N00302:904
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. 2. Because the dispensation of God's special love and favour are not Legal, but Evangelical dispensations. God doth nothing for any of Adam's sinful progeny for the sake of their righteousness, but only of his free grace; as long therefore as men boast of their doings, they may do all their lives long, and God no whit regard so as to accept of them: the proud Pharisee is not justified.
USE, 1. To teach us that when man hath done his utmost, still grace is free, and not owing to him: The father had not been unkind, much less injurious to his son, though he served him, and he killed no kid for him: God owes not conversion, nor the benefits that come by it to our endeavours.
USE, 1. To teach us that when man hath done his utmost, still grace is free, and not owing to him: The father had not been unkind, much less injurious to his son, though he served him, and he killed no kid for him: God ows not conversion, nor the benefits that come by it to our endeavours.
USE. 2. Hence wonder not if many Professors in the visible Church are lifeless, and sapless, hold no spiritual communion with Jesus Christ: It is not to be wondered at, if we consider how great difference and distance there is between being a son in the visible family, and a son received into special grace, and favour with his father.