A26796:91
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. His Soul degenerated from its purity; the Faculties remained, but the moral perfections were lost, wherein the brightness of God's Image was most conspicuous. How is Man disfigured by his Fall? How is he transformed in an instant from the Image of God, into the Image of the Devil? He is defiled with the filthiness of flesh and spirit; he is ashamed at the sight of his own nakedness that reproached him for his crime; but the most shameful was that of the Soul: The one might be covered with leaves, the other nothing could conceal. To see a Face of exquisite Beauty devoured by a Cancer, how doth it move compassion; but were the Natural Eye heightened to that clearness and perspicacity, as to discover the deformity which Sin hath brought upon the Soul, how would it strike with grief, horror and aversation.
1. His Soul degenerated from its purity; the Faculties remain'd, but the moral perfections were lost, wherein the brightness of God's Image was most conspicuous. How is Man disfigur'd by his Fall? How is he transform'd in an instant from the Image of God, into the Image of the Devil? He is defiled with the filthiness of flesh and spirit; he is asham'd at the sight of his own nakedness that reproach'd him for his crime; but the most shameful was that of the Soul: The one might be cover'd with leaves, the other nothing could conceal. To see a Face of exquisite Beauty devour'd by a Cancer, how doth it move compassion; but were the Natural Eye heightned to that clearness and perspicacity, as to discover the deformity which Sin hath brought upon the Soul, how would it strike with grief, horrour and aversation.
2. He was deprived of his Dominion and Liberty. The Understanding was so wounded by the violence of the fall, that not only its light is much impaired, but its Power is so weakened as to the lower faculties, that those which according to the order of nature should obey, have cast off its just authority, and usurp the Government. The will hath lost its true Freedom, whereby 'twas enlarged to the extent and amplitude of the Divine Will, in loving whatsoever was pleasing to God, and is contracted to ⟨p. 33⟩