N00302:664
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.
SERMON XIX.
Vers. 20. begin. And he arose and came to his Father.
WE have considered the Prodigal's deliberation: In these words we see him putting it in execution: where it is to be observed that his practice corresponds to his purpose. He resolved to leave his far Country, and return to his Fathers house; and so he did: Such also is the practice of every true penitent. True Repentance begins at the heart, but it ends in the life: It rests not in thoughts and purposes, but proceeds to practice, Hence,
DOCT. True Repentance is practical Repentance.
In the work of Conversion, there are not only deliberate purposes but real acts. In order ⟨p. 274⟩of nature, there must be first resolving before doing; yet where true grace is, when men are resolved, they will do. Although the will be the first mover, yet it is not the sole mover, it rests not in Elicit, but proceeds to Imperate acts. Of the nature of rising and going, I have before spoken, that which we have now to enquire into, is the inseparable connection between grace in the heart, and grace in the life. We saw before the Prodigal's resolution was gracious, and the Reason given was, because it was the root and spring of practice; it was the beginning of the work in the superior faculties, which was to influence the whole man: And the sincerity of it herein discovers it self, because, as he said, so he did, as he resolved, so he acted. It gives us a note of difference between false and true Repentance: Here then we may consider. 1. The evidence of the truth of the Doctrine. 2. What is this practice of Repentance?