PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Whole Works of John Flavel — Volume 5
Flavel, John, 1630?-1691 · 343,909 words · 285 reading sections
Section 241
S. Thirdlij, There is a permanent, and there is a transient oppo- .sition to sin ; the former is the case of God's people, the latter of temporary and unsound professors. The saint when he draws the sword in this warfare against sin, throws away the scabbard ; no end of this combat with sin till life end ; their Ufe a…
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But an upright heart hath very high and pure aims in duty ; " The ** desire of their soul is to God." Isa. xxvi. 8. " Their soul follows " hard after God," Psal. Ixiii. 8. " One thing have I desired of the " Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the " Lord all the days of my life, to see the be…
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That which contents another, will not content a Christian. If the king be absent, men will bow^ to the empty chair : but if God be absent, an empty duty gives no satisfaction to a gracioiis spirit. The poorest Christian is found panting after God by sincere desires, and labouring to get up that dead and vain heart to G…
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But now there is real communion betwixt God and his people in duties. Truly our fellowship, xo/vwv/a, our communion is with the Father and Son, 1 John i. 3. God pours forth of his Spirit upon them, and they pour forth their hearts to God. It is sensibly mani- fested to them Vv hen the Lord comes nigh to their souls in …
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574 THE ADVANTAGES OF SINCERITY. 3. Thirdly^ What advantages sincere grace liath to endure that severe and sharp trial. 1. 1^ OW the fire of persecution, or sufferings for rehgion, may be judged intense, and high enough to separate gold and dross ; Firsts When religion exposes us to imminent hazard of our deep- est …
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3. Thirdly^ In that day all mere notions and speculations about religion vanish ; and nothing relieves and satisfies the suffering soul but what it really believes, and what it hath satisfying proof and ex- perience of in himself There are a great many pretty and pleasing notions which our minds are entertained with ; …
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5. Fiftldi)^ Sincerity brings a man"'s will into subjection to the will of God ; and this being done, the greatest danger and difficulty is over with such a man. This is that holy oil which makes the wheels of the soul run nimbly, even in difficult paths of obedience ; Non tar^ dat uncta rota. Let Ibut a man be once br…
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Secondly^ By these trials integrity is cleared up, and the doubts and fears of many upright and holy ones allayed and quieted, re- solved and satisfied. O what would many a poor Christian give for satisfaction in that great point of sincerity ! How many tears have been shed to God in secret upon that account ? Hov\^ m…
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6. Sixthly^ and lastly^ The frequent trials of grace exhibit a full and living testimony against the atheism of the world. These prove bevond all words or arguments that religion is no fancy, but the greatest reality in the world : Men would make religion but a fancy, and the zeal of its professors, but the intemperate…
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This is a true observation of the learned Gerson, Perfcciioiies sibi relictce, sunt pondera ad ruinam : The most perfect creature left to itself, will fall into ruin. This was exemplified in the angels that fell ; and in Adam, though in a perfect state. Divine preservation is the prop which supports the best creatures …
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I may say in this case to you as the Lord spake to Jeremiah, chap, xii. 5. " If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied " thee, then how canst thou contend with horses ? and if in the " land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they have wearied thee, " then how wilt thou do in the swellins; of Jordan .?" Th…
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Infer. 2. Secoiidlr/.^ Are there such trials appointed and permitted by the Lord for the discovery of his people's sincerity in this world ? Then let none of God's people expect a quiet station in this icorld ; Certainly you shall meet with no rest here, you must out of one fire into another: and it is a merciful conde…
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search your hearts, commune with your reins, nothing more (Concerns YOU in all the world tlian this doth. O that you would be more in your closets, and oftener upon your knees ! O that you would look into the Bible, then into your hearts, and then to God, saying with Davicl, " Search me, O God, and know my heart ; prov…
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Motive 5. Fifthly^ Conclude it to be your great advantage to be thoroughly tried, whatever ^^ou be found to be in the trial : If you be found sincere, you are richly rewarded for all your pains and labour : Never did that man repent of digging and toiling, that, after all, hit upon the rich vein that he digged for : Wh…
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Mule 3. A stronger propension in our nature^ and more frequent in- cidence in our practice to one sin than another^ do not presently infer our hypocrisy,, and the unsoundness of our hearts in religion. It is true, every hypocrite hath some way of wickedness : Some peccatum. in djlici'is, iniquity that he delights in, a…
