N00302:861
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.
DOCT. 2. The Hypocrite is not acquainted with, nor invited to the solemnization of the great joy which is at the conversion of a sinner.
Whiles this joyful entertainments is provided for and afforded to this younger son, his elder brother is in the field, the father doth not send and call him in unto it: This is not without its spiritual meaning; hypocrites may seemingly do a great deal, but still they are strangers to, and have no share in the joy of true Believers, Prov. 14. 10.
Reas. Because he is a mere stranger to that which is the cause of his joy, viz. converting grace; he doth not know what it is, what is ⟨p. 359⟩the worth and excellency of it, nor what are those grounds of spiritual joy which proceed from it: these are spiritual things, and therefore a natural man cannot receive them, 1 Cor. 2. 14. The hypocrite is truly unregenerate, and hence he moves in an inferior orb, and can no more know what the joys of a Believer are, than a beast can understand the nature and advantages of a life of reason: he is in the flesh, but these are not fleshly joys.