A26796:118
The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption…
The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, or, Discourses wherein is showed how the wisdom, mercy, justice, holiness, power, and truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed work / by William Bates.The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ, or, Discourses wherein is shewed how the wisdom, mercy, justice, holiness, power, and truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed work / by William Bates.
London: printed by J. Darby for Nathaniel Ranew and Jonathan Robinson and Brabazon Aylmer, 1674
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. It was most suitable to the Divine Wisdom, to leave Man to stand or fall by his own choice:
1. To discover the necessary dependence of all Second Causes upon the first. No Creature is absolutely impeccable, but the most perfect is liable to imperfection. He that is essentially, is only unchangeably Good. Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption. The Fall of Angels and Man convince us, that there is one sole Being, immutably Pure and Holy, on whom all depend, and without whose Influence they cannot be, or must be eternally miserable.
1. To discover the necessary dependance of all Second Causes upon the first. No Creature is absolutely impeccable, but the most perfect is liable to imperfection. He that is essentially, is only unchangeably Good. Infinite Goodness alone excludes all possibility of receiving Corruption. The Fall of Angels and Man convince us, that there is one sole Beeing, immutably Pure and Holy, on whom all depend, and without whose Influence they cannot be, or must be eternally miserable.
2. 'Twas very fit that Adam should be first in a state of trial, before he was confirmed in his Happiness. The reason of it is clear, he was left to his own judgment and election, that Obedience might be his choice, and in the performance of it, he might acquire a title to the reward. A determining virtue over him had crossed the end of his Creation, which was to glorify God in a free manner. Therefore ⟨p. 46⟩in Paradise there were amiable objects to allure the lower Faculties, before they were disordered by Sin. The forbidden Fruit had beauty to invite the Eye, and sweetness to delight the Palate. And if upon the competition of the Sensual with the Intellectual Good he had rejected the one and chose the other, he had been raised to an unchangeable state; his Innocence had been crowned with Perseverance. As the Angels who continued in their Duty, when the rest revolted, are finally established in their Integrity and Felicity. And the Apostle gives us an account of this order, when he tells us, That was first which was natural,