A29372:699
Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London
Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London by William Bridge, late preacher of the word of God at Yarmouth.Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London by Willam Bridge, late preacher of the word of God at Yarmouth.
London: printed for Nath. Crouch, 1668
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
God himself is well pleased with it: The Sacrifices of G•d are a broken and a contrite heart; An hard heart is ⟨p. 199⟩Gods curse, Lamentations 3. you read it thus: Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. 'Tis not sorrow of heart, for that's a blessing, but obstinacy of heart, an hard heart, so the Margin; but in the Hebrew, give them a heart with a Shield upon it, that may fence off the blow: That when any thing is spoken, they may fence it off; give them a fending heart, a hard heart; a hard heart is Gods curse: A tender and a soft heart bleeding over the miseries of the Church, it is Gods Sacrifice; God is well pleased.
God himself is well pleased with it: The Sacrifices of G•d are a broken and a contrite heart; An hard heart is ⟨p. 199⟩Gods curse, Lamentations 3. you read it thus: Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. 'Tis not sorrow of heart, for that's a blessing, but obstinacy of heart, an hard heart, so the Margent; but in the Hebrew, give them a heart with a Shield upon it, that may fense off the blow: That when any thing is spoken, they may fence it off; give them a fending heart, a hard heart; a hard heart is Gods curse: A tender and a soft heart bleeding over the miseries of the Church, it is Gods Sacrifice; God is well pleased.
And the Saints and people of God, they are well pleased in this sense. It is Recorded of Nazianzen, that knowing there would be freedom from sin in Heaven, he desired to dye: But then remembering that there would be no mourning for sin in Heaven, nor for the miseries of the Church, he desired to live: Choosing rather to mourn for sin, and the miseries of the Church, than to be freed from sin: here was a Spirit. 'Tis said of the true Griever, he grieves, and he doth rejoice in his grief; A man that doth truly grieve, he doth grieve, and he doth rejoice in his grief: So that in this sense of the Reproach of the Solemn Assembly, God himself is well pleased therewith, and the Saints are well pleased therein.