A26796:294
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.
The Obedience of Faith is, to embrace an obscure Truth with a firm assent, upon the account of a Divine testimony. If Reason will not assent to Revelation, till it understands the manner of how Divine things are, it doth not obey it at all. The Understanding then sincerely submits, when 'tis inclined by those motives, which demonstrate that such a Belief is due to the Authority of the Revealer, and to the quality of the Object. To believe only in proportion to our narrow conceptions, is to disparage the Divine Truth, and debase the Divine Power. We can't know what God can do, He is Omnipotent, though we are not omniscient: 'Tis just we should humble our Ignorance to his Wisdom, And that every lofty imagination, and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God should be cast down, 1and every thought captivated into the obedience of Christ. 'Tis our wisdom to receive the great Mysteries of the Gospel in their simplicity: for in attempting to give an exact and curious explication of ⟨p. 137⟩them, the Understanding as in an Hedge of Thorns, the more it strives, the more 'tis wounded and entangled. Gods Ways are as far above ours, and his Thoughts above ours, as Heaven is above the Earth. To reject what we can't comprehend, is not only to sin against Faith, but against Reason, which acknowledges it self finite, 2and unable to search out the Almighty to perfection.
The Obedience of Faith is, to embrace an obscure Truth with a firm assent, upon the account of a Divine testimony. If Reason will not assent to Revelation, till it understands the manner of how Divine things are, it doth not obey it at all. The Understanding then sincerely submits, when 'tis enclin'd by those motives, which demonstrate that such a Belief is due to the Authority of the Revealer, and to the quality of the Object. To believe only in proportion to our narrow conceptions, is to disparage the Divine Truth, and debase the Divine Power. We can't know what God can do, He is Omnipotent, though we are not omniscient: 'Tis just we should humble our Ignorance to his Wisdome, And that every lofty imagination, and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledg of God should be cast down, 1