N04855:535
Some select cases resolved. Specially, tending to the right ordering of the heart, that…
Some select cases resolved. Specially, tending to the right ordering of the heart, that we may comfortably walk with God in our general and particular callings: &c. In a letter to a pious friend in England. / By Thomas Shepard, M.A. Formerly of Emmanuel-College in Cambridge in England: afterward Minister of Cambridge in New-England. ; Corrected by four several editions.
Boston: printed by Rogers and Fowle, 1747
MEDITATIONS AND Spiritual Experiences OF Mr. THOMAS SHEPARD.
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.
Jan. 2. I saw (1) Christ was unmoveable (2) That they which trust in Him are so. Psal. •25. like Mount Zion (3) I saw that true Trust was that which David speaks of Psal. 39. And now, Lord, what Wait I for? my Hope is in thee. His Heart asked him, Dost thou hope for God? What do I, ⟨p. 4⟩said he, hope for else? Hence I saw, (1) That true Hope hath other Affections of Desire and Love mixed with it. (2) That he that hopes for nothing but God, and for all Things only from God, hopes truly.—But I found a Temptation and a Stop.—Did I hope for all Things from God and only God's Things? Do I hope and long to be out of the World to be perfectly free from all Sin, and filled with all Grace? Here I saw, this I could not do, 'till I did feel the infinite Vileness of Sin, and tasted a Happiness in Holiness, and placed all my Happiness there; which I felt a Want of. And hence I bewailed my Condition before the Lord in this Respect, and purposed to make up the Breach herein, through his Grace; blessing God, I saw the worst of my Heart, as well as the Good of it.
Jan. 2. I saw (1) Christ was unmoveable (2) That they which trust in Him are so. Psal. •25. like Mount Sion (3) I saw that true Trust was that which David speaks of Psal. 39. And now, Lord, what Wait I for? my Hope is in thee. His Heart asked him, Dost thou hope for God? What do I, ⟨p. 4⟩said he, hope for else? Hence I saw, (1) That true Hope hath other Affections of Desire and Love mixed with it. (2) That he that hopes for nothing but God, and for all Things only from God, hopes truly.—But I found a Temptation and a Stop.—Did I hope for all Things from God and only God's Things? Do I hope and long to be out of the World to be perfectly free from all Sin, and fill'd with all Grace? Here I saw, this I could not do, 'till I did feel the infinite Vileness of Sin, and tasted a Happiness in Holiness, and placed all my Happiness there; which I felt a Want of. And hence I bewailed my Condition before the Lord in this Respect, and purposed to make up the Breach herein, thorow his Grace; blessing God, I saw the worst of my Heart, as well as the Good of it.