thus punish the Offender all his other Judgments would not bridle us nor could there be a sufficient Evidence of his wrath did it only light on the party but not stay nor abide on him Then Justice appears to be his when it is not common with man's but man can temporally punish and be mocked to by the Sufferer since that Death he inflicts as his highest punishment is but an end and escape from it Wee all foolishly burn in our wrath and the fires we prepare for othes carry a vain heart in them they scorch and heal together they dissolve the body to ashes and cool it by doing so but when Eternal Wrath seizes on us when Everlasting Burnings break forth this is to give the substance of pain and no shadows In this way God rewards mens evil deads and by the terror of it keeps his infinite mercy from being abused which is an Attribute that wicked men naturally stick to and as hardly quit their hold of it in pursuit of their wickedness were they not shaken off by another notion of Infinite Justice I proceed to my second Query II. Why the Revelation of Divine Wrath is peculiarly ascribed to the Gospel This is intimated in my Text For the wrath of God sayes the Apostle is revealed srom Heaven that is immediately by the God of it who descended upon earth to teach the world and in an heavenly manner confirmed what He taught sealing by his Works the Truths He delivered In handling this point I shall premise two things which are here necessarily imply'd 1. That the eternal punishment of evil doers was a Truth decreed by God before it was revealed for Revelation gives no Essence to things but only an Appearance to us it is not a creating but a discovering work not a saying let it be but let it be with full Evidence He that opens the earth and produces those stores it shuts up does not thereby cause them to exist but to be known so when Gods wrath is said here to be manifested it imports this That it was first prepared His decree was past from all eternity against sin having determined with himself to create Man and govern him by Law determin'd likewise a Punishment answerable to the Majesty of the Lawgiver from whose infinity Mans guilt should swell up so as to deserve infinite Wages The Wrath then of God was sure before-hand only the benefit we have by his revealing it is the applying of that Truth to us whereby we are warned to seek out and provide a remedy of the Judgment 2. The second thing I shall premise is That till the Gospel came the nature of Gods Vindictive Justice was much hid and concealed It is true the Gentiles had a Light from Heaven which was the Light of Nature the Candle of the Lord and the Jews a more special one which was the Light of the Law to direct them yet neither of them contained a like evidence of this Truth which the Gospel affords us 1. For the Light of Nature the Gentiles were led by I confess they had unalterably this dictate from it that Wrath was the due pay of Offenders and because men liv'd not up to the Principles of their Creation they were therefore justly lyable to the Curse but how far that Judgment should certainly extend herein the Light fail'd to guide them Reason it self taught them to conclude the Wicked deserv'd punishment but the Reason did not suffice to confirm that punishment in another World for how Man could eternally subsist in a course of misery they understood not nor what consistency there was of an immortal being with perpetual Torments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Speech of one of their chief Philosophers as if to Suffer and to be Mortal were one and the same thing I need not mention the grosness of their mistakes about the Nature of him they worshipped which is palpable to all from that Idolatry they invented but their Error also is alike notorious as to those Motives they fail'd in for urging Religion upon men For when they denied the Resurrection of the Body as Impossible they must consequently deny an Eternal Reward that was built on it What we read in the Acts to be the profest Mockery of the Epicureans and Stoicks when St. Paul preached to them upon this Theme was indeed the sport of all the rest who scoff'd at any thing above Nature and minding only the constant course of its operations made accordingly their Estimate of Gods Power But perhaps they deliver'd somewhat concerning the Life of the Soul but then they did it very uncertainly as Socrates in his Apology for himself before his Judges sufficiently witnesses and if any of them were so positive as to affirm it yet they made that state after death so Aery and so Romantick that neither the Just man could be refresh'd nor the Wicked frighted with that opinion Go to their Stories of the Dark Regions below and the Fiery Lake the Bad should be cast into the Stone the Wheel and the Vulture that was appointed them these were the reports of their Poets fit Priests for such Worshippers Little did they work upon mens Faiths to believe them who with their fabulous mixtures corrupting Truth hindred thereby the conviction of their Hearers Hence their great ones were not mov'd with what was related to them and the Vulgar did but consider them as Tragedies upon a Stage where Fears perhaps were rais'd in them from the Apprehension of an Evil and again easily cur'd with the conceit of a Fiction In a word whatever Religion they had concerning another life it was made by Fancy a wild Speculation and had no check upon conscience to bind practice so that to them the Wrath of God here in my Text prov'd still a Doctrine