2. Now if this be true, that faith, true faith, is so forcible a thing as to take a man from his seat of ease, and make him come to God by Christ as afore, then, is it not truly inferred from hence that those who come not to God by Christ have no faith. What! Is man such a fool as to believe things, and yet not look after them? To believe great things, and yet not to concern himself with them? Who would knowingly go over a pearl, and yet not count it worth stooping for? Believe thou art what thou art; believe hell is what it is; believe death and judgment are coming, as they are; and believe that the Father and the Son are, as by the Holy Ghost in the Word they are described, and sit still in thy sins if thou canst. Thou canst not sit still; faith is forcible. Faith is grounded upon the voice of God in the Word, upon the teaching of God in the Word. And it pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe; for believing makes them heartily close in with, and embrace what by the Word is set before them, because it seeth the reality of them.
Shall God speak to man's soul, and shall not man believe? Shall man believe what God says, and nothing at all regard it? It cannot be. 'Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.' And we know that when faith comes, it purifies the heart of what is opposite to God and the salvation of the soul.
So, then, those men who are at ease in a sinful course, or who come not to God by Christ are those who have no faith, and must therefore perish with the vile and unbelievers. (Rev 21:8)
The whole world is divided into two sorts of men—believers and unbelievers. The godly are called believers; and why believers, but because they are they that have given credit to the great things of the gospel of God? These believers are here in the text called also comers, or they that come to God by Christ, because whoso believes will come; for coming is a fruit of faith in the habit, or, if you will, it is faith in exercise; yet faith must have a being in the soul before the soul can put it into the act.
This therefore further evidences that they that come not, have no faith, are not believers, belong not to the household of faith, and must perish—' For he that believes not, shall be damned.'
Nor will it be to any boot to say, I believe there is a God and a Christ, for still thy sitting doth demonstrate that either thou lies in what thou sayest, or that thou believes with a worse than a false faith. But the object of my faith is true. I answer, so is the object of the faith of devils; for they believe that there is one God and one Christ, yet their faith, as to the root and exercise of it, is notwithstanding no such faith as is that faith that saves, or that is intended in the text, and that by which men come to God through Christ. Wherefore still, oh, thou slothful one, thou deceives thyself! Thy not coming to God by Christ declared to thy face that thy faith is not good, consequently, that thou feeds on ashes, and thy deceived heart has turned thee aside, that thou canst not deliver thy soul, nor say, 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?' (Isa 44:20) Third. Is there a man who comes to God through Christ? Thence I infer that the world to come is better than this; yes, so much better as to quit cost and bear charges of coming to God, from this, by Christ, to that. Though there is a world to come, if it were no better than this, one had an as good stay here as seeking that, or if it were better than this and would bear charges if a man left this for that, and that was all, still the one would be as good as the other. But the man that comes to God by Christ has chosen the infinitely good world—a world, between which there can be no comparison. This must be granted, because he who comes to God by Christ is said to have made the best choice, even choosing a city that has foundations. (Heb 11:10) Several things make it manifest enough that he who comes to God by Christ has made the best market or chosen the best world.
