PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Whole Works of John Flavel — Volume 5
Flavel, John, 1630?-1691 · 343,909 words · 285 reading sections
Section 61
at the very glory of Christ, tenderly touch and affect thee ? Yea, be thou tenderly affected with all the reproaches that fall upon him from abroad, but especially with those that redound to him from thine own unfruitfulness. Oh ! disgrace not the root that bears thee ! let it never be said, that any evil fruit is foun…
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Well might Christ say, Mat. vii. 14. " Narrow is the way, and " strait is the gate that leadeth unto Ufe : and few there be that find " it C And again, Luke xii. 32. " Fear not little flock." The large piece goes to the devil ; a httle remnant is Christ's, Rom. ix. 27. Saints in scripture, are C2l\[q& jewels, Mai. iii.…
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A HITS deals the Lord by useless and barren professors who do but cumber his ground, Matth. iii. 10. " And now^ also the ax is laid '^ to the root of the trees ; therefore every tree that brings not forth '^ good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." And Luke xiii. 7. *' Then said the dresser of the vineyard, Be…
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8. Lastly ; The fruitless tree is cast into the fire. This also is the end and sad issue of formality, John xv. 6. " He is cast forth as a branch, '* and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the '^ iire ; and they are burned."' This is an undoubted truth, tha^ THE HEAVE^^LY USE OF EARTHLY THINGS. I5t …
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* Jenk. on Jude, part 2. p. 170. 160 lirsBANDEY SPIRITUALIZED ; Oil, ruption and wickedness, and not a rod of reproof used to breiife tliem off it. It is observed of the Persians,* that they put out their children to school, as soon as they can speak, and will not see them in seven years after, lest their indulgence…
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own practice before nie ; many a time when I have sinned against the Lord, have they stood over me, with a rod in their hands, and tears in their eyes, using all means to reclaim me ; but like an ungracious wretch, I have slighted all their counsel, grieved their hearts, and imbittered their lives to them by my sinful …
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2. How little ease or rest have they ? They live not many years, and those they do are in bondage and misery, groaning under the effects of sin ; but God hath provided better for us, even as to our outward condition in the world ; we have the more rest, because they have so little. How many refreshments and comforts ha…
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1. We sometimes find that cattle will break out of those very fields where they have been bred ; and where they want nothing that is needful for them. Just thus lost man departed from his God, brake out of that pleasant enclosure where he was abundantly provided for, both as to soul and body ; yet then he brake over th…
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lost soul as I was. Lord, how marvellous ! how A reflection for matchless is thy love ! I was lost, and am found : one that ivcis lost, I am found, and did not seek ; nay, I am found but isjbund. by him from whom I fled. Thy love, O my Sa- viour ! was a preventing love, a wonderful love ; thou lovedst me much more than…
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Such a design of preservation is carried on in all those outward straits, wants, and hardships which the Lord exposes his people to. I confess, such dispensations, for the present, are very stumbling and puzzling things, even to gracious and wise persons. To see wicked men, not onlv exempted from tlieir troubles, but e…
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convey the truths of God to posterity : but since the sacred trutli hath been consigned to writing, no such tradition (except fully consentient with that written word) is to be received as authentic ; but the truths therein delivered to the saints, ai'e, by verbal declarations, open can- Jess'ions, and constant suffcrh…
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Christ's precious truth conserved in their blood, For no less price those truths our fathers stood. They have transmitted, would not alienate From us, their children, such a fair estate. We eat what they did set : and shall truth fall In our days ? Shall we cut off th' entail, Or end the line of honour ? Nay, wha…
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(poor pensive souls) they make it much worse than indeed it is : charge themselves with that which God never charged them with ; though this be neither their wisdom, nor their duty ; but the fears of miscarrying make them suspect fraud in all they do or have. 7. Lastly, When your title is cleared, your hearts are ease…
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This bird seems to me the lively emblem of the formal hypocrite ; (1.) In that she is more in sound than substance, a loud and excellent voice, but a little despicable body ; and it recalled to my thoughts the story of Plutarch, who hearing a nightingale, desired to have one kill- ed to feed upon, not questioning but s…
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Remarkable for contempt and shame have the ends of many bloody tyrants been. So Pompey the Great, of whom Claudian the poet sings, Nudus pascit aves^jacetne qui possidet orbem Exiguce telluris inops Birds eat his flesh. Lo, now he cannot have Who ruPd the world, a space to make a grave. The like is storied of Alexan…
