N00302:520
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.
He will not mince or extenuate, and go about to make them look little and small, but acknowledge them in their height & greatness; present them in their blackest and ugliest colours: so doth this Prodigal son resolve to go to his father, and so did.
Though every sin in its proper nature nakedly considered, as it is a Transgression of the Laws of God, an affront offered, and an offence given to the Majesty of Heaven, is on that account great; yet there are several circumstances with which it is clothed, which, if truly looked upon, do exaggerate or heighten the vileness of it: these the Hypocrite endeavours to cover over, and hopes thereby to excuse ⟨p. 219⟩himself â tanto, as the Pharisee, I am not thus and so: but contrariwise, in sound Repentance, when the sinner comes to humble himself before God, and confess his sins, he makes himself as vile as he can: Sin is made exceeding sinful. An hypocrite hopes to plead that he hath not been so bad, therefore he may hope for mercy; but Paul was of another mind, 1 Tim. 1. 25. Christ came to save sinners, of whom I am chief. And David, Psal. 25. 11. Pardon mine iniquity, for it is very great. Now the aggravations in our text are three, under which heads the most that can be said may be ranked; these let us a little look into.
1. He takes the whole blame upon himself: I have sinned; it is I have done this thing; so David calls it his own sin, Psal. 51. 9. q. d. Whatever blame or guilt there is in it, I take it all to my self: He confesseth it roundly, and plainly, without any excuse, or extenuations, or putting it off to any other cause, occasion, or tempter. And this is one difference between the repentance of an hypocrite and a true penitent; the one would put off his sin as much as he can, seek excuses, find others to lay it upon, and bear as little of the blame as possibly he may; he would divide the fault, that he may leave the least part of it to himself; and he finds many occasions, or causes to change it upon.