N01152:13
The inexcusableness of neglecting the worship of God, under a pretence of being in…
The inexcusableness of neglecting the worship of God, under a pretence of being in an unconverted condition. Showed in a sermon preached at Northampton, the 17th. Decemb. 1707. being the time of the sitting of the Inferior Court. / By Solomon Stoddard, Pastor of Northampton. ; Imprimatur, J. Dudley.The inexcusableness of neglecting the worship of God, under a pretence of being in an unconverted condition. Shewed in a sermon preached at Northampton, the 17th. Decemb. 1707. being the time of the sitting of the Inferiour Court. / By Solomon Stoddard, Pastor of Northampton. ; Imprimatur, J. Dudley.
printed by B. Green. Sold by Samuel Phillips, 1708
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.
And such is the misery of the Church of God that the mistakes of those worthy men, who have led in the work of Reformation, do prove an invincible temptation to many men. As the Renown of those Reformers is a bulwark against those Errors that were Exploded by them, so we find our selves embarrassed by their mistakes from proceeding in the work of Reformation: As if it were criminal not to mistake with them.
It may possibly be a fault and an aggravation of a fault, to depart from the ways of our Fathers; but it may also be a virtue, and an eminent act of Obedience to depart from them in some things. Men are wont to make a great noise, that we are bringing in of Innovations, and depart from the Old Way: But it is beyond me to find out wherein the iniquity does ⟨image ?⟩lye. We may see cause to alter some practises of our Fathers, without despising of them, without priding our selves in our own Wisdom, without Apostasy, without abusing the advantages that God has given us, without a spirit of compliance with corrupt men, without inclinations to Superstition, without making disturbance in the Church of God: And there is no reason that it should be turned as a reproach upon us.
It may possibly be a fault and an aggravation of a fault, to depart from the ways of our Fathers; but it may also be a vertue, and an eminent act of Obedience to depart from them in some things. Men are wont to make a great noise, that we are bringing in of Innovations, and depart from the Old Way: But it is beyond me to find out wherein the iniquity does ⟨image ?⟩lye. We may see cause to alter some practises of our Fathers, without despising of them, without priding our selves in our own Wisdom, without Apostacy, without abusing the advantages that God has given us, without a spirit of compliance with corrupt men, without inclinations to Superstition, without making disturbance in the Church of God: And there is no reason that it should be turned as a reproach upon us.