A39660:1253
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
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.
V. Motive.
You can never have peace with your own Consciences, whilst you keep Convictions Prisoners. Now a mans Conscience is his best Friend, or his worst Enemy. Thence are the sweetest Comforts, ⟨p. 52⟩and thence are the bitterest Sorrows. 'Tis a dreadful thing for a man to lie with a cold sweating Horror upon his panting Bosom. Tum pallida mens est Criminibus, tacit a sudant praecordia culpâ. And this (or which is worse) Obduration and Stupidity must be the case of them that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness. There can be no sounding a retreat to these terrors, till Sheba's Head be thrown over the Walls; I mean, till that Sin your Conscience convinceth you of, be delivered up. As Israel could have no peace, till Achan was destroyed, so thou shalt have no peace, whilst thy sin is covered, and hid. Men may cry peace, peace, to themselves, whilst they continue in sin, Deut. 29. 18, 19. but the sharpest troubles of Conscience, are better than such peace. Deliver up thy self Man, if thou love peace, into the hands of thy own Convictions, and thou art in the true way to peace. Thy rejoicing must be in the Testimony of thine own Conscience, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. 1. 12. or thou rejoicest in a dream, in a delusion, in a thing of nought.
You can never have peace with your own Consciences, whilst you keep Convictions Prisoners. Now a mans Conscience is his best Friend, or his worst Enemy. Thence are the sweetest Comforts,