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THE

HARMONY

OF

THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES

IN THE

CONTRIVANCE AND ACCOMPLISHMENT

OF

MAN'S REDEMPTION.

UNIVERSITY

BY WILLIAM BATES, D D..

Bates

PHILADELPHIA:

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION.

TIBBYBA

OTK

Stereotyped by

S. DOUGLAS WYETH,

No. 7 Pear St. Philadelphia.

(RECAP)

CONTENTS.

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CHAP. II.—The Fall of Man.-Man's natural state was mutable.
The devil, moved by hatred and envy, attempts to seduce him.
The temptation was suitable to man's compounded nature. The
woman being deceived, persuades her husband. I. The quality
of the first sin; many were combined in it. II. It was perfectly
voluntary. Man had power to stand. The devil could only
allure, not compel him. His understanding and will the causes
of his fall. III. The punishment was of the same date with his
sin. He forfeited his righteousness and felicity. The loss of
original righteousness, as it signifies the purity and liberty of the
soul. The torment of conscience that was consequent to sin.
A whole army of evils enters with it into the world.
CHAP. III.-The Corruption of Human Nature.-I. All mankind is
involved in Adam's guilt, and is under the penal consequences
that follow upon it. Adam, the natural and moral principle of
mankind. An hereditary corruption is transmitted to all that are
propagated from him. The account the scripture gives of the
conveyance of it. It is an innate habit. It is universal. Cor-
rupt nature contains the seeds of all sins, though they do not
shoot forth together. It is voluntary and culpable. II. The per-
mission of the fall is suitable to the wisdom, holiness, and good-
ness of God. The imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity is
consistent with God's justice.

CHAP. IV.—The Moral Impotence of Man.-The impossibility of

man's recovery by his natural power. I. Man cannot regain his

primitive holiness. The understanding and will, the superior

faculties, are depraved. The mind is ignorant and insensible of

our corruption. The will is more depraved than the mind; it

embraces only sensual good; carnal objects are wounding to the

conscience and unsatisfying to the affections; yet the will eagerly

pursues them. The moral impotence, that ariseth from a per-

verse disposition of the will, is culpable. Neither the beauty

nor the reward of holiness can prevail upon the unrenewed will.

II. Guilty man cannot recover the favour of God. He is unable

to make satisfaction to justice. He is incapable of real repent-

ance, which might qualify him for pardon.

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CHAP. V.-The Wisdom of God in Redemption. Of the divine

wisdom in the contrivance of man's redemption. Understanding

agents propound an end, and choose means for the obtaining of

it. I. The end of God is of the highest consequence, his own

glory and man's recovery. The difficulty of accomplishing it.

II. The means are proportionable. The divine wisdom glorified

in taking occasion from the sin and fall of man to bring glory to

God, and to raise man to a more excellent state. It appears in

ordaining such a Mediator, as was fit to reconcile God to man,

and man to God. It is discovered in the designation of the

second person to be our Saviour; and making the remedy to

have a proportion to the cause of our ruin. It is visible in the

manner whereby our redemption is accomplished; and in the

ordaining of such contemptible means to produce such glorious

effects; and laying the design of the gospel, so as to provide for

the comfort and promote the holiness of man.

CHAP. VI.-Practical Inferences.-I. A superlative degree of praise

and thankfulness due to God for the revelation of the gospel. It

is not discovered by the creation; it is above the reach of na-

tural reason; the heathen world is entirely ignorant of it. It is

pure grace that distinguishes one nation from another, in send-

ing the gospel. II. Evangelical knowledge deserves our most

serious study. The gospel exceeds all contemplative and prac-

tical sciences; contemplative, in the greatness of its object, and

the certainty of its principle; practical, in the excellency of its

end, and the efficacy of the means.