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Again, I could not but observe the accidental benefit this poor harmless bird obtained by the labour of the mole, who hunting in- tentionally for herself, unburroughed and ferreted out this worm for the bird, who, possibly, was hungry enough, and could not have been relieved for this time, but by the mole, the fruit of…
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" The craggy rock to foxes holes afford, " The pleasant woods a resting-place to birds ; " For Chrisht no fixed habitation's found, " But what was borrowed, or the naked ground."*'* O melting consideration ! that the glorious Son of God, John i. 14. " The Lord of glory,*" James ii. 1. " The brightness of hisFa- " ther'…
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the removal of it ; at last God removed it, but instead thereof he was sorely exercised with the motions and temptations of lust, which when he perceived, he as earnestly desired his head-ach again, to prevent a greater evil. Lord ! if my corruptions may be prevented by my afflictions, I refuse not to be clogged with t…
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Lord ! should I with the hypocrite decline the profession and prac- tice of holiness, to escape the rage of persecuting enemies, at what time they cease, my own conscience would begin to hunt me like a blood- hound ; let me rather chuse to be chased by men than God, to flee * Venator defessa thero quum membra reponit,…
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▼ ▼ OULD any man think to find such rare delicious fruit upon such an unworthy tree to appearance as this is ? I should rather have expected the most delicious fruit from the most handsom.e and flour- ishing trees; but I see I must neither judge the worth of trees or men by their external form and appearance. This is n…
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Jl INDING in my walk, a posy of once sweet and fragrant, but now dry and withered flowers, which I suppose to be thrown away by one that had formerly worn it : thus, said I, doth the unfaithful world use its friends, when providence hath blasted and withered them ; whilst they are rich and honourable, they will put the…
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JL observe that plants and herbs are sometimes killed by frosts, and yet without frosts they would neither live nor thrive : They are sometimes drowned with water, and yet without water they cannot subsist : They are refreshed and cheered by the heat of the sun, and yet that sun sometimes kills and scorches them up. Th…
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to such a frame, than the hvely apprehensions of eternity do; and none have greater external advantages for that, than you have. But, alas ! for the generahty, what sort of men are more ungodly, and stupidly insensible of eternal concernments? living, for the most part, as if they had made a covenant with death, and wi…
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mecVitations to the conversion of any among you, you will be the o-ainers, and my heart shall rejoice, even mine. How comfortably should we shake hands with you, when you go abroad, were we per- suaded your souls were interested in Christ, and secured from pe- rishing, in the new covenant ? What life would it put into …
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Cluist our Sun is at the highest in our heart?, when they are most holy. (4.) This hohness is that which is directly opposite to sin ; sin eclipses holiness, and holiness scatters sin, Ileb. vii. 26. Phil. ii. 15. 2 Pet. iii. 11. Concerning death, we must know, (1.) Death is cer- tain ; the sun of our life will set in …
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2. What a leaking vessel thy body is, f in which this unspeakable, inconceivable rich treasure, thy soul, is embarked ! O the many dis- eases and distempers in the humours and passions that thy body is subject to ! It is above 2000 years ago, that there have been reck- oned up 300 names of diseases ; and there be many …
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2. Consider (seamen) what extraordinary help you liave by the book of the creatures ; " The whole creation is God's voice ; it is •' God's excellent f hand-writing, or the sacred scriptures of the " most High,'' to teach us much of God, and what reasons we have to bewail our rebellion against God, and to make conscienc…
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troubles. Job v. 7. "Yet man is born to trouble, as the spcarks fly " upwards."" The spark no sooner comes out of the fire, but it flies up naturally ; it needs not any external force, help, or guidance, but ascends from a principle in itself; so naturally, so easily doth trouble rise out of sin. There is radically all…
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Hence also should the gracious soul reflect sweetly upon itself after this manner : And is the world so full of trouble .^ O my soul ! what cause hast thou to stand admiring at the indulgence and goodness of God to thee ? Thou hast hitherto had a smooth passage, compara- tively to what others have had. How hath Divine …
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In the vastness of the ocean, we have also a lively emblem of eter- nity. Who can comprehend or measure the ocean, but God ? And who can comprehend eternity but he that is said to inhahit itf Isa. Ivii. 5. Though shallow rivers may be drained and dried up, yet the ocean cannot. And though these transitory days, months,…
