PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Whole Works of John Flavel — Volume 5
Flavel, John, 1630?-1691 · 343,909 words · 285 reading sections
Section 181
To conclude, such is the vileness of mere heart-sins, that the scrip- tures sometimes intimate the difficulty of pardon for them. So in the case of Simon Magus, Acts viii. SI. his heart was not right, he had vile thoughts of God, and the things of God ; the apostle bids him " repent and pray, if perhaps the thoughts of…
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And if the heart be holy and spiritual, then, as David speaks, from sweet experience, Psal. xlv. 1. " My heart is (inditing) a good *' matter, I speak of things which (I have made), my tongue is as " the pen of a ready writer." Here is a life richly beautified with good works, some ready made ; " I will speak of the th…
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(2.) God doth not usually indulge lazy and negligent souls with the comforts of assurance ; he will not so much as seem to patronize sloth and carelessness ; he will give it, but it shall be in his own way : his command hath united our care and comfort together ; they are mistaken that think the beautiful child of assu…
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3. Next, according to the method propounded, I proceed to point out those special seasons in the life of a Christian, which require and call for our utmost diligence in keeping the heart : for though (as we observed before) the duly binds ad semper, and there is no time or condition of life in which we may be excused f…
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5. The heart may be kept humble, by considering of what a clog- ging nature earthly things are to a soul heartily engaged in the way to heaven ; they shut out much of heaven from us at present, though they may not shut us out of heaven at last. If thou consider thy- self under the notion of a strang-er in this world, t…
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Afflictions fall not out by casualty, but by counsel. Job v. 6. Eph. i. 11. by this counsel of God they are ordained as means of much spiritual good to saints, Isa. xxvii. 9. " By this shall the iniquity " of Jacob be purged,'' &c. Heb. xii. 10. " But he for our profit,"' &c. Rom. viii. 28. " All things work together f…
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Help 6. It would much stay the heart under adversity, to consider That God, by such humbling providences, may be accomplishing thai for zahich you have long prayed and waited : And should you be troubled at that ? Say, Christian, hast thou not many prayers de- pending before God upon such accounts as these : that he wo…
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* pressed, and ready to perish in the waves of persecution ; then good ' souls are ready to sink, and be shipwrecked too, upon the billows ' of their own fears. I confess most men rather need the spur than ' the reins in this case, and yet some sit down as over-weighed with * the sense of the church's troubles. The lo…
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God be not with his people, how is it they are not swallowed up quick ? Do their enemies want malice, power, or opportunity? No, but there is an invisible hand upon them. Well then, as it is Exod. xxxiii. 14. let his presence give us rest; and though the mountains be hurled into the sea, though heaven and earth mingle …
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Season 4. ' The fourth special season of expressing our utmost dili- ' gence in keeping our hearts, is the time of danger and public dis- ' traction ; in such times the best hearts are but too apt to be sur- ' prized by slavish fear ; it is not easy to secure the heart against dis- ' tractions in times of common distra…
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He hath charged you not to fear, Luke xxi. 9. " When ye shall " hear of wars and commotions, see that ye be not terrified." And Phil. i. 28. " In nothing be terrified by your adversaries." Yea, in Matth. x. 26, 28, 31. and within the compass of six verses, our Saviour commands us thrice, not to fear man. Doth every big…
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These expenences are food for your faith in a wilderness condition, Psal. Ixxiv. 14. By this David kept his heart in time of danger, 1 Sam. xvii. 37. and Paul his, 2 Cor. i. 10. It was sweetly answer- ed by Silentiarius, when one told him that his enemies way -laid him to take away his life, Si Dcus mei curam non hahit…
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Answer. But what matter is it, when thy soul is in heaven, whether it were let out at thy mouth, or at thy throat ? Whether thy familiar friends, or barbarous enemies, stand about thy dead body, and close thine eyes ? Alas ! it is not worth the making so much to do about ; Nihil corpus sentit in nervo cum anima sit in …
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This is a sad condition indeed to which no promise belongs. I remember Mr. Calvin, upon these words, Isa. ix. 1. " Nevertheless " the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation," &c. solves the doubt, in what sense the darkness of the captivity was not so great as the lesser incursions made by Tiglath Pileser. In…
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What think ye, sirs ? Should God remove your present troubles, supply all your outward wants, give you the desire of your hearts in crea- ture comforts, but hide his face from you, shoot his arrows into your souls, and cause the venom of them to drink up your spirits ? Should he leave you but a few days to the buffetin…
