N00302:292
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.
Reas From the malice which Satan bears against ⟨p. 118⟩the Children of men: Who can expect favour or fidelity from an enemy? It is true, Satan promiseth men fair, and pretends to be a sure friend in a time of need, and makes them believe he proffers to do them a kindness, and thus with many fair words and deceivable, he draws them after him; but in truth, he hates the whole race of mankind, and all his contrivance is to compass their utter and unavoidable ruin: He undid himself (as is thought by divers judicious) that he might undo man, and having by this horrid attempt of his lost his own felicity, without any the least glimmering hope of any retrieval for ever, how is it possible we should believe that he can study man's welfare,? And the truth is, Satan's Kingdom is most properly a Tyranny, and it comes to pass through the righteous judgment of God: Satan being, of a fellow-servant, risen to be a master, and man having forsaken God, and joined himself to him, choosing rather to be at his courtesy, than under God's directions, the Devil now in stead of a subject makes of him a slave.
Reas From the malice which Satan bears against ⟨p. 118⟩the Children of men: Who can expect favour or fidelity from an enemy? It is true, Satan promiseth men fair, and pretends to be a sure friend in a time of need, and makes them believe he proffers to do them a kindness, and thus with many fair words and deceivable, he draws them after him; but in truth, he hates the whole race of mankind, and all his contrivance is to compass their utter and unavoidable ruine: He undid himself (as is thought by divers judicious) that he might undo man, and having by this horrid attempt of his lost his own felicity, without any the least glimmering hope of any retrival for ever, how is it possible we should believe that he can study man's welfare,? And the truth is, Satan's Kingdom is most properly a Tyranny, and it comes to pass through the righteous judgment of God: Satan being, of a fellow-servant, risen to be a master, and man having forsaken God, and joyned himself to him, chusing rather to be at his courteousie, than under God's directions, the Devil now in stead of a subject makes of him a slave.