N00302:857
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.
Reas. 1. Because a man may do all this upon false and unsound principles, for,
1. There may be bodily service where there is not the heart, Ezek. 33. 31. It is the censure which our Saviour passed upon the ⟨p. 357⟩Pharisees of his time, applying the saying of the Prophet to them, Mat▪ 15. 7, 8. and declared it to be vain service, vers. 9. Hence that, 1 Tim. 4. 8. Bodily exercise profiteth little.
2. Men may do all this for outward credit and applause: When Religion is in fashion, there are many that court it merely for fashion sake, many love to be as the times are; Many are very Religious only in complement, to be talked of, commended, &c. This fault also our Saviour found in the Pharisees, and chargeth hypocrisy on them for it, Mat. 6. 1, and 5.
2. Men may do all this for outward credit and applause: When Religion is in fashion, there are many that court it meerly for fashion sake, many love to be as the times are; Many are very Religious only in complement, to be talked of, commended, &c. This fault also our Saviour found in the Pharisees, and chargeth hypocrisie on them for it, Mat. 6. 1, and 5.