N02151:23
Stimulator. Or, The case of a soul walking in darkness awfully & suitably considered.…
Stimulator. Or, The case of a soul walking in darkness awfully & suitably considered. An essay, to awaken people out of the lethargy which disposes them to continue in a dark uncertainty about their future state, in the world, which is not seen, but is eternal. : [Four lines of Scripture texts]
printed by T Green, 1724
Title page typeset from the transcription.
STIMULATOR. OR, The Case of a SOUL in the Dark.STIMƲLATOR. OR, The Case of a SOUL in the Dark.
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.
Fourthly. Even they that are truly Turned from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto GOD, may be liable to this Unhappy Condition: But Frequently, yea, Commonly their Darkness is a Chastisement from GOD upon them. GOD is herein for their Miscarriages Chastising of them Indeed, there may be sometimes a Display of Sovereignty in it. The Glorious GOD may hide his Face from them who are the Dearly Beloved of His Soul: and then how Great the Darkness! The Best man Living in the World, may be left unto such Darkness, as to conclude, GOD counteth me for His Enemy! But yet for the most part, the Children of GOD may Thank Themselves for it, when they are in the Dark about it, whether GOD will own them for His Children. For the Iniquity of their Covetousness, I hide My self, and am wroth with them, says the GOD, who will not let them know that He has Loved them. We are advised ⟨p. 15⟩Eph. IV. 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are Sealed unto the Day of Redemption. We are Sealed by the Holy Spirit of GOD, when we are filled by Him, with an Hopeful, Joyful, Sanctifying Assurance, That our GOD has Loved us with an Everlasting Love, & that He will give us to see a Day of Redemption from all that is a Trouble unto us. But we Blot our Evidences for Heaven, by our Manifold Irregularities. By not Maintaining a Watchful, Fruitful, Humble Walk with GOD, We Grieve the Holy Spirit of GOD By our Indulging our selves in carnal Passions, and by too Eagerly Minding of Earthly Things, We Grieve the Holy Spirit of GOD. By our Inordinate fondness for Creatures and Lightly Esteeming the Rock of our Salvation, We Grieve the Holy Spirit of GOD. The Grieved Spirit, who should be our Comforter now departs from us. And, Woe to them, when I depart from them, saith the Lord. His withdraw makes a Dark Time with us. Desertions which Leave an Horror of Darkness upon us, these are some of the Punishments which the Grieved Spirit inflicts on His own, when He will Visit their Iniquity with Stripes, tho' He do not utterly take away His Loving kindness from them. The Holy One offended at His faulty Children, Says upon it, I will punish them, with such Darkness upon them, that they shall not be able to Read their Names ⟨p. 16⟩written in the Book of Life; not be able to See, that I have any purposes of Mercy for them. So does the Unhappy Condition come upon us.