A92856:79
The parable of the prodigal. Containing, The riotous prodigal, or The sinners aversion from…
The parable of the prodigal. Containing, The riotous prodigal, or The sinners aversion from God. Returning prodigal, or The penitents conversion to God. Prodigals acceptation, or Favourable entertainment with God. Delivered in divers sermons on Luke 15. from vers. 11. to vers. 24. By that faithful servant of Jesus Christ Obadiah Sedgwick, B.D. Perfected by himself, and perused by those whom he entrusted with the publishing of his works.The parable of the prodigal. Containing, The riotous prodigal, or The sinners aversion from God. Returning prodigal, or The penitents conversion to God. Prodigals acceptation, or Favourable entertainment with God. Delivered in divers sermons on Luke 15. from vers. 11. to vers. 24. By that faithfull servant of Jesus Christ Obadiah Sedgwick, B.D. Perfected by himself, and perused by those whom he intrusted with the publishing of his works.
London: printed by D. Maxwel for Sa. Gellibrand, 1660
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.
4. God can easily shorten thy pleasures of sin, and he hath many 1ways to do it. First, Is not his Word of mighty power? is it not a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart? can it not divide twixt the marrow and the joint? Is it not a light, and a fire? Is it not the sword of God, a two-edged sword, able to pierce, and that with quickness, and that with sharpness? Or, Secondly, if yet thou be able to maintain thy sins, and by the strength of sensual pleasures to beat off the purest convictions, and revelations, and pursuits of the Word, cannot the Spirit of God drive home the sharp displeasure of God? cannot he break through the midst of all thy resolutions and delights, and so enter into thy conscience? can he not in a moment awaken that drowsy conscience? can he not enliven that seared conscience? can he not enjoin it to stand up and act its accusing power, when he hath irresistibly enlightened it, and set the great sins of thy delight before thee? and when conscience is deeply wounded, where then are all thy pleasures? O, it will be as bitter then unto thee as hell: the wrath of God felt, and the guilt of sin felt, and the terrors of Conscience felt, O how will they drown thy pleasures, sink thy spirits, and (if God be not the more merciful) confound thy soul! Yet this God can do, and he can easily do it; if he saith but the word, My wrath be upon him, Conscience arise and accuse him, it is done, and then where are thy delights? Those sins of thine, unto which thou hast been enticed by a little false pleasures, even they alone shall rise up, and be the sufficient punishment for all their pleasures. Or, Thirdly, He can shorten thy pleasures by many Judgements; he can lay such a disease upon thy body, or such a loss on thy estate, or such a rottenness on thy name, or such a vexation upon thy spirit, or such a madness in thy mind, or such a cross in thy delight, that thou shalt find no more pleasure in any thing. Or, Fourthly, Can he not send forth the King of Fears, that which thou least thinkest of, ⟨p. 19⟩and which will make thy joints to tremble, Death it self upon thee? Hath not He the Keys of Life and Death; and when life is gone, where then are the pleasures of thy sin? Sin makes way for death, and death to a wicked man, though it makes not an end of his sinning, yet it makes a full end of the pleasures of sinning;