A86531:567
The saints dignity and duty· Together with the danger of ignorance and hardness. /…The saints dignitie and dutie· Together with the danger of ignorance and hardnesse. /…
The saints dignity and duty· Together with the danger of ignorance and hardness. / Delivered in several sermons: by that reverend divine, Thomas Hooker, late preacher in New-England.The saints dignitie and dutie· Together with the danger of ignorance and hardnesse. / Delivered in severall sermons: by that reverend divine, Thomas Hooker, late preacher in New-England.
London: printed by G.D. for Francis Eglesfield, 1651
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Wilful Hardness: OR, The Means of Grace Abused.Willful Hardness: OR, The Means of Grace Abused.
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.
We will now come to the Use. And to let all other Uses that might be made of this truth, thus cleared and confirmed alone, I will only intimate two unto you. What now can we gain from hence think you? The case you see is evident, and every man must subscribe to this as an everlasting truth, That wicked men are the worse, under the best means. ⟨p. 234⟩You have seen the manner of it, and you have seen the grounds of it. What gain can we get from this truth?
Wee will now come to the Use. And to let all other Uses that might be made of this truth, thus cleared and confirmed alone, I will onely intimate two unto you. What now can we gain from hence thinke you? The case you see is evident, and every man must subscribe to this as an everlasting truth, That wicked men are the worse, under the best means. ⟨p. 234⟩You have seen the manner of it, and you have seen the grounds of it. What gain can we get from this truth?
Briefly thus much. First, it is a Use of Examination. And next a Use of Exhortation.
A man may hence clearly see his own soul as in a glass, and discern very plainly what kind of person he is, what kind of course he leadeth, in what state and condition he standeth, whether he be a gracious man, or a graceless man; whether a wicked man, or one that God hath a part in yea or no. It concerneth us all, my brethren, very deeply to think of it: Consider well therefore of what hath been said. I would not have you conceive that all this that we have spoken is merely to spend out the hour. No, my brethren, you must labour to bring your souls to be under the power of the truths delivered: And know this, that whatsoever the Lord saith unto you out of his word, he will require it of you, when you come to give up your accounts at that day. Every Sermon a man heareth, he is thereby nearer either to heaven or hell, either he is made better or worse by it. All mens estates in this world are either holy, or unholy; either they are in a state of grace and salvation, or in a state of sin and condemnation. Hence therefore you may take a scantling of your conditions, and plainly and clearly see how it is with you: Whether you be of the number of those that have infallible Evidences of the work of Gods Spirit in the Ministry of the word, tending to holiness and sanctification, or whether you be yet in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Whether you be as you came into the world, the children of wrath still, or whether you be begotten again by the immortal seed of the Word, to a lively hope, and to an inheritance with the Saints in light.