N04855:649
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.
I saw that the Nature and Practice of a Man awakened with Sin was this, viz. when Conscience smites him with the Fear and Terror of God, Dost think God loves thee, or hath sanctified thee, who dost rush upon such Evils again and again? No, he is angry with thee for thy Sin. Hereupon the Heart being desirous of Favour thinks secretly thus; As Sin hath provoked God's Anger, so, he being merciful, I hope the leaving off my Sin and turning from my Sin will pacify and please the Lord again; and so doth ⟨p. 32⟩secretly think to please God and pacify God, and so indeed to satisfy God for that Sin, and so forsakes Sin. And now in Time of Sickness, or Horror thinks, that the Lord is pacified and pleased with this, according as some Scriptures seem to speak. Or else it secretly thinks, Faith in Christ's Blood and Turning from Sin also, both together do please, and that now all is quiet. Hereupon, remembering that Christ's Blood apprehended by Faith was the only Atonement, I conceived this was not the Way that I should walk in; but rather this:
I saw that the Nature and Practice of a Man awakened with Sin was this, viz. when Conscience smites him with the Fear and Terror of God, Dost think God loves thee, or hath sanctified thee, who dost rush upon such Evils again and again? No, he is angry with thee for thy Sin. Hereupon the Heart being desirous of Favour thinks secretly thus; As Sin hath provoked God's Anger, so, he being merciful, I hope the leaving off my Sin and turning from my Sin will pacify and please the Lord again; and so doth ⟨p. 32⟩secretly think to please God and pacify God, and so indeed to satisfie God for that Sin, and so forsakes Sin. And now in Time of Sickness, or Horror thinks, that the Lord is pacified and pleas'd with this, according as some Scriptures seem to speak. Or else it secretly thinks, Faith in Christ's Blood and Turning from Sin also, both together do please, and that now all is quiet. Hereupon, remembring that Christ's Blood apprehended by Faith was the only Atonement, I conceived this was not the Way that I should walk in; but rather this: