Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A45354
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A defence of revealed religion in six sermons upon Rom. I, 16 : wherein it is clearly and plainly shown that no man can possibly have any real ground or reason to be ashamed of Christianity / by Henry Hallywell.
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Hallywell, Henry, d. 1703?
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1694
(1694)
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Wing H459; ESTC R26653
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55,183
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216
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of reasonable Creatures that if a disinteressed and unprejudiced Person were to speak his Mind he would say That neither the Wit of Men nor Angels could find out a more agreeable and effectual means for the recovery of the World than what is already made use of in the contrivance of the Gospel For here GOD hath consulted the Weaknesses Infirmities Prejudices and Imperfections of Mankind which they had contracted by a long Degeneracy and Corruption and Corruption and which were become so inveterate and deeply radicated as not to be removed but by such a Dispensation as might so far gratifie Humane Affections and natural Propensions as might be consistent with the Honour and Sanctity of the Divine Nature And this is that which St. Paul calls the Foolishness of Preaching 1 Cor. 1.21 For after that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the Foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe Which is not so to be understood as if the Pagan World had no knowledge of the one only true GOD the Creator and Governour of all things forthen the Apostle would have contradicted what he had said in another place Rom. 1.19 where he says the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is knowable or may be known of GOD was manifest within them but that the generality of the World before Christianity by their natural Light and Contemplation of the Works of GOD did not attain to such a Practical Knowledge of GOD as might both free them from Idolatry and effectually bring them to a Holy Life to both which ends Christian Religion was designed of GOD that it should attain Therefore it pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe i. e. by a way of condescending Wisdom gratifying all our innocent Propensions and accommodating it self so far to the radicated and inveterate Prepositions of Humane Minds To give some Instances of this condescending Wisdom besides the general Impurity and Corruption of the Lives of Men a Learned Jewish Author gives this Account of the Pagan Polytheism and Idolatry The Idolaters says he first argued thus in respect of GOD That since he was of such transcendent Perfection above Men it was not possible for Men to be united to or have Communion with him otherwise than by means of certain middle Beings or Mediators as it is the manner of Earthly Kings to have Petitions conveyed to them by the hands of Mediators and Intercessors Secondly They thus argued also in respect of themselves That being Corporeal so that they could not apprehend GOD abstractly they must needs have something sensible to excite and stir up their Devotion and to fix their imaginations upon Here being then so early a Prepossession and general debauching of Men's Minds Divine Goodness and Wisdom hath so condescended to Humane Frailties and Inclinations as instead of that multitude of Middle Beings or Mediators which Apuleius calls Inter terricolas Caelicolasque Vectores hinc precum inde donorum qui ultrò citróque pertant hinc Petitiones inde Suppetias A kind of Carriers between the Inhabitants of Heaven and Earth who travelling to and fro carry our Prayers and Petitions thither and bring from thence Gifts and Supplies for us to constitute and appoint One Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who offers up our Petitions and intercedes with GOD and procures Blessings and Favours for us By his Intervention we receive seasonable Supplies for all our Exigences and Necessities here and he takes care to conduct us at last to that Immortal Glory that he himself is now possessed of And that we may not err in transferring our Worship upon the Creature upon the Account that we can have no abstracted Conception of GOD and in this our Earthly State need something to invigorate our Devotion and fix our Imagination upon GOD hath cloathed himself with our Flesh and Blood and taken into a near Union with himself the Soul and Body of our Lord Jesus so that though rude and ignorant Mortals might fancy GOD as a pure and immense Spirit too raised an Object for them in this their degenerate Condition to have any Conception of yet what is sensible and visible and congenerous with themselves they must needs have an apprehension of and such is the Body of our Lord Jesus which is the Temple wherein now the Divinity is enshrined and wherein the Schechinah or glorious Majesty and Presence of God resides and manifests it self Which is a clear Instance of the condescending Wisdom of GOD which in compliance with the Prepossessions and Mistakes of Mankind wherein they were fatally and inextricably involved hath provided a visible Object of their Worship and Adoration by uniting himself with Humane Flesh I might instance in divers other Congruities wherein Christianity is so exquisitely fitted to redeem the World from the Tyranny of Satan and yet to gratifie even in a sensible manner all the more innocent Propensions and Inclinations of Mankind But I shall have occasion to take notice of some in the Progress of my Discourse It will now be requisite to take a more near and intimate view of the frame and contexture of Christianity wherein we shall with admiration behold a mighty congruity with our natural Faculties and a wonderful compliance all along with our Infirmities and Necessities For what can be thought more becoming and reasonable than 1. That some extraordinary Person should be sent from Heaven who should in the most convincing manner assure Men of the Will of God Now this is already done For by the Gospel we are assured that Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of GOD hath appeared upon Earth to declare his Father's Will unto Men. And by this way of proceeding GOD not only conciliates Reverence and Esteem to the Doctrine that was delivered but gives an evident and mighty demonstration of his infinite Love and Goodness and that he is really desirous of Mens eternal Happiness and Welfare In that the Will of GOD was discovered and made known by a Person so near and dear to him as his own Son is a sufficient ground of Reverence and Esteem Since all People in the World have ever reccived a Message from Heaven with the highest Veneration and so much the more as the Person that delivered it was of higher and greater worth And this was so general a Persuasion that the most famous Law-givers amongst the Pagans that they might make their Laws pass the better and find a more ready Acceptation with the People they feigned some Heavenly Power or other to be Author of them And what was but pretended by them was really and truly performed by our blessed Saviour who being the eternal Son of GOD clothed himself with Flesh and Blood and asserted his Commission to be from GOD and was owned by a Voice from Heaven to be what he declared himself And lest this should not be enough to convince the World
