Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	believe_v	divine_a	revelation_n	3,320	5	9.6030	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29103	The nature of that salvation, which the Gospel offereth, and the method of obtaining it, by a mediator a sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, March the 6th, 1698/9, being the third, for this year, of the lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq. / by Samuel Bradford ...	Bradford, Samuel, 1652-1731.	1699 (1699)	Wing B4116; ESTC R19719	15,399	36

such a Revelation as this and to be well dispos'd to receive it as coming from God And this again renders the Saying in the Text still more credible when we thus consider what kind of Salvation that is which Christ Jesus offereth to Sinners But because the main stress with respect to the intrinsick Evidence of this Saying will lie upon what I have to offer upon the third general Head I proposed I therefore proceed to that designing to insist more largely and particularly upon it viz. to consider in what way and manner Christ Jesus by his coming into the world hath wrought out this Salvation for Sinners The Nature of Man and the condition of Sinners as you have heard make it credible that God should concern himself for their Recovery 'T is also credible that if Almighty God should offer Salvation to Men it would be such a kind of Salvation as I have been describing But besides all this the Method in which our Lord hath obtained this Salvation for us is so excellent in it self so suitable to the nature of things so agreeable to all just apprehensions both concerning God and our selves so well accommodated to our necessities and our reasonable desires that I am verily perswaded nothing but a want of understanding it can occasion any reasonable man to hesitate at the belief of it I am very sensible before I enter upon this Argument that we ignorant and weak Creatures are not able to account for the Works of our Maker Even the least of his Works in Creation and Providence infinitely exceeds our Comprehension and much more the wonders of our Redemption by Jesus Christ We are not capable of diving into all the depths of this admirable Dispensation nor of spying out all the reasons and excellencies of it But yet so much we may discern as may cause us justly to admire and adore the divine Perfections display'd therein and may strongly incline us to believe the Divinity of this Revelation even before we come to consider the external Attestation which it hath receiv'd from God This therefore is next in order to be done viz. to contemplate the Method in which Christ Jesus by his coming into the world saveth Sinners and with Modesty and Reverence to inquire into the Way and Manner of our Salvation by the Gospel Now the most comprehensive Notion we can frame to our selves of our blessed Saviour's Undertaking is that he acted as a Mediator between God and Men and therefore by considering what the Office of a Mediator is and how our Lord executed that Office we shall be the better able to understand the Method of our Salvation by him That our Lord sustein'd the Character of a Mediator is evident from the account we have of his Undertaking throughout the Scriptures Those Persons who in the Old Testament are mention'd as Types and Representatives of the Messiah were divers of them a sort of Mediators between God and the People of Israel Moses the great Lawgiver of the Jews was apparently a Figure of Christ in this respect as he managed all affairs between God and that People receiving and delivering Messages from God to them and again presenting their Addresses to God and frequently making supplications on their behalf And therefore the Apostle gives him this Title when he says that the Law was ordain'd by Angels Gal. 3.19 in the hands of a Mediator meaning Moses The Levitical Priests were so many Types of our Lord as they were a sort of Mediators between God and the Israelites being appointed to expound the Law of God to them to bless them in his Name and to offer up Sacrifices together with Prayers and Praises to God upon their account Their High Priest had in an eminent manner this Character exercising the Mediatorial Function as a special representative of the Messiah when he went alone once every year into the second Tabernacle Heb. 9.7 or holy of holies upon the great day of Expiation not without bloud which he offer'd not only for himself but also for the errors of the People As to the New Testament it may seem superfluous to recite from thence any particular Proofs that our Saviour acted as a Mediator between God and Men 't is his Character throughout that Volume 1 Tim. 2.5 There is saith St. Paul One God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus The Author to the Hebrews making a comparison between the High-Priests under the Law and our great High-Priest under the Gospel saith of him Hen. 8.6 that he hath obtain'd a more excellent Ministry than theirs by how much also he is the Mediator of a better Covenant He calls him again more than once chap. 9.15 chap. 12.24 the Mediator of the New Testament or Covenant And to add no more St. Paul though he does not there use the Word Mediator yet he expresses the sense of it very emphatically where he says 1 Cor. 8.6 There is but one God the Father of whom are all things and we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for or to him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by him in which words he evidently opposeth the one Lord or Mediator of Christians to the many Lords or Mediators of the Gentiles mention'd in the preceding Verse and in saying that all things particularly we Christians are by him he plainly gives him the Character of a Mediator What the Office of a Mediator is we all know viz. to make up a difference between two Parties and in order to that equitably and impartially to consider the real Interests and the just pretensions on each side and to transact matters so that both may be satisfied that if any injury has been done it may as far as 't is possible be repaired that whatsoever displeasure has been conceiv'd may be remov'd that whatsoever mischief has been produc'd it may be prevented for the future in a word that all things may be managed suitably to the condition and agreeably to the expectation of the Parties concern'd But before we come to consider the particular way and manner in which our great Mediator hath discharg'd this his Undertaking it may not be amiss first to shew in the general that it was perfectly agreeable both to the nature of God and of fallen Man that there should be a Mediator to transact this great affair of reconciling this Apostate Creature to his Maker That this hath been the general Apprehension of Mankind that it becomes us to approach to God by a Mediator is fully evident from all the Records of antient and almost universal Practice The Distinction between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the superior Gods and Daemons among the Pagan Theologers is well known and how they made the latter a sort of Mediators between the Gods and Men. Plutarch is very express to this purpose where he mentions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉

