N00302:522
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. 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.
1. He throws it upon everlasting decrees, and would make the holy counsel of God to have a causal influence into his wickedness; and will say, if God had intended me so to have been, I should have been as holy as the Angels, but if he purposed me to be such a sinner, how could I help it? Such the Apostle confronts, Rom. 9. 19. Thus Hypocrites, like Spiders, suck poison out of the precious Doctrine of predestination.
1. He throwes it upon everlasting decrees, and would make the holy counsel of God to have a causal influence into his wickedness; and will say, if God had intended me so to have been, I should have been as holy as the Angels, but if he purposed me to be such a sinner, how could I help it? Such the Apostle confronts, Rom. 9. 19. Thus Hypocrites, like Spiders, suck poyson out of the precious Doctrine of predestination.