A26796:406
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.
III. The felicity of Heaven exceeds the first, in the manner and degrees of the fruition, and the continuance of it.
1. The Vision of God in Heaven is immediate. Adam was a spectator of God's Works, and his understanding being full of Light, he clearly discovered the Divine Attributes in their effects. The strokes of the Creators Hand are engraven in all the parts of the Universe. The Heavens, and Earth, and all things in them, are evident testimonies of ⟨p. 204⟩the excellency of their Author. The invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen. 1And the knowledge that shined in his soul, produced a transcendent esteem of the Deity, in whom Wisdom and Power are united in their supreme degree, and a superlative love and delight in him for his goodness. Yet his sight of God was but through a Glass, an eclipsing medium. For inferior beings are so imperfect, that they can give but a weak resemblance of his infinite perfections. But the sight of God in Heaven,2 is called, the seeing of him as he is, and signifies the most clear and complete knowledge, which the rational soul when purified and raised to its most perfect state can receive; and out-shines all the discoveries of God in the lower World. Adam had a visible copy of his invisible beauty, but the Saints in Heaven see the glorious Original. He saw God in the reflection of the Creature, but the Saints are under the direct beams of Glory,3 and see him face to face. All the Attributes appear in their full and brightest lustre to them. Wisdom, Love, Justice, Holiness, Power, are manifested in their exaltation. And the glorified Soul, to qualify it for converse with God in this intimate manner, hath a more excellent constitution then was given to it in the Creation. A new edge is put upon the faculties whereby they are fitted for those objects which are peculiar to Heaven. The intellectual eye is fortified for the immediate intuition of God. Adam in Paradise was absent from the Lord, in comparison of the Saints who encompass his Throne, & are in the presence of his Glory.