PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Whole Works of John Flavel — Volume 1
Flavel, John, 1630?-1691 · 283,724 words · 235 reading sections
Section 121
4. He sells him, and he sells him at a low rate too ; which shew- ed how vile an esteem he had of Christ. He is content to part with him for thirty pieces of silver. If these pieces, or shekels, were the shekels of the sanctuary, they amounted but to three pounds fifteen shillings -f\ But it is supposed they were the c…
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Corollary 1. Hence in the first place we learn, That the greatest professors had need to be jealous of their own hearts, and look well to the grounds ami principles of their professions. One of the ancients would have had this epitaph engraven upon Judas's tomb-stone, si; i[hi n; opuw £u<rs/3'/j; g?w, i. e. " Let every…
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Corollary 4. Moreover, in this example of Judas you may read this truth ; That men and women are never in more imminent dan- ger, than when they meet with temptations exactly suited to their master-lusts, to their own iniquity. O pray, pray, that ye may be kept from a violent suitable temptation. Satan knows that when …
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Corollary 10. Did the devil win the consent of Judas to such a design as this ? Could he get no other but the hand of an apostle to assist him? Learn hence, That the policy of Satan lies much in tJie choice of Ms instruments he works by. No bird, (saith one) like a living bird to tempt others into the net. Pelagius Soc…
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2. As he was inhumanly abused before he was tried, so he was examined and judged by a court that had no authority to try him. Luke xxii. 66. " As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, M and the chief priests, and the scribes came together and led " him into their council.'" This was the ecclesiastical court, th…
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Inference 1. Was Christ thus used when he stood before the great council, the scribes and elders of Israel? Then surely " great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand " judgment," Job xxxii. 9. Here were many great men, manjR aged men, many politic men in council ; but not one wise or good, man among t…
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Secondly , Against whom doth Pilate give sentence? against % malefactor ? No, his own mouth once and again acknowledged him innocent. Against a common prisoner? No, but one whose fame no doubt had often reached Pilate's ears, even the wonder- ful things wrought by him, which none but God could do : one that stood befor…
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Fourthly, and lastly, In what manner did Christ receive this cruel and unrighteous sentence? He received it like himself, with ad- mirable meekness and patience. He doth as it were wrap himself up in his own innocencv, and obedience to his Father's will, and stands at the bar with invincible patience, and meek submissi…
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3. Consider, how by these things men do but prepare for their own torment in a dying hour. There is bitterness enough in death, you need not add more gall and wormwood to increase the bitterness of it. What is the violencing and wounding of con- science now, but the sticking so many pins or needles in your death- bed, …
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2. Let us consider Christ's reply to them ; " weep not for me, " ye daughters of Jerusalem," fyc. Strange, that Christ should forbid them to weep for him, yea for him under such unparalleled sufferings and miseries. If ever there was a heart-melting object in the world, it was here. 0 who could hold, whose heart was no…
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ciples that set them on work, may be but carnal and natural ones. When I see a person affected in the hearing of the word, or prayer, even unto tears, I cannot presently conclude, surely this is the effect of grace ; for it is possible, the pathetical quality of subject- matter, the rhetoric of the speaker, the very af…
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it were not so with me, I might doubt the root of the matter is wanting ; but if to my knowledge, affections be added ; a melting heart joined with a knowing head, then I may be confident all is well. I have often heard ministers cautioning and warning their people not to rest satisfied with idle and unpractical notion…
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Ah ! Christian, canst thou look upon Jesus as standing in thy room, to bear the wrath of a Deity for thee ? Canst thou think on it, and not melt ? That when thou, like Isaac, wast bound to the altar, to be offered up to justice, Christ, like the ram, was caught in the thicket, and offered in thy room. When thy sins had…
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Inf. 2. Have the believing meditations of Christ, and his suf- ferings, such heart-melting influences ? Then surely the proper order of raising the affections, is to begin at the exercise of faith. It grieves me to see how many poor Christians strive with their own dead hearts, endeavouring to raise and affect them, bu…
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The instruments effecting it vexe their wicked hands. * This fore-knowledge and counsel of God, as it did no way necessitate or enforce them to it ; so neither doth it excuse their fact from the least aggravation of its sinfulness. It did no more compel or force their wicked hands to do what they did, than the mariner'…
