A66106:98
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.
2. Gods leaving them thus to do discovers it self in three things.
1. His withholding his spirit, and not affording to them his renewing or assisting Grace, without which no man can improve any thing to the Glory of God. When God doth not give a man an heart to be for him, he thereby leaves him to himself, and it is a Judgment; Moses bewails it, Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, &c. And there needs no more but this suspension, the consequent upon which is for men to go in the ways of their own heart, and sight of their ⟨p. 34⟩eyes: When God intends that a People shall go in his ways, he promiseth them his Spirit, Ezek. 36. 27- I will put my spirit into you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. The spirit of God is the inward guide of the Children of God, they that are deserted by him, are consequently given up to their own guidance.
1. His withholding his spirit, and not affording to them his renewing or assisting Grace, without which no man can improve any thing to the Glory of God. When God doth not give a man an heart to be for him, he thereby leaves him to himself, and it is a Judgment; Moses bewails it, Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive, &c. And there needs no more but this suspension, the consequent upon which is for men to go in the wayes of their own heart, and sight of their ⟨p. 34⟩eyes: When God intends that a People shall go in his wayes, he promiseth them his Spirit, Ezek. 36. 27- I will put my spirit into you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. The spirit of God is the inward guide of the Children of God, they that are deserted by him, are consequently given up to their own guidance.
2. His laying no outward check or restrain upon them to hinder them, or stop their course. When God would no longer leave Israel to himself, he hedgeth up his way with thorns, that he shall not find the way to come at his lusts and lovers, Hos. 2: 6, 7: But where he lets men have a large range, liberty and opportunity, when he afflicts them not, but they prosper and have all at will, and there is no outward control, this is a leaving men: thus God did to Ephraim, Hos. 4. 7. Ephraim is joined to Idols, let him alone:
2. His laying no outward check or restrain upon them to hinder them, or stop their course. When God would no longer leave Israel to himself, he hedgeth up his way with thornes, that he shall not find the way to come at his lusts and lovers, Hos. 2: 6, 7: But where he lets men have a large range, liberty and opportunity, when he afflicts them not, but they prosper and have all at will, and there is no outward controle, this is a leaving men: thus God did to Ephraim, Hos. 4. 7. Ephraim is joyned to Idols, let him alone:
3. His turning of these favours into snare and provocations of their lusts, to allure and draw them after them: There are many lusts in the heart of man and these outward mercies are suitable matter for them to wor• upon: and when God lets it be so; yea, judicially orders it to be so; when he gives them their table to be a snare, their wealth a snare their health and strength a snare, their wi•• and knowledge a snare; when pride, profaneness, and sensuality are promoved and nourished ⟨p. 35⟩by these things, then God gives men up to their own hearts lust, and lets them walk on in their own ways, Psal. 81. 12. He puts their Portion into their own hand, and lets them go whither they will, and do what they please with it.
3. His turning of these favours into snare and provocations of their lusts, to allure and draw them after them: There are many lusts in the heart of man and these outward mercies are sutable matter for them to wor• upon: and when God lets it be so; yea, judicially orders it to be so; when he gives them their table to be a snare, their wealth a snare their health and strength a snare, their wi•• and knowledge a snare; when pride, prophaneness, and sensuality are promoved and nourished ⟨p. 35⟩by these things, then God gives men up to their own hearts lust, and lets them walk on in their own wayes, Psal. 81. 12. He puts their Portion into their own hand, and lets them go whither they will, and do what they please with it.
2. To answer some doubts which may here arise;
1. Whether this doth not cast imputation upon Gods Holiness, in giving men his favours, and leaving them to themselves, when he knows they will both abuse them, and dishonour him by their so doing; whereas his Holiness engageth him to seek his own Glory in all his works of Providence?
