Owen - BS2775 O8 1668

Mefsiah, The Deliverer fromEvill, There waslikewife ( Fifthly ) a difference in the manner of their Deftlion. Man Was circumvented by theCraft and Policyof the Angels, who were made before him, 2nd finned before him. And this, although He was furnifhed with'an Ability and Power to have rejegted and overcome, yet ithad that influence into his Sin and Fall, that theHoly Ghoft affirms that ourfirft Parents were SE DU CED, or deceived, r Tim. 2. 14.2Cor. ti. 3. and therefore calls Satban their Murderer, fobn 8. 34. But the Angels had nothing without them to excite,. provoke, or lay fnares for them but of their ownVoluntary Choke, andMeer motion of their own mind, in the Ex- ercife ofthat Freedomof theirWills which was beftowed on them for their own ho- nour and advantage in theirObedience, left their Stations, and fit up themfelves in a way ofOppofitionunto theirCreator, who had exalted them above their companions, newly brought out ofthe fameNothing'with themfelves, intoa conditionofthe highelt created Glory imaginable. Again ( Sixthly ) although thecondition of mankind being to be propagated by naturall Generation from one common -Stock, made it neceffary that our Firft Parents fhould have a greater Trail repofed in them,, by Reafon of their RepreJentatian of theirwhole Pofterity in that Covenant wherein they flood before God, than anyAn- gel could have, feting they flood every one, only in hisown name, and for himfelf; yet they were,but two perfons that adtually finned at firlt, and thofe one after another, one feduced by another; whereas the Angels in multitudes inconceivable, by a joint confpiracy at the fame infant combined together againft the Authority and Law of theirCreator ; and as it fhould teem appointed oneamong themfelves for the Headof their Apoftafie. -Now although, as waslaid, noneofthofe things can, or do in theleatt extenuate the fin ofman, whichwas the produét of inconceivable infidelity and ingra- titude, yet they contain fuch Aggravations of the Sin of Angels,' as may evidence a condecency unto Divine Wifdomand Goodnefs, in palling them by in their fin and rniferyunto Eternity, and yet giving Relief untomankind. Lafily, We may addunto what bath, been fpoken the concernment of theglory of God in the Vniverfe, For ifmanhad been left for ever without Relief, the whole rare orkind of Creatures, partakers of Humane Nature, had been utterly loft; nothing of , that kindcould ever have come unto theEnjoyment of God, nor could God have ever beenglorified by them in a way ofThankfulnefs and Praife, which yet was the End why he made that fort of Creatures. For the whole race of them as to the Event would have been mete Objedts of Wrath and Difpleafure. But in theFall Of Angels, they were only a certain number of individuals, that finned, the whole kind was not loft as to the firft End of their Creation. AngelicalNature was preferred in its or- derlydependance on God, in thofe millions that kept their Obedience,and Primitive conditionthereon, which is continued unto themwith a fuperaddition of Glory and Honour, as 'hall be elfewheredeclared. God then having made himfelf two Familier untohis Praife, amongft whomhe would dwell, that above of Angels, and this be- low ofmankind, had finningMan, which was the whole Creation participating in Hu- maneNature, beenutterly call off, one Family had beenloft for ever, though fo great a Remnant of the other was preferred. Wherefore; as we fhall afterwardsfee, it feemed good unto his Infinite Wifdom, as topreferve that Portionof his Superiour Fa- milywhich finned not, fo to recover a portion of that below, and to make them up into one. Family in one NewHead, his Son3efur Cbrift, in whom he hath now adtually gathered into One, all things that are in Heaven and Earth unto his Praifi and Glory, Epbef. r. so. It appears then that no certain conclufioncan hencebedrawn, that man is left remedilefs in hisSin and Mifery, becaufe Angels are fo ; feting thatalthough the whole Caufe of thedifference made istobe referred unto the Soveraign Will,Wifdom and Pleafure of God, yet-there is that appearing unto Reafon , which 'manifefts a fuitablenefs unto hisExcellencies in the diftinetion tobe put between them. There is thenno Necefary Reafoninducing us tobelieve, that God hath left all man- kind toperifh in their fin and mifery under the Curfe without any provifionof a Re- medy; -yea, there are on the other fideEvidencesmany and certain, that there is a Way provided for theirRecovery. For, Fief, The Glorious Properties ofthe Nature ofGod whofeManifeftation andExal- tationin all the worksthat outwardly are of him, he defigneth, do require that there fhould beSalvation for Sinners. Eventhis matter of the Salvation ofSinnersconduceth, yea is neceffary unto the manifetlation of Come of thofe Divine Excellencies, wherein no fmall.part of theglory ofGoddoth conflit. God had in the Creation of all things 'glorified

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