The Nature of that Salvation which the Gospel offereth and the Method of obtaining it by a Mediator A SERMON Preach'd in the Cathedral Church of St. PAVL March the 6th 1698 9. Being the Third for this Year of the Lecture Founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq By SAMUEL BRADFORD M. A. Rector of St. Mary le Bow LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1699. Mr. BRADFORD's SERMON Preached at St. Paul's March the 6th 1698 9. 1 TIM I. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the World to save Sinners IN treating on these Words I propos'd by God's Assistance to make good the Apostle's assertion viz. that the Saying mention'd by him is both certainly true and fit to be entertain'd by us with all readiness and thankfulness and that whether we consider the intrinsick Evidence it carries along with it or the external Attestation which hath been given to it I began with its intrinsick Evidence viz. its credibility from its manifest agreeableness to those Notions which we naturally have concerning God and our selves And to make this appear I propos'd the following Method First To consider who the Persons are whom Christ Jesus came into the VVorld to save Secondly What kind of Salvation he proposeth to them Thirdly In what way and manner he hath by his coming into the world wrought out this Salvation for them The first of these I have dispatch'd shewing that the Persons whom Christ Jesus came into the VVorld to save were both Men and Sinners under each of which denominations I endeavour'd to make it appear that they were fit Objects of the Divine Care and Compassion to be exercised in some extraordinary manner I proceed now to consider in the second place what kind of Salvation Christ Jesus proposeth to these Creatures concerning which I shall not need to add much after what hath been discours'd upon the former head For by a little reflection upon the condition of Sinners 't will be easie to discern what kind of Salvation they stood in need of which is the very same which our Saviour hath propos'd to us in his Gospel his design in coming into the World being to provide for the necessities of fallen Men with reference to which Necessities Salvation must imply both a Deliverance from those many Evils to which Sin had exposed them and a Restitution of those many Blessings which by their transgression they had forfeited Thus for Instance The Salvation of Men by Jesus Christ consists in his delivering them from the just displeasure of their Maker and all the terrible Effects of it together with a complete Restoration of them to the Divine favour and giving them a Title to all those Blessings which are proper for humane Nature when accepted of God in the setting them free from all that disorder and irregularity which had been introduc'd into the several Faculties of their Souls together with the dissatisfaction and uneasiness of Mind which necessarily follow'd as also from those inconveniencies and miseries to which their Bodies likewise were expos'd either as a consequence or a punishment of the corruption of their Minds in restoring perfectly that frame and temper of Spirit which is natural to an intelligent and reasonable Creature together with that healthful and vigorous state of Body that sound constitution of the whole Man which would have been the Effect or the Reward of Innocency and Integrity In a word Salvation consists in reconciling God to Men and Men to God and in all the blessed Fruits of such a Reconciliation which how many and how great they will be we are not able in this imperfect State so much as to conjecture This will be best understood by such as shall partake of this Salvation when it shall be fully accomplished In the mean time it may satisfie and encourage us to believe that they will bear a proportion to the Bounty of God and the Capacities of Men. And as this is the Salvation which the Gospel offereth to every particular Man to whom it is Preach'd so it assures us that all those who shall embrace the offer shall be thus saved and that the consequence of this will be a Renovation of this part of the World which has been so miserably disorder'd by the Sins of Men a Restitution of whatsoever has been decay'd in it the expelling sin and misery out of it the subduing and confining the great Enemy of God and Man who has so long usurp'd dominion over it Rom. 8.20 the delivering the Creature it self even this whole lower Creation from that vanity and bondage of Corruption to which it is at presented subjected and under which it groans and travelleth in pain into a glorious Liberty in a word 2 Pet. 3.21 the creating New Heavens and a New Earth wherein nothing but Righteousness shall dwell and finally the complete and everlasting happiness of an innumerable company of intelligent and reasonable Creatures who by the craft of their subtile Enemy and through their own weakness and folly had once fallen from God and the state in which he had placed them and been in imminent danger of utter Perdition All this is so evidently propos'd by the Gospel of our Saviour as the design of his Undertaking and so expresly and fully declar'd thereby that I need not spend time in producing any particular Proofs And all this is without question highly worthy of so great and so good a Being as God is Had the Christian Revelation told us that Almighty God had sent his only-begotten Son from Heaven only to secure to us the pleasures of the Elysian Fields or a Mahometan Paradice to provide for us a full and perpetual Enjoyment of Sensual Entertainments and Delights whosoever had any just thoughts of the divine or humane Nature might reasonably have disputed nay boldly denyed the divinity of such a Revelation But when on the contrary it assures us that our Saviour came into the World with such noble and generous designs as these to cause the displeasure of God to cease to heal the diseases of immaterial and immortal Spirits to repair the divine Image in them to restore both them and the Tabernacles they sojourn'd in to their primitive Integrity and Soundness to repair the ruins of Nature to make the Beauties of the Creation in this lower World conspicuous to destroy the Works of the Devil to recover such of God's Creatures as should be found capable of a Recovery to introduce and settle Everlasting Righteousness and Peace and finally to make a considerable number of the children of Men Eternally happy in the Enjoyment of their Maker these are all of them things so well becoming the Majesty and the Benignity of the Everlasting Father and his only-begotten Son and at the same time so beneficial and grateful to humane Nature that we have all the reason in the World to hearken to