelief alone which kept them

out of Canaan. What a doom to be pronounced on Israel, after forty years

of journeying: they could not enter because of unbelief!

Not to multiply instances, recollect Zechariah. He doubted, and the angel

struck him dumb. His mouth was closed because of unbelief. But Oh! if

you would have the worst picture of the effects of unbelief-if you would

see how God has punished it, I must take you to the siege of Jerusalem,

that worst massacre which time has ever seen, when the Romans raised the

walls to the ground, and put the whole of the inhabitants to the sword, or

sold them as slaves in the market-place. Have you never read of the

destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus? Did you never turn to the tragedy of

Masada, when the Jews stabbed each other rather than fall into the hands

of the Romans? Do you not know, that to this day the Jew walks through

the earth a wanderer, without a home and without a land? He is cut off, as

a branch is cut from a vine — and why? Because of unbelief. Each time ye

see a Jew with a sad and sombre countenance-each time ye mark him like a

denizen of another land, treading as an exile this our country-each time ye

see him, pause and say, “Ah! it was unbelief which caused thee to murder

Christ, and now it has driven thee to be a wanderer; and faith alone — faith

in the crucified Nazarene — can fetch thee back to thy country, and restore

it to its ancient grandeur.” Unbelief, you see, has the Cain-mark upon its

forehead. God hates it — God has dealt hard blows upon it: and God will

ultimately crush it. Unbelief dishonors God. Every other crime touches

God’s territory; but unbelief aims a blow at his divinity, impeaches his

veracity, denies his goodness, blasphemes his attributes, maligns his

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character; therefore, God of all things, hates first and chiefly, unbelief,

wherever it is.

me remark that you will observe the heinous nature of unbelief in this —

that it is the damning sin. There is one sin for which Christ never died; it is

the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is one other sin for which Christ

never made atonement. Mention every crime in the calendar of evil, and I

will show you persons who have found forgiveness for it. But ask me

whether the man who died in unbelief can be saved, and I reply there is no

atonement for that man. There is an atonement made for the unbelief of a

Christian, because it is temporary, but the final unbelief-the unbelief with

which men die-never was atoned for. You may turn over this whole Book,

and you will find that there is no atonement for the man who died in

unbelief; there is no mercy for him. Had he been guilty of every other sin;

he had but believed, he would have been pardoned; but this is the damning

exception- he had no faith. Devils seize him! O fiends of the pit, drag him

downward to his doom! He is faithless and unbelieving, and such are the

tenants for whom hell was built. It is their portion, their prison, they are

the chief prisoners, the fetters are marked with their names, and for ever

shall they know that, “he that believeth not shall be damned.”

it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” Listen unbelievers! ye have

heard this morning your sin, now listen to your doom: “Ye shall see it with

your eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.” It is so often with God’s own saints.

When they are unbelieving, they see the mercy with their eyes, but do not

eat it. Now, there is corn in this land of Egypt; but there are some of God’s

saints who come here on the Sabbath, and say, “I do not know whether the

Lord will be with me or not.” Some of them say, “Well, the gospel is

preached, but I do not know whether it will be successful.” They are

always doubting and fearing. Listen to them when they get out of the

chapel. “Well, did you get a good meal this morning?” “Nothing for me.”

Of course not. Ye could see it with your eyes, but did not eat it, because

you had no faith. If you had come up with faith, you would have had a

morsel. I have found Christians, who have grown so very critical, that if the

whole portion of the meat they are to have, in due season, is not cut up

exactly into square pieces, and put upon some choice dish of porcelain they

cannot eat it. Then they ought to go without; and they will have to go

without, until they are brought to their appetites. They will have some

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affliction, which will act like quinine upon them: they will be made to eat

by means of bitters in their mouths; they will be put in prison for a day or

two until their appetite returns, and then they will be glad to eat the most

ordinary food, off the most common platter, or no platter at all. But the

real reason why God’s people do not feed under a gospel ministry, is

because they have not faith. If you believed, if you did but hear one

promise that would be enough; if you only heard one good thing from the

pulpit, here would be food for your soul, for it is not the quantity we hear,

but the quantity we believe, that does us good-it is that which we receive

into our hearts with true and lively faith, that is our profit.

But, let me apply this chiefly to the unconverted. They often see great

works of God done with their eyes, but they do not eat thereof. A crowd

of people have come here this morning to see with their eyes, but I doubt

whether all of them eat. Men cannot eat with their eyes, for if they could,

most would be well fed. And, spiritually, persons cannot feed simply with

their ears, nor simply with looking at the preacher; and so we find the

majority of our congregations come just to see; “Ah, let us hear what this

babbler would say, this reed shaken in the wind.” But they have no faith;

they come, and they see, and see, and see, and never eat. There is someone

in the front there, who gets converted; and some one down below, who is

called by sovereign grace- some poor sinner is weeping under a sense of his

blood-guiltiness, another is crying for mercy to God: and another is saying,

“Have mercy upon me, a sinner.” A great work is going on in this chapel,

but some of you do not know anything about it; you have no work going

on in your hearts, and why? Because ye think it is impossible; ye think God

is not at work. He has not promised to work for you who do not honor

him. Unbelief makes you sit here in times of revival and of the outpouring

of God’s grace, unmoved, uncalled, unsaved.

