A50162:288
Small offers towards the service of the tabernacle in the wilderness four discourses accommodated…
Small offers towards the service of the tabernacle in the wilderness four discourses accommodated unto the designs of practical godliness : preached partly at Boston, partly at Charleston / by Cotton Mather ; published by a gentleman lately restored from threatening sickness as a humble essay to serve the interest of religion, in gratitude unto God for his recovery.
Boston: printed by R. Pierce, 1689
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.
Conclusion. II.
A good man is made better by the Dispensations of God. It is to him that there is granted the Fulfilment of that promise in Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good. As for the merciful Dispensations of God, these do incline as well as oblige a good man to all manner of Obedience; they cause him to think, What shall I render to the Lord? they cause him to say, I will fear the Lord and His goodness, I will never sin against so good a God as He. Thus we are told in Rom. 2. 4. The goodness of God leadeth to repentance. It even melts and breaks the heart of a good man, so that he cannot find in his heart after such deliverances again to break his commandments. As for the Afflictive Dispensations of God, these also cause a good man more than ever to Abound in the works of the Lord; they put him upon more Thinking on his ways, and upon ⟨p. 95⟩turning his feet more unto the testimonies of God. It was said in Psal. 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. A good man gets this good thereby; his Wisdom and his Virtue is thereby augmented; and he Learns Obedience by the things which he suffers.
A good man is made better by the Dispensations of God. It is to him that there is granted the Fulfilment of that promise in Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good. As for the merciful Dispensations of God, these do encline as well as oblige a good man to all manner of Obedience; they cause him to think, What shall I render to the Lord? they cause him to say, I will fear the Lord and His goodness, I will never sin against so good a God as He. Thus we are told in