N00729:83
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
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.
VIII. Being Reproved for any Sin, Let us Hear the Reproof Suitably and Fruitfully, Lest we be punished with another Sin, for our not Hearing of it. Many a man, in the way of Sin, meets with a Reproof ▪ that stands Like an Angel with a Drawn Sword in his way: If the man will still rush on, God passes that Sentence of Death. upon him, On let him go! Let him go on still in his Trespasses! There are Parental Reproofs, There are Pastoral Reproofs, There are Fraternal Reproofs, There are Ecclesiastical Reproofs, and there are Providential Reproofs. Are we fallen under any of these Reproofs? O give an Obedient Ear, unto a Wise Reprover, and approve thy self Wise, by a Reproof Entering into thee, more than an Hundred Stripes into a Fool. Man, Let the Reprover of thy Sin, be like a Good Angel appearing to thee; and say as David, when one Reproved him for his Rashness, in 1 Sam. 25.32. Blessed be the Lord God, which sent thee this day to meet me. Be not Fretful at a Reproof, Like a Dog with a Thorn in his Foot, snapping and snarling at any one that goes to take it out; But be Thankful for a Reproof. Otherwise there will come this punishment ⟨p. 50⟩from God upon thee, That thou shalt be Given over to more Sin, as one utterly Incorrigible: and as a Foolish one, who will be no more Admonished There was a man once, who taunted and Scoffed at a man of God, that Reproved his Offences; and that man of God saith unto him, in 2 Chron. 25.16. I know that God ha's Determined to Destroy thee, because thou hast not Hearkened unto my Reproof. Is there now any man, Reproved for an Omission or a Commission, which the Great God is offended at? If the man do sleight all Reproofs, why may it not be said, I know, That the Lord hath Determined to punish thee, with leaving thee to more Sin, for this thy Rebellion? There is a word of God, that Falls like an Hot Thunderbolt from the Firmament of Heaven upon those that will not be Reproved; in Prov. 29 1. He that being often Reproved, Hardens his Neck, shall suddenly be Destroyed, and that without Remedy. How? Perhaps, by being left unto some Destructive Act of Sin, that shall bring upon him, an Excision from the People of God, and render him like water spilt upon the Ground.