Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_070.TXT

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70                                             OF THE HATRED OF GOD.                                                           Book I.

and ever ;" and for the commencement of which, in its
full extent, there is a day fixed, called, "the day of
wrath, and righteous judgment of God ;" until which
time God reserves wrath for his adversaries; it is laid up
in store with him, among his treasures, and will be ever
laying out, and pouring forth.
As to the objects of this wrath, seeing it is revealed
agaihst all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men; it
lies against all that are unrighteous and ungodly; and as
all have sinned, and are under sin, all' are children of
wrath, Eph. ii. 3. Rom. i. 18. and iii. 9, 23. but there are
some particularly described, on whom this wrath comes,
and they are called children of disobedience, Eph. v. 5, 6.
Col.ill. 5,6. such who are disobedient to the l. ight of nature,
rebel against it, and hold truth in unrighteousness, which
that discovers; and so as they sin without law, they perish
without law, Rom. i. 18, 19, 21, 28. and ii. 12. and who
also are disobedient to the law of God, break it, and are
convicted by it, as transgressors, whom it pronounces
guilty, and is the ministration of condemnation and death
unto them; and who are disobedient to the gospel of
Christ, obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, and
are slaves to their sinful lusts and pleasures; on these
come indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish;
even on every soul of man that does evil, 2 Thess. i. 8.
Rom. ii. 8, 9. they are also represented as unbelievers:
He that believeth not the Son, shah not see life; but the
wrath of God abideth on him: he that does not believe
that Christ is the Son of God, that he is the Messiah and
Saviour of men, the sentence of wrath, which the law
has passed on him, as a transgressor of that, remains; and
since he denies divine revelation, rejects the gospel-
scheme, and disbelieves Christ as a Saviour, and salva-
tio.n by him, there iS no help for him; wrath is on him,'
and that without remedy, it must abide: now it is not
any sort of unbelief for which this wrath is, and abides;
not for that which is through the want of the means of
faith, such as in heathens; for "how shall they believe
on him of whom they have not heard?" Rom. x. 14, 17.
nor which is through the want of the special grace of
faith, which is the gift of God, and peculiar to his elect,
and which he only can give, and yet denies it; and which,
without his grace vouchsafed, they can never have: but
it is the disbelief of the report of the gospel, by such
who have the opportunity of reading and hearing it, and
yet either attend not to the evidence of it; or, notwith-
standing that, reject it; they receive not the record God
has given of his Son, and so make him a liar, than which
nothing is more provoking to wrath, 1 John v. 10. This
was the case of the Jews of old, John iii. 19. and is of
the deists of the present age. In short, the wrath of God
comes upon men either for their sins against the light of
nature, or against the law of God, or against the gospel
of Christ.
There are some on whom no wrath comes here, nor
hereafter; who are the vessels of mercy, afore-prepared
for glory: concerning whom Jehovah says, fury is not
me; and to whom he is all love, love itself, lsa. xxvii. 4.
1 John iv. 16. being sinners indeed, and transgressors of
the law of God, they are children of wrath as others,
Eph. ii. 3. which phrase not only means that they are

serving of wrath, but that, as they are sinners, they are
found guilty of it; and not only found guilty, but are
condemned unto it; they are really under the sentence
of wrath, condemnation, and death; they are obnoxious
to the curse of the law, which is no other than the wrath
of God; they are liable to it, and in danger of it; and
being so near it, how is it that they escape it, and are
secured from it ? They are secured from it by the decree
of God, who has appointed them not to wrath, but to
obtain salvation, ! Thess. v. 9. which decree is unfrustra-
ble by the oath of God, who has swore that he will not
be wrath with them, Isa. liv. 9. which is immutable: by
the suretyship-engagements of Christ for them, to bear
it in their room; and till that was done, God forbore to
execute the sentence; called the forbearance of God,
Rom. iii. 25. by Chrisfs actually bearing the chastise-
ment of their peace; by being made a curse for them,
and enduring the wrath of God in their room; whereby
he delivered them from wrath to come, Psalm lxxxix.
38. 1 Thess. v. 10. and by his righteousness imputed to
them, through which, being justified, they are saved from
wrath, Rom. v. 9. though even these persons may have,
at times, some apprehensions of the wrath of God; as,
particularly, under first awakenings, and convictions of
sin; when the law works a sense of wrath in them, and
leaves in them a fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation; when they flee to Christ, from wrath
to come, and say, "Lord, save us, or we perish ;" and
afterwards, when under the hidings of God's face, or his
afflicting hand is upon them, they imagine that the wrath
of God lies hard upon them, and his fierce wrath goes
over them, Psalm lxxxviii. 7, 16. see Lam. iii. 1. but in
reality, there is no wrath comes upon them now; their
afflictions and chastisements are all in love; and there
will be no curse hereafter; but they shall always see the
face of God, and be "in his presence, where are fulness
of joy, and pleasures for evermore," Rev. iii. 19. and
xxii. 3, 4.

CHAP. XVIII.

OF THE HATRED OF GOD.

THERE are some {1} that deny that hatred belongs to
God; or that he hates any thing; and urge a passage in
the book of Wisdom, chap. xi. 25. Thou lovest all be-
ings, and hatest none of these that thou hast made; which
is true of the creatures of God, as such; for as they are
made by him they are all very good; and are loved, de-
lighted in, and not hated by him. Nor is hatred to be
considered as a passion in him, as it is in men; who is a
pure, active Spirit, and is solely agent, and not a patient;
is not capable of suffering any. thing i much less as it is
a criminal passion, by which men, in their worst estate,
are described, hateful, and hating one another, Tit. iii. 3.
since he is a perfectly holy Being, and without iniquity.
Yet the scriptures do, in many places, attribute to him
hatred both of persons and things, Psalm v. 5. Zech.
viii. 17. and most truly and rightly; and this may be con-
cluded from love being in God, as has been shewn;
though this is made use of as an argument against it, be-

1 Aquinas contr. Gentiles, 1.1. c. 96. Vid. Francisc. Silvester. in ibid.