An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…

It is, I suppose, agreed by all, that God did willingly permit the entry of sin upon the World of Angels and Men: he could have kept all the Angels up in their primitive Station, and then there would have been no Tempter to Man; or, had their been one, he could have sent the holy Angels to warn him from the late downcast of their fellows, against ⟨p. 60⟩his own, and to tell him, that the poison would come from the Serpent; or, if not that, he could have sent him such strong auxiliaries of Grace as should have out wrestled the temptation; he could, no doubt, as easily as he confirms the Saints and Angels in Heaven; he could for ever have barred out sin, but he would not, he freely suffered it to come in, only the question is, How he did it? Whether there be only a nude Permission, such as leaves the event pendulous and uncertain, till Man's Will hath determined; or whether there be a Preordination of the Event, so that it falls out infallibly, Deo permittente and Creatura liberè agent? Two things constrain me to believe the latter: The one is this, That without a Preordination, the Event of sinful Actions must be casual, and what then shall become of Providence? The Moments, which hang upon those Events, are great and weighty. Multitudes of Angels, Courtiers of Heaven, turn Apostates; out of their Fall comes a Tempter, who at one blow draws Man and all his Posterity into sin; that entering into the world makes way for a glorious Redemption by Christ: The Four first ⟨p. 61⟩Monarchies roll about upon the Lusts and Ambitions of Men; The poor Church, like the Ark, floats upon the waters, and now and then a storm of persecution comes dashing down upon it; Errors and Heresies successively break forth as so many Torrents ready to carry away every Article of our Creed, and what mighty Concerns are these? Admirable are the Methods and Mysteries of Providence in and about such Events; Joseph's Brethren sell him into Egypt, and the Church is provided for in the famine; Absalom goes in to his Fathers Concubines,, and David is visited for his Adultery; Judah and Tamar commit Incest, and this way came the holy One into the flesh; The wicked Jews crucify the Son of God, and out comes the great Work of Redemption; Persecutors scatter the Church, and God by this means scatters the Gospel, Act. 8. In such Actions as these the Light shines out of Darkness;