N01446:287
A guide to Christ. Or, The way of directing souls that are under the…
A guide to Christ. Or, The way of directing souls that are under the work of conversion. Compiled for the help of young ministers: and may be serviceable to private Christians, who are enquiring the way to Zion. / By Solomon Stoddard, A.M. and Pastor of the church in Northampton. ; With an epistle prefixed, by the Reverend Dr. Increase Mather.
Boston: printed by J. Allen for N. Boone, 1714
Directions How to guide Souls through the Work of Conversion.
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.
I. If it be plain that the man is in a Natural Condition, it is most proper to insist upon these three things:
I. If it be plain that the man is in a Natoral Condition, it is most proper to insist upon these three things:
1. That he has a present absolute necessity to be at peace with God: that if he should dye in a Natural Condition, he will be for ever undone: It is very fit he ⟨p. 90⟩should be remembered of his sinful life, and the dreadfulness of that punishment that hangs over his head; which may be set before him in an affecting manner, that if it be possible he may be terrified, and made sensible of those Eternal Miseries that are coming upon him.
1. That he has a present absolute necessity to be at peace with God: that if he should dye in a Natural Condition, he will be for ever undone: It is very fit he ⟨p. 90⟩should be rememored of his sinful life, and the dreadfulness of that punishment that hangs over his head; which may be set before him in an affecting manner, that if it be possible he may be terrified, and made sensible of those Eternal Miseries that are coming upon him.
2. That he may not rest in any thing short of Jesus Christ M•n in such a Case are like a man drowning, ready to catch hold of any thing that comes near; they are ready to have a dependence upon their Privileges, upon their Parentage, upon their sorrow for their misspent life and upon their purposes to live better if God do raise them up again; he must be led into an understanding of the strictness of the Law of God and the vanity of all cal confidences.