A39660:1185
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 › DOCTRINE. › Instance 3 › Instance 2: II. Instance.
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.
(1.) The shame which attends and follows the duty to which God and Conscience calls the Soul. O 'tis a shame and reproach they think, to get the name of a cheat. Loath, loath they are, these works of darkness should come into the open Light; men will point, and hiss at them; and say, there goes a Thief, a Cheat, an Oppressor; this keeps many from Restitution.
But dost thou not here commit a greater Cheat than the former? Which is the greater shame thinkest thou? to commit sin, or to confess and reform it? to tie the snare upon thy soul by Commission, or loose it off from thy Conscience by Repentance and Restitution? to be the derision of wicked men, (for none else will deride thee for thy duty) or to be the contempt and derision of God, Angels, and all good Men for ever. To attain inward peace at this ⟨p. 30⟩hazard, or to lie under the continual lashes and wounds of thy own Conscience?
But dost thou not here commit a greater Cheat than the former? Which is the greater shame thinkst thou? to commit sin, or to confess and reform it? to tye the snare upon thy soul by Commission, or loose it off from thy Conscience by Repentance and Restitution? to be the derision of wicked men, (for none else will deride thee for thy duty) or to be the contempt and derision of God, Angels, and all good Men for ever. To attain inward peace at this ⟨p. 30⟩hazzard, or to lie under the continual lashes and wounds of thy own Conscience?
(2.) Poverty and inability is sometimes pleaded to quiet the troubled Conscience; and indeed this is a just and very frequent blast of God upon ill gotten goods. The curse of God is upon them. They melt away. O what a miserable snare have you now entangled your souls in? once you could, but would not restore, a Worldly heart would not part with unjust gains; now you would, but cannot. Thus a worldly heart, and an empty purse holds you first and last under the guilt of a known sin. A lamentable case!