A26796:412
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. 'This Redeeming Love deserves our highest Admiration, and most humble acknowledgements. If we consider God aright, it may raise our wonder, that He is pleased to bestow kindness upon any created being. For in Him is all that is excellent and amiable; and 'tis essential to the Deity, to have the perfect knowledge of Himself, and perfect Love to Himself. His Love being proportioned to his Excellencies, the act is infinite, as the object: And ⟨p. 207⟩the perfections of the Divine Nature, being equal to his Love, 'tis a just cause of admiration that 'tis not confined to himself, but is transient and goes forth to the Creature. When David looked up to the Heavens, and saw the Majesty of God written in Characters of light, he admires that Love which first made Man a little lower then the Angels, and Crowned him with Glory and Honour, 1and that providential care which is mindful of him, and visits him every moment. Such an inconceivable distance there is between God and Man, that 'tis wonderful, God will spend a thought upon us. Lord, what is Man that thou takest knowledge of him? or the Son of Man that thou makest account of him? Man is like to vanity, 2his days are as a shadow that passeth away. His being in this world hath nothing firm, or solid; 'tis like a shadow, that depends upon a cause that is in perpetual motion, the light of the Sun, and is always changing, till it vanishes in the darkness of the night. But if we consider Man in the quality of a sinner, and what God hath wrought for his recovery, we are overcome with amazement. All temporal favours are but foils to this miraculous Mercy, and unspeakably below the least instance of it: without it all the privileges we enjoy above inferior Creatures in this life, will prove aggravations of our future misery. God saw us in our degenerate state, destroyed by our selves, and yet, O Goodness truly Divine! he loved us so far, as to make the way for our recovery. High Mountains were to be levelled, and great depths to be filled up, before we could arrive at blessedness: all this God hath done. He hath brought the Curse of the guilty upon the innocent, and exposed his beloved Son to the Sword of his Justice, to turn the ⟨p. 208⟩