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