N00830:120
The blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God our Saviour, Jesus…
The blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Opened & applied, in several sermons. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard College in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel, at Boston, in N.E. ; [Nine lines of Scripture texts]The blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Opened & applied, in several sermons. / By Increase Mather, praesident of Harvard Colledge in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel, at Boston, in N.E. ; [Nine lines of Scripture texts]
Boston: printed by Timothy Green for Nicholas Boone, 1701
Title page typeset from the transcription.
The Blessed HOPE, And Glorious Appearing of JESUS CHRIST. › Sermon 4
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.
2. Jesus Christ and he only, is a fit person to be a Saviour for the sinful Children of men. He ⟨p. 74⟩that shall be our Saviour, must be both God and Man, which is true concerning Jesus Christ, and of him only.▪ Our Saviour must be God. The great God he is called a Saviour: Isa. 43 11 God says, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Saviour. And in Isa▪ •5.21 He is a Just God, and a Saviour. If Jesus Christ had been a man only, he could never have b•en the Saviour of one Soul Nor might we then have trusted to him for salvation: Psal. 146.3 Trust not in the son of man, in whom there is no help. If Christ had been the son of man only, there could have been no help, no salvation in him, or to be hoped for by him. It is said, Jer. 17.5▪ Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and that maketh flesh his arm. But therefore Christ is God. We are by reason of sin, fallen into the hands of mighty Enemies; such as all the men in the world could never have saved one soul out of their hands: Isa. 49.24 Shall the Prey be taken from the Mighty, or the lawful Captives be delivered? The Mighty had made a prey of the Souls of men: and no Mortal could take the prey out of the hands of those Mighty. Moreover, we were fallen into the hands of Almighty justice. And who could save us from the Omnipotent hands? God says, Deut. 32.39 I wound and I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. He then that can deliver out of the hands of Divine ⟨p. 75⟩Justice, by making Atonement for sinners, must needs be more than a man. And yet 'tis necessary, that the Saviour should be Man, that so e might in a way of Suffering, make satisfaction for the sins of men. It was requisite that the same Nature that had sinned, should suffer that so satisfaction may be made for sin: