N00747:71
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.
3. The glory of God, and their good, are concerned in their recovery. It is not consistent with either of these for them to be left always in such a condition as they have brought themselves into by such things. Gods name suffers not a little by the former, nor is there any way for them to repair the injury done to it, but by a soaking repentance; and their work lies by by both, and there is no progress made in the business wherein they are to work out their own salvation. For the reparation therefore of both these, it is requisite, that they be made to see and lament their folly, and be roused up to their business: and Gods Covenant Faithfulness engageth him to do this for them.
3. The glory of God, and their good, are concerned in their recovery. It is not consistent with either of these for them to be left always in such a condition as they have brought themselves into by such things. Gods name suffers not a little by the former, nor is there any way for them to repair the injury done to it, but by a soaking repentance; and their work lies by by both, and there is no progress made in the business wherein they are to work out their own salvation. For the reparation therefore of both these, it is requisite, that they be made to see and lament their folly, and be rowzed up to their business: and Gods Covenant Faithfulness engageth him to do this for them.
4. Many times other means to reclaim them are unsucce•sf••. God useeth other courses, and they remain stupid and senseless. David doubtless lived under the enjoyment of, and attendance upon the Ordinances of God, and yet he is stupid and remorseless till the Prophet cometh. It is too awfully observable that Godly men, under some eminent decays, content themselves with formality, and feel not their malady, till God comes in some more awful way to bring them to this sense.
4. Many times other means to reclaim them are unsucce•sf••. God useeth other courses, and they remain stupid and senceless. David doubtless lived under the enjoyment of, and attendance upon the Ordinances of God, and yet he is stupid and remorceless till the Prophet cometh. It is too awfully observable that Godly men, under some eminent decays, content themselves with formality, and feel not their malady, till God comes in some more awful way to bring them to this sense.