N00800:71
The peril of the times displayed. Or The danger of mens taking up with…
The peril of the times displayed. Or The danger of mens taking up with a form of godliness, but denying the power of it. Being the substance of several sermons preached: / by Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. N.E. ; [One line from Augustine in Latin]
Boston: printed by B. Green, 1700
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. That it is a great privilege for men to enjoy the Gospel, in which the Christian Religion is revealed to them. Fallen man had lost the way to life and happiness, and was gotten into the path of misery and destruction, nor could he ever have recovered himself again, or so much as have known how it might have b•en brought about, if God had not revealed it. All the wisdom of the Worlds wise men, hath proved it self to be very foolishness on this account; and all the contrivances which they have laid out with greatest curiosity, for their compassing of happiness, have in the issue, but entangled them the more ⟨p. 43⟩in ruin. We are therefore told how the way of mans Salvation came to be known, 2 Tim. 1, 10. hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel. God hath not seen meet to impart the Gospel unto all; nay, there are but a few in comparison, to whom the clear light of it is revealed: and this is the privilege which they enjoy by it, that Salvation is come to their doors, and the things of their peace are offered to them; whereas others that have it not, remain in darkness, and in the regions of the shadow of death; according to that awful word, 2 Cor. 4.3 if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. This therefore is mentioned as Israels prerogative, Psal. 147.19, 20▪ he gave his laws to Jacob, &c he hath not dealt so with any Nation. For though there are many other Religions in the world, yet there is none of them will afford fallen m•n any help to escape eternal misery, under which all are held by nature, and to obtain eternal felicity, which every one is grasping after: this is the alone prerogative of the Christian Religion.
1. That it is a great priviledge for men to enjoy the Gospel, in which the Christian Religion is revealed to them. Fallen man had lost the way to life and happiness, and was gotten into the path of misery and destruction, nor could he ever have recovered himself again, or so much as have known how it might have ben brought about, if God had not revealed it. All the wisdom of the Worlds wise men, hath proved it self to be very foolishness on this account; and all the contrivances which they have layed out with greatest curiosity, for their compassing of happiness, have in the issue, but entangled them the more