A26796:735
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 Design of God in the publication of them, is not only to enlighten the Mind, but to warm the Heart, and ⟨p. 403⟩purify the Affections. God discovers his Nature that we may imitate Him, and his Works that we may glorify Him. All the Precepts of the Gospel are to embrace Christ by a lively Faith, to seek for Righteousness and Holiness in Him; to live Godly, Righteously, and Soberly in this present world. When our Saviour was on the Earth, the End of his Sermons, as appears in the Gospel, was to regulate the lives of Men, to correct their vicious Passions rather than to explicate the greatest Mysteries. Other Religions oblige their Disciples either to some external actions, that have no moral worth in them, so that 'tis impossible for any one that is guided by Reason to be taken with such vanities. Or they require things incommodious and burdensome. The Priests of Baal cut themselves. And among the Chinese, though in great reputation for wisdom, their Penitents expose themselves half naked to the injuries of the sharpest Weather, with a double cruelty & pleasure of the Devil, who makes them freeze here, and expects they should burn for ever. 'Tis not the most strict observance of serious Trifles, nor submitting to rigorous Austerities that ennobles the humane nature, and commends us to God. The most zealous performers of things indifferent, and that chastise themselves with a bloody Discipline, labour for nothing, and may pass to Hell through Purgatory. But the Religion of Christ reforms the Understanding and Will, and all the actions depending on them. It chases away Error, and Vice, and Hatred, and sheds abroad Light and Love, Purity and Peace; and forms on Earth a lively representation of that pure Society that is in Heaven. The End of it is to render men like the Angels in Holiness,1 ⟨p. 404⟩that they may be so in Blessedness. This will render it amiable to all that consider it without Passion. And 'tis worthy of observation, that although many Heathens and Heretics have contradicted other parts of the Christian Religion; yet none have dared openly to condemn the Moral part of it.
The Design of God in the publication of them, is not only to enlighten the Mind, but to warm the Heart, and