N00802:1851
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
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 this natural joy is in it self a duty. Consider it abstractly, and surely ungodly men owe to God thankfulness for every mercy they partake ⟨p. 605⟩in, and the good they taste in it should excite them to thankfulness. Ingratitude is condemned in the Heathen, Rom. 1.21. And that which we are thankful for, supposeth that we rejoice in it, else we cannot aright express our thankfulness.
1. That this natural joy is in it self a duty. Consider it abstractly, and surely ungodly men owe to God thankfulness for every mercy they partake ⟨p. 605⟩in, and the good they taste in it should excite them to thankfulness. Ingratitude is condemned in the Heathen, Rom. 1.21. And that which we are thankful for, supposeth that we rejoyce in it, else we cannot aright express our thankfulness.
2. But a wicked man cannot thus rejoice lawfully. He must cease to be wicked, and become upright, before he is capable of thus rejoicing. Every Ungodly man sins in every thing he doth, and though the matter be lawful and a duty, yet there is an evil root of bitterness in him, that spoils all he doth: it can at best be but a carnal joy, which can be neither acceptable to God, nor profitable for him.
2. But a wicked man cannot thus rejoyce lawfully. He must cease to be wicked, and become upright, before he is capable of thus rejoycing. Every Ungodly man sins in every thing he doth, and though the matter be lawful and a duty, yet there is an evil root of bitterness in him, that spoils all he doth: it can at best be but a carnal joy, which can be neither acceptable to God, nor profitable for him.