N00946:92
Soul-saving Gospel truths. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is showedSoul-saving Gospel truths. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is shewed
Soul-saving Gospel truths. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is showed: I. The unreasonableness of those excuses which men make for their delaying to come to the Lord Jesus for salvation. II. That for men to despair of the forgiveness of their sins because they have been great, is a great evil. III. That every man in the world is going into eternity. / By Increase Mather. ; [Eight lines of Scripture texts]Soul-saving Gospel truths. Delivered in several sermons, wherein is shewed: I. The unreasonableness of those excuses which men make for their delaying to come to the Lord Jesus for salvation. II. That for men to despair of the forgiveness of their sins because they have been great, is a great evil. III. That every man in the world is going into eternity. / By Increase Mather. ; [Eight lines of Scripture texts]
Boston : Sold by Eleazer Phillips., 1703
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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. It is evident in that in Despair there is a Blasphemous Reflection on the Glorious Name of God. It is a disowning and a denying of his Glorious Attributes. It is a denying of his Omnipotency. God can do every thing; the doing whereof does argue or require power. And in the forgiveness of sin power is ⟨p. 83⟩required. Therefore when Moses prayed for the Children of Israel that their sin might be forgiven them, he said, Numb. 14. 17. Let the Power of my Lard be great. q. d. The greatness of thy power is shown in forgiving great Sins. But Despair makes the Omnipotent God to be no better than Impotent sinful Men. To forgive sin is an act of Omnipotent Goodness. Despair robs God of this Glory. Men are apt to judge of God by themselves. Because they are not able to forgive very great wrongs, they are apt to think that God can't do so neither: but this the Lord reproves, Isa. 55. 8, 9. My ways are not as your ways, but as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways. I'll forgive great injuries to my Name, sa•e• the Lord, tho' you can't do the like: you may not judge of me by your selves, who can't forgive such ⟨p. 84⟩offences: But my ways are above yours. Thus to speak concerning God, thus to deny his Omnipotent Power, is to speak against him, it is to blaspheme his Name, Psal. 78. 19. They spake against God saying, can God prepare a Table? So when any say, Can God forgive so great a Sinner? Can God pardon so great Sins as mine are? This is to speak against Him. Again, Despair is directly against the Grace and Mercy of God. In which Attributes his Divine Glory does most eminently shine forth. When God proclaimed his Name before Moses, Exod 34. 6, 7 He said, I am the Lord, Gracious and Merciful, L••g-suffering, abundant in Goodness and Truth, keeping Mercy for Thousands, forgiving Iniquity, Transgression and Sin. Some have observed that in the Proclamation of Gods Name, there are no less than thirteen Attributes mentioned