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Quest. 3. Can I truly and heartily rejoice to see God's work carried on in the world, and his glory promoted by other hands, though I have no share in the credit and honour of it, as Paul did ? Phil. i. 18. Quest. 4. Is there no duty in religion so full of difficulty and self- denial, but I desire to comply with it ? …
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WILL shut up all with five or six concluding counsels, (which the Lord impress upon the heart of him that writes, and those that shall read them) to preserve and antidote the soul against the dangerous insinuation and leaven of hypocrisy. Counsel 1. Intreat the Lord night and day ^ for a renewed and right spirit. All …
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O the vanity and inutility of these projects and designs ! Men strive to cast themselves into such modes, and stint themselves to such mea- sures of religion, as they think will best promote, or secure their earthly interests: but it often falls out, contrary to their expectation, that their deep policies are ridiculou…
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If they obtain God's blessing upon them in their operation, surely they will have your blessing too at their valediction. And what you entertained with fear, you will dismiss with praise. How sweet is it to hear the afflicted soul say, when God is loosing his hands, " It is " good for me that I have been afflicted." T…
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Secondly, This son was not carried from the cradle to the coffin, nor stripped out of its swathing, to be wrapped in its winding-cloth. Had he died in his infancy, before he had engaged affection, or rais- ed expectation, the affliction had not been so pungent, and cutting as now it was : death smote the son in the flo…
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Now, though there be somev/hat in this case extraordinary'-, and peculiar, for few or none that carry their dead children to the grave, may expect to receive them again from the dead immediately, by a special resurrection, as she did ; I say, this is not to be expected by any that now lose their relations ; the occasio…
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To this purpose the apostle exhorts, Heb. xii. 5. " IMy son, des- *' pise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou ** art rebuked of him."" These are two extremes, despising and fainting : when God is correcting, to say, I do not regard it, let God take all, if he will; if my estate must go, let it …
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Hath God smitten thy child, or friend, and didst thou not foresee some sharp trial coming? Did not thy fond, secure, carnal temper, need such a scourge to awaken, quicken, and purge thee ? Or, if you did not foresee it, it is now your duty to search and examine your- selves. So the church, in her affliction, resolved. …
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O think then what you have done by provoking the Lord, through your vile ingratitude ! It is a dangerous thing to provoke God, wheu he is already in a way of judgment. And if you be his own people, and so out of the danger of this last and worse stroke; yet know, you have better mercies to lose than any you have yet lo…
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Philosophers and physicians generally reckon sorrow among the chief causes of shortening life. Christ was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and this some think was the reason that he appeared as a man of fifty, when he was little more than thirty years old, John viii. 57. But his sorrows were of another kind…
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Thus we delight to look upon the relics of our deceased friends, and often to mention their actions, and sayings, not so much for any matter of holy, and weighty instruction, or imitation, for that would warrant, and commend the action ; but rather to rub the wound, and fetch fresh blood from it, by piercing ourselves …
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If this, therefore, be thy case, who readest these lines; afflicted and unsanctified, mourning bitterly for thy dead friends, and more cause to mourn for thy dead soul, christless and graceless, as well as childless or friendless : no comfort in hand, nor yet in hope ; full of trouble, and no vent by prayer or faith to…
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Man and man stand upon even ground ; if your fellow-creature does any thing that displeases you, you may not only enquire who did it, but why he did it .^ You may demand his grounds and rea- sons for what he hath done ; but you may not do so here : It is ex- pected that this one thing. The Lord hath done it, should, wi…
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Well then, reckon you are as well without these things as with them ; yea, and better too, if they were but clogs and snares upon your affections ; you have really lost nothing if the things wherein your eternal happiness consisteth be yet safe. Many of God's dearest children have been denied such comforts as these, an…
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He that appointed the seasons of the year appohitcd the seasons of our comfort in our relations: And as those seasons cannot be altered, no more can these. All the course of providence is guided by an unalterable decree ; what falls out casually to our apprehension, yet falls out necessarily in respect of God's appoint…