Ans. That God will be no loser of his Glory by any of his Creatures, in any of his works which he doth to or for them, is a truth not to be questioned; but the ways in which he will be a saver, and no loser, are to be commended to the management of his own infinite wisdom, which doubtless will not fail in the execution, and though he may for a while seem to be on the losing hand, whiles men are running on the score with him, and meditating nothing of payment; yet if we can let God alone till his day and time of reckoning with men, he will then make it to appear that he will be glorified in all the Pharaoh's and wicked men of this world, whom he hath raised ⟨p. 36⟩up, and suffered at present to abuse his manifold mercies to their own ruin; and were it not that God knows how to get his penny worths out of them, he would never credit them so far as he doth: God will be glorified in Zidon, as well as in Zion.
Ans. That God will be no loser of his Glory by any of his Creatures, in any of his works which he doth to or for them, is a truth not to be questioned; but the wayes in which he will be a saver, and no loser, are to be commended to the management of his own infinite wisdom, which doubtless will not fail in the execution, and though he may for a while seem to be on the losing hand, whiles men are running on the score with him, and meditating nothing of payment; yet if we can let God alone till his day and time of reckoning with men, he will then make it to appear that he will be glorified in all the Pharaoh's and wicked men of this world, whom he hath raised ⟨p. 36⟩up, and suffered at present to abuse his manifold mercies to their own ruine; and were it not that God knows how to get his penny worths out of them, he would never credit them so far as he doth: God will be glorified in Zidon, as well as in Zion.
2. But God seems by this to be an encourager of wickedness, and promoter of mans vile designs: Is not this to put a Sword in a madman's hand, that he may destroy himself therewithal? And if God hateth sin, why would he thus give men advantage to sin against him?
2. But God seems by this to be an encourager of wickedness, and promoter of mans vile designs: Is not this to put a Sword in a madmans hand, that he may destroy himself therewithal? And if God hateth sin, why would he thus give men advantage to sin against him?
Ans. The wisdom of God in ordering of allthings according to his own counsels, is not for us mortals to call in question: God hath other Attributes besides his Justice to make known, and they are his bounty, patience, goodness, long sufferance; and this he can do upon the vessels of wrath, and thereby makes way for the glorious manifestation of his Justice upon them that are not led to repentance by it, but abuse his goodness, Rom. 2. 4, 5. Neither doth God by this encourage sin, since by his holy Law (which is man's rule, and a discovery of his righteous Judgment) he strictly forbids, and severely denounceth threatenings against all sin: Neither is God's bounty the moral cause of promoting of sin, but hath argument in it to prompt men to holiness and obedience; ⟨p. 37⟩but it is man's corrupt heart abusing it to such ends; whereas an holy heart is encouraged by all God's benefits to study his Glory and praise, Psal. 116. 12. And yet God may righteously leave man to follow his own wicked heart, and so to misimprove all his beneficence to his own just condemnation; yea, he may raise up Pharaoh to that very end, Exod. 9. 16. But I come to the Reasons of the Doctrine, which will serve further to clear the truth from imputation; and they are taken from the ends which God design in thus doing; which though they are at present secret in regard of the individual persons who are thus left, till God of his Providence shall be pleased to make more full and clear discovery of them, yet in themselves they are always one of these two, for all Gods dealings with mankind do ultimately centre in the one or the other viz. either.
Ans. The wisdom of God in ordering of althings according to his own counsels, is not for us mortals to call in question: God hath other Attributes besides his Justice to make known, and they are his bounty, patience, goodness, long sufferance; and this he can do upon the vessels of wrath, and thereby makes way for the glorious manifestation of his Justice upon them that are not led to repentance by it, but abuse his goodness, Rom. 2. 4, 5. Neither doth God by this encourage sin, since by his holy Law (which is man's rule, and a discovery of his righteous Judgment) he strictly forbids, and severely denounceth threatnings against all sin: Neither is God's bounty the moral cause of promoting of sin, but hath argument in it to prompt men to holiness and obedience;
1. That thus way may be made for the more illustrious manifestation of revenging Justice, in the destruction of sinners: They are thus made vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, Rom. 9. 22. Where much is given, there is much expected: The more that men have abused, the more wrath awaits them: Doubtless a man of great parts and understanding, hath more to account with God for than a fool, the rich and wealthy man, then the poor, a Magistrate, or a ⟨p. 38⟩Minister, then a private Man: The more advantage Men have put into their hands to serve God withal, the more they have to answer for, you may see what indictments God draws up against Babylon, Isa. 14. Tyre, Ezek: 27. which had the advantage of other Nations, of worldly pomp and wisdom: For such God hath wonderful plagues: This patience, and goodness, as they are largely displayed before such at the present, so they, by mens abusing of them, open a way for the more notable executions of Justice.
