Mercy Magnified, Title page – Dedication
Mercy Magnified ON A PENITENT Prodigal, OR A Brief DISCOURSE, wherein Chriſts PARABLE of the Loſt SON found, is Opened and Applied, As it was Delivered in Sundry SERMONS,
By SAMƲEL WILLARD Teacher of a Church in Boſton in New-England.
Luke 19. 10. For the Son of Man is come to ſeek and to ſave that which is loſt.
BOSTON IN NEW-ENGLAND Printed by Samuel Green, for Samuel Philips, and are to be Sold at his Shop at the Weſt end of the Town-Houſe. 1684.
Chriſtian Reader,
IF the skill in handling of it had any way anſwered the excellency and utility of the ſubject handled in the following Sermons, there would have needed no Apology for the publication of them. The Parable under conſideration comprizeth (in most lively and heart-affecting alluſions) many pretious truths. Here are divers Myſteries of Providence cleared, pointing to thoſe ſecret wayes wherein God carries his Decree of Election under ground a great while, before it riſe and break out in effectual Calling: here we learn how far a choſen one may run from God before he turns: here we are instructed in the methods God uſeth to bring wanderers home, and recover the moſt profligate Sinners by Repentance: the nature of true Repentance is here curiouſly limned, and the tranſactions between God and a Sinner in his Converſion pathetically deſcribed: yea, how miſerable a thing it is to be a Sinner, how happy to be a Saint is wonderfully illuſtrated. The fountain of Grace is here opened, and the deep ſtreams in which it runs revealed: and all this accommodated to the moſt feeling apprehenſions of the ſoul. I confeſs I have but drawn a veil upon the picture, and am deeply ſenſible of my own inſufficiency to Diſplay theſe Myſteries: all the account which I can give of the publiſhing this imperfect thing, is, knowing it the deſire and duty of thoſe that fear God, as they have opportunity, to do all the good they may in their places; & God having ſo far afforded his Preſence and Bleſſing with theſe Sermons in the Preaching, that many Souls have born witneſs to the benefit received by them, ſome of whom have deſired they might have the further advantage of their being made publick; I was therefore induced for this reaſon to conſent to it; hoping withal (if God ſees meet) that it may be further beneficial to ſome or other, to ſhew them to themſelves, and inſtruct them in the way of life: to give light alſo to, and help ſome to prove themſelves and their own ſtate: only let it be (for caution) adverted, that I have not here undertaken to confine the Spirit of God in his wayes and methods with his Elect, in bringing them home; but only have ſignified that ſomething of all that is herein expreſſed is one way or other done in the Soul that is ſavingly brought over to Chriſt. The work of Converſion begins to be thought a ſmall thing; and a matter of little obſervation or wonderment for a Sinner to become a Saint: Many Commence Believers before they were either convinced or humbled; and that is the reaſon why ſo many prove Apostates: The great deſign of the Parable, and aim of this Diſcourſe upon it, is that proud and ſecure Sinners may be awakened and humbled, and brought off from their empty and undoing courſes; and that abaſed and ſelf-loathing Sinners may be encouraged, notwithſtanding all their profuſe and prodigal wayes, to return to God in Chriſt for his mercy, and ſo may tast of the Royal Feaſt, and be entertained at that noble Table, which God hath prepared for them who come home from their far Countrey, by true Repentance. My encouragement is, that out of the mouth of Babes and Sucklings God hath orda… praiſe; to his bleſſing I commend this … and may his Name have the Glory, and … Souls be made ſo to partake in benefit … as to give him his due acknowledgme… ſhall have reached the utmoſt of my aim.
Who am the Unworthieſt Laboure… in Chriſts Harveſt, S. …