But, sirs, the worst fulfillment of this doom is to come! Good Whitfield

used sometimes to lift up both his hands and shout, as I wish I could shout,

but my voice fails me. “The wrath to come! the wrath to come!” It is not

the wrath now you have to fear, but the wrath to come- and there shall be a

doom to come, when “ye shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat

thereof.” Methinks I see the last great day. The last hour of time has

struck. I heard the bell toll its death knell-time was, eternity is ushered in;

the sea is boiling; the waves are lit up with supernatural splendor. I see a

rainbow-a flying cloud, and on it there is a throne, and on that throne sits

one like unto the Son of Man. I know him. In his hand he holds a pair of

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balances; just before him the books,-the book of life, the book of death, the

book of remembrance. I see his splendor and I rejoice at it; I behold his

pompous appearance, and I smile with gladness that he is come to be

“admired of all his saints.” But there stands a throng of miserable wretches,

crouching in horror to conceal themselves, and yet looking for their eyes

must look on him whom they have pierced; but when they look they cry,

“Hide me from the face.” What face? “Rocks, hide me from the face.”

What face? “The face of Jesus, the man who died, but now is come to

judgment.” But ye cannot be hidden from his face; ye must see it with your

eyes: but ye will not sit on the right hand, dressed in robes of grandeurand

when the triumphal procession of Jesus in the clouds shall come, ye

shall not march in it; ye shall see it, but ye shall not be there. Oh! methinks

I see it now, the mighty Savior in his chariot, riding on the rainbow to

heaven, See how his mighty coursers make the sky rattle while he drives

them up heaven’s hill. A train girt in white follow behind him, and at his

chariot wheels he drags the devil, death, and hell. Hark, how they clap their

hands. Hark, how they shout. “Thou hast ascended up on high- thou hast

led captivity captive.” Hark, how they chaunt the solemn lay, “Hallelujah,

the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” See the splendor of their appearance;

mark the crown upon their brows; see their snow-white garments; mark the

rapture of their countenances; hear how their song swells up to heaven

while the Eternal joins therein, saying, “I will rejoice over them with joy, I

will rejoice over them with singing, for I have betrothed thee unto me in

everlasting lovingkindness.” But where are you all the while? Ye can see

them up there but where are you? Looking at it with your eyes, but you

cannot eat thereof. The marriage banquet is spread; the good old wines of

eternity are broached; they sit down to the feast of the king; but there are

you, miserable, and famishing, and ye cannot eat thereof. Oh! how ye

wring your hands. Might ye but have one morsel from the table-might ye

but be dogs beneath the table. You shall be a dog in hell, but not a dog in

heaven.

But to conclude. Methinks I see thee in some place in hell, tied to a rock,

the vulture of remorse knowing thy heart; and up there is Lazarus in

Abraham’s bosom, You lift up your eyes and you see who it is. “That is the

poor man who lay on my dunghill, and the dogs licked his sores; there he is

in heaven, while I am cast down. Lazarus-yes, it is Lazarus; and I who was

rich in the world of time am here in hell. Father Abraham, send Lazarus,

that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue.” But no! it

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cannot be; it cannot be. And whilst you lie there if there be one thing in hell

worse than another, it will be seeing the saints in heaven. Oh, to think of

seeing my mother in heaven while I am cast out! Oh, sinner, only think, to

see thy brother in heaven-he who was rocked in the selfsame cradle, and

played beneath the same roof-tree-yet thou art cast out. And, husband,

there is thy wife in heaven, and thou art amongst the damned, And seest

thou, father! thy child is before the throne; and thou! accursed of God and

accursed of man, art in hell. Oh, the hell of hells will be to see our friends

in heaven, and ourselves lost. I beseech you, my hearers, by the death of

Christ- by his agony and bloody sweat-by his cross and passion-by all that

is holy- by all that is sacred in heaven and earth-by all that is solemn in time

or eternity -by all that is horrible in hell, or glorious in heaven-by that awful

thought, “for ever,”-I beseech you lay these things to heart, and remember

that if you are damned, it will be unbelief that damns you. If you are lost, it

will be because ye believed not on Christ; and if you perish, this shall be the

bitterest drop of gall-that ye did not trust in the Savior.

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