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

The first thing we find, this young man doth after he came to himself is, he begins to consider, and discourse with himself: he first ponders, then concludes, then acts. Conversion is properly the returning of a sinner from sin unto God, emblemed to us by the Prodigal's return from a far country, to his father's house: The sinner, before conversion, was going away from God, now he is returning to him. Conversion is considered either passively or actively; the soul is said to be passive in conversion, in as much as he can do nothing savingly, till he hath received a principle of saving grace: but still we mistake, if we think that Gods deals with men as with stocks and stones, and brute creatures: The will of man, which is the first mover in him, must not be forced, but led: The spirit, though he dealeth irresistibly, yet not violently with it; hence he doth not compel but persuade: which persuasion is a rational conviction, whereby impression is made upon the understanding, and will, the one being to see and approve, the other to embrace the object, which may be called active conversion; when the soul viewing and discerning the force of those arguments used by the ⟨p. 154⟩spirit, and imprinted upon him, turns from sin to God: and thus, though the Spirit of God be the author or efficient of this work, yet he makes use of us in the working of it: This is that which I say begins at consideration, and this will appear in a sew things.

The first thing we find, this young man doth after he came to himself is, he begins to consider, and discourse with himself: he first ponders, then concludes, then acts. Conversion is properly the returning of a sinner from sin unto God, emblemed to us by the Prodigal's return from a far country, to his father's house: The sinner, before conversion, was going away from God, now he is returning to him. Conversion is considered either passively or actively; the soul is said to be passive in conversion, in as much as he can do nothing savingly, till he hath received a principle of saving grace: but still we mistake, if we think that Gods deals with men as with stocks and stones, and brute creatures: The will of man, which is the first mover in him, must not be forced, but led: The spirit, though he dealeth irresistably, yet not violently with it; hence he doth not compel but perswade: which perswasion is a rational conviction, whereby impression is made upon the understanding, and will, the one being to see and approve, the other to embrace the object, which may be called active conversion; when the soul viewing and discerning the force of those arguments used by the