A66111:1012
The truly blessed man, or, The way to be happy here, and forever being…
The truly blessed man, or, The way to be happy here, and forever being the substance of divers sermons preached on Psalm XXXII / by Samuel Willard.
printed by B. Green and J. Allen for Michael Perry, 1650
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.
1. You owe your Childhood and Youth to God. He deserves of you that you seek him now. Sin and Satan can lay no just claim to this age of yours, but God can and doth: He requires your youth to be devoted to him: the God that made you challengeth it, and can you deny him? Shall the Devil and your lusts have your prime and strength, and only the decays of your lives left for God to be put off withal? He hath laid you under innumerable obligations to consecrate your young time to him; He kept you in your Mothers belly, and made the knees to prevent you: He hath preserved your lives, and provided for you ever since. And may not heaven be astonished to hear him complain, I have nourished and brought up Children, and they have rebelled against me, Isa. 1. 2, 3. He hath ordered you to be born where his Gospel is dispensed, in which he pleads with you to take him to be your God now and will you deny him? Yea, your Baptism declares you to be devoted to him; it saith that you were dedicated to him from your Infancy; and every day wherein you neglect to inquire after him; you do violence to that Covenant, whereof this is a Seal
1. You owe your Childhood and Youth to God. He deserves of you that you seek him now. Sin and Satan can lay no just claim to this age of yours, but God can and doth: He requires your youth to be devoted to him: the God that made you challengeth it, and can you deny him? Shall the Devil and your lusts have your prime and strength, and only the decays of your lives left for God to be put off withal? He hath laid you under innumerable obligations to consecrate your young time to him; He kept you in your Mothers belly, and made the knees to prevent you: He hath preserved your lives, and provided for you ever since. And may not heaven be astonished to hear him complain, I have nourished and brought up Children, and they have rebelled against me, Isa. 1. 2, 3. He hath ordered you to be born where his Gospel is dispensed, in which he pleads with you to take him to be your God now and will you deny him? Yea, your Baptism declares you to be devoted to him; it saith that you were dedlcated to him from your Infancy; and every day wherein you neglect to inquire after him; you do violence to that Covenant, whereof this is a Seal