Bates - BT775 B274 1675

1 inContain an'Itcbtinptiett. 10 7 fes himfelf, Lord, how wonderful are thy thoughts to Chap. VI. u-s-ward ! The Angelsadore this glorious Myftery with ,..drv-Nt....) an humble Reverence. The admiration that is caufed t Pet. a. 12. by it, is a principal delight ofthe Mind: 'Tis true, the wonder that proceeds from Ignorance (when the caufe offome vifible effect is not known) is the imperfe&ion and torment of the Spirit; but that which arifeth from the knowledg of thole things which are moft above our conception and our hope, is the higheft advance- ment of our Minds, and brings the greateft fatisfa&i- on to the Soul. Now the contrivance of our Redem- ption,was infinitely above the flightofReafon,and our expectation. when the Lord turned the captivity ofPfa. Sion, they were as in a dream: The way of accom- plilhing it was fo incredible, that it feem'd rather the picture ofFancy, than a real Deliverance. And there is far greater reafon that the refcuing of us from the Powers of Hell, and the reftoring us to Liberty and Glory by Chrift, fhculd raife our wonder. The Gofpel is called a niarvellous Light , upon the ac- z Pet, 2.9. count of the objects it difcovers. But fuch a per- verfe judgment is-in men, that theyneglect thole things which deferve the higheft admiration, and fpend their wonder on meaner things. Art is more admir'd than Nature: a counterfeit Eye ofCryfial, whichbath nei- ther fight nor motion, than the living Eye, the Sun of the little world, that dire&s the whole Man. And the effe&s of nature are more admir'd, than the fub- lime and fupernatural works ofGrace. Yet thefe infi- nitely exceed the other. The World is the work of Gods hand, but the Gofpel is his plot, and the chiefeft ofall his waies. What a combination ofWon- ders is there in the great Myftery of Godlinefs ? That He who fills Heaven and Earth fhould be confin'd to the Virgins Womb; that Life (hould die, and being P 2 dead

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