N00802:965
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: God to be sought in a finding time. 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.
1. That our sincere seeking of God depends on the Spirits operation. He first seeks us, if ever we seek him. We must have a principle of Grace for it, else we cannot do it; and that must derive from him, who is the God of all grace, 1 Pet. 5.10. All our own moral powers can never exert this.
2. There are times when he is more plenteously poured out upon men. Not only is there a more powerful Ministry at one time than another, but also more of the efficacy of Grace on the hearts of men; when Sinners come flocking in apace at the call of the Gospel, and the reason why it is so at any time, is because the Spirit sets in powerfully with the means. They may be the same, and the labour in dispensing them as great; Isa. 33.15.
3. There are times when he applieth himself to this and that person in particular, as he did to Lydia, Act. 16.14. And this is not always, but at certain seasons, which are arbitrary, and he acts his liberty therein. This he doth sometimes to one, sometimes to another: and when it is so, it is an happy opportunity; he is now very near, and ready ⟨p. 335⟩to be found: when he stands at the door and knocks, it is but opening to him.