A39660:1112
Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20
Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20 : wherein is opened the admirable condescension and patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate sinners, the wretched state of the unconverted, the nature of evangelical faith ..., the riches of free grace in the offers of Christ ..., the invaluable privileges of union and communion granted to all who receive him ... / by John Flavell ...Englands duty under the present gospel liberty from Revel. III, vers. 20 : wherein is opened the admirable condescension and patience of Christ in waiting upon trifling and obstinate sinners, the wretched state of the unconverted, the nature of evangelical faith ..., the riches of free grace in the offers of Christ ..., the invaluable priviledges of union and communion granted to all who receive him ... / by John Flavell ...
London: printed for Matthew Wotton, 1689
Appendix: AN APPENDIX To the Foregoing TREATISE FROM ROMANS 1. 18.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
If by this Discourse I can but set truth at Liberty, and loose the Lords Prisoners which lye bound in your Souls. I shall not doubt but the value of Christ will quickly rise among you, and free Convictions will make the work of your Ministers much more easy and successful than they now find it. 'Tis hardly imaginable but the things you have heard must leave your Souls under Convictions, but if you suppress and stifle them, they produce nothing but aggravations of Sin and Misery. Now in order to the free and effectual working of all your Convictions, and begetting that reverence ⟨p. 3⟩which is due to them from every Soul, as to the Voice of God, I have chosen this Scripture, the scope and sense whereof I shall next give you.
If by this Discourse I can but set truth at Liberty, and loose the Lords Prisoners which lye bound in your Souls. I shall not doubt but the value of Christ will quickly rise among you, and free Convictions will make the work of your Ministers much more easie and successful than they now find it. 'Tis hardly imaginable but the things you have heard must leave your Souls under Convictions, but if you suppress and stifle them, they produce nothing but aggravations of Sin and Misery. Now in order to the free and effectual working of all your Convictions, and begetting that reverence ⟨p. 3⟩which is due to them from every Soul, as to the Voice of God, I have chosen this Scripture, the scope and sense whereof I shall next give you.
The true scope and aim of this Context, is to prove the Justification of Sinners to be only by the imputed Righteousness of Christ in the way of Faith. To make this evident, he distributes the whole World into Gentiles and Jews; the one seeking Righteousness by the dim Light of Nature, or the Law written in their Hearts; the other, viz. the Jews by the works of the Law, or External Conformity to the Law of Moses, but that neither can find what they seek, he distinctly and fully proves. He proves it first upon the Gentiles, from this verse to the 17th. verse of the second Chapter; and then he proves it upon the Jews also from thence to the end of the third Chapter. As for the Gentiles, he acknowledges that they had inbred Notions of God, imprinted in their Nature, they had also the Book of the Creatures before them; enough to leave them without Excuse, ver. 20. they have no pretence of ignorance, but these common Notices of God, and of Good and Evil, they did not obey and put in practise, but acted against the very Light and Dictates of their Natural Consciences. For which cause the Wrath of God was revealed from Heaven against them, as the Text speaks. Wherein note, 1. A clear and dreadful Revelation of Divine Wrath. 2. The Object or impulsive Cause thereof, Ungodliness and Unrighteousness.