N00302:39
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.
1. The person making this demand: the Younger Son.
2. The person of whom he makes this demand, his Father: He said to his Father, Father:
3. The demand it self, Give me the Portion of Goods that falleth to me.
4. The Fathers conceding act; And he divided unto them his Living.
1. Touching the person that makes this demand, he is called the younger Son; whether the Opinion of some will hold, that would have him called the younger, to note his folly and childishness, I cannot well see; though it be a proverbial speech in some Nations, to call a giddy shallow witted person a younger Brother, yet that it was so used among the Jews, I find not: the scope of it may rather seem to be, that our Saviour would here (to make way for the illustration of Grace) represent this Son at all disadvantages, whereof this is one. If a Father had no Son but one, he might have greater seeming reason to bear more with him, and pass by many and great offences, as having no other to confer his love upon; and if he have more than one, the elder Son might promise himself most of his Fathers patience and connivance, as looked upon under greater advantages, and often carrying away the best portion, not of Goods only, but of Affections also: but for a younger Son thus to abuse his Father, this aggravates his fault; and for him after this to find favour, and obtain acceptance when there was an elder Brother, this enhanceth the kindness: and may teach us thus much;