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Thy friend by an act of favour is disbanded by death, whilbtthou thyself art left to endure a great fight of affliction. And now if trou- bles come, thy cares and fears will be so much the less, and thy own death so much the easier to thee; when so much of thee is in hea- ven already. In this case the Lord, by a mercif…
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' Blessed Jesus, thy poor creature cometh to thee upon these en- ' couragements : I come, O but it is with many staggerings, with ' many doubts and fears of the issue ; yet I am willing to come and ' make a covenant with thee this day. ' I take thee this day to be my Lord, and submit heartily to all thy ' disposals ; …
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Thu'dhf, This covenant is not only well ordered in all things, but siwe : the mercies contained in it are called, " the sure mercies of " David,'' Isa. Iv. 3. Now how sweet, how seasonable a support doth this consideration give to God's afflicted under the rod ! you lat^y made yourselves ^wre^of that creature-comfort w…
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And this among other things, was that with which f Augustine comforted the lady Italica, after the death of her dear husband, tel- ling her that she should know him in the world to come among the glorified saints. Yea, and a greater than either of these, I mean Paul, comforted himself, that the Thessalonians, whom he h…
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As a bullock, by wrestling and sweating in the furrow, makes his yoke to be more heavy, and galls his neck, and spends his strength the sooner, and no ways helps himself by that : Why thus stands the case ^rith thee ; if thou be as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, What Christ saith oi cai'ing^ we may say o£ g?'ievin…
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It is a dark hour with us, when these comforts are put out ; but David's faith did, and ours may comfort us with this, that he that blew out the candle, can light up another : " Thou, Lord, shalt light my " candle, the Lord my God shall enlighten my darkness." That is, the Lord will renew mv comforts, alter the present…
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Satan is called, The ruler of the darkness of this woi'ld, Eph. vi. 12. i. e. his kingdom is supported by darkness. Now, there is a two- fold darkness, which gives Satan great advantage ; the darkness of the mind, viz. ignorance; and the darkness of \he condition, viz. trouble and affliction. Of the former the apostle …
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Great are the benefits of a sharp, rousing affliction to the people of God at sometimes, and all might have them at all times, were they more careful to improve them. Holy David thankfully acknow- ledgeth, Psal. cxix. 71. " It is good for me that I have been afflicted. ' And surely there is as much good in them for you…
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And Mr. Wall, in his None-but-Christ, relates as sad a passage of a poor family in Germany, who were driven unto that extremity in the famine, that at last the parents made a motion one to the other to sell one of the children for bread to sustain themselves, and the rest ; but when they came to consider which child it…
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And thus I have finished the second general head of this discourse, which is a dissuasive from the sin of immoderate sorrow. 3. I now proceed to the third thing proposed, namely, to remove the pleas and excuses for this immoderate grief. It is natural to men, yea, to good men, to justify their excesses, or at least to…
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Vide Mr. Baiter's Epistle to the life of Mr. John Janeway. ()56 A TOKEK FOR MOURXERiS. drawn up by a single hand, but when it hath spread and fixed its root many years in the earth, it will require many a strong blow, and hard tug to root it up. Affections hke those under-ground roots, are fixed and strengthened by n…
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Plea 7. You press me to moderation of sorrows, and I know I ought to shew it ; but you do not know how the case stands with me, there is a sting in this affliction, that none feels but mjself ; and, O ! how intolerable is it now ! I neglected proper means in season to preserve life, or miscarried in the use of means. I…
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Secondly, If grown, and in some good degree hopeful ; only he did not in life, or at death, manifest, and give evidence of grace, with that clearness as you desired. As to the case of infants in general, it is none of our concern to judge their condition ; and as for those that sprang from covenanted parents it become…
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Ansuer 3. May not your submissive carriage under the rod pro- voke GvA to hide his face from you. Pray consider it well, nothing is more probable thnn for this to be the cause of God's M'ithdrawment from you. Could you, in meekness and quietness, receive that cup A TOKEN FOU MOURNERS, 663 your Father hath given you t…
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Thirdly, As a just and righteous hand. Hast not thou procured this to thyself by thy own folly ? Yea, the Lord is just in all that is come upon thee ; whatever he hath done, yet he hath done thee no wrong. Fourthly, Lastly, as a moderate and merciful hand that hath punished thee less than thine iniquities deserve : He…
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.