Tag: William Perkins

Satan’s Evil Wonders

Having seen that the devil can in general work wonders, yet not true miracles, we continue to the types of wonders he can do, and the practical uses of understanding this doctrine. Now more particularly, the devil’s wonders are of two sorts: illusions or real actions. Application: 1. The working of wonders in itself is no consolation. 2. Scripture alone is the rule, not things confirmed by wonders. 3. God permits evil wonders and witchcraft. 4. God holds Satan’s leash.… Read More Satan’s Evil Wonders

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Satan is Incapable of True Miracles

A true wonder is a rare work, done by the power of God simply, either above or against the power of nature, and it is properly called a miracle. Now the effecting of a miracle in this kind is a work proper to God only. And no creature (man or angel) can do anything either above or contrary to nature, but He alone who is the Creator. For as God in the beginning made all things of nothing, so He has reserved to Himself, as a peculiar work of His almighty power, to change or abolish the substance, property, motion, and use of any creature. The second sort of wonders are lying and deceitful, which also are extraordinary works in regard of man, because they proceed not from the usual and ordinary course of nature. And yet, they are not miracles, because they are done by the virtue of nature, and not above or against nature simply, but above and against the ordinary course thereof. And these are properly such wonders as are done by Satan and his instruments.… Read More Satan is Incapable of True Miracles

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Genuine Repentance Requires Self-Examination

Do with your hearts as men do with their wheat; they will not suffer their corn to lie long in the chaff lest the chaff hurt it, but they commit it to the fan so that the wind may separate them. So, the graces of God in our hearts are but corn, our sins and corruptions are chaff. Look well, and you shall find in yourself much chaff, and but little corn. Let not then the chaff lie too long mingled with the corn, lest it corrupt the corn. Let not your sins lie mingled with the grace of God in you. If you do, they will choke it in the end, and so deprive you of all grace. Therefore, rip up your heart, and look into your life, and when you have sinned, enter into yourself, ask your conscience what you have done, and be not quiet till you have found out your sin and the foulness of it. And never think that you know anything in religion till you know what is in your own heart and what are in your special and priviest corruptions. And look into your own faults, not with a partial eye, but with a censorious and strait judgment. Spare sin in no man, but especially condemn it in yourself.… Read More Genuine Repentance Requires Self-Examination

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Christ Is Our Gain In Life, Death, & After Death

(1) Christ is our gain in this life; (2) He is our gain in death; and (3) He is our gain after death. He is our gain in life if we turn from our evil ways and believe in Him, in as much as He has gained for us many benefits, which I will reduce to ten heads. Second, as Christ is our gain in life, so He is also our gain in death, in as much as He has taken away the sting of death, and has changed the condition of it by making it of the gate of hell to be the way to eternal life. Third, He is our gain after death in three ways.… Read More Christ Is Our Gain In Life, Death, & After Death

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Seven Reasons God Sends Affliction

Every affliction upon the servants of God has some special goodness in it. This is a ground of comfort for the Christian. “We know that all things work together for good unto them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). And in regard hereof, the crosses which are endured by God’s children, are so far from being prejudicial to their salvation, that they are rather helps and a furtherance of the same. Now this goodness is perceived two ways: first, by the fruits and effect of it; and, second, by the quality and condition thereof. In both respects, afflictions are good.… Read More Seven Reasons God Sends Affliction

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The Gospel Call Binds The Conscience

God in the gospel generally reveals two points unto us: the first, that there is perfect righteousness and life everlasting to be obtained by Christ; and the second, that the instrument to obtain righteousness and life eternal is faith in Christ. Moreover, when this gospel is dispensed and preached unto us, God reveals unto us two points more: the first, that He will make us particularly to be partakers of true righteousness and life everlasting by Christ; and the second, that He will have us without doubting to believe thus much of ourselves. And for this cause, every man to whom the gospel is revealed is bound to believe his own election, justification, sanctification, and glorification in and by Christ.… Read More The Gospel Call Binds The Conscience

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Rome Denies the Mediatorial Offices of Christ

By consequence of doctrine Roman dogma abolishes Christ, as I have shown. Papists in word confess Him to be “Our Lord,” but with this condition, that the Servant of Servants [i.e. the Pope] may alter and change His precepts, whose power (they say) is of the greatness, that he may be judged of none, and that he can open or shut heaven to whom he please. They confess Him to be “Jesus Our Savior,” yet a Savior in us, in that He gives us this grace, that by our own merits we may be our own saviors, borrowing also (if need be) a supply from martyrs and the rest of the saints. They confess Him to be “crucified, dead, and buried” for us, yet with this condition, that the fault being pardoned, we ourselves must satisfy for some part of the punishment, either in this world or in purgatory. They confess that, “He sits at the right hand of God the Father,” to be unto Him the Mediator of intercession for us. And yet withal, they hold that His mother is the queen of heaven, having authority to control and command her Son. What a Christ is He that, in sundry actions pertaining to our redemption, has partners or fellows joined with Him? For this cause, we reject this religion, because it turns our only and perfect Redeemer into a feigned Christ of man’s devising.… Read More Rome Denies the Mediatorial Offices of Christ

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New Covenant Tribulations

First, God’s Word threatens plagues and punishments to the disobedient and the transgressors of His commandments. Secondly, because these are the last times, and Satan sees that he has but a short time to continue, therefore he bestirs himself. Thirdly, the church of God has always been subject to the cross, and none must marvel if it be. How can the world love them that hate it and have little acquaintance with it and are on the earth as pilgrims, waiting every day for happy passage through the troublesome sea of this life to their own home, even to the heavenly city of Jerusalem?… Read More New Covenant Tribulations

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