1,221 wordsSECTION 91Section 91
_I T was an unadvised saying of Plato, Mare nil memorahile produ- cit : the sea produceth nothing memorable. But surely there is much of the wisdom, power, and goodness of God manifested in those in- habitants of the waterv region ; notwithstanding the sea's azure and smiling face, strange creatures are bred in its wom…
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Once more : and is the heart such g, sea, abounding with mon- strous abominations ? Then stand astonished, O my soul, at that free grace which hath dehvered thee from so sad a condition ; O fall down and kiss the feet of mercy that moved so freely and seasonably to thy rescue ? Let my heart be enlarged abundantly here.…
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JHOW watchful and quick-sighted are seamen to prevent dangers ! if the wind die away, and then fresh up southerly : or if they see the sky hazy, they provide for a storm : if by the prospective-glass they know a pirate at a great distance, they clear the gun-room, prepare for fight, and bear up, if able to deal with hi…
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Further, It argues from this acknowledged truth, that all the de- light and pleasures in this world are but a miserable portion, and that it is the highest folly to adventure an immortal soul for them, Luke ix. 15. Alas ! what remembrance is there of them in hell.'* They are as the waters that pass away. What have they…
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1. The power of God is graciously manifested in raising them ? the wind is one of the Lord's wonders, Psal. cvii. 24, 25. " They " that go down to the sea, see the works of the Lord, and his [won- " ders] in the deep ; for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy " winds." Yea, ver. 18. God appropriates it as a peculiar wo…
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The masts are crack'd, the canvas torn to rags. The vessel works for life ; anon one cries, The main masfs gone by tK hoard; another plies The pump, until a third does strike them blank, With, S'lrs^ prepare for death, we've sprung a planky Now to their knees they go, and on this wise They beg for mercy, with the…
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and then the blessing, power, and efficacy is gone from them, and ln-» stead thereof a curse seizeth the soul, Heb. vi. 7, 8. and Jer. vi. 29- Therefore it is a matter of high importance to our souls to apprehend these seasons. How pathetically doth Christ bewail Jerusalem upon this account ! Luke xix. 42. " O that tho…
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There be precious treasures in these earthen vessels, for which we should trade by mutual communion. The preciousness of the trea- sure should draw out our desires and endeavours after it ; and the consideration of the brittleness of those vessels in which tliey are kept, should cause us to be the more expeditious in o…
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/* about it." Some tliiiik this phrase alludes to the cherubim that kept the way of the tree of life with flaming swords : others to the fiery chariots round about Dathan, where Elisha was ; but most think it to be an allusion to an ancient custom of travellers in the de- sarts ; who, to prevent the assaults of wild be…
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Lord, this hath been my manner from my youth, may the carnal- minded man say ; I have been labouring for the meat that perisheth ; disquieting myself in vain, full of designs and projects for the world, and unwearied in my endeavours to compass an earthly treasure ; yet therein I have either been checked and disappoint…
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I remember my fault this day, may many a gracious soul say. Ah ! how faithless and distrustful have I been, notwithstanding the great security God hath given to my faith, both in his word and works ! O my soul, thou hast greatly sinned therein, and dishonoured thy Fa- ther ! I have been worse to my Father than my child…
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* blossom, and bear fruit."* Behold, then, a sanctified affliction is a cup, whereinto Jesus hath wrung and pressed the juice and virtue of all his mediatorial offices. Surely, that must be a cup of generous, royal wine, like that in the supper, a cup of blessing to the people of God. Hence may the unsanctified soul d…
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Thus the fiercest element is repressed by the feeblest things : thou seest also how full of wrath and fury wicked men ai*e, how they rage like the troubled sea, and threaten to overwhelm thee, and all the Lord's inheritance : and then the floods of ungodly men make thee afraid ; yet are they restrained by an invisible,…
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And is thy word a compass, to direct my course to glory? O where am I then like to arrive at last, that in all my course have neglected it, and steered according to the counsel of my own heart ! Lord, I have not made thy word the man of my council, but consulted with flesh and blood ; I have not enquired at this oracle…
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Oh then ! what a vanity is it to set the heart, and let out the af- fections on them ! you can never depend too much upon God, nor too little upon the creature, 1 Tim. vi. 17. " Charge them that are " rich in this world, that they be not high-minded and trust in un- *' certain riches."*' Are all earthly things thus tr…
