A39660:1217
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 6: VI. 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.
(4.) Light or Knowledge of the Law and Will of God, is a very choice and excellent Mercy; 'tis a choice and singular favour, for God to make the light of Knowledge to shine into a Mans mind or understanding: 'Tis a Mercy withheld from multitudes, Psal. 147. 19. and those that enjoy it, are under special engagements to bless God for it, and to improve it diligently and thankfully to his Service and Glory; but for a Man to arm such a Mercy as this against God, to fight against him with one of his choicest Mercies, this must be highly provoking to the Lord: 'Tis therefore mentioned as an high aggravation of Solomons sin in the 1 Kings 11. 9. that he sinned against the Lord, after the Lord had appeared unto him twice.
(4.) Light or Knowledge of the Law and Will of God, is a very choice and excellent Mercy; 'tis a choice and singular favour, for God to make the light of Knowledge to shine into a Mans mind or understanding: 'Tis a Mercy withheld from multitudes, Psal. 147. 19. and those that injoy it, are under special engagements to bless God for it, and to improve it diligently and thankfully to his Service and Glory; but for a Man to arm such a Mercy as this against God, to fight against him with one of his choicest Mercies, this must be highly provoking to the Lord: 'Tis therefore mention'd as an high aggravation of Solomons sin in the 1 Kings 11. 9. that he sinned against the Lord, after the Lord had appeared unto him twice.
(5.) This way of sinning argues an extraordinary degree of hardness of heart; 'Tis a sign of little tenderness, or sense of the evil of sin: Some Men, when God shows them the evil of sin in the glass of the Law, they tremble at the sight of it: So did Paul, Rom. 7. 13. When the Commandment came, sin revived, and he died; he sunk down at the sight of it: But God shows thee the evil of sin in the glass of his Law, and thou makest nothing of it: O obdurate heart! When the Rod was turned into a Serpent, Moses fled from it, was afraid to touch it, but though God turns the Rod into a Serpent, and discovers the venomous Nature of Sin in his Word, thou canst handle and play with that Serpent, and put it into thy bosom, this shows thy heart to be of a strange complexion.