N03999:179
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 9: Containing the 8, 9, 10 Chain or Bond of these Captives.
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.
8. Another Chain by which some are held captive is the Examples of others. And these are either the examples 1. of those that lived formerly, or 2. those that are now alive. And saith one, I am of the same Religion as my fore-fathers were; my Father, and my Fathers Father were of this way; and who will say our fore-fathers were not Redeemed nor are saved? who will say our fore-fathers died captives and are gone down to hell? will any zealous Preacher of them all condemn our Fore-fathers? And should we be wiser than our Fore-fathers? Besides if we look unto this present age, saith another, the greatest part of the world live as I do, or worse; and if my condition is not good, God help many others: will God send such multitudes to hell? and if I be damned, woe be to thousands, it will be others case as well as mine; Both these ways are persons held in their captivity; towards breaking then of this Bond and cutting off of this Chain, consider in answer to the first.
8. ANother Chain by which some are held captive is the Examples of others. And these are either the examples 1. of those that lived formerly, or 2. those that are now alive. And saith one, I am of the same Religion as my fore-fathers were; my Father, and my Fathers Father were of this way; and who will say our fore-fathers were not Redeemed nor are saved? who will say our fore-fathers died captives and are gone down to hell? will any zealous Preacher of them all condemn our Fore-fathers? And should we be wiser than our Fore-fathers? Besides if we look unto this present age, saith another, the greatest part of the world live as I do, or worse; and if my condition is not good, God help many others: will God send such multitudes to hell? and if I be damned, wo be to thousands, it will be others case as well as mine; Both these ways are persons held in their captivity; towards breaking then of this Bond and cutting off of this Chain, consider in answer to the first.
1. We have nothing to do to pass any sentence upon your Fore-fathers, they are out of the reach of our preaching and exhortations: them we leave to the righteous judgment of God, who hath disposed of them before this day to the places where they must for ever be; and God doth not send us to tell you, whither your Fore-fathers souls are gone; our Message is to you that are yet alive, and our business and employment is to tell you of your sin and misery, and to call you unto repentance, and to acquaint you with the conditions of peace to be made betwixt God and you: to tell you, what you must be, and what you must do to escape the Damnation of Hell, and to be partakers of the Redemption which Christ hath purchased for poor captive sinners.