N00302:437
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.
4. That a soul sensible of, groaning under, and ready to die by reason of the oppression of his spiritual distress and want, is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven: I know their is a despair through the weight of horror, that sets a soul further from good, and drives him to hell with violence, such was Cain's and Judas's. And truly, separate this state from the sweet invitations ⟨p. 181⟩of the Gospel, and it is the clearest Emblem of hell upon earth that can be: But yet in the Gospel-way Christ is near to such a soul to tender himself to him, Isa. 4. 17. Yea, his special invitations are to such, and all encouragement is set before them, Isa. 55. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come to the waters. Mat. 11. 28. Come to me ye that are weary and heavy laden. Rev. 22. 17. Let him that is athirst come. Till it comes to this, our hopes for man are built but upon general propositions, God may call them, it is possible, because they live under the Gospel, and under the means, &c. But now there is hope that God is doing the work: And, as when the pain of a travelling woman increaseth, there is expectation that she will ere long be delivered, so these cries give encouragement, that it will not be long ere Christ be formed in such a soul.
4. That a soul sensible of, groaning under, and ready to dy by reason of the oppression of his spiritual distress and want, is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven: I know their is a despair through the weight of horrour, that sets a soul further from good, and drives him to hell with violence, such was Cain's and Judas's. And truly, separate this state from the sweet invitations ⟨p. 181⟩of the Gospel, and it is the clearest Emblem of hell upon earth that can be: But yet in the Gospel-way Christ is near to such a soul to tender himself to him, Isa. 4. 17. Yea, his special invitations are to such, and all encouragement is set before them, Isa. 55. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come to the waters.