CHAP. VII.-The Causes and Unreasonableness of Unbelief-The

simple speculation of the gospel not sufficient without a real

belief, and cordial acceptance. I. The reasons why the Jews

and Gentiles conspired in the contempt of it. II. How just it is

to resign up the understanding to revelation. God knows his

own nature and will, and cannot deceive us. We must believe

the things that are clearly revealed, though we do not understand

the manner of their existence; although they are attended with

seeming contradictions. No article of faith is really repugnant

to reason. We must distinguish between things incomprehen-

sible and inconceivable, between corrupt and right reason. How

reason is subservient to faith. Humility and holiness qualify

for the belief of the gospel-mysteries. A naked belief of super-

natural truths is unprofitable for salvation. An effectual assent

that prevails upon the will and renders the whole man obsequi-

ous, is due to the quality of the gospel-revelation.

CHAP. VIII.—The Freeness of the Divine Mercy in Redemption.—

The mercy of God is represented with peculiar advantages above

the other attributes. It is eminently glorified in our redemption,

in respect of its freenesss and greatness. The freeness of it

amplified from the consideration, I. of the original, and, II. of the

object of it. God is perfectly happy in himself, and needs not

the creature to preserve or heighten his felicity. The glorious re-

ward conferred upon our Saviour doth not prejudice the freeness

of his love to man. There was no tie upon God to save man.

The object of mercy is man in his lapsed state. It is illustrated

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by the consideration of what he is in himself. No motives of

love are in him; he is a rebel impotent and obstinate. The

freeness of mercy set forth by comparing him with the fallen

angels who are left in perfect, irremediable misery. Their first

state, fall, and punishment. The reasons why the wisdom of

God made no provisions for their recovery.

CHAP. IX.-The Greatness of the Divine Mercy in Redemption.—

The greatness of redeeming love discovered by considering, I.

The evils from which we are freed-the servitude of sin, the

tyranny of Satan, the bondage of the law, the empire of death.

The measure of love is proportionable to the degrees of our

misery. No possible remedy for us in nature. Our deliverance

is complete. II. The divine love is magnified in the means by

which our redemption is accomplished; they are the incarna-

tion and sufferings of the Son of God. Love is manifested in

the incarnation, upon account of the essential condition of the

nature assumed, and its servile state: Christ took our nature

after it had lost its innocency. The most evident proof of God's

love is in the sufferings of Christ. The description of them with

respect to his soul and body. The sufferings of his soul set

forth from the causes of his grief, the disposition of Christ, and

the design of God in afflicting him. The sorrows of his forsaken

state: all comforting influences were suspended, but without

prejudice to the personal union, or the perfection of his grace, or

the love of his Father towards him. The death of the cross

considered, with respect to the ignominy and torment that con-

curred in it. The love of the Father and of Christ amplified

upon the account of his enduring it.

CHAP. X.-Divine Mercy is Magnified in the Excellency of the State

to which Man is advanced. He is enriched with higher preroga-

tives, under a better covenant, entitled to a more glorious reward

than Adam at first enjoyed. The human nature is personally

united to the Son of God. Believers are spiritually united to

Christ. The gospel is a better covenant than that of the law.

It admits of repentance and reconciliation after sin. It accepts

of sincerity instead of perfection. It affords supernatural assist-

ance to believers, whereby they shall be victorious over all op-

position in their way to heaven. The difference between the

grace of the Creator and that of the Redeemer. The stability of

the New-Covenant is built on the love of God which is unchange-

able, and the operations of his Spirit that are effectual. The

mutability and weakness of the human will, and the strength of

temptations, shall not frustrate the merciful design of God in

regard of his elect. The glorious reward of the gospel exceeds

the primitive felicity of Adam, in the place of it, the highest

heaven. Adam's life was attended with innocent infirmities,

from which the glorified life is entirely exempt. The felicity of

heaven exceeds the first, in the manner, degrees, and continu-

ance of the fruition.

CHAP. XI.-Practical Inferences.-I. Redeeming love deserves our
highest admiration and humble acknowledgments. The illus-
tration of it by several considerations. God is infinitely amiable

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