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* Vide T.ypsium de cruce^ I. 1. c. 11. Ingenui hominis nulla est estimatio. Homer in his 21st Odysse, calls this death M xa^a^Ge, i. e. impure; and Eustathius /x/aso',, i. e. base. f This is appointed, not in honour of the burial of the dead body, but to the end that such a body, which was accursed, might be quickly …
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Second!?/, Christ died this, rather than any other kind of death ; to fulfil the types, and prefigurations that of old were made with respect to it All the sacrifices were lifted up from the earth, upon the altar. But especially the brazen serpent prefigured this death, Numb. xix. 9. Moses made a serpent of brass, and …
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The greatest guilt that ever was contracted upon a trembling, shaking conscience, can stand before the efficacy of the blood of Christ no more, than the sinner himself can stand before the justice of the Lord, with all that guilt upon him. Reader, the word assures thee, whatever thou hast been, or art, that sins of as…
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Our sufferings (saith one) are washed in the blood of Christ, as well as our souls. " For Christ's merits bought a blessing to the " crosses of the sons of God. Our troubles owe us a free passage u through him. Devils, and men, and crosses, are our debtors ; " and death, and all storms are our debtors, to blow our poor…
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is the King of the Jews : Or, as the other evangelists complete it, This is Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews. Secondly, The person that drew his character or title. It was Pilate; he that but now condemned him: he that was his judge, shall be his herald, to proclaim his glory. For the title is honour- able. Sure…
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Sixthly, And lastly, It was an immutable title. The Jews en- deavoured, but could not persuade Pilate to alter it. To all their importunities he returns this resolute answer, " What I have writ- " ten, I have written ;" as if he should say, Urge me no more. I have written his title, I cannot, I will not, alter a letter…
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If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted, according to what a man hath, saith the apostle, 2 Cor. viii. 12. The eye of God is first and mainly upon the will ; if that be sincere and right for God, small things will be accepted ; and if not, the greatest shall be abhorred. So 1 Cor. ix. 17. If I do this thing (i…
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the graves shall open, the sea and earth shall yield up their dead. You shall see him ascending the awful throne of judgment, and all flesh gathered before his face ; even multitudes, multitudes that no man can number. And then to be brought forth by Christ be- fore that great assembly of angels and saints : and there …
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XN the former sermons, we have opened the nature and kind of death Christ died ; even the cursed death of the cro^s. Wherein, nevertheless his innocency was vindicated, by that honourable title providentially affixed to his cross. Method now requires that we take into consideration the manner in which he endured the cr…
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These were stars fixed in their orb, though clouded and overcast for a time. This was but a mist or fog, which overspreads the earth in the morning till the sun be risen, and then it clears up and proves a fair day. But though it was not a total and final apostasy ; yet it was a very sinful and sad relapse from Jesus C…
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Firstj God's suspending wonted influences and aids of grace from them. They were not wont to do so. They never did so afterwards. They would not have done so now, had there been influences of power, zeal, and love from heaven upon them. But how then should Christ have borne the heat and burden of the day ? How should h…
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And shall we be self-confident, after such instances of human frailty ! Alas, Christian ! What match art thou for principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness ! " Be not high-minded, but u fear." When you have considered well the example of * Noah, Lot, David, and He/ekiah, men famous and renowned in their gener…
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When the emperor Vespasian had commanded Fluidius Priscus not to come to the senate ; or, if he did, to speak nothing but what he would have him ; the senator returned this brave and noble answer, " * That as lie was a senator, it was fit he should be at the " senate ; and if, being there, he were required to give his …
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Inf. 8. Did the dreadful sword of divine justice smite the Shepherd, God's own fellow ; and at the same time the flock, from whom all its outward comforts arose, were scattered from him? Then learn, That the holiest of men have no reason either to repine or despond, though God should at once strip them of all their out…
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It is a true observation, that meekness inviteth injury, but al- ways to its own cost. And it was evidently verified in the suffer- * Ingenue prqfiteor Mud ipsum caput adjtdem Christianam me addtixissey nam plus ?«i7- lies Ulud caput perlegi. Hornbcck contra Jud. lib. 6. cap. I. p. 408. t 7731*3 Respondil. Humiliavit…
