N04855:677
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.
1. The Devil either treads me down by Discouragement and Shame: (1) from the Sense of the Meanness of what I have provided in private Meditations; and to this I saw also an Answer, viz. That every Thing sanctified to do Good, it's Glory is not seen in it's self, but in the Lord's sanctifying of it. Or (2) from an Apprehension of the Unsavouriness of Men's Spirits, and their Unreadiness to hear in hot or cold Seasons. But here I saw, I ought not to be as a Reed shaken with the Wind.
1. The Devil either treads me down by Discouragement and Shame: (1) from the Sense of the Meanness of what I have provided in private Meditations; and to this I saw also an Answer, viz. That every Thing sanctified to do Good, it's Glory is not seen in it's self, but in the Lord's sanctifying of it. Or (2) from an Apprehension of the Unsavoriness of Men's Spirits, and their Unreadiness to hear in hot or cold Seasons. But here I saw, I ought not to be as a Reed shaken with the Wind.
2. Or Carelessness possesseth me: arising (1) Because I have done well and been enlarged, and have been respected formerly, and hence 'tis no such Matter though I be not always alike. (2) A natural Dullness and Cloudiness of Spirit which doth often prevail.
2. Or Carelessness possesseth me: arising (1) Because I have done well and been enlarged, and have been respected formerly, and hence 'tis no such Matter though I be not always alike. (2) A natural Dulness and Cloudiness of Spirit which doth often prevail.
3. Infirmities and Weakness: (1) Want of Light, (2) Want of Life, (3) Want of a Spirit of Power to deliver what I am affected with for Christ. And hence I saw many Souls not set forward, nor God felt in my Ministry.