Thomas Sherman - If this is Happiness, then Give me Misery From " 'Aids to the Divine Life' A Series of Practical Christian Contemplations' " Luke 16:19 "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. The Author's Address to the Reader To the reader, As it should be our concern to get our judgments informed—so also our lives reformed; our heads filled with Gospel light—and our lives with Gospel holiness. We should hold fast and hold forth that which is good. Paul says of the Corinthians: "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Corinthians 3:2-3.) And of the Thessalonians: "The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere." (1 Thess. 1:8.) The commendation of a Christian is to have truth written in his heart—and read in his life. Of the Romans says the same Apostle: "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you." (Romans 6:17.) To have doctrine not only delivered to us, but to be delivered into that doctrine, so as to be framed and molded into the fashion of it—is what we should labor after. How far the following book tend to promote this work, I leave to be considered. But that our hearts may be so sanctified by truth, as that we may obey truth from the heart, is the prayer of your well-wisher, Thomas Sherman, 1680