unknown 2. Let us examine the Doctrin of the Jews and that Light of Special Revelation which they enjoyed It must be granted by all Christians that the Jews had their Covenant established upon promises and threatnings of an Eternal Condition God who chose them out of all Nations to be his People and govern'd their State peculiarly by his Laws did by this too distinguish them from the rest of the World that they had their Religion advanced by those Prophets He sent amongst them whence we find it vindicated by Christ in a Dispute by Paul in a Defence by Abraham in a Parable Christs proves from thence his Doctrine of the Resurrection Paul his hope of the Promise and Abraham the different state both of good and bad which one would think were enough to stop the mouths of our Modern Saducees when the Old were put to silence And indeed whoever shall assert that the Jews had no such benefit of Revelation he must at once charge their Lawgiver with weakness and their own Faith with absurdity in cleaving to him Yet however this Law of the Jews if compared with the Christian in the manner of its evidence came not up
DIATRIBAE OR Discourses UPON SELECT TEXTS Wherein Several weighty Truths are handled and applyed against the PAPIST AND THE SOCINIAN By HENRY BAGSHAW D. D. LONDON Printed by T. H. for Ric. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1680. TO The Right Honourable and Reverend Father in God Nathaniel Lord Bishop of Durham My Lord I Have been long doubtful in my thoughts what Subjects to handle under so great a variety of Christian Truths but I do not doubt in the least where I should fix my Dedication since your Lordship may challenge all my endeavours whether I be barely consider'd as a Member of your Diocess or farther as planted by your self under the noble Influence of your Favour As a Member there is due from me all the Reverence of an Esteem as one planted there is requisite the peculiar tribute of a thankful mind in a return of some Fruit to your hands The Discourses I here offer to your Lordships view and from thence to the World how weakly soever they are written yet I am sure they have weight of matter and worth of Patronage to defend them I here open from Scripture First that heynous sin of Imprisoning Truth and the justness of Gods vengeance reveal'd Next the natural Inference from Divine Promises which is the exercise of all Piety Thirdly the cogent reason of adhering to our Lord Christ because He has words of Eternal life for his followers Last of all the proper Benefit of his Death in that work of Justifying us and the Peculiar Advantages of his Rising In all which points I have strictly confin'd my self within my Circle and as occasion led me reflected upon Two great Enemies to Christianity which are the Papist and the Socinian the one crying up his Diana which is the Church the other magnifying as false a Goddess which is his own Reason to overthrow it I need not here publish your Lordships Zeal for our Protestant Church which you have abundantly demonstrated to your own Clergy nor the prudence of your Government which we all taste of but since I am made so singular an Instance of your kindness both as to present and future encouragement I take leave to mention it to the world and withall to acquaint your Lordship That the great Temptation I had to write was my Sense of it where I hoped I might erect some lasting Memorial or if the poorness of what is written should hinder life yet the Candid Reader might give it one by considering your Lordships Name and the Gratitude of the Writer I am my Noble Lord Your Lordships Most obliged and ever faithful Servant Henry Bagshaw Houghton le spring Sept. 30. 1679. The First Discourse Rom. 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness THese words have reference to the sixteenth verse of the Chapter wherein the Apostle stoutly defends the Charge of his Ministry because the Gospel he preached though it might seem to have a weak Subject a Crucified Saviour and as weak a Deliverer of that Subject a despised Messenger yet was the Power of God to Salvation How it prov'd such an effectual Instrument in Gods hands to convert the World He farther illustrates by the Methods and Rules of it as being a full revelation of his Will both to accept the imperfect righteousness of men and to punish their wilful disobedience In the one it sutes it self to our highest Hopes by that blessed Life it propounds in the other it is applied to our greatest Fears by that cursed Death it threatens so that none can possibly escape the force of Religion except at the same time their own passions be destroyd Now what is Gods rule of saving men by he tells us in the Verse foregoing my Text and with what clearness of discovery the Gospel lays open the Justifi-fication of a Sinner and Faith the condition prescribed but lest this Faith should be mistaken as if Heaven were the reward of a naked Belief and a bare relyance on Christ might buy out his purchase he checks our confidence by another Manifestation of Gods Justice against Sinners As the Just shall live by Faith whereby He means Faith that is the Principle of a new life so the Wicked shall die for their Impenitence and both these states the Gospel reveals a Light sent us from above to work doubly upon Earth in refreshing the Saint and consuming the Malefactor For the wrath of God c. Whether the scope of these words be directed against the Gentiles who were such Rebels to Nature or against a mungrel sort of them the Gnosticks who