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Object. 3. But I find such a coJidition Jull of temptations ^ a save clog in the way to heaven. HOW TO KEEP THE HEART FROM WANDERING IN DUTY. 463 Sol Every condition in the world hath its clogs and attending temptations ; and were you in a prosperous condition, you might there meet with more temptations and fewer adv…
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And truly, the more spiritual the heart is, the more it is troubled about the vanity and wildness of it. O what a sad thing it is ! that thy nobler soul must lackey up and down after a vain and roving fancy, that such a beggar should ride on horse-back, and such a prince run after on foot ; that it should call off the …
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When the messenger of Satan buffeted Paul by wicked injections, as is supposed, he goes to God, and mourns over it before him, 2 Cor. xii. 8. never slight wandering thoughts in duty as small matters : follow every vain thought with a deep sigh, turning thee to God with such words as these : Lord, I came hither to speak…
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Remedy l.Urge upon thy heart the severe prohibitions of revenge by the law (fGod, Remember that this is forbidden fruit, how pleasant and luscious soever it be to our vitiated appetites. O, saith nature, revenge is sweet : O but, saith God, the effects thereof shall be bitter. How plainly hath God interdicted this fles…
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Suppose by revenge thou shouldst destroy one enemy, I will shew thee how, by forgiving, thou shalt conquer three, thine own lust, the devil's temptation, and thine enemy's heart ; and is not this a more glorious conquest .? If by revenge thou overcome thine enemy, yet (as Bernard saith) Lifelix victoria, uhi s^iperans …
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Solution. If you resolve to consult flesh and blood in such cases, and do no more but what that will enable you to do ; never pretend to religion : Christians must do singular and supernatural things. Object. % But if I put up siich abuses, I shall be reckoned a Jboly and every one will trample upon me. Sol. (L) You …
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(1.) " It grieves the Spirit of God," Eph. iv. 30. banishes him from that breast in which it rages and tumultuates : God is the God of peace ; the presence and comforts of God are only enjoyed in a calm. It is a golden note one gives upon the forecited text, God doth not usually bless with peace of conscience, such as …
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1. Thou tellest me, Satan, that sin is pleasant; be it so: But are the gripes of conscience, and the flames of hell so too ? Is it pleasant to feel the wounds and throbs of conscience ? If so, why did Peter weep so bitterly? Mat. xxvi. 75. Why did David cry out of broken bones .^ Psal. li. I hear what thou sayest of th…
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2. Did God record these examples for my imitation, or for my warning ? Are they not set up as sea-marks, "that I might avoid the rocks upon which they split ? 1 Cor. x. 6. " Now these were our 480 HOW TO KEEP THE HEAUT FIIOM DESPERATE CONCLUSIONS. *' examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things, …
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1. You doubt, and are ready to conclude, the Lord hath no re- gard or love for your souls, because of some extraordinary affliction which is come upon you : But I would not have thy soul so to con- clude, till thou be able satisfactorily to answer these three questions. Question 1. If great troubles and afflictions be…
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2. The second gi'ound is the declining and withering of our affec- tions to spiritual things ? O ! (saith the upright soul) if ever I had been planted a right seed, I should have been as a green olive tree in the liouse of my God ; but my branches wither, therefore my root is naught. But stay. Query 1. May you not he …
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Query 3. Can you dxny but that there are some signs appearing in your souls, even ivhilst God suspends his ansicer, that argue your prayers are not rejected by him ? As, (1.) Though no answer come, yet you are still resolved to wait : You dare not say as that profane wretch did, 2 Kings vi. 33. " This evil is of the Lo…
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Quest. 5. Is not eternal life worth the suffering of a momenfs pai7i? If I suffer with him, I shall reign with him. O how will men venture life and limb for a fadingcrown, swim through seas of blood toathrone ! and will I venture nothing ? suffer nothing for the crown of glory that fadeth not away? My dog will follow m…
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irOW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEATH. 491 startle and shrink back from it ; but when God hath put away thy sins from thee, " as far as the east is from tlie west,'' Psal. ciii. 12. as lono- as there is no other evil left in death for thee to encounter with but bodily pain ; as long as the scriptures represent it …
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2. As for the enjoyment of saints, here indeed we have fellowship with them of the lower form ; but that fellowship is so dissweetened by remaining corruptions, that there is no satisfaction in it; as it is the greatest plague that can befal an hypocrite to live in a pure church, so it is the greatest vexation to the s…
