N01732:77
Five sermons on several subjects. I. A birth-day sermon, preached on the day when…
Five sermons on several subjects. I. A birth-day sermon, preached on the day when the author attained to the eightieth year of his age. II. A dying testimony to the sovereign grace of God in the salvation of his elect, containing three sermons. III. Believers encouraged to pray from the consideration of Christs interceding for them, and with them. / By Increase Mather, D.D ; [Six lines of quotations]
Boston: printed by B. Green for Daniel Henchman, 1719
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. When God decrees the end He […] decrees the way, and the means of obtaining that end: the way to the obtaining Salvation is Faith and Holiness. God has decreed that the objects of His Election shall have Faith and Holiness given to them; God has so determined and it will be accordingly. The Ele•• are said to be predestinated, Rom. 8. 29▪ ⟨p. 53⟩Whom he did fore know, namely, with a knowledge of Love, them he did predest• nate to be conformed to the Image of his Son. Now Predestination has respect to the means as well as the end. The Elect of God shall have the means of Grace vouchsafed to them. Suppose it to be never so improbable, Providence, which is the Execution of the Decree, will bring it to pass. It is said, Ezek. 47. 10. That from En-gedi, even to En-eglaim, They shall spread forth nets. That is, from one end of the dead Sea to the other, there were Fishers, and they cast their Nets, and there were many Fishes taken thereby. Suppose a People to be as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah; yet if they belong to God, they shall have the means of Grace, and it shall be made effectual to their Conversion and Salvation. The Lord said to the Apostle Paul concerning the City of Corinth, Preach the Gospel to them, for (said the Lord) I have much people in this City, Act. 18. 10. The Word of God shall be a means to be get Faith in the Elect. Acts 1•. 48. As many as were ordained to Eternal Life believed. Hence, T•• 1. 1. We read of ⟨p. 54⟩The Faith of God's Elect. They that belong to Election either they have Faith or they shall have Faith, if they have Faith, it is a sure sign they are among the Elect of God, He has promised tha• they shall have Salvation. There is such a promise made concerning the House […] Israel, that was figurative; the House […] Israel, were a Type of the Elect of Go Israel was a People which God cho out from the rest of the World. This promise was made originally to Our Lo Jesus Christ,