N00802:1665
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 3: Faith the foundation of true Obedience. DOCTRINE III.
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. This faith also strengthens us to and in our Obedience. The Spirit by assisting our Faith, helps us in our whole Service of God: and this;
1. By overcoming the Temptations that would hinder us in it. The people of God meet with a great deal from the world, and from Satan, that offers to ⟨p. 547⟩stop them in, or divert them from their work, and when faith is down and out of exercise, it is too hard for them, but when the Spirit of God stirs that up, it bears all down before it. The world is vanquished, 1 Joh 5.4 And Satan is withstood, 1 Pet. 5.9 What great temptations did those worthies recorded, Heb 11. encounter? but by saith they vanquished them all.
2 By fetching in of strength from Christ to obey. Gods Children are sensible of their own infirmity, and insufficiency so much as for a thought, which would discourage them, but that by faith they go to Christ, and acting faith on the promise, depend on him for succour, and this carries them through hardest duties, Phil. 4.13. And as Christ hath bidden us to look to him for help and said, that he will •t fail nor forsake us; so faith entertains his word, and will not suffer us to set about any thing in our own, but in his strength, and so we are helped.