N00731:67
The folly of sinning, opened & applied, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation…The folly of sinning, opened & applyed, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation…
The folly of sinning, opened & applied, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation of one that was executed at Boston in New-England, on November 17th. 1698. / By Increase Mather, president of Harvard College, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston in N.E. ; [Two lines from Romans]The folly of sinning, opened & applyed, in two sermons, occasioned by the condemnation of one that was executed at Boston in New-England, on November 17th. 1698. / By Increase Mather, praesident of Harvard Colledge, in Cambridge, and preacher of the Gospel at Boston in N.E. ; [Two lines from Romans]
Boston: printed by B Green for Michael Perry over against the Town House, 1699
THE FOLLY OF Sinning. › Sermon 2 › Proposition 3: PROPOSITION. III.
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.
As for Regenerate Souls, God has made them to know wisdom in the inward parts. They that are wise unto Salvation are wise indeed; and therefore Godly men are the only wise men, and will be found to be so at last. Yea, wiser than the greatest Clerks or Politicians in the world, that have not Grace in their hearts. A man may excel in political wisdom, and in philosophical wisdom, and yet a poor illiterate obscure person, that makes no figure in the world, but Loveth and Serveth God and Jesus Christ, will be found a wiser man than the other, because of his being wise unto Salvation; which is the only true wisdom. It is related concerning two Learned men, that as they were Travelling to the Council of Trent, they espied a poor Shepherd in the Woods, with Tears running down his Cheeks. They asked him the reason of his weeping, who replied, you may see there an ugly Toad: I cannot but weep, to think of the goodness of God towards me, who instead of making me a Toad, has made me a man with a rational Soul ⟨p. 71⟩capable to know, and love, and serve God. At this the two Learned men fell a weeping too, saying to one another, this poor illiterate Shepherd will go to Heaven when he dyeth; for he loveth God and serveth him; but we with all our Learning are like to go to Hell: He is an happier and wiser man than we are. So then there is no Sinner in the world that is a wise man, if we speak of true heavenly wisdom. For,
As for Regenerate Souls, God has made them to know wisdom in the inward parts. They that are wise unto Salvation are wise indeed; and therefore Godly men are the only wise men, and will be found to be so at last. Yea, wiser than the greatest Clerks or Politicians in the world, that have not Grace in their hearts. A man may excel in political wisdom, and in philosophical wisdom, and yet a poor illeterate obscure person, that makes no figure in the world, but Loveth and Serveth God and Jesus Christ, will be found a wiser man than the other, because of his being wise unto Salvation; which is the only true wisdom. It is rel•ted concerning two Learned men, that as they were Travelling to the Council of Trent, they espied a poor Shepherd in the Woods, with Tears running down his Cheeks. They asked him the reason of his weeping, who replied, you may see there an ugly Toad: I cannot but weep, to think of the goodness of God towards me, who instead of making me a Toad, has made me a man with a rational Soul