N00747:58
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.
4. That God useth much of his Sovereignty in these Desertion that he exerciseth his people withal. He indeed hath holy ends and purposes in all that he doth, a• will be seen in the next enquiry: he never useth his Sovereignty separate from his Wisdom: though he is arbitrary in what he doth, yet he never forgets to carry on his own Glory and his People• Salvation in and by it. However, he ⟨p. 28⟩useth a liberty, of which he will not give us an account, and for which we can assign no other reason moving him, but because it so seemed good to him. Hence, all his Children are not exercised alike here-with, neither as to kind, nor as to degree. Some walk in the dark, while others go up and down in the light. Nay, the most watchful and circumspect Saints may meet with these; he that fears the Lord, and obeys the voice of his servant, may walk in darkness, and have no light, Isa. 50.10. And so there is no room left us to censure others on this account: we ought not to be high minded, but fear.
4. That God useth much of his Soveraignty in these Desertion that he exerciseth his people withal. He indeed hath holy ends and purposes in all that he doth, a• will be seen in the next enquiry: he never useth his Soveraignty separate from his Wisdom: though he is arbitrary in what he doth, yet he never forgets to carry on his own Glory and his People• Salvation in and by it. However, he ⟨p. 28⟩useth a liberty, of which he will not give us an account, and for which we can assign no other reason moving him, but because it so seemed good to him. Hence, all his Children are not exercised alike here-with, neither as to kind, nor as to degree. Some walk in the dark, while others go up and down in the light. Nay, the most watchful and circumspect Saints may meet with these; he that fears the Lord, and obeys the voice of his servant, may walk in darkness, and have no light, Isa. 50.10. And so there is no room left us to censure others on this account: we ought not to be high minded, but fear.