A12190:320
The returning backslider, or, A commentary upon the whole XIIII. chapter of the prophecy…The returning backslider, or, A commentarie upon the whole XIIII. chapter of the prophecy…
The returning backslider, or, A commentary upon the whole XIIII. chapter of the prophecy of the prophet Hosea Wherein is showed the large extent of Gods free mercy, even unto the most miserable forlorn and wretched sinners that may be, upon their humiliation and repentance. Preached by that learned and judicious divine, Dr. Sibbs, late preacher to the honourable society of Gray's Inn, and master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge. Published by his own permission before his death.The returning backslider, or, A commentarie upon the whole XIIII. chapter of the prophecy of the prophet Hosea Wherein is shewed the large extent of Gods free mercy, even unto the most miserable forlorne and wretched sinners that may be, upon their humiliation and repentance. Preached by that learned and judicious divine, Dr. Sibbs, late preacher to the honourable society of Grayes Inne, and master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge. Published by his owne permission before his death.
London: printed by George for George Edwards, 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.
If a man cannot relish good diet, then we count him a sick man, so when a man cannot relish holy discourse, nor the Ordinances of God. You have some men, that can relish nothing but profits and pleasures, and such vanities, but no divine thing, such have sick souls undoubtedly.
If a man cannot relish good diet, then wee count him a sick man, so when a man cannot rellish holy discourse, nor the Ordinances of God. You have some men, that can rellish nothing but profits and pleasures, and such vanities, but no divine thing, such have sicke soules undoubtedly.
So again, a man may know there is a deadly sickness and soreness upon the soul, 1 when it is senseless of its wounds, and 2 is senseless of that which passeth from it: as men (we say) are ready to die, when excremental things pass from them without any sense. So a man may know that he is desperately soul-sick, when oaths, lies, and deceitful speeches pass from him, and yet he is senseless of them, they think not of them, they mean no harm: doth that argue a sound state of body, when a man is so desperately ill, that he feels not his bodily hurts, and is this a good state of soul, when these filthy things come out from it insensibly? ⟨p. 136⟩it is an argument of extreme deadness of spirit, and irreverence, and of a desperate sin sick soul, when there is no dread or awe of the Majesty of God; let such look about them: it is an aggravation of the danger of the soul, this kind of temper. We usually say, when the stomach is so weak that it can hold no nourishment without casting it up again as fast as it receives it; certainly such a one is sick and in a dangerous state of body. So when a man hears and hears, and reads and reads, and digests nothing into nourishment, but all is left where he heard it; it is a sign that they have sick souls, when their retentive power is so weak. And there is certainly some sickness, some dangerous obstruction in that soul, that cannot digest the wholesome Word of God to make use of it; some noisome lust then certainly obstructs the soul which must be purged out.