A12166:696
Beams of divine light breaking forth from several places of holy Scripture, as they…Beames of divine light breaking forth from severall places of holy Scripture, as they…
Beams of divine light breaking forth from several places of holy Scripture, as they were learnedly opened, in XXI. sermons. The III. first being the fore-going sermons to that treatise called The bruised-reed, preached on the precedent words. By the late reverend and judicious divine, Richard Sibs, D.D. Mr. of Katharine Hall in Camb: and sometimes preacher at Gray's Inn. Published according to the Doctor his own appointment subscribed with his hand; to prevent imperfect copies.Beames of divine light breaking forth from severall places of holy Scripture, as they were learnedly opened, in XXI. sermons. The III. first being the fore-going sermons to that treatise called The bruised-reed, preached on the precedent words. By the late reverend and iudicious divine, Richard Sibs, D.D. Mr. of Katharine Hall in Camb: and sometimes preacher at Grayes Inne. Published according to the Doctor his owne appointment subscribed with his hand; to prevent imperfect coppies.
London: printed by George for N. Bourne, 1639
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But now O Lord thou art our Father, &c.
Here is a prayer which is a kind of holding God,1 by the relation of a Father; this is one way of stirring up our souls, to consider the relation of a Father. It stirs up bowels, when a child is beaten by his Father, O stay Father, spare, it works upon the bowels. There ⟨p. 327⟩is a world of Rhetoric in this one word Father, why Lord, thou art my Father, shall I be destroyed? let us lay hold on God by this relation that he puts upon himself; and he will not lay it aside though we be unworthy to be sons. He doth not say, thou art our Father, and we are thy sons; because he thought they were unworthy, (as the Prodigal saith, I am unworthy to be called thy son) but instead of saying we are thy sons, he saith, we are the clay, thou art the potter. Yet he is a Father continually; and though in Christ you cannot call him Father, yet you may by Creation, and initiation, being brought up in the Church. Go to him with the encouragements you have, and cast your selves upon him. There is a bond for you by Creation, and there is his command, he bids you call him Father, he is a Father by Creation; look not upon this or that sin, but go to him, and call him Father, as you may call him; say thou art my Father, thou hast given me a being in the Church, wrestle with him as you may, though as found Christians you cannot call him Father. Be weary of your courses, are you willing to come under Gods hand to be sons; you are sons by Creation already, offer thy self to be of his family for the time to come, and God will give a sweet report to thy soul. Stand not out at the staves end, Thou art our Father, Lord. If you have a purpose to live in firm, the Devil is your father, and not God, you are of your ⟨p. 328⟩