N01488:49
Several sermons wherein is showed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II.…Several sermons wherein is shewed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II.…
Several sermons wherein is showed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II. That God converts his elect some at one age, and some at another, commonly before old age. III. That when godly men dye, angels carry their souls to another and a better world. : With a preface in which there is a brief and true character of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Bridge a lately deceased pastor in one of the churches in Boston. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines of quotations]Several sermons wherein is shewed, I. That Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour. II. That God converts his elect some at one age, and some at another, commonly before old age. III. That when godly men dye, angels carry their souls to another and a better world. : With a preface in which there is a brief and true character of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Bridge a lately deceased pastor in one of the churches in Boston. / By Increase Mather, D.D. ; [Four lines of quotations]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Benjamin Eliot, 1715
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.
USE. I.
IT is a dangerous and a destructive Error for Men to seek Salvation in whole or in part in any thing besides Christ. And yet thus it is with a World of People. Wherefore the Prophet says, All People will walk every one in the Name of his God, Mic 4.5. To walk in the Name of God is to Pray to him, and depend on him for Salvation. There is an abundance of People that do so, but the God they put their trust in is an Idol that cannot save. This has been the practice of the Nations of the Earth generally. Thence it is that the greatest part of the Children of Men, yea, whole Nations of them are in a perishing condition. Psal. 9.17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the Nation, that forget God. Salvation they would have, and Salvation ⟨p. 29⟩they hope for, but in vain because they hope for it without Christ. Jer. 3.23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the mountains. They worshipped their Idols on the Hills and on the Mountains; those Idols were not Christ, and therefore in vain was Salvation hoped for from them. There are many in the World that never heard of Christ: How should such depend on him for Salvation. Rom. 10.14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher. A very great part of the Nations in the World, never had a Preacher of Christ among them. And many that have heard of him do not believe on him. Rom. 10.16. They have not all obeyed the Gospel, for Isaiah saith, who has believed our report? The Jews do not believe that Christ is Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah; He came to them and offered himself to them to be their Saviour, but as the holy Prophets ⟨p. 30⟩