N01303:52
Grace defended. A censure on the ungodliness, by which the glorious grace of God,…
Grace defended. A censure on the ungodliness, by which the glorious grace of God, is too commonly abused. A sermon preached on the twenty fifth day of December, 1712. Containing some seasonable admonitions of piety. And concluded, with a brief dissertation on that case, whether the penitent thief on the cross, be an example of one repenting at the last hour, and on such a repentance received unto mercy? / By Cotton Mather, D.D. ; [One line from Isaiah]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Samuel Gerrish, 1712
Conclusion: A Few Thoughts on that QUESTION; Whether the Penitent Thief on the Cross, be not an Exa…
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.
Yet more;
It was not only a True Faith, which the Penitent here Exercises; but he looks like one grown Strong in Faith, in giving such Glory to God. My Calvin says truly upon it. Cert• vix a Mundo condito magis rar•m et memorabile •idei Exemplum unquam ••xtitit. Perceiving our JESUS to be that Son of God, on whom he had Believed, he now makes a most Marvellous Confession of His Glory. ⟨p. 32⟩He ascribes to Him the Glory, which belongs unto the Promised Messiah, and that Seed that was to bruise the Head of the Angel of Death. And, as it was of old remarked, A Latrone victi sunt Apostoli, qui tun• credidit, quando illi defecerunt; He was the only Apostle our Saviour now had cleaving unto him; I had almost said, The only Visible Believer, in the World, at least, the only Thorough paced One. He supplied the Room of Judas, (who was a Thief;) He Preached Him on the Cross, whom Judas betrayed to the Cross. Yea, he was, as one calls him, The Apostle of the Apostles. He declared his Faith, when it could afford no Temporal Advantage at all unto him; He did it, when it would rather augment the Shame and Scorn, which was now heaping upon him; He did it, when as Austin says, His Confessing of a Crucified Christ, was in a Manner, (quantum si fuisset pro Domino Crucifixus,) as much as if he had been himself Crucified for Him, whom he Confessed.
It was not only a True Faith, which the Penitent here Exercises; but he looks like one grown Strong in Faith, in giving such Glory to God. My Calvin sayes truly upon it. Cert• vix a Mundo condito magis rar•m et memorabile •idei Exemplum unquam ••xtitit. Perceiving our JESUS to be that Son of God, on whom he had Believed, he now makes a most Marvellous Confession of His Glory.