A59665:2254
The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied
The parable of the ten virgins opened & applied being the substance of divers sermons on Matth. 25, I-13 wherein the difference between the sincere Christian and the ... hypocrite ... are clearly discovered ... / by Thomas Shepherd ; now published from the authors own notes ... by Jonathan Mitchell ... Tho. Shepherd, son to the reverend author ...The parable of the ten virgins opened & applied being the substance of divers sermons on Matth. 25, I-13 wherein the difference between the sincere Christian and the ... hypocrite ... are clearly discovered ... / by Thomas Shephard ; now published from the authours own notes ... by Jonathan Mitchell ... Tho. Shephard, son to the reverend author ...
London: printed by J. Hayes for John Rothwell, 1660
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.
Because all the Saints,1 and all the fellowship of God's people, it is but a means, or they are but instruments in the hands of Christ to convey Grace; now you know all instruments act and work according to the will of the principal agent; as it is not in the axes hand to cut down one tree for fuel, another for building; but in the agents hand, especially if the instrument be weak and powerless, and such are the people of God; 1 Cor. 1. 29. they are poor things, and weak things, and nothings, things that are not; 2 Cor. 3. 5. not so much as to think any thing of themselves▪ It is not in the people of God as it is in salves, that there is an inherent virtue abiding alway to heal, and that in any man which is curable; but there is only an adherent virtue which doth not alway abide; and when it is there, works not upon all, but only at the pleasure of the principal Agent the Lord Jesus; those means which providence hath put an inherent virtue into, cannot bless, but as the Lord will; meat cannot nourish sometimes, muchless can these without the will of another; hence Ephes. 4. 16. the Saints are edified by this, but from Christ still.
Because all the Saints,1 and all the fellowship of God's people, it is but a means, or they are but instruments in the hands of Christ to convey Grace; now you know all instruments act and work according to the will of the principal agent; as it is not in the axes hand to cut down one tree for fuel, another for building; but in the agents hand, especially if the instrument be weak and powerless, and such are the people of God; 1 Cor. 1. 29. they are poor things, and weak things, and nothings, things that are not; 2 Cor. 3. 5. not so much as to think any thing of themselves▪ It is not in the people of God as it is in salves, that there is an inherent vertue abiding alway to heal, and that in any man which is cureable; but there is only an adherent vertue which doth not alway abide; and when it is there, works not upon all, but only at the pleasure of the principal Agent the Lord Jesus; those means which providence hath put an inherent vertue into, cannot bless, but as the Lord will; meat cannot nourish sometimes, muchless can these without the will of another; hence