PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Whole Works of John Flavel — Volume 5
Flavel, John, 1630?-1691 · 343,909 words · 285 reading sections
Section 121
Aig. 3. It is a sin by which thou greatly wrongest and abusest thine own body. The body is the souTs instrument ; it is as the tools are to a skilful artificer; this lust both dulls and spoils it, so that it is utterly unfit for any service of him that made it. Thy body is a curi- ous piece, not made by a word of comma…
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Ai'g. 6. Sadly consider, there can be nothing of the sanctifying Spirit in a soul that is under the dominion of this lust ; for upon the first discovery of the grace of God, the soul renounces the go- vernment of sensuality : " The grace of God that bringeth salvation, " teacheth men to live soberly," Tit. ii. 11, 12. …
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Arg. 10. That it is a sin out of whose power few, or none are ever rescued and reclaimed. On this account it was that St. Augustine called It the pit of hell. He that is addicted to this sin becomes incurable, saith a * reverend divine ; for seldom or never have I known a drunk- ard reclaimed. And its power to hold the…
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But, to be short, we find the Spirit of God in scripture comparing the tongue to a tree, Prov. xv. 4. " A wholesome tongue is a tree of *' life.'"* And words are the fruit of the tree, Isa. Ivii. 12. " I create " the fruit of the lips."" Some of these trees bear precious fruits, and it is a lovely sight to behold them …
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Arg. 1. That profane oaths are an high abuse of the dreadful and sacred name of God, which should neither be spoken or thought of without the deepest awe and reverence. It is the taking of that sa- cred name in vain, Exod. xx. 7. Now God is exceeding tender and jealous over his name ; it is dear to him ; his name is dr…
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laid under the foundation of them, which, when justice shall set fire to, O what work will it make ! woe to the inhabitants thereof! Well then, break off this sin by repentance, unless you intend to ruin your families, and bring all the curses of God into your houses. If you have no pity for yourselves, yet pity your p…
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** wisdom, and his tongue talketh of j udgment ; for the law of the " Lord is in his heart."*"' To this sense we must understand that scripture, Mat. xii. 37. " By thy words thou shalt be justified, and " by thy words thou shalt be condemned."" Certainly justification and condemnation, in the day of judgment shall not …
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* order, but conscience speaks to the person.' I shall use no other apology in this case. That this sin is a dreadful gulph, a quick-sand that hath sucked in, and destroyed thousands, is truly apparent both from scripture and experience. Solomon tells us, Prov. xxii. 14. that it is a " deep ditch, into which such as ar…
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Arg. 3. It is a sin that defiles and destroys the body ; 1 Cor. vi. 18. " He that committeth adultery, sinneth against his own body." In most other sins the body is the instrument, here it is the object a- gainst which the sin is committed : that body of thine, which should he the temple of the Holy Ghost, is turned in…
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infatuating sin. The danger of falling this way must needs be great, and the fall very desperate ; because few that fall into it do ever rise a^ain. I shall lay two very terrible scriptures before you to this pur- pose, either of them enough to drive thee speedily to Christ, or to drive thee out of thy wits ; the one i…
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them, therefore he himself will torment them for ever with his own immediate power : Now he will stir up all his zcrath, and sinners shall know the price of their pleasures. The punishment of Sodom is a little map of hell, as I may say. O how terrible a day was that upon those unclean wretches ! But that fire was not o…
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Direct 2. Walk in the fear of God all the day long, and in the sense of his omniscient eye that is ever upon thee. This kept Joseph from this sin, Gen. xxxix. 9. " How can I do this wickedness and sin ** against God .?" Consider, the darkness hideth not from him, but shineth as the light. If thou couldst find a place w…
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* resurrection as thyself: it were better for thee the}'^ should have a resurrection now in thy heart, than to rise as witnesses against thee, when thou shalt rise out of the dust : that will be a terrible resurrec- tion indeed, when they shall come to plead against thy soul. Nothing pleads more dreadfully against a so…
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Query 2. Wast thou never cast upon miserable straits and extre- mities, wherein the good providence of God reheved and supphed thee ? How many of you have been beaten so long at sea, by rea- son of contrary winds and other accidents, until your provisions have been exhausted and spent. To how short allowance have you b…
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Consid. 4. It is a sin that cuts off mercy from you in future straits : If you thus requite the Lord for former mercies, never expect the like in future distresses. God is not weary of his blessings, to cast them away upon such souls as are but graves to them. Mark what a re- ply God made to the Israelites, when they c…
