A66111:585
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. That the Spirit of God frequently begins a Con• viction ⟨p. 205⟩at some one sin, which the man hath been guilty of. If in an Afflictive Providence he awakeneth Conscience, there is some remarkable sin is brought •o remembrance, as in Josephs Brethren: if in an Ordinance he smites the man with a word, it most commonly lays some particular thing to his charge, and saith, Thou art the man, as to David.
1. That the Spirit of God frequently begins a Con• viction ⟨p. 205⟩at some one sin, which the man hath been guilty of. If in an Afflictive Providence he awakeneth Conscience, there is some remarkable sin is brought •o remembrance, as in Josephs Brethren: if in an Ordinance he smices the man with a word, it most commonly lays some particular thing to his charge, and saith, Thou art the man, as to David.
2. The burdened Conscience is now driven to seek ease by confession of the sin from which its trouble proceeds. And this a natural Conscience doth more easily put men upon: Pharaoh once and again is driven so far, as to confess he had Sinned in refusing to let the people of God go. And men must be grown to a prodigious hardness of heart, if they suppress the confession of a Sin so circumstanced:
3. When the Spirit of God designs the man saving good. This Conviction is but an introduction to farther discoveries; he will show the man to himself in his true colours before he hath done with him; by this he opens the door, and leads the man into the chambers of his heart, and calls him to consider his ways,