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O my soul, what a case art thou in, if this be so ? Are not all thy sins yet upon thine own score ? Hast not thou made light of Christ, and that precious blood of his, and hitherto persisted in thy rebel- lion against him ? And what can the issue of this be at last, but ruin ? There is abundant mercy indeed for returni…
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Christ, zcith a word, can sm-gmg- waves appease : . His voice a troubled soul can quickly ease. ^ T HEN the sea works, and is tempestuous, it is not in the power of any creature to appease it. When the Egyptians would by their hieroglyphics express an impossibility, they did it by the picture of a man treading upon th…
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But now, what returns do we make to heaven for these mercies ? O what notice is taken of the good hand of Providence, which thus supplies and feeds us with the blessings of the sea ? I fear there are but few that own, or act in submission to it, and are careful to return, according to received benefit. Men do not consi…
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And is Satan so subtil and industrious to entice souls to sin ? Doth he thus cast out his golden baits, and allure souls with pleasure to their ruin ? Then how doth it behove thee, O my soul, to be jealous and wary ! how strict a guard should I set upon every sense ! Ah, let me not so much regard how sin comes towards …
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Are these the sins that blast our blessings, and wither our mercies ? O then let me cease to wonder it is no better, and rather admire that it is no worse with me ; that my neglect of prayer, injustice in deal- ings, earthly-mindedness, and abuse of former mercies have not pro- voked God to strip me naked of all my enj…
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Devouring whales, and ravenous sharks do follow The lesser fry, at one gulp to swallow Some hundreds of them, as our seamen say : But we can tell far stranger things than they. For we have sharks ashore on every creek. That to devour poor men do hunt and seek. No pity, sense, or bowels in them be. Nay, have they not pu…
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very nature of sincerity and uprightness, to set the heart against [ever?/] way of wickedness, Psal. cxxxix. 25, 24. Job xxxi. 13. and especially against that sin which was its darling in the days of his vanity, Psal. xviii. 23. True hatred (as the philosopher observes) is of the * whole kind : He that hates sin as sin…
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Cheer up then, O my soul, and lean upon this pillar of comfort in all distresses. Here is a promise for me, if I am a called one ; that, like the philosopher's stone, turns all into gold it toucheth. This promise is my security ; however things go in the world, my God " will do me no hurt," Jer. xxv. 6. Nay, he will do…
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If the wisdom of God do thus triumph, and glorify itself in the dis- tresses of the saints, then why should I fear in the day of evil ? Psal. xlix. 4. Why doth my heart faint at the foresight and apprehen- sion of approaching trouble ? Fear none of those things that thou shalt suffer, O my soul : if thy God will thus b…
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▼ ▼ HAT multitudes of men hath the sea devoured ! thousands have made their graves in it. What numbers of men have been in- gulphed together in sea-fights, or storms, or inundations, whereby whole towns have been swallowed up ! certainly the dead which are there, are innumerable. 286 A NEW COMPASS FOR SEAMEN ; OK, Bu…
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' Some persons (as * one well notes) are afar off, Eph. ii. 23. i. e. * touched with no care of religion : some come near, but never enter * as semi-converts. See Matth. xii. 34. Others enter, but with great * difficulty, they are saved as by fire, 1 Cor. iii. 13. Make an hard ' shift. But then there are some that g…
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And is there such a day approaching for the sons of God, indeed ! and have I [nuthorifi/] to call myself one of the number ! John i. 12. 0 then let me not droop at present difficulties, nor hang down my hands when I meet with hardships in the way. O my soul, what a joyful day will this be ! for at present we are tosse…
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Upon the first account, a dedication would be needless to you : for I am persuaded, you do not only in your judgment approve the design I here manage, viz. The reformation of the profane and looser sort of our seamen ; but are also heartily willing to improve your interest to the uttermost for the promotion of it. I ca…
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Fourthly, I do not charge these sins indifferently upon all sea- men. No, I know there are some choice and good men amongst your men, tlmt fear an oath, and hate even the garments spotted with the Hesh, who are (I question not) the credit and glory of cur English na- tion, in the eyes of strangers that converse with th…
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Reader, if thou be one that is guilty of this sin, for the Lord's sake bethink thyself speedil}', and weigh, with the reason of a man, what I shall now say, in order to thy conviction, humiliation, and reformation. I need not spend many words, to open the nature of this sin to you ; we all grant, that there is a lawful…
1,073 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.