A second volume of discourses or sermons on several scriptures

As first,¹ Hereby God maintains a beauty and harmony in the works of Grace, as well as in the works of Nature; the beauty and harmony of the Universe consists in gradation; whereby, as by little steps or rounds we ascend from one kind of being to another; thus God hath placed Man in the World, as it were a middle step betwixt brute Creatures and Angels, and therefore he partakes somewhat of the nature of both; his Soul and his intellectual part that is made like the nature of Angels, and then there is in him a sensitive part, Desires and Propensions; and on this side he is a kin even to the Beasts that perish; so is it also in the works of Grace, a Christian is as it were a step betwixt a wicked Man and an Angel, a wicked Man hath no Grace, and a holy Angel hath no sin; now to make up this great gap, God hath placed a Christian as a middle step betwixt them, to tack and unite the moral World together. There is in him a heavenly and spiritual part, and by that he is of affinity to the Angels; and there are also in him sinful desires, and sinful inclinations, and by this he holds hands with wicked Men, and is thereby joined to them; ⟨p. 230⟩and thus God illustrates his admirable Wisdom, in causing such an admirable harmony and gradual difference in the Works of Grace, bringing Men out of a State of mere sinful Nature, to a State of Grace mixed with sin, and from a State of Mixed Grace to a State of pure and complete Grace, where, at last a Christian shall be fully consummated, and be as the Angels of God; thus from step to step God gradually carries on the work of Sanctification to Perfection; and hereby he maintains an admirable beauty and harmony in the Works of Grace, as well as in the Works of Nature; this sets forth the beauty of the World, that there is such a conveyance from one kind of Creatures to another; whereby they touch one another, and are tacked together by several orders, as inanimate and sensitive, then rational as Men, then intellectual as Angels: So also is it in grace, from a wicked Man to a Saint, partly wicked, and partly gracious, from a Saint on Earth to a Saint in Heaven, where the imperfect Work of Grace here on Earth is swallowed up by perfect Grace and Holiness.

As first,¹ Hereby God maintains a beauty and harmony in the works of Grace, as well as in the works of Nature; the beauty and harmony of the Universe consists in gradation; whereby, as by little steps or rounds we ascend from one kind of being to another; thus God hath placed Man in the World, as it were a middle step betwixt brute Creatures and Angels, and therefore he partakes somewhat of the nature of both; his Soul and his intellectual part that is made like the nature of Angels, and then there is in him a sensative part, Desires and Propensions; and on this side he is a kin even to the Beasts that perish; so is it also in the works of Grace, a Christian is as it were a step betwixt a wicked Man and an Angel, a wicked Man hath no Grace, and a holy Angel hath no sin; now to make up this great gap, God hath placed a Christian as a middle step betwixt them, to tack and unite the moral World together. There is in him a heavenly and spiritual part, and by that he is of affinity to the Angels; and there are also in him sinful desires, and sinful inclinations, and by this he holds hands with wicked Men, and is thereby joyned to them;