1. That thus way may be made for the more illustrious manifestation of revenging Justice, in the destruction of sinners: They are thus made vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, Rom. 9. 22. Where much is given, there is much expected: The more that men have abused, the more wrath awaits them: Doubtless a man of great parts and understanding, hath more to account with God for than a fool, the rich and wealthy man, then the poor, a Magistrate, or a ⟨p. 38⟩Minister, then a private Man: The more advantage Men have put into their hands to serve God withal, the more they have to answer for, you may see what endictments God draws up against Babylon, Isa. 14. Tyrus, Ezek: 27. which had the advantage of other Nations, of worldly pomp and wisdom: For such God hath wonderful plagues: This patience, and goodness, as they are largely displayed before such at the present, so they, by mens abusing of them, open a way for the more notable executions of Justice.
2. That he may prepare a way to make his Grace notably appear to be Grace, the truth is, Gods ways are very mysterious, and past mans finding out; and oftentimes, when we may have reason justly to fear, that such a sinner is mounted on Horse-back, to run the swifter to his own utter ruin, yet even then God hath gracious designs in all this: God sometimes allows a sinner a long Tether, and lets him run to the end of it, and then pulls him back: God suffers him to lay a scene for his own ruin, and then displays his riches of his grace in saving him from it, when he hath used all possible means utterly to have undone himself: Manasseh in the old, and Paul in the New-Testament stand for eminent examples of this, and the latter of these speaks thus of it, 1 Tim. 1. 13, 14. Who was before a blasphemer. ⟨p. 39⟩&c. But I obtained mercy, &c. and the grace of our Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant, &c.
2. That he may prepare a way to make his Grace notably appear to be Grace, the truth is, Gods wayes are very mysterious, and past mans finding out; and oftentimes, when we may have reason justly to fear, that such a sinner is mounted on Horse-back, to run the swifter to his own utter ruine, yet even then God hath gracious designs in all this: God sometimes allows a sinner a long Tedder, and lets him run to the end of it, and then pulls him back: God suffers him to lay a scene for his own ruine, and then displayes his riches of his grace in saving him from it, when he hath used all possible means utterly to have undone himself: Manasseth in the old, and Paul in the New-Testament stand for eminent examples of this, and the latter of these speaks thus of it, 1 Tim. 1. 13, 14. Who was before a blasphemer. ⟨p. 39⟩&c. But I obtained mercy, &c. and the grace of our Lord Jesus was exceeding abundant, &c.
USE, 1. To teach us not too much to bless our selves in our enjoyment of outward favours. God's love is not from hence to be positively concluded: It is the wise mans observation, Eccl. 9. begin. No man knows love or hatred by all that is before him. And yet there is nothing more common than for men to be be proud and self conceited in these things whereas they are indeed nothing else but some of the offals of God's favours, which he can spare to the swine of the world, and often throws out to them in a plentiful measure: Things common to the Elect and Reprobate are not just matter of boasting; if you have all these blessings, and are wicked in the enjoyment of them, you are not happy but miserable in that enjoyment.
