N00213:69
A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherein…A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherin…
A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherein is showed, I. That the children of godly parents are under special advantages and encouragements to seek the Lord. : II. The exceeding danger of apostasy, especially as to those that are the children and posterity of such as have been eminent for God in their generation. : III. That young men ought to remember God their creator. / By Increase Mather, teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Nine lines of quotations]A call from heaven to the present and succeeding generations or A discourse wherin is shewed, I. That the children of godly parents are under special advantages and encouragements to seek the Lord. : II. The exceeding danger of apostasie, especially as to those that are the children and posterity of such as have been eminent for God in their generation. : III. That young men ought to remember God their creator. / By Increase Mather, teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Nine lines of quotations]
Boston: printed by John Foster, 1679
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.
Consider. 2. The good & benefit that will follow upon a sincere seeking to the Lord. If there were nothing more to be said, but only this, it should be a prevailing Motive, viz. That then your parents will have joy in you; A wise son (i. e. a godly son) maketh a glad father. The Apostle John hath such an expression as this, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth. 3. Joh. 4. Nor is there any greater joy to a godly Father, then to see truth of grace in his children; this comforts him more than to see that his Children are become rich or great in the world. Know also for your encouragement, that if you seek unto the Lord with your whole heart, He will be found of you: Yea, though your sins and provocations ⟨p. 26⟩have been never so great: was there ever a greater Sinner then Manasseh, the son of blessed Hezekiah, Yet when he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers, and prayed unto him, he was entreated of him. 2. Chro 33. 12, 13. O think of it, you that, though the children of holy parents, have been heinous sinners before the Lord, seek him sincerely, and he will pardon all your sins, and save your souls from eternal death. I remember I have read concerning the [i]Emperor otho the 2d. that having a son whose name was Luitolp, an haughty young man, that rebelled against his Father, and for safety betook himself to the City of Mentz, which being besieged by the Emperor, Luitolp fled to another place; and on a day when his father was in the field, his son unexpectedly came to him and kneeling before his father, humbly begged for pardon, with tears acknowledging his offences, and that he was worthy of a thousand deaths; but if it would please him to give him his life, he should ever be a loyal and obedient son for the time to come: presently his Fathers bowels yearned over him, and he restored that prodigal son to his former place and dignities, who ever after approved himself as became a loyal Subject and dutiful Son. How much more will the blessed God pardon you, and accept you into his favour, all your Rebellions notwithstanding, if indeed you humbly and sincerely seek unto him? Yea and God will bless you when your Parents shall be taken from you; he will then be a father to you. Psal. 27. 10