A26804:58
Sermons preached on several occasionsSermons preach'd on several occasions
Sermons preached on several occasions by William Bates.Sermons preach'd on several occasions by William Bates.
London: printed by J.D. for Jonathan Robinson, 1693
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.
They are taken Captives by him at his Pleasure: And, which is the lowest Degradation, they are the Servants of Corruption.
3. Sin has broke the sweet Peace and blessed Concord in the Soul, the Felicity of our innocent State. Peace is the Tranquillity that results from Order and Unity. In Man there was a regular Harmony of all ⟨p. 50⟩his Faculties; the Affections were consonant with his Will, his Will with his Understanding, and his Understanding with the Law of God. This was the inward State of his Soul in his Creation; for having a derived Being, it was natural and necessary, that he should be appointed to his End, and receive his Rule for the obtaining it, from the Understanding and Will of his Maker. Now whilst there was a Correspondence in his Faculties, and their Operations with his Rule and End, the Will of God, and the Glory of God, the Result of it, as well as the Reward of it, was Spiritual Peace with God, Internal Peace with himself, External Peace with others. Now Sin has dissolved this Unity, violated this sacred Order: And from hence,
(1.) Peace with God, that consisted in his Favour and Friendship to us, and our Filial Dependence ⟨p. 51⟩upon him, which is the Spring of full and satisfying Joy, is broke. God appears a fearful Enemy against the Sinners; the penal Effects of his Wrath, I shall speak of distinctly under the second General: And that Divine Calm in the Conscience, that Peace joined with the purest Pleasure, that was the Reflex of God's Favour on the Soul, is changed into anxious Apprehensions of his just Power to punish us. Guilt generates Fear, and Fear Hatred, and both cause a woeful flight from God.