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Consid. 2. That the Lord will most certainly be avenged upon thee for these things, except thou repent. O read, and tremble at the word of God ! Eccl. v. 4, 5, 6. " When thou vowest a vow unto " God, defer not to pay it : for he hath no pleasure in fools ; pay " that which thou hast vov/ed. Better is it that thou shoul…
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Now, to the end that you might have right thoughts and appre- hensions of death, which may put you upon serious preparation for it; and that whenever your turn comes to conflict with this king of terrors, under whose hand the Pompeys, Caesars, and Alexanders of the world, who have been the terrors of nations, have bowe…
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Answ. No : my heart cannot endure, nor my hands be strong, when God shall have to do with me upon this account. I cannot bear his wrath ; angels could not bear it ; it hath sunk them into the depths of misery. Those that feel but a few sparks of it in their con- sciences here, are even distracted by it, Psalm Ixxxviii.…
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are the more strengthened, and the heart still more hardened. 5. There be thousands now in hell, that perished through delays ; their consciences often urged and pressed hard upon them, and many resolutions they had, as thou hast now; but they were never perfected by answerable executions, and so they perished. 6. Thy …
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Ansu\ First, Certainly you are most absurd in pleading and pte- tending your impotence against your duty ; for you do think you have a power to come to Christ, else how do you quiet j^our consci- ence with promises and resolves of conversion hereafter ? Secondly, Though it be true, that no saving act can be done withou…
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Wherein the Mysteries of Providence, relating to Seamed, are opened ; their Sins and Dangers discovered ; their Duties pressed, and their several Troubles and Burdens relieved. In six practicable and suitable Sehmons. To all Masters, Mariners, and Seamen ; especially such as belong to the Port of' Dartmouth, and the …
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and not the least at Tyre, where he met with certain disciples that jaid to him, by the Spirit, that lie should not go to Jerusalem, though, in that, they followed their own spirit ; but he is not to be dissuaded : Like that noble Roman *, and upon a more noble account, ' he judged it necessary to go, but not to live.'…
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follows upon the scent wherever a man goes. And indeed our sins are called debts^ Matth. vi. 12. Not that we owe them to God, or ought to sin against him ; but metonymkally^ because as pecuniary debts oblige him to suffer that hath not wherewith to pay, and expose him to the danger of Serjeants and bailiffs wherever he…
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(4) Pray for diviiie protection'm all the dangers and hazards to which you shall be exposed. You know not how soon your life and estate shall be in jeopardy : This night you may sleep quietly in your cabin, to-morrow you may be tugging at the pump, and the next night take lip your loaging upon a cold rock. How smartly …
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* at his own table, than another can do in the consecrated bread he * eats at the Lord's table.' And then, (3.) Prayer hath a sanctifying influence upon all our enjoyments, and therefore no wonder it makes them so sweet : what you obtain this way, you obtain with a blessing, and that is the sweetest and best part of …
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First, Such as do but mock God, and delude themselves by heart- less, dead and empty formalities. Some there be that dare not altogether slight and neglect prayers, but pro forma, they will do something themselves ; and it may be as a compliment, or, at most^ as a customary thing, will desire the prayers of others : bu…
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Use 2. In the next place, this point is exceeding useful, by way of exhortation, to persuade all men, and particularly seamen, to be men of prayer ; to imitate that noble pattern in the text, and no longer to live in the neglect of a duty so necessary, so sweet, and so bene- ficial to them, as the duty of prayer is. O …
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Motive 5. Consider all you that go out without prayer ^ hoxv soon you may be out of a capacity of' prayer. Now you will not, and shortly you ma}'^ not, have one opportunity to pray for evermore : now unbelief shuts your mouths, and shortly death may do it. How soon may you be past your prayers, both your own and others…
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First, A description of the persons about whom this wonderful pro- vidence is exercised : " They that go down to the sea in ships ; that " do business in great waters ;*" the periphrasis of a seaman. These 360 THE SEAMAN IN A STOKM. are said logo down to the sea in ships, not because the sea is lowertlian the land, b…
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Now the glory of Divine Providence towards seamen shines and displays itself in three things especially, _/r^^, In making the ocean navigable for them at any time. Secondly^ in preserving them from shipwrecks in the fury and stress of weather. Thirdly., In finding out ways, and strangely providing means of safety, when…
