N00302:525
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.
3. Nay, he will blame the very goodness and kindness of God to him, and a curse, or at least a reason of his sin, and so God, in stead of being acknowledged for his favour, shall be upbraided: So Adam, Gen. 3. 12. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, &c. God had given her for a meet help to him, he could not have done well without her, and yet if he abuse this favour, God is charged for it; and why then did he bestow her upon me?
4. He will turn it off upon those that were his Tempters; they solicited me, persuaded me, drew me in: This Adam lays the fault ⟨p. 221⟩upon the Woman, and she upon the Serpent; and thus men are oft ready to say, I may thank such an one, who drew me in, who would not let me alone, but followed me, and prevailed upon me with importunity; if it had not been for him, I had not been drawn away.
4. He will turn it off upon those that were his Tempters; they sollicited me, perswaded me, drew me in: This Adam layes the fault ⟨p. 221⟩upon the Woman, and she upon the Serpent; and thus men are oft ready to say, I may thank such an one, who drew me in, who would not let me alone, but followed me, and prevailed upon me with importunity; if it had not been for him, I had not been drawn away.
5. He will excuse and mince it with all diminutive circumstances, to make it look like a very little fault, as, 1. He did it ignorantly, he knew no sin there was in it but, thought that he had done well enough: Thus Saul excuseth himself for sacrificing,