N00302:644
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.
2. Be humble when God denies thee the special communication of grace: Whether it be of enlarged assistance; though ragged and poor, and canst scarce do any thing, but art ready to slip and fall: thou hast earned nothing, and God knows what is best for thee: Or in respect of consolation, thou hast not those ravishing apprehensions which thou wouldest, but he seems to hide the light of his countenance, complain not, he is sovereign and just, resolve to wait, Isa. 5. 17. Be not discontented: Thou takest much pains, waitest diligently on all means, and their seems to be but little coming in; let not this make thee weary: thou art sowing, it is not yet harvest: grieve but fret not; pray, but pine not, and know the harvest will come in God's time, Gal. 6. 9.
2. Be humble when God denies thee the special communication of grace: Whether it be of enlarged assistance; though ragged and poor, and canst scarce do any thing, but art ready to slip and fall: thou hast earned nothing, and God knows what is best for thee: Or in respect of consolation, thou hast not those ravishing apprehensions which thou wouldest, but he seems to hide the light of his countenance, complain not, he is soveraign and just, resolve to wait, Isa. 5. 17. Be not discontented: Thou takest much pains, waitest diligently on all means, and their seems to be but little coming in; let not this make thee weary: thou art sowing, it is not yet harvest: grieve but fret not; pray, but pine not, and know the harvest will come in God's time, Gal. 6. 9.
3. Be willing to follow hard after God, though through many difficulties: We are forward, while our way is fair, but if grace ⟨p. 266⟩