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For, Ji7'st, sometimes a small boat shall save them, when a stout ship could not : thus many of them have been wonderfully preserved ; and thus the aforementioned author relates the manner of this won- derful preservation. ' Our ship (saith he) had sprung a leak, or ra- ther a plank, and was ready to sink : O how the f…
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(1.) Have you not soon forgotten the works and wonders of the Lord, which your eyes have seen ? It may be, for t,he present, you have been sensibly affected with your danger, and the mercy of God in your deliverance, but hath it remained upon your hearts .'' I doubt these mercies have been written in the dust, which sh…
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First, In raising these terrible tempests, and that from so small and weak a beginning as a thin vapour from the earth is ; this is the wonderful work of God, Psal. cxxxv. 7. " He cau^eth the vapours " to ascend from the ends of the earth ; he maketh lightnings for " the rain, he bringeth wind out of his treasures.'' …
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O with what warm and enlarged affections should you express your thankfulness to the God of your salvation ! and say as David, "What *' am I, O Lord God, and what is my father's house, that thou '' shouldst do such great things for me T' Was such a life as mine worth the working of so many wonders to save it ? O Lord, …
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1. That men are often induced to sin upon hopes of secresy and conceahnent. 2. That to sin upon these encouragements, strongly argues their natural atheism : They think they are safe if men know it not ; they reckon not upon God's discovery of them. 3. That these encouragements to sin are vain things, it being im- po…
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1. For, First, He that formed all cannot but know all : the work- man cannot be supposed to be ignorant of any part of his o\\ti work. Now God is the former of all things ; every place and every person he hath made : where then shall the workers of iniquity hide them- selves? You have the folly of sinners, in thinking …
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6. He that providentially brings to light the most secret contri- vances of men, and publishes them before all Israel, and before the sun, must needs see them, and know them. How closely had Achan covered his wickedness : He never suspected a discovery, yet God brought it to light. With how much contrivance was the sin…
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4. God doth not only see you, but he will also one day make you see yourselves and your ways, and that with horror and consterna- tion. You think you shall taste nothing but the sweet and pleasure of sin ; but how are you deceived ? The days are coming when sin, that is now pleasant, shall be turned into wormwood and g…
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As some sinners seek corners to act their w^ickedness in, and cannot satisfy themselves to commit sin in the light, (for, as our Saviour saith, John iii. 20. " He that doth evil hateth the light ;") so, on the contrai'y, a truly godly man seeks corners to pray in, to meditate in, and to examine his own heart in, and th…
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O then let us be exact and careful, as well in our secret as in our public actions ; for God shall bring every work in judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil, Eccl. xii. ult. 6. Inference. Lastly, if the eye of God be in every place upon us, and all our actions ; then let those wh…
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<' derness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, " where there was no water :" here were their dangers and wants. <' Who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint, who fed " thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not i'* here were their suppUes in these straits. " That he m…
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with less judgment, and spends fewer thoughts about it, and yet suc- cess follows it. It shall be cast in upon some, who as they did not, so, considering the weak management of their business, had little ra- tional encouragement to expect it ; and fly from others, who indus- triously pursue it in the prudent choice and…
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S. Let designs be projected with the greatest prudence, and com- mitted to the management of the fittest instrument ; all is nothing as to success, without the concurrence of health, strength, favourable winds, security from the hands of enemies, and perils of the deep. If any of these be wanting, the design miscarries…
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Lastly, Who is it that stops the leaks in your estates, prevents the ^vastingof your substance, and secures to you what you possess ? Is it not the Lord ? How many fair estates moulder away insensibl}'^, and come to nothing ! Certainly, as there is a secret blessing in some fami- lies, so that themselves can scarce giv…
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Exercise fear in prosperity, and think with thyself, when thy heart is most affected -with it, that whilst the boast is in thy lips, the scene may alter, and thy happiness be turned into sorrow. Whilst that proud boast was in the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar, the voice from heaven told him, " His kingdom was departed from h…