were such corrupters of the Gospel I shall not here examine but consider them barely in themselves as they point out to us a General Truth which is this That the wrath of God against all kind of sin but especially the sin of those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness is plainly discovered in the Gospel In the management of this Truth it will be necessary to enquire into these particulars 1. Into the Nature of Gods Wrath what it implyes 2. Why the Revelation of his Wrath is more peculiarly ascrib'd to the Gospel 3. How justly it is exercised upon those Sinners who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness I. Into the Nature of Gods Wrath what it implyes The holy Pen-men of Scripture that borrowed our Passions to express the manner of Gods dealing with us teach us withal to abstract from the weakness of them Passions in us shew the imperfectness of our beings that we need such Principles to act by and the imperfectness too of our State in that Trouble follows their Motion And particularly this passion of Wrath is attended with a double one either if you regard the disturbance it raises in the Soul upon the sense of an Injury or the poor limiting of it to Time in its effects of punishing in neither sense can it belong to God for could He be disturbed when provok'd He would lose the Happiness of his State could He be limited in his Vengeance He would lose the Glory of his Power Therefore his Wrath in this place can signifie nothing else but a settled decree or fixt will of punishing sin eternally This is a revenge proper to God and it is this alone makes the Transgressor fear In this sense it is taken by John the Baptist when he warns his hearers to flee from the Wrath to come and by St. Paul when he speaks of the day of Wrath styl'd so with an Emphasis to distinguish it from Gods other days of Execution in this world Here a Day of Justice may rather be termed Night for its darkness and Providence it self seems to be clouded even in those Thunderbolts that come down but the Day wherein the sinners eternal Portion will be assigned is a clear one for it derives its distinguishing light from the scorching Flame that preys on him Did not God
to the excellency of that discovery For the whole Mosaïck Oeconomy was made up of Types and Figures and a thick Night continually overspread their Tabernacle Their Promises and Curses literally concerned the things of this life and it required a piercing Faith spiritually to interpret them a vulgar eye would surely stay upon the Surface but for to be able to take in the depth this must proceed from a strong enlightning which we read only a few were blest with that like Moses were carried up to see the hidden things of the Mount when the generality stood below and saw nothing but Clouds There was then great need of a Saviour to appear whether we regard Jew or Gentile and that not only for the work of saving Mankind but for redeeming Truth which was so obscur'd by the one and lost by the other Now Christ has discharg'd his Office in this particular and for this Prophet alone was reserv'd all the glory of Divine Revelation who being the express Image of his Fathers Person was the Signifier also of his Will in the brightest Character We know in the Creation Light was Gods first work but in restoring of Religion his last He judg'd it not fit to bring bright day on his People at first but by degrees to prepare their weak sight that it might be the better confirm'd and when the full time came the Gospel was published which put an end to farther discoveries and seal'd up the Vision This being premis'd it remains I should speak one word to shew how Gods wrath by way of eminency is revealed in the Gospel which will appear by considering 1. The Cleerness of it in the Letter 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World 1. For the Clearness of the Letter nothing can be more lively shown than the Sinners Hell whose Worm is said not to dye neither is his Fire quenched Nor does the Second Death cease from hurting him Should we now conclude with the Socïnian Eternal Punishment to be nothing else but Perdition or a Negation of Existence we must flatly deny those phrases of Scripture before mentioned for the Worm it self dies if its prey does so the Fire is put out if the matter it feeds upon be not lasting and the Second Death is not in the least hurtful if it imply nothing of torment But besides were this granted them what 's become of the fierceness of Gods wrath when neither felt nor endured Where is his Judgment and severe reckoning with evil doers if they partake with Brutes in their end It is folly to fear where Justice is not known and consequently a wide gap is opened by such men to all impiety when they take off the Terrors of Death leaving men as unconcern'd to be nothing an hundred years hence as an hundred years past to be unborn O the vanity of that Reason they pretend to which breaks the Authority of Gods Laws O the cruelty of their Compassion to Mans nature whereby Religion it self is destroy'd But Christ has otherwise instructed the World and knowing it needful that Everlasting Punishment should be equally set before us with Life Eternal He has joyned them both in the Sentence that we might be every way convinc'd Eternity is our lot and therefore a full motive to Duty In the Old Testament Tophet or the Valley of the Children of Hinnom where their Sons and Daughters were sacrificed to Moloch was used by the Prophet Isaiah as his greatest Type and