A26796:700
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.
2. The degrees of communicating the Spirit before and after the Ascension of Christ are very different; whether we consider the gifts of the Spirit, those extraordinary abilities with which the Apostles were endued;1 or the fruits of the Spirit, the Sanctifying Graces that are bestowed on Believers,2 the measure of them far exceeds what-ever was conveyed before. The Spirit Descended as in a dew upon the Jewish Nation, but 'tis now poured forth in showers upon all flesh. Now in the stile of Scripture things are said to be, when apparently and eminently they discover their being. So that comparatively to the Power and Virtue of the Spirit discovered in the Church since the Glorification of Christ, he was not given before. All the former manifestations are obscured ⟨p. 373⟩by the excess and excellency of the later. And not only the Decree of God which is sufficient to connect those things that have no natural dependence, but there are special reasons for the order of this Dispensation: for the great end of the Spirit's coming was to reveal fully to the World the way of Salvation; to discover the unsearchable riches of Grace; to assure Men of happiness after this Life, that they might be reduced from a state of Rebellion to Obedience, and their affections be refined and purified from all Earthliness and made Angelical and Heavenly. Now the Principal demonstrations which he used to persuade Men of these things, are the Death and Resurrection of Christ, without which these Mysteries had been under a cloud. That the Instruction therefore of the Spirit might be clear and effectual, it was necessary Christ should Suffer and enter into Heaven, and accomplish those things he was to teach.
2. The degrees of communicating the Spirit before and after the Ascension of Christ are very different; whether we consider the gifts of the Spirit, those extraordinary abilities with which the Apostles were endued;1 or the fruits of the Spirit, the Sanctifying Graces that are bestowed on Believers,2