A66099:66
The fiery trial no strange thing delivered in a sermon preached at Charlestown February…The fiery tryal no strange thing delivered in a sermon preached at Charlestown February…
The fiery trial no strange thing delivered in a sermon preached at Charlestown February 15, 1681, being a day of humiliation / by Samuel Willard teacher of a church in Boston in New-England.The fiery tryal no strange thing delivered in a sermon preached at Charlestown February 15, 1681, being a day of humiliation / by Samuel Willard teacher of a church in Boston in New-England.
printed for Samuel Sewall, 1682
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.
From hence therefore we may be directed both how and what to pray at this day in the behalf of the Persecuted Church of Christ abroad in the World.
1. How to pray for them, i. e. in Faith; when a thing seems strange to us, it stirs up unbelief: when men cannot tell what to make of these providences which are in their view, they know not how to believe; they know not where to fix their faith: but when a child of God sees the evidence of things, he hath now the reason of his confidence before him.
2. What to pray: it will teach us not to over hasten God in his work, but to leave him to his leisure, who in infinite wisdom knows what he hath to do: when the fiery trial looks strange, all we can think of, is the removal and taking of it away, and we cannot tell how to pray to God for any thing else, because we can see no good in the affliction: but when we are acquainted with the author, nature, and end of all these trials, it will direct us first of all to pray that God would sanctify it for the cleansing of his Churches; that he would purify sons of Levi and reform the Protestant Profession in the World: the Church most of all needs our Prayers at this day, on this account; and then we may wait upon God for their deliverance.
2. What to pray: it will teach us not to over hasten God in his work, but to leave him to his leisure, who in infinite wisdome knows what he hath to do: when the fiery tryal looks strange, all we can think of, is the removal and taking of it away, and we cannot tell how to pray to God for any thing else, because we can see no good in the affliction: but when we are acquainted with the author, nature, and end of all these tryals, it will direct us first of all to pray that God would sanctifie it for the cleansing of his Churches; that he would purifie sons of Levi and reform the Protestant Profession in the World: the Church most of all needs our Prayers at this day, on this account; and then we may wait upon God for their deliverance.