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Secondly, It is then according to the will of God, when it is as intensive as God requires it to be, i. e. in the apostle's phrase, Jam. i. 4. When it hath its perfect work, or exercise ; when it is not only extended to all kinds of troubles; but when it works in the high- est and most perfect degree. And then may pati…
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" me ; because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved. " Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth." There is faith acted by Christ, for strength to carry him through. And then it follows, " My flesh also shall rest in hope ; for thou wilt <{ not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine h…
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Secondly, Look downward, and see what is below you, as well as up to that which is above you. You are afflicted, and you cannot bear it. Oh ! no trouble like your trouble ! never man in such a case as you are ! Well, well, cast the eye of your mind downward, and see those who lie much lower than you. Can you see none o…
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Fifthly, Look backward, and see if there be nothing behind you that may hush and quiet your impatient spirits ; consult the multi- tude of experiences past and gone ; both your own and others. Is this the first strait that ever you were in ? If so, you have reason to be quiet, yet to bless God that hath spared you so l…
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shed innocent blood, but the blood of God ; the best of mercies is by him desired for the worst of sinners. Thirdly, The motive or argument urged to procure this mercy for them, is this5t/or they know not what they do. As if he should say. Lord, what these poor creatures do, is not so much out of malice to me as the S…
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Thirdly, Nay, which is more, if a man be ignorant of Christ, his truths, or people, he will not only oppose, and persecute, but he will also do it conscientiously, i. e. he will look upon it as his duty so to do, John xvi. 3. Before the Lord opened Paul's eyes, " he " verily thought that he ought to do many things cont…
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" and thee only" (i. e.) thee mainly or especially, " have I sinned." Hence sins are inetonymically called debts, debts to God, Mat. vi. 12. Not that we owe them to God, or ought to sin against him ; but as pecuniary debts obliges him that owes it to the penalty, it* he satisfy not for it ; so do our sins. And who can …
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Inf. 2. Is there pardon with God for enemies ? How inexcusable tlien are all they that persist and perish in their enmity to Christ'. sure their destruction is of themselves. Mercy is offered to them, if they will receive it, Isa. lv. 7. Proclamation is made in the gos- pel, that if there be any among the enemies of Ch…
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And this it doth in obedience to the command of God : Their own nature inclines them another way. " The spirit that is in us lust- " eth to envy ; but he giveth more grace,'1 James iv. 5. It lust- eth to revenge, but the fear of God represseth those motions, Such considerations as these God hath forbidden me ; yea, and…
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their children ? yea, do not they and their children groan under the doleful effects of it to this day ? If God undertakes, (as he ^always doth) the cause of his abused, meek, and peaceable people, he will be sure to avenge it seven-fold more than they could. His little finger will be heavier than their loins. You will…
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To prevent such sad occasions of complaints as these, I desire all that sustain the relation of children, into whose hands provi- dence shall cast this discourse, seriously to ponder this example of Christ, proposed for their imitation in this point. Wherein we shall first consider what duties belong to the relation of…
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to promote, not to waste and scatter their substance : to assist, not to defraud them. Whoso robbeth his father or mother, and saith, it is no transgression, the same is a companion of a destroyer, Prov. xxviii. 24. This, saith one, as far excels your wronging another, as parricide is a greater crime than man-slaugher,…
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Third Query, Have you not risen up rebelliously against, and hated your parents for chastening your bodies, to save your souls from hell? Some children (saith one) will not take that from a parent, which beasts, yea, and savage beasts too, bears and lions, will take from their keepers. What is this but to resist an ord…
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Secondly, If they be carnal, walk circumspectly, in the most precise and punctual discharge of your duties, for how knowest thou, O child, but hereby thou mayest win thy parents ? Wouldst thou but humbly, and seriously intreat, ana persuade them to mind the ways of holiness, speaking to them at fit seasons, with all im…
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Doct. 3. That God may, though he seldom doth, prepare men for this glory, immediately before their dissolution by death. These are the useful truths resulting from this remarkable word of Christ to the penitent thief. We will consider and improve them in the order proposed. Doct. 1. That there is a future eternal sta…
