A66106:596
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 ...
printed by Samuel Green for Samuel Philips, 1684
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
Object. But no unregenerate man knows whether he be Chosen to life, and he ought to be willing to be disposed of according to Gods Decree.
Object. But no unregenerate man knowes whether he be Chosen to life, and he ought to be willing to be disposed of according to Gods Decree.
Ans. This Objection labours of great ignorance. For,
1. Not God's Decrees but his Commands are the rules of mens actions, Deut. 25. 29. It is not for us, in enquiring after our duty, so much as to propose what is decreed, what not: For though God hath made it a rule of his own works, yet he hath given us another of ours.
2. No man can know whether he be elected or no, till he can make his calling sure, 2 Pet 1. 10. As for reprobation, there are no ordinary infallible notes known to a man of it, nor doth God reveal the other but by drawing the soul effectually home to Christ.
3. The invitations of the Gospel are to all where the sound of it comes; and all such are bound by the precepts to obey them, except they will bring guilt on themselves, and increase their condemnation, Joh. 3. 29.
3. The invitations of the Gospel are to all where the sound of it comes; and all such are bound by the precepts to obey them, except they will bring guilt on themselves, and encrease their condemnation, Joh. 3. 29.
4. Men are not damned under the Gospel because they are reprobated, but because they slight the Gospel, and wilfully refuse to accept of Christ and his Salvation, ibid.
5. It is both lawful and a duty to pray for things that God hath never purposed to bring to pass: Stephen else have sinned in his last words, Act. 7. ult. Nor could we ever know whom to pray for, lest we should sin.
Quest. If it be then enquired how far the soul should resign itself up to Gods dispose; I answer, He doth in this act submit himself to the Sovereignty, Justice, and Mercy of God: He throws himself down at the feet of these Attributes; not one alone, but all of them.
Quest. If it be then enquired how far the soul should resign itself up to Gods dispose; I answer, He doth in this act submit himself to the Soveraignty, Justice, and Mercy of God: He throws himself down at the feet of these Attributes; not one alone, but all of them.
1. He submits himself to the Justice of God, acknowledging him to be righteous in all his dealings with him; yea, that he cannot in any wise do him the least wrong: He is incapable of injury from the Almighty.
1. If he bring long, sore, and heavy Judgements upon him, wasting and perplexing calamities, such as make him groan, yet he is righteous, Neh. 9. 33.
1. If he bring long, sore, and heavy Judgements upon him, wasting and perplexing calamities, such as make him groane, yet he is righteous, Neh. 9. 33.
2. If he should delay to hear him, or give him any answer of peace, though he have prayed and begged, yet it is no affront; it is right, and it is his duty to wait till he will, let it be whensoever he pleaseth, Isa. 8. 17.
3. If he should judge and condemn him, by passing a sentence upon him, and declaring his reward to be with sinners, still he must be justified, Psal. 51. 4.
4. If he please to damn him everlastingly, to harden his heart against him, yet even this also hath he truly deserved; and it is at his liberty whether he will do otherwise with him yea or no, Dan. 9. 8. He hath but that which doth properly belong to him, it is but his wages, Rom. 6. 23. Thus, though the poor creature is loth to be damned, and earnestly deprecates it, and cannot think of it without trembling and amazement; yet he yields this to God, that he may with all equity do it, and if he do, he shall for ever have cause to be silent, and nor in the least to complain against him as unjust.
2. He submits himself to the Sovereignty of God; acknowledging it to be his prerogative, to dispense himself to his creatures at his pleasure. And hence,
2. He submits himself to the Soveraignty of God; acknowledging it to be his prerogative, to dispense himself to his creatures at his pleasure. And hence,
1. He owns and yields himself to be at the Sovereign dispose of God, being one of his creatures, and he may appoint him to what he ⟨p. 254⟩will, without wrong: If the Potter may order his mass of clay (though his fellow creature) to make vessels of the same lump, for several uses, some honourable, some dishonourable; much more may God dispose of him, who gave being to the lump it self of which he was made, Rom. 9. 21.
1. He owns and yields himself to be at the Soveraign dispose of God, being one of his creatures, and he may appoint him to what he ⟨p. 254⟩will, without wrong: If the Potter may order his mass of clay (though his fellow creature) to make vessels of the same lump, for several uses, some honourable, some dishonourable; much more may God dispose of him, who gave being to the lump it self of which he was made, Rom. 9. 21.
2. Hence he lays himself down before Gods Sovereignty, and yields himself to become a subject of it: he puts himself into God's hands as a Sovereign; as a rebel yields himself up freely to his Prince; resolving with himself that God shall do with him what he will, whether it be in judgement or in mercy: He will not strive, contend, or make any rebellious resistance against him. Thus did Eli, 1 Sam. 3. 18. and David, 2 Sam. 15. 26. Here I am, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
2. Hence he layes himself down before Gods Soveraignty, and yields himself to become a subject of it: he puts himself into God's hands as a Soveraign; as a rebel yields himself up freely to his Prince; resolving with himself that God shall do with him what he will, whether it be in judgement or in mercy: He will not strive, contend, or make any rebellious resistance against him. Thus did Eli, 1 Sam. 3. 18. and David, 2 Sam. 15. 26. Here I am, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.