Representation of Hell But how short it fell of a Gospel-description will be made evident if we consult the place the number it was prepared for and the time of its burning the place though deep yet had bottom the number though great yet was limited to one People and the time of its burning though fierce yet had end On the contrary the Gospel reveals a bottomless Gulf a multitude of all Nations that enter and a perpetual duration of their torments So that here we have a clear light of the Letter wherein the Jews were defective Neither does the excellency of a Revelation stop here but we may consider in the second place 2. The Publick Promulgation of it to the World and the Seal it carries of an Universal Publishing answerable to the Majesty of him that came to set up an Universall Kingdom Behold the Sentence of Divine Wrath was before hid with the Jews but now the knowledg of it spreads into all parts and so it proves a new Light in regard of its extent through all quarters That Sun of righteousness that has risen shines round about not only with healing under his wings to preserve but with Flames too of vengeance to consume And this He manifested here on Earth when he proclaimed the Glad-tydings of Salvation and pronounc'd many a Blessing upon his People yet lest they should forget the Justice of a Saviour Woes and Threatnings were ushered in to allay and temper all his Ministry Therefore those that heard him had reason to fear and not think themselves freed from Legal terrors since the Thunder of Sinai continued still though the Darkness of it was gone And as He thus awed them with his own Teaching so He commissioned his Servants to do likewise when He sent them abroad to teach all Nations Mercy alone was not their Theme nor the riches of Divine Grace in mans Redemption which is such welcome news to the receiver but the Curse was also annext and the Charge of future Judgment that if the former did please the latter might bind Before this Ignorance might be some way pleaded by the Gentiles that they obeyed not Gods Law when Life and Immortality were not known but after these were cleared up in the Gospel then their Condemnation was perfected For now they could be no longer termed unhappy for sitting in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death which is a kind of Sanctuary to the Pleader but Wicked for loving the Shadow which is the beginning of Hell Upon this account He no more winks or spares but judicially eying their steps denounces against them his heaviest Judgment I know many refer the Revelation of Gods Wrath to the Experiments of it in the world and make his outward Judgments upon sinners as so many Witnesses to confirm it But were no higher meant than those Instances we should be still in the dark convinc'd perhaps he was wroth but not wroth to a distinction wherein Justice is revealed None can spell out Characters of Providence nor read the special Hand-writing upon the Wall without the benefit of Vision What is all our sight of a just God here but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a Riddle a Riddle that has busied Philosophers to resolve and hardned their doubts by the enquiry If Wrath be manifested let the bad feel its burden but alas Gods Tempests here seem onely to fall upon his own Chosen They may call it Grace thus to suffer but it is Grace not seen nor acknowledged by others all
purge by Confession They conceal the True Tenet of Christs full satisfaction whereby both sin and punishment are taken off that they may make an Exchequer of Mans Pardons They destroy the nature of Good works and make them to be nothing else but an Art of Compounding The Creature is set up by them as it was by the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the Creator They drive at Universal Empire and Soveraignty and in order to this all worldly Stratagems are made use of so that it is hard to judg whether their Capitol or their Church be better founded A Mans Head we know did denominate the one and I am sure it lies at the Foundation of the other except you 'l say the Old Serpent gets in to help the Subtilty of it and to mix his poyson with the Invention Indeed they may boast of their Politicks thus improv'd But whoever will survey the whole Model of their Religion or impartially view their Discipline and Practice he shall find Truth is hid by them for carnal ends which adds new height to the sin 3. The third and last aggravation is drawn from the effects that follow this violence offer'd to Truth Whoever shall suppress the power of Religion in himself does thereby contract a hardness in his soul to commit iniquity and lives a continued scandal to his Brethren but whosoever shall suppress Truth by a Law he thereby proclaims his defiance of it and employes all his force to six Error and Corruption in the World How can Injustice rise higher than this case for it is a flat war against Heaven a publick Invasion of each mans privilege it is a digging of the Eyes out of that Head which should be general in its shine and a reducing of things to a strange Chaos where the confusion is far worse when Truth and Falsehood Good and Evil are not known than when Heaven and Earth lay undistinguished O how sad and deplorable is Mens case to be left in ignorance of their way to Eternal Happiness Who can possibly attain to Life without a knowledge of it before hand or be brought from the power of Satan unto God except their eyes be first opened and their Spiritual Blindness removed There is no altering of