N00302:329
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. 2. From the natural ignorance which there is in unregenerate men of better things: Man by sin hath lost the knowledge and apprehension of spiritual and heavenly things, he understands not what they mean, I Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not (i. e. into his understanding) the things of the spirit of God. The highest reach of his understanding is to find and apprehend some seeming outward repast in the comforts and conveniences of this world, and hence he aspires no higher. As a beast is not acquainted with the excellency of a rational life, and hence he accounts his own the best, looks after no better: Now every man i• become brutish, as the Scripture informs us.
Reas. 2. From the natural ignorance which there is in unregenerate men of better things: Man by sin hath lost the knowledge and apprehension of spiritual and heavenly things, he understands not what they mean, I Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not (i. e. into his understanding) the things of the spirit of God. The highest reach of his understanding is to find and apprehend some seeming outward repast in the comforts and conveniencies of this world, and hence he aspires no higher. As a beast is not acquainted with the excellency of a rational life, and hence he accounts his own the best, looks after no better: Now every man i• become brutish, as the Scripture informs us.
Reas. 3. From the delusion of Satan and the World, who promise to vain man more from the enjoyment of these things, than ever they ⟨p. 130⟩can perform for him; and the credulous soul is ready to believe them, and the rather, because these things are seen, whereas spiritual things are not seen: Satan presents the world in a fine and fair dress, and the heart of man is easily deluded; he thinks it to be all out as good as it looks for, and so his affections are stolen away,