N03999:112
Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety
Captives bound in chains, made free by Christ their surety: or, The misery of graceless sinners, and their recovery by Christ their Saviour. By T. Doolittel [sic]. ; [Three lines from Isaiah]
Boston: printed by Rogers & Fowle for J. Edwards, 1742
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Liberty to the Captives. › Chapter 6: The Fourth Chain is Presumption.
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. One Link in this Chain of false hopes by which these Captives are bound, is misapprehension and misapplication of the mercy of God; thou sayest, God is a merciful God, and is ready to show mercy to his creature; it is true in me, there is no merit, but in God there is mercy, and God did not make his creatures to damn them, God did make me, and therefore I hope that he will save me. Is this all thou hast to say in such a weighty matter? why thou thinkest thou art redeemed from thy bondage, and shalt be free for ever from the torments of the Damned? that thou mayst be no longer bound with this Chain. Consider,
1. One Link in this Chain of false hopes by which these Captives are bound, is misapprehension and misapplication of the mercy of God; thou sayest, God is a merciful God, and is ready to shew mercy to his creature; it is true in me, there is no merit, but in God there is mercy, and God did not make his creatures to damn them, God did make me, and therefore I hope that he will save me. Is this all thou hast to say in such a weighty matter? why thou thinkest thou art redeemed from thy bondage, and shalt be free for ever from the torments of the Damned? that thou mayst be no longer bound with this Chain. Consider,
1. The Devils themselves and the damned souls in Hell themselves can say as much as this: Poor damned Devils do know that God is a merciful God, and that he is willing to show mercy to the penitent and the humble sinner. Devils and damned Souls can say, that they are God's creatures, and yet notwithstanding, they are miserable, and must be so for ever; and this is the aggravation of their misery, that though God is merciful, yet they are for ever damned; this cuts them to the heart, that a merciful ⟨p. 91⟩God condemned them, and sentenced them down to eternal torments; what is that to them, that God is merciful in himself, and shows mercy unto others, if he is not merciful unto them? and what is it unto thee, that God is so, if thou by reason of the continuance in a state of unregeneracy, shalt not be benefited by his mercy? I know […] is a difference betwixt the damned in Hell, and wicked men on Earth? the damned in Hell are past a possibility of mercy, but so are not you; they shall have no more tenders of mercy, which you yet have, but then you must repent and be converted, which they were not, or else you you shall have no saving benefit by God's mercy, as they had not.