A26796:169
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.
1. 'Tis Future, and therefore the conceptions of it are very dark and imperfect: The Soul is sunk down ⟨p. 68⟩into the Senses, and they are short-sighted and can't look beyond what is present, to the next life. And as the images of things are weakened and confused proportionably to their distance, and make a fainter impression upon the Faculty; so the representation of Heaven and Blessedness, as a Happiness to come hereafter, and therefore remote, doth but coldly affect the Will. A present vanity, in the judgment of the carnal Soul, outweighs the most glorious futurity. 'Till there be taken from before its eyes the (in Tertullian's language) thick curtain of the visible World,1 it cannot discern the difference between them, nor value the reward for its excellency and duration.
1. 'Tis Future, and therefore the conceptions of it are very dark and imperfect: The Soul is sunk down ⟨p. 68⟩into the Senses, and they are short-sighted and can't look beyond what is present, to the next life. And as the images of things are weaken'd and confus'd proportionably to their distance, and make a fainter impression upon the Faculty; so the representation of Heaven and Blessedness, as a Happiness to come hereafter, and therefore remote, doth but coldly affect the Will. A present vanity, in the judgment of the carnal Soul, outweighs the most glorious futurity. 'Till there be taken from before its eyes the (in Tertullian's language) thick curtain of the visible World,1 it cannot discern the difference between them, nor value the reward for its excellency and duration.
- 1Quae illi dispositioni aeternitatis, aul•ei vice oppansa est. Apolog.