A51839:773
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing…
XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostasy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...XVIII sermons on the second chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the description, rise, growth, and fall of Antichrist : with divers cautions and arguments to establish Christians against the apostacy of the Church of Rome : very necessary for these times / by that late reverend and learned divine, Thomas Manton ...
London: printed by J.D. for J. Robinson, 1679
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.
1. That good Hope is his Gift, he doth not only give us Objective Grace; this is the free and undeserved Mercy of the Gospel, or a sufficient Warrant to hope for it, which are his gracious Promises: But Subjective Grace, the Hope by which we expect this Blessedness, is freely wrought in us by his Holy Spirit, which is a farther confirmation of his love to us; That he hath not only given us the Blessedness • we hope for, but the very Hope it self. The Spirit's Work is necessary,
(1.) By way of Illumination▪ to open the eyes of our minds, that we may see what is the hope of his Calling, Ephes. 1.18. Alas! otherwise our sight cannot pierce so far, nor discern any reality in a happiness that lieth in an unseen and an unknown World, so as to venture and forsake all that we see and love for a God and a Glory that we never saw. Nature, if it be not blind in discerning the Duty of Man, yet it is purr-blind▪ it cannot foresee the happiness of Man, which lieth afar off from us; 2 Pet. 1.9. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off: A short-sighted Man cannot see things at a distance from him, not from any defect in the Object, but through the fault in his Eyes; so the natural Man, blinded by Delusions, ⟨p. 411⟩doth either not believe, or forget the World to come: though these things be set before him in the Promises of the Gospel, they leave no impression upon his heart. There needeth a very quick sight to be able to look from Earth to Heaven; therefore till we are enlightened by the Spirit, we can have no saving knowledge of those things which pertain to the Kingdom of God, or eternal Life.
(1.) By way of Illumination to open the eyes of our minds, that we may see what is the hope of his Calling,