N00302:195
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.
1. That is properly said to be spent which is laid out unprofitably. What men lay out for advantage, is not spent but improved; but that which brings in nothing again, is not only expended but mispended: The Scripture expresseth it by labouring for the East-Wind, by laying out money, for that which is not bread, by labouring in vain, &c. For a man to give his Gold or Silver, in exchange for Cockles, Pearls for Pebbles, Substance for Shadows, this is that which is deservedly accounted spending.
1. That is properly said to be spent which is laid out unprofitably. What men lay out for advantage, is not spent but improved; but that which brings in nothing again, is not only expended but mispended: The Scripture expresseth it by labouring for the East-Wind, by laying out mony, for that which is not bread, by labouring in vain, &c. For a man to give his Gold or Silver, in exchange for Cockles, Pearls for Pebbles, Substance for Shadows, this is that which is deservedly accounted spending.
2. Nothing is profitably laid out, but what is expended for Salvation: This is the only saving purchase that any of the Children of men can trade for: A part in Christ is the only Riches, a Crown of Glory is the only honour, a place in the Paradise of God is the only pleasure which is worthy a Man's laying out of cost and care for; and other purchases are empty, and will be found loss, Eccl. 1. 3. What profit hath a man of all the labour which he hath taken under the Sun?
2. Nothing is profitably laid out, but what is expended for Salvation: This is the only saving purchase that any of the Children of men can trade for: A part in Christ is the only Riches, a Crown of Glory is the only honour, a place in the Paradice of God is the only pleasure which is worthy a Man's laying out of cost and care for; and other purchases are empty, and will be found loss, Eccl. 1. 3