N03999:237
Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety
Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety: or, The misery of graceless sinners, and their recovery by Christ their Saviour. By T. Doolittel [sic]. ; [Three lines from Isaiah]
Boston: printed by Rogers & Fowle for J. Edwards, 1742
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
3. Man might be considered in a state of grace as recovered by Christ, as renewed and restored by the Spirit of God; for God doth not suffer all men to remain in their bondage, and those that are redeemed and recovered must not ascribe this to their own free will but to the free grace of God. And in this estate Man is made partaker in part of the fruits of Redemption by Christ.
4. Man might be considered in a state of Glory. And there the Saints are all free, and altogether free, they have perfect liberty from sin, from sorrow, from temptations to sin, from all inclination to sin, from a possibility of sinning: and in this estate the Saints of God do fully and eternally enjoy the fruits of Christ's Redemption, and of his giving of himself a ransom for them.
Qu. 1. What it is that we have not a liberty from by Christ the Redeemer? There are many things that Christ did not come to purchase or proclaim liberty from while we are in this life.
1. None of God's Elect are freed by Christ from being born in original sin; we are not born free, but are made free; even those that are descended from free men in Christ, are by birth in spiritual bondage: for grace doth not come by blood, but by the will of God,