A92856:809
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. Then if ever you would have joy, and live joyful 1lives, get converted hearts. Every man desires joy; and as the Bee hunts for honey, so do men naturally hunt for delight; [Greek or Hebrew] aut jucunde aut non omninò. Let the thing or condition be what it will, if we take no delight in it, it is a burden to us: Heaven would not be Heaven to him who cannot find delight in it. Now Conversion is the true path to true joy. If God would be pleased (once) to convert thy soul, his converting Grace would lick thy sores, and pull out the stings in Conscience, and sweeten the bitter Springs, and clear the Heavens to thee; it would make thy bed to be easy, and thy bread to be sweet, and thy condition to be a Paradise; even the Wilderness should drop honey to thee, and thy heart should sing for joy. It is a witty passage of Bernards, (de bonis deferendis) Be willing to sacrifice thy Isaac, and thy Isaac shall live. Isaac, you know, signifies laughter; do but sacrifice thy sinful pleasure, and then thy true pleasure shall not die, but live. Caius gave ⟨p. 358⟩unto Agrippa a Chain of Gold which was as heavy as the Chain of Iron that he endured in the Prison: Sins do •ut upon us a Chain of Iron, which if we would forsake, Conversion would put upon as a Chain of Gold; thou shalt not lose, but better thy pleasures, by forsaking of thy sins and the pleasures of them. O! that all the joys which you have heard attending a converted condition, might allure all our hearts to become converted persons. I observe five things about the converted condition in Scripture. 1. The invitation unto it, and there joy presents it self; Turn and live, turn and live; hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight it self in fatness, Isa. 55. 2. 2. The entrance into it, and there joy embraceth the person: As soon as the Prodigal Son returned, his Father saw him a far off, (O how quick is Mercy to espy a Convert!) and had compassion, (O how tender is Mercy to yearn over a Convert!) and ran, (O how swift is Mercy to receive a Convert!) and fell on his neck, (O how how out-stretching is Mercy to embrace a Convert!) and kissed him, (O how kind is Mercy to entertain a Convert!) 3. The motion or course of it, and there joy attends the person: I have rejoiced, saith David,