N00802:1544
The truly blessed man
The truly blessed man: or, The way to be happy here, and for ever: being the substance of divers sermons preached on, Psalm XXXII. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. N.E. ; [Five lines from Isaiah]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1700
Sermon › Doctrine 1: Untractableness under means, a character of a wicked man. DOCTRINE. I.
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. Hence where this principle is predominant and reigning, it is a certain note of a wicked man. It may rage and be violent in a Godly man, & drag him away after it as a Captive; it may be too hard for him, and bear him down, but it hath not the Throne in his heart; but where it hath, it is a certain evidence that such a man is wicked; i. e. that he is in his natural state, and altogether a stranger to the Grace of God, that then which is a sign of its reign, will also discover the mans state: and this will give light into the difference between a Godly man under the surprise of sin, and an Ungodly man under the Dominion of it: Here only three things:
4. Hence where this principle is predominant and reigning, it is a certain note of a wicked man. It may rage and be violent in a Godly man, & drag him away after it as a Captive; it may be too hard for him, and bear him down, but it hath not the Throne in his heart; but where it hath, it is a certain evidence that such a man is wicked; i. e. that he is in his natural state, and altogether a stranger to the Grace of God, that then which is a sign of its reign, will also discover the mans state: and this will give light into the difference between a Godly man under the surprize of sin, and an Ungodly man under the Dominion of it: Here only three things:
1. When it is always so. A Godly man is now and then brought into such a condition, but it is not the constant guise of his life; at one time sin is too hard for him, but at another he is too hard for that; at one time he is obstinate, and provoked when reproved, but at another he takes it kindly & well: and the reason is, because where there is no grace, nothing better is to be expected; but where there is, there is a new principle which will be lusting against the flesh; and it is abetted by the Spirit of God, who will preserve and perfect it, and so cannot fail of reviving it again.
1. When it is always so. A Godly man is now and then brought into such a condition, but it is not the constant g•ize of his life; at one time sin is too hard for him, but at another he is too hard for that; at one time he is obstinate, and provoked when reproved, but at another he takes it kindly & well: and the reason is, because where there is no grace, nothing better is to be expected; but where there is, there is a new principle which will be lusting against the flesh; and it is abetted by the Spirit of God, who will preserve and perfect it, and so cannot fail of reviving it again.