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are wronght by men, which yet are utterly rejected by God, and shall never stand upon record, in order to an eternal acceptation, because they took no heed to keep their hearts with God in those duties : this is that fatal rock, upon which thousands of vain profes- sors have split themselves eternally : they are curiou…
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* within my heart for such calls of God." Surely there is a way of enjoying God, even in our worldly employments ; God would never have put us upon them to our loss ; " Enoch walked with God, and " begat sons and daughters,'' Gen. v. 19. He walked with God, but did not retire and separate himself from the things of thi…
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I know no external act of religion that differences the sound from the unsound professor : It is wonderful to consider how far hypocrites go in all external duties; how plausibly they can order the outward man, hiding all their indecencies from the observation of the world. But then, they take no heed to their hearts …
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Yea, how are the consciences of fallen professors plunged, and even overwhelmed in the deeps of trouble ? God inwardly excommunica- ting their souls from all comfortable fellowship with himself, and the joys of his salvation : infinite are the mischiefs that come by the scandalous lives of professors. And what is the …
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A.h ! what would I give, that my soul might be preserved in that frame I sometimes find it in after an ordinance ? AUquando intromittis me, Domine, in ciffectum multum inusitatim, introrsus ad quam nescio dulcedinem, &c. Sometimes, O Lord, (saith one of the Fathers sweetly) thqu admittest me into the most inward, unusu…
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a vain thought be long neglected; the serpent of heart-apostasy Is best killed in the egg of a small remission of care. Oh ! if many poor de- cayed Christians had looked to their hearts in time, they had never come to that sad pass they now are in ? We may say of heart-neglects, as the apostle doth of vain babblings ; …
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Thou art often crying out, Lord I why is it thus.? Why go I mourning all the day, having sorrow in my heart ? Thus long have I been exercised with hardness of heart, and to this day have not ob- tained a broken heart. Many years have I been praying and striv- ing against vain thoughts, yet am still infested and perplex…
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My friends, a day of trouble is near, a dying hour approacheth us ; and when our eye-strings and heart-strings are breaking ; when we are taking the last grasp of Christ, and the promises, you will then know to what purpose those hours spent in such work as this were. Search yourselves, yea, search yourselves before th…
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Seven epistles are found in this doctrinal part, immediately dic- tated from heaven, and sent by John to the seven churches of Asia, to instruct, correct, encourage, and confirm them, as their several cases required. My text falls in the last epistle, sent to the church of Laodicea ; the worst and most degenerate of a…
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T yoihMOC Carens JHStitia qnrc vestilus est Christianoruvi. Pareus. \ Nil rniserius inisero non iniserarUe seipstun. i. e. None is more to be pitied than a pitiable sinner who does not pity himself. II Hoc f/jOVCxoXiov ssL C'liriiiiy extra quod nulla est salits. 516 THE DOCTRINES PROPOUNDED AND OPENED. this place Es…
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1. First, By this, that there are every where to be found more professors than converts ; unregenerate professors, whose religion is but the effect of education. Christianity, by the favour of an early providence, was the first comer, it first bespoke them for itself; these are Christians of an human creation, rather b…
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O reader ! if thy heart were right with God, and thou didst not cheat thyself with a vain profession, thou wouldst have frequent busi- .ness with God, which thou wouldst be loth thy dearest friend, or the wife of thy bosom should be pi'ivy to : JVon est religio uhi omnia patent ; religion doth not lay all open to the e…
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3. Thirdly, The common works found in unregenerate souls de- ceive many, who cannot distinguish them from the special works of the Spirit in God's elect ; see that startling scripture, Heb. vi. 4. where you find, among the common operations of the Spirit upon apostates, that illumination which gives perspicuity to thei…
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That assurance is one of the great difficulties in religion, is a great truth ; but that it is therefore unattainable in this world, is \ery false. Popish doctrine indeed makes it impossible ; but that doc- trine is practicably confuted in the comfortable experience of many souls : all are commanded to strive for it, 2…
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O deceive not yourselves with names and notions ? Think not, be- cause you are for a stricter way of worship, or because you associate with, and are accordingly denominated, one of the more reformed professors, that therefore you are safe enough : Alas ! how small an interest have titles, modes, and denominations in re…
