Owen - BS2775 O8 1668

I'rcm f d of Old. $x every thing, that man doth, or cando, as a Moral Agent, and that alway;es; and for ever, Gen.6. v. 5. It is then impoffible that it fhould have an end, rinlefs it do either deftry, or fpend its fel£ But feting it willdoneither of thefe, everfinning, which man cannot but be, is not the way to difentangle himfelf from fin. Ifthen any Deliverance be ever obtained for mankind, it mutt be by fome other 4= t_y not involved in thefame mifery with themfelves. This mull either be Gód himfelfor good Angels. Other Rational Agents there are none. If we look to the latter, wemull fuppofe them toundertake this work either by the Appointment.of God, or upon their ownAccord, without his previous Command or Direction. Thelatter cannot be fup- pofed. Theyknew too much of the Majefty, Holinefs, and Terror of the ,great God . to ventureonan interpofition of themfelves upon his Counfèls and Wayes , uncom- manded. Todo fo would have been a finfull diffolutiin of the Lawof their Creation; So much alto they might difcern of the work its felf , as to ftife unto Eternity, every thought of engagingthemfelves into it. Befides they knew the Will ofGod, by what they taw come topals. They taw his Jultice and Holinefs glorified in the Evils which he had brought upon the world. That He would not for ever fatisfie himfelf,in that Glory, they knew not. And what was man unto them; that they fhould bufie them- (elves to retrive'him from that condition whereinto he had calf himfelf by fin, finding Himglorified therein, in conformity 'unto whofe will their Happinefs and Perfection doth confia? As remote as men are from thoughts of recovering FallenAngels, fo fax were they contriving the RecoveryofMan. But it may befaid, that God himfelf might defign them towork out the Salvation and deliveranceenquired after, as was before fuppofed. But this makes God, and not them tobe the Saviour, and themonly the Inftruments in the Accomplifhmentofhis work. Neither yetbath hedonefo, nor were they meet 16 to be employed. What. ever is purelypanall in the tniferyofman is an Etna of the Righteous Judgement of God. This, as we havemanifefed could be no otherwife diverted from him, but by the undergoing of it , byfame other inhis fead.. Andtwo thingsare required inhim, or them that lhould fo undergoe it. Firtt, That they were not themfelves obnoxious un- 'to it, either Perfonàüy, or upon the firlt common account. Should theybe fo, theyought to look to their own concernment in the firti place. Secondly, that they were futh, .as that the Benefit of their Vndergaing that. Penalty , might according to the Rules of Juftice redound untothem, for whom, and in whore Read they underwent it ; other- wife they would fuller in vain. Nowalthough the Angels might anfwer the fitti of thefè in their Perfonal immunity from obnoxioufiefs unto the Curfe, yet the latterthey were unfitted for. They hadno Relation unto mankind, but only that they were the WorlZmanJhip of the fameCreator. But this is not fut&cient to warrant fach a fubtli- tution. Had Angeli been tobe delivered, theirRedemption muffhave beenwrought in the Angelical Nature , as the Apofile declares , Heb. 2. Y. 16. But what Juftice is it that Man fhould fin, and Angels fuller ? or from whence Iliould it arife that from their futlering it should beRighteous, that he shouldgo free? By what notions ofGod could we have been initrudied in the Wifdom and Righteoufnefs of fuch a Proceeding? Addhereunto, that thisGod bathnot done, and we may fafely conclude, that it became himnot fo todo. But what needall this Enquiry ? The Jews withwhore we principally have to do, yt, rg, in this Matter, plead conitantly, that God bath appointed unto men, at leafiunto themfelves, a way and means ofDelivery out of this condition. And this is, by the obfervation ofMofee'r Law. By thistheyfay, they arejuftified in the fight ofGod, and haveDeliverance from allwrath due unto fin. This theywafted in ofold ; Rom. 2. v.32. this they continue to make their Refuge at this day. Spirituallo liberatio folum- modo dependet abObfervatione legis pant Deus in monte Sinai promulgavit. SpiritualDe- liverance dependeth frlelly on the Obfervation of the Lam which God promu/5ated onMount Sinai, faith the Author of the Anfwers unto certain Quefiions propofe to the Jews, Quell. 5. publifhed by Brenius, who in his reply bath betrayed. unto them the moti important Doéirines of the Chrillian Religion. But this is their Perfwafion. The giving of thisLaw unto them,.,they fuppofe to have freed them utterly from every thing in the conditionbefore defcribed, fofar as they will acknowledge it toconcern anyof the Poltetity ofAdam. And whereastheycannot denybut that they fometimes fin agaiuft the Moral Precepts of this Law, and fo !land in needof Help againft their. Helper, theyfix in this cafe upon a 'double relief. The firff is of their ownPerfonal Repentance ; and theother theSacrifices that are appointed in the Law: M , Eut

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