Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or, A brief discourse

Name: Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or, A brief discourse
Author: Samuel Willard

Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or, A brief discourse wherein Christs parable of the lost son found is opened and applied as it was delivered in sundry sermons / by Samuel Willard ...

Samuel Willard 1640–1707printed by Samuel Green for Samuel Philips, 1684

[6], 391, [1] p. · 92k words · Wing W2285 · ESTC R40698

Title page typeset from the transcription.

Mercy Magnified ON A PENITENT Prodigal. › Sermon 4 › DOCT. The more God doth for sinners, the further they seek to get a…: DOCT. The more God doth for sinners, the further they seek to get away from him.

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.

[ Earlier:137–152 of 995

:137p. 53¶1

1. What it is to go away from God?

:138p. 53–54

Ans. There is an essential, and a providential Omnipresence of God, from which no creature can withdraw it self, for in it we live, move, and have our being; this presence fills heaven, earth and hell; it is the preservative of all beings, it is the godly man's joy, and the wicked man's prison. Neither is this going away from God a local motion, but a spiritual withdrawing. We may therefore observe, that besides the general presence of Gods common and universal Government of the world, by which he is intimately present with all creatures, and besides that presence of special and powerful Government, by which God leads all reasonable Creatures to an everlasting estate, and in which he drives wicked men to their end, and gets Glory by them, there is also a presence of special Grace, often pointed at in Scripture, by which God guides and leads his own people by his Word and Spirit, in all their ⟨p. 54⟩way affording them counsel and support, and guiding them to Glory, inwardly by his spirit, outwardly by his Ordinances, and Providences: Now when men refuse to be under this conduct, and withdraw themselves from it, now it is that they do both say unto God depart from us, and do also themselves depart away from God; and this is done.

Ans. There is an essential, and a providential Omnipresence of God, from which no creature can withdraw it self, for in it we live, move, and have our being; this presence fills heaven, earth and hell; it is the preservative of all beings, it is the godly man's joy, and the wicked man's prison. Neither is this going away from God a local motion, but a spiritual withdrawing. We may therefore observe, that besides the general presence of Gods common and universal Government of the world, by which he is intimately present with all creatures, and besides that presence of special and powerful Government, by which God leads all reasonable Creatures to an everlasting estate, and in which he drives wicked men to their end, and gets Glory by them, there is also a presence of special Grace, often pointed at in Scripture, by which God guids and leads his own people by his Word and Spirit, in all their

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