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beast, which is but a material form, and so wholly depending on, that it must need perish with matter. But it is not so with us : Ours are reasonable spirits, that can live and act in a separated state from the body, Eccles. hi. 21. " Who knoweth the spirit of man, " that goeth upward ; and the spirit of a beast, that …
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Arg. 1. First, Why should the happiness of believers be defer- red, since they are immediately capable of enjoying it, as soon as separated from the body ? Alas, the soul is so far from being assist- ed by the body (as it is now) for the enjoyment of God ; that it is either clogged or hindered by it : So speaks the apo…
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Inf. 3. How little cause have they to fear death, who shall be with God so soon after their death ? Some there are that tremble at the thoughts of death ; that cannot endure to hear its name mention- ed ; that would rather stoop to any misery here, yea, to any sin, than die, because they are afraid of the exchange. But…
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Reason 4. Fourthly, None hath reason to expect the like con- version, that enjovs the ordinary means ; because, though in this convert we have a pattern of what free grace can do, yet, as di- vines pertinently observe, it is a pattern without a promise ; God hath not added any promise to it, that ever he will do it for…
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SKRM. XXXIir. THE FOUNTAIN' OF LIFF. 407 three hours: towards the end whereof his soul was so filled, dis- tressed, and overwhelmed, that this doleful cry brake from his soul, in bitter anguish, " My God, my God,"1 &c. Secondly, The matter of the complaint. It is not of the cruel tortures he felt in his body, nor of …
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Sixthly, and lastly, It was not a mutual desertion, or a desertion on both parts ; the Father forsook him, but he forsook not his Father. When God withdrew, he followed him, crying, " My " God, my God." Yet to speak positively of it ; though he did not dissolve the per- sonal union, nor cut off divine supports, nor re…
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And as satisfaction was designed in this desertion of Christ, so also was the sanctification of all the desertion of the saints designed in it. For he having been forsaken before us, and for us, when- ever God forsakes us, that very forsaking of his is sanctified, and thereby turned into a mercy to believers. Hence are…
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his voice was the voice of roaring : this was more to him than a thousand crucifyings. And, surely, as it was to Christ, so is it to all gracious souls, the saddest stroke, the heaviest burden that ever they felt. When David forbade Absalom to come to Jerusalem, to see his father, he complains in % Sam. xiv. 32. " Wher…
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Fourthly, Though God forsook Christ, yet at that time he could justify God. So you read, Psal. xxii. 2, 3. " O my God (saith he) " I cry in the day-time, but thou nearest not ; and in the night- " season, and am not silent : but thou art holy."*1 Is not thy spi- rit, according to the measure, framed like Christ's in th…
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Secondly, Humble your souls before the Lord for every evil you shall be convinced of: tell him, it pierces your hearts that you have so displeased him, and that it shall be a caution to you, whilst you live, never to return again to folly : invite him again to your souls, and mourn after the Lord till you have found hi…
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First, His corporeal and more external sufferings were exceeding great, acute, and extreme sufferings ; for they were sharp, univer- sal, continual, and unrelieved by any inward comfort. First, They were sharp sufferings ; for his body was racked or digged in those parts where sense more eminently dwells : in the hand…
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Secondly, None of the damned had ever so large a capacity to take in a full sense of the wrath of God as Christ had. The larger any one's capacity is to understand and weigh his troubles fully, the more grievous and heavy is his burden. If a man cast vessels of greater and lesser quantity into the sea, though all will …
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Inf. 2. How afflictive and intolerable are inward troubles. Did Christ complain so sadly under them, and cry, / thirst f Surely then thev are not such light matters as many are apt to make of them. If they so scorched the very heart of Christ, dried up the green tree, preyed upon his very spirits, and turned his moistu…
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Natural thirst is (as before was noted) a desire of refreshment by humid nourishment, and it is common both to believers and unbelievers in this world. God's dear saints have been driven to such extremities in this life, that their tongues have even failed for thirst. " When the poor and needy seek water, and there is.…
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relation of these words. Some are of opinion, that the antecedent is the legal types and ceremonies ; and so make this to be the mean- ing *; It is finished: that is, all the types and prefigu rations that shadowed forth the redemption of souls, by the blood of Christ, are now fulfilled and accomplished. And, doubtless…
1,210 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.