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2. Secondly, Consider it in its nature, and you will find it divine, 2 Pet. i. 4. " Partakers of the Divine nature," viz. in our sanctifi- cation ; not that it gives us the properties of the Divine nature ; they are incommunicable ; but the similitude and resemblance of it is stamped upon our souls in the work of grace…
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O blessed design ! how precious must that work be, which is wrought for so high and glorious a purpose as this is ? No work more excellent, no end more noble. 7. SevenMy^ Consider the means and instruments, both principal and subordinate, employed in this work : many blessed instruments are set on work to beget, conse…
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None but these that value not grace will ever slight the means, or despise and injure the instruments thereof. It is a sad sign of a graceless world when these precious things fall under contempts and slights. Infer. 5. If grace be so precious, how watchful should all gracious persons be in the days of temptation ! Th…
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Sometimes he tries the strength and ability of his servants graces; and thus he tried Abraham, Heb. xi. 17. And sometimes he tries the soundness and sincerity of our graces ; so the Ephesian angel was tried, and found dross, Rev. ii. 2. And so Job was tried, and found true gold, Job xxiii. 10. These trials are not made…
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How humble was Israel in the wilderness, tame and tractable in a lean pasture ; but bring them once unto Canaan, and the world is strangely altered ; then *' we are lords, (say they) we will come no " more unto thee," Jer. ii. 2, 7, 31. Prosperity is a crisis both to grace and corruption. Thence is that caution to Isra…
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ed about that interest of religion, and senseless of the calamities of God's people. Thus the prophet convinces the Jews of their hypo- crisy, Amos vi. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. " They were at ease in Zion, and " trusted in the mountain of Samaria :" And so, having a shadow of religion, and a fulness of all earthly things, the…
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HAT adversity is a furnace to try of what metal our hearts are, none can doubt, that hath either studied the scriptures, or observed his own heart under afflictions. When the dross and rust of hypocrisy and corruption had almost eaten out the heart of religion among the Jews, then saith God, " I " will melt them, and …
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5. Fifthly, Both the one and the other may be driven to their knees by adversity. " Lord, in trouble have they visited thee ; they have " poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them," Isa. xxvi. 16. Not that a godly person will pray no longer than the rod is at his back; O no; he cannot live long without pray…
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* Timeo dicere, sed dicendum est ; martyrmm ipstim si idea fiat ut admrrafioni et landi haheatiir afratribus ; frustra sanguis effusns est. Hier. 548 ADVERSITY A FURNACE TO THY OLE GRACES. gone, Jer. xxxvii. 9. See the like in Ahaz, in a sore plunge and distress, he courts the king of Assyria for help, 2 Chron. xxvii…
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They are sensible how the flesh smarts under the rod, but had rather it should smart, than conscience should smart under guilt. Affliction, saith an upright soul, grieves me, but sin will grieve God ; affliction wounds my flesh, but sin will wound my soul. Deliver- ance I long for, but I will not pay so dear for it, ho…
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4. FourtJdi/, A graceless heart may be restrained from sin by the force of education and principles of moraHty that were instilled into it. Thus Jehoash was restrained from sin, 2 Kings xii. 2. " And Je- " hoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, all the " days wherein Jehoiadah the priest instructed hi…
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It may be that mote in his brother's eye, had drawn many tears from it, but these he takes no notice of; and meanwhile there is a HATRED OF SIX A TRIAL OF GRACE. 555 beam, i. e. great horrid flagitious evil, in himself: but it is too near him to be discerned or bewailed : This is a sad symptom of a naughty heart. 2.…
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But the troubles of upright ones for sin are of another kind and nature. 1. First, They are troubled that God is wronged, and his Spirit troubled by their sins : So the penitent prodigal, " I have sinned " against heaven, and in thv siorht," Luke xv. 21. Against heaven, that is, against him whose throne is m heaven, a…
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4. Fourthly, Though in both some one particular sin may have more power than another, yet neither doth this alone conclude, that therefore that sin must reign in one, as it doth in another. Indeed the beloved lust of every wicked man is king over his soul ; but yet a godly man's constitution, calling, S^c. may incline …
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3. Thirdly^ Though an upright soul may fall into sin, yet he is restless and unquiet in that condition, like a bone out of joint; and that speaks him to be none of sin's servants ; as on the contrary, if a man be engaged in the external duties of religion, and be restless, and unquiet there, his heart is not in it, he …
1,343 wordsSource & rights
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.