Gods Methods to save nor of the course of his Spirit to convert men who begins in an act of Conviction upon the Understanding and conveys by it to the Will its sanctifying operation so that without enlightning there can be no renewing of the inner man and by consequence no fitting or preparing of him for Glory So then look where Truth is hid there so many souls are buried and descend by degrees from one Gulf into another Till the Prison be broke and light again restored a recovery is impossible Therefore when such a General ruine is the issue of Religions Captivity the crime of detaining it must needs be heinous and arise in proportion to those mischiefs that are caused I could alledg the same instance I before mentioned as a pregnant proof to shew how destructive it is to a people that Truth should be withheld and an Inquisition established to keep off that Tryal Hence multitudes perish for lack of Knowledg and wanting a requisite Faith which a blind Credulity takes the place of are in all the folly of it condemn'd But light they pretend wounds men and Scripture if publick deceives many wresting it to their own destruction a liberty say they of Christian knowledg is but a Curse and a rank Field for several Heresies to spring up whence it is better to root it out and thereby hinder the growth of tares But an Objection of this kind is easily answered for there was never any thing of great esteem and use for mans Life but it bred a difference in opinion As Physick intended for the cure of Bodies and Philosophy for the health of Souls are both fruitful of many questions yet none in his wits would avoid Physick or Philosophy because of different Sects and Parties they breed so neither should the free use of Scripture be condemned in regard of differences amongst men which proceed not so much from their study of contention as from a variety in their abilities to understand Farther were this charge of theirs valid to null the force of the rule let then the great Eye of the Firmament be pulled out because he raises vapours as well as enlightens The vapours that are rais'd he owes to the Earth but enlightning must be ascrib'd to his own Body Would we certainly know the reason why the Gospel is hid It is jealousie and fear of being reformed An evil eye will not bear Light nor a diseased Conscience retain it Light reproves and convinces where it comes for this cause they keep it close dealing with Truth as the Tyrians did with their God whom they fetter'd with a strong Chain lest if free he should leave their City and take the Enemies side Hitherto I have spoken of the Charge whose greatness does appear from the treason that is in the Act from the baseness of the motives and from the murdering nature of the effects proceed we to speak a little of the justness of the Sentence that is here denounced against those who hold the Truth in Unrighteousness It may perhaps be counted a disproportionable reward by some that wicked mens finite Acts should be everlastingly punished But did they farther regard them as Acts of Strength where the Will governs Acts of Enmity where Revelation is oppos'd they would not so readily complain of the rigour of that Judgment Besides there is an absolute necessity for such a Sentence to secure Religion in the World since the bounds of Christianity would be quickly past over were not infinite terrors the fence to keep Travellers in And what seems more loudly to call for it than the sin I have already discours'd of or how shall the authority of Truth be maintain'd the honour of God vindicated and the injuries done to our Brethren aveng'd but by so signal a punishment Take thy measures of the offence from the Object in that Glass thou mayst discern its full stature He that quenches Light strives to destroy the God of it which being so high a provocation the same God is sollicited to exercise his Omnipotence in a revenge The Princes of this World would be satisfied to the utmost when their Subjects daringly rebel only their want of power causes a weakness in their blows God that can take the extremity of a payment when an affront is offer'd him pursues but the will of a Soveraign in doing so Did he indeed hide Truth from us we might likewise be hid from his Justice but when he clearly propounds it to us and enables our Wills to close with it here we inexcusably offend Now we say we see therefore our sin remains now we confess we are assisted by Heaven therefore Heaven is absolv'd when it punishes May we not with shame own that
reproof which God delivered against Israel Your destruction is of your selves May we not apply what he had spoken against Jerusalem What could have been done more for my Vineyard that was not done For he has taught us by his Word awakened us by his Rod invited us by his Bounty offered himself to us by his Grace while we desperately forsake our own mercy Even the worst of men taste of his Goodness They find his Spirit in their Consciences to check in their Minds to guide in their Wills to allure them he wooes he sollicits he waits all our Faculties he besets that he might draw us over to the Government of his Laws He is always free and communicative of his Treasures but it is mans guilt cuts off the spring Tax not then the Method of Gods proceedings that summons into an extraordinary Court the gross abuser of his Talents but reflect sadly upon the sinfulness of thine own ways that causes Grace to alter its shape and the face of a Saviour to be transfigur'd with darkness I shall close this