and through their gross Infidelity they should not give that reverence and ready compliance that is due to so great a Majesty besides the reiterating this Voice at two other times before unsuspected Witnesses GOD endues our Lord and Saviour with such a miraculous Power as no Man ever had before So that it was truly said of him by the Multitude upon the casting out of a Devil Mat. 9.33 That it was never so seen in Israel Here was sufficient Evidence to prove that Christ was sent from GOD. But that there might be nothing wanting to give the highest certainty that so great a Truth is capable of after the Jews had put Jesus to Death as a Deceiver GOD openly vindicates his Innocency by raising him from the Dead by which we have all the assurance imaginable that what our Lord spake and did in his Life-time he acted by divine Designation and Appointment 2. It appears very reasonable that this Person whom GOD intrusts with the Delivery of his Will should shew us by his own Example what kind of Life it is that GOD requires of us and which will at last procure our happiness For by how much the more Examples prevail with Men than naked Precepts and Persuasions by so much the more will this Divine Person consult our Frailties and Infirmities who are with greater easiness allured to walk in that Path wherein we have seen another go before us And such a course as this will give great Ease and Relief to the Minds of Men that GOD requires no Impossibilities of them when they see one dwelling in their own Nature and surrounded with the same Infirmities and yet living up exactly to the Rules of that Divine Life he prescribes to others And in this Example of Christ there is a double Convenience 1. Here we are taught in a familiar way by one of the same Flesh and Blood with our selves When the Will of GOD was delivered upon Mount Sinai to the Jews it was in such a terrible and amazing manner that the People were affrighted and astonished at it As it is natural for all unusual and terrible things to cause a horror and dread in weak and frail Mortals Therefore it is infinitely more agreeable and desirable that GOD should manifest his Will in the mildest sweetest and most attractive manner which could no better way be done than that this Person who came from him should be cloathed with Flesh and Blood For hereby our Weakness is consulted and we have a mighty comfort in our greatest Streights and Necessities being assured as the Scripture speaks Heb. 4.15 16. That we have not such an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but such an one as was in all points tempted as we are though without Sin And because through a sense of our own Guiltiness we are apt to be afraid of the Majesty of GOD and dare not approach unto him Now that he condescends to visit us in our own Likeness and instruct us by one of our Brethren we come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace for seasonable Relief 2. In the Example of Christ we see what little regard is had of all those things which the carnal and sensual Man so much prizes and values and that the Divine and Heavenly Life is no part of any of these things Such as Pride and Vain glory Worldly Power and Dominion Covetousness and an immoderate desire and hankering after sensual Pleasures These are things that debase inebriate and intoxicate the carnal Mind and from which luscious and powerful Inescations our Lord and Saviour came to loose and set us free And therefore our Lord chose not to be born in a splendid manner but of a poor Virgin that had but a pair of Turtle-Doves to offer for his Redemption and to be Cradled in a Manger among the meanest of his Creatures And as his Birth was humble and mean so all his Life-time he refused all Earthly Splendor and Glory To instruct us That the true Advancement and Perfection of our Souls consists in the lowest and most humble Resignation of themselves to the Will of GOD. And that the more unaffected a Man lives to the Complacencies and Delights of the Animal Life the more he Spiritualizes his Soul and makes it capable of enjoying Communion with GOD. Our most Holy Lord never coveted after Earthly Riches and Possessions that he might lead our Minds from this Dunghil to the fair Mansions of Heaven and shew us that Man lives not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the Mouth of God The whole course of his Life was a continued contradiction of the flattering Pleasures of Flesh and Blood and a perpetual slighting and undervaluing all that which the World calls Happiness teaching us that the true divine Life though it be not accompanied with any Earthly Advantages such as Honour and Wealth and Power is more dear and valuable in GOD's Eyes than any thing in the whole comprehension of Nature besides 3. It seems further mighty agreeable and consentaneous to Reason that since Mankind had so foully revolted from GOD and lapsed so deeply from the eternal Laws of Righteousness there should be some effectual course found out whereby to demonstrate the Anger and Displeasure of GOD conceived against Sin and withal to reconcile the World unto himself Though it be true that it is no breach of Law or Justice for a Person to recede from his Right yet God being the supream Governour of the World if he should have pardoned Sin upon no Terms or upon such as had been light and trifling it would have emboldned Men in their Wickedness since they could obtain their Pardon at such a cheap and easie rate Therefore God in his infinite Wisdom that he might shew his extream hatred of all Sin and Evil and the most powerfully wind off Men from it he takes this way viz. That his only begotten Son should offer up his Life for the Redemption of the World and that his Death should be an Expiatory Sacrifice for all Mens Sins Whereby God both discovers to us the ugly and polluted nature of Sin and his just Displeasure against it in that strange way he has taken to punish it by the Death and Passion of his only begotten Son And withal takes away all jealous and misgiving Thoughts out of our Minds and quiets our Consciences by shewing that he is no Adamantine and Rocky no Implacable and Inexorable Being that is for ever deaf to the pitious Complaints of the miserable and Calamitous but will take us again into Grace and Favour upon our Submission and Repentance Moreover in this Sacrifice of the Death of Christ there was a manifest condescension and purposed compliance with that early Persuasion so universally rooted in the Minds of all Nations of the World That the offended Numen was only to be appeased by Sacrifice And this