N00302:189
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.
IN the younger Son's departure from his Father, there were two things proposed as observable. 1. His folly. 2. His misery. Hitherto we have been considering the former of these, the words read bring us to the latter, hence
It follows to consider of the misery which ⟨p. 77⟩ensued upon this folly: As it is•described, vers. 14, 15, 16. The spiritual intendment of this part of the Parable, is to show us to what miserable exigencies God brings a sinner, and what distressing difficulties he reduceth him unto in order to his recovery and return to the true way of blessedness: As also to discover the miserable shifts that poor sinners will make to redress their misery, before they will think of seeking the grace of God: these things will more fully appear in the prosecution.
It follows to consider of the misery which ⟨p. 77⟩enfued upon this folly: As it is•described, vers. 14, 15, 16. The spiritual entendment of this part of the Parable, is to shew us to what miserable exigencies God brings a sinner, and what distressing difficulties he reduceth him unto in order to his recovery and return to the true way of blessedness: As also to discover the miserable shifts that poor sinners will make to redress their misery, before they will think of seeking the grace of God: these things will more fully appear in the prosecution.
This misery of the Prodigal is described by three things. 1. By the leading cause or occasions of it, with an awful effect: vers. 14. 2. The sordid course which he took for the relieving of himself in his distressed condition, vers. 15. 3. The utter failing of all relief and supply, even the poorest of all, vers. 16. of these in order.