N00729:51
Pillars of salt. An history of some criminals executed in this land, for capital…
Pillars of salt. An history of some criminals executed in this land, for capital crimes. : With some of their dying speeches; collected and published, for the warning of such as live in destructive courses of ungodliness. : Whereto is added, for the better improvement of this history, a brief discourse about the dreadful justice of God, in punishing of sin, with sin. : [Two lines from Deuteronomy]
printed by B. Green for Samuel Phillips, 1699
REFLECTIONS on the Dreadful CASE of Sin Punished With Sin. › Case 1 › Conclusion 5: Conclusion V.
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.
VII. One very usual way, wherein, God gives •en up to a Reprobate Mind, is by leaving them to •he Delusions of an Erroneous Mind; and Suffering them to take up Vile Opinions, that Suit •heir Vile Affections. We read of some Sinners, •ere, That they become vain in their Imaginations, •nd their Foolish Heart is Darkened. And thus, we ⟨p. 25⟩read of some, in 2 Thes. 2.10, 11, 12. They Received not the Love of the Truth, that they might be saved: For this cause, God shall send them Strong Delusion, that they should believe a Lye, that they all might […]. Fallen man, is a Creature full of Ignorance: His Fall ha's wounded his Intellectuals: He is more prone to Vain Thoughts, than to Right, ones: Leave this Wild As• Colt unto himself, and he'll rush Head Strong into every False way. If God, the Father of Lights, do not Enlighten us, we shall see nothing aright: But He withholds His Enlightening Influences, From the minds of those, who not Love the Truth, which He ha's given them: The Powers of Darkness, then set in […] Darken them, with Strong Delusions; They are Blinded by the […] of this World: And, Strong Delusions do certainly lead men to Strange Iniquities. Yea, sometimes God gives men over to such Strong Delusions, that they will count the most bloody Murders, to be a Good Service to Heaven; they will count the most Nicolaitan Abominations to be but Innocent Recreations; they will plead for no less Crimes, than that of which the Impudent Italian Cardinal, published an Apology, and an Encomium. What a Reprobate Mind is there in those men, that can Reverence an Incarnate Devil at Rome, as if he were an Infallible Vicar of Christ, and a God upon Earth; and that can conform to all the Extravagant Folly and Madness of Popery? All Europe did so two ⟨p. 26⟩Hundred years ago, and more than Half Europe do so, to this Day! God ha's given men over to such a Strong Delusion, to Punish them for their not Loving the Truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a Reprobate Mind, is there in those men, that can reckon such a foolish and such a Filthy Whore-master, as that Impostor Mahomet, for the great Prophet of God, and receive such a Volume of abominable Non sense as the Alcoran, for the Book of Life? The Three Greatest Emperors upon Earth, do it, at this day; and mighty Empires, and Kingdoms do it!