USE, 2. It may also teach us not to grudge at, or envy wicked men, for their great parts, and large estates, or whatever other worldly blessings they enjoy in a more liberal measure than other men: and the more we ought to beware of this, inasmuch as good men have sometimes been prone to be envious at these things, Psal. 73. begin. Yea, the Prophet had a mind to have impleaded God about it, Jer. 12. 1. If God leave them to themselves they will but abuse and foolishly squander them away, ⟨p. 40⟩and then you know, the more Talents any have received, the more are to be reckoned for, and if he fared so ill that did but hide his one in a napkin, what account shall he be called to, that squanders many away upon his lust, and dishonours God with them? It would have been better for such men if they had been the veryest fools, and the most obscure persons in the world: And as you have less of these things, so you have the less to reckon for; besides, this will not hinder your happiness in the end, but if you have the grace to be faithful in a little, you shall surely enter into your Lords joy.
USE, 2. It may also teach us not to grudge at, or envy wicked men, for their great parts, and large estates, or whatever other worldly blessings they enjoy in a more liberal measure than other men: and the more we ought to beware of this, inasmuch as good men have sometimes been prone to be envious at these things, Psal. 73. begin. Yea, the Prophet had a mind to have impleaded God about it, Jer. 12. 1. If God leave them to themselves they will but abuse and foolishly squander them away, ⟨p. 40⟩and then you know, the more Talents any have received, the more are to be reckoned for, and if he fared so ill that did but hide his one in a napkin, what account shall he be called to, that squanders many away upon his lust, and dishonours God with them? It would have been better for such men if they had been the veryest fools, and the most obscure persons in the world: And as you have less of these things, so you have the less to reckon for; besides, this will not hinder your happiness in the end, but if you have the grace to be faithfull in a little, you shall surely enter into your Lords joy.
USE, 3. It may afford encouragement not to despair of unregenerate men, although they may at present be left to themselves, and wickedly to abuse all God's favours which they enjoy: God knows how to take them in their months: The poor Prodigal, left to himself, went far, but yet he returns at last, and is graciously welcomed by his Father: If men are bad at present, it doth not hence necessarily follow that they shall never be good: Hence be not put out of heart, do not think your prayers and tears are thrown away, which are laid out for their conversion; yea, but be the more earnest, by how much you see that they may be more serviceable to the glory of God than many others; how much their rich parts, abilities, ⟨p. 41⟩advantages would bring into the Treasury of the Temple, if God should be pleased to convert them.
USE, 3. It may afford encouragement not to despare of unregenerate men, although they may at present be left to themselves, and wickedly to abuse all God's favours which they enjoy: God knows how to take them in their months: The poor Prodigal, left to himself, went far, but yet he returns at last, and is graciously welcomed by his Father: If men are bad at present, it doth not hence necessarily follow that they shall never be good: Hence be not put out of heart, do not think your prayers and tears are thrown away, which are laid out for their conversion; yea, but be the more earnest, by how much you see that they may be more serviceable to the glory of God than many others; how much their rich parts, abilities, ⟨p. 41⟩advantages would bring into the Treasury of the Temple, if God should be pleased to convert them.
USE, 4. It may counsel us all to beware how we desire to be at our own will and dispose; to be left to our selves, to have our own portion in our own hand: God may grant such unreasonable desires, but if he do, we shall smart for it: Know therefore that every Child of Adam left to himself, will prove a Prodigal: If we are not willing to be under the direction of Gods Law, and conduct of his spirit, he may righteously leave us, and then we shall certainly do as this younger Son did, which is the next thing we are to enquire into.
USE, 4. It may counsel us all to beware how we desire to be at our own will and dispose; to be left to our selves, to have our own portion in our own hand: God may grant such unreasonable desires, but if he do, we shall smart for it: Know therefore that every Child of Adam left to himself, will prove a Prodigal: If we are not willing to be under the direction of Gods Law, and conduct of his spirit, he may righteously leave us, and then we shall certainly do as this yonger Son did, which is the next thing we are to enquire into.
Vers. 13. And not many days after, the younger Son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far Country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
Vers. 13. And not many dayes after, the yonger Son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far Country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