point with an Inference from the whole I suppose none will expect in this place I should attempt a description of Divine Wrath which though it be revealed from Heaven is yet hid in the manner of execution So Lightning is discerned by its brightness when it strikes though the way of its working is not seen How the Fire below by an Almighty breath will be kindled and yet kept by the same breath from consuming the Sinner it is not for us to explain but certainly the Wound the Smart the Plague is intolerable where-ever the weight of Gods Justice falls And they of all men will feel its burden that bring Light to their punishment whereby they are forced to acknowledge the double calamity they are prest with namely Wrath not to be shunn'd and Sin not to be pleaded for Here the Sword cuts deep enters the very marrow and spirits and renews continually its edge with piercing Who is able to meet Vengeance in its assaults and Light in its convictions Is not their force strong nay irresistible where they come Behold the one makes and the other quickens our Hell the one binds us fast and the other heats our Furnace I know the Theme I now insist on is not suited to a Scoffers ear because not suited to his designs What have we to do says an Epicure with a warning of Gods Justice that chastises all our delights and mingles gall with our pleasures If Religion must be preached up let Grace and Mercy be revealed Those have a healing quality in them and like Beds of spices refresh with their opening but Treasures of Wrath and the Pains of another World these like noysome pits do punish us in our searching Thus he would secure his way of sinning to himself and remove all sting from his conscience But alas his arts are in vain were he freed from any outward sounds of the Ministry of the Word yet his mind is still checked with a future Judgment and by fits submits to the Revelation Indeed how can it be otherwise for the notions of God and his Justice are twisted together in our Souls and the same impression that convinces us of his Being convinces us too of his Wrath against sin nothing remains but that the eternity of it appear and when that is effected the Soul necessarily yields and witnesses its surrender by those pungent acts of reflecting We suppose now adayes Atheism to abound and fortifie that supposition by our frequent discourses to confute it but if there be such a Leprosie amongst Christians it does not so much seize the head as the heart which is the seat of the Devils Disease and he cares not to spread it farther in his Children All our crime is not that Divine Characters in us are lost but only hid in our souls Truth we bury by our practice though we feel it lives to our torment And God grant we be not punished for our Ingratitude with outward darkness by a removal of his Candlestick from amongst us Do we now pride our selves in this that we enjoy mercy but let us also regard the dangerous neighbourhood of Vindictive Justice when that Mercy is despis'd What Attribute is there can rescue us from the stroke when Goodness will not defend Is it Power we may flee to but that determines it self to destroy Is it Wisdom but that contrives the way of destroying Is it Holiness but that justifies the proceeding whence Goodness alone is the security of the Sinner That Altar of Refuge God himself has set up to stop the course of his own Vengeance And yet even here we are not safe because our abuse forfeits the Privilege all the protection of it is lost through our stubbornness of offending whereby we become guilty of a mad Sacrilege when we pull down the Sanctuary that might save us There is no sin so aggravating as what strikes at God in an Evangelical Revelation for here we offend against his last and best method of drawing us to him You are all diggers in Truths Mine and have your toyl paid with those pleasures you find there but where ought it to be seen in its greatest beauty if not amongst those that chiefly discover it All kind of Truth has charms upon its face to get Lovers but the Truth of Religion has a Divine Image upon it to win Souls and an Eternal Dowry to hold them Blind are we if we resist absurd if we refuse such a Temptation The Duty I here press is very seasonable for the Object you see deserves Love ay and the courage of Love to pursue it How can Lusts or Fears take room in a Christian that has such high Motives to govern him Propound to thy self Good and Evil in their full latitude here swell them to their biggest bulk dress them in their choicest colours and shows they sink to nothing with a religious comparison Heaven melts away all the paint of a present delight and Hell renders all the Vizards of outward danger contemptible so that neither the one nor the other can stir a passion in the Soul when our thoughts are well planted Therefore if either the Mercy of a God can move or the Wrath of Almighty can bind us if the Scepter of Grace can perswade or the Lightning of Justice terrifie if Life if Death be of any moment to us let us be fast maintainers of the Truth and commend our Profession to the world by that Infallible stamp of our lives The Second Discourse 2 Cor. 7.1 Having therefore these Promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the Fear of God IN the last verse of the preceding Chapter to which these words chiefly refer we find what a gracious promise God makes to his People when He assures them if they separate from sin in what a glorious manner He will receive them allowing them the noblest Privilege a