N00302:742
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. What is the compassion of God which leads him to show favour to a sinner?
1. What is the compassion of God which leads him to shew favour to a sinner?
Answ. Compassion, when it is attributed to men, or reasonable creatures, is a compound affection, made up of love and grief, and admits of this description: It is an affection stirring up the soul to be grieved, at the discovery of some miserable object, and moving of him to endeavour its succour or relief. Affections ⟨p. 299⟩are the feet of the soul, and prime mover of the will of man; hence they are moved with reason either true or apprehended, and lead unto actions suitable to that motion: now though God be in himself [Greek or Hebrew], not capable of being moved with any outward object; and unchangeable in his will; and hence never more propense to any thing at one time, than at another, but performs all things according to the everlasting counsel of his will which is unalterable: Yet, speaking of himself after the manner of man, he assumes affections, as love, hatred, joy, compassion, &c. And that because in operibus ad extra, or in the works of providence there are such manifest fruits, as are wont in men to proceed from such affections: so that we may see something resembling this description, in the present case; observe then.
Answ. Compassion, when it is attributed to men, or reasonable creatures, is a compound affection, made up of love and grief, and admits of this description: It is an affection stirring up the soul to be grieved, at the discovery of some miserable object, and moving of him to endeavour its succour or relief. Affections ⟨p. 299⟩are the feet of the soul, and prime mover of the will of man; hence they are moved with reason either true or apprehended, and lead unto actions suitable to that motion: now though God be in himself 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, not capable of being moved with any outward object; and unchangeable in his will; and hence never more propense to any thing at one time, than at another, but performes all things according to the everlasting counsel of his will which is unalterable: Yet, speaking of himself after the manner of man, he assumes affections, as love, hatred, joy, compassion, &c. And that because in operibus ad extra, or in the works of providence there are such manifest fruits, as are wont in men to proceed from such affections: so that we may see something resembling this description, in the present case; observe then.