Christ crucified, or, The marrow of the gospel, evidently holden forth in LXXII sermons,…

certainly, ye will wonder one day, that ye should have heard such a plain Truth, and yet would not so much as ask your own Hearts whether there was reason to suspect your want of Faith, as it's said that Christ marvelled at their Unbelief who heard Him, so may we at yours, and who ere long, ye shall also marvel at your selves on this account.

Before we prosecute this Use, and the rest any further, we shall speak to another Doctrine, and it is the last that follows from these words, tending to the same scope to make us scar at Unbelief, which the Prophet makes such a heavy ground of Complaint. The Doctrine then is, That if there were never so many under Unbelief, and never so many who refuse to receive Jesus Christ, yet Unbelief is a Sin, and a most sinful Sin, which, though Folks had no more, will seclude them from Heaven; there were no ground for this Complaint if it were not so, even as the Prophet would have had no ground to complain of the Peoples Unbelief if there were not many Unbelievers; so Unbelief is a very great Sin in whomsoever it is, and makes them exceeding sinful: Or take the Doctrine thus, It is a very great Sin for a People to whom Christ is offered in this Gospel, not to receive Him, and rest upon Him for Salvation, as He is offered to them therein; and it ariseth from this ground, That where Christ is not received, there the Ministers of the Gospel have ground of Complaint, for it supposes a great defect in their Duty, seeing it is their Duty to Believe, yea the great Gospel duty on which all other Duties hang, and which is called for by many ties and obligations, This is his commandment, saith John in his first Epistle, chap. 3.23. that ye believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ, therefore it must be a great Sin not to Believe.

Before we prosecute this Use, and the rest any further, we shall speak to another Doctrine, and it is the last that follows from these words, tending to the same scope to make us scar at Unbelief, which the Prophet makes such a heavy ground of Complaint. The Doctrine then is, That if there were never so many under Unbelief, and never so many who refuse to receive Jesus Christ, yet Unbelief is a Sin, and a most sinful Sin, which, though Folks had no more, will seclude them from Heaven; there were no ground for this Complaint if it were not so, even as the Prophet would have had no ground to complain of the Peoples Unbelief if there were not many Unbelievers; so Unbelief is a very great Sin in whomsoever it is, and makes them exceeding sinful: Or take the Doctrine thus, It is a very great Sin for a People to whom Christ is offered in this Gospel, not to receive Him, and rest upon Him for Salvation, as He is offered to them therein; and it ariseth from this ground, That where Christ is not received, there the Ministers of the Gospel have ground of Complaint, for it supposes a great defect in their Duty, seing it is their Duty to Believe, yea the great Gospel duty on which all other Duties hang, and which is called for by many tyes and obligations, This is his commandment, saith John in his first Epistle, chap. 3.23. that ye believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ, therefore it must be a great Sin not to Believe.