The harmony of the divine attributes in the contrivance and accomplishment of man's redemption…

He could not reconcile so many things that seemed utterly incompatible, as Sovereignty and Servitude, Innocence and Punishment, the lowest of humane Miseries, Death, with the highest of divine Honours, Adoration. Briefly, Nothing was more contrary to Flesh and Blood, than to believe that person to be the Redeemer of the World, who did not rescue himself from his Enemies, and to expect Immortality from him that was overcome by Death. Now the Causes of this Infidelity are,

He could not reconcile so many things that seem'd utterly incompatible, as Sovereignty and Servitude, Innocence and Punishment, the lowest of humane Miseries, Death, with the highest of divine Honours, Adoration. Briefly, Nothing was more contrary to Flesh and Blood, than to believe that person to be the Redeemer of the World, who did not rescue himself from his Enemies, and to expect Immortality from him that was overcome by Death. Now the Causes of this Infidelity are,

1. The Darkness of the Mind, which is so corrupted by Original Pravity, that it cannot behold Heavenly Mysteries in their proper light, so as to acquiesce in the truth of them.¹ The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him▪ and he cannot know them; because they are spiritually discerned. There is no proportion between the Natural Understanding and ⟨p. 130⟩Supernatural Truths. For although the rational Soul is a Spirit, as 'tis distinguished from corporeal Beings, yet till 'tis purged from Error, and vicious Affections, it can never discover the Divinity of things Spiritual, so as to embrace them with certainty and delight. As there must be a Spirit of Revelation to unveil the object,² so of Wisdom to enlighten the eye, that it may be prepared for the reception of it. As Heaven is only seen by its own Light, So Christ is by his own Spirit. Divine Objects, and Faith that discerns them are, of the same original, and of the same quality. The natural Understanding, as the effects declare, is like the Funeral Lamps which by the Ancients were put into Sepulchres, to guard the ashes of their dead Friends, which shine so long as they are kept close, a thick moist vapour feeding them, and repairing what was consumed: but in opening the Sepulchres, and exposing them to the free air, they presently faint and expire. Thus natural Reason whilst conversant in things below, and watching with the dead, that is in the Phrase of the Ancients, studying the Books of Men who have left the world, it discovers something, although 'tis rather a Twilight than clear; But when 'tis brought from the narrow sphere of things sensible, to contemplate the immensity of things Spiritual and Supernatural, its light declines, and is turned into darkness.