N00302:685
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.
Mercy Magnified ON A PENITENT Prodigal. › Sermon 19 › DOCT. True Repentance is practical Repentance.
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. The qualities of this act are these three,
1. It is a speedy work: if repentance be begun in the heart, it cannot rest there, but presently breaks forth, Psal. 39. 3. the young man no sooner purposed, but he practised, his resolutions were no sooner sealed, but he falls upon them; the Soul that is throughly persuaded, sees so much reason, and feels such urgent necessity; Sin is made so bitter, and God represented so desirable, and his present state so dangerous, that he cannot be at rest till the thing be done.
1. It is a speedy work: if repentance be begun in the heart, it cannot rest there, but presently breaks forth, Psal. 39. 3. the young man no sooner purposed, but he practised, his resolutions were no sooner sealed, but he falls upon them; the Soul that is throughly perswaded, sees so much reason, and feels such urgent necessity; Sin is made so bitter, and God represented so desireable, and his present state so dangerous, that he cannot be at rest till the thing be done.
2. It is a constant work: the practice of Repentance is not a transient but a permanent act: he that begins right in the work of Repentance, holds on all his life: Paul quickens his Colossians to the work of Mortification after a long standing in Christ, Col.3.5. there is Sin in Believers all their life, and so much Sin, so much distance from God; they had need then to be turning all their days. The true Christian is in his way, travelling out of his far Country, and he cannot sit still till he be gotten to Heaven.