A26796:738
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.
But we are fallen from Heaven, and mixed with the dust. Our conversation hath nothing singular in Holiness to distinguish us from the World. The same corrupt Passions reign in Professors of Christianity, as in those who are strangers from the Sacred Covenant. If we compare our selves with the Primitive Church, we must confess our unworthiness to be called their successors. Sixteen hundred years are run out since the Son of God came down to sanctify and save the World, which are so many degrees, whereby we are descended from the first Perfection. We are more distant from them in Holiness than in Time. So universal and great is the Corruption, that ⟨p. 406⟩'tis almost as difficult to revive the dying Faith of Christians, and to reform their Lives according to the purity of their Profession, as the Conversion of the World was from Heathenism to Christianity.
But we are fallen from Heaven, and mixt with the dust. Our conversation hath nothing singular in Holiness to distinguish us from the World. The same corrupt Passions reign in Professors of Christianity, as in those who are strangers from the Sacred Covenant. If we compare our selves with the Primitive Church, we must confess our unworthiness to be call'd their successors. Sixteen hundred years are run out since the Son of God came down to sanctifie and save the World, which are so many degrees, whereby we are descended from the first Perfection. We are more distant from them in Holiness than in Time. So universal and great is the Corruption, that ⟨p. 406⟩'tis almost as difficult to revive the dying Faith of Christians, and to reform their Lives according to the purity of their Profession, as the Conversion of the World was from Heathenism to Christianity.
'Tis true, In every Age there are some Examples of the Virtue of the Gospel, that reflect an honour upon it. And this last Age, which we may call the Winter of the World, in which the Holy Spirit hath foretold, That the love of many shall grow cold, by a marvellous Antiperistasis hath inflamed the hearts of some excellent Saints towards God and Religion. But the great number of the wicked, and the progress of Sin in their Lives, there is no measure of Tears sufficient to lament.