Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or A brief discourse, wherein Christs parable of…

The first of these works is Conviction, which hath two things for objects, viz. Sin and misery; one is the cause, the other the effect, Conviction usually proceeds Analytically, it first discovers the effect, and from thence ⟨p. 94⟩searcheth after the cause. The conviction of misery is that which here hath its consideration, that of sin follows afterwards. The first remove of the young man was, he felt himself to be in want, he found when the famine came and increased, that now he had nothing to live upon. In the Explication we may consider, 1. What is this conviction of misery? 2. How it is wrought? 3. The reasons of the Doctrine.

The first of these works is Conviction, which hath two things for objects, viz. Sin and misery; one is the cause, the other the effect, Conviction usually proceeds Analytically, it first discovers the effect, and from thence ⟨p. 94⟩searcheth after the cause. The conviction of misery is that which here hath its consideration, that of sin follows afterwards. The first remove of the young man was, he felt himself to be in want, he found when the famine came and encreased, that now he had nothing to live upon. In the Explication we may consider, 1. What is this conviction of misery? 2. How it is wrought? 3. The reasons of the Doctrine.

1. What is this conviction of misery?

Answ. It is the first legal work that is usually wrought in a sinner, making him to apprehend his present state of perdition, notwithstanding all that is either in himself, or in the world. It is, though not the full of a lost estate, yet leading to it, or a step towards it. In the Description observe,