N00302:143
Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or A brief discourse, wherein Christs parable of…
Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or A brief discourse, wherein Christs parable of the lost son found, is opened and applied, as it was delivered in sundry sermons, / by Samuel Willard teacher of a church in Boston in New-England. ; [Two lines from Luke]
printed by Samuel Green for Samuel Philips, 1684
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.
2. When men indulge themselves in wickedness on presumption that God is a great way off from them, they take it for granted that he intermedleth not with their affairs, sees not, nor takes any notice of their ways and doings; they may sin, and live according to their own pleasure, and God is not at all concerned in it; such were they, Ezek. 8. 12. They say, the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken, ⟨p. 55⟩the earth. Men would fain have it to be so, and as they would have it, so they presume, and please themselves that it is so.
2. When men indulge themselves in wickedness on presumption that God is a great way off from them, they take it for granted that he intermedleth not with their affairs, sees not, nor takes any notice of their wayes and doings; they may sin, and live according to their own pleasure, and God is not at all concerned in it; such were they, Ezek. 8. 12. They say, the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken, ⟨p. 55⟩the earth. Men would fain have it to be so, and as they would have it, so they presume, and please themselves that it is so.
3. When men, by falsely interpreting of Gods patience and benignity, do presume him to favour and approve of their wicked ways; so they argued, Psal. 50. 21. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence: thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self. Prospering iniquity is in their account, Piety; sin unpunished, settles their resolutions, and fortifies them in their courses, Eccl. 8.11