N00747:168
Spiritual desertions discovered and remedied. Being the substance of divers sermons preached for the…
Spiritual desertions discovered and remedied. Being the substance of divers sermons preached for the help of dark souls, labouring under divine withdrawings. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. ; [Four lines from Isaiah]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry and Benjamin Eliot, 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.
1. The best of Gods people have been Deserted: So that Grace is no security against it. What hath been, may be Except we can prove some particular immunity granted us on this account, we have no ground to monopolize any privilege to our selves, which none of the Saint• which ever went before us, could ⟨p. 79⟩challenge. Job, David, Heman, Peter, &c. were deserted, and who are we then that we should promise our selves to escape it? What is written of them in the word of God, is for our admonition.
1. The best of Gods people have been Deserted: So that Grace is no security against it. What hath been, may be Except we can prove some particular immunity granted us on this account, we have no ground to monopolize any priviledge to our selves, which none of the Saint• which ever went before us, could ⟨p. 79⟩challenge. Job, David, Heman, Peter, &c. were deserted, and who are we then that we should promise our selves to escape it? What is written of them in the word of God, is for our admonition.
2. God hath made no promises to us that we shall not be Deserted. He hath indeed promised that He will never forsake his people, but hath not said that he will never withdraw, or hide his face from them. Nay, […] far is it from this, that he hath threatened it in case, and made it one of the chastisements which he inflicts […] them for their follies. Now faith must have a word on which it builds its conclusion, else it is not faith, but presumption; and a Divine faith must rely on the Testimony of God, beyond which it dares not to go.
2. God hath made no promises to us that we shall not be Deserted. He hath indeed promised that He will never forsake his people, but hath not said that he will never withdraw, or hide his face from them. Nay, far is it from this, that he hath threatned it in case, and made it one of the chastizements which he inflicts them for their follies. Now faith must have a word on which it builds its conclusion, else it is not faith, but presumption; and a Divine faith must rely on the Testimony of God, beyond which it dares not to go.