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Now if we search into the grounds and reasons of these disap- pointments by the hand of providence, we shall find them reducible to a threefold cause and reason. 1. The sovereign pleasure of God so disposes it. 2. The good of the people of God requires it. 3. The manifold sins of men in their calhngs provoke it. Fir…
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of God hath used a very lively similitude to represent to us the mis- chievous effects of this sin upon all human diligence and industry. Jer. xvii. 11. "As the partridge sitteth upon eggs, and hatcheth them " not ; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them " in the midst of his days, and at his end…
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To labour in the very fire, notes intense labour, such as exhausts the very spirits of men whilst they are sweltering and toiling at it ; and yet all is to no purpose, they labour but for vanity : and whence is it that such vigorous endeavours are blasted, and miscarry ? Is it not of the Lord ? And if it be of the Lord…
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Consideration 3. And what if by these disappointments, God be carrying on the great design of his eternal love upon thy soul ? This may be the design of these providences ; and if so, sure there is no cause for thy despondencies. There is a double aim of these provi- dences; sometimes they are sent to awaken and rouse …
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The things about which your expectations are frustrated in this world, are small things ; you may be happy in the want of them : but the frustration of your hopes from the world to come, is in things of infinite weight. These disappointments are but for a little while ! but this will be for ever. O therefore be provoke…
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Doct. That it is the special duty of seamen., when God returns them to their habitations in peace^ thankfully to a^kiiowledge and bless his name, for all the preservations and mercies they have received J'rom his hand. These are mercies indeed which are obtained from God by prayer, and returned to him again by praise.…
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SiixMi/, The thankful person must order his conversation suitably to the engagements that his mercies have put him under. When we have said all, it is the life of the thankful, that is the very life of thankfulness. Obedience and service are the only real manifesta- tions of gratitude. " He that offereth praise glorifi…
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And then, for future mercies and deliverances, you have no ground to expect any more from God, whom you have thus requited for former favours. He that gives no thanks for one mercy, hath little ground to expect another. It was a sad word which God spake upon this very provocation, Judg. x. 11, 12, 13. when a new distre…
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Will you own the hand that delivers you, that feeds, clothes, and heals you ? Will you resolve to live the life of praise, and render to the Lord according to the benefits you have received ? Will you in- deed walk humbly, and thankfully, under all your deliverances, and successes, and glorify God by that wherewith he …
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So the people of God do speak, so they pray, and even so they open tlieir conditions : These look like saints, but are none. The third is to see so many real saints, in whom the spirit of truth is, who yet, through the impetuous workings of their corruptions, and neg- lecting of the watch over their hearts, do often fa…
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vour to undermine the power of godliness ; and some there are that nourish the root, and tend to clear and confiriTi, to prepare and ap- ply the great truths of the gospel, that th.ey may be bread for souls to live and feed on : Now, though I could wish that those who had handled the pen of the scribe, had better emplo…
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O then be precise and accurate in all manner of conversation ; keep up the power of godliness in your closets and families, and then you will not let it fall in your more public employments and con- verses in the world : I have often told you, that it is the honour of the gospel, that it makes the best parents and chil…
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3. The reason, or motive quickening to this duty, is very forcible and weio-htv : " For out of it are the issues of life." That is, it is the source and fountain of all vital actions and operations ; Hincjbns honi et peccandi origo, saith Jerom ; it is the spring and original both of good and evil, as the spring in a w…
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1. Frequent observation of the frame of the heart, turning in and examining how the case stands with it, this is one part of the work. Carnal and formal persons take no heed to this, they cannot be brought to confer with their own hearts ; there are some men and women that have lived forty or fifty years in the world, …
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1. It is the hardest work ; heart-work is hard work indeed. To shuffle over religious duties with a loose and heedless spirit, will cost no great pains ; but to set thyself before the Lord, and tie up thy loose and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance upon him : this will cost thee something : To attain a…
1,250 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.