N00302:376
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.
2. Faith, which is wrought in conversion, is grounded upon knowledge, Psal. 9. 10. God dealeth with his creatures according to the manner of their being and acting: Faith is a choosing, and so a closing with God; but every choice ariseth from a rational and convincing discovery of the suitableness of the object chosen, and preference which it is conceived to deserve above others: now this discovery is made to the understanding, which is the eye of the mind whereby it seeth and judgeth of things. Hence,
2. Faith, which is wrought in conversion, is grounded upon knowledge, Psal. 9. 10. God dealeth with his creatures according to the manner of their being and acting: Faith is a chusing, and so a closing with God; but every choise ariseth from a rational and convincing discovery of the sutableness of the object chosen, and preference which it is conceived to deserve above others: now this discovery is made to the understanding, which is the eye of the mind whereby it seeth and judgeth of things. Hence,
3. It is impossible that the heart of man; which is naturally glued to the vanities of the world, and hath been deeply settled in his high opinion of it, should ever be made to renounce, cast off, and utterly to refuse to have any ⟨p. 150⟩thing more to do with them, or to place any more confidence in them, and make choice of God in Christ, and prefer him above all, till he be throughly enlightened in, and fully persuaded of his own misery, the creatures emptiness, and the glorious fullness that there is in God: The things which he hath so loved must appear to be evil, and the God whom he hath forsaken must appear to be good: an unknown evil is not forsaken; an unknown good is not chosen: Hence the absence of saving knowledge is the ground of destruction.