A26796:48
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.
Suppose that Man were not the work of God's hands, yet the infinite excellency of his nature gives him a better title to command us, than Man hath upon the account of his reason to govern those Creatures that are inferior to him. Or suppose that God had not created the matter of which the Body is composed, but only inspired it with a living Soul, yet his right over us had been unquestionable. The Civil Law determines, that when an Artificer works on rich materials, and the engraving be not of extraordinary value, that the whole belongs to him who is the owner of the materials. But if the matter be mean, and the workmanship excellent, in ⟨p. 16⟩which the price wholly lies; as if a Painter should draw an admirable Picture on a piece of Canvas, the Picture of right belongs to him that drew it. So if, according to the error of some Philosophers, the matter of which the World was made had been Eternal,1 yet God having infused a reasonable Soul into a piece of clay, which is the principle of its life, and gives it a transcendent value above all other beings which were made of the same element, it is most just he should have a property in him, and dominion over him.
Suppose that Man were not the work of God's hands, yet the infinite excellency of his nature gives him a better title to command us, than Man hath upon the account of his reason to govern those Creatures that are inferiour to him. Or suppose that God had not created the matter of which the Body is compos'd, but only inspir'd it with a living Soul, yet his right over us had been unquestionable. The Civil Law determines, that when an Artificer works on rich materials, and the engraving be not of extraordinary value, that the whole belongs to him who is the owner of the materials. But if the matter be mean, and the workmanship excellent, in ⟨p. 16⟩which the price wholly lies; as if a Painter should draw an admirable Picture on a piece of Canvas, the Picture of right belongs to him that drew it. So if, according to the errour of some Philosophers, the matter of which the World was made had been Eternal,1 yet God having infused a reasonable Soul into a piece of clay, which is the principle of its life, and gives it a transcendent value above all other beings which were made of the same element, it is most just he should have a property in him, and dominion over him.