A66111:1450
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. To Unregenerate Sinners; do you Consider
1. It is rich mercy that God will use any means wi•• you, though never so severe, to bring you to Repentance Without this there is no escaping his wrath; it •• the one way for your deliverance; and whatever it cost you, it will be your happiness so to escap• If God lay you under •orest terrors, and make h•• ⟨p. 465⟩sharpest arrows stick in you, yet if he give you Repentance, and Remission, you are happy for ever, and he offers you by these means; and this is unspeakable kindness.
1. It is rich mercy that God will use any means wi•• you, though never so severe, to bring you to Repentanc• Without this there is no escaping his wrath; it •• the one way for your deliverance; and whateve• it cost you, it will be your happiness so to escap• If God lay you under •orest terrours, and make h•• ⟨p. 465⟩sharpest arrows stick in you, yet if he give you Repentance, and Remission, you are happy for ever, and he offers you by these means; and this is unspeakable kindness.
2. It is joy and happiness which this Repentance leads to. There is bitterness in it, shame, sorrow, mourning, severity, cutting off right hands, &c. But all this is to bring you into the favour of God, settle your peace with him, and promove your blessedness: and who would not undergo this for such an advantage? Psal. 126. 5.
3. If you remain obstinate, you will certainly perish. You are upon probation for eternal state, and as you carry your selves, so it will be determined: if you yield not to God, and come over, there is nothing but destruction abides you, Isa. 1. 19, 20.
2. To the Children of God, who are under any falls, and God is using means to recover you, take this advice; Consider,
1. God is specially dishonoured by your falls. The Sins of his Children give greatest occasion of the blaspheming of his Name: if you fall, and wound your profession, you open the mouths of the ungodly: and you sin against more of Gods goodness and singular kindness than others.
1. God is specially dishonoured by your falls. The Sins of his Children give greatest occasion of the blas•heming of his Name: if you fall, and wound your profession, you open the mouths of the ungodly: and you sin against more of Gods goodness and singular kindness than others.
2. You can in no other way glorify God in this case• •f you do not stoop, and take shame to your selves, •ou cannot recover the dishonour you have done •im by your fall: there is no other way to rise, •nd therefore till it come to this, you do but wallow in your filth.
2. You can in no other way glorify God in this case• •f you do not stoop, and take shame to your selves, •ou cannot recover the dishonour you have done •im by your fall: there is no other way to rise, •nd therefore till it come to this, you do but wal•w in your filth.
3. It is Gods singular love to you, that he useth ⟨p. 466⟩these means with you, for your recovery. It is the fruit of his everlasting love, and in it he pursues that promise, Psal. 89. 30. &c.
4. And he will bring you to this at last. You shall stoop before he hath done with you; and for unregenerate Sinners, if they be contumacious, he may leave them; but as to his Children, he will restore them, and he will do it in this way; and if these means will not do, he will find those that shall. For direction in general,
1. Be sensible of your natural hardness and obstinacy. See and feel that there is this cursed nature in you, which resolutely withstands all good, & opposeth all the means of Grace. Rom. 7. 15. &c.
2. Take heed of hearkening to carnal reasonings. These will stir up our pride, tell us it will be a reproach to us, or very irksome and troublesome, obstruct our present delights, and a thousand pleas it will make.
2. Take heed of hearkning to carnal reasonings. These will stir up our pride, tell us it will be a reproach to us, or very irksome and troublesome, obstruct our present delights, and a thousand pleas it will make.
3. Interpret all the means that God useth, to be his kindness. Though they seem never so harsh, yet take no prejudice at them, but believe that it is good for you, that he so deals with you: that if he had let you alone, and suffered you to go on, you had perished: see his good will in reproofs, warnings, strokes of Providence: if we could but be reconciled to Gods dealings, it would meeken• our spirits into a gentle and pliable frame.
3. Interpret all the means that God useth, to be his kindness. Though they seem never so harsh, yet take no prejudice at them, but believe that it is good for you, that he so deals with you: that if he had let you alone, and suffered you to go on, you had perished: see his good will in reproofs, warnings, stroaks of Providence: if we could but be reconciled to Gods dealings, it would meeken• our spirits into a gentle and pliable frame.
4 Beg of God to subdue your contumacy. See th• it is beyond your power to get the conquest o•• it; and carry it to him who is able to cure yo• it, to mortify it, to surprise and demolish ⟨p. 467⟩strong holds of sin, and bring down your towering imaginations, and make you to lie at his foot, as he did Saul, when in the madness of his fury against Christ and his cause, Act. 9. begin.
4 Beg of God to subdue your contumacy. See th• it is beyond your power to get the conquest o•• it; and carry it to him who is able to cure yo• it, to mortify it, to surprize and demolish ⟨p. 467⟩strong holds of sin, and bring down your towring imaginations, and make you to ly at his foot, as he did Saul, when in the madness of his fury against Christ and his cause, Act. 9. begin.
5. Now accept of all his rebukes and chastisements. Lay your selves down under them; say, here am I, lit him do his pleasure; murmur not, but be dumb, and keep your mouths shut, as he, Psal. 39. 9. Thus wait upon him, and without doubt you shall experience the happy fruit of it, when he shall Seal up his love to you, in pardoning your sins, and restoring to you the joys of his Salvation.
5. Now accept of all his rebukes and chastizements. Lay your selves down under them; say, here am I, lit him do his pleasure; murmure not, but be dumb, and keep your mouths shut, as he, Psal. 39. 9. Thus wait upon him, and without doubt you shall experience the happy fruit of it, when he shall Seal up his love to you, in pardoning your